We are attacking problems across value chain of power sector: Scindia

The responsibility of lighting up the country today rests on the young shoulders of Jyotiraditya Scindia. Just three months into his new job, the power minister has set an electric pace to energise the sector. He shares his vision with ToI in a freewheeling interview with Sanjay Dutta:

About 24,000 mw gas-fired generation capacity is idling due to domestic gas shortage. This is threatening to turn more than Rs 1 lakh crore investment sour. What is the mechanism proposed by your ministry to make imported liquid gas-fired power affordable?

The problem is a little more complicated than you described. Gas plants today are running at 40% PLF (plant load factor or capacity). Almost a Gig (giga watt) capacity is completely stranded, not even idling. How do you resolve the situation?

I am 100 days into my job. What I am trying to do is resolve issues across the whole value chain of the power sector. That's generation, transmission, distribution and last mile. What we are trying to do is deal with issues in each and every bucket: We have dealt with FSAs (fuel supply agreement) of coal; dealt with issues with regard to NTPC -- that's reallocation of coal blocks; allocation of new coal blocks for 8,460 mw, or 42 mtpa (million tonne per annum), which would be done in this auction; whether it was the public issue of $2.3 billion; we've got approval for 2,600 mw for hydro projects from environment and forest clearance.

On the transmission side, we are trying to give independence and full autonomy to POSOCO (grid operator); we're looking at the clauses in the Electricity Act that need amendment to ensure that the incident (grid collapse) that happened last July does not happen again.

On the distribution side, we are trying to look at the FRC, where eight states have come on board, we have full commitment of those states. The only thing I need to get done is confirmation of the transitional financing mechanism from the ministry of finance. The moment we do that, close to Rs 1.2 lakh crore short-term liabilities will be rescheduled... 50% from the banks and 50% from the state governments.

I am also trying to bring out the creditory (rating) system for discoms where we will do the first half and a full year to show transparency and accountability to the lenders. It is also important that you don't have solution for all the power sector issues and you must involve all stakeholders.

In the last 100 days I have tried to do that and trying to fix mechanisms for the same. For the first time, in three months I've had three meetings with the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on power. I have set up an advisory group of bankers on Februray 5, I have also met the CERC and regulators to make sure that there is clear signal on the regulatory side, I will hold annual and semi-annual meetings with them..so that we have the message very clear and have annual meetings with them, I have also put together an advisory group which met on Februrary 19, which encompasses all the stakeholders in the power sector -- ex secretaries of coal, power and environment sector, renewable energy side, financing, institutional authorities.

What I am doing with them is attacking problems. Gas is an issue, availability is not there and the only solution that I can come up is to use imported RLNG, which you get for Rs 8 or Rs 9, as a substitute to diesel gensets which is costing the industry close to Rs 20 crore. I have put this up as an item to discuss with the advisory group.

Our next meeting is very much on SBD-2 which is on March 6 and I have already circulated the papers and have the sitting with them. And I am trying to get my hands on each part of the problem. If you ask me very candidly, I don't have a solution today...

The standard bid document for case-2 projects wherein state government gives land etc proposed by your ministry has universally been rejected by all promoters and nobody is happy with it. Why are you sticking with it?

There is lot of noise about SBD. You have to come out with a regime that makes sense for bankers, investors and it makes sense for all stakeholders, including state governments. SBD Case 2 is a very different product to SBD Case 1, where the state govt will give you land and a linkage, you are a developer, your return is based on the efficiency of your enterprise...we have put together parameters which are as transparent and accountable as possible...there is great deal of noise about is because all the facts and clauses are not known . I am taking this to EGoM as you know, based on the advisory group. I have told the stakeholders we are on the same side of the table... I will first meet with you, discuss it and will only then take it to EGoM, which is why we are meeting within two weeks we are having the second meeting with the advisory groups on the March 6.

Promoters are facing problems due to fluctuation in the rupee's exchange rate. Have you thought about any step to mitigate the problem?

As I said, I am right now concentrating on four things -- generation, transmission, distribution, last mile. Hedging in terms of foreign currency exposure is something, to be very honest with you, to which I have not applied my mind yet. I am not very clear, but not sure whether it really falls into my domain as power minister.

Projects using imported coal have been hit by a double whammy - rise in cost of imports and notices for paying Customs duty, even though the 2012 Budget had assured of an exemption?

I am discussing it with the FM. It's not a Budget item, it's off-Budget. We just need a clarification. The issue is of steamed coal Vs indigenous coal. I am aware of that. I am coming up the learning curve as soon as possible.

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.

The drug Kadcyla (kad-SY'-luh) from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a double-shot of anti-tumor poison.

