Efforts under way to confirm Qaeda boss death in Mali

BAMAKO: Algeria was seeking Saturday to confirm the reported killing of Al-Qaeda's top commander in northern Mali, where French and African troops attempted to flush out Islamist fighters from desert and mountain hideouts.

Chad's president announced on Friday that his troops had killed Abou Zeid days earlier, in what would be one of the worst blows to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in the seven-week-old French-led intervention.

Idriss Deby Itno claimed the AQIM commander in Mali was killed during a major battle that also left 26 Chadian soldiers dead on February 22. "Our soldiers killed two jihadist chiefs including Abou Zeid," he said.

Adding to the confusion over the jihadist supremo's fate, Mauritania's private news agency Sahara Medias on Saturday confirmed that Abou Zeid had been killed but had a different story.

It said Abou Zeid was killed "four days ago" in a French air strike during a clash between a jihadist unit he was leading and the group of Chadian soldiers that had suffered the 26 losses days earlier.

Sahara Medias said the strike occurred in the mountainous region of Tigharghar near the border with Algeria and added without naming them that "extremely well informed sources" had confirmed Abou Zeid's death.

However the Islamist organisation itself has not yet confirmed the jihadist leader's death and officials in his native Algeria were carrying out DNA tests in an effort to confirm the demise of one of Africa's most wanted men.

Analysts have suggested Abou Zeid's death could spell AQIM's doom with other jihadist groups now thriving in the region but while Washington described the report as "very credible" France has so far treated it with caution.

Algeria's El Khabar newspaper said Saturday that Algerian security services, who were the first to report Abou Zeid's death, had examined a body believed to be his.

"Algerian officers have examined a body said to be that of Abou Zeid in a military site in northern Mali and identified his personal weapon... but were unable to formally identify" the body as his, it said.

"Confirmation of Abou Zeid's death remains linked to the results of DNA tests done on Thursday by Algeria on two members of his family," said El Khabar.

Mauritanian expert Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Aboulmaali pointed out that Algeria had announced his death several times in the past and that Chad needed morale boosting news after suffering such heavy losses.

Matthieu Guidere, a French university professor and Al-Qaeda specialist, also voiced caution in the absence of any confirmation of Abou Zeid's death on jihadist forums.

"Experience shows that jihadists never try to hide their dead and immediately broadcast their martyrdom," he said.

Guidere explained that announcing the death of a wanted jihadist was a tactic that had been used in the past to force the operative to deny his death and reveal his location.

Abou Zeid, 46, whose real name is Mohamed Ghedir, was often seen in the cities of Timbuktu and Gao after the Islamists took control of northern Mali last year and sparked fears the region could become a haven for extremists.

An Algerian born near the border with Libya, Abou Zeid was a former smuggler who embraced radical Islam in the 1990s and became one of AQIM's key leaders.

He was suspected of being behind a series of kidnappings in the Sahel region, including of British national Edwin Dyer, who was abducted in Niger and killed in 2009, and of 78-year-old French aid worker Michel Germaneau, who was killed in 2010.

Abou Zeid was believed to be holding a number of Western hostages, including four French citizens kidnapped in Niger in 2010.

Guidere said Abou Zeid had adopted such a hard line since reaching the top of AQIM's operational command that many of his lieutenants left the group to join other organisations or launch their own.

One of the main splinters is the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which first emerged last year and was battling African forces near the main northern city of Gao as recently as Friday.

"We waged a tough battle against Malian troops and their French accomplices around 60 kilometres east of Gao on Friday," MUJAO spokesman Abou Walid Sahraoui told AFP.

"We'll see later about the death toll," he said.

A Malian soldier who claimed he took part in the fighting said the operation had left a MUJAO base destroyed and "many dead" among the Islamists.

- AFP/jc

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Tennis: Federer beaten by Berdych again

DUBAI: Roger Federer's defence of the Dubai Open title came to a dramatic end in the semi-finals after he failed to convert three match points against Tomas Berdych, the man who also upset him in the US Open.

The world number six from the Czech Republic thrillingly turned the match around after a neck-and-neck second set tie-break, going on to win 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 against the five-time champion and set up a final against Novak Djokovic.

The Serbian world number one extended his unbeaten run to 17 matches and reached the 55th final of his career with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over Juan Martin Del Potro, the former US Open champion from Argentina.

Federer was on the verge of success at 6-4 and 8-7 in the tie break, with the second of the three points coming on his serve, only for Berdych to somehow get into a rally and win it with some fierce ground strokes.

One break of serve halfway through the final set then proved decisive, as Federer gambled more and more on rushing the net instead of continuing the bruising baseline exchanges which characterised the first two sets.

"It's obviously unfortunate, you know," said Federer, for whom this is a tournament in his second home. "Pity to lose that one, but Tomas did well to hang in there.

"Obviously I leave this match with a lot of regrets I'm feeling: serving for the match, with the serve, having chances in the beginning of the second, you know, when he wasn't quite in the match yet, to go break up, you know, set and a break, you know, a few points where things just didn't happen for me."

Of his best chance, the second match point, Federer said: "That's just disappointing right there, because the match was in my racket.

"You do all the right things for so long, and then at the end you've got to explain why you didn't hit two shots decent, you know. So it's disappointing."

Berdych was pleased that he avoided the perils of tension in the later stages, as he closed the match out.

"Staying calm is definitely the big thing I have been working on," he said. "And I am still working on it, especially with the serve. When I serve well I can do a lot of damage."

Earlier, Djokovic was again in fine fettle for a man who had not played a tournament since the successful defence of the Australian title nearly five weeks ago, and, after three solid wins already, he raised his level once more.

Djokovic was made to.

Del Potro hit fierce first serves and heavy ground strokes mixed in with thunderbolt accelerations with his forehand, advancing to a 3-0 lead in the second set.

Djokovic responded superbly when behind, containing brilliantly, moving superbly, and counter-attacking with excellent timing and accuracy.

However, his break back to 2-3 came amidst controversy. Umpire Magdi Somat imposed a time violation on Del Potro when he took a longer to prepare at a vital moment, at 30-40, break point down.

The Argentine walked up to the umpire to protest, gesticulating as he did so, and accompanied by a spate of boos from spectators. By the time the situation had calmed, the delay was at least twice the permitted 25 seconds.

There followed a forehand-to-forehand exchange ending with a mis-hit under pressure by Del Potro costing him the game. When they sat down at the change of ends there was another exchange between the umpire and Del Potro, with further jeering from spectators.

Djokovic was critical. "I don't know exactly if the chair umpire gave him unofficial verbal warning before that. If he didn't, then I don't agree with that decision," he said.

