palestinian militants have fired thousands of home made rockets into southern
israel prompting israel devastating assault on the islamist hamas in gaza on
december
the lebanese militant group hezbollah also fired some rockets into
northern israel during war with israel which now believes hezbollah has
an arsenal of some rockets
making iron dome operational will transform israel political and security
situation on the northern and southern fronts said pinhas buchris the
ministry director general
polish foreign minister slams baltic gas pipeline
warsaw jan afp
polish foreign minister radoslaw sikorski on wednesday blasted as waste of
money gas pipeline that russo german consortium led by russian giant gazprom
plans to build under the baltic sea
the nord stream project is waste of european consumers money sikorski was
quoted as telling polish lawmakers by the news agency pap
he said it had been pushed through over our heads and did not make economic
sense warsaw has repeatedly insisted that the consortium has failed to
explain why sea route is better than cheaper land option
sikorski has long been vocal opponent of the pipeline he caused stir in
when he said it echoed the molotov ribbentrop pact under which nazi
germany and the stalinist soviet union carved up poland days before the start of
world war ii
the billion euro billion dollar nord stream project is led by russian
state run energy mammoth gazprom in partnership with germany on ruhrgas and
basf wintershall
the kilometre mile duct would link the russian city of vyborg and
greifswald in germany running through russian finnish swedish danish and
german waters the consortium has said it aims to begin pumping gas by next
year
poland and other ex communist baltic sea states such as estonia and lithuania
whose relations with moscow are rocky have warned that the pipeline will
increase europe direct dependence on russia for natural gas critics claim the
kremlin uses its energy clout as political tool
they have also criticised fellow european union member germany for allegedly
sidelining their concerns over the plan and forging ahead
moscow counters that the pipeline will help prevent repeat of the russia
ukraine gas crisis which severely disrupted supplies to europe in january last
year since the duct would not pass through transit countries
russia has also claimed poland opposition is rooted in anger that it will not
get transit fees from the sea based pipeline
brazilian government to decide on fighter jets minister
geneva jan afp
brazil government will decide which company is awarded seven billion dollar
contract for high tech fighter jets minister said wednesday after the air
force backed different supplier
the final decision is still political foreign minister celso amorim said in
geneva
obviously we will study and take into account what is in the technical
reports but it for the minister of defence and the president of the republic
luiz inacio lula da silva to decide he told journalists
it not an exclusively military decision he added
folha de sao paulo newspaper report on tuesday said the brazilian air force
first choice was the ng gripen by sweden saab and not the government pick
the french rafale which was more expensive
it reported that the french jet was not even the air force second choice the
runner up was the super hornet by us group boeing
according to page report by the brazilian air force the financial
factor has been key in putting the gripen ng which is still in its early phase
of development in the top spot it is the cheapest of the three competitors
the paper said saab is putting up the gripen for half the price of the rafale
at about million dollars and one hour flight is four times cheaper than
that of rafale
the rafale multirole fighter made by dassault has been considered the
frontrunner since the brazilian president and french counterpart nicolas sarkozy
announced jointly in september that brazil was negotiating to buy the delta
winged aircraft
if that intent to purchase was confirmed it would be the first export sale of
the rafale possibly making it more attractive to other potential buyers
switzerland and india
but saab and boeing are fighting fiercely to land the brazilian contract
reportedly slashing prices to do so
dassault has said that if brasilia was to choose the rafale the first six
aircraft would be built in france and the others assembled in brasil
french defence minister herve morin on wednesday lampooned the competitors
going rates comparing the french fighter to ferrari racing car and its
swedish competitor to volvo family vehicle
the rafale is the only multi mission aircraft in the world the only aircraft
capable of air defence ground attack and reconnaisance missions he said
the gripen is plane that does not fly and does not exist but in the
manufacturer development department he added
these are rumours published by newspaper we are facing extremely tough
competition and in competition like this rumours are flying from all sides
sarkozy office would not comment on the reports from brazil saying it was not
concerned about the rafale chances
greenpeace climate protesters released from danish jail police
copenhagen jan afp
four greenpeace protesters arrested for gatecrashing royal gala dinner for
heads of state at the un climate summit in copenhagen last month were released
from danish custody on wednesday police said
they are being released right now copenhagen police duty officer michael
klausen told afp
the four are the director of greenpeace spain juan lopez de uralde norwegian
nora christiansen christian schmutz of switzerland and joris thijssen of the
netherlands
lopez de uralde and christiansen fooled security staff at the danish parliament
in copenhagen by drawing up to december gala dinner in limousine and
