PARIS (AP) — France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy went on trial Monday over alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the government of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The so-called “Libyan case,” the biggest and possibly most shocking of several scandals involving Sarkozy, is scheduled to run until April 10, with a verdict expected at a later date. Sarkozy, 69, faces charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association, punished by up to 10 years in prison. Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has denied any wrongdoing. The trial involves 11 other defendants, including three former ministers. Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, accused of having played the role of intermediary, has fled in Lebanon and is not expected to appear at the Paris court. Sarkozy, who had welcomed Gadhafi to Paris with great honors in 2007, became one of the first Western leaders to push for a military intervention in Libya in March 2011, when Arab Spring pro-democracy protests swept the Arab world. 

 

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BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) -- More than 260 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, arrived in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Aceh after floating at sea for days, an official said Monday.  The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.  An East Aceh official, Iskandar -- who like many Indonesians goes by one name -- said this latest group of refugees arrived on a beach in the region’s town of West Peureulak on Sunday night around 10:25 pm local time (1525 GMT Sunday).  “There are 264 of them -- 117 men and 147 women,” Iskandar told AFP Monday, adding that in the group, around 30 were children.  He said they had initially been on two boats, one of which had sunk off the coast while the second managed to move closer to shore. They could then walk to the shore when the tide was low, he said. 

 

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s new government started an ambitious project on Monday to fight malnutrition by feeding nearly 90 million children and pregnant women that is expected to cost $28 billion through 2029, although critics question whether the program is affordable. The Free Nutritious Meal program delivers on a campaign promise by President Prabowo Subianto, who was elected last year to lead the nation, which has more than 282 million people and Southeast Asia’s largest economy. He said the program aims to fight the stunting of growth that afflicts 21.5% of Indonesian children younger than 5 and would raise the income of farmers. Subianto has pledged to accelerate GDP growth to 8% from 5% now. In his inauguration speech in October, Subianto said many children are malnourished. His promise to provide free school lunches and milk to 83 million students at more than 400,000 schools is part of a longer-term strategy to develop the nation’s human resources to achieve a “Golden Indonesia” generation by 2045.

 

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LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain was bracing for more snow, rain and flooding on Monday as severe weather disrupted road and rail travel and forced airports in northern England to temporarily close their runways, delaying dozens of flights. The Met Office had warnings in place for snow, ice and rain across much of the UK, while the Environment Agency said flooding was expected at over 150 locations due to rain and melting snow. Flooding or heavy rain had delayed or cancelled dozens of trains, Britain’s National Rail said. Some major roads in northern and central England were also closed due to snow or flooding, National Highways said. Early on Monday, Manchester Airport temporarily closed its runways due to heavy snow, following a similar move by Liverpool Airport on Sunday. The Met Office said parts of the UK had faced their coldest night of the winter so far, with temperatures in parts of Scotland falling as low as minus 13.3 degrees Celsius (8.1 Fahrenheit).

 

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BERLIN (AFP) -- The death toll from a car ramming attack on a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg in December has risen to six, prosecutors said on Monday.  A 52-year-old woman has died in hospital as a result of injuries she sustained in the attack, the prosecutors in the nearby city of Naumburg said. A black BMW ploughed through the traditional market on December 20, running over and scattering bodies amid the festive stalls. A total of 299 people were injured in the attack, according to the latest figures from the state interior ministry. A Saudi doctor of psychiatry, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, was arrested at the scene, but the suspected attacker’s motive remains unclear.  Abdulmohsen had in many online posts voiced strongly anti-Islam views, anger at German authorities and support for far-right conspiracy narratives on the “Islamization” of Europe.