euros in damage to europe economy swept southwards
as villages in parts of north east germany remained cut off from the outside
world by giant snowdrifts authorities sounded the alert in regions across
central and northern spain in anticipation of further snow and icy temperatures
more than flights were cancelled at madrid barajas airport while
neighbouring portugal also struggled to cope with snowfalls which caused about
main roads to closed scores spent the night stuck in their vehicles
the southern spanish city of seville which normally enjoys temperatures in
january of around degrees celsius degrees fahrenheit shivered under its
first snowfall in half century
northern europe enjoyed something of respite but forecasters warned that
temperatures were set to plummet to minus celsius fahrenheit overnight
in parts of germany with heavy snow showers and strong winds expected again on
the northern baltic coast
conditions are expected to get calmer as the week progresses but what might
cause problems is the move to milder weather as that will bring rain and
freezing rain meteorologist alexander hildebrand said
we can give the all clear yet in the whole of germany drivers have to expect
ice and snow maxi hartung from the german automobile association adac said
vandals meanwhile carved giant swastika measuring five metres feet across
in the snow on frozen lake in the northern city of schwerin police said
at frankfurt airport europe third busiest where some flights were
cancelled at the weekend more were scrapped on monday and authorities warned
of further problems as air traffic slowly gets back to normal
in southern poland more than homes were without power for second day
while heavy snow and freezing rain hit rail traffic between the capital warsaw
and the south
prague has had its heaviest snowfalls in years and hundreds of homes across
the czech republic were without electricity
in britain icy roads and snow showers hampered efforts to get the country
moving again with eurostar train services from london to paris and brussels
again restricted
the death toll in britain from weather related incidents rose to at least
over the weekend reports said with the latest victim man who fell through
ice on the river tees in the north of the country as he tried to rescue his two
dogs
scores of deaths in similar accidents mountain avalanches or homeless people
killed by the cold have been reported across europe over the past two weeks
in france there were lengthy delays on tgv high speed rail links
the cold snap has meanwhike caused severe disruptions to natural gas exports
from the world second biggest gas exporter norway pipeline operator gassco
said
experts in germany which is emerging from its worst recession since world war
ii warned that the blanket of snow covering the whole country would hit the
economy freezing construction activity and disrupting supplies
the cold weather could really make for difficult start to what is meant to be
year of growth in volker treier from the dihk economics institute told
the bild daily
if there is no improvement soon the german economy could lose around two
billion euros three billion dollars in lost activity or percent of gross
domestic product gdp in the first quarter he said
britain which is still in recession is on course to take hit of billion
pounds billion euros billion dollars from the harshest winter in
decades according to the centre for economics and business research
but economists believe the impact will be mitigated by britons working at home
to beat the freeze benefiting utilities and internet retailers as they turn up
the heating and shop online and that the economy will bounce back
two held in angola after rebel attack on togo team
cabinda angola jan afp
angolan police grilled two suspects in deadly shooting attack by separatist
rebels on togo team which cast long shadow monday over the start of africa
premier football tournament
the pair were arrested in cabinda an angolan enclave inside the democratic
republic of congo close to the scene of friday attack which ended with the
death of the squad assistant coach and media spokesman
two assailants were captured on friday one few minutes after the attack and
the second at the border while crossing into congo brazzaville cabinda
deputy governor macario lembe told afp
the first suspect was injured in his left thigh by police who responded when he
opened fire from tree at the togolese bus
officials said the two suspects were part of group of five gunmen who launched
the attack with automatic weapons the other three managed to escape
the togolese team withdrew from the african cup of nations following the attack
and returned home on sunday evening following orders from their government
despite appeals by the players to be allowed to stay
it very sad it hard for africa and for us togo captain emmanuel adebayor
told afp at the airport in cabinda
these things are part of life you have to accept it the manchester city
striker added
the tournament was meant to showcase angola recovery after year civil war
which ended in
but the attack has instead shone the spotlight on the government inability to
end low level insurgency in oil rich cabinda
splinter group of the independence movement flec claimed responsibility for
the attack saying it had warned confederation of african football boss issa
hayatou against holding matches in cabinda
this is going to continue because the nation is at war said rodrigues
mingas secretary general of the forces for the liberation of the state of
cabinda military position flec pm
speaking at the tournament opening match in luanda on sunday night which
ended in dramatic draw between the hosts and mali angola veteran
president jose eduardo dos santos denounced friday attack
we condemn this act of terror but the competition will continue in cabinda
dos santos said
his government and african football officials pleaded to the last for togolese
authorities to allow the players to fulfill their wish to compete in the
tournament to honour their slain colleagues