It muddied the waters and proved to be a turning point. It also landed the Argentine with extra pressure in his next service game and although he diligently saved two break points amidst a sequence of excellent rallies, Djokovic eventually broke serve.

"It was very important point for the game, for the match," Del Potro said of the timing of the umpire's decision. "Maybe he doesn't know about that, you know.

"I mean, in that moment, if you call warning or if you do something different, you can lose the focus and that's what happened with me."

-AFP/ac

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Amid US budget battle, another likely missed deadline

WASHINGTON: Leaders of a divided Congress acknowledged their failure to avert across-the-board spending cuts set to begin Friday, with lawmakers and the White House trading blame for the doomsday scenario that may lie ahead.

The only related actions of substance Thursday appeared to be votes on competing Senate bills, one sponsored by Democrats and the other by Republicans, to replace the indiscriminate budget austerity, which both sides wanted to avoid when it was baked into law in 2011, with targeted spending cuts and revenues.

President Barack Obama will make a final plea to bickering congressional leaders at a White House meeting on Friday, the last day before the severe cuts known as the sequester begin to kick in.

But many lawmakers from both sides have already resigned themselves to the realization that a deadline-beating budget deal to head off the damaging package of indiscriminate cuts totaling $85 billion this year is just not happening, and that a solution could arise from March negotiations over funding government operations for fiscal year 2013.

"We've laid our cards on the table," House Speaker John Boehner said in explaining why his chamber, which passed two sequester-replacement bills last year, would take no further action until the Senate passed a bill.

Some Republicans have begun to tone down the histrionics over the effects of the sequester, saying the cuts should be manageable -- even as the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday that the sequester will slow growth in the United States and have "an impact on global growth" as well.

But John Cornyn, the number two Republican in the Senate, said Thursday that Obama and his Democrats have been overstating their "apocalyptic predictions" of hundreds of thousands of job losses, a slash in economic growth, and harsh cuts to social services and national security.

"I would suggest... put down the Beltway Kool-Aid, because they are predicting a disaster that will not occur."

Some Republicans in the House agreed. "It is going to happen. It is 2.4 percent of the budget, and it is not the end of the world," Republican Representative Jim Jordan said in US News & World Report.

"We want the savings. We want to bank those savings, and we want to move on."

Democrats have put forward what they are touting as a "balanced plan" that raises new tax revenue to help replace the $85 billion in cuts.

It also cuts several billion dollars in what Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid called "wasteful subsidies to farmers," longstanding and controversial payments that some lawmakers first sought to scrap in the 1980s.

Republicans laid out a competing version that maintains the full financial effect of sequester, without raising new revenue, but gives the president broader "flexibility" to map out where the cuts would hit.

White House spokesman Jay Carney called the Republican proposal "the worst of all worlds."

"It explicitly protects pork-barrel projects and every single tax loophole that benefits the wealthy, but puts on the table cuts to things like Medicare and education, forcing middle-class families to bear the burden while asking nothing from the wealthiest Americans."

And Reid complained that such a plan would force Obama into deciding which programs stay and which get the axe.

But Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said that is precisely the leadership Obama needs to show in a time of crisis.

"It's your job to make the tough decisions," McConnell said of the president.

Democrats are trying to force Republicans into accepting more revenues through closing what Reid calls "wasteful tax loopholes" that favor millionaires.

But conservatives appeared to be standing firm, saying Obama got his $600 billion in tax revenues for the coming decade in the last fiscal negotiations in late December.

"Given those facts, the revenue issue is now closed," Boehner insisted.

Neither plan is likely to receive the necessary votes Thursday to move the legislation forward.

House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi called the delay "mindless," slamming the "anti-government ideologues" of the far right who were cheering for sequester.

Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer blamed Boehner for running out the clock until sequester hits, and he sounded resigned to the sequester sliding into effect after Friday.

"These votes (in the Senate) will not be the last word on the issue. The debate's only beginning," he said.

"In the coming weeks... we'll consider a budget that will keep these issues front and center."

Republicans in the House had similar intentions. They were coalescing around a plan that would see the sequester absorbed into negotiations on legislation that funds the government.

House Appropriations committee chairman Harold Rogers said there was broad support for the plan, which would pare down the $1.043 trillion discretionary spending budget for 2013 down to $974 billion, the difference being the amount of sequester cuts set to affect such spending.

-AFP/ac

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US army forced to release WikiLeaks case documents

FORT MEADE, Maryland: The US Army published dozens of documents online Wednesday in the case of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, after media outlets and other groups had criticized a lack of transparency.

The move came in response to multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to the case against Manning, who stands accused of passing a trove of secret files to Julian Assange's anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website.

Among the organizations that demanded access to the pre-trial documents were The Washington Post, CNN and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which all said they had been prevented from informing the public about the case.

Such documents have been sealed based on requests either by the prosecution or defense lawyers in the case against Manning, which is being heard in a military court at Fort Meade, Maryland, north of the US capital Washington.

In federal civilian court, similar types of documents are nearly always made public.

Even in the military commissions at the Guantanamo detention facility, where pre-trial hearings in the case against the 9/11 plotters are being heard, military lawyers have made such documents available.

On Wednesday, 84 court orders and rulings were released in the Manning case, including a partial transcription of a deposition made by Manning.

The 25-year-old Army private faces a slew of charges, including "aiding the enemy," for allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive US military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks.

He was arrested in May 2010 while serving as an intelligence analyst near Baghdad and subsequently charged over the largest leak of restricted documents in American history. The trial is expected to begin in June.

"Due to the voluminous nature of these documents, it will take additional time to review, redact, and release all of the responsive documents," the Army said in a statement, adding that 500 documents have been released thus far.

During Wednesday's hearing at Fort Meade, Judge Denise Lind dealt the defense a blow when she rejected their claim that the documents allegedly leaked by Manning were incorrectly marked top-secret.

"Evidence of overclassification is not relevant," she said.

The proceedings at Fort Meade are shown to reporters via closed circuit television with a slight delay, so the transmission can be cut if sensitive matters are discussed.

Prosecutors had asked that hearings be closed when classified information is to be discussed.

Prosecutor Ashden Fein said that of 141 possible witnesses, "some form of classification" should be used for testimony from 73 of them, though "not necessarily all their testimony."

Manning is expected to offer a revised plea proposal Thursday.

The most serious of the 22 charges against him, "aiding the enemy," carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, but Manning's team is trying to have that charge dropped.

-AFP/ac

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Oscars host says "no way" doing it again

LOS ANGELES: Oscars host Seth MacFarlane said Tuesday there is "no way" he will do the show again, after his performance was widely criticized as offensive and dull.

