reserve in carrying shotgun saying he was going to carry out citizen
arrest
he was an unrepentant racist who described the united states on his blog as
third world racial garbage dump stupid ignorant dead broke and terminal
search of the car he left in the street outside the museum after the shooting
in june turned up notebook of handwritten anti semitic rants denouncing
president barack obama as jewish puppet
his ex wife has said his hatred of jews and blacks ate him alive like cancer
and his son erik denounced his father cowardice after the shooting and
called his actions unforgiveable
von brunn had been incarcerated at butner federal prison complex since september
last year after being sent there for court ordered evaluation to see if he
was mentally competent to stand trial ross told afp
von brunn lawyer kramer had asked for the evaluation against his client
wishes
alpine skiing razzoli breaks duck in slalom
zagreb croatia jan afp
italian skier giuliano razzoli won his first ever world cup slalom race here on
wednesday and was warmly congratulated by his legendary compatriot alberto tomba
with whom he has been compared
the year old who earned his first podium placing here last year when he
finished third beat home compatriot manfred molgg by hundreths of second
while france world silver medalist julien lizeroux was hundreths of second
adrift for his first podium placing of the season
it was truly moment to savour to be congratulated by alberto tomba at the
end he said
he is friend this evening am going to celebrate with my parents and my fan
club around abouts fifteen people who drove for eight hours to watch me here
hope that this first success will spark me into becoming more consistent
last season made two podiums but also failed to finish several times it
is never easy to win the races
molgg was relieved to have ended disastrous run of results
am happy because this is my first podium finish since garmisch where he
won months ago
lizeroux was also mightily relieved at finishing in the top three
when one finishes on the podium it always does you good beamed the
frenchman
it is podium finish third place have never finished third in the world
cup evem more than the result am happy with the manner achieved it in
austrian reinfried herbst winner of the first two slaloms of the campaign
was fastest after the first leg but lost his rhythm on the second run and could
finish only fifth nearly second off the winner
however he retained his lead in the world cup slalom standings while compatriot
benjamin raich went top of the overall world cup standings after finishing th
benefiting from the absence of carlo janka of switzerland
rallying lopez and miller triumph as french duo suffer bad day
antofagasta chile jan afp
chilean motorcyclist francesco lopez won the arduous kilometre fifth stage
from copiapo of the dakar rally here on wednesday
american pilot mark miller won the car stage beating his volkswagen team mate
former world rally champion carlos sainz by minutes seconds
however sainz moved to top of the standings after frenchman stephane
peterhansel encountered huge problems during the stage and was completely
immobilised for minutes
volkswagen swept the podium on the stage as qatar nasser al attiyah finished
third and they also fill the top three positions in the overall standings with
the qatari in second and miller third
miller said that wednesday stage signalled turning point
dakar really began in earnest today wednesday said miller
and we are in the best placings today we stopped the childrens games there
are still long days ahead of us in the sand dunes there will be gaps opening up
between the drivers and hopefully they will be in our favour
sainz said that their cause had been hoped infinitely by peterhansel woeful
stage
obviously the time lost by stephane is an advantage for us said the spaniard
my intention is to continue to drive at my own rhythm
lopez beat overall leader cyril despres of france by minute seconds which
also saw one of the favourites for the title david casteu forced to retire after
breaking his leg in crash
casteu confessed that the crash was his fault as he pursued lopez and blinded by
cloud of dust sprayed up by the chilean bike he hit rock head on at
between to kilometres an hour
it is an error on my part got too close to chaleco the nickname of lopez
said casteu
flew through the air but didn lost consciousness crawled to my
motorbike to get to my radio was afraid that the artery in my leg had been
severed
lopez barely made dent in the gap between him and despres who had lead of
minutes over him going into the stage
despres also saw one of his other major rivals for the title have dreadful day
as spaniard marc coma suffered mechanical problems and finished minutes off
lopez and the two time winner is over an hour behind the overall leader
despres though took no pleasure at the travails of two of his main opponents
never rejoice at the woes of others he said
that has happened to me we are at the start of the race it has only been five
days
took care during the stage because there were lot of sharp rocks
crude oil spikes above dollars on weaker dollar
new york jan afp
crude oil topped dollars barrel in new york wednesday for the first time in
months getting boost from weakening dollar late in the day
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in february
jumped dollars to settle at dollars
the us benchmark oil rose to an intraday peak of dollars its highest
price since october
london brent north sea crude for february advanced dollars to close at
dollars
think it liquidity related phenomenon said ellis eckland an
independent analyst
after trading lower for part of the session the new york contract broke through
the dollar level that it had flirted with since monday as the dollar lost
ground against the euro
weaker dollar makes dollar priced oil and other commodities more attractive to
buyers using stronger currencies
