News around the web

• French troops deployed in last Mali rebel strongholds

• GDP unexpectedly shrinks, decline seen temporary

• Dutch court says Shell responsible for Nigeria spills

• First black South African billionaire donates fortune to poor

• UK's Prince Charles takes first "Tube" trip since 1986

French troops deployed in last Mali rebel strongholds

(Reuters) - French troops seized the airport in Mali's northern town of Kidal, the last urban stronghold held by Islamist insurgents, as they moved to wrap up the first phase of a military operation to wrest northern Mali from rebel hands.

France has deployed some 4,500 troops in a three-week ground and air offensive to break the Islamist rebels' 10-month grip on major northern towns. The mission is aimed at heading off the risk of Mali being used as a springboard for jihadist attacks in the wider region or Europe.

The French military plans to gradually hand over to a larger African force, tasked with rooting out insurgents in their mountain redoubts near Algeria's border.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said French forces using planes and helicopters defied a sandstorm late on Tuesday to capture the airport but had been prevented by the bad weather from entering the town itself.

"The terrorist forces are pulling back to the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains which are difficult to access," Le Drian told a news conference. "There is support from Chadian and Nigerian troops coming from the south."

GDP unexpectedly shrinks, decline seen temporary

(Reuters) - The economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, but analysts said there was no reason for panic given that consumer spending andbusiness investment picked up.

Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate, its weakest performance since it emerged from recession in 2009, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

If it were not for the hit from slower inventory growth and the deepest plunge in defense spending in 40 years, the economy would have grown at a respectable 2.5 percent rate. The weight from those two factors is expected to lessen in the first three months of this year.

Economists said Superstorm Sandy, which struck the East Coast in late October may have cut about half a point off GDP, but the department said it was difficult to quantify the impact.

"Obviously, the headline number is a bit jarring, but the underlying details of the report, by and large, are consistent with an economy that is growing probably at a trend basis of about two percent," Michael Hanson, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.

Dutch court says Shell responsible for Nigeria spills

(Reuters) - A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian subsidiary was responsible for a case of oil pollution in the Niger Delta and ordered it to pay damages in a decision that could open the door to further litigation.

The district court in The Hague said Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. (SPDC), a wholly-owned subsidiary, must compensate one farmer, but dismissed four other claims filed against the Dutch parent company.

Four Nigerians and campaign group Friends of the Earth filed suits in 2008 in The Hague, where Shell has its global headquarters, seeking reparations for lost income from contaminated land and waterways in the Niger Delta region, the heart of the Nigerian oil industry.

The case was seen by environmental activists as a test for holding multinationals responsible for offences at foreign subsidiaries, and legal experts said other Nigerians affected by pollution might now be able to sue in the Netherlands.

Shell said the case would not set a precedent because its parent company was not held responsible.

The farmer who won compensation, 52-year-old father of 12 Friday Akpan, said he was very happy with the judgment because it would allow him to repay his debts.

"I am not surprised at the decision because there was divine intervention in the court. The spill damaged 47 fishing ponds, killed all the fish and rendered the ponds useless," he told Reuters in the Niger Delta city of Port Harcourt.

"Since then I have been living by God's grace and on the help of good Samaritans. I think this will be a lesson for Shell and they will know not to damage people's livelihoods."

First black South African billionaire donates fortune to poor

(Reuters) - South Africa's first black billionaire, Patrice Motsepe, on Wednesday said he has signed up for the Giving Pledge, becoming the first African to join some of the world's wealthiest people in donating vast sums of personal wealth to the poor.

Mining magnate Motsepe, with assets estimated by Forbes magazine of $2.65 billion, said he is making the pledge to benefit the millions of South Africans who have seen little gain in their personal fortunes since white-minority rule ended in 1994.

The Giving Pledge is a philanthropic initiative started by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffet along with Bill and Melinda Gates that has recruited nearly 100 billionaires, mostly Americans, who have pledged to donate the majority of their wealth to charity.

Motsepe, founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, did not say exactly how much he will donate but he "will contribute at least half of the funds generated by our family assets to the Motsepe Foundation."

UK's Prince Charles takes first "Tube" trip since 1986

(Reuters) - Four million Londoners cram onto the city's Underground passenger railway nearly every day, but it is a rarer event for Prince Charles. He rode the British capital's bustling commuter network on Wednesday for the first time since 1986.

The heir to the British throne and his wife Camilla took a one-stop journey from Farringdon to King's Cross on the Metropolitan Line as part of celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of a transport service affectionately known to Britons as the "Tube".

The short journey was a rare enough event to cause some confusion at the prince's press office, which initially said he had last ventured onto the Tube in 1979.

"This is just to let you know that it has come to our attention that The Prince of Wales has travelled on the London Underground more recently than 1979. In 1986 The Prince and Princess of Wales travelled by tube to Heathrow Airport to open Terminal 4," a spokeswoman said in an email to media.

"We're sorry that our previous information was incorrect. Our archives of Royal engagements prior to 1988 are not computerized and in this particular instance a search under 'The Prince of Wales takes the Tube' did not bring up an event which had been logged as the 'official opening of Terminal 4'."