Libya's Gaddafi rules out talks

SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ruled out on Thursday talks with the rebels seeking to end his 41-year-rule, casting doubt on a flurry of Western efforts to negotiate an end to a deepening civil conflict.

"There will be no talks between me and them until Judgment Day," Gaddafi told a crowd of thousands of his supporters in his home city of Sirte in a remotely delivered audio message. "They need to talk with the Libyan people ... and they will respond to them."

The rally in the quiet seaside city drew men wearing green hats, women waving flags and children whose faces were painted with pro-Gaddafi slogans.

Their vociferous support for Gaddafi -- and rebel declarations earlier that the war could not be ended through talks -- showed how far Libya may be from a negotiated end to its five-month-old conflict.

Rebels who have struggled to arm and organize themselves have suffered losses in the past week near the insurgent stronghold of Misrata and the eastern oil hub Brega, but are pushing ahead with their campaign to unseat the longtime leader.

On Thursday the rebels said their advance toward the capital had been slowed by the laying of hundreds of thousands of mines at Brega, but the frontline at Zlitan advanced to the closest it has ever been to the western city's outskirts.

Foreign diplomatic efforts to find a solution have intensified as the fighting drags on. China said it would work with the African Union, which has proposed a plan seen as less hostile to the Libyan leader than a Western plan that insists on his stepping down.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told his visiting South African counterpart Jacob Zuma that the Africans had played an important role in pushing a political solution.

"China greatly appreciates this and is willing to continue remaining in close touch and to coordinate closely with South Africa and the African Union on the Libya issue," Hu said.

France said on Wednesday Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he gave up power, an apparent softening of the West's stance in a new effort to find a diplomatic end to the war.

The United States said Gaddafi must quit, but whether he remained in Libya after that would be up to the Libyan people.

But Libyan officials have said before now that Gaddafi's departure was not up for negotiation and the rebels said on Thursday that no one seriously expected talks to end the crisis.

"No one talks about a political solution. Impossible. He closed all the doors," said Colonel Ahmed Bani, a rebel military spokesman. "What do we tell the widower? What do we tell the mother who lost her children ... We can't negotiate, people will devour us."

MINES AND TRENCHES

Bani said he expected a breakthrough in Brega in a few days, and in the western town of Zlitan within two days.

"We are advancing slowly and clearing the mines ... but we know that at the end, we will enter it (Brega)," he told Reuters in an interview in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

"The fall of Brega is the end of the regime."

Libya's front line near the oil town of Brega, one of the last strongholds of Gaddafi's forces, has been deadlocked for weeks.

Bani estimated that 400,000 mines had been planted around Brega and said the rebels, mostly volunteers with no military experience, were working to clear them with almost no help from experts. Gaddafi's forces have pushed back the rebels by filling trenches with petrol and setting them ablaze.

The rebel forces are now about 20 kms from the edge of Brega, but Gaddafi's forces still control the city and its oil installations, he said. The rebel forces are dug in east and south of Brega.

In Zlitan, on the coast road 160 km (100 miles) east of the capital, the rebel front line has advanced 4 kms in the past 24 hours, a major gain that leaves the rebels around 5 kms from the city's outskirts.

This is the nearest the rebels have ever come to Zlitan, a source familiar with the battles said. Three rebel fighters were killed and 25 wounded on Thursday in fighting outside Zlitan, according to hospital figures. Five rebels were killed on Wednesday by mines, the rebels said.

State TV showed what it said were fresh pictures from Zlitan and Brega in an apparent bid to show the towns were still firmly in Tripoli's hands. In Zlitan, dozens of Gaddafi supporters were shown chanting slogans of support.

Some analysts have said Gaddafi is running short of fuel and food, which could stoke popular unrest ahead of the Muslim month of Ramadan which begins next week. During Ramadan, people prepare nightly feasts after fasting by day.

The state news agency JANA said officials met on Thursday to ensure food supplies "reach consumers as soon as possible before the start of Ramadan."

Gerald Howarth, British Minister for International Security Strategy, said there would be no pause in the war for Ramadan.

"There will be no let-up in the coalition activities to protect the people of Libya," he said. "It would be highly irresponsible to give Gaddafi any excuse to inflict the kind of brutality that he has displayed in the past."

Kotoko clinch Sunderland partnership

Ghana giants Kumasi Asante Kotoko have today signed a partnership agreement with English side Sunderland FC.

A statement on Sunderland's official website on Monday said the agreement will seek to provide support in various areas for Kotoko while providing Sunderland with a leap into the emerging African market through the Ghanaian giants.

"The new partnership will see Sunderland share its coaching and business expertise with the Ghanaian club, offering practical support and advice in youth coaching, player development, fitness and medical matters and football business strategy. Kotoko in turn will work closely with Sunderland to help the club build and grow its brand in the emerging African territory," the statement said.