Cancer researchers say the drug may offer a clear advantage over older drugs because it delivers more medication with fewer side effects.

The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2.

The approval will help Roche's Genentech unit build on the blockbuster success of Herceptin, which has long dominated the breast cancer marketplace. The drug had sales of roughly $6 billion last year.

Genentech said Friday that Kadcyla will cost $9,800 per month, compared to $4,500 per month for regular Herceptin. The company estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000.

FDA scientists said they approved the drug based on company studies showing Kadcyla delayed the progression of breast cancer by several months. Researchers reported last year that patients treated with the drug lived 9.6 months before death or the spread of their disease, compared with a little more than six months for patients treated with two other standard drugs, Tykerb and Xeloda.

Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs.

FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug.

Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women.

Kadcyla was co-developed by South San Francisco-based Genentech and ImmunoGen Inc., of Waltham, Mass. ImmunoGen developed the technology that binds the drug ingredients together and is scheduled to receive a $10.5 million payment from Genentech on the FDA decision. The company will also receive additional royalties on the drug's sales.

Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. rose 33 cents, or 2.27 percent, to $14.63 in midday trading.

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3 Dead in Rolling Gun Battle on Vegas Strip

A drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip early this morning by the occupants of a Range Rover SUV, who shot at the occupants of a Maserati, caused a multi-car accident and car explosion that left three dead.

Police said that they believe a group of men riding in a black Range Rover Sport SUV pulled up alongside a Maserati around 4:20 a.m. today and fired shots into the car, striking the driver and passenger, according to Officer Jose Hernandez of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.

The Maserati then swerved through an intersection, hitting at least four other cars. One car that was struck, a taxi with a driver and passenger in it, caught on fire and burst into flames, trapping both occupants, Hernandez said.

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The SUV then fled the scene, according to cops.

The driver of the Maserati died from his gunshot wounds at University Medical Center shortly after the shooting, according to Sgt. John Sheahan.

The driver and passenger of the taxi both died in the car fire.

At least three individuals, including the passenger of the Maserati, were injured during the shooting and car crashes and are being treated at UMC hospital.

Police are scouring surveillance video from the area, including from the strip's major casinos, to try and identify the Range Rover and its occupants, according to police.

They do not yet know why the Range Rovers' occupants fired shots at the Maserati or whether the cars had local plates or were from out of state.

No bystanders were hit by gunfire, Hernandez said.

"We're currently looking for a black Range Rover Sport, with large black rims and some sort of dealership advertising or advertisement plates," Hernandez said. "This is an armed and dangerous vehicle."

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had no immediate comment about the safety of tourists in the wake of the shooting today.

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Nigerian troops surround French family's kidnappers: source

YAOUNDE/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian security forces surrounded the kidnappers of a French family in northeast Borno state on Thursday in an operation to rescue the hostages, a Nigerian military source said.

French, Nigerian and Cameroonian officials earlier denied French media reports that the family, who were seized in Cameroon and taken over the border, had been freed.

The Nigerian military located the hostages and kidnappers between Dikwa and Ngala in the far northeast, the military source in Borno said, asking not to be identified.

Dikwa is less than 80 km (50 miles) from the border with Cameroon where the three adults and four children were taken hostage on Tuesday.

A senior Cameroonian military official declined to comment saying the matter was too sensitive.

Citing a Cameroon army officer, French media reported earlier on Thursday that the hostages had been found alive in a house in northern Nigeria.

"This is a crazy rumor that we cannot confirm. We do not know where is it coming from," Cameroon Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary told Reuters by telephone from the capital Yaounde.

"What is certain is that the French tourists who were abducted are no longer on our territory. However, we are in touch with the Government of Nigeria to intensify measures to continue the search for them along our common border," he said.

French gendarmes backed by special forces arrived in northern Cameroon on Wednesday to help locate the family, a local governor and French defense ministry official said.

Nigerian military spokesman Sagir Musa earlier also said the report on France's BFM television of the hostages being released was "not true," while Didier Le Bret, the head of the French foreign ministry's crisis center, said the information was "baseless."

The abduction was the first case of foreigners being seized in the mostly Muslim north of Cameroon, a former French colony.

But the region - like others in West and North Africa with porous borders - is considered within the operational sphere of Boko Haram and fellow Nigerian Islamist militants Ansaru.

On Sunday, seven foreigners were snatched from the compound of Lebanese construction company Setraco in northern Nigeria's Bauchi state, and Ansaru took responsibility.