the market also digested bearish report on us energy stockpiles
the us department of energy doe reported wednesday that crude oil reserves
rose by million barrels in the week ending january instead of the
expected drop of some barrels
stockpiles of distillates including heating fuel and diesel fell by
barrels in the week sharply below the average analyst forecast of
drop of million barrels amid cold weather across sections of the us
the market had keenly awaited the heating fuel numbers as cold weather tightened
its grip in the northern regions of the world largest energy consuming nation
eckland said that oil prices fell after the release of the inventories report
the market thought it was disappointing he added
however analysts forecast that heating fuel demand will soar in the coming days
and weeks as cold winter weather sweeps the northern hemisphere
the recent cold snap will have an impact on heating oil demand said calyon
analyst christophe barret
the us national weather service estimates that this week heating oil demand
will be percent above normal he said cold temperatures have already added
almost percent to heating oil demand in december
weather event is dominating the oil headlines said pvm oil analyst david
hufton
the northern hemisphere is in deep freeze from beijing through india to
poland onto london and new york and down to florida he said
adam sieminski of deutsche bank said that increasing reports of cold weather in
china united states the uk and france are all leading to price increases it
increases demand and should show up in lower inventories
given the fundamentals of supply and demand he said at some point we should
see downward correction
last minute deal to save saab unlikely gm chief
chicago jan afp
last minute deal to save swedish brand saab from being shut down is unlikely
the head of general motors said wednesday
gm extended deadline to consider offers for saab last month after dutch sports
car maker spyker approached the us automaker with last ditch proposal
but gm chairman and chief executive officer ed whitacre told reporters that he
was not confident deal could be made given what happening here and the
speed with which it moving
it real easy just show up with the money and you can have it whitacre
said but nobody shown up with the money so we re in wind down mode here
nigerian faces six charges for us plane plot
washington jan afp
us officials wednesday charged nigerian man with attempted murder and
attempted use of weapon of mass destruction after botched attempt to bomb
passenger jet on christmas day
umar farouk abdulmutallab was accused of boarding northwest flight
carrying concealed bomb inside his clothing according to court documents
that detailed total of six charges against him
the bomb consisted of device containing pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn
triacetone triperoxide tatp and other ingredients the charge sheet said
the bomb was designed to allow defendant umar farouk abdulmutallab to detonate
it at time of his choosing and to thereby cause an explosion aboard flight
abdulmutallab has been in custody in detroit since christmas day when the device
stitched inside his underwear failed to detonate correctly and he was
overpowered by passengers and crew after sparking an onboard fire
he was charged with total of six counts by michigan district court they
include attempted use of weapon of mass destruction attempted murder of
people within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the united states and
willful attempt to destroy and wreck an aircraft
he was also charged with willfully placing destructive device on an aircraft
and two counts of possession of firearm or destructive device during the
flight from amsterdam
the charge sheet said that both petn and tatp are highly explosive
abdulmutallab is due to be arraigned on friday in michigan court to face the
indictment brought by grand jury
french riot cops held over stolen whiskey
paris jan afp
some members of france elite crs riot squad are under arrest on suspicion
of peddling stolen whiskey to their comrades sources close to the investigation
said on wednesday
the exact number of police officers involved was not immediately known but the
sources said some of those who have been arrested from the saint etienne and
lyon regions had been taken into custody
it is alleged that they resold hundreds of bottles of whiskey that originated
from truck that was inspected by crs officers possibly after road accident
france igpn police inspectorate the equivalent of an internal affairs unit
has been investigating the case
un envoy urges reconciliation in afghanistan
united nations jan afp
the outgoing un special envoy to afghanistan on wednesday urged peace and
reconciliation between the kabul government and the taliban insurgency
peace and reconciliation process must be launched and become an integral part
of the political agenda in the war torn country said kai eide who is to
relinquish his post in march it must be based on the constitution and must be
afghan led and afghan owned
if the insurgency agrees to join peace process then this will significantly
enhance the prospects of foreign troop withdrawals he told the un security
council
but eide called on the afghan rebels to distance themselves from the past and
embrace the future as well as the progress which has been achieved in
afghanistan
he said the world body was ready to promote such reconciliation
eide also called for new transition strategy which can allow afghans to be in
charge of their own future based on systematic buildup of civilian
institutions to enable the government to deliver services and the development of
the afghan economy
if we do not take these civilian components of the transition strategy as
seriously as the military component then we will fail he added
eide said the london conference on afghanistan scheduled for january must