Sunderland chairman Nail Quinn said : "It was a huge honour to welcome the Kotoko officials to our club and I'm delighted that we have now formalised a partnership agreement with them.

"There's a tremendous passion for football in Ghana and I see a real synergy with Sunderland in that respect - football means the world to the people of Ghana and in that respect they are no different to Sunderland fans. There's an infectious enthusiasm for the game that is wonderful to witness and we are honoured to be working with Kotoko and the Ghanaian people

Ivorian arms smuggled into Ghana - WANEP

The West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP)- Ghana says its intelligence gathering reports indicate weapons that were used during the Cote d’Ivoire political crisis have been smuggled into Ghana.

The organization says it fears that such weapons, which have been illegally acquired, could be used during the 2012 general elections to cause mayhem in Ghana.

It is against this backdrop, that the West Africa Network for Peace building has appealed to the security agencies in Ghana to conduct periodic community swoops to retrieve such weapons and ammunition from unauthorized persons.

The organization is also convinced that such a periodic exercise will boost the security agencies's determination to flush out miscreants whose activities endanger human security in most Ghanaian societies.

This was revealed in a four page document issued by WANEP-Ghana as part of its regular national security briefs under its Ghanawarn project that collates data on early warning signals.

The brief signed by Justin Bayor, National Network Coordinator of WANEP-Ghana highlighted armed robbery and proliferation of small arms, accidents and natural disasters as the three thematic areas that affected human security between March and April 2011.

Part of the brief revealed that 55 Ivorian combatants were arrested in the Brong-Ahafo Region while another person was arrested with 48 rounds of ammunition at Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western Region.

It added that the Greater Accra Regional Police Command arrested six out of twelve foreigners including an ex-Nigerian soldier and a policeman on two separate deadly occasions between the 20th and 24th April 2011 at the Bundumburam camp and Kaneshie for armed-robbery.

On road accidents, the brief recorded three major accident cases two of which involved Ministers of State, namely Deputy Education Minister Mahama Ayariga and Majority leader Hon. Cletus Avoka whose accidents occurred during the President’s tour of the Upper East Region.

A report submitted by officials of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) revealed that more than 4,000 people were displaced following consistent rainstorms in various parts of the country with the hardest hit being the Northern Regions and the Afram Plains.

The West Africa Network for Peace building as part of its recommendations implored the Ghana Immigration and the Customs Excise and Preventive Services to be more vigilant at the borders to reduce the influx of foreigners and small arms into Ghana.

WANEP-Ghana further urged the National Road Safety Commission, the district assemblies and other allied departments to map out disaster prone settlement communities and implement strategies that will help prevent avoidable flooding in those communities

Kadhafi has 'suicide plan' for capital: Russia envoy

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has a "suicidal plan" to blow up the capital Tripoli if it is taken by rebels, the Kremlin's special envoy to Libya told a Russian newspaper Thursday.

"The Libyan premier told me: if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up," Kremlin envoy Mikhail Margelov said in an interview with the Izvestia daily.

Margelov met Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi last month.

"I imagine that the Kadhafi regime does have such a suicidal plan," he added, saying that Kadhafi still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition.

But Margelov, who has had rare access to senior Libyan officials, questioned reports that Kadhafi could be running out of arms in the drawn-out conflict.

Kadhafi had still not used a single surface-to-surface missile, he argued.

"Tripoli theoretically could lack ammunition for tanks, cartridges for rifles. But the colonel has got plenty of missiles and explosives."

Margelov met the Libyan prime minister on June 16 in Tripoli after holding talks in Benghazi earlier the same month. He has not met Kadhafi himself.

Russia abstained from a vote on a March UN Security Council resolution that opened the way for foreign involvement and has since criticized the campaign -- particularly arms drops by France.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for talks on Libya, where Lavrov sought to play down differences between the countries.

However, the Russian foreign ministry said earlier Wednesday that Moscow would not take part in talks on Libya later this week in Turkey, which has also seen itself as a mediator in the conflict

French prime minister visits newly oil-rich Ghana

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon (L) speaks with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills in Accra.




French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Saturday visited Ghana, Africa's newest major oil producer, telling President John Atta Mills that France wanted to take part in his nation's development.

Fillon travelled to the West African nation on the second stop of a three-country tour that first led him to Ivory Coast, with his final stop Gabon.

Ghana was the only one of the three on the tour that was not a former French colony, having gained independence from Britain in 1957.

Fillon said the visit showed "France's willingness to participate in Ghana's economic development," adding that his country was re-orienting its policies toward Africa to further engage non-French-speaking nations.

"Many French companies are interested in doing business in Ghana," Fillon said at a meeting with Mills, with 2011 GDP growth estimates for the country having been put at around 12 percent.

Besides its recently discovered oil wealth, Ghana is seen as a democratic model in West Africa. Mills narrowly won presidential elections in 2008 and is running again in the 2012 vote.

Mills said at the meeting that his country had followed the path of democracy as the only way of attaining peace and economic development.