the attack occurred as the togo convoy drove into cabinda from congo brazzaville
on friday leaving players cowering under their seats during minute
gunbattle with security forces
goalkeeper kodjovi obilale was airlifted to johannesburg hospital where he is
now in stable condition after surgery to treat gunshot wounds to the back and
abdomen
the attack prompted calls for the tournament to be scrapped and ghana
government has demanded extra security for its players
it has also raised questions about players security at this year world cup in
south africa the first time the tournament has been staged in africa
but south africa police chief said that while lessons would be learned from
the attack it was not fair to draw parallels with the situation in angola
comparing what happens there to what might happen in south africa in june is
like suggesting that the train bombing in madrid and the terrorist attack in
london would affect the football world cup in germany police
commissioner bheki cele told reporters on his return from angola
togo withdrawal has plunged the organisation of the tournament into confusion
they had been due to play ghana in cabinda on monday evening but that match has
now been cancelled
however the match between burkina faso and tournament favourites ivory coast
the first of the series in cabinda kicked off as planned but there was tight
security around the stadium and at the players village
banker father of underwear bomber asked to testify in us
washington jan afp
the banker father of the young nigerian suspected of trying to blow up us
bound jet on christmas day with bomb sewn into his briefs has been asked to
testify before the us congress committee said monday
mr mutallab who identified his own son as an extremist and threat to the
united states has an important story to tell and the committee would like to
hear from him said frederick jones spokesman for the senate foreign relations
committee
congress is wrestling with the specific questions of the christmas day bombing
plot and the broader questions of how yemen has become touchstone for
radicalization added jones
the impoverished country long standing experience with extremism has drawn
close attention since an al qaeda branch claimed responsibility for the
narrowly averted christmas day bombing on the detroit bound northwest jet
the committee led by senator john kerry had not yet heard from the suspect
father on any potential appearance as of monday the spokesman said
but source in nigeria speaking on condition or anonymity said mutallab
prominent banker intends to honor the invitation to appear on january
in october or november alhaji umaru mutallab the father of the nigerian
accused of trying to blow up northwest flight approached us embassy
officials in abuja and told them he was worried his son had become radicalized
by extremists in yemen officials have said
his son name umar farouk abdulmutallab was passed on to intelligence
agencies including the national counterterrorism center and entered into
vast data base of individuals with suspected links to militants or terrorist
groups officials have said
but as the father apparently gave no indication that his son planned an attack
us authorities did not add abdulmutallab name to higher level terrror watch
list or to the no fly list designed to prevent suspected terrorists from
boarding aircraft
moreover state department officials remained unaware that abdulmutallab had
valid us visa due to misspelling of his name and therefore did not review his
visa status
spanish eu presidency defends plan for change in cuba ties
madrid jan afp
the spanish eu presidency defended monday its proposal for new bilateral
agreement on ties with cuba saying this would legally commit the communist
island to improving human rights
foreign minister miguel angel moratinos said madrid wants cuba to commit itself
legally to improve its standard with respect to human rights and that we have
greater diplomatic and legal capacity with respect to ties between cuba and the
eu
such bilateral agreement could replace the eu existing common position on
cuba adopted in and which calls for progress on human rights and democracy
before normalising relations and which he said is unilateral
we need to stop imposing dictating mainly because it does not produce
results let move towards multilateral position where the cuban authorities
have to commit to series of actions the minister told news conference
if in the end we achieve consensus we will move away from the common
position towards bilateral agreement
in november moratinos said spain wanted to establish new bilateral agreement
on eu cuba ties during its presidency of the nation bloc but last week he
said this goal would not be priority for the eu
spanish media said madrid had lowered its ambitions to avoid objections from
other eu nations like sweden and the czech republic which oppose taking softer
stand on cuba
the eu suspended ties with cuba after major roundup of dissidents in march
but resumed aid cooperation in
spain which took over the six month rotating presidency of the eu from sweden
on january has been at the forefront of efforts to boost relations with cuba
former spanish colony
the nation policy on cuba shifted in after jose luis rodriguez zapatero
socialist came to power the previous year his conservative predecessor as
prime minister jose maria aznar had adopted policy of isolating the
communist island in spain and cuba renewed ties
no loan talks during imf mission to greece ministry
athens jan afp
an imf mission is coming to athens to offer technical assistance to help greece
fix its public finances but there will be no talk of loan the finance
ministry said
we have invited them to help us with their technical know how notably for the
reform that we have launched to draft the budget ministry official told afp
on condition of anonymity
loan is not being discussed the official said
the international monetary fund delegation will begin discussions with greek
officials from various ministries on wednesday the source said greece has