wearing evening attire schmutz posed as their bodyguard
there they unfurled banners reading politicians talk leaders act at the
entrance
the four have been charged with illegally entering state property among other
things they still face trial and possible prison sentences
their release comes day in advance of their detention being reviewed by
danish judge
they have been charged but they are free to leave and can leave the country if
they want klausen said
lopez de uralde had complained of being treated like dog at the danish jail
and greenpeace spain last week delivered petition backed by people to
the danish embassy in madrid demanding their release
greenpeace spokeswoman told afp the four were freed after the organisation
provided police with the names of other greenpeace activists who took part in
the protest
in statement mads christensen executive director of greenpeace nordic said
the imprisonment of the activists has effectively been punishment without
trial
the alleged crime is that the four aimed to impress upon world leaders the
urgency of acting to prevent catastrophic climate change the length of their
detention without trial is out of all proportion to what was simple and
harmless protest with legitimate objective christensen added
rallying lopez wins motorcycling stage
antofagasta chile jan afp
chilean motorcyclist francesco lopez won the arduous kilometres fifth stage
from copiapo of the dakar rally here on wednesday
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
afp graphics advisory
paris jan afp
we shall move the following additional graphic
egypt gaza unrest
graphic map showing the border between israel and egypt and locating the town of
rafah where cross border fire killed an egyptian policeman
text slug mideast conflict gaza egypt
mm
available by gmt
paris hong kong
tel
double portrait of princes william and harry unveiled
london jan afp
the first double portrait painting of prince william and prince harry went on
display at the national portrait gallery in london on wednesday capturing some
of their brotherly banter
the oil painting by artist nicky philipps shows queen elizabeth ii grandsons
wearing military uniform but chatting informally in the library of clarence
house their official residence since
philipps said she wanted to offer behind the scenes glance at the human
element of royal responsibility and to emphasise their brotherly relationship
they were very good company and although was commissioned to paint them in
their official context hope have also captured some of the brotherly banter
that characterised the sittings she said
prince harry the youngest son of heir to the throne prince charles and the late
princess diana is shown seated and in conversation with his brother who stands
in doorway on the right of the painting
both wear the uniform of the household cavalry in which prince william now
was lieutenant at the time of the sittings from august to december
william is currently training to be search and rescue pilot with the royal air
force raf where he holds the rank of flight lieutenant
prince harry now was and is still lieutenant with the same regiment and
is training to become an army air corps helicopter pilot in early he
served with nato led forces in afghanistan
the first portrait of the princes captures them formally dressed but
informally posed it is delightful image which extends the tradition of royal
portraiture said national portrait gallery director sandy nairne
us airline watchlist unfair afghanistan
washington jan afp
afghanistan inclusion on new us aviation watchlist of countries is
unfair and will ostracize innocent travellers the country ambassador to
the united states said tuesday
it unfair to single out all afghans for extreme scrutiny ambassador said
jawad said in statement emailed to afp
afghans completely understand the need for stronger security measures since
everything and everyone is target of terrorist attacks in afghanistan he
added
but we must not let our fear force missed opportunity to produce meaningful
security measures which don ostracize innocent travelers brings us all closer
to fighting common enemy and allows everyone to travel the globe in relative
safety he said
we also know al qaeda is an organization made up of individuals who do not
carry legitimate passports and in fact actively recruit individuals from all
over the world especially in europe and the united states
the new transportation security administration watchlist requires passengers who
are citizens of designated countries or are travelling via those nations to
undergo special security screening
the measure was announced in the wake of failed attack on christmas day by
year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab who attempted to bring down
northwest airlines flight by detonating explosives hidden in his underwear
other countries on the list include us designated state sponsors of terrorism
cuba iran sudan and syria
also targeted are algeria iraq lebanon libya pakistan saudi arabia
somalia yemen and nigeria
turkey says unwilling to put more money into project
ankara jan afp
turkey on wednesday said that it remained committed to the military
aircraft programme but underlined that it did not wish to pour more money into
the troubled project
we do not wish to see the project cancelled and we do not think it is
right to decrease the number of planes to be purchased defence minister vecdi
gonul was quoted by the anatolia news agency as telling reporters
but he stressed that ankara which plans to buy planes could not go over the
price ceiling limit approved by the turkish parliament for the project
according to financial times deutschland on tuesday airbus chief thomas enders
told group of airbus directors he no longer believed in pursuing the