Northern Nigeria is increasingly afflicted by attacks and kidnappings by Islamist militants. Ansaru, which rose to prominence only in recent months, has claimed the abduction in December of a French national who is still missing.

Three foreigners were killed in two failed rescue attempts last year after being kidnapped in northern Nigeria and Ansaru, blamed for those kidnaps, warned this could happen again.

The threat to French nationals in the region has grown since France deployed thousands of troops to Mali to oust al Qaeda-linked Islamists who controlled the country's north.

The kidnapping in Cameroon brought to 15 the number of French citizens being held in West Africa.

(Reporting By Emile Picy and Nicholas Vinocur in Paris; Additional reporting by Joe Brock in Abuja and Bate Felix and John Irish in Dakar; Writing by Bate Felix and John Irish; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Falling energy prices curb US inflation

WASHINGTON: US consumer prices were flat for a second month in a row in January, held down by a sharp drop in gasoline and fuel oil prices, government data released Thursday showed.

The Labour Department said its consumer price index was unchanged, while core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose 0.3 per cent.

The energy sub-index fell 1.7 per cent, its third consecutive decline, led by 3.0 per cent drops in prices for gasoline and fuel oil that offset a 1.1 per cent rise in electricity costs.

Food prices were unchanged after inching up 0.2 per cent in the prior three months.

In the overall CPI, clothing was the strongest price gainer, up 0.8 per cent.

The data underscored continued weak inflationary pressures in the sluggish economy, which contracted 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 despite massive stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

Year-over-year, CPI slowed for a third straight month, rising 1.6 per cent in January, its lowest rise in six months. In January 2012, CPI was up 2.9 per cent from the year-ago month.

Core CPI was up 1.9 per cent from a year ago, driven by a 3.8 per cent jump in airline fares and a 3.1 per cent rise in medical care costs.

"The year/year gain has been hovering around the two per cent mark for the past seven months, and shouldn't worry Fed officials too much," said Jennifer Lee of BMO Capital Markets.

- AFP/fa

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Hyderabad blasts: NIA, NSG teams flying to blast site, home secretary says

NEW DELHI: Elite teams of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the National Security Guard (NSG) will be flying to Hyderabad, which has been rocked by twin blasts that killed 10 people and injured 50, an official said.

"We have a news of two blasts. We have spoken to state chief secretary, DGP (director general of police) and governor (E.S.L. Narasimhan)," Home secretary R.K. Singh told reporters here.

"Ten people have died and 50 have been injured in the blasts," he said.

He said the state police chief is reaching the blast site, which has been cordoned off.

"Our NIA team is also reaching as it has a hub there. The NIA officials are there at the site. Our IG NIA is also going from here. The post blast investigating team of NSG is also going," he told reporters,

The two teams will fly at 9.30 p.m. in a Border Security Force plane, he added.

The near-simultaneous blasts occurred near two theatres in Dilsukhnagar, a busy commercial area in the southern part of city, about 15 km from downtown.

Police have not yet confirmed either the cause of the explosions or the number of casualties.

The first blast occurred around 7 pm near a tiffin centre opposite Venkatadri Theatre and the second near Konark Theatre. Both the theatres are about 500 meters from each other.

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Flu shot did poor job against worst bug in seniors

ATLANTA (AP) — For those 65 and older, this season's flu shot is only 9 percent effective against the most common and dangerous flu bug, according to a startling new government report.

Flu vaccine tends to protect younger people better than older ones and never works as well as other kinds of vaccines. But experts say the preliminary results for seniors are disappointing and highlight the need for a better vaccine.

For all age groups, the vaccine's effectiveness is moderate at 56 percent, which is nearly as well as other flu seasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

For those 65 and older, it is 27 percent effective against the three strains in the vaccine, the lowest in about a decade but not far below from what's expected. But the vaccine did a particularly poor job of protecting older people against the harshest flu strain, which is causing most of the illnesses this year. CDC officials say it's not clear why.

Vaccinations are now recommended for anyone over 6 months, and health officials stress that some vaccine protection is better than none at all. While it's likely that older people who were vaccinated are still getting sick, many of them may be getting less severe symptoms.

"Year in and year out, the vaccine is the best protection we have," said CDC flu expert Dr. Joseph Bresee.

To be sure, the preliminary data for seniors is less than definitive. It is based on fewer than 300 people scattered among five states.

But it will no doubt surprise many people that the effectiveness is that low, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease expert who has tried to draw attention to the need for a more effective flu vaccine.

Among infectious diseases, flu is considered one of the nation's leading killers. On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

This flu season started in early December, a month earlier than usual, and peaked by the end of year. Older people are most vulnerable to flu and its complications, and the nation has seen some of the highest hospitalization rates for people 65 and older in a decade.