turned to imf experts several times before including to fight tax fraud
the imf announced earlier monday that it was sending mission that would stay
in greece for about one week to explore possibilities for technical assistance
from the imf in the coming months on pension reform tax policy tax
administration and budget management
the imf mission comes after experts from the european commission and the
european central bank met with greek officials during three day visit last
week to examine the country public finances
both the ecb and spanish presidency of the european union have warned that
greece should not expect bailout from the bloc
greece which has acknowledged that it has credibility problem with the
financial markets has come under pressure from the european union to clamp down
on its ballooning public deficit
greece public spending deficit rose to percent of output last year and
debt to percent of gross domestic product gdp
the greek government has said it will get the deficit down to percent in
by cutting government spending and fighting tax fraud it aims to bring it
to below percent of gdp the limit imposed by the eurozone in
athens must present its crisis programme to the eu by the end of the month
urgent french film maker rohmer dies at colleague
paris jan afp
the arthouse french film maker eric rohmer director of the critically acclaimed
tales of four seasons series died on monday at the age of colleague
told afp
corrected egypt reports percent fall in suez canal revenue
ismailiya egypt jan afp
revenue from egypt strategic suez waterway plunged percent in because
of the global economic crisis suez canal authority official said on monday
revenue reached billion dollars in compared with billion dollars
in the official said on condition of anonymity
the official blamed the continuing global financial crisis for the fall
the canal which connects the mediterranean sea and the red sea and is one of
the world most heavily used shipping lanes is egypt third largest source of
revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers
traffic volume through the kilometre mile canal is seen as an
indicator of the state of health of maritime trade worldwide
alert
renowned french film maker eric rohmer dies producer
british minister niece in french sex murder trial
versailles france jan afp
the niece of british government minister told court monday she drunkenly
plunged knife into the naked body of frenchman she picked up in bar but
had no idea why she did it
jessica davies told her murder trial that she had blacked out and had no
recollection of the killing except the sensation of the knife going in
am horrified by what have done said the year old niece of britain
multi millionaire junior defence minister quentin davies
remember telling the police who arrived at the murder scene that was
monster she said don remember killing olivier but take responsibility
for killing him
she said she no longer remembered making statement the day of the november
murder in her flat in saint germain en laye chic paris suburb that
said just wanted to cut him little but the knife went in by itself
the blood stained kitchen knife with six inch blade that killed year old
olivier mugnier was passed round for inspection by the three judges and the five
women and four men of the jury at the court in versailles
davies looking pale and drawn and dressed in jeans and grey top was giving
evidence on the first day of her two day trial at which the court heard of her
dysfunctional family and her troubled adolescence
davies who was born in london to british father and french mother and grew
up mostly in france faces maximum sentence of years in prison if convicted
of voluntary homicide without premeditation
she said she had begun the weekend that mugnier died by sleeping with an ex
boyfriend on the friday night
she spent most of the saturday drinking in series of bars and cafes with
friends before going alone to sullivan irish pub near her home where she
met and began flirting with mugnier
they had several drinks and when the bar closed decided to go to davies place
opened bottle of wine he rolled joint we started undressing making
love she told the court
he couldn have proper erection but that was understandable given how
much we drunk we stopped making love he took off the condom said davies
then she said the next thing she knew she saw him lying bleeding from the neck
on the bed and she was trying to stem the blood with one hand and with the
other was calling emergency services
they arrived around am on the sunday morning but within an hour mugnier had
succumbed to the two knife wounds one of which proved fatal after it went right
through his body and touched his spine
davies said the knife that killed mugnier was the one she had used to slash her
own wrists and legs in her bathtub just few months earlier when she was
depressed after splitting up with her boyfriend
police told the court there was no sign of struggle in the one bedroom flat
and that neighbours had heard nothing
they said davies was four times over the drink drive alcohol limit and had
traces of anti depressants in her blood
earlier the court heard how davies developed behavioural problems after the
acrimonious divorce of her parents when she was and how she was badly
affected by her maternal grandmother repeated suicide attempts
she started drinking heavily as teenager and by the time she was in
university was drunk six days out of seven she said adding that she had
also developed cocaine habit
her mother broke down in tears at one point as she detailed her daughter
difficult adolescent and university years
verdict is expected tuesday
her uncle quentin davies hit the headlines in when he defected from
britain opposition conservatives to the ruling labour party just before
gordon brown was named the new prime minister
he has since been appointed brown junior defence minister
german nobel literature winner spied on by secret police tv
berlin jan afp
romanian born german author herta mueller winner of the nobel literature