programme and had begun to prepare for it to be terminated
developing the innovative high tech military transporters has proved much
more costly and time consuming than first anticipated when the project was
agreed in by nato members germany spain france britain turkey belgium
and luxembourg
total of aircraft have been ordered for about billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to plough in more to cover unexpected
costs
deliveries are at least three years behind schedule and there have been reports
that the company needs another five billion euros to finish the project
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 negotiations are to be wrapped up at the end of this month
turkey position in these negotiations is to have no decrease in the number
planes in the project and no increase in the base price of plane statement
from gonul office said
ski jumping kofler takes four hills title
bischofshofen austria jan afp
austrain olympic silver medalist andreas kofler won the four hills title on
wednesday despite finishing fifth in the final event
the year old also an olympic gold medalist in the team event won with
points ahead of finnish great janne ahonen pts while last year
champion wolfgang loitzl of austria was third pts
wednesday event was won by another austrian thomas morgenstern with
points ahead of ahonen pts and swiss jumper simon ammann was third
pts
there was disappointment for austrian prodigy gregor schlierenzauer who was the
strong favourite to take the title after victories in garmisch partenkirchen on
friday and innsbruck on sunday but ended up finishing fourth overall
second place overall for ahonen five time winner of the series but who only
came out of retirement recently spoilt austrian hopes of their first podium
cleansweep since
france wants to add countries to risk list
paris jan afp
france wants to add as many as countries to its current list of seven
countries that pose security risk as part of raft of anti terrorism
measures the interior minister said wednesday
it obvious that we must now expand the list of countries that pose risk
currently we have seven countries and we undoubtedly need to go up to or
countries interior minister brice hortefeux told europe radio
washington this month introduced new security measures for passengers flying to
the united states from countries after year old nigerian was accused of
trying to blow up us jetliner over detroit on christmas day
umar farouk abdulmutallab trained mechanical engineer who had explosives
sewn into his underwear had boarded northwest airlines flight from amsterdam
to detroit he had flown to amsterdam on klm flight from lagos
afghanistan algeria iran mali pakistan syria and yemen are currently on the
french watch list of countries
this does not mean that these governments condone terrorism but rather that in
some instances they do not have the means to combat terrorism such as mali
the minister said
hortefeux did not provide details on the other countries that could be added to
the list
her stressed that france wanted to collect more information on passengers
starting from the time when they reserve their airline ticket and that companies
that do not provide passenger list will be fined
the french government is also examining whether it should install body scanners
and explosives detectors at all airports
working group set up at president nicolas sarkozy request is to present
proposals on improving air transport security in the coming weeks hortefeux
said
dp world plans to seek london stock listing
dubai united arab emirates jan afp
major global ports operator gp world part of dubai financially troubled dubai
world conglomerate said on wednesday it will seek listing on the london stock
exchange
in march the board of directors said it would evaluate all available
options to address its continued disappointment with the markets valuation of
the company
after discussions with advisers and shareholders the statement said the board
decided to seek premium listing on the london stock exchange whilst
maintaining the existing primary listing on nasdaq dubai it is currently
envisaged that we will seek admission for listing in the second quarter of
the board remains committed to our shareholders in the region and believe that
they will also benefit from this move the statement concluded
dp world posted percent jump in net profit in to million dollars
million euros on revenues that surged percent to billion
dollars
alert
lockheed martin to cut us jobs in restructuring
turkey says unwilling to put more money into project
ankara jan afp
turkey on wednesday said it remained committed to the airbus military
aircraft programme but also insisted that it did not wish to pour more money
into the troubled project
we do not wish to see the project cancelled and we do not think it is
right to decrease the number of planes to be purchased defence minister vecdi
gonul said in an anatolia news agency report
but he stressed that ankara which plans to buy of the planes could not go
over the price ceiling limit approved by the turkish parliament for the project
according to financial times deutschland on tuesday airbus chief thomas enders
told group of airbus directors he no longer believed in pursuing the
programme and had begun to prepare for it to be terminated
developing the innovative high tech military transporters has proved much
more costly and time consuming than first planned when the project was agreed in
by nato members germany spain france britain turkey belgium and
luxembourg
total of aircraft have been ordered for about billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to put up more money more to cover
unexpected costs
deliveries are at least three years behind schedule and there have been reports
