Kenyan house prices rise in Q3 on interest rate drop

 Kenya's house prices rose by 7.1 percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year, a real estate firm said on Wednesday, as lower mortgage rates on the back of falling interest rates spurred demand for prime real estate.
Housing has been one of Kenya's fastest growing sectors over the last decade, fuelled by a burgeoning middle class with higher disposable incomes. Returns on investments in the sector have easily outpaced those of equities and government securities.
HassConsult, a real estate firm which publishes the only regular property price index in the country, said a reduction in lending rates by commercial banks was expected to spur further growth of the property market and help support an upward movement of house prices.
"The week that the central bank dropped the rates, activity peaked up (September)," said Sakina Hassanali, marketing manager at HassConsult.
"Confidence in the property market has come back ... If the last six weeks are any clue, then the coming (quarter), so long as mortgages continue going down, we are in a better place than we were six months ago."
The central bank has cut its benchmark rate twice since July by a total of 500 basis points to 13 percent, having raised the rate to 18 percent last year to fight double-digit inflation and stabilise the shilling.
Inflation fell to 5.32 percent in September from 6.09 percent previously, having peaked at 20 percent late last year, while the shilling has largely oscillated at 85 to the dollar this year, from a record low of 107 in October last year.
The lending rates in commercial banks have dropped to about 19 percent, from as high as 30 percent earlier in the year, easing the cost of funding for both house developers and buyers.
"Even the psychological satisfaction of (investors) knowing that the rates are coming down, makes (investors) make that buying decision instantly," said Caroline Kariuki, the managing director of The Mortgage Company.
The east African nation of 40 million people has a massive housing shortage with annual demand at 250,000 units per year against a supply of 60,000 units, a World Bank study showed.
Kariuki said a steady rise of diaspora remittances to a record high of $891.1 million in 2011, had boosted development of the real estate sector, while China was singled out as one of the top foreign investors in east Africa's biggest economy.
"... We have seen (Chinese investors) getting financing at very cheap rates for their projects, so you will find that they have became significant players in Kenya," said Kariuki.
China is one of the main players in the construction of Kenya's infrastructure such as roads.

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AP Photos: Falconers hunting on outskirts of Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Like his ancestors, Iraqi-born falcon trainer Abu Badr al-Anazi swings the carcass of a pigeon to attract a falcon released a few hundred meters (yards) away. The bird of prey arcs over the desert outskirts of Dubai before sinking its talons into the lure.
While the methods to develop top-quality hunting falcons date back to antiquity, its transition into a modern Middle Eastern passion has brought in microchip tagging and price tags that can run well over $10,000 for a prime bird.
The falconry season starts in November in the Persian Gulf states when the weather cools. In late afternoon and early mornings, the falconers — Emiratis, Syrians, Iraqis and others — drive into the desert outside Dubai in SUVs to train the birds for hunting and racing competitions organizing by the country's sheiks.
Each bird has a microchip inserted beneath its skin and a numbered ring fitted on its leg for identification.
Falconry has been part of the traditional life of the Arabian Peninsula for centuries. Bedouin have practiced it to hunt hare and houbara, a quail-like bird that is among the falcon's main prey in the wild. After the Gulf's oil boom, falconry turned into a more casual sport and hobby.
During the training session, one falconer removes the hood from the bird's eyes while another, in the distance, swings the lure — a dead pigeon or some meat — while calling the bird's name. If the bird catches the lure, it's rewarded with some meat. Later, the falconer uses a live pigeon to carry on the training.
This part is important for Islamic hunters as it teaches the falcon not to kill its prey immediately. In order for the hunters to be able to eat the prey in accordance with Muslim beliefs, it must still be alive when its throat is cut and blood is drained. Once properly trained, a falcon will hold a captured houbara without killing it.

