its offer to cadbury in any way it wishes
to state the matter simply shareholder voting yes today is authorizing
huge transaction without knowing its cost or the means of payment the
berkshire statement said
what we know with certainty however is that kraft stock at its current price
of dollars is very expensive currency to be used in an acquisition
the statement pointed out that in kraft spent billion dollars to
repurchase shares at about dollars per share presumably because the
directors and management thought the shares to be worth more
the statement did not rule out support for cadbury bid but said berkshire
would decide after final offer is announced by deadline of january
if we conclude at that point that the offer does not destroy value for kraft
shareholders we will change our vote to yes the statement said
at this time however we believe no shareholder should vote yes when he
can possibly know what he is voting for
kraft spokesman michael mitchell said of the action by buffett firm we take
his opinion seriously and added that we agree that kraft food shares are
deeply undervalued
the spokesman added that we would certainly not do anything that hurts
shareholder value
the news came as kraft sweetened its bid for cadbury by modifying the cash and
stock offer to reflect the decline in kraft share price
kraft said it made the change because of the desire expressed by some cadbury
security holders to have greater proportion of the offer in cash and because
kraft foods shareholders have expressed desire for kraft foods to be more
sparing in its use of undervalued kraft foods shares as currency for the offer
kraft hostile bid which has been repeatedly snubbed by cadbury had valued
cadbury at some billion dollars billion pounds billion euros
eu must open doors to new members spain
madrid jan afp
spain said tuesday as the current holder of the european union presidency that
it is fundamental for the bloc to open its doors to new members especially
from the balkans
foreign minister miguel angel moratinos told reporters that there is no longer
any reason to put obstacles in the way of policy of open doors now that the
lisbon treaty which aims to streamline decision making in the nation bloc
has taken effect
it is fundamental to send this message he added during meeting with
european correspondents in madrid
french president nicolas sarkozy and several other eu leaders had argued that
the bloc would not be able to take in new members without the lisbon treaty
which was initially rejected by irish voters in referendum in june but
later approved in second vote in october
last month serbia formally applied for eu membership almost years after the
balkan wars that followed the break up of the former yugoslavia
bosnia hercegovina is the most fragile of the nations of the former
yugoslavia and spain will dedicate greater attention to it during its six month
presidency of the eu moratinos said
spain will not recognise kosovo independence during its eu presidency but will
have constructive attitude towards its authorities he added
ethnic albanian majority kosovo unilaterally declared independence from serbia
on february the countries that recognise kosovo include the united
states and most of the european union but not spain which does not want to set
precedent for its own separatist minded regions
moratinos said iceland which applied to join the eu in july could join the
bloc in while for turkey which started eu membership negotiations in
the process will be long
as member of the european economic area iceland already conforms with many eu
laws
madrid has backed turkey entry into the eu move opposed by heavyweights
like france and germany which have proposed instead privileged partnership
between the bloc and the mainly muslim country
spain took over the rotating presidency of the eu from sweden on january one
month after the lisbon treaty came into effect
argentina elvis sandro dies at
buenos aires jan afp
the singer sandro nicknamed argentina elvis for his seductive balladeering
and sensual hip gyrations has died at age from an infection following heart
and lung surgery doctors announced
sandro died as result of septic shock at pm local time gmt
monday said claudio burgos doctor at the italian hospital in the western
argentine city of mendoza
burgos told media gathered at the hospital that the star health took turn
for the worse after november transplant operation
after his death was made public thousands of tearful mourners gathered in front
of the hospital to pay their respects to the crooner known affectionately as
el gitano the gypsy to legions of adoring fans
some well wishers left handwritten notes religious trinkets lit candles and
flowers in front of the hospital as they bid farewell to the beloved singer
fans also thronged the congress building in buenos aires where sandro is to lie
in repose his body was transported to the argentine capital in the early hours
of tuesday
born roberto sanchez sandro died following long period of ill health brought
about by years long addiction to tobacco
when he was starting out in the early sandro and his backup band covered
spanish versions of hits from performers as diverse at the beatles elvis paul
anka and the rolling stones
but over more than four decades of music making he was most closely associated
with romantic ballads like the hit song rosa rosa which won him adoring fans
throughout the spanish speaking world especially among women middle aged and
older
over the course of his long career sandro made records and movies in
addition to his numerous appearances on spanish language soap operas
flood hit albania declares natural disaster
tirana jan afp
albanian authorities declared natural disaster tuesday in several northwestern
regions of the country where raging floodwaters forced the evacuation of
hundreds of people
we are at the verge of real catastrophe and according to forecasters heavy