that the company needs another five billion euros to finish the project
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 negotiations are to be wrapped up at the end of this month
turkey position in these negotiations is to have no decrease in the number
planes in the project and no increase in the base price of plane statement
from gonul office said
ski jumping kofler takes four hills title
bischofshofen austria jan afp
austrain olympic silver medalist andreas kofler won the four hills title on
wednesday despite finishing fifth in the final event
the year old also an olympic gold medalist in the team event won with
points ahead of finnish great janne ahonen pts while last year
champion wolfgang loitzl of austria was third pts
wednesday event was won by another austrian thomas morgenstern with
points ahead of ahonen pts and swiss jumper simon ammann was third
pts
european stocks close little changed
london jan afp
europe main stock markets closed little changed wednesday as investors kept to
the sidelines in the hope crunch us jobs data later in the week will give
clearer lead on the economic prospects dealers said
they said there was some profit taking understandable after recent sharp gains
and no real conviction
news that the us private sector lost slightly more jobs than expected in
december tempered hopes government report on friday would show the first jobs
being created after losses of more than seven million in the past two years
in london the ftse index of leading shares edged up percent to
points in paris the cac added percent to points
while in frankfurt the dax gained marginal percent to points
if robust retail sales figures continue to come in and we see positive us non
farm data on friday you can expect investors risk aversion to thaw pretty
quickly said david jones chief market strategist at ig index
investors in europe decided to take some profits off the table said joshua
raymond market strategist at financial betting firm city index
in new york the blue chip dow jones industrial average was flat at around
gmt while the tech heavy nasdaq composite was down percent
payrolls firm adp reported before the opening that the nonfarm private sector
shed jobs in december the smallest drop since march but most
analysts had expected fewer losses of
the us government is expected to report nonfarm payrolls were unchanged in
december after shedding jobs in november according to analyst
forecasts
similarly weaker than expected institute of supply management service sector
report just inching into positive territory at in december from in
november also failed to provide much of lead dealers said
aaron smith at moody economy com said the report still looks somewhat soft
relative to our fourth quarter forecast of around percent growth while
noting that the employment index was disappointment
in paris guillaume garabedian of meeschaert gestion privee said last year
rally remained intact but further gains from here were likely to be more
difficult
elsewhere in europe the picture was narrowly mixed with amsterdam down
percent brussels up percent milan gaining percent madrid putting on
percent and swiss stocks dropping percent
earlier in asia tokyo benchmark nikkei index rose percent to
points after the close prime minister yukio hatoyama said he had
picked his deputy naoto kan as finance minister to replace year old hirohisa
fujii who was stepping down for health reasons
tata to bring nano mini car to detroit
chicago jan afp
india tata is bringing its nano minicar to detroit to show the motor city what
the world cheapest car looks like the automaker said wednesday
the nano will be unveiled at press conference at the detroit science center on
thursday just few miles away from where tata rivals will be displaying their
latest wares at the detroit auto show
tata said tuesday that it is developing version of the nano for eventual sale
in the united states but it will likely be several years before the mini car
hits showrooms
the basic nano stripped back four door vehicle launched at the delhi show two
years ago costs about dollars while the top end model with additions
such as air conditioning and rear wiper costs dollars
us version would have larger engine and higher safety standards
the innovative thinking that brought the tata nano to market is symbolic of
what tata technologies has to offer the automotive industry said warren
harris president of the michigan based subsidiary tata technologies
the nano has sparked race to create other ultra low cost cars for the indian
and other emerging markets
french automaker renault and its japanese partner nissan plan to launch car to
rival the nano in that will be built in partnership with scooter and three
wheel specialist bajaj auto
general motors launched new small car on monday priced at about dollars
that will be released first in the indian market and eventually sold in
countries
football abdullateef treble sends bahrain through
manama jan afp
ismail abdullateef scored hat trick as bahrain toyed with hong kong before
scoring thumping victory in group qualifier to join japan in winning
berth in the asian cup
earlier japan survived scare before scoring thrilling victory over
yemen in sana in another group match as the japanese posted their fourth
successive victory
both teams have points and hold an identical goal difference of plus
although bahrain have two matches in hand compared to japan one bahrain also
beat their bitter rivals on home ground in january last year
hong kong yet to score point after five matches were out of the running even
before wednesday clash while yemen slim chances were dashed by japan and
they stay on three points
bahrain coach milan macala was happy man at the end of the match
it was good match but think my players settled for the half time score but