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Syrian interior minister leaves Beirut hospital

 Syria's interior minister, wounded in a Damascus bombing, headed home on a private jet Wednesday after treatment in Beirut, airport officials said, despite calls from some Lebanese to put him on trial for Syrian actions in their country.
Mohammed al-Shaar's departure coincided with the defection of the commander of Syria's military police.
Officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said al-Shaar left Beirut and was flying to Damascus. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Al-Shaar was wounded on Dec. 12 when a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle outside the Interior Ministry, killing five and wounding many, including the minister.
The Syrian government denied at first that al-Shaar was wounded. Then it emerged that he was brought to a Beirut hospital last week for treatment. The same minister was wounded when a bomb went off on July 18 during a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four top officials.
It was not clear if al-Shaar's treatment was completed or if he left because of political pressure. Lebanese are deeply divided over the Syria crisis.
The two neighbors have a long and bitter history.
Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country was swept in a civil war between Christian and Muslim militias. For nearly 30 years that followed, Lebanon lived under Syrian military and political domination.
That grip began to slip in 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. Widely accused of involvement — something it has always denied — Syria was forced to withdraw its troops. Even so, Damascus has maintained power and influence in Lebanon.
In the 1980s, al-Shaar was a top intelligence official in northern Lebanon when Syrian troops stormed the port city of Tripoli and crushed the Islamic Unification Movement. Hundreds of people were killed in the battles in 1986, and since then, many in northern Lebanon have referred to al-Shaar as "the butcher of Tripoli."
Shortly after he arrived in Beirut for treatment last week, anti-Syrian politicians, including legislators Jamal Jarrah and Mohammed Kabbara, called for al-Shaar's arrest. Another call came this week, when Lebanese lawyer Tarek Shandab filed a complaint to the country's prosecution accusing al-Shaar of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" in Tripoli.
In another development, the general who heads Syria's military police defected and joined the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, one of the highest walkouts by a serving security chief during the country's 21-month uprising.
Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying he is joining "the people's revolution."
Al-Shallal's defection comes as military pressure builds on the regime, with government bases falling to rebel assault near the capital Damascus and elsewhere across the country.
On Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling in the northeastern province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including women and children.
Dozens of generals have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition.
Al-Shallal is one of the most senior and held a top post at the time that he left. He said in the video that the "army has derailed from its basic mission of protecting the people and it has become a gang for killing and destruction." He accused the military of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom."
Thousands of Syrian soldiers have defected over the past 21 months and many of them are now fighting against government forces. Many have cited attacks on civilians as the reason they switched sides.
The Observatory said the shelling in an agricultural area of Raqqa province near the village of Qahtaniyeh killed 20, including eight children, three women and nine others.
An amateur video showed the bodies of a dozen people including children lying in a row inside a room. Some of them had blood on their clothes, while weeping could be heard in the background.
The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
Also Wednesday, activists said rebels were attacking the Wadi Deif military base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, which is near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks.
In October, rebels captured Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway that links the capital Damascus with Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a major battleground in the civil war since July.
The attack on Wadi Deif comes a day after rebels captured the town of Harem near the Turkish border. The rebels have captured wide areas and military posts in northern Syria over the past weeks.
Syria's crisis began with protests demanding reforms but later turned into a civil war. Anti-regime activists estimate more than 40,000 have died in the past 21 months.
In Lebanon, airport officials in Beirut said Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous flew early Wednesday to Moscow.
Their visit to Moscow comes two days after Assad met in Damascus with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy to Syria. Brahimi, who is scheduled to go to Moscow as well, gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
Brahimi is still in Syria and met Tuesday with representatives of the opposition National Coordination Body, state-run news agency SANA said. The head of the group, Hassan Abdul-Azim, said Brahimi briefed them on his efforts to reach an "international consensus, especially between Russia and the United Stated to reach a solution."
NCB spokesman Rajaa al-Naser said his group said there must be an end to violence and formation of a "transitional government with full prerogatives.