The "Family Guy" creator insisted it was fun to have hosted the 85th Academy Awards on Sunday, despite media and online critics panning the show, notably for jokes about actresses' breasts and Jews in Hollywood.

The choice of MacFarlane as Oscars host was seen as the latest attempt to attract younger viewers by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the august industry body which organizes Tinseltown's biggest awards show.

Viewing figures suggested that may have worked -- the US domestic audience was up 11 percent, to just over 40 million, according to the Nielsen media analysis and polling company.

But MacFarlane posted a Twitter exchange with a fan saying he won't do it again. "RT @CrusePhoto: @SethMacFarlane Would you host the #Oscars again if asked? // No way. Lotta fun to have done it, though," he tweeted.

The comic, who also created foul-mouthed movie bear Ted, had said before the show that he would probably not do it again, telling an interviewer last week: "Even if it goes great, I just don't think that I could do this again.

"It's just too much with everything else that I have to do. I'm happy to be doing it and I will be thrilled to have done it, assuming I get out of there in one piece, but I really think this is a one-time thing for me."

Critics slammed MacFarlane's opening segment as over-long -- and in particular blasted a song called "We Saw Your Boobs," which listed the actresses who had appeared topless on-screen.

A sketch featuring Ted provoked some of the harshest attacks, notably for jokes about Jewish control of Hollywood. The Anti-Defamation League, an anti-Semitism watchdog, blasted them as "offensive and not remotely funny."

On his Twitter feed Tuesday, MacFarlane also posted a link to an "interesting press article about the press anger over the Boobs song," and in another tweet noted: "My cat said the show went well."

-AFP/ac

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US special forces told to leave key Afghan province

KABUL: Afghanistan's president has ordered US special forces to leave a strategic province as he seeks tighter control over Afghan militia, exacerbating tensions before the 2014 withdrawal of NATO troops.

Hamid Karzai on Sunday gave American special forces two weeks to pull out of Wardak, a hotbed of Taliban activity on the doorstep of Kabul, accusing Afghans they work with of torture and murder that has incited local hatred.

It remained unclear what led Karzai to issue the order, two US officials said. "We're not aware of any incident that would have generated this kind of response," one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

At a news conference, spokesman for the US-led NATO mission Brigadier General Gunter Katz said: "We're looking at those allegations, we didn't find any evidence and we will talk to our colleagues and Afghan partners to find a solution."

The Pentagon confirmed that a special panel of Afghan officials and officers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were looking into Karzai's allegations.

"We're trying to seek clarity from the government of Afghanistan," spokesman George Little told reporters.

Asked if the United States would pull out its elite special operations units from the province, Little said: "It's premature to speculate on what the outcome of our discussions would be."

Wardak is a deeply troubled flashpoint where a Chinook helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in August 2011, killing eight Afghans and 30 Americans, in the deadliest single incident for American troops in the entire war.

Analysts said the order underscored Kabul's growing distrust of international troops and their desire to control local militia, who are trained by the Americans but operate without government control in the war against the Taliban.

Relations between Karzai and Washington have long been troubled, and with the bulk of NATO's 100,000 combat soldiers due to leave and the Afghan president to step down next year, there is huge uncertainty about the future.

"It appears to be an on-the-spot, emotional decision, based on a long-standing frustration that there are forces... Afghan and international, that are uncontrollable," said Martine van Bijlert of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

The New York Times quoted Afghan officials as saying the order was taken as a last resort after they had tried and failed to get the coalition to cooperate with an investigation into claims of murder, abduction and torture.

The presidency accused armed individuals working with US special forces of "harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people".

It cited, for example, a student who was taken away at night from his home and two days later was found dead with torture wounds and his throat cut.

Kabul did not specify which groups were responsible, but the United States is understood to have trained a variety of local militias, a number of which reportedly operate beyond the control of the Afghan government.

Karzai's order was issued amid sensitive discussions over the size and role of a residual force that could remain in Afghanistan after 2014 to focus on training and counter-terrorism operations.

Kabul and Washington are still negotiating an agreement on the legal status that could allow an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 American troops to remain.

On February 16, Karzai also restricted Afghan forces from calling in NATO air strikes -- an important weapon in the fight against insurgents -- amid concern over civilian casualties.

Some say the latest order exemplifies a conflict that many Afghans feel towards foreign troops -- that they are needed to counter the Taliban, but that civilian casualties and detentions can also make them part of the problem.

A spokesman for Wardak's governor said local residents have complained for two and a half months about US special forces and "their illegal Afghan armed forces arresting, torturing and even killing villagers".

"We want our Afghan security forces to take control of this province and replace these US special forces," the spokesman, Ataullah Khogyani, told AFP.

In the neighbouring province of Ghazni, dozens of protesters shut down the Kabul-Kandahar highway for around three hours, accusing the US-trained Afghan Local Police (ALP) of harassment and beatings, officials and witnesses said.

The ALP is often accused of thuggery and operating outside the law, and its reputation was further damaged on December 24 when an officer shot dead five of his colleagues.

-AFP/ac

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Calls mount for US action against Chinese hack attacks

WASHINGTON: Calls mounted Sunday for stiffer US action against Beijing for cyber spying and massive theft of US industrial secrets, allegedly by the Chinese military.

Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said it was "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that the Chinese military was behind a growing wave of hacking attacks on US businesses and institutions.

"They use their military to steal intellectual property from American businesses and European businesses, repurpose it, and compete in the international market against the United States," he said.

"It's unprecedented," he said on ABC's This Week. "And I'll tell you, it's bad as I have ever seen it. It's getting worse. Why? There's no consequence for it."

In the most detailed account yet of the cyber spying, a report this week by the Mandiant security firm said it traced back attacks by one group of hackers to a building on the outskirts of Shanghai that houses a unit of the People's Liberation Army.

The report said the hackers, known as "APT1" or "Comment Crew," had stolen data from at least 141 organisations across 20 industries.

Last month the New York Times and other American media outlets reported they had come under hacking attacks from China, and a US congressional report last year named the country as "the most threatening actor in cyberspace."

China has called the charges "groundless," and state media has accused Washington of scapegoating Beijing to deflect attention from US economic problems.

Eliot Engel, the top Democrat in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said US lawmakers raised the issue with top Chinese officials during a recent visit to Beijing.

"And they just let it roll off their back. They pooh-pooh it. They don't admit to it," he said on ABC.

But he said it was "fundamental" to the US relationship with the Chinese.

"I think we have to make it very clear to them that this cannot be business as usual. If they're going to continue to do this to the extent that they're doing it, there's a price to pay," he said.

Rogers drew a distinction between cyber espionage to steal state secrets, which he said all states engage in, and the theft of blueprints and industrial secrets from US companies for economic reasons.