Flu viruses tend to mutate more quickly than others, and it's not unusual for multiple strains to be spreading at the same time. A new vaccine is formulated each year targeting the three strains expected to be the major threats. But that involves guesswork.

Because of these challenges, scientists tend to set a lower bar for flu vaccine. While childhood vaccines against diseases like measles are expected to be 90 or 95 percent effective, a flu vaccine that's 60 to 70 percent effective in the U.S. is considered pretty good.

By that standard, this year's vaccine is OK. The 56 percent effectiveness figure means people have a 56 percent lower chance of winding up at the doctor for treatment of flu symptoms.

For seniors, a flu vaccine is considered pretty good if it's in the 30 to 40 percent range, said Dr. Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan flu expert.

Older people have weaker immune systems that don't respond as well to flu shots. That's why a high-dose version was recently made available for those 65 and older. The new study was too small to show whether that made a difference this year.

The CDC estimates are based on about 2,700 people who got sick in December and January. The researchers traced back to see who had gotten flu shots and who hadn't. An earlier study put the vaccine's overall effectiveness slightly higher, at 62 percent.

The CDC's Bresee said there's a danger in providing preliminary results because it may result in people doubting — or skipping — flu shots. But the data was released to warn older people who got shots that they may still get sick and shouldn't ignore any serious flu-like symptoms, he said.

The new data highlights an evolution in how experts are evaluating flu vaccine effectiveness. For years, it was believed that if the viruses in the vaccine matched the ones spreading around the country, then the vaccine would be effective. This year's shot was a good match to the bugs going around this winter, including the harsher H3N2 that tends to make people sicker.

But the season proved to be a moderately severe one, with many illnesses occurring in people who'd been vaccinated.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Fiery Debate Over Pistorius' Story at Bail Hearing

As prosecutors today outlined their case against South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius, providing details that they say indicates a premeditated act of murder against his girlfriend, his lawyers swatted at each bit of evidence on the dramatic second day of a bail hearing that will likely foreshadow the upcoming trial.

The Johannesburg courtroom sat riveted as police investigators said that Pistorius, a double-amputee who gained global acclaim for racing at the 2012 London Olympics, shot his girlfriend through a closed bathroom door at a high angle from which he had to be wearing his prosthetic legs.

Prosecutors insisted that Pistorius took a moment to put the legs on, indicating that he thought out and planned to kill Reeva Steenkamp, his model girlfriend, when he shot her three times through a closed bathroom door early on the morning of Valentine's Day.

There was a "deliberate aiming of shots at the toilet from about 1.5 meters [about 5 feet]," prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

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Nel said Pistorius fired four shots into the bathroom, hitting Steenkamp three times in the head, elbow, and hip.

Nel also said a witness would testify to hearing "non-stop talking, like shouting" in the early hours before the dawn shooting.

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Pistorius' lawyer, who argued Tuesday that the runner accidently fired on Steenkamp believing she was an intruder, assailed each bit of the prosecution's evidence, even getting a lead investigator to concede that police had not found anything to conclusively disprove the Olympian's story.

"[The angle] seems to me down. Fired down," Police officer Hilton Botha told the court, suggesting Pistorius was standing high up on his fake legs.

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But when pushed by defense lawyer Barry Roux, Botha admitted he did not know whether Pistorius was wearing the prosthetics.

When asked about the witness who allegedly heard yelling between Pistorius and Steenkamp, Botha admitted under cross-examination that the woman was about 600 yards -- six football fields -- away at the time.

When the prosecutor questioned Botha a second time, he backtracked to say the witness was actually much closer.

The prosecution showed a floor-plan of the couple's apartment and said there was no way for Pistorius to cross from one side of the bedroom toward the bathroom, or retrieve his hidden pistol, without realizing Steenkamp was not in bed.

"There's no other way of getting there," prosecutor Nel said.

The defense further suggested that Steenkamp had gone to the bathroom on her own, and not to flee from Pistorius, because her bladder was empty. Had she simply run there to hide at 3 am, it would have more likely been full, Roux said.

Asked by defense attorney Roux whether Steenkamp's body showed "any pattern of defensive wounds," suggesting she had put up a fight, Botha admitted it did not.

Prosecutors also said that they found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the bedroom, although the defense disputed the finding, calling the substance a "herbal remedy," not banned drugs or steroids.

Botha told the court today that he arrived at Pistorius' home at 4:15 a.m., Feb. 14, to find Steenkamp already dead, dressed in a white shorts and a black vest, and covered in towels. The first thing Pistorius told police was that "he thought it was a burglar," officials said.