prize was spied on by romania secret police after being denounced by fellow
writer ard television said monday
mueller came to the attention of the securitate after author and publicist
franz thomas schleich said her first book published in english as nadirs
showed anti state trends the channel said
thereafter schleich under the codename voicu spied on mueller in the
on behalf of the secret police ard said citing witnesses from the time as well
as documents from police archives
in the ard programme to be aired later monday schleich who fled to germany in
the early claiming he was victim of nicolae ceausescu communist
regime refused to respond to the accusations
for her part mueller confirmed that schleich and voicu were one and the same
person and she called for an investigation into securitate informers now living
in germany
after winning the nobel prize mueller said she was still haunted by the
dictatorship she grew up in and that has inspired her work
feel free now but these things have not been erased she told reporters in
berlin where she now lives know what it is to be afraid every morning that
by the evening you won exist any more
angolan security forces seal off footballer village
cabinda angola jan afp
angolan security forces have sealed off the complex housing the football teams
contesting the africa cup of nations in restive cabinda province hoping to ward
off any new separatist attack
since friday attack on togo squad that killed two people little has changed
in the small town of cabinda but the complex dubbed an olympic village now
housing burkina faso ghana and ivory coast has been cut off from the world
police and soldiers patrol the village perimeter on foot in all terrain
vehicles and on motorcycles highly visible special forces known as ninjas
and feared throughout the province wear sombre uniforms and carry ak
right now there are more police than normal said year old jean baptiste
mataia normal in cabinda means one soldier for every residents
after the ceasefire that ended years of civil war in the rest of the
country angola deployed soldiers to cabinda to crush the separatist
rebellion according to human rights watch
it costly military campaign that angola sees as essential to safeguarding
its control over tiny province of just square kilometres square
miles squeezed between the congo brazzaville and the democratic republic of
congo
much of cabinda value lies underground with wells that pump more than half of
the oil that made angola the top producer in africa last year
the government in luanda has for years tried to project an image of peace in the
province but that illusion was shattered friday with the separatist attack on
togo football team killing two of the squad in minute gunbattle with
security forces
togo pulled out of the competition but angolan president jose eduardo dos
santos in power for years decided not to move the matches scheduled for
cabinda
the government has repeatedly assured the tournament organisers the
confederation of african football caf that all the squads will be safe
through the final on january
state media are also pushing the government effort
radio and tv are asking the people to mobilise against people from the
opposition mataia said
after the attack against togo security has been reinforced for the players and
the matches there is now total security people are not afraid he added
andre kuango coordinator of the cabinda forum for dialogue which groups ex
rebels and civil society to negotiate with the government said that it was safe
to move around cabinda
in my opinion cabinda doesn fear another attack like that but it can be
ruled out he said some elements could have infiltrated
but he insisted security is going to be reinforced like caf wanted
one trader in the town however remained cautious
no one expects an attack against residents he said but added we might wait
while before leaving town
nigeria political elite discusses missing president
lagos jan afp
regional governors from nigeria states headed into emergency talks monday
to discuss the country power vacuum as calls grew for ailing president umaru
yar adua to step down officials said
all the governors are meeting this evening to discuss matters of national
importance including the president continued absence from the country an
official from southern nigerian state told afp
the meeting comes as nobel laureate wole soyinka prepared to lead march and
rally in the capital abuja on tuesday to protest yar adua seven week absence
from the country
we are displeased by the vacuum created by the long absence from office of
president umaru yar adua spokesman for civil rights movement save nigeria
group sng yinka odumakin told afp
the growing speculation over yar adua comes as africa most populous nation and
second largest oil exporter faces its most serious constitutional crisis in
decades with government business stalled amid opposition allegations of
cover up over his condition
the country has also been thrust into the international spotlight by islamist
fundamentalist violence in the north and the failed christmas day bombing of
us airliner by young nigerian prompting its appearance on nation terror
watchlist by the united states
the year old president has not been seen or heard since he was flown to
hospital in saudi arabia on november for treatment for acute pericarditis an
inflammation of the membrane around the heart
aides have insisted he is responding well to treatment but nigeria opposition
has demanded proof that yar adua is even alive
the speculations are false the president is alive and actually getting
better he is very much conscious can talk and has been talking his
spokesman olusegun adeniyi told afp on monday
nigeria main opposition party action congress monday demanded immediate and
tangible evidence of yar adua condition
in the absence of video evidence that the president is indeed getting well it
will become clear that there is funny game going on somewhere it said in
statement
without concrete evidence it will be safe to assume that the president has