He said the United States should respond by "indicting bad actors," and suggested that Washington deny visas to individuals in China who are involved in the hacking and their families.

"I'm arguing let's start the indictment process to send a message to China that you cannot, if you want to be an international player, you can't act like a thief in the night," he said.

- AFP/jc

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Fighting rages in northern Mali after suicide bombs

BAMAKO: Tuareg militias battled Arab rebels in northern Mali Saturday, while French jets, US drones and Chad's elite desert forces were also in action in a major push to stamp out resistance from pockets of Islamist fighters.

After recapturing the north's cities from the Al Qaeda groups that had controlled them since April 2012, the six-week-old French-led offensive took the fight to the retreating Islamist insurgents' toughest desert bastions.

The Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA), a group formed in March last year, said it had attacked Tuaregs of the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) at In-Khalil, near the northern town of Tessalit -- the same area where suicide car bombers killed three people on Friday.

Boubacar Taleb, one of the MAA's leaders, told AFP: "We attacked In-Khalil at 0400 GMT and took control of the area."

Fighting in the area, which lies near Mali's border with Algeria, had stopped late Saturday afternoon, said Mohamed Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, a spokesman for the MNLA based in Burkina Faso.

Assaleh claimed the MNLA, which has been cooperating with French forces to flush out Islamists from northern Mali, had fought off "jihadist fighters" from the "Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), the MAA and Ansar Al-Charia" rebel groups that are vying for control of northern Mali.

MNLA had taken nine prisoners, he said, "six who claim to be from Mujao and three from Ansar Al-Charia".

According to a source at the MAA and regional security sources, French airstrikes in support of MNLA hit an empty vehicle belonging to the MAA near In-Khalil.

France's campaign will receive a boost with the imminent arrival of several Predator drones and 100 military personnel sent by the US to Niger to fly surveillance missions in support of French forces in Mali.

Earlier Saturday, the Al-Qaeda-linked MUJAO claimed responsibility for Friday's bombings and said it was specifically targeting the MNLA.

"Through the car bombings against MNLA elements in the In-Khalil zone, the MUJAO is committed to pursuing jihad against infidels," group spokesman Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui said in a statement sent to AFP in Bamako.

On Thursday, MUJAO also claimed an attack in the northern city of Kidal where a vehicle exploded near a camp occupied by French and Chadian troops.

The mountainous Ifoghas region between Tessalit and Kidal is strategically important, seen as a stronghold for many Tuaregs and used by Islamists as a hideout from French forces.

On Friday, Chad, which also has troops in Mali, suffered its heaviest losses so far after clashes with Islamists in the Ifoghas region. The Chadian army said 65 Islamist fighters and 13 of its own were killed.

French President Francois Hollande praised the courage of the Chadian troops which he said was proof of "African solidarity toward Mali".

Speaking at the Paris Agriculture Show on Saturday, he said: "Our Chadian friends launched an offensive that was very tough, and with significant loss of life."

"These battles will continue. This now is really the final stage of the process...," he said.

France sent in troops on January 11 to help the Malian army oust Islamist militants who last year captured the desert north of the country.

Since then, thousands of soldiers from African countries have also deployed, and France plans to start withdrawing its troops next month.

In Saturday's statement, the MUJAO spokesman warned that future suicide attacks are planned in Mali's capital as well as in the capitals of Burkina Faso and Niger, whose troops are part of the African force in Mali.

He also demanded that the groups holding French hostages in the Sahel region and in Niger kill their victims in revenge against France, which he accused of "staging a crusade against Islam and Muslims".

Seven members of a French family, including four young children, were seized by kidnappers in Cameroon on Tuesday and are believed to have been taken over the border into Nigeria.

France's foreign ministry on Saturday warned travellers to West Africa, and Benin in particular, to be on high alert for kidnappings and attacks.

French-led forces met little resistance during the initial offensive that drove the Islamists from the main northern centres of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

Now, however, they are facing a guerrilla campaign that includes sudden raids, suicide attacks and land mines.

- AFP/jc

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Slovenian government slapped with no-confidence motion

LJUBLJANA: Slovenia's main opposition party Positive Slovenia (PS) filed Friday a no-confidence vote motion against the government, likely spelling an end for Prime Minister Janez Jansa's troubled administration.

"We have decided to bring this agony to an end," the head of PS's parliamentary group Jani Moderndorfer said after filing the motion in parliament.

The centre-left party suggested its acting leader Alenka Bratusek form a new government that will "pull Slovenia out of this political crisis and end the agony of Janez Jansa's government."

Slovenia's government has been slowly falling apart ever since the country's anti-corruption watchdog in January published the results of a probe containing corruption allegations against Jansa.

Two junior partners -- the pensioners' party DESUS and the Civil List (DL) -- quit the five-way ruling coalition after Jansa rejected their call to resign, with a third party, the People's Party (SLS), threatening to leave as well.

With support from just a third of deputies in the 90-seat parliament, Jansa's government is now unlikely to survive the no-confidence vote, which has to take place in the next seven days, although a date has not yet been set.

Moderndorfer said Friday that Bratusek had already met with the leaders of the opposition Social Democrats Party (SD) as well as DESUS and the Civil List, and had their support for a new government.

"We have agreed that all the conditions exist for us to make a step forward," the PS deputy said, describing the current turmoil as "the deepest political crisis in Slovenia's history."

The no-confidence vote motion was presented only hours after Foreign Minister and DESUS leader Karl Erjavec, as well as Health Minister Tomaz Gantar, quit the government in line with their party.

Former PS leader and Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic, who was also accused of irregularities by the anti-corruption watchdog in January, finally agreed to step down on Thursday, leaving the room free for Bratusek to represent the party.

PS won early elections in 2011, gaining 27 seats in parliament. But when it failed to agree on a coalition government, the mandate went to Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party, which has 26 seats.

- AFP/jc

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Massive winter storm blankets central US

CHICAGO: A massive winter storm blanketed much of the central United States Thursday and looked set to keep dumping heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain for days as it makes its way slowly towards the east coast.

The National Weather service reported that as much as 38 centimetres of snow had fallen in parts of Colorado and New Mexico by Thursday morning and warned that many areas would get at least 30 centimetres by the time the slow-moving storm passed.

Those living on the southern end of the storm were faced with a dangerous mix of freezing rain and sleet and Arkansas was on an ice storm warning.

"Heavy snow along with some blowing and drifting snow will result in very poor visibility at times and cause snow packed and treacherous driving conditions," the weather service warned.

"The most significant ice accumulations are expected on trees, power lines and untreated highways."

The governor of Missouri declared a state of emergency as the storm lashed the midwestern state with a dangerous mix of ice and as much as 25 centimetres of snow overnight.