rainfalls will continue in coming days prime minister sali berisha warned
berisha who visited the flooded areas on tuesday called on women children
and older population to leave their homes to avoid the worst
only the men can stay berisha said during the visit
despite appeals by the authorities large majority of inhabitants of the
villages have refused to leave their homes and cattle fearing they would lose
them in floods
local media reported that around villagers who were evacuated by the army
troops returned to their flooded homes on tuesday
if necessary we will evacuate people by force as our primary goal is to save
their lives leonard olli head of the civilian emergency services told
reporters in the capital tirana
olli said that at least houses have been flooded while another were cut
off by floodwaters
some hectares acres of agricultural lands are still under water
and the forecasters dread that river dams could break and endanger the lives of
inhabitants he warned
heavy rains in the past days have also forced the authorities here to open the
gates of the dam at the hydroelectric power station vau dejes causing
flooding of several villages near the adriatic sea
criticism soars as sweden wolf hunt ends
stockholm jan afp
sweden first wolf hunt in years came to an end tuesday after hunters met
their quota of kills in just four days as ecologists blasted the hunt as
rushed and cruel and slammed the government decision to allow the cull
the final two wolves of the quota were killed in central sweden on tuesday
bringing to an end the first wolf hunt since as number of hunters
reported receiving anonymous death threats
parliament decided in october to limit the country wolf population to
animals for the next five years
the cull was meant to run between january and february but hunters killed
wolves on the first day sparking the ire of animal rights activists and
local officials
think the hunt was carried out very quickly there were too many kills all at
once said stig aake svenson head of the local branch of the environmental
agency in the central dalarna region where hunters killed wolves instead of
the nine allotted to the region
and across the entire country seven wolves were first wounded before they were
killed and that very high number these are problems that need to be
investigated ahead of possible wolf hunt next year he told afp
some hunters had been granted permits to take part in the hunt number
environmentalists said was out of proportion to the total of authorised kills
in five central regions
they also criticised the lack of coordination between the regions
the hunt was totally out of control the quota was even exceeded in dalarna
and thousands of hunters were allowed to take part in the kill lamented mikael
karlsson the head of the swedish society for nature conservation ssnc who has
filed complaint against sweden with the european commission
the sncc claimed the hunt violated european union legislation on species and
habitats
this hunt was aimed at pleasing the loudmouthed hunters who have been calling
for wolf hunt for years karlsson said
but torbjoern loevbom of the swedish association for hunting and wildlife
management said the criticism was exaggerated
the hunt went well for the most part apart from the one wolf too many that was
killed in dalarna the cull was completed quickly because the snow made it
easier for us he said
fresh snowfall makes it easier for hunters to follow the animal tracks
several hunters have filed police complaints after receiving anonymous death
threats the association for hunting and wildlife management said
the swedish government has also been the target of heavy criticism in
particular environment minister andreas carlgren whose image as nature lover
has taken blow
the hunt turns to carlgren headlined an editorial in tabloid aftonbladet the
country most widely read newspaper
the minister says the hunt will put an end to the inbreeding in the swedish
wolf population that of course nonsense it said
wolves had virtually disappeared from sweden in the they have thrived
since being reintroduced but suffer from the effects of inbreeding because they
all descend from the same handful of animals that were introduced
the government plans to release some new wolves into the wild by to
broaden their gene pool and improve their health
if the environment minister real aim was to combat the wolves heart back
and kidney problems then the hunt would have been organised differently the
paper wrote
parliament decision to allow the wolf hunt was aimed at increasing public
acceptance of the predators
the animal presence is controversial in the nordic country as domestic and
farm animals are increasingly attacked by wolves which have been sighted
recently near residential areas including near the capital stockholm
there were between and wolves in sweden last winter the environmental
protection agency said noting that new litters had been born since then
colombian madoff is extradited to us
bogota jan afp
an alleged fraudster coined the colombian madoff because of his ties to
multi million dollar pyramid scheme was extradited tuesday to the united states
to face money laundering charges police
david murcia who is accused of swindling investors out of staggering
million dollars was sent in an aircraft belonging to the us drug enforcement
administration at gmt from military airfield they said
david murcia guzman was handed over early today tuesday by jail officials to
the national police and we at this moment are delivering him to us
authorities said general luis ramirez with the courts police
murcia the owner of company called dmg had been sought for money laundering
in both panama and the united states
he was captured in panama in november and deported to colombia where he was
sentenced to years in jail for illegally raising funds and money laundering
he drew huge interest in his fraudulent scheme by promising returns of up to
