The Norwegian sailing vessel Christian Radich has cruised to victory in the first stage of the Tall Ships’ Race from Liverpool to Måløy on Norway’s west coast.

The Oslo-based sailing vessel Christian Radich was built in 1937 as a training ship. This week she won the first stage of the annual Tall Ships’ Race. PHOTO: SCANPIX

The Oslo-based three-masted vessel was the first to cross the finish line at Måløy on Monday, but the various handicaps assigned to the other vessels in the race made it earlier unclear whether Christian Radich would actually be the winner.

Einar Corwin, director of the foundation controlling the graceful full-rigger, said the victory was important both for the ship and her crew.

The Russian vessel Mir came in second, followed by the German vessel Alexander von Humboldt.

The two other Norwegian tall ships sailing in the annual race – Sørlandet of Kristiansand and Statsraad Lehmkuhl of Bergen – ended in sixth and ninth place respectively.

The vessels will remain in the harbor at Måløy until Monday, when they’ll continue down the coast to Bergen. From there the second phase of the Tall Ships’ Race will begin on August 12, to Den Helder in the Netherlands.

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Korir.API/Aftenposteneng

Oslo has just recorded its highest temperature in 53 years, but the capital’s sizzling days are about to end. Cooler weather and some rain are in the forecast.

Lots of people have been hopping into the Oslo Fjord the past week. Water temperatures have risen to a relatively warm but still refreshing 23C (73F) at several popular swimming spots like Huk at Bygdøy. PHOTO: ANNE STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN

Weather statistician Bernt Lie told news bureau NTB on Tuesday that Monday’s official high of 31.6C (nearly 89F) was the highest July temperature recorded in Oslo since 1955.

A weather station in Drammen recorded an all-time national high on Monday, with 33.2C (nearly 92F) at Berskog.

Fully 29 official weather stations in Norway recorded highs over 30C on Monday. It was the sixth day in a row of warm weather in southern Norway, followed by more relatively high temperatures on Tuesday.

That’s left the capital cooking, not least since few homes have air conditioning. Residents sat outside until late into the evening, while folks in Trondheim, Sarpsborg, Rena, Vigra, Stavanger and Kristiansand also recorded their warmest summer days in the past five years.

The heat wave is set to end on Wednesday, with cooler temperatures, and showers expected from Thursday. Thunderstorms also were likely, as cold and warm air collide in the skies.

Temperatures may fall to as low as 14C (57F) by Sunday, with highs around 20C (68F).

The good weather may continue in northern Norway, however, with Troms and Finnmark counties due for more sunshine through next weekend.

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Korir.API/Aftenposteneng

Former United States President Bill Clinton will pay a one-day visit to Liberia next Saturday to follow-up on the progress of his foundation which has been working in the country to fight malaria, according to an official statement released Tuesday.

The press secretary of the Presidential Mansion, Cyrus Badio told reporters in Monrovia on Tuesday that the former US president would follow-up on progress made by his Foundation to reduce the price of malaria drugs by 30 percent.

Clinton will also participate in an interactive radio show where the public will be allowed to quiz him on activities of his foundation, the statement said.

Saturday’s visit is the second to Liberia by former president Clinton since Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ascended to the presidency. He is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with President Sirleaf.

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Egypt welcomed the decision of the secretary-general of the United Nations to appoint a South African judge “Navanethem Pillay” to the post of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Egyptian assistant Foreign Minister for international organizations Ambassador Naela Jabr told reporters Tuesday in Cairo that the appointment of such a prominent African personality is a culmination of the efforts of the African nations and peoples to uphold the values of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the continent.

Ambassador Naela Jabr affirmed that Egypt would continue the fruitful and constructive cooperation with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He therefore expressed the hope that the appointment of an African personality in this post would enhance efforts to deal with all human rights issues on an equal footing, to highlight the priorities of the developing countries in human rights issues and avoid politicization and double standards when dealing with such issues.

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The head of the visiting military delegation of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to Rwanda, General Kuol Arob, on Monday said the recent indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, though very much political and should be handled with care, is a case of no one being above the law for crimes against humanity.

Recently, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed for an arrest warrant against Bashir whom he accuses of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the people of the troubled region of Darfur. The Sudanese government has from the word go, unilaterally rejected and rebuffed the indictment of its leader, describing it as political.

General Arob, who heads the SPLA’s joint technical committee of the Joint Defense Board, is leading an eight-member military delegation to Rwanda on a week-long study tour of Rwanda’s military. On Monday, he held discussions with the Rwandan military chief of general staff, General James Kabarebe at the ministry of defense offices in Kigali.