"Missouri stands ready to help communities in need and to deploy the resources to keep folks safe," Governor Jay Nixon said. "I urge all Missourians to keep a close eye on the weather and avoid unnecessary travel."

The state of Kansas shuttered government offices Thursday to keep non-essential workers off the treacherous roads and scores of business owners and school officials followed suit.

The blizzard was so intense in some areas that snow plows were getting stuck and ambulances had trouble getting patients to hospitals.

"The roads throughout Wichita (Kansas) are snow-packed and many are impassible," the Sedgwick county emergency management office warned on its website. "Please stay home and off the roads unless absolutely necessary."

- AFP/fa

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EU nears national budget oversight

BRUSSELS: The EU moved closer Wednesday to centralised oversight on national budgets, negotiators said, an increasingly sensitive topic as Brussels readies to issue new economic forecasts with France in the firing line over puny growth and a probable deficit overshoot.

Long-contested tweaks to a package of laws designed to harmonise economic governance especially across the eurozone met with a breakthrough, participants said.

The talks included European Parliament, the European Commission and the current Irish chair of the council of European Union governments.

The idea is that national spending decisions not only are proofed by Brussels before parliamentary approval is sought, but also that priority -- and leeway if excessive deficits return -- is given to spending towards growth and jobs, the new EU mantra amid dogged recession.

The deal has still to pass a full vote in the EU legislature, but talks co-sponsor, Portuguese Socialist MEP Elisa Ferreira, said that with austerity "not delivering ... we need to adapt the medicine."

She underlined: "We need to rebalance our short-term objectives to better address growth and the vicious spiral of high debt-financing interest rates.

"Countries now making superhuman sacrifices need to know that their efforts are recognised and will be rewarded."

EU economy and euro commissioner Olli Rehn, whose forecasts on Friday morning will mainly be watched for their likely effect on French leaders' promises to meet treaty-agreed deficit targets, also hailed the agreement.

-AFP/ac

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Pistorius says "no intention" to kill girlfriend

PRETORIA: South African Olympic hero Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday tearfully denied the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, telling a court he shot at her through a locked bathroom door believing she was an intruder.

"I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva," Pistorius said in an affidavit at a court hearing in the capital Pretoria, his first public comments on the Valentine's Day killing.

The 26-year-old double amputee track star broke down in tears repeatedly as his own words filled the court: "We were deeply in love and couldn't be more happy."

"I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he said in the statement, read out by his lawyer as Pistorius sat in the dock, struggling to hold his composure.

At one point the court was forced to break so the track star could get himself together.

"He's definitely been broken," his public relations manager Stuart Higgins said.

As the court hearing was under way, Steenkamp was being laid to rest at an emotional private ceremony at a crematorium in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.

The "Blade Runner" became an inspiration to millions when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics.

He now faces a charge of premeditated murder, which will likely result in remand without bail and, if convicted, a life sentence behind bars.

Pistorius said the couple, who had been dating since late last year, had spent the evening at his upscale Pretoria home watching television and with the 29-year-old Steenkamp doing yoga.

He awoke in the dead of night to bring in a fan from the balcony when he heard a noise.

"Filled with horror and fear" that someone was in the bathroom, he said he felt "very vulnerable" because he did not have his prosthetic legs on.

"I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police.

"Reeva was not responding. When I reached the bed, I realised that Reeva was not in bed.

"That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet."

After smashing the door with a cricket bat, Pistorius said "Reeva was slumped over but alive"

"I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms."

He said he kept a firearm, a 9 mm Parabellum, under his bed at night because he had been a "victim of violence and burglaries before."

He was not only acutely aware of intruders intending to commit violent crime but that "I have received death threats before."

Prosecutors argued that far from being an accident, Steenkamp's death was a premeditated act of murder.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court Pistorius had armed himself, put on his prosthetic legs, walked seven metres and fired four shots into the bathroom door, hitting a terrified Steenkamp three times and fatally wounding her.

"She could go nowhere," Nel said. "She locked the door for a purpose. We will get to that purpose."

There was no decision on bail Tuesday, with court proceedings adjourned until Wednesday.

Prosecution spokesman Medupe S'Maiku said the hearings could take all week.

Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder for the purposes of bail.

But Pistorius's legal team rejected the claims as he sought to argue he was not a flight risk.

Pistorius revealed he earned 5.6 million rand ($640,000) a year and owned the $570,000 house in the gated estate where the killing took place and two other homes.

Lawyers submitted affidavits from friends of both Pistorius and Steenkamp, which spoke of the couple's close relationship.

Pistorius, who off the track has a rocky private life of rash behaviour, beautiful women, guns and fast cars, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public relations experts for his defence.

In 2009 Pistorius -- who once admitted to a newspaper that he slept with a pistol, machine gun, cricket bat and baseball bat for fear of burglars -- spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a party.

Meanwhile in Port Elizabeth, tearful friends and family said goodbye to Steenkamp, whose cloth-draped coffin with white flowers laid on top was carried into a chapel in the southeastern coastal city where she grew up.

"There's a space missing inside all of the people that she knew that can't be filled again," her brother Adam, who gave the eulogy, said after the ceremony. "We'll miss her."

A funeral programme simply entitled "Reeva" bore the dates of her birth and death, and a black-and-white portrait of Steenkamp with the words "God's Gift, A Child" written on the back.

Pistorius, a Paralympian gold-medallist, became the first double amputee to run against able-bodied athletes at last year's Olympics in London on the carbon-fibre running blades that inspired his nickname.

But his career has been put on hold since the shooting, forcing him to cancel races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May.

The case has shocked South Africa, where Pistorius is still considered by many to be a shining example of how individuals can triumph over adversity.

South Africa's sports minister on Tuesday expressed shock and disbelief that the star has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend as the country battles epidemic levels of violence against women.

"None of our sporting heroes and heroines should be associated with such acts of violence against women and children," said Fikile Mbalula.

-AFP/ac

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Shadow of corruption scandal looms over Spanish royal family

MADRID: Spanish King Juan Carlos' son-in-law will be questioned Saturday by a judge investigating a corruption case as press reports make new revelations that cast a growing shadow on the entire royal family.

Inaki Urdangarin and former partner Diego Torres are suspected of siphoning off millions of euros paid by regional governments to the Noos Institute, a charitable organisation which Urdangarin chaired from 2004 to 2006.

The money was meant to cover the cost of staging sporting and tourism events.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing and have not been charged with any crime.

Spain's two main daily newspapers, El Pais and El Mundo, on Monday published e-mails supposedly sent by Urdangarin which appear to indicate that the king backed and closely followed his business career closely.

