this is the second major recall in recent months of strollers following reports
of fingertip amputations and injuries
last november about million strollers manufactured also in china for
britain maclaren were recalled after there were reports of fingertip
amputations in the united states
football egypt cruise to record with victory over benin
benguela angola jan afp
six time champions egypt defeated benin on wednesday to extend their
unbeaten run in the africa cup of nations to games and qualify for the last
eight
the victory also meant that the pharaohs finished top of group with maximum
nine points and will face the second placed team in group in one of the
quarter finals on monday
nigeria qualified for the last eight as runners up after beating mozambique
egypt are also on course for an unprecedented seventh nations cup title while
skipper ahmed hassan won his th cap against benin to tie the egyptian record
for most international appearances
despite the scoreline egypt assistant coach shawki gharib insisted the
winning margin should have been more decisive
we should have scored more goals but it was also important that we won this
game we threw away several chances but we also have to give some credit to the
benin goalkeeper who pulled off several saves said gharib
we are here to defend our crown as champions of africa all the games here are
tough but we are here to fight and in the end succeed this is feeling shared
by the entire team
benin coach michel dessuyer said his team were unlucky in angola but have learnt
few lessons and would continue to work hard
we were unlucky not to make the impact we had hoped for here we have
taken some lessons from this experience and we will continue to work hard for us
to do far better next time said the french coach
egypt who rested key stars like ahmed fathi and wael gomaa took the lead after
only seven minutes through an audacious effort by ahmed al mohammadi
the highly rated enppi defender swung shot from about metres which sailed
over benin goalkeeper yoann djidonou and into the top right corner of the net
the defending champions doubled their advantage in the rd minute when the
referee adjudged that emad motaeb bundled the ball over the goalline after ahmed
raouf header from yards out crashed against the post
egypt continued to cruise and would have increased their lead in the th minute
but raouf diving header from inside the yard box flew straight at djidonou
for him to make an easy save
on the resumption benin fought for an equaliser but it was egypt who could have
scored again in the th minute when hassan long through ball set up raouf
who darted into the box only for djidonou to get his foot to the ball
motaeb was constant danger and moments later he again came close when al
mohammadi swung another cross into the benin area but his marker closed him
down
in the th minute substitute mohammed aoudou tested the reflexes of the
durable essam el hadary in goal for egypt when he rose above the defence to
power free kick from the right flank only for the ismailia goalkeeper to tip
the ball away for corner
omotoyossi would have reduced the deficit in the th minute but he flashed his
angled shot from inside the box
blair aware of islamist threat from iraq war ex official
london jan afp
former british prime minister tony blair knew that invading iraq in could
increase the threat from islamic extremism but pressed ahead nonetheless
former top civil servant said wednesday
speaking at public inquiry into britain role in the controversial war david
omand added that claim saddam hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction
wmds in minutes aimed to add local colour to dossier
omand who was the government security and intelligence coordinator spoke
days before blair himself makes hotly anticipated appearance at the probe on
january
key intelligence committee warned in reports in and that taking
military action in iraq would increase the risk of al qaeda attacks on western
targets and fuel radicalisation omand said
blair though was still keen to press ahead with the invasion which saw britain
standing shoulder to shoulder with the us he added
we knew it was going to be an additional risk but that didn outweigh the
policy objective in his mind he said
know exactly what he would say which was yes that was risk which we have
to take on the chin
in the worst attack by islamist militants in britain since the iraq war
innocent civilians died in london in july when four men carried out suicide
bombings on the city public transport system
on the minute claim in an official dossier in september which was widely
reported by media at the time although wmds were not found in iraq omand said
he had failed to spot the problems it would cause
with hindsight one can see that adding bit of local colour like that was
asking for trouble but we didn really spot that at the time he said
omand evidence at the public inquiry in london came amid appearances by
string of current and former cabinet ministers in the coming days
jack straw who was foreign secretary at the time of the invasion and is still
in government as justice secretary takes the stand thursday
white ribbon advances in oscars foreign film race
los angeles jan afp
austrian director michael haneke golden globes winning the white ribbon is
among nine movies in contention for the oscars coveted best foreign film prize
officials said wednesday
the powerful german language entry set in german village on the eve of world
war has advanced to shortlist of films which will be whittled down to five
nominees on february
the movie scooped the palme or at last year cannes film festival and is
likely to be among the favorites at this year oscars which will be held in
hollywood on march
also on the shortlist is australia critically acclaimed samson and delilah
aboriginal director warwick thornton tale of young love in troubled
