Kenya's first lady slaps gov't official

NAIROBI (Reuters):

Kenya's first lady slapped a government official during an Independence Day celebration after he introduced her by the name of a woman widely believed to be President Mwai Kibaki's second wife, local media reported.

An official from the president's office made the gaffe introducing Lucy Kibaki to hundreds of guests on Wednesday during a State House garden party.

"Before he could finish, the First Lady rose from her seat at the dais, walked to him and slapped him on the face," the leading Daily Nation said.

Lucy Kibaki was reported to have been incensed when the official acting as master of ceremony introduced her as "Wambui".

Mary Wambui is a woman many Kenyans believe has been Kibaki's second wife for 30 years, despite repeated denials from State House.

"President Kibaki, the Vice-President Moody Awori, several cabinet ministers and members of the diplomatic corps watched in dismay as the drama unfolded," the Standard newspaper said.

A presidential press official said he could not immediately comment. A Daily Nation reporter told Reuters security agents forced the media group's cameraman to erase footage of the incident.

Lucy Kibaki was at the centre of a controversy in 2005 when cameraman Clifford Derrick accused her of slapping him when she stormed into a newsroom to protest her treatment by the media.

EU gives US ultimatum on climate talks

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters):

The European Union threatened yesterday to boycott United States talks among top greenhouse gas emitting nations, accusing Washington of blocking goals for fighting climate change at U.N. talks in Bali.

"If we would have a failure in Bali it would be meaningless to have a major economies' meeting" in the United States, Humberto Rosa, Portugal's Secretary of State for Environment, said on the penultimate day of the two-week talks.

UK security staff working illegally

LONDON (Reuters):

More than 6,600 security industry employees in Britain do not have the right to work here, Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said yesterday.

Smith told parliament she had ordered checks by the Security Industry Authority and the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) on the status of 39,885 workers from Europe who received security licences.

As a result, she said: "BIA believes that 6,653 do not have the right to work in this country. In 4,447 other cases, the BIA is not satisfied that the individual has proved the right to work."

Acid seas threaten reefs

MIAMI (Reuters):

In less than 50 years, oceans may be too acidic for coral reefs to grow because of carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels by humans, according to research released yesterday.

And unless still rising carbon dioxide emissions fall in the near future, existing reefs could all be dying by 2100, scientists said.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral expanse, and Caribbean reefs will be among the first casualties, according to the scientists who worked on a major coral project worldwide.

The study, to be published in Friday's issue of the journal, Science, should serve as a warning to delegates to a U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, this week, the researchers said.

Former CanadianPM says sorry

OTTAWA (Reuters):

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney apologised publicly yesterday for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from a German arms dealer, but he rejected suggestions he had taken kickbacks.

Mulroney, a mentor to current Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, had for years declined to answer why exactly he took the money from Karlheinz Schreiber after leaving office in 1993. Schreiber says he handed over a total of C$300,000 (US$295,000). Mulroney said he received C$225,000.

Rebels planned to kidnap Uribe's sons

BOGOTA (Reuters):

Colombian police have foiled a guerrilla plot to kidnap President Alvaro Uribe's two sons as his government comes under pressure to reach a deal securing the release of rebel hostages, authorities said yesterday.

Police chief General Oscar Naranjo gave few details about how leftist FARC rebels planned to abduct the president's well-protected sons, but he said 10 guerrillas were captured after calls were intercepted from imprisoned rebels.

World Court upholds 1928 Carib treaty

AMSTERDAM (Reuters):

The United Nation's highest court ruled yesterday that a 1928 treaty that awarded three isolated Caribbean islands to Colombia was still valid, so it could not rule on a bid by Nicaragua for sovereignty over them.

However, the International Court of Justice said it did have jurisdiction to adjudicate on other islets and rocks in the archipelago and the maritime delimitation of the area.