the main thing was to qualify and now that we have achieved it we are not
bothered too much about the final scoreline said the czech
hong kong coach fai chun liu said the result was not totally unexpected but
added that it was good learning experience
we played well in the opening stages but once we conceded the first goal we
tried too hard to get back into the match said liu
in the process of fighting back we left lot of gaps in the defence and
bahrain capitalised on it we picked ourselves up in the second half and did
well not to concede more goals than we eventually did added liu of his team
which has conceded goals in five matches and scored just one
bahrain took time to settle but once abdullateef made the breakthrough in the
th minute the action was uninterrupted one way traffic
abdullateef was on target again in the st and th minutes to put his team
well on its way to doha qatar for nest year asian cup finals
abdulla al dhakeel completed the rout scoring the fourth goal in the th
minute bahrain should have added to their tally in the second half but missed
the target time and again
abdullateef had an effort disallowed for offside in the nd minute and salman
isa came close with header in the th before fouzi aaish shook the crossbar
with well taken free kick from the edge of the penalty area
but goal looked imminent and abdullateef delivered it off pass from isa from
the left which beat hong kong defenders cheuk yiu poon and jinghuang deng and
forced goalkeeper ho hon li out of position
abdullateef made the most of the opportunity and deftly directed it into
vacant goal
hussain salman hakki was the provider of the second goal six minutes later
the centre was again from the left and abdullateef had enough time and space to
put the ball past hapless hong kong goalkeeper him tak tse
abdullateef completed deserved hat trick just before halftime this time
latching on to ahmed hassan pass before driving it home with touch of
arrogance and al dhakeel rounded things off
it was well deserved victory for the tiny gulf nation which had mourned second
failed attempt to make it to the world cup finals following disappointing
loss to new zealand in the asia oceania play off in november
the bahrainis were missing the bus to that showpiece event for the second time
having lost to trinidad and tobago in another play off four years ago
wednesday was bahrain second successive victory by four goal margin
following similar result against yemen which came just four days after the
world cup qualifying playoff defeat to new zealand at wellington
china to fund kenya second port road and railway
nairobi jan afp
china will finance the building of second port in kenya transport corridor
and the upgrading of railroad linking kenya mombasa port and the ugandan
capital statement said wednesday
the second port is to be built in the coastal town of lamu said the statement
from president mwai kibaki office but did not give figures
initially the port was to be financed by qatar under deal to lease swathes of
arable land to the gulf state but the agreement was shelved
the road could provide route to export chinese oil from southern sudan
kibaki who met with china foreign minister yang jiechi who visited the east
african country welcomed the commitment that the government of the people
republic of china has shown in the development of second port at lamu
china also granted kenya seven million dollars for various projects in the
country the statement said
for africa to further take off it is very important to build up the
infrastructure so that african countries can conduct intra regional trade on
massive scale yang told reporters
leading democratic senator announces retirement
new york jan afp
senator chris dodd leading democratic ally of president barack obama
announced wednesday that he is stepping down after almost four decades in
office
after years of representing the people of connecticut in the united states
congress will not be candidate for re election this november he told
reporters at his home in east haddam connecticut
dodd conceded his political vulnerability ahead of the congressional
elections saying am very aware of my present political standing here at
home
although dodd democratic leader in the uphill battle to pass healthcare
reform will go out on top his departure adds to growing uncertainty over the
democrats grip on congress
another leading democrat senator byron dorgan announced tuesday he would quit
at the end of the year
obama party currently holds of the senate seats the exact amount
needed for overriding republican procedural roadblocks on healthcare or other
legislation
an eloquent speaker who has been elected to congress eight times dodd spoke of
challenges during the last year that led to his decision to step down
these included the death of his close friend and political ally in the senate
ted kennedy bout of cancer and the death of his sister
despite low polling numbers he denied that he was pulling out because he
thought he would not have been able to win in november
it is equally clear that any certain prediction about an election victory or
defeat nearly year from now would be absurd he said
dodd will remain in office until his successor takes over in months
rallying casteu out of dakar after breaking leg
antofagasta chile jan afp
french motorcyclist david casteu was forced out of the dakar rally on wednesday
after breaking his leg in crash on the fifth stage from copiapo said race
organisers
the year old who was second overall behind compatriot cyril despres came
off his sherco bike at the kilometres mark and had to be stretchered away
casteu had been considered one of the favourites to win the race having finished
second in the edition
liberian minister ordered to repay embezzled funds