indigenous community
the film also honored at last year cannes festival takes an unflinching look
at the problems facing australia remote aboriginal communities
other films shortlisted include france un prophete and israel ajami
total of films were initially eligible for the oscars best foreign film
category
shortlisted films
argentina el secreto de sus ojos
australia samson amp delilah
bulgaria the world is big and salvation lurks around the corner
france un prophete
germany the white ribbon
israel ajami
kazakhstan kelin
the netherlands winter in wartime
peru the milk of sorrow
urgent curfew relaxed in nigeria violence wracked city official
lagos jan afp
authorities in nigeria central city of jos where muslim christian clashes left
nearly dead on wednesday relaxed curfew imposed on the city senior
government official said
alert
curfew relaxed in nigeria violence wracked city official
all clear at munich airport after security alert police
berlin jan afp
german police gave the all clear at munich airport on wednesday after security
alert sparked by man running away from security check when his laptop tested
positive for possible explosives
police spokesman albert poerschke said that the man who has still not been
identified was most likely businessman in hurry to catch his flight who was
unaware that security personnel wanted to check inside his laptop bag
at least dead in prison riot in mexico
mexico city jan afp
rival gangs clashed inside notorious prison in the mexican state of durango on
wednesday leaving at least inmates dead officials said
army and federal troops as well as police were sent in to quell fighting between
gangs which broke out shortly after breakfast at the jail housing inmates
well over capacity outside the city of durango
it took minutes for the security officers to quell the clashes reportedly
between members of the rival gulf and sinaloa drug cartels using makeshift
weapons
we have confirmed that people died in the fighting spokesman for the
prosecutor office told afp
he refused to be drawn on what caused the brawl but the gulf and sinaloa cartels
have been waging months long turf war for control of the smuggling routes into
the united states
back in august when inmates were killed and injured in similar clashes at
the same penitentiary durango public security official jorge torres described
the prison as time bomb waiting to explode
durango and its neighboring states of sinaloa and chihuahua make up region of
mexico dubbed the golden triangle because of the amount of marijuana opium
and heroin production that goes on there
urgent all clear at munich airport after security alert police
berlin jan afp
german police gave the all clear at munich airport on wednesday after security
alert sparked by man running away from security check when his laptop tested
positive for possible explosives
us sending more troops to haiti official
washington jan afp
the united states is sending an extra us troops to quake devastated haiti
diverting them from scheduled deployments to europe and the middle east
officials said wednesday
troops from the nassau amphibious ready group and the th marine expeditionary
unit received new orders on tuesday to deploy to haiti scrapping their previous
deployments
they will support much needed relief efforts as haitians scramble for food
water and medical care eight days after the caribbean nation was hit by
magnitude quake the us second fleet said
saudi kingdom holdings back in the black in
riyadh jan afp
kingdom holdings the main vehicle of key citigroup shareholder prince alwaleed
bin talal said on wednesday it returned to profit in after massive loss
the previous year
kingdom earned net profit of million riyals million dollars for
the fourth quarter of its fourth straight quarterly gain for total
profit in the year of million riyals million dollars
that marked reversal from when kingdom turned in massive billion
riyal billion dollar loss for the october december quarter and nearly
eight billion dollar loss for the entire year
the holding group percent controlled by alwaleed the country wealthiest
tycoon owns large stakes in citigroup apple news corp and other global
businesses as well as large holdings in luxury hotels and hotel management
firms
alwaleed said in statement that he was confident the company financial
results will continue to improve
we are pleased the worst of the global economic crisis is behind us and the
company is on solid footing for continuing profitable results he said
last week alwaleed transferred million citigroup shares from his own private
holdings into kingdom at no cost to shore up its asset base weighed down by the
previous year losses
combined with the sales of key property assets he said the accumulated losses
were nearly cleared from the balance sheet
he said on wednesday the group would push ahead with two massive multi billion
dollar real estate developments in saudi arabia
these are million square metre new city of residential and commercial
property outside riyadh and record breaking one kilometre tall feet
skyscraper in jeddah saudi arabia second largest city on the red sea coast
plans for financing both projects remain unclear
bosnia hercegovina arrests extradited genocide suspect
banja luka bosnia hercegovina jan afp
police wednesday arrested in sarajevo bosnian serb recently extradited by the
us who is accused taking part in the srebrenica massacre judicial source
said
nedjo ikonic is accused of having participated as commander of company of the
bosnian serb special police brigade in crimes of genocide boris grubesic
spokesman for the bosnian state court told afp
in late ikonic was arrested and later released on bail as part of
us operation
the us had targeted former members of the bosnian serb military who lied about
their military past when emigrating to the united states following bosnia