But the start of large-scale oil production in December has raised concerns over the potential pitfalls, with some warning of the corruption and economic mismanagement that has plagued nearby Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.

French foreign trade minister Pierre Lellouche was part of the delegation along with several French business executives. Lellouche was also to attend an economic forum in Accra.

Three financing agreements with French development agency AFD were signed during the visit, including one involving urban development projects, for a total of some 50 million euros.

Fillon also paid tribute to Ghana's contributions to peacekeeping efforts, with Ghanaian troops having participated in a number of missions throughout the continent.

Iraq says Kuwait began port project unilaterally

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday that Kuwait never officially informed Baghdad about a controversial port project, which his country says must be stopped.

Baghdad alleges that the neighbouring emirate's Mubarak megaport will hinder Iraq's access to shipping lanes.

"The astonishing thing about the Mubarak port is that the Kuwaiti side never mentioned it during our long discussions" over many outstanding issues, Maliki said in a statement from his office.

"Iraq only learned about it from third parties."

Maliki was reacting to remarks by a senior Kuwaiti official that Baghdad had been informed in advance about the project, his office said.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Transportation Minister Hadi al-Amari said Kuwait must stop work on the Mubarak port because it will block Iraqi access to shipping lanes.

Kuwait began work on the $1.1 billion (778 million euros) port in May. The facility, on Kuwait's Bubyan Island, is scheduled for completion in 2016.

The Gulf is the main export outlet for Iraqi oil, which accounts for the lion's share of the country's revenues, and Baghdad has started major work to modernise
its outdated ports.

Blasts rock Tripoli as Kadhafi vows to remain

New blasts rocked the Libyan capital early Sunday as leader Moamer Kadhafi vowed to remain in the land of his ancestors in the face of new calls for him to go and with rebels pressing their campaign to oust him.

At least 13 blasts were heard before and just after 2300 GMT Saturday. An AFP journalist was unable to say immediately what the targets had been.

State television channel Al Jamahiriya reported that "the colonialist crusader aggressor," a reference to NATO, had raided civilian and military sites in the Ain Zara district and Tajoura in the eastern suburbs of Tripoli.

The television, quoting a military source, said there had been victims but did not give any figure.

Earlier, Kadhafi repeated his intention to remain in power.

"They are asking me to leave. That's a laugh. I will never leave the land of my ancestors or the people who have sacrificed themselves for me," he said in a loudspeaker address to supporters in Zawiyah, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Tripoli.

Western and regional powers met in Istanbul on Friday for the fourth gathering of the Libya contact group, which saw a fresh call on Kadhafi to go after more than four decades in power.

"I'm ready to sacrifice myself for my people, and I will never quit this land sprinkled with the blood of my ancestors who fought Italian and British colonialists," he said of the five-month-long revolt against his rule.

"These rats have taken our people hostage in Benghazi, Misrata and the western mountains, using them as human shields," Kadhafi said of insurgents in the rebel capital in the east and port city in the west.

"Five million armed Libyans will march on them and liberate the occupied towns as soon as the order is given," he added.

Libya's rebels on Saturday suffered their bloodiest day yet in the offensive to wrest control of Brega from Moamer Kadhafi's troops, as medics said the death toll had risen to at least 12.

Nine people were killed Saturday and 79 were injured as loyalist landmines began to vie with Grad rockets to ramp up the casualties, according to a list from the hospital in nearby Ajdabiya.

Rebels said their steady advance on the key oil hub of Brega was slowed Saturday by the discovery of defensive trenches around the city that had been filled with flammable chemicals by retreating Kadhafi troops.

After a small rebel reconnaissance unit from the north punched through to Brega late on Friday before falling back, a rebel commander said troops were now moving "slowly but surely" towards it from the east and south as well.

It was not clear what kind of chemicals were being used, but Brega is home to a large petrochemical facility that produces a range of oil by-products.

Libya's largely volunteer rebel army began its push on Brega late on Thursday, hoping to oust an estimated 3,000 loyalist fighters and provide a morale boost for war-weary rebel supporters.

"Most of Kadhafi's troops seem to be at the centre," said rebel military spokesman Mohammed Zawi.

At a hospital in Ajdabiya, Dr Ahmed Dinari said many casualties were caused by landmines rather than heavy artillery.

"We have had five more injuries this morning, all of them from mine explosions," he said.

Lying prone in "Bed 2," 19-year-old Ali Saleh said he had been in the central rebel column when his armoured personnel carrier hit a mine.

"We were very close to Brega at around three in the morning. Then we got instructions from NATO to fall back and as we were falling back the vehicle hit a mine, destroying the chain track."

He was suffering from shock and a lightly damaged knee.

Sagezli said 250 mines had been uncovered so far.

The alliance said on Friday it hit one tank, a multiple rocket launcher, five armoured vehicles and seven armed vehicles around the town.