agree on politically driven strategy where afghan ownership and capacity
stand at the center of our activities
he warned that the ongoing military surge by the nato led international security
assistance force isaf must not lead to an accelerate pressure for quick
results in governance and economic development efforts which could divert
resources from long term approach to civilian institution building and
economic development
the norwegian official is to step down as un envoy after being criticized over
his handling of the fraud marred election in afghanistan in august
his tenure has seen the taliban insurgency reach its deadliest since us led
troops ousted their regime in spurring international efforts to build
democracy and develop the impoverished nation
nato and the united states have troops in the country fighting the
taliban insurgents who have spread their footprint over the previously peaceful
north and east inflicting record western military casualties
up to more us and nato troops are to arrive over the course of
backed by thousands of civilians as the war strategy turns from battleground
tactics to development and aid
urgent last minute deal to save saab unlikely gm chief
chicago jan afp
last minute deal to save swedish brand saab from being shut down is unlikely
the head of general motors said wednesday
alert
last minute deal to save saab unlikely gm chief
guinea interim leader agrees to opposition pm
conakry jan afp
guinea interim junta leader general sekouba konate on wednesday invited the
opposition to select the country next prime minister ahead of the formation of
transition government
in speech to members of the military junta which seized power in bloodless
coup in december konate said guinea leadership must act to bring peace
to the country
the decision of prime minister belonging to the opposition and designated by
it is ours said konate in his address which was broadcast by national radio
he said the new prime minister would lead talks with all social and political
groups to form broad based government of national union
konate who is also defence minister has led the west african country since
junta leader moussa dadis camara was wounded in an assassination attempt on
december
top us and french diplomats held talks in morocco tuesday with konate about the
need to restore civilian rule in conakry
officials in washington believe konate may be more supportive for guinea
return to civilian rule and democracy than camara who is being treated in
rabat hospital for his month old wounds sustained when his aide de camp shot him
in the head
konate gave no date for the appointment of prime minister but said it was up
to all parties concerned to reflect on the make up of the new government without
further delay
the country cannot continue to wait and suffer further he said the
international community is urging us to speed up the process and expects
significant progress
konate spoke day after returning to conakry from week long stay in morocco
where he met with camara on december
junta source has said camara did not seem aware of his surroundings when
konate visited him but guinea official media reported earlier that the leader
is recovering and will return to conakry as soon as possible
konate also called on opposition leaders who fled the country to return and said
he was guaranteeing the safety of all
the main opposition leaders who were injured in crackdown by security forces
on more than junta opponents in conakry stadium in september fled to
europe and other west african countries
konate said presidential and legislative elections would be held at date set
by the new transition government
the first round of presidential polls had been scheduled for january
nigerian faces six charges for us plane plot
washington jan afp
us officials wednesday charged nigerian with six counts after the christmas
day botched jet bombing accusing him of attempted murder on plane and
attempted use of weapon of mass destruction
umar farouk abdulmutallah was accused of boarding northwest flight
carrying concealed bomb inside his clothing court documents showed
the bomb consisted of device containing pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn
triacetone triperoxide tatp and other ingredients the charge sheet said
the bomb was designed to allow defendant umar farouk abdulmutallab to detonate
it at time of his choosing and to thereby cause an explosion aboard flight
football real madrid to play albania friendly report
madrid jan afp
real madrid will collect million euros to face albanian champions gramozi
erseke owned by oil magnate rezart taci in friendly match on january
spanish media reported on wednesday
the contract has been signed and everything is ready for the match on the
th said milton nushi spokesman for taci firm taci oil international
the online edition of spanish sports daily marca reported
there will be no absences the entire team is coming including its president
florentino perez he added according to the newspaper
gramozi erseke line up against the spanish giants for the the taci oil cup
at tirana qemal stafa stadium will include some stars from rival teams
last year taci brought ac milan for friendly match against kf tirana for the
single game tournament the italian side won on penalties after the match
ended in draw
taci made headlines in the international media in when he offered to
buy italy seria soccer club bologna but backed out at the last moment
colorado governor won seek re election
denver colorado jan afp
colorado democratic governor bill ritter confirmed wednesday he would not seek
re election to the post later this year saying he wanted to spend more time
with his family
ritter regarded as rising star of the democratic party was elected by
landslide in and would normally have been expected to seek second term in
the post
however ritter told news conference at denver state capitol wednesday that
he had struggled to balance the demands of his political career and family life
