parts of england were snarled up by the cold weather
eurostar cancelled four trains between london paris and brussels as
precaution just weeks after freezing temperatures caused three day service
shutdown in the run up to christmas
soldiers were meanwhile called in to help the drivers of up to cars stranded
overnight on major road in hampshire southern england
the military have been working with us all night they re helping people to get
out of their cars and moving the cars to the side of the road so gritters can
get through police spokeswoman said
hundreds of schools around britain were closed and football matches were called
off including wednesday night league cup semi final between manchester united
and manchester city
the disruption also turned the spotlight on britain infrastructure services
as power companies said heavy snow on power lines had left about homes
without electricity in southern england on wednesday evening
the national grid issued gas balancing alert for only the second time ever
on monday after percent surge in demand because of the weather suggesting
supplies must be cut or new sources of gas found
spokeswoman said supplies were in place to cope with demand although the main
opposition conservatives said they had seen figures showing britain only had
eight days of supplies in storage based on current usage levels
prime minister gordon brown said the government was doing our best to help
people including helping elderly people pay their heating bills and ensuring
local authorities have enough grit for icy roads amid heavy demand
one positive impact of the white out was enjoyed by police in manchester
northern england who said they had