The revelations are embarrassing for the royal palace which has tried to mark a clear border between Urdangarin's business affairs and the royal family, especially Urdangarin's wife, Princess Cristina, since the scandal erupted at the end of 2011.

Princess Cristina was a non-executive director at the Noos Institute but has not been called to appear in court for questioning.

In one of the e-mails allegedly sent by Urdangarin in March 2005 published Monday, he wrote to Corinna Wittgenstein, a twice-divorced German aristocrat described by Spanish media as a close friend of the king, to ask for her help in landing him a job at an international sports organisation.

"Excuse my silence during these last few days. I wanted to check with my father-in-law and Alberto Aza as well before I give you feedback," he allegedly wrote in the e-mail in a reference to the king and the former head of the royal household.

During a court appearance on Saturday, Torres told the judge leading the investigation that "the royal palace supervised the activities of the Noos Institute", El Pais reported Sunday.

Torres also "directly called into question the king" by revealing that the monarch was referred to as "the boss" in internal discussions at the Noos Institute, the newspaper reported.

Torres' defence team have turned over nearly 200 e-mails, including those published in Spanish media on Monday, to the investigating judge.

The royal family sidelined Urdangarin, who acquired the title of Duke of Palma in 1997 when he wed Cristina, from all official royal activities at the end of 2011 and last month he was removed from the family website.

The 45-year-old former Olympic handball player was jeered in February last year when he appeared in court to be questioned for the first time as part of the probe.

He will be grilled again at the court in Palma on Saturday, the same day that Carlos Garcia Revenga, secretary to the king's daughters Elena and Cristina is set to be questioned in the case.

Revenga will be questioned about his role at the Noos Institute and "his possible work as an advisor" to Urdangarin, the court source said.

The palace has said it would keep Garcia in his post and would take no action until he goes before the judge.

Earlier this month the court said it would begin freezing assets belonging to Urdangarin and his former business partner after they missed a deadline to pay bail of 8.2 million euros ($11.1 million).

Since the bail was applied in a civil case the two will not go to jail for not paying the sum.

-AFP/ac

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Tennis: Azarenka beats Serena to retain Qatar title

DOHA: Victoria Azarenka avenged the loss of her world number one ranking to Serena Williams by beating the American for only the second time in 13 attempts to successfully defend her Qatar Open title on Sunday.

The Belarusian's 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 6-3 win over the legendary American also completed back-to-back title defences, as last month she also defended the Australian Open title in Melbourne.

"I just wanted to fight and give it my best, and give myself every opportunity," said Azarenka, when asked how she recovered from the one-sided loss of the second set.

"I started at love-30 down and it was 'you have to keep it together and pull it around'. Serena was on a roll. I knew she would bring her A game, and I was really glad I could stay tough and focussed."

Williams, 31, insisted she will take comfort from becoming the oldest woman to take the world number one spot on Monday.

"I can't say that I'm depressed like I am whenever I lose. I'm definitely not happy, but I'm number one," she said.

"It was such a long journey, and after winning Wimbledon and the US Open and the (season-ending) Championships, I thought, I just don't think I can win anymore. I don't know what it takes to be number one.

"So it was awesome to come here and achieve that goal."

Azarenka was helped by Williams making the worst of starts. She was twice break point down in her opening service game, but held on. She followed it with two double faults and two unforced errors to drop serve in her second service game.

Unforced errors continued to spray from Williams' racket, especially on the forehand, and by the fourth game she was showing signs of fretting, looking repeatedly at her camp and grimacing.

At that stage Azarenka had won 12 straight points and was hitting the ball well, with a clear game plan to strike as early and as far up the court as possible, often targeting the Williams forehand. Williams responded by ditching her racket.

The new one soon brought improvements but Azarenka had advanced to 4-2 before Williams broke back. She also complained to the umpire about Azarenka repeatedly putting her hand up before receiving serve, affecting her rhythm.

Williams' aura of frustration continued into the tie-break even though by then she was bombarding Azarenka far more heavily.

She came from 2-5 down to earn a set point at 6-5, only for Azarenka to save it with an excellent combination of a solid return and a heavy backhand drive.

When Azarenka immediately bettered it with a spectacular inside-out return of serve winner to reach 7-6, she converted her set point at once.

But the second set was very different. Azarenka's level dropped just a little, and Williams' forehand drives were rapidly improving.

Williams gave Azarenka several looks at second serves in her first service game of the final set and was immediately punished by the defending champion hitting some forcing returns and trenchant winners.

Azarenka advanced to 3-0 before Williams responded to another threat to her service game -- one which might have taken the match away from her -- with four aces.

But Williams was unable to repeat the escape act that she had against Petra Kvitova from 1-4 down in the final set of their quarter-final on Friday.

"It's been great," Williams nevertheless commented, having achieved her main aim of the week. "

It was a good match overall. Victoria played really well, and did a great job."

-AFP/ac

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Slain Pistorius girlfriend leaves haunting TV message

JOHANNESBURG: A celebrity television show on Saturday aired haunting footage of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend speaking about the need to leave a positive mark on life, words laden with unintended poignancy two days after her shocking death.

"Not just your journey in life, but the way that you go out and make your exit is so important, you have either made an impact in a positive way or a negative way," Reeva Steenkamp said in the celebrity reality TV show.

The 29-year-old model and law school graduate was shot four times at Pistorius's home in the early hours of Valentine's Day on Thursday in a case that shocked the country and topped news broadcasts around the world.

Pistorius -- a national icon who inspired people around the world when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympic Games last year -- remained in a police cell on Saturday, charged with murdering his girlfriend in cold blood.

His uncle on Saturday gave the strongest indication yet that the star athlete, who broke down sobbing during his initial court appearance the previous day, would plead not guilty to the charges against him.

"We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the State's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all," Arnold Pistorius said in a statement.

"We are all grieving for Reeva, her family and her friends," he said.

"Oscar -- as you can imagine -- is also numb with shock as well as grief."

The track star faces a life sentence if convicted of premeditated murder, as alleged by state prosecutors.

Arnold Pistorius added that the couple "had plans together."

"Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time."

On Saturday, television offered the world a small glimpse of the less well-known half of the doomed couple.

A one minute tribute before "Tropika Island of Treasure" showed Steenkamp appearing contemplative and at ease with herself, sitting beneath a beach-front palm, dressed in a strappy top and a yellow, black and dotted bikini, with her blonde hair tied back.

Looking deep into the camera, she also offered some advice to the up to three million people who watch the show every week.

"Just maintain integrity and maintain class and just always be true to yourself," she said in what now sounds like a soliloquy on a life cut short.

"I'm going to miss you all so much."