In raids near Tripoli, NATO aircraft also took out a radar facility and a surface-to-air missile launcher.

Southwest of the capital, a rebel checkpoint commander said Kadhafi troops had fired five missiles at their forces who responded with rockets.

"There has been no fighting in the valley (near Gualish); it is quiet. Kadhafi's forces have carried out several operations but they are sufficiently far from us not to pose any problems," Shaban Aaboz said.

Another commander said rebel forces were still positioned near Asabah, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Tripoli and the last obstacle between rebels and the garrison town of Gharyan.

"The position is secure; we are discussing with Asabah people how civilians can get out of town before we launch an assault," said commander Mokhtar Lakhdar

LA traffic steers clear of 'Carmageddon' fears

LOS ANGELES (AP) — So far Southern California's fears that shutting down a major highway would result in "Carmageddon" have gone unrealized. But drivers haven't steered clear of trouble just yet.

The traffic many thought would be a nightmare has been much lighter than normal as Los Angeles entered the second full day Sunday in the closure of a 10-mile (16-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 405 — one of the country's busiest highways.

Officials were elated that the public appeared to get the message to stay off the roads, though some were concerned the lack of gridlock would make drivers complacent and spur them to return to the road before Monday's scheduled reopening.

"We hope they still listen to what we're saying and not go out and try to drive through this area, because it is going to be congested if people do that," said Mike Miles, a district director of the California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans.

Authorities closed the segment of 405 on the western side of Los Angeles at midnight Friday for 53 hours to allow the partial demolition of a bridge.

For weeks, authorities warned people that driving as usual this weekend could trigger what's been hyped as "Carmageddon" — an event could back up vehicles from the 405 to surface streets and other freeways, causing a domino effect that could paralyze much of Los Angeles
But the fears of epic traffic jams dissipated with fewer cars on the roads.

"It's been one of the most quiet Saturdays I've seen in forever," said Steven Ramada, who had expected to hear lots of cars honking in front of his Sherman Oaks home but instead only heard news helicopters.

Demolition work is expected to be completed by 2 a.m. Monday, followed by cleanup and reopening of the freeway at 5 a.m., with on-ramps and connectors all reopened by an hour later.

Project contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West will face a $6,000 fine in each direction for every 10 minutes of delay in getting the freeway reopened, according to the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. That's a total of $72,000 an hour.

Progress on demolition of the half-century-old Mulholland Bridge was on schedule, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Authorities looking at the potential impacts of the $1 billion interstate project spent months giving the public dire warnings. The event got its name when Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told an early June press conference that "this doesn't need to be a Carmageddon" if people avoided driving.

The potential for Carmageddon is rooted in Los Angeles' geography. The city is divided by the Santa Monica Mountains, which stretch more than 40 miles (65 kilometers) from near downtown westward through Malibu. The populous San Fernando Valley lies on the north side, and the Los Angeles Basin sprawls to the south.

Local and long-distance freeway traffic through the mountains has to squeeze through Sepulveda Pass on I-405 or through Cahuenga Pass, which carries U.S. 101 through the heart of Hollywood. In between there is no grid of boulevards, just a few narrow, windy canyon roads.

Major interchanges on both sides of Sepulveda Pass exacerbate the crunch.

The drumbeat of warnings about the weekend triggered an instant industry of businesses trying to capitalize. JetBlue offered special flights from Burbank in the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach, with seats for the short hop costing just $4 or $5.

A cycling group saw that as an opportunity for a race. The cyclists started their ride 90 minutes before the flight's departure time to simulate the time that passengers would have to arrive at Burbank. Another member of the group took the flight and all were to meet at a Long Beach park.

Cyclist Stephan Andranian said it took the bikers one hour and 34 minutes to complete the ride from Burbank to Long Beach, largely following the Los Angeles River. Flight passenger Joe Anthony's total travel time including cab ride from Long Beach Airport to the park was just over 2 1/2 hours.

"We want to show that using a bike in LA is not only possible but that it can be faster than other modes of transportation," Andranian said.

Many mocked the frenzied language surrounding the closure, especially on Twitter, where Hollywood's comedians had at their hometown.

"How's everyone coping with this terrifying apocalyptic nightmare of having to ... oh my god ... stay home with your family?!!!" Bill Maher wrote.

Albert Brooks took was more philosophical in his Tweet: "If we would close the freeways every weekend we would have a great society."

New Australian law to make Muslims lift veils

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Muslim women would have to remove veils and show their faces to police on request or risk a prison sentence under proposed new laws in Australia's most populous state that have drawn criticism as culturally insensitive.

A vigorous debate that the proposal has triggered reflects the cultural clashes being ignited by the growing influx of Muslim immigrants and the unease that visible symbols of Islam are causing in predominantly white Christian Australia since 1973 when the government relaxed its immigration policy.

Under the law proposed by the government of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, a woman who defies police by refusing to remove her face veil could be sentenced to a year in prison and fined 5,500 Australian dollars ($5,900).

