SRI LANKA ENLISTS INTERPOL TO TRACK AUSSIE-BOUND TRAWLER

SRI Lanka's police have sought help from Interpol to track down a fishing trawler stolen by its own crew in a bid to illegally transport asylum seekers to Australia.

A magistrate issued arrest warrants against the skipper and 13 others who staged a hijacking last week to try to cover up the theft of the boat and use it in the highly lucrative people-smuggling business, a police statement said. "Police today sought the assistance of Interpol to execute the arrest warrants against the 14 individuals involved in the robbery of the trawler on October 14," the statement said. Police told the magistrate that the skipper of the trawler had stolen the vessel from its owner before taking on board another 10 people in a suspected journey to Australia. Two out of the six crewmen who were later found bobbing in the water off the island's southern coast gave conflicting accounts of the events and are being detained for questioning. The pair had initially told police that the trawler had been attacked by about 40 suspected illegal immigrants carrying swords, who arrived in four small boats and overpowered the crew.

Police said two other trawlers had also been reported missing off the island's southern region since October 2 and they too could have been stolen for people-smuggling.

Sri Lankan authorities say they have detained more than 1000 people who have tried to leave for Australia illegally this year.

Australia hopes the prospect of years in detention on remote Pacific islands will deter asylum seekers from attempting the dangerous sea voyage, which has cost hundreds of lives over the past decade.

Sri Lankans pay up to $US3000 ($2905) for a place on trawlers which take around two weeks to make the treacherous crossing to Australia.

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PUSSY-RIOT MEMBERS SENT TO 'PRISON HELL'

TWO Pussy Riot feminist punk band members have been taken to remote Russian prison camps after a court upheld their two-year sentences for mocking President Vladimir Putin in church, their lawyer says.

"Nadya Tolokonnikova has been sent to Mordovia, and Maria Alyokhina to Perm," defence lawyer Violetta Volkova said on Monday.

The Perm region in the Urals mountains and Mordovia in central Russia host a vast network of prison camps dating back to the Soviet era and infamous for their tough conditions.

"They were convoyed on Saturday," Volkova said, adding that their relatives had learnt of the move when their parcels for the women were rejected at the Moscow prison where they had been temporarily held. It remains unclear when the two young women, who both have small children, will reach their final destination, Volkova said.

Tolokonnikova's husband, activist Pyotr Verzilov, told the Moscow Echo radio station that according to his unconfirmed information, the women were not sent by train as is usual but "were sent by air in special flights". A Twitter account organised by the band also said the two members were taken in a "special" convoy to the prison camps, but gave no details. "Of all the possible options, these are the cruellest prison camps," the Twitter account @pussy_riot noted. The art group Voina (War), which is closely affiliated with Pussy Riot, on Twitter called Mordovia "the worst prison hell there is".

The city of Perm, the region's capital, is about 1400 kilometres from Moscow, while the regional capital of Mordovia, Saransk, is about 640km from Moscow. The Perm region, where temperatures can fall as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in winter, housed Stalin-era labour camps, one of which has been turned into a museum about the history of political repression. Mordovia is a region dotted with lakes that is chiefly known for its prison camps dating back to the Stalin era. In the 1930s and '40s, the prison population here numbered 23,000 prisoners, according to the regional prison service's website. The region now has 17 prison camps, the prison service said. The choice of distant camps appears to be deliberate to make it harder for the public to follow what happens to the women, rights activist Lev Ponomaryov told Moscow Echo.

"Evidently the women have been sent to distant colonies so it's harder for the Pussy Riot members to contact relatives and lawyers, and also it's harder for the public to check on their fate," said the leader of For Human Rights group.

Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and their bandmate Yekaterina Samutsevich were in August sentenced to two years in prison after they staged a balaclava-clad performance inside Moscow's main cathedral mocking Putin.

A Russian appeals court this month upheld the prison camp sentences against Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina but unexpectedly ordered the release of Samutsevich in what many observers believe was an attempt to split the tightly knit band. Samutsevich said in an interview ahead of the women's departure that they were calmly preparing for a transfer that they saw as inevitable after their failed appeal. "They understand that they will soon go to the (prison) colony. They are packing their things," she said. "In principle they are ready for it. They are not upset about it. We all expected that the colony would happen, we all knew it, so it's OK, they just know that they need to go soon."


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GHANA GIRLS QUALIFY FOR HOCKEY'S U-21 WORLD CUP

Ghana’s women’s Under 21 hockey team sealed their World Cup qualification with a 4-0 win over Kenya in the final round of games as the pool phase came to a close at the Africa U-21 championships in South Africa. A brace from Martha Sarfowaa and further strikes from Elizabeth Opoku and Serwaa ensured that Team Ghana were home and dry for a world cup appearance even before they play South Africa in the finals of the under 21 Africa Cup of Nations and world cup qualifier at the Kaspersky Stadium in Randburg, South Africa.