Responding to the question of the ICC indictment of Bashir, Arob said: “Despite the fact that the issue of indictments is political and not in anyway related to the military, in our view, we believe that no one is above the law or immune from justice. But we also recognize that there is too much hurry in issuing the indictments when the Darfur question is far from over.” He noted that with the fragile situation in Darfur and hundreds of innocent people still suffering from the inhuman wrath of the Janjawid Islamists militias, peaceful resolution of the conflict should first be given chance.

The Rwandan military spokesman Major Jill Rutaremara said the indictment of Bashir should not be used as an excuse by the Sudanese government against peacekeepers in Darfur. He pointed out that the Rwandan soldiers in Darfur are not a fighting force but peacekeepers and that if Sudan; “wanted us out of its soil, we should officially be informed and would be willing to withdraw than being attacked.”

Five Rwandan peacekeepers and two police officers from Ghana and Uganda were killed early this month when a convoy they were escorting was ambushed in Shangiya Tobaya, 40km south of El-Fasher in Darfur.

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The 15 members of the United Nations Security Council on Monday were divided over a proposal to suspend the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

South Africa, Libya, backed by China, Russia and Vietnam, sought an amendment that would defer for one year, renewable, any prosecution of Mr. Bashir.

After the meeting the United States ambassador Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that it would be premature for the Security Council to suspend the ICC indictment.

Last week, Russia’s UN ambassador Mr. Vitaly Churkin said the council may consider suspending the ICC indictment. According to Mr. Churkin, Article 16 of the ICC statute “does give the Security Council certain political responsibilities”.

Under Article 16 of the ICC statute, the 15-member Security Council can pass a resolution to defer an ICC investigation or prosecution for a period of 12 months.

“We are hopeful that we can come to an agreement that does not deal, in this resolution, with the issue of the deferral,” Mr. Khalilzad also said.

The chief prosecutor of the ICC, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, formally requested an arrest warrant on July 14 against the Sudanese president for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

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Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’adua on Monday urged Cameroon to cooperate with Nigeria in providing infrastructure and facilities that will promote peace and progress in the Gulf of Guinea.

Receiving the special envoy of President Paul Biya of Cameroon, Mr Erube Iyisi, in Abuja, Yar’adua reiterated the determination of Nigeria to hand over Bakassi to Cameroon on 14 August, 2008.

Yar’adua said that Nigeria had no option than to hand over the disputed Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in line with the judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hegue.

Responding, Iyisi said that an early hand over of Bakassi would be beneficial to Nigeria and Cameroon, especially the people of Bakassi.

Speaking after the meeting between Yar’adua and the special envoy of President Biya, Nigeria’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, told journalists in Abuja that the Bakassi issue should not be allowed to mar the good and brotherly relations existing between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Maduekwe said the anxieties expressed by the Nigerian lawmakers over the fate of the displaced Nigerians from the Peninsula and other legal issues, was borne out of their concern for the welfare of the people and the resolution of all legal issues on the Peninsula.

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Malagasy President Marc Ravalomanana confirmed here Tuesday that his country would remain in the Dakar-based Agency for Air Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA), said the final communiqué of his one-day visit to Gabon.

President Ravalomanana announced the decision after meeting Tuesday morning with his Gabonese counterpart Omar Bongo Ondimba.

Leaders of ASECNA member countries appointed their Gabonese counterpart Bongo Ondimba, the longest serving African head of state, to mediate with the leaders of Madagascar and Senegal (Abdoulaye Wade) in order to bring them back into the organisation.

Both leaders announced that they would quit the institution, which manages the airspaces of 17 African countries supported by France.

Following heated discussions at the 48th session of the ASECNA ministerial committee held 12 July in Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Madagascar rescinded its decision to quit the organisation, while Senegal said it would proceed with the move.

At the end of the ministerial session, Senegal was given two months to make a final decision.

Faced with the situation, member countries requested that the headquarters be moved if Senegal sticks to its guns.

The Malagasy leader’s visit to Libreville comes a few days after he refused to receive the credentials of French ambassador Gildas Le Lidec, who has been posted in Antananarivo for six months.

French newspaper Le Monde reported that “it is unclear what prompted the ambassador’s departure, with some arguing that President Marc Ravalomanana seems to dislike Le Lidec often being positioned in crisis-affected countries.”

Le Lidec was based in Kinshasa, the DR Congo’s capital, in October 2000 when Laurent-Desire Kabila was assassinated, and in Cote d’Ivoire from 2002 to 2005 during the rebellion against President Laurent Gbagbo, sources recalled.

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