The bill — to be voted on by the state parliament in August — has been condemned by civil libertarians and many Muslims as an overreaction to a traffic offense case involving a Muslim woman driver in a "niqab," or a veil that reveals only the eyes.

The government says the law would require motorists and criminal suspects to remove any head coverings so that police can identify them.

Critics say the bill smacks of anti-Muslim bias given how few women in Australia wear burqas. In a population of 23 million, only about 400,000 Australians are Muslim. Community advocates estimate that fewer than 2,000 women wear face veils, and it is likely that even a smaller percentage drives.

"It does seem to be very heavy handed, and there doesn't seem to be a need," said Australian Council for Civil Liberties spokesman David Bernie. "It shows some cultural insensitivity."

The controversy over the veils is similar to the debate in other Western countries over whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear garments that hide their faces in public. France and Belgium have banned face-covering veils in public. Typical arguments are that there is a need to prevent women from being forced into wearing veils by their families or that public security requires people to be identifiable.

Bernie noted that while a bandit disguised with a veil and sunglasses robbed a Sydney convenience store last year, there were no Australian crime trends involving Muslim women's clothing.

"It is a religious issue here," said Mouna Unnjinal, a mother of five who has been driving in Sydney in a niqab for 18 years and has never been booked for a traffic offense.

"We're going to feel very intimidated and our privacy is being invaded," she added.

Unnjinal said she would not hesitate to show her face to a policewoman. But she fears male police officers might misuse the law to deliberately intimidate Muslim women.

"If I'm pulled over by a policeman, I might say I want to see a female police lady and he says, 'No, I want to see your face,'" Unnjinal said. "Where does that leave me? Do I get penalized 5,000 dollars and sent to jail for 12 months because I wouldn't?"

Sydney's best-selling The Daily Telegraph newspaper declared the proposal "the world's toughest burqa laws." In France, wearing a burqa — the all-covering garment that hides the entire body except eyes and hands — in public is punishable by a 150 euro ($217) fine only.

The New South Wales state Cabinet decided to create the law on July 4 in response to Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione's call for greater police powers. Other states including Victoria and Western Australia are considering similar legislation.

"I don't care whether a person is wearing a motorcycle helmet, a burqa, niqab, face veil or anything else — the police should be allowed to require those people to make their identification clear," State Premier Barry O'Farrell said in a statement.

The laws were motivated by the bungled prosecution of Carnita Matthews, a 47-year-old Muslim mother of seven who was booked by a highway patrolman for a minor traffic violation in Sydney in June last year.

An official complaint was made in Matthews' name against Senior Constable Paul Fogarty, the policeman who gave her the ticket. The complaint accused Fogarty of racism and of attempting to tear off her veil during their roadside encounter.

Unknown to Matthews, the encounter was recorded by a camera inside Fogarty's squad car. The video footage showed her aggressively berating a restrained Fogarty and did not support her claim that he tried to grab her veil before she reluctantly and angrily lifted it to show her face.

Matthews was sentenced in November to six months in jail for making a deliberately false statement to police.

But that conviction and sentence were quashed on appeal last month without her serving any time in jail because a judge was not convinced that it was Matthews who signed the false statutory declaration. The woman who signed the document had worn a burqa and a justice of the peace who witnessed the signing had not looked beneath the veil to confirm her identity.

Bernie, the civil libertarian, said the proposed law panders to public anger against Muslims that the case generated on talk radio and in tabloid newspapers, which itself is a symptom of the suspicion with which immigrants are viewed.

Muslims are among the fastest-growing minorities in Australia and mostly live in the two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. There are many examples to suggest they are not entirely welcome.

Muslim and non-Muslim youths rioted for days at Sydney's Cronulla beach in 2005, drawing international attention to surging ethnic tensions. Proposals to build Islamic schools are resisted by local protest groups. The convictions of a Sydney gang of Lebanese Muslims who raped several non-Muslim women were likened by a judge to war atrocities and condemned in the media.

In 2006, then-Prime Minister John Howard published a book in which he said Muslims were Australia's first wave of immigrants to fail to assimilate with the mainstream.

Government leaders have also condemned some Muslim clerics who said husbands are entitled to smack disobedient wives, force them to have sex and for suggesting that women who don't hide their faces behind veils invite rape.

"I wouldn't like to go and say this is Muslim bashing," said Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, of the proposed New South Wales laws.

"But I think that the timing of this was really bad for Muslims," he said.

EPA ready to deal with oil spillage at Jubilee oil fields

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday gave the assurance that it is working in close collaboration with stakeholders to deal with oil spillage from the Jubilee oil fields.

Referring to the largest oil spillage that hit the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, Mr Daniel S. Amlalo, Acting Executive Director of EPA said they were working with the Ghana Maritime Authority, and the Ghana Navy to prevent such tragedy from occurring.