war with serbia according the agency srna
some bosnian serbs were arrested during the operation some were charged by
us courts for false declarations and were due to be extradited whilst others
were allowed to remain in the country
on monday bosnian authorities charged three former top officials from the
special brigade police
the special police brigade is accused of participating in the massacre of
some muslim boys and men in srebrenica
the massacre has been described as genocide by the international court of
justice and the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia
us not naive about yemen top officials
washington jan afp
top us officials told worried lawmakers on wednesday that yemen leaders had
made decisive turn against al qaeda but insisted washington was not naive
about the sanaa government as an ally
the government of yemen is beset by many challenges jeffrey feltman
assistant us secretary of state for near eastern affairs told the senate
foreign relations committee we are not naive about our yemeni partner
he cited violent unrest in the country north and south an inconsistent
ability to deliver services to much of its people and said sanaa record on
human rights good governance and anti corruption had been wanting
but in terms of the government of yemen determination and willingness to
confront threat of al qaeda militants in the country we should be and we are
encouraged by recent steps the government has taken said feltman
his comments came in the wake of foiled christmas day plot to blow up us
airliner allegedly carried out by nigerian trained in yemen by al qaeda in
the arabian peninsula aqap
they also came day after the senate committee released report warning that
aqap may also be training as many as three dozen us citizens who converted to
islam in prison
the americans traveled to yemen upon their release ostensibly to study arabic
but possibly for al qaeda training the report said citing us law enforcement
sources
while there is no public evidence of any terrorist action by the former
convicts who may have been radicalized in prison several have dropped off
the radar for weeks at time according to the report
us officials are on heightened alert because of the potential threat from
extremists carrying american passports and the related challenges involved in
detecting and stopping homegrown operatives it said
us officials are also worried about non yemeni americans blonde haired
blue eyed types who traveled to yemen converted to islam became
fundamentalists married yemeni women and fit the profile of americans that al
qaeda has sought to recruit
the us state department top counter terrorism official daniel benjamin told
the committee he had no reason to contradict the report and that some yemeni
institutions had proved effective incubators of radicalization
but benjamin praised decisive turn by the yemeni government and decisive
interest by the international community to help the sanaa government battle
extremism
senate foreign relations committee chairman john kerry democrat was to meet
later with yemeni foreign minister abu bakr al kurbi the senator office said
alert
german police give all clear at munich airport after security alert
urgent us sending more troops to haiti official
washington jan afp
the united states is sending an extra sailors and marines to quake
devastated haiti diverting them from scheduled deployments to europe and the
middle east officials said wednesday
football africa cup of nations nigeria mozambique
lubango angola jan afp
full result of an africa cup of nations group match at tundavala stadium on
wednesday
nigeria odemwingie martins mozambique
teams
nigeria victor enyeama yusuf mohamed danny shittu onyekachi apam elderson
echiejile sani kaita john obi mikel dickson etuhu yussuf ayila osaze
odemwingie obinna nsofor yakubu aiyegbeni capt obafemi martins
chinedu obasi
coach shaibu amodu
mozambique joao rafael samuel chapanga dario khan fanuel massingue martinho
mucuana elias pelembe simao mate eugenio bila josemar machaisse almiro
lobo momed hagy manuel bucuane capt dario monteiro carlos parraque
coach mart nooij ned
referee komlan coulibaly mli
yellow cards pelembe bila lobo bucuane rafael
alert
us sending more us troops to haiti official
us houses passes haiti quake aid bill
washington jan afp
the us house of representatives unanimously passed legislation wednesday to
boost charitable donations to victims of the haiti earthquake including
hugely successful red cross text message appeal
the bill modeled after similar measure that bolstered giving after the
indian ocean tsunami would allow cash contributions made through march
to count against taxes
the measure which could clear the us senate and go to president barack obama as
early as wednesday allows those who answered red cross appeal for donations
via text message to use their telephone bill as proof of donation
we all witnessed the horrendous event that took place in our hemisphere last
week and have united in bipartisan way to do what we can to ease the pain of
those who are suffering in haiti said democratic representative charles
rangel chairman of the powerful house ways and means committee
this legislation can encourage americans to increase what has already been an
outpouring of generous support for the people of haiti said the tax writing
panel top republican representative dave camp
camp said the measure which cleared the house by voice vote deserves obama
immediate signature once it passes the senate
latest haiti quake reduces hope for survivors experts
paris jan afp
powerful aftershock that rattled haiti on wednesday may diminish remaining
hopes for people buried by rubble in the massive january temblor experts
said
any survivors who had held out for eight days in air pockets now risked being
crushed by masonry dislodged by wednesday quake they said