Ghana earlier lost 4-0 to the South Africans during the group stage of the tournament but are hopeful of a good showing in the final. The Ghanaian side came into the game determined to take all three points to ensure their ticket for the World Cup was guaranteed, that they needed a win over the Kenyans wasn’t far-fetched.

After several insurgences into the Kenyan D, the women from Ghana were yet to find the cutting urge upfront running out of steam in the early part of the first half. Not until a penalty corner not well pushed to the strikers for a hit, saw Martha Sarfowaa hitting a shot in the D for the opener. Expectation was high as the Ghanaian side saw the need to bury the game but it was not until after recess when Team Ghana increased the tally to two through enterprising skillful and hockey whizz kid Elizabeth Opoku who neatly scooped the ball over the Kenyan goalkeeper. Martha Sarfowaa got her second later with a flick on the ball that was driven in by Elizabeth Opoku.

In a captivating way, the team secured one of the 2 slots for Africa at the upcoming world youth championship tournament with the final goal making it 4-0 in favour of the ladies from Ghana. It would be recalled that majority of Ghana’s players were in the Africa junior championship side two years ago which failed to make it to the Olympic Games.

Enroute to securing a slot for the championship, Team Ghana edged past Namibia exacting revenge for a defeat that denied Ghana a chance to be at the maiden Youth Olympics staged in Singapore some two years ago. The team had a total of 9 goals having played four matches, losing 4-0 to South Africa.



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FINAL DISGRACE: LANCE ARMSTRONG STRIPPED OF ALL 7 TOUR DE FRANCE WINS, BANNED FOR LIFE

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has accepted the findings of the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (Usada) investigation into Armstrong. UCI president Pat McQuaid said: "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling. He deserves to be forgotten." McQuaid added Armstrong had been stripped of all results since 1 August, 1998 and banned for life for doping. On what he called a "landmark day for cycling", the Irishman, who became president of UCI in 2005, said he would not be resigning.


"This is a crisis, the biggest crisis cycling has ever faced," he said. "I like to look at this crisis as an opportunity for our sport and everyone involved in it to realise it is in danger and to work together to go forward. Cycling has a future. This is not the first time cycling has reached a crossroads or that it has had to begin anew".

• Achievements of USPS/Discovery Channel pro cycling team accomplished through the most sophisticated, professional and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen

• Armstrong's career at the team was fuelled from start to finish by doping

• More than a dozen former team-mates, friends and former team employees confirm a fraudulent course of conduct

• Armstrong acted with the help of a small army of enablers, including doping doctors, drug smugglers and others within and outside the sport and his team

• He had ultimate control over not only his own personal drug use but over the doping culture of the team

• Team staff were good at predicting when testers would turn up and seemed to have inside information

• Evidence is beyond strong and as strong as any case ever brought by Usada

"When I took over [as president] in 2005 I made the fight against doping my priority. I acknowledged cycling had a culture of doping. Cycling has come a long way. I have no intention of resigning as president of the UCI," McQuaid said. "I'm sorry that we couldn't catch every damn one of them red-handed and throw them out of the sport at the time."

Armstrong, 41, received a life ban from Usada for what the organisation called "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".

The American, who overcame cancer to return to professional cycling, won the Tour de France in seven successive years from 1999 to 2005. He has always denied doping but chose not to fight the charges filed against him.

Usada released a 1,000-page report earlier this month which included sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team and the doping activities of its members. Usada praised the "courage" shown by the riders in coming forward and breaking the sport's "code of silence".

Armstrong, who retired in 2005 but returned in 2009 before retiring for good two years later, has not commented on the details of Usada's report. His lawyer Tim Herman, however, has described it as a  "on-sided hatchet job".

McQuaid said he was "sickened" by what he read in the Usada report, singling out the testimony of Armstrong's former team-mate David Zabriskie. "The story he told of how he was coerced and to some extent forced into doping is just mind-boggling," he said. "It is very difficult to accept and understand that that went on. But cycling has changed a lot since then. What was available to the UCI then was much more limited compared to what is available now. If we had then what we have now, this sort of thing would not have gone on."

Usada chief executive Travis Tygart welcomed UCI's decision, but called for a new body to be set up to probe further into cycling's murky past. "It is essential that an independent and meaningful Truth and Reconciliation Commission be established so that the sport can fully unshackle itself from the past," he said. "There are many more details of doping that are hidden, many more doping doctors, and corrupt team directors and the omerta has not yet been fully broken."