He was speaking to journalists in Accra at the end of a day’s sensitisation workshop organised by EPA for oil marketing companies.

It aimed at creating awareness on environmental association regulations, compliance and enforcement.

Mr Amlalo said Ghana had learnt from the experience of the sinking of the deepwater horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, which had been rated as the worst of its kind in the history of oil and gas exploration and production, adding it was in partnership with government and donor partners to equip the EPA with capacity and logistics such as aircrafts to embark on offshore monitoring.

He said the agency had also identified the oil spill-prone areas and carried out series of sensitisation workshops for people in the communities along the coastline.

Responding to recent reports of spillages in small quantities around the jubilee field, Mr Amlalo said the Agency was aware of the incidents and gave the assurance that those had been controlled, citing the recent KOSMOS energy company’s case as an example.

KOSMOS, the company exploring oil in the Jubilee field, reportedly spilled 690 barrels of mud which contained poisonous heavy metals off the Cape Three Points, last year.

Earlier, Mr Amlalo in a speech charged operators of Oil Marketing Companies to comply with Regulation 1999 (LI 1652), sections One and Two of the regulation that required them to comply with best practices for sustainable development, environmentally and socially sound managements.

He decried the existence of some old underground petroleum storage facilities that leaked stressing that they polluted water tables making the water unwholesome for human and animal consumption.

Mr Amlalo disclosed that the EPA was conducting frequent checks on oil and gas retail outlets to prosecute those who did not comply with the regulations.

He said 40 officers from the agency, drawn from the regions, districts and specific departments, had successfully completed an intensive course on public prosecution.

Mr Amlalo added that the training was organised by the Attorney General’s Department in line with the Executive Instrument Appointment of the Public Prosecution Instrument, 1999.

Mr Kweku Agyeman Duah, Industrial Coordinator of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, expressed their commitment towards cooperating with the EPA.

Source: GNA

Nigeria's main unions warn of pay strike

Nigeria's main labour unions Thursday gave the government a two-week ultimatum to pay workers a minimum wage agreed to a year ago, or face a nationwide strike, including in the key oil sector.

"Organised labour under the auspices of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) hereby issued a two-week ultimatum for full implementation of the minimum wage across the country," NLC leader Abdulwahed Omar told reporters.

Omar told unions in both public and private sectors to start "mobilisation of Nigerians for a nationwide strike action at the expiration of this ultimatum."

In July last year, after months of negotiations, unions settled for a 240 percent pay hike to 18,000 naira ($118) from 7,500 ($49) per month that had been paid for over a decade. They had initially demanded an almost 700 percent rise.

Just before the April general election, President Goodluck Jonathan in March signed into law, a bill for the application of the new national minimum wage.

But now some of the country's 36 state governments are saying they are unable to pay the new wage because their revenue cannot support it.

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and leading oil exporter, some of the continent's richest people live in luxury on a scale unimaginable to the impoverished masses.

The powerful blue-collar oil workers National Union of Petroleum and Gas Union (NUPENG), an affiliate of the NLC, said it will also down tools.

"NUPENG workers have agreed to join in the strike," its general secretary, Owei Lakemfa, told AFP.

The NLC claims to have 42 affiliate unions and a membership of around five million workers

Obiang tells world not to intervene in Africa

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (AP) — Foreign military intervention has caused massive suffering in Africa, the African Union's current chairman said Thursday in a message that is being seen as a jab at the NATO airstrikes in Libya.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who is the president of Equatorial Guinea, also blamed outside "agents" for sparking pro-democracy demonstrations in countries across Africa including his own.

"The intervention for human rights are nowadays causing a massive scourge," he said at the opening of the AU's biannual summit being held in this capital, located on an island off the western coast of Africa. "The uncounted number of victims, among them women and children, displaced people and the destruction of economic infrastructure does not justify such interventions. Instead of providing solutions to problems we are complicating and worsening world conflicts."

Obiang did not specifically mention Libya, but the AU has come out forcefully against the bombardment that is threatening to topple Moammar Gadhafi, whose grip on power was thought to be absolute.

His fall would be discomforting for the other entrenched rulers in Africa, including Obiang, who has maintained total control of state institutions in Equatorial Guinea since his uncle was overthrown and killed in a coup 32 years ago.

Obiang's country is considered among the most undemocratic in the world, one that has never had elections deemed free and fair, and where opponents to the regime are systematically tortured, according to Human Rights Watch and the report of the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Speaking about the popular uprisings in North Africa, Obiang said the youth are right to protest when their cause is "just and necessary," but added that outside "agents" are in some cases attempting to manipulate public sentiment in order to cause unrest.

"I draw attention here to those agents accustomed to manipulating the innocence and the good faith of our youth and inexperienced population to unnecessarily cause sterile revolutions," he said in Spanish, the national language of Equatorial Guinea. "This is the case of my country, Equatorial Guinea, which is victimized by a systematic campaign of misinformation by these agents."