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Iran ex-president's family sues radical critic

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Four children of an influential ex-Iranian president are suing a radical lawmaker for describing his family as a corrupt "octopus," heating up a struggle between hard-liners and moderates simmering since a contested 2009 election.
The latest salvo has rekindled the bitterness between backers of the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and moderates headed by the former leader, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, just six months ahead of the next presidential election.
A lawyer filed the complaint for the family in the Special Clergy Court against the lawmaker, Hamid Rasai, an ally of Ahmadinejad. Rasai is also a cleric.
"Four children of Ayatollah Rafsanjani have registered their lawsuit against Rasai with the Special Clergy Court. I think Rasai will be summoned to the court within the next 10 days," said lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
In a speech broadcast on state radio, Rasai called one of the ex-president's sons, Mahdi Rafsanjani, a "corrupt monster who has always enjoyed ironclad immunity."
Rasai urged the judiciary to deal with him harshly, calling Rafsanjani and his relatives an "octopus family" that pressured judiciary and security bodies to free Mahdi.
Mahdi Rafsanjani was released from Evin prison on bail earlier this month.
Authorities arrested him in late September, a day after he returned to Iran from Britain, on charges of fomenting unrest in the aftermath of Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election. He has not been put on trial.
Rafsanjani's youngest daughter, Faezeh, is serving a six-month sentence on charges of distributing propaganda against Iran's ruling system.
Since Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009, Rafsanjani's family has come under pressure from hard-liners. Rafsanjani supported Ahmadinejad's reformist challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Many analysts believe Ahmadinejad won the 2009 vote partly because he portrayed himself as a champion of the poor and called Rafsanjani a symbol of aristocracy. He also called Mousavi a protege of Rafsanjani.
In recent months, there are indications that the 78-year-old Rafsanjani, who favors a more moderate approach to the West, might try to make a political comeback.
Iran's judiciary rejected Rasai's statements, calling a large part of his remarks "sheer lies." In a statement, it said Rasai's remarks were "criminal" and must be dealt with by the court.
Several lawmakers responded Wednesday, claiming Rasai had parliamentary immunity. In the past, the judiciary has imprisoned lawmakers for making accusations against individuals who had not been convicted in court, saying parliamentary immunity doesn't allow a lawmaker to terrorize an innocent citizen.
Rafsanjani's family provided a written response to Rasai, which was posted on Rafsanjani's website Wednesday.
"It is expected that the respected Special Clergy Court, should it finds these remarks a kind of encroachment on the position of others, will take legal action ... because no one has the right to attribute crimes to a defendant who has not been sentenced in a competent court," the family said in its letter.

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Egypt's government sets priorities after charter

