 The frontrunner in the French presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy, has said France is "exasperated by uncontrolled immigration". Mr Sarkozy, of the centre-right UMP party, put the "national identity dispute" centre-stage on Monday. A riot in Paris last week sparked by the arrest of a Congolese man fuelled debate about immigration and security. Mr Sarkozy recently resigned as interior minister to concentrate on his campaign for the 22 April election. "What exasperates France?" Mr Sarkozy asked at a news conference on Monday. "France is exasperated by the dispute about national identity, by uncontrolled immigration, by fraud, by waste". He said there was "an obvious link between 30 or 40 years of a policy of uncontrolled immigration and the social explosion in French cities". On Sunday Mr Sarkozy, himself the son of a Hungarian immigrant, accused his main rival, Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, of "hysteria" over her reaction to his comments on immigration and national identity...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 07:25:00 04-02-07
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 Truck bomber kills 13, injures dozens in Kirkuk |
A suicide truck bomber targeted a police station in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, including many children from a nearby school, police said. The attacker rammed the truck into the concrete blast barriers protecting the back of the compound at about 11:30 a.m., detonating his explosives, which were hidden under bags of flour, local police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said. The Rahim Awa police compound is in a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in a northern part of the city, and other officials said U.S. troops had been visiting an Iraqi criminal investigations unit there when the blast occurred. AP Television News footage showed one U.S. soldier seen standing nearby with a bandage around his head and blood on the front of his uniform. The U.S. command in Baghdad said it was looking into the report....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17909227/
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Editor - 07:21:00 04-02-07
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| Thousands flee Somalia fighting |
Tens of thousands of people have fled the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after days of intense violence said to be the worst in 15 years, the UN has said. Many used a lull in the fighting to flee the city on Monday, after four days of Ethiopian troop attacks on Islamist insurgents and local militias. However, hundreds of extra Ethiopian troops have also arrived in Mogadishu. Hospitals have reported scores of people killed, while residents have spoken of indiscriminate shelling. The UN Refugee Agency said some 56,000 people fled Mogadishu in March, with most (47,000) leaving the city since 21 March. A total of 96,000 people left their homes during February and March, the agency said. Many set off on long and dangerous journeys through areas controlled by rival clans rather than stay in the Mogadishu. Fighters hostile to the interim government have been setting up roadblocks in the capital. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6517205.stm
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Editor - 07:19:00 04-02-07
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| Bankers Mull $100 Billion LBO in Year of Record Deals |
Bankers are salivating over about $2 billion of fees from leveraged buyouts in the first quarter, and that's just a fraction of what they're assured of earning in the busiest year so far for mergers and acquisitions. The value of announced LBOs surged 40 percent to $188 billion, led by the record $43 billion agreement to acquire Dallas-based power producer TXU Corp., data compiled by Bloomberg show. The boom is making private-equity firms led by New York- based Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Blackstone Group LP the most lucrative part of investment banking for Wall Street. ``What was deemed to be possible a year ago when we thought the limits were $25 billion to $30 billion have been easily beaten, particularly in the U.S.,'' said Gavin MacDonald, the London-based head of European M&A at Morgan Stanley, the second- biggest securities firm by market value. A $100 billion deal ``isn't outside the realms of possibility,'' he said. ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a73kBC9LrnFw&refer=exclusive
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Editor - 07:16:00 04-02-07
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| Seized crew 'all admit trespass' |
The 15 Britons held by Iran accept they were picked up in its waters despite the UK's insistence they were in Iraqi territory, Iranian state radio says. It reported film of all the Royal Navy personnel giving details existed but would not be broadcast on TV because of "positive changes" in the UK's stance. Later, previously unseen images of some of the crew were aired but their voices could not be heard. The prime minister's spokesman said Iran needs to show "where it stands". According to Iran's ISNA news agency further footage of all the crew "explaining details about their arrest in Iranian waters" would not be aired because of "changes seen in the last two days in the clamorous British government policies". The film shown later on state-run Al-Alam satellite television cuts quickly between several of the men and includes footage of a group of three by a map. The prime minister's spokesman said there was "a lot going on behind the scenes"....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6517075.stm
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Editor - 07:05:00 04-02-07
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| Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands |
At least 12 people have died in the Solomon Islands after a tsunami swept ashore following a strong undersea earthquake in the South Pacific. The main town in the western Solomons, Gizo, was hit by waves several metres high that swamped buildings and washed people out to sea, officials said. Local officials fear the numbers of dead could rise, with reports of outlying villages being destroyed. The quake measured 8.0 and hit at 0740 local time on Monday (2040 GMT Sunday). 'Ran for our lives' It struck 345km (215 miles) north-west of Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands which lie north-east of Australia, and at a depth of 10km (six miles), the US Geological Survey said. Gizo, a small fishing town and diving centre on Ghizo island, was only 45km (25 miles) from the epicentre. "We ran for our lives, away from the waves," Gizo primary school teacher Arnold Pidakere told the BBC News website. "When we looked back, we saw our house being destroyed."...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6516759.stm
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Editor - 07:02:00 04-02-07
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