The wave of popular protest that has swept across the northern part of the continent has so far not spread dramatically south, largely because leaders like Obiang have clamped down at the slightest sign of dissent.

In Malabo, reporters were told by the minister of information that state TV would not be discussing the events in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya because they do not have correspondents in those countries who can ascertain if the information being reported by the international media is correct.

In Zimbabwe where summit attendee Robert Mugabe has been in power for 31 years, even watching video footage of those uprisings can lead to treason charges punishable by death.

And in Cameroon, where 77-year-old President Paul Biya has ruled since 1982, the government ordered cell phone companies to suspend mobile services for Twitter after citizens used the site to organize a "Drive Out Biya" march.

Traditionally the AU has chosen to support its leaders at the expense of the people they govern, but the recent conflict in Ivory Coast may have marked a turning point.

An African Union panel charged with finding a solution to the conflict initially backed Laurent Gbagbo, the country's outgoing president who lost last year's presidential election and took his country to the brink of civil war in an effort to stay in office.

Under immense international pressure, however, the panel that included Obiang eventually called for Gbagbo to step down.

The same evolution may be in the works on Libya. The ad hoc committee charged with dealing with the crisis has issued numerous statements supporting Gadhafi and advocating for talks between the Libyan leader and the rebels attempting to overthrow him.

The proposal was rejected outright by the rebels and the international community, which views Gadhafi as the problem and not a part of the solution.

On Sunday, the committee reversed course, however, saying they welcomed Gadhafi's decision to not be part of the negotiation process.

In a statement issued Thursday, the committee said it had met in Malabo and agreed on a set of proposals to help Libya emerge from the crisis. It said the proposals would be submitted to the AU assembly for their support.

"I believe there is certainly a change in the whole perception of Gadhafi. We are in a very different position to the one we were in just five, six weeks ago," said Britain's Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham who attended the first part of the conference.

He said he had met with many of the foreign ministers of the 53 member nations attending the conference, and found that even those that were previously reluctant to call for Gadhafi's ouster are now privately agreeing that he should go.

UK teachers, civil servants strike over pensions

LONDON (Reuters) - Teachers and civil servants marched through the streets and picketed government buildings across Britain on Thursday in protest at planned pension reforms, launching what could be a long period of labor unrest over austerity measures.

Echoing protests across Europe against spending cuts imposed to reduce debt, the strikes closed many schools, as well as courts and other institutions, but the impact otherwise seemed limited and rallies were largely peaceful and modest in size.

The year-old, center-right government said the majority of civil servants had not gone on strike. But labor leaders warned of further waves of action by Britain's 6 million public sector workers against moves to cut pensions for state employees.

"This country is being led by people who are privileged, people who earn too much money... The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger. We don't think it should be us who are made to suffer for it," said Martin Pitcher, 35, a primary school teacher taking part in the biggest march in central London.

Police said the march, which stopped traffic on some of the capital's main thoroughfares and around parliament, involved up to 15,000 people carrying banners and blowing whistles.

There was no sign of the violence seen in recent days in Greece over its austerity plans, or at previous mass protests in London in December and March against government spending cuts, although there were small scuffles with police and 18 arrests for minor offences.

"We are here to protect our own pensions. We are also fighting for pensions and against overall government cuts generally. I'm worried about my own retirement because when I add up what I'm going to get, it's just not liveable," said Simon Korner, a 54-year-old lecturer.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union called the walkout the "biggest coordinated public sector strike for a generation" and said 84 percent of its 285,000 members had gone out on strike.

However, ministers said that of some half a million people working directly for government ministries, only about 100,000 had not turned up for work. Contingency measures meant essential public services were still running.

Exact numbers of strikers were not expected until later in the day. Unions which had declared the strike represent some 750,000 people.

"What today has shown is that the vast majority of hard working public sector employees do not support today's premature strike and have come in to work today," said Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party.

SCHOOLS CLOSE

Around half of schools in England and Wales were closed or disrupted by the stoppage, the government said. Air travelers faced some delays as immigration officials joined the walkout. Courts and government buildings were also affected.

London's Metropolitan Police said 95 percent of staff dealing with calls from the public did not turn up for work, meaning it was taking slightly longer to answer emergency calls.

Dozens of marches and rallies were arranged across the country, and were generally peaceful.

"It's about standing up to the bully," said sports teacher Martin Patching at a rally in Welwyn Garden City, north of London. "I hate striking but it gets to the point where you've got to stand up with your colleagues and say enough's enough."

Cameron has condemned the strikes as irresponsible, saying that talks between unions and ministers have not concluded.

However, other unions are gearing up for mass stoppages later this year if talks break down.

One teaching union, the ATL had never held a strike before in its 127-year history but joined on Thursday:

"It's not something we do lightly," a spokeswoman said.

"But the bottom line is we're worried about what the government is going to do to the long term future of teaching."