McQuaid was quizzed over the $100,000 (£62,300) donation made by Armstrong to the UCI in 2002, one year after the American cyclist had had a suspicious test for EPO at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. Asked by BBC sports editor David Bond how he could justify the payment, McQuaid said: "We used the money against doping, it was done openly and put to good use."

The management committee of the UCI will meet on Friday to discuss whether to reallocate Armstrong's Tour de France titles and prize money.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANYE WEST GO SIGHTSEEING TO CELEBRATE HER 32ND BIRTHDAY

The pair were seen walking through romantic Venice with their arms linked as they spent the day stopping to take in the sights and snap photos on an SLR camera.

Kim – who has admitted to gaining weight since getting together with the rapper – wore a tight brown lycra frock that enhanced her growing cleavage, teamed with a long black coat and peep-toe ankle boots. She looked like a true tourist with her camera hanging from her shoulder as she chatted to Kanye, 35, who added a smart touch to his leather-look jeans with a black shirt and blazer.

Earlier in the week Kim and Kanye visited Rome on the birthday trip. It came after Kim admitted she dreaded getting older. Kim said: “I’m not so into a 32nd birthday. Doesn’t do it for me, so I don’t really care.”

And it seems there is much speculation that Kanye is going to pop the question to Kim on the trip. A source says: “It’s only a matter of time before Kanye pops the question. They are madly in love with one another and as far as Kanye is concerned he wants to spend the rest of his life with Kim.”

THREE PEOPLE KILLED AT WISCONSIN SPA SHOOTING

A man has opened fire at a beauty spa where his wife worked in the US state of Wisconsin, killing three people and injuring four others. Areas near the spa in Brookfield, including a shopping centre and hospital, were locked down, as police searched for the gunman.

The suspect, named as Radcliffe Haughton, 45, was later found dead at the scene in the town of Brookfield.

It was not immediately clear whether Haughton's wife was among those killed. Reports say the incident stemmed from a domestic dispute. Haughton had recently been given a restraining order and ordered to hand in his firearms after being accused of slashing his wife's car tyres. 

The shooting began around 11:15 (15:15 GMT). A quick-reaction Swat team and hostage negotiators were sent to the scene, in addition to FBI agents. Police searched the surrounding area, ordering customers at a nearby mall to stay inside.

Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus said the first officers on the scene found the building full of smoke from a fire believed to have been set by Haughton.

The White House issued a statement saying Barack and Michelle Obama's thoughts and prayers were with the victims of "this horrible shooting" and their families. The governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, also expressed his sympathy for the victims, saying: "Senseless acts of violence leave us with heavy hearts and many questions."

It was the second mass shooting in Wisconsin this year. In August, Wade Michael Page, a US Army veteran with ties to white-power groups, killed six people as they prepared for a service at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee.

Watch the news footage below:

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BRITISH NEWSPAPER SAYS BISHOP OYEDEPO IS WORTH £93m & ACCUSED HIM OF EXPLOITING BRITISH WORSHIPPERS

Plenty to smile about; Preacher David Oyedepo of the Winners Chapel movement aboard one of his private jets. He also owns a Rolls Royce Phantom

A church run by a controversial multi-millionaire African preacher has been accused of ‘cynical exploitation’ after its British branch received £16.7 million in donations from followers who were told that God would give them riches in return. Followers are ferried in double-decker shuttle buses to the church, handed slips inviting them to make debit card payments, and are even told obeying the ministry’s teachings will make them immune from illness.

Today’s Mail on Sunday revelations about the Winners’ Chapel movement have prompted the Charity Commission to review the charitable status of the church – one of the fastest-growing in the UK. Winners’ Chapel is part of a worldwide empire of evangelical ministries run by Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher David Oyedepo, who has an estimated £93 million fortune, a fleet of private jets and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

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Dubbed ‘The Pastorpreneur’, he was accused earlier this year of slapping the face of a young woman he said was a witch. The assault case was struck out but is being appealed. Branches of the church have sprung up in major UK cities in a huge recruitment drive centred on Mr Oyedepo’s ‘prosperity gospel’. This claims that congregants who make regular donations and pay tithes – a ten per cent levy on their income – will be rewarded financially by God. Followers are urged to target vulnerable people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential candidates for conversion.

Labour MP Paul Flynn said Winners’ Chapel was cynically exploiting supporters. ‘They [Winners’ Chapel] are making clearly spurious claims and it seems to be a cynical exploitation of the gullible,’ he said. Referring to the slapping incident, Mr Flynn added: ‘What is also alarming is the reported violence and the lack of respect for the status of women. It’s taking us back to a previous age of ignorance and prejudice that we all thought the church had escaped.’