for some it will be the final blow was the grim assessment of philippe
dabadie resuscitation specialist and professor of disaster medicine at
pellegrin hospital in bordeaux southwestern france
we will soon reach the outer limits of hope any survivors will be exceptional
in some respects it will be miracle he told afp
researchers say that reaching earthquake survivors in the first hours or couple
of days is vital
some experts talk about the golden or the need to act with extreme urgency
in the first hours after quake
even so extricating people at much later stage is not uncommon
structural collapses from earthquakes generate trapped victims who infrequently
may survive for five to six days says study published in in the journal
prehospital and disaster medicine that looked at the aftermath of quakes from
under special ideal conditions survival may extend to two weeks
long term survival is determined by basket of factors
they include the underlying health of the individual the type and severity of
any injuries and access to food or water
what causes the survivor condition to worsen very swiftly are open wounds
which become infected and boost the risk of blood poisoning and secondly the
lack of food and especially water said jean louis etienne an explorer and
physiologist specialising in extreme conditions
rescuers combing the rubble filled streets of haiti capital scored an
increasingly rare victory pulling year old woman out alive after being
buried alive for seven days
three week old baby girl was also pulled alive from the rubble of house more
than week after it was destroyed
among documented cases of survival from other disasters are two brothers trapped
by an earthquake in taiwan in who held out for hours five and
half days by sipping rainwater that dripped into their tiny refuge and by
eating rotten apples sitting in refrigerator
and in year old woman survived nine days after the bam earthquake in
iran thanks to food that had been next to her before the quake happened
the confirmed record breaker is year old man who was hauled from the
wreckage of hotel gym in the philippines in after being entombed for
days rainwater again was his saviour
more people survive in pockets if the building is made of reinforced concrete
steel or well constructed wooden frames according to research
when these buildings fail they tend to collapse in pattern that creates void
spaces that can cocoon lucky survivors
indeed architects are required to include the possibility of void spaces in
countries in seismic zone that have strong and implemented anti
earthquake construction code
buildings made of bricks stones adobe or as is frequently the case in haiti
of breeze blocks without reinforcement rods tend to collapse compactly
eliminating the possibility of void space
victim state of mind or mental resilience can also shape the outcome said
eric fedida of sauveteurs sans frontieres rescuers without borders an ngo
gathering emergency specialists
baby or child who placidly accepts that it is trapped may have better chance
than an adult who panics which accelerates dehydration fedida said
yemen warplanes pound qaeda chief home military
sanaa jan afp
yemeni jets pounded the home of suspected al qaeda leader on wednesday an
army source said as the military stepped up pressure on the group believed
behind botched bid to down us airliner
british prime minister gordon brown meanwhile announced in london the
suspension of direct flights from yemen until further security measures are
agreed in the wake of the christmas day detroit bombing scare
meanwhile top us officials said washington was not naive about yemen despite
the sanaa government decisive turn against al qaeda citing the challenges
facing the impoverished country
yemeni tribal source confirmed the air strikes on erq al shabwan village in
maarib province and said number of people had been killed local forces
responded with anti aircraft fire
the wave of air strikes which began in the morning blasted the house of ayed
al shabwani one of six suspected al qaeda leaders the government said were
killed in an air strike last week the tribal source said
military official who would not be named said there had been three strikes
on the house and one on an orange grove near the village where the authorities
think shabwani set up safe haven for dozens of al qaeda members
during the afternoon witnesses said jets twice fired missiles into the grove
and afterwards continued to overfly the area
the strikes come just days after yemen said it killed six suspected leaders
including shabwani of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in saada province
north of sanaa
aqap denied anyone was killed in the attack on three vehicles in remote
desert area saying instead that some militants were wounded
no one commented on whether the government now believed shabwani had in fact
survived that raid
yemen is under us pressure to clamp down on al qaeda which claimed
responsibility for the december bid to blow up flight from amsterdam as it
prepared to land in detroit
britain brown said in statement on counter terrorism to the house of commons
on wednesday that in the wake of the failed attack no more direct flights from
yemen would be allowed to land in britain
we have agreed with yemenia airlines pending enhanced security that they
suspend their direct flights to the uk from yemen with immediate effect he
said
britain ambassador to yemen tim torlot acknowledged to reporters that sanaa
was working on improving aviation security but also warned that an international
meeting on yemen in london on january will not solve all its problems
of course it will not solve all the problems of yemen in two hours it will
not be pledge conference there will be no new offers of money no promises of
particular activities it the beginning of process he said
jeffrey feltman assistant us secretary of state for near eastern affairs told