become so incapacitated that he can no longer write to the national assembly
to empower the vice president to act on his behalf as required by the
constitution
it said the country has been kept in the dark for too long and one more day is
too long we want to know the truth today the statement added
supplementary budget was rushed to his bedside for his signature last week
and the government was forced to strenuously deny opposition claims that the
signature was forged some rights activists want the president declared missing
tuesday rally will coincide with the first formal debate by lawmakers as both
chambers of the national assembly meet to debate the political vacuum created by
the president absence and lack of information about his condition
we will discuss the indisposition of the president said ita enang chairman
of the house of representatives committee on rules and business
top politicians and human rights activists are among those listed to participate
in tuesday street rally
soyinka who won the nobel prize for literature is to address the rally
tagged enough is enough and protest at slow down in government business and
political reform since yar adua was taken ill
rallying coma wins stage despres remains in charge
la serena chile jan afp
spanish motorcyclist marc coma won the ninth stage of the dakar rally on monday
the kilometres special from copiapo
coma who fell out of contention for the overall title when he was penalised
six hours at the weekend for an illegal tyre change edged out france cyril
despres who remains overall leader
it was coma third stage victory of this year renewal
chile francisco lopez winner of two stages finished third in the stage and
stayed in third place overall while pal ullevalseter of norway was fourth on the
stage and remains in second overall
however with deficit of hr min to make up on despres the norweigan
realistically needs the frenchman to suffer engine problems to have chance of
taking the overall title
deaths reported as south sudan rival tribes clash
juba sudan jan afp
new clashes erupted on monday between two rival tribes in south sudan
military official said with an independent local source reporting that at least
people had been killed in the fighting
we have information that civilians from mayom county in unity state have
attacked village in gogrial east county of warrap state said kuol deim kuol
spokesman for the sudan people liberation movement former rebel group which
now acts as an army in the semi autonomous south
he said that members of the nuer tribe attacked dinka villagers but he was
unable to give an immediate casualty toll we don have the full details he
said
however an independent local source said dozens of people were killed and
wounded in the clashes
the combat left people dead and wounded the source said on condition
of anonymity
the toll could not be confirmed by officials in the area
clashes between nuer and dinka tribes over cattle raids in the southern state of
warrap claimed at least lives at the turn of the year prompting the united
nations to call for an investigation
wall street cautious at start of corporate earnings season
new york jan afp
wall street stocks traded mixed monday at the beginning of the fourth quarter
corporate earnings reporting period as us companies begin to recover from
grueling recession
the dow jones industrial average rose points percent to at
gmt after closing last week at its highest level since early october
the technology heavy nasdaq composite fell points percent to
and the broad market standard amp poor index dipped points
percent to
all three key stock indexes opened on positive note after weekend data
revealed that china had overtaken germany as the world biggest exporter
the main attraction in the reports is that china exports increased for the
first time in months offering hopeful sign about the building momentum of
global economic recovery said patrick hare of briefing com
china exports surged percent in december to snap month falling
streak the government said on sunday
data out of germany last week showed that china overtook europe biggest
economy in november to become the world top exporting nation
but investor sentiment turned cautious ahead of the fourth quarter earnings
reporting season to kick off unofficially with the first dow component top
aluminum producer alcoa after the market closes monday
expectations are that there would be plenty of upside surprises especially
from companies that are doing more business abroad said ed yardeni president
of yardeni research
we are expecting particularly strong results from technology companies
most analysts expect alcoa to report earnings of seven cents share on revenue
of billion dollars in the year ago quarter the company reported loss of
cents per share on revenue of billion dollars
investor expectations are high and given signs of incremental improvement in
some important economic indicators these expectations appear warranted said
frederic dickson chief market strategist of da davidson amp co
but he cautioned we do not expect percent of companies reporting to deliver
positive earnings surprises this quarter as they did last quarter
dickson pointed out that company future guidance would be widely scrutinized for
signs of optimism by corporate chiefs
alcoa traded percent higher at dollars ahead of its earnings result
other major companies set to announce their results this week are chip
manufacturer intel which was up percent to dollars and bank
jpmorgan chase rising percent to dollars
gainers also included included energy giant exxonmobil up percent to
dollars and rival chevron climbing percent to dollars
entertainment giant walt disney dropped percent to dollars after its
rating was downgraded by analysts at janney montgomery scott
the bond market also declined the yield on the year treasury bond rose to
percent from percent friday while that on the year bond climbed
to percent from percent bond yield and prices move in opposite
directions
burundi opposition official gunned down
bujumbura jan afp