This newspaper’s investigation can further disclose:

• Congregants are handed a payment slip requesting payments using cheque, cash or debit card when they enter London’s Winners’ Chapel.

• Donations to the ministry in England almost doubled from £2.21 million to £4.37 million between 2006 and 2010.

• Mr Oyedepo’s superchurch in Nigeria received £794,000 or 73 per cent of the charitable donations paid out by the British Winners’ Chapel between 2007 and 2010. This was despite claims in Africa that he is enriching himself at the expense of his devotees.

• The registered charity has spent £6.81 million on evangelism and ‘praise, worship and fellowship’.

• The church’s ‘Joseph Squad’ preaches in British prisons and has a weekly broadcast named ‘Liberation Hour’ on satellite and cable TV here.

In the past three years, Winners’ Chapel churches have been established in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford, adding to those in London, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow. An undercover Mail on Sunday reporter attended Sunday services at Winners’ Chapel’s ‘London HQ’ in Dartford, Kent, which attracts 1,000 congregants – chiefly African and Caribbean immigrants. It is run like ‘a business conference’ by Mr Oyedepo’s son, David Oyedepo Jnr. Packed buses deliver singing worshippers from South-East London, Essex and Kent to the huge auditorium. The reporter saw a payment slip being given to every person entering the church encouraging them to donate money by cheque or cash or to fill in a form with their debit card details. The slip said tithes should be paid separately using a ‘Kingdom Investment Booklet’ and the reporter was informed that payments could also be made by phone. A pastor told the worshippers: ‘You shall be financially promoted after this service in Jesus’s name if you are ready to honour the Lord therefore with all your givings, your tithes, your offerings, your Kingdom investment, your sacrifices.’ Congregants were told to fill in their slips and hold them above their heads while the donations were blessed.

 The service was interspersed with testimonies. ‘I received a bill from the bank that I didn’t understand, so I prayed,’ said one congregant. ‘A few days later, the bank wrote to apologise for their mistake – Hallelujah!’ ‘Hallelujah,’ the audience shouted back.

Congregants were told they could gain favour by persuading others to follow Mr Oyedepo’s teachings. His son said: ‘Look around you. Someone is sick and already wishing he or she were dead, that is a fruit ripe to harvest. Someone is confounded and considering suicide as an option, that is another fruit that is ripe to harvest. ‘Someone else is lonely and wondering if there is any future for him, that is another fruit ripe to harvest. ‘Also there are many men and women, young and old that are homeless, these are fruits ripe to harvest.’

The reporter was taken, with 20 other new recruits, to a room where preachers gave sermons claiming acceptance of the Lord would prevent them ever being ill or suffering misfortune.

The Mail on Sunday has seen video footage of Mr Oyedepo striking a woman across the face and condemning her to hell after she said she was a ‘witch for Jesus’. He attacked her in a Winners’ Chapel superchurch, believed to be in Nigeria, in front of worshippers. A separate video shows him saying: ‘I slapped a witch here last year!’ In May, he was sued for £800,000 over the alleged assault. The case was struck out – a decision which is now reported to have been appealed.

The Winners’ Chapel movement, also known as the Living Faith Church, has hundreds of churches in Nigeria and across Africa, the Middle East, the UK and the US. Mr Oyedepo has received fierce criticism in Africa. One Nigerian journalist accused him of ‘leading a growing list of pastorpreneurs – church founders exploiting the passion and emotion that Christianity commands to feather their nests’. Catholic Cardinal Anthony Okogie criticised such preachers for placing materialism above Jesus’s message. He reportedly said: ‘They have been skinning the flock, taking out of the milk of the flock.’

Among Mr Oyedepo’s fleet of aircraft are said to be a Gulfstream 1 and Gulfstream 4 private jets. It is also claimed he and his wife, Faith, travel in expensive Jeeps flanked by convoys of siren-blaring vehicles. He is the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000-seat auditorium in Lagos reputed to be the largest church in the world, and runs a publishing company that distributes books carrying his message across the world. His other business interests span manufacturing, petrol stations, bakeries, water purification factories, recruitment, a university, restaurants, supermarkets and real estate. The latest addition is a commercial airline named Dominion Airlines.

A Charity Commission spokesman said: ‘The Charity Commission is currently assessing what, if any, regulatory role there is to play with regard to the complaints made against the World Mission Agency. It is important to clarify that this does not constitute an investigation at this stage.’