But there were plenty of more light-hearted moments.

Steenkamp is seen swimming with dolphins and smiling broadly as she floats down the jungle-flanked Martha Brae River on a punted bamboo raft.

The model blew kisses, laughed and splashed across an aquatic obstacle course with other contestants trying not to be voted off the show.

The reality show, shot on location in Jamaica, featured the slain model as well as 13 other local personalities competing for one million rand ($113,500) prize money.

Producers defended their decision not to shelve the show, instead painting its broadcast as a tribute to Steenkamp.

"She was happy, healthy, beautiful and vibrant and that's the way she should be remembered," said executive producer Samantha Moon.

In an earlier statement Moon said the decision to broadcast Tropika Island of Treasure 5 was taken after "much deliberation."

"This week's episode will be dedicated to Reeva's memory."

The show was broadcast on state television channel SABC1, which said Steenkamp's mother had given the showing her blessing.

Many more than the three million South Africans who normally watch the show were expected to tune in.

Many found it bitter sweet.

"It's so painful watching Reeva smile at us on TV, while knowing she's no longer with us" MotsoPitsi wrote on Twitter.

"Tragic loss of Reeva Steenkamp-she looked so vibrant, sweet, young and beautiful. So said for her family," wrote Cavil Shepherd.

Born in the southern city of Port Elizabeth, Steenkamp moved to Johannesburg six years ago to pursue her modelling career. She had been dating Pistorius since at least November.

Elsewhere forensics teams are still working at Pistorius' home to try and establish what took place before and after Steenkamp was shot in the head and hand.

And the medal winner was expected to receive visits from family and from members of his defence team, who are preparing for a bail hearing that will begin Tuesday ahead of what is expected to be a lengthy trial. The state is expected to strongly oppose bail.

Meanwhile unconfirmed details of Steenkamp's last hours appeared in the South African press.

Beeld, an Afrikaans newspaper which initially broke the story of the murder, reported that two hours before the shooting neighbours complained to complex security over the loud fighting at the house.

Beeld had initially said Steenkamp was shot having been mistaken for an intruder, but this claim has been dismissed by police and prosecutors.

The daily also reported that Steenkamp was shot through the bathroom door while on the toilet.

Using unnamed and unquoted sources the paper said Pistorius carried Steenkamp in his arms downstairs and tried performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

When guards arrived Steenkamp was breathing, but was gargling blood because of her injuries.

The paper also reported that aside from the weapon used to kill Steenkamp, Pistorius had pending licence applications for seven other guns, including .223 semi-automatic -- the same type of weapon used to kill 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the United States in December.

- AFP/fa

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US mulls calls to restore N. Korea to terror list

WASHINGTON: The United States has not decided whether to put North Korea back on a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, but its status is regularly reviewed, a top US official said Friday.

The comments came as the US House of Representatives Friday overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning North Korea's nuclear test earlier this week, and urging the administration to apply all available sanctions to Pyongyang.

North Korea will also likely be raised in talks next week in Washington between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Barack Obama.

The White House said in a statement Friday that Obama was looking "forward to in-depth discussions" with Abe on a range of bilateral and global issues as well as "the US-Japan security alliance, economic and trade issues."

North Korea was added to the State Department's blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism on January 20, 1988, following the bombing by its agents of a KAL plane on November 29, 1987 which killed all 115 on board.

But it was removed in October 2008 under then president George W. Bush, when the State Department said the North was not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since that bombing.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told journalists Friday there was nothing new to reveal, but stressed the US constantly reviews intelligence "to determine whether the facts would put them back in that category."

"Countries that have a track record of past terrorist activity, that have been removed from the list, are regularly reviewed to check whether that kind of behaviour has resumed," she added.

Under US law a country can only be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism if the secretary of state determines that the government "has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," she said.

Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen put the bipartisan draft bill before the House which implicitly calls for Pyongyang to be redesignated a state sponsor of terrorism -- an exclusive club which includes Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "has made his priorities clear: to obtain a nuclear weapon and to proliferate nuclear technology with rogue regimes, such as Iran and Syria," Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.

"I call upon the administration to take the appropriate action necessary to designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and stand in solidarity with our South Korean and Japanese allies," Ros-Lehtinen said.

- AFP/fa

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Olympics: Hands off wrestling, say Greeks

ATHENS: Greece threw its weight behind the campaign to keep wrestling, a sport which has survived from the ancient Olympics, on the Games programme on Thursday.

Greek Sports Undersecretary Giannis Ioannidis called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to remove the sport from the 2020 programme.

In a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, Ioannidis said he expressed the feelings "of all the Greeks, but also the respect of our people and its sports history to keep the sport of wrestling in the Olympic Games programme".

The 15-member Executive Board of the IOC on Tuesday voted to remove wrestling from the Olympic schedule.

"With great surprise and great sadness we learned of the decision of the IOC Executive Board to remove the sport of wrestling from the program of the Olympic Games of 2020. The sport of wrestling is connected with Greece and the ancient Olympic Games," Ioannidis wrote to Rogge.

The Greek official added that wrestling has a huge global appeal, noting that the International Wrestling Federation has 180 countries as members.

"The history, the tradition and the social acceptance that marks the sport should not be sacrificed on the altar of media ratings and marketing," Ioannidis said.

On Wednesday the Hellenic Olympic Committee announced they fully support the Greek wrestling federation's fight.

"This is one decision that is clearly at variance with the history of the Olympics and sport in general," it said.

"There should be a revision of this decision and the Hellenic Olympic Committee will support with all its forces, any effort in this direction."

Greek wrestling federation president Kostas Thanos had already condemned the decision by the IOC was "sacrilege".

"Wrestling is a sport that is identified with the Olympics and we cannot throw away such a symbol. The way they are going they may even remove the name Olympics," Thanos said in a radio interview.

- AFP/jc

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Bahrainis protest on eve of revolt anniversary

MANAMA: Thousands of Bahraini Shiites took to the streets Wednesday on the eve of the second anniversary of their crushed uprising, as a national dialogue aimed at ending a political stalemate resumed.

Following a call by opposition groups, demonstrators marched in 12 villages and chanted anti-regime slogans, witnesses said, amid calls for a general strike and nationwide protests on Thursday and Friday to commemorate the uprising.

"Khalifa! Step down," they chanted, addressing Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, an uncle of King Hamad who has been in office for more than four decades and is widely despised by the Shiite majority.

Although the protests ended peacefully, groups of youths later blocked streets in the village of Sitra, southeast of Manama, with garbage bins and rocks, an AFP correspondent said.

Riot police fired tear gas and shotguns to disperse them.

More demonstrations are expected on Thursday following calls by the February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition.