percent per investment thousands of colombians gave it go and lost all of
their savings sparking widespread outrage
the biggest demonstrations against murcia were street protests in southwestern
popayan where many of its inhabitants fell victim to drfe company
fictitious firm promoting the savings scheme that disappeared overnight along
with all its clients money
the government suspected the pyramid schemes in which people are enticed by
initial profits and encouraged to enlist more participants to contribute to the
savings fund were really money laundering operations set up by drug
traffickers
wall street conman bernard madoff was sentenced in june to years in
prison after pleading guilty to multi billion dollar ponzi scheme in which
existing investors were paid returns stolen from new investors capital
nigeria will appeal to us to reverse flight screening
abuja jan afp
nigeria will appeal to the united states to remove it from terrorism flight
watchlist drawn up in the wake of failed plot to blow up us airliner
justice minister michael aondoaaka said tuesday
aondoaaka told reporters he believed the us will rescind that decision because
nigeria is not terrorist country and single incident that involves
nigerian cannot criminalise all nigerians
washington on sunday introduced new security measures for passengers flying to
the us from countries after year old nigerian was accused of trying to
blow up northwest airlines jet over detroit on christmas day
the west african country was listed alongside such countries as afghanistan
libya pakistan somalia and yemen
nigeria inspector general of police ogbonnaya onovo backed the call insisting
there was no security issue in the country
he cited the example of british national richard reid the so called shoe
bomber convicted of trying to blow up paris miami flight in
if the american authorities could not add britain to the list of countries
of interest then there is no reason to include nigeria onovo told the daily
next
we may be deeply religious but certainly we are no suicide bombers or
terrorists
nigeria information minister dora akunyili had branded the move as
discriminatory and unfair on monday
she said the suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab was not influenced in nigeria
he was not recruited or trained in nigeria he was not supported whatsoever in
nigeria
nigeria main opposition party action congress said that rather than sanctions
nigeria needed the understanding and support of its international partners to
stamp out religious extremism in the country
the party said that threat to peace anywhere is threat to peace everywhere
therefore nigeria international partners will also be assisting themselves
by assisting nigeria it said
corrected romania mulls junk food tax
bucharest jan afp
romania is planning to introduce tax on junk food in order to finance its
crisis hit health system and to fight obesity health minister attila cseke said
tuesday
we intend to introduce tax on fast food soft drinks and candies in order to
support national health programs cseke said during press conference in
bucharest
he later added that the tax could bring around one billion euros billion
dollars to his ministry budget
romania public health system suffers from chronic lack of funds in the
state could have problems financing some medical infrastructure and buying some
medicine the minister said
one romanian out of four suffers from obesity according to the romanian
nutrition federation
special nutrition commission at the ministry level will be in charge of
designing this special tax levied on food deemed unhealthy
the minister added that he will be holding talks with the main producers and
distributors of junk food
american group mcdonald is currently the fast food leader in romania with
revenues of million euros in according to financial daily ziarul
financiar
taiwan is also planning tax on junk food in bid to encourage the public to
eat healthily and cut obesity rates report said monday france mulled such
tax in but gave up on the project
india asks students to take precautions in australia
new delhi jan afp
india tuesday advised thousands of its citizens studying in australia to take
basic precautions against possible attacks in the country after year old
indian man was killed there
the state advisory came after nitin garg was stabbed to death on saturday night
in melbourne in victoria state prompting new delhi to warn that such attacks
could cloud bilateral ties with australia
the government advises indian students studying in australia as well as those
planning to study there that they should take certain basic precautions in
being alert to their own security while moving around the advisory said
the foreign ministry eight point advisory also asked indian citizens to report
complaints to indian diplomatic missions in australia
the number of such incidents of assault as well as of robbery has been on the
rise in recent months which has affected not only indian students but also
members of the larger indian community in australia it added
australian police have said there is no evidence garg murder was racially
motivated but conceded that people of indian descent were victims of
crime in victoria in the months to july
garg murder has received wide coverage in india with one newspaper describing
his death as proof that the issue of racist attacks on the indian community
needs to be addressed by the australian authorities
students from the indian subcontinent account for percent of total
international enrolments they filled places in the months to october
according to australian government statistics
australian prime minister kevin rudd deputy prime minister julia gillard and
victoria premier john brumby have all visited india recently to ease frictions
and promote australia billion us dollar foreign education export
industry the country fourth largest export earner
governments reject talk of abandoning plane