and would not run for re election
would say it this way have not found the proper balance where my family is
concerned and have not made them the priority they should be ritter said
so today announcing that ending one of my roles am no longer
candidate for re election in
it allows me to concentrate on the things that are and should be most important
to all of us taking care of my family and quite frankly taking care of the
state of colorado
ritter said his move would allow him to take tough and unpopular decisions in
his final year in office in colorado key swing state in the us electoral map
which was once staunchly republican
urgent nigerian faces six charges for us plane plot
washington jan afp
us officials wednesday charged nigerian with six counts after the christmas
day botched jet bombing accusing him of attempted murder on plane and
attempted use of weapon of mass destruction
france to test body scanners at airports
paris jan afp
body scanners will be introduced for experimentation in some french airports
france civil aviation authority said wednesday amid security concerns after
failed plot to blow up us airplane
the controversial scanners capable of peering through clothes to create three
dimensional images of passengers to reveal any concealed weapons or explosives
should be installed in some paris airports as soon as possible
the decision follows guidelines proposed by working group looking into
security measures and the evaluation and confirmation by an independent body
that the scanners would have no impact on passenger health
several countries including britain and canada have announced they will
introduce body scanners at airports after nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab was
charged with trying to down us bound passenger jet on christmas day
france is also looking to improve its passenger profiling the detection of
explosives traces and the exploitation of already existing information on
potential suspects
the training of security staff will also be strengthened the french aviation
authority added
alert
nigerian charged with attempted murder in us plane plot
toshiba tv adds third dimension to video viewing
las vegas nevada jan afp
toshiba on wednesday unveiled flat panel television that converts any digital
video into
with cell tv everything is in toshiba america marketing vice president
scott ramirez said while unveiling cell tv to the press on the eve of the
consumer electronics show in las vegas which this year gathers some
industry exhibitors
all the home video games you have right now will be in he said
the japanese electronic titan cell tv is powered by microprocessor
typically used in advance computers and high end video game consoles and was
billed by executives as the future of television
we are finally ready for the decade of conversion ramirez said
consumers are getting more connected everything is connected we are moving
beyond just television this year is going to be all about the experience
cell tv technology upgrades digital video content even adding pixels to enhance
low quality streams such as those common in user generated online video
cell tv senses room lighting and adapts screen quality accordingly
cell televisions are synchronized to an array of online video channels and have
built in cameras microphones and software for video enabled internet telephone
calls
with video phone capability you can talk to people anywhere in the world
ramirez said you are going to look crystal clear at inches with our
technology
the and enhanced internet connectivity technology will be in set of cell
tv models this year and eventually will spread to other parts of toshiba
television line up according to ramirez
we see the tv as an engine capable of providing transformative entertainment
experience said toshiba america consumer products chief executive atsushi
murasawa
cell tv is at heart at powerful broadband engine processor for multimedia
content according to murasawa cell boasts times the processing power of
televisions in the market today
toshiba also unveiled home entertainment server with terabyte of memory and
blu ray high definition dvd player to act as wireless entertainment hub as
well as massive storage site for digital content
us security chiefs vow action after obama rebuke
washington jan afp
us security chiefs wednesday vowed to revamp intelligence services to equip them
to confront an evolving threat from terror groups after stinging and very
public rebuke from president barack obama
just hours after obama denounced screw up over the botched christmas day
plane plot director of national intelligence dennis blair and the chairman of
the joint chiefs of staff mike mullen agreed mistakes had been made
we know based on this incident and certainly the direction we ve all received
from the president we have to learn these lessons and make it better said
mullen it not perfect system he admitted
blair was even blunter in statement released only hours after tuesday public
dressing down from obama
the intelligence community received the president message today we got it
and we are moving forward to meet the new challenges he said
an angry obama blasted us spy chiefs on tuesday accusing them of missing red
flags which should have unmasked the plot much earlier
nigerian suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab is accused of trying to bring
down the northwest flight from amsterdam to detroit with explosives sewn into
his underwear
tragedy was only averted when the device due to be activated with the aid of
syringe of chemicals failed to explode on approach to detroit igniting fire
instead as passengers and crew sprung into action to overcome him
obama said tuesday the intelligence community had failed to connect the dots
reports have said there were series of clues including from abdulmutallab
father prominent nigerian banker who told the us embassy he was concerned
about his son who was in yemen
