Speight goes around with armed body guards – that is illegal

Speight goes around with armed body guards – that is illegal. We can’t have private militias operating around the country,” Tarakinikini said. Speight has said that his coup was aimed at strengthening the position of indigenous Fijians in the country.Speight and those arrested with him, his legal adviser Tevita Bukaru, his spokesman, Jo Nata, and a body guard were being held at Suva’s main military barracks. Earlier on Wednesday, Fiji’s military bolstered its presence across the Pacific island nation awaiting an announcement of a new government. Speight forced the last government, the first led by a member of Fiji’s ethnic Indian minority, out of office.Amid threats of reprisals from coup rebels, Fiji’s President Ratu Josefa Iloilo kept up efforts to form the new government but did not name his lineup Military spokesman Lt. Ro Alipate Mataitini said extra troops had been posted throughout Fiji and warned that rebels could expect a tough response if they tried to cause unrest.”The military has deployed soldiers around the country in anticipation of a negative reaction by George Speight supporters to the announcement of the new Cabinet lineup,” Mataitini told Fiji One TV.The crisis set off by Speight’s coup threw Fiji into turmoil, prompting widespread civil unrest and attacks against ethnic Indians, economic paralysis and international censure.. Unidentified gunmen raided a French aid agency office and kidnapped a French woman and a British man, claim local aid workers of charity Action Against Hunger (ACF).

Unidentified gunmen raided a French aid agency office and kidnapped a French woman and a British man, claim local aid workers of charity Action Against Hunger (ACF).
The aid workers, said about 20 gunmen in a chopped-down four-wheel-drive vehicle mounted with a double-barreled anti-aircraft gun broke down the gate of the ACF compound in south Mogadishu at 2 a.m. and took the two aid workers away.At the Paris headquarters of the agency, spokeswoman Beatrice Dervau said the names of the two would be withheld pending notification of their families. It was not clear whether the two were based in Mogadishu or only on a brief assignment. Local clan elders were reported to be negotiating with the gunmen for the release of the aid workers.Most international aid agencies do not station non-Somali employees in the country precisely for fear of kidnapping, but they do send foreign personnel in on short-term assignments. The local ACF staff said the mastermind of the attack appeared to be a former security guard who was recently fired or laid off.There is very little gainful employment for young men in the Somali capital. Most who do work are employed either as militiamen by faction leaders and the Islamic courts or as security guards.Somalia has not had a national government since January 1991 when the 21-year dictatorship of President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown by leaders of dissident political factions, and the country descended into chaos.

Factional fighting has all but ceased in Mogadishu, but banditry carried out by disgruntled militamen remains a serious problem.. Some 660,000 holders of Axa Equity & Life with-profits policies are to receive cash windfalls averaging £400 each following a deal with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) enabling Axa, the insurance giant, to partially unlock £1.7bn worth of orphan assets in its life fund. Some 660,000 holders of Axa Equity & Life with-profits policies are to receive cash windfalls averaging £400 each following a deal with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) enabling Axa, the insurance giant, to partially unlock £1.7bn worth of orphan assets in its life fund.
One unidentified individual will benefit to the tune of £90,000, although most policyholders will receive much smaller amounts Some payouts could be as low as £156. A further top-up worth around 3 per cent will be added to policies as a result of the deal.Yesterday’s agreement, which had been widely awaited in the industry, was hailed by Axa and the FSA as striking a fair balance between the competing interests of policyholders and shareholders. However, it was immediately attacked by consumer groups who accused the FSA of allowing a “scandalous” sell-out of policyholders’ interests in the assets.The orphan assets were built up as a result of a policy by the firm’s actuaries, over a long period, not to distribute its investment surpluses in full to past generations of policyholders.There was disappointment, too, in the City. Share prices of the UK life companies, who were expected to benefit from the decision, fell on the realisation that the tough conditions placed on Axa to prevent it handing out the cash to shareholders made it unlikely that other companies would be able to follow suit quickly.

It is estimated there are £20bn of orphan assets sitting in with-profits funds across the UK life industry.Under the deal, Axa will be allowed to reallocate the cash to non-profit funds which will be used to support the future growth of the business in return for an up-front payment from its own resources of £300m. Reorganisation bonuses will also be paid into Equity & Law policies to the tune of £225m, giving a total pot for policyholders of £525m.Mark Wood, chief executive of Axa in the UK, said the release of the funds will result in a one-off boost to shareholder funds of £400m-£500m He said: “This is a ground-breaking proposal … which clarifies the complex issue of the inherited estate.”Traditionally, the FSA has insisted that any inherited assets that are released must be split 90 per cent in favour of policyholders with only 10 per cent for shareholders. On Axa’s figures, yesterday’s deal splits the assets 45 per cent in favour of shareholders and 55 per cent in favour of policyholders.The proposals come into effect in January 2001 and policyholders will receive payouts by the end of February.