frankfurt jan afp
the head of european plane maker airbus is preparing to ditch its military
transport project which is bogged down in talks with clients german press
report said on tuesday
however german official said the intention was to press on with the programme
and french defence minister herve morin said france one of the countries
involved in the project was not ready to ditch it
eads head thomas enders reportedly told group of airbus directors last month
he no longer believed in pursuing the programme and had begun to prepare for
it to be terminated the financial times deutschland ftd said
lists of engineers to be transferred from the to the development of two
other key aircraft the superjumbo and the have already been drawn
up the newspaper added
the german defence ministry however said it aimed to continue with the
programme and hoped talks could still be wrapped up the end of the month
we will continue to clarify the necessary details for continuation of the
programme with the industry until the end of the month ministry spokesman
said
he added that state secretaries from the seven countries planning to buy the
plane were due to meet in mid january
in france when asked about the report of the project demise morin said
don foresee it but also don foresee that the european taxpayers will pay
for all of the additional costs from the programme
france is ready to play part but france is not alone he told bfm radio
adding that the project partners would meet on january
an airbus spokesman said it hoped to wrap up the negotiations positively
and constructively by january
airbus and its parent group the european aeronautic defence and space company
eads have been in discussions over cost overruns for several months with the
seven countries
the project was first agreed in by nato members germany spain
france britain turkey belgium and luxembourg
total of aircraft had been ordered for around billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to put up billions more to cover unexpected
costs
deliveries are at least three years behind schedule and there have been reports
that airbus needs another five billion euros to finish the project
the financial times deutschland said enders estimated the chances of reaching an
agreement at around
enders is not ready to threaten the civil aviation division which is doing
well just for the source close to the matter was quoted as saying
the plane made its maiden flight on december in spain
an aeronautics industry expert at the private german economy institute klaus
heiner roehl said enders comments could be understood as threat to the
governments backing the programme to step up their support
it would of course be complete nonsense now that the maiden flight was
success to back out he told german rolling news channel tv
dow jones newswires contributed to this report
ailing nigerian president faces legal challenges
abuja jan afp
lawyers have filed three separate legal challenges against president umaru
yar adua who has been receiving treatment in saudi arabian hospital for more
than month
the nigerian bar association nba prominent human rights lawyer femi falana
and former lawmaker farouk adamu aliyu have filed separate suits in the
federal high court in abuja
they want vice president goodluck jonathan to be formally recognised as acting
president given yar adua absence because of ill health
all we are asking is that the vice president be sworn in as acting president
nba president rotimi akeredolu told journalists outside the court
the vice president should be vested with the powers to act as the
president the vice president should act as president in the absence or in the
event of incapacitation of the president he said
falana said the suit was aimed at ensuring there was no vacuum in the nigerian
presidency
nigerian law requires the president to write to both houses of the national
assembly explaining his absence or he is deemed to be otherwise unable to
discharge the functions of his office
yar adua office announced his departure to saudi hospital last november
without formally notifying the parliament
the year old president is being treated for heart condition in jeddah
hospital
justice minister micahel aondoaaka said last week that yar adua was not
suffering from an infirmity that would render him permanently incapable of
discharging his functions
romania mulls junk food tax
bucharest jan afp
romania is planning to introduce tax on junk food in order to finance its
crisis hit health system and to fight obesity health minister attila cseke said
tuesday
we intend to introduce tax on fast food soft drinks and candies in order to
support national health programs cseke said during press conference in
bucharest
he later added that the tax could bring around one billion euros billion
dollars to his ministry budget
romania public health system suffers from chronical lack of funds in
the state could have problems financing some medical infrastructure and buying
some medicine the minister said
one romanian out of four suffers from obesity according to the romanian
nutrition federation
special nutrition commission at the ministry level will be in charge of
designing this special tax levied on food deemed unhealthy
the minister added that he will be holding talks with the main producers and
distributors of junk food
american group mcdonald is currently the fast food leader in romania with
revenues of million euros in according to financial daily ziarul
financiar
taiwan is also planning tax on junk food in bid to encourage the public to
eat healthily and cut obesity rates report said monday france mulled such
tax in but gave up on the project
jordan says no proof balawi was cia suicide bomber
amman jan afp
senior jordanian official said on tuesday that there was no proof that
jordanian humam khalil abu mulal al balawi was as has been claimed the suicide
bomber who killed eight people at cia base in afghanistan