 Egypt's government set legislative priorities for parliament on Wednesday as it convened for the first time since a new constitution was passed, asking lawmakers to focus on setting rules for upcoming elections, regulating the media and fighting corruption.
The official confirmation Tuesday that the Islamist-drafted constitution passed in a referendum ushered in a new chapter in Egypt's two-year transition from authoritarian rule, likely to be characterized more by legal battles and less by street protests.
The dispute over the constitution deeply polarized the country, reigniting mass street protests that turned deadly at times.
"We have now moved from conflict in the streets between political forces and the regime to a new phase of legal disputes over legislation and control of state institutions," said Nasser Amin, the head of the Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession. "This is the most critical phase...and the battle won't be very clear to regular people."
The constitution's supporters, including Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his government, had argued it would pave the way for more stability in Egypt and the building up of state institutions.
The largely secular and liberal opposition who opposed the constitution fear it enshrines a prominent role for Islamic law, or Shariah, in governing the country's affairs and reinforces Islamists' hold on power. They say it constitution restricts freedoms and ignores the rights of women and minorities.
The main opposition group has questioned the legitimacy of the charter itself, saying it was rushed through without national consensus.
"Egypt constitution (is) void as it conflicts (with) certain peremptory norms of international law," such as freedom of belief and expression, opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei said on his Twitter account Wednesday.
Under the new constitution, the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, the traditionally toothless upper house, was granted temporary legislative powers and began its work a day after the official results of the referendum said the charter passed with nearly 64 percent. It will legislate until elections for a new lower house are held within two months.
"I congratulate the Egyptian people on behalf of the government for the passing of the constitution of the second republic, which establishes a modern democratic state where the people's voices are heard and where injustice, dictatorship, repression, nepotism and corruption take a back seat," Cabinet Minister Mohammed Mahsoub, who hails from the Islamist Wasat Party, told the session.
But the 270-member council is boycotted by the largely liberal and secular opposition groups —which has also rejected the presidential appointments to the upper house.
Morsi appointed 90 members to the council on the last day of the referendum on the constitution, in a bid to make it more representative. The other two-thirds of the members were elected last year with no more than seven percent of eligible voters.
But the new appointments maintained the hold of Islamists on the house.
Morsi has had legislative powers for months since a court dissolved the law-making lower house of parliament. He will address the nation later Wednesday to formally hand over legislative powers to the Shura Council.
In its first act, the Shura Council convened to swear in the 90 new members appointed by Morsi.
The government used the session to set its priorities for the coming period.
Speaking to the council, Mahsoub, the minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, said the government will prepare new legislation for parliament to discuss, including a law to regulate the upcoming parliamentary elections, anti-corruption laws, and laws to organize Egypt's efforts to recover money from corrupt officials from the era of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Mahsoub said such bills can be ready as early as next week, when the council convenes again for its regular working session.
He said the government also wants to draft laws to revise maximum and minimum wages, expand social insurance coverage and regulate the media, as well as institute Egypt's first freedom of information act.
"At this critical time for the nation, this respected council is required to pass a set of laws for the state to complete building its institutions," he said.
Amin, the judicial expert, said the constitution will also reduce the number of judges sitting on the country's top court, the Supreme Constitutional Court, from 19 to 11. This was seen by some as a way to get rid of some of the most critical judges of Islamists. Some of them were appointed during the Mubarak era, and Morsi viewed them as holdovers who tried to undermine his authorities.
"The court now will constitute little danger to the legislation to be passed in the coming period," Nasser said. "After the end of the street battle, and after the constitution and new legislature, (the government) will make all the amendments it wants through the law."
The opposition also refused to attend a national dialogue hosted by Morsi's vice president, saying the agenda for the talks are not clear and the disputed constitution was already rushed through. Instead, it says it will contest the upcoming parliamentary elections and hopes to achieve a sizeable representation to challenge the constitution.
The opposition will be watching the Shura Council to see whether new legislation increases civil liberties and addresses poverty and social inequalities — or increases the ability of the state to crack down on its critics and impose an Islamist rule, as many fear.

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Syria minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest

 Syria's wounded interior minister rushed home from a Beirut hospital on Wednesday for fear he would be arrested after some Lebanese called to put him on trial for his role in a 1986 crackdown by Syrian troops in Lebanon.
In another blow to President Bashar Assad, his commander of military police defected.
The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, is one of the most senior members of Assad's inner circle to join the opposition during the 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule. He appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying the army has been turned into a gang to kill and destroy.
Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, wounded in a bombing of his ministry in Damascus, left a Beirut hospital before his treatment was finished and flew home to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said.
Al-Shaar was wounded on Dec. 12 when a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle outside the Interior Ministry, killing five and wounding many. He was brought to the hospital in neighboring Lebanon a week ago.
A top Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that al-Shaar was rushed out of Lebanon after authorities there received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him because of his role in the crackdown against protesters in Syria.
Over the past week, some Lebanese officials and individuals have called for al-Shaar's arrest for his role in a 1986 crackdown in the northern city of Tripoli.
In the 1980s, al-Shaar was a top intelligence official in northern Lebanon when Syrian troops stormed Tripoli and crushed the Islamic Unification Movement — a Sunni Muslim group that then supported former Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat. Hundreds of people were killed in the battles and since then, many in northern Lebanon have referred to al-Shaar as "the butcher of Tripoli."
The Lebanese security official said Lebanese citizens had also begun taking steps to sue al-Shaar for his role during Syria's military domination of Lebanon for decades. Lebanese are deeply divided over the Syria crisis.
Al-Shaar and other Syrian officials are also on a list of people subjected to European Union sanctions for violence against anti-regime protesters in Syria.
"Lebanese officials contacted Syrian authorities and that sped up his departure," said the security official, adding that a Lebanese medical team is expected to go to Damascus to continue al-Shaar's treatment there. "If such arrest warrants are issued, Lebanese judicial authorities will have to arrest him and this could be an embarrassment for the country," he said.
The airport and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The Syrian government denied at first that al-Shaar was wounded. Then it emerged that he was brought to the Beirut hospital last week for treatment. It was the second time the minister was wounded in the civil war. He was also injured when a bomb went off on July 18 during a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four top security officials.
Lebanon and Syria have a long and bitter history.
Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country was swept into a civil war between Christian and Muslim militias. For nearly 30 years that followed, Lebanon lived under Syrian military and political domination.
That grip began to slip in 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. Syria was widely accused of involvement — something it has always denied — and Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops. Even so, Damascus has since maintained considerable power and influence in Lebanon.
Shortly after he arrived in Beirut for treatment last week, anti-Syrian politicians, including legislators Jamal Jarrah and Mohammed Kabbara, called for al-Shaar's arrest. Another call came this week, when Lebanese lawyer Tarek Shandab filed a complaint to the country's prosecution accusing al-Shaar of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" in Tripoli.
In another setback for the regime, the defection of the military police chief came as military pressure builds on the regime, with government bases falling to rebel assault near the capital Damascus and elsewhere across the country.
The defector al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying he is joining "the people's revolution."
Dozens of generals have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition.
Al-Shallal is one of the most senior and held a top post at the time that he left. He said in the video that the "army has derailed from its basic mission of protecting the people and it has become a gang for killing and destruction." He accused the military of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom."
Thousands of Syrian soldiers have defected over the past 21 months and many of them are now fighting against government forces. Many have cited attacks on civilians as the reason they switched sides. Anti-regime activists estimate more than 40,000 have died in the past 21 months.
In violence on Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling in the northeastern province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including eight children, three women and nine others. An agricultural area near the village of Qahtaniyeh was hit by the shelling.
An amateur video showed the bodies of a dozen people including children lying in a row inside a room. Some of them had blood on their clothes, while weeping could be heard in the background.
The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
Also Wednesday, activists said rebels were attacking the Wadi Deif military base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, which is near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks.
In October, rebels captured Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway that links the capital Damascus with Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a major battleground in the civil war since July.
The attack on Wadi Deif comes a day after rebels captured the town of Harem near the Turkish border. The rebels have captured wide areas and military posts in northern Syria over the past weeks.
In Lebanon, airport officials in Beirut said Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous flew early Wednesday to Moscow.
Their visit to Moscow comes two days after Assad met in Damascus with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy to Syria. Brahimi, who is scheduled to go to Moscow as well, gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
Brahimi is still in Syria and met Tuesday with representatives of the opposition National Coordination Body, state-run news agency SANA said. The head of the group, Hassan Abdul-Azim, said Brahimi briefed them on his efforts to reach an "international consensus, especially between Russia and the United Stated to reach a solution."
NCB spokesman Rajaa al-Naser said his group said there must be an end to violence and formation of a "transitional government with full prerogatives.

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UPDATE 1-Soccer-Wiesinger and Reutershahn take over at Nuremberg

* Bundesliga strugglers act quickly to replace Hecking
* Wiesinger will have final say on team matters (Adds quotes, detail)
BERLIN, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Michael Wiesinger and Armin Reutershahn were appointed joint coaches of struggling Nuremberg on Monday following Dieter Hecking's decision to take over at Bundesliga rivals VfL Wolfsburg at the weekend.
Wiesinger, 39, who has recently been working with the club's youth academy, and Reutershahn, 52, an assistant under Hecking, will take the reins for the second half of the season.
The team are fifth from bottom in the table after drawing 1-1 at Werder Bremen on Dec. 16, their final match before the mid-season break.
Nuremberg said Wiesinger, who played 186 league games for the club between 1993-99, would have the final say on team matters.
"In Michael Wiesinger and Armin Reutershahn we have two coaches from our own ranks that enjoy a great amount of trust and acceptance," sporting director Martin Bader told Nuremberg's website (www.fcn.de).
"Michael has achieved great things with the youth setup and should bring a fresh impetus with him."
Wiesinger played for several clubs during his career including Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich.
He was a Champions League winner with Bayern in 2001 and helped them land the Bundesliga title twice and the German Cup once.
Wiesinger had a spell as coach of lower-league Ingolstadt from 2008-10.
"Nuremberg is my club," he said. "I was a player here and have put my heart and passion into my work here over the past year and a half.
"To get the chance to take on this challenge is very special for me."
Reutershahn is one of the most experienced assistant coaches in the Bundesliga, having previously worked at Bayer Uerdingen, Hamburg SV and Eintracht Frankfurt.
"Armin is an important constant for the team," said Bader. "We have come to appreciate his skills and qualities as a person and coach."
Wiesinger and Reutershahn will be officially presented at a news conference on Jan. 3.