CHANGE NEEDED

Cameron argues that longer life expectancy means public sector pensions must change, as many in the private sector have done, to ensure that they are affordable. The changes are part of government plans by 2015 to virtually wipe out a budget deficit that peaked at more than 10 percent of national income.

Consequently, workers face higher contributions to their pensions and retiring later in life. The proposals have hit a raw nerve at a time of wage freezes and job insecurity.

Union leaders assert that their members are bearing the brunt of a financial crisis caused by rich bankers.

Analysts said the protests would challenge the government anew after it retreated on plans to restructure state-funded health care following lobbying from the medical profession.

Markets, which have reacted positively to government deficit-cutting plans, could take fright at any sign of a government climb-down over an issue like pensions.

Some Britons sympathize with the strikers but others say they are being unrealistic at a time when households have suffered their biggest fall in disposable income for more than 30 years.

"They're not paying for my pension. I work for myself -- I have to provide my own pension," said Martyn Hall, a 50-year-old IT consultant from London.

"I think they should realize a lot of people have become unemployed and had their wages cut. I think it's a case of get real, this is the way it is."

Lightning strikes kill 15 in northeast Nigeria

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Authorities say 15 people in northeastern Nigeria have died from lightning strikes after strong thunderstorms swept through the region's rural pasturelands.

A spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency

Wis. Supreme Court argument leads to investigation

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A fight between Wisconsin's divided Supreme Court justices led Monday to a criminal investigation and calls from the governor and others to resolve long-standing differences and restore public confidence in the institution.

Liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley has accused conservative Justice David Prosser of trying to choke her during an argument in her state Capitol office on June 13, the day before the court handed down a decision upholding a new law that eliminates most public employees' collective bargaining rights. Prosser has denied the allegations.

Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney said his office opened an investigation into the incident at the request of the Capitol Police, which have jurisdiction in the building where the argument took place.

The state judicial commission, which oversees judicial conduct, also announced it had opened an investigation. The commission could ultimately make a discipline recommendation to the state Supreme Court, potentially putting some justices in a position to rule on their colleagues' fate.

Bradley declined an interview request through a court spokesman. Prosser's spokesman, Brian Nemoir, said the justice would cooperate with investigators.

"It's the best way for the facts involving this incident to be made public and an appropriate resolution to be determined," Nemoir said.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker and others expressed concern that infighting had hurt the court's reputation. Walker told Milwaukee radio station WTMJ that the justices must come to grips with their differences.

"Whether you're Republican, Democrat, liberal or conservative, there's got to be confidence that the people on the court can rationally discuss and debate," the governor said. "This is very serious, and it's got to be resolved."

Wisconsin justices are officially nonpartisan, but Bradley is generally seen as a member of the court's three-justice liberal faction. Prosser, a former Republican legislator, is considered part of the four-justice conservative majority.

Former Justice Jon Wilcox said tensions have always run high on the court, where members spend long hours hashing out polarizing legal issues. But Bradley's claim that she was choked underscores how personal the conflict has become.

Strife between the court's liberal and conservative factions has been intensifying since 2007, when special interest groups started pouring millions into judicial elections in hopes of influencing the court's ideology.

The court's liberal members are still stinging from conservative Justice Michael Gableman's 2008 defeat of liberal former Justice Louis Butler. Gableman took a bare-knuckle approach in his campaign to oust Butler, the court's first black justice.

Recently, the justices have barely been civil to each other. The court's public administrative sessions, for example, have become days-long arguments in which the justices disparage each other's management and communication styles.

Questions about Prosser's temper date back to his days as a Republican legislator. But emails surfaced in March that showed he used profanity and threatened to "destroy" Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, one of Bradley's closest friends on the court.

"In a very short period of time, we have gone from having a Supreme Court that was a national model to a Supreme Court that is really fodder for late-night comics," Howard Schweber, a political science and law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. "We no longer view the court as being somehow above or outside the day-to-day politics. It's become just another partisan office."

Walker's collective bargaining law apparently led to the latest fight.

The measure requires most public employees to contribute more to their health care and pensions and eliminates almost all their union rights. It turned Wisconsin into the focal point of a national debate over union rights as thousands of demonstrators descended on Madison to protest the measure and deepened the divide between liberals and conservatives statewide.

The law also nearly cost Prosser his re-election after opponents threw their support behind a little-known challenger in the hope that electing a liberal justice would move the court to the left and result in the measure being overturned. Once expected to walk away with the election, Prosser was declared the winner only by about 7,000 votes after a nearly month-long recount.

Republicans pushed the court to make a decision on the law's legality by June 14, saying the savings involved was needed to address the state's budget problems. The justices were reportedly discussing the decision when the argument between Prosser and Bradley erupted.

"Regardless of who was at fault in this particular incident, the court as an institution is becoming something of a laughingstock," Schweber said. "The public confidence has been shaken, not only by this incident but by a long line of incidents."