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Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union's poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early election.

Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "Resign".

Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalized and 25 arrested in clashes with police.

"My decision to resign will not be changed under any circumstances. I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them," said Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.

A karate black belt, Borisov has cultivated a Putin-like "can-do" image since he entered politics as Sofia mayor in 2005 and would connect with voters by showing up on the capital's rutted streets to oversee the repair of pot-holes.

But critics say he has often skirted due process, sometimes to the benefit of those close to him, and his swift policy U-turns have wounded the public's trust.

The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov and political elites with perceived links to shadowy businesses.

"He made my day," said student Borislav Hadzhiev in central Sofia, commenting on Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."

POLLS, PRICES

The prime minister's final desperate moves on Tuesday included cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic by punishing companies including CEZ, moves which conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process.

CEZ officials were hopeful on Wednesday that it would be able to avoid losing its distribution license after all and officials from the Bulgarian regulator said the company would not be punished if it dealt with breaches of procedure.

But shares in what is central Europe's largest publicly-listed company fell another 1 percent on Wednesday.

If pushed through, the fines for CEZ and two other foreign-owned firms will not encourage other investors in Bulgaria, who already have to navigate complicated bureaucracy and widespread corruption and organized crime to take advantage of Bulgaria's 10-percent flat tax rate.

Financial markets reacted negatively to the turbulence on Wednesday. The cost of insuring Bulgaria's debt rose to a three-month high and debt yields rose some 15 basis points, though the country's low deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product means there is little risk to the lev currency's peg against the euro.

Borisov's interior minister indicated that elections originally planned for July would probably be pulled forward by saying that his rightist GERB party would not take part in talks to form a new government.

MILLIONS GONE

GERB's woes have echoes in another ex-communist EU member, Slovenia, where demonstrators have taken to the streets and added pressure to a crumbling conservative government.

A small crowd gathered in support of Borisov outside Sofia's parliament, which is expected to approve his resignation on Thursday, while bigger demonstrations against the premier were expected in the evening.

Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communism but remains at 11.9 percent. Average salaries are stuck at around 800 levs ($550) a month and millions have emigrated, leaving swathes of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.

GERB's popularity has held up well and it still led in the latest polls before protests grew in size last weekend, but analysts say the opposition Socialists should draw strength from the demonstrations.

The leftists, successors to Bulgaria's communist party, have proposed tax cuts and wage hikes and are likely to raise questions about public finances if elected.

(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Patrick Graham)

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Gbagbo lawyer slams "political trial" at ICC

THE HAGUE: Laurent Gbagbo's lawyer hit out at a "political trial" at the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, where judges are to decide if the Ivorian ex-president should face charges of crimes against humanity.

Gbagbo, 67, is the first former head of state brought before the ICC, where he is accused of masterminding a campaign of violence during a bloody 2010-2011 presidential election standoff in the West African nation in which over 3,000 people died.

"The Ivorian people deserve better than a political trial, they deserve a trial of those who are really responsible for the country's decade-long destruction and the court deserves to have been able to look at what really happened in Ivory Coast," lawyer Emmanuel Altit told the court on the second day of the confirmation of charges hearing.

Gbagbo maintains that he is the rightful president of Ivory Coast and that he was evicted in favour of his rival, current President Alassane Ouattara, thanks to a plot led by former colonial ruler France.

Gbagbo faces four counts of crimes against humanity for allegedly fomenting the wave of violence. He has denied the charges against him.

Altit said the evidence against Gbagbo had holes in it and did not represent reality.

"Why aren't they here, why aren't they being prosecuted?" said Altit, listing officials in Ouattara's government.

While thousands died during the five-month standoff, forces loyal to Gbagbo as well as those loyal to Ouattara have been accused of massive human rights abuses.

Prosecutors and the defence are to spend just over a week arguing their cases before a three-judge bench, who will then decide if there are "substantial grounds to believe that Gbagbo committed the crimes" and should be charged.

The prosecution says Gbagbo masterminded a plan to "stay in power by all means... through carefully planned, sustained and deadly attacks" against Ouattara supporters.

Between November 28, 2010 and May 8, 2011 Gbagbo's forces killed between 706 and 1,059 people and raped more than 35 women, prosecutors say.

His supporters have accused Ouattara's camp of practising "victor's justice" as many of the former president's backers are now behind bars -- including Gbagbo's wife Simone, who is also wanted by the ICC -- while none of those close to the Ouattara regime have been arrested.

The hearings started on Tuesday and are to last over a week, with Gbagbo expected to speak on the final day, February 28.

-AFP/ac

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