the senate foreign relation committee the government of yemen is beset by many
challenges citing unrest in the north and south and an inconsistent ability
to deliver services to much of the population
he also called sanaa record on human rights good governance and anti
corruption wanting
we are not naive about our yemeni partner he said
the us state department top counter terrorism official daniel benjamin told
the committee that some yemeni institutions had proved effective incubators of
radicalisation
but he praised decisive turn by the yemeni government and decisive interest
by the international community to help sanaa battle extremism
yemen government insists it is winning the battle against the jihadists
pointing to two air strikes in december which it said killed more than
suspected al qaeda members
in washington foreign minister abu bakr al kurbi met us national security
adviser james jones who reiterated us support for sanaa determined efforts
to combat the terrorist threat posed by al qaeda national security council
spokesman mike hammer said
shabwa governor ali hassan al ahmadi said dozens of al qaeda fighters were holed
up in the province
among them he said were current aqap chief nasir al wahishi his saudi number
two said al shihri and radical us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
in saudi erdogan promotes istanbul afghanistan conference
jeddah saudi arabia jan afp
turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan promoted the planned regional summit
on afghanistan in talks at the organisation of the islamic conference oic on
the third day of his visit to saudi arabia officials said
erdogan met with ekmeleddin ihsanoglu the turkish secretary general of the pan
islamic group to discuss the january regional istanbul meet on
afghanistan as well as the palestinian israeli peace process and other regional
political issues said oic spokesman isam salim shanti
they talked about the military solution in afghanistan not being the only way
that there should be political solution shanti said
erdogan was in jeddah after spending monday and tuesday in riyadh promoting
turkish business and discussing regional political issues with king abdullah and
other top saudi officials
after visiting the oic he headed for the islamic holy city of mecca to undertake
an umrah minor pilgrimage
iran plans to knock three zeros off currency report
tehran jan afp
iran plans to knock three zeros from its national currency the rial so it can
recover value it has lost in recent years president mahmoud ahmadinejad was
quoted as saying on wednesday
we are due to remove zeros from the currency because for some reasons the
rial has depreciated and we should bring its real value back the mehr news
agency quoted ahmadinejad as saying
the rial has dropped on international exchanges from to the dollar at the
time of the islamic revolution in to around rials today
central bank chief mahmoud bahmani told reporters on wednesday that he expected
one dollar to become even more expensive in the next year
bahmani had in september announced plans to strike three zeros off the currency
but later said the idea had been shelved for further consideration
ahmadinejad did not say when the changes would take effect and gave no further
details of the plan
populist ahmadinejad has been criticised for pumping excessive liquidity into
the economy to fund infrastructure projects and causing huge money supply growth
by giving loans triggering high inflation
the country inflation rate stands at percent and has been slowly falling
since october when it hit peak of around percent
bahmani vowed that inflation would be sliced back even further within the
current financial year which ends next march
but he also did not rule out that the opposite could happen and that the rate
would go up again after the government implements plan to scrap subsidies on
main goods including fuel
some banking experts say they do not believe that by simply removing zeros from
the depreciated currency it will recover value and have called instead for
measures such as tightening up on money supply
us fines buffett general re for helping aig fraud
washington jan afp
us officials wednesday announced million dollar settlement with insurance
firm general re controlled by investor warren buffett for its role in
fraudulent accounting practices including scheme to help aig
the securities and exchange commission said it sued general re for accounting
schemes involving aig and another insurance company prudential financial to
manipulate and falsify their reported financial results
gen re one of the largest reinsurance firms agreed to pay million dollars
to settle the sec charges
in addition in non prosecution agreement announced by the department of
justice in connection with related criminal investigation gen re agreed to
pay million dollars to us postal inspection service consumer fraud fund
the company also agreed to pay million dollars through civil class action
settlement to aig injured shareholders
gen re previously forfeited to the government around million dollars in fees
it earned for its participation in the scheme with aig
as part of its agreement with the justice department general re has admitted
that its most senior management engaged in scheme to falsely inflate aig
reported loss reserves by the use of sham reinsurance transactions
statement from prosecutors said
according to officials gen re reinsurance firm that provides insurance to
commercial insurers arranged to sell financial products to aig and prudential
for the sole purpose of enabling those companies to manipulate their accounting
results and mislead investors said sec regional director andrew calamari
the sec previously charged aig with securities fraud and improper accounting
and the company settled the charges by paying more than million dollars