The clandestine radical cyber group has also urged a Friday march on what was once known as Pearl Square, where protesters camped for a month before being forcefully driven out in mid-March 2011.

The mainstream opposition led by the Al-Wefaq Shiite formation called for a demonstration on Friday in Shiite villages.

The Bahraini authorities have in turn appealed for people to ignore the calls for strikes and civil disobedience.

Meanwhile, representatives of the opposition, and other pro-government political groups, and the government held on Wednesday a new session of talks of the national dialogue that resumed at the weekend, BNA state news agency reported.

Opposition groups, including Al-Wefaq, made a last-minute decision to join the talks after they had walked out in the first round in July 2011, complaining that they were not serious.

But protesters voiced their opposition to the initiative on Wednesday, chanting: "No to dialogue".

The opposition issued a statement at the end of the demonstrations insisting that an end to Bahrain's deadlock would be through a "comprehensive political solution that would hand power to the people and end dictatorship".

Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since its forces crushed the protests in March 2011. The unrest has so far left 80 people dead, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

- AFP/jc

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Fears of 'catastrophic' violence in tense Mali

GAO, Mali: Mali risks descending into "catastrophic" violence, the UN rights chief warned on Tuesday, as tensions swept the country after a string of attacks by Islamist rebels on French-led forces.

After four days of suicide bombings and guerrilla fighting in the northern city of Gao, fears of fresh attacks were high following a call from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - which US officials have labelled Al-Qaeda's most dangerous franchise - for a holy war in Mali.

UN rights chief Navi Pillay warned a second kind of violence also threatened the country - reprisal attacks by the army and black majority on light-skinned Tuaregs and Arabs accused of supporting the rebel groups that have plunged Mali into crisis.

"As the situation evolves, attacks and reprisals risk driving Mali into a catastrophic spiral of violence," Pillay told the UN Security Council.

"Protection of human rights is key to stabilising the situation."

Pillay said human rights investigators from her department had started arriving in the Malian capital last week, and called on all sides in the conflict to refrain from revenge attacks.

Rights groups have accused the Malian army of killing suspected rebel supporters and dumping their bodies in wells.

Tuaregs and Arabs have also come under attack from their black neighbours in northern towns such as Timbuktu, where looting broke out after French-led forces reclaimed the city and a mob tried to lynch an alleged Islamist supporter.

A grave containing several Arabs' bodies was recently discovered in Timbuktu.

With fears of reprisal attacks high, many Arabs and Tuaregs have fled.

In all, the crisis has caused some 377,000 people to flee their homes, including 150,000 who have sought refuge across Mali's borders, according to the UN.

Mali imploded after a March 22 coup by soldiers who blamed the government for the army's humiliation at the hands of north African Tuareg rebels, who have long complained of being marginalised by Bamako.

With the capital in disarray, Al-Qaeda-linked fighters hijacked the Tuareg rebellion and took control of the north.

Analysts say the crisis has been fuelled by a complex interplay of internal tensions and international factors, including Al-Qaeda's call to jihad.

Those concerns were underlined Tuesday when AQAP, Al-Qaeda's Yemen-based branch, condemned France's month-old intervention as a "crusader campaign against Islam" and called all Muslims to join a holy war against it.

"Supporting the Muslims in Mali is a duty for every capable Muslim with life and money, everyone according to their ability," AQAP's Sharia Committee said in a statement reported by the SITE Intelligence agency.

Around 90 percent of Malians are Muslim, but the Islamists' hardline ideology is not broadly accepted.

AQAP said jihad is "more obligatory on the people who are closer" to the fight and that "helping the disbelievers against Muslims in any form is apostasy", said US-based SITE, which monitors extremist Internet forums.

The statements were an apparent reference to north African countries, notably Algeria, where Islamist gunmen attacked a gas field after the government agreed to let French warplanes use Algerian airspace, unleashing a hostage crisis that left 37 foreigners dead.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Qaeda's north African branch, is one of the groups that seized control of northern Mali for 10 months in the wake of a March coup, along with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and and Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith).

France launched its operation in Mali on January 11, after the interim government called for help fending off Islamist insurgents who were advancing into southern territory.

But after pushing the rebels from the towns under their control, France is eager to wind down the operation in its former colony and hand over to United Nations peacekeepers.

The European Union said on Tuesday it would resume aid to impoverished Mali worth up to 250 million euros that was suspended after the coup.

Britain also announced aid of 5 million pounds ($7.8 million, 5.8 million euros) to buy food, medical supplies and clean water for civilians caught up in the conflict.

- AFP/de

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NKorea withdraws from nuclear test site: report

SEOUL: North Korea has pulled manpower and equipment out of its nuclear test site, a report said Monday, which cited the move as a possible sign of an imminent blast.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said that Seoul has been keeping close watch on the underground Punggye-ri nuclear test site, as no movement of manpower and equipment has been observed there since Friday.

The agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the apparent withdrawal could point to a nuclear test being carried out soon.

North Korea has warned of a third atomic test since last month, but has not specified a date.

"When manpower and equipment are withdrawn, it can be an indication that a nuclear test is imminent," the source told Yonhap, requesting anonymity.

"We're watching the developments closely to know whether a nuclear test is imminent or it's another deceptive tactic," the source added.

Another Seoul government source told Yonhap that the withdrawal of manpower and equipment could be linked to the Lunar New Year's holiday, which is celebrated for three days in North Korea, having started on Sunday.

Yonhap said it was unclear whether the withdrawal was temporary.

Seoul has predicted Pyongyang may carry out its third nuclear test between the end of the holiday and the late leader Kim Jong-il's birthday on February 16, Yonhap said.

The withdrawal from the northeastern nuclear site comes after North Korea accused the United States and South Korea of "fussing over speculation" in Japan-based pro-North weekly magazine Tongil Sinbo, funded by Pyongyang.

"They are fussing over speculation without having a clue about what important state measures will be taken, including whether it will be a nuclear test or something worse than that," said the editorial, dated Friday and posted on the North's official website, Uriminzokkiri.

The North's top body, the National Defence Commission, announced on January 24 it would carry out a "high-level nuclear test" and further rocket launches, in a defiant response to tightened UN sanctions after its successful long-range rocket launch in December.

The isolated communist state insists the rocket launch was a scientific mission aimed at putting a satellite into an orbit.

But the US and many other countries viewed it as a disguised ballistic missile test, banned under UN resolutions which were triggered by Pyongyang's previous nuclear and missile tests in 2006 and 2009.

Experts and Seoul officials, citing recent satellite imagery, say the impoverished but nuclear-armed state has completed preparations for another atomic test at the northeastern nuclear site.

- AFP/jc

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