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Soccer-Jeunechamp appeals against ban for hitting reporter

Montpellier defender Cyril Jeunechamp is appealing against a one-year ban for hitting a reporter after a Ligue 1 game last month, the French club said on Monday.
"Cyril Jeunechamp has decided to appeal his one-year ban," Montpellier said in a statement on their website (www.mhscfoot.com)
The French Football League said after a meeting of its disciplinary committee this month that the sanction would take effect from Monday.
Jeunechamp, 37, had already been suspended indefinitely after the argument with a L'Equipe reporter over a story published in the newspaper before the 1-1 league draw at Valenciennes.
Champions Montpellier apologised to the reporter and condemned their player's behaviour.

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Soccer-Radnicki officials arrested in corruption raid - police

Two senior officials at Serbian first division club Radnicki 1923 Kragujevac and a soccer agent were arrested on Monday on suspicion of fraud and abuse of power, the Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) said.
"FC Radnicki vice-president Nebojsa Vasiljevic and general secretary Darko Stojanovic as well as Zoran Pavlovic, a soccer agent with a FIFA licence, have been arrested on suspicion of illegal dealings in the transfer of the club's player Filip Kostic," MUP said on its website (www.mup.gov.rs).
"While arranging Kostic's transfer to Dutch side FC Groningen (this year) in the amount of 1.25 million euros, the three appear to have denied Radnicki 550,000 euros of that sum so that Pavlovic benefited illegally," it said.
Radnicki, promoted to Serbia's top flight last year, are second-bottom in the 16-team league with 12 points from 15 games at the winter break.
The first division resumes on Feb 27.

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Soccer-Zambia retain faith in winning squad

All but two of the squad who took Zambia to the last African Nations Cup title have been retained by coach Herve Renard for their defence in South Africa next month.
Renard named a provisional list of 26 players on Monday for the tournament, keeping faith in the rump of the squad who won a first continental championship for Zambia.
The only players left out are defender Nyambe Mulenga, who has lost form since injury in mid-year, and winger Clifford Mulenga, who was expelled for ill discipline during the tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon at the start of the year.
Dutch-based striker Jacob Mulenga, who was forced to miss the last tournament because of injury, returns and is expected to lead the attack when Zambia begin their title defence in Group C against Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Nigeria. They play their first match on Jan. 21.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Kalililo Kakonje (Napsa Stars), Kennedy Mweene (Free State Stars), Joshua Titima (Power Dynamos) Defenders: Hichani Himoonde (TP Mazembe Englebert), Chintu Kampamba (unattached), Francis Kasonde (TP Mazembe Englebert), Emmanuel Mbola (FC Porto), Joseph Musonda (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Davies Nkausu (SuperSport United), Salulani Phiri (Zanaco), Stoppila Sunzu (TP Mazembe Englebert)
Midfielders: Isaac Chansa (Henan Jianye), Noah Chivuta (Free State Stars) Rainford Kalaba (TP Mazembe Englebert), Chris Katongo (Henan Jianye), Felix Katongo (Petro Atletico), Chisamba Lungu (Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast), Mukuka Mulenga (Power Dynamos), William Njobvu (Hapoel Beer Sheva), Nathan Sinkala (TP Mazembe Englebert).
Forwards: James Chamanga (Liaoning Whowin), Emmanuel Mayuka (Southampton), Collins Mbesuma (Orlando Pirates), Jacob Mulenga (FC Utrecht), Evans Kangwa (Nkana), Jonas Sakuwaha (TP Mazembe Englebert).

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