the official who declined to be identified also said balawi had provided
jordanian intelligence with valuable information
there is no proof that humam was actually the author of the attack especially
given that taliban websites claim that it was an afghan the official added
earlier jihadist websites said balawi was triple agent who duped western
intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers
the jordanian intelligence services believing the bomber to be their double
agent took him to eastern afghanistan with the mission of finding al qaeda
number two ayman al zawahiri the websites and western intelligence agents
cited by us media said
but instead he blew himself up at forward operating base chapman in khost
province near the pakistani border killing seven cia agents and his jordanian
handler top intelligence officer and member of the royal family
the jordanian official said balawi had been interrogated by intelligence
officers around year ago because of suspicions about his activities but the
probe found nothing and he was freed
humam left jordan and traveled to pakistan to continue medical studies that he
had begun in turkey from pakistan he contacted the jordanian authorities by
mail and provided security information of extreme value that allowed us to
abort terrorist operations that would have threatened the security of jordan
he added that contact had been maintained with balawi in the interest of the
security of jordan
italian fined by swiss court for spitting on his dead mother
geneva jan afp
an italian who spat on the corpse of his mother for his unhappy childhood has
been fined by swiss court for disturbing the peace of the dead swiss news
wire ats reported tuesday
the man who had spat on his dead mother at hospital morgue in northern
switzerland had told the court that he did it out of hate for his mother who
had often hit him while he was child
however swiss laws prohibit people from profaning human cadavre
the district court of zurich therefore fined the year old man francs
euros and sentenced him to suspended term of days at francs day
under swiss rules such terms allow the convict to choose to either to spend the
relevant period in jail or pay up the specified sum
in this case given the suspended term of five years the italian could avoid
paying the fine or going to jail altogether if he proves to be on good behaviour
during the probation period of five years
icelandic president angers britain dutch over bank bill
reykjavik jan afp
iceland president said on tuesday he would not sign an unpopular bill to
compensate britain and the netherlands over the failure of icesave bank
threatening the survival of the government and triggering anger in london and
the hague
president olafur ragnar grimsson said in televised speech that he would put
the bill to referendum instead
have decided according to article of the constitution to refer this new
act to the people he said
the involvement of the whole nation in the final decision is therefore the
prerequisite for successful solution reconciliation and recovery grimsson
said
in swift response britain insisted that the compensation deal must go through
while the netherlands said it was unacceptable and demanded an explanation
icelandic prime minister johanna sigurdardottir has staked her political future
on passage of the bill saying in the past that her government could step down
it it were blocked
she told press conference the government would start preparing the referendum
and that she would be meeting with members of her governing coalition on tuesday
to decide what steps to take to ensure the survival of the government
the meeting was still ongoing late tuesday afternoon
we express disappointment with our president decision she told reporters
adding the president decision could have great consequences for the economic
plan with the imf
sigurdardottir social democrat elected in an april election triggered by
the meltdown of iceland banks added in statement iceland government was
committed to ensuring that iceland honours its international obligations
the dispute over the icesave compensation scheme had delayed the disbursement of
funds under of billion dollar imf standby loan arranged in november
following the collapse of icelandic banks
the imf announced on december it had reached an agreement with iceland on the
release of third instalment of the loan
the icesave bill narrowly approved by the icelandic parliament on december
calls for the payout of billion euros billion dollars to the british
and dutch governments for having compensated more than british and dutch
savers who lost money in the collapse of the icelandic bank
the payout has stirred up resentment among many ordinary icelanders hard hit by
their country financial meltdown in october
about people about quarter of the country electorate have
signed petition protesting against the bill and calling for the issue to be
put to referendum
public opinion polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of the nation is
of the same opinion the president said in his speech
poll taken in august suggested that nearly percent of icelanders were
against the icesave deal the compensation amounting to about euros for
each citizen on the small island nation
however spokesman for britain treasury said the uk government expects
iceland to live up to its obligations
the treasury will consult with colleagues in iceland to understand why this
bill has not been passed and will work with them the netherlands and within the
eu to resolve this issue as soon as possible
in the netherlands finance ministry spokesman ruud slotboom told afp we are
extremely disappointed
that formulation of words is usually considered to be strong language in
diplomatic terms
the netherlands maintains that iceland is compelled to pay back the money he
said
we expect of the government of iceland to give us an explanation in the short