an al qaeda cell in the arab country has claimed to be behind the plot
the white house will thursday release an unclassified version of report into
the intelligence failures relating to terrorist watch lists following the
thwarted attack
think you ll see tomorrow that this is failure that touches across the full
waterfront of our intelligence agencies said white house spokesman robert
gibbs
the christmas day incident has triggered new series of security measures at
airports around the world and security services have already added dozens of
names to no fly lists
but blair acknowledged intelligence services had to become more nimble in
reacting to new and changing methods being developed by terror groups such as
al qaeda which hijacked planes to destroy new york twin towers in
we can and we must outthink outwork and defeat the enemy new ideas the
intelligence community will do that as directed by the president working
closely with our nation entire national security team blair said
blair said progress had been made in developing collection and analysis
capabilities and improving collaboration
but he stressed we need to strengthen our ability to stop new tactics such as
the efforts of individual suicide terrorists
the threat has evolved and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and
improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect america
mullen also pointed to progress since the september attacks in which
almost people died saying there has an been extraordinary change in how
intelligence agencies have tracked terror threats and collaborated
we endeavor and there are an awful lot of tremendous people who work to make
it perfect but there human factor here that in play in all these
systems he said
in highly unusual public rebuke obama made terse televised statement about
the thwarted bombing after gathering agency chiefs and national security aides
at high stakes white house meeting
it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully
leveraged obama said that not acceptable and will not tolerate it
obama was even more explicit during the meeting in the secure white house
situation room an official said
this was screw up that could have been disastrous the official speaking on
condition of anonymity quoted obama as saying
obama promised he would lay out further steps to safeguard aviation security in
the coming weeks including better integration of information and enhanced
passenger screening
world powers leaving us behind in math science obama
washington jan afp
president barack obama unveiled million dollar plan wednesday to train
new math and science teachers warning world powers like china were
leaving the us education system behind
make no mistake our future is on the line the nation that out educates us
today is going to out compete us tomorrow obama told group of award winning
teachers at the white house
one assessment shows that american year olds are now ranked st in
science and th in math when compared to their peers around the world
the president marveled at the enthusiasm for education he experienced during
visits to south korea and china in november and said good teachers were crucial
to the st century us economy
our future depends on reaffirming america role as the world engine of
scientific discovery and technological innovation obama said
that leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today
especially in math science technology and engineering
obama announced five new public private partnerships with companies
universities and other institutions to train new math and science
teachers over the next five years and to improve the skills of more
the combined commitment equals more than million dollars in financial and
in kind support to add to million dollar funding announcement in
november
snow brings mayhem to britain as europe shivers
london jan afp
blanket of snow hit southern england wednesday as britain most brutal winter
in decades caused chaos for travellers and businesses and bitterly cold
temperatures cloaked much of europe
millions of people in london and the southeast of england struggled to and from
work in heavy snow after storms spread from scotland and the north of england
where they have caused problems for days
much of the rest of europe was also gripped by freezing temperatures due to
weather front from siberia and three people died on the roads in france
forecasters at the met office issued severe weather warnings for southern
england saying some counties could get up to centimetres inches of
snow while central london was also hit by blizzards
insurers rsa predicted the recession hit british economy could lose about
million pounds billion dollars million euros day through lost
business caused by people staying at home
the met office said the cold spell was the worst since and warned of more
to come saying bitterly cold and wintry weather is forecast to continue for
the next couple of weeks with further snowfall expected at times
the freeze also swept europe with norway among the coldest temperatures in the
central town of roeros fell to minus degrees celsius about minus
fahrenheit
in the netherlands the ice was thick enough for the year first skating event
on natural ice with up to people expected to make the two kilometre
mile circuit on the henschoter lake in utrecht
snow and ice caused travel mayhem across the continent
in france two young people died in road accident in orne in the northwest and
spanish bus driver died in crash in the western region of charente
dublin airport in ireland closed heavy snow at amsterdam schiphol airport
caused delays and cancellations and there was chaos at london gatwick as more
than flights were cancelled when snow closed the runway
meanwhile torrential rain hit parts of italy and officials feared the swollen
tiber river could threaten rome in coming days
back in britain transport links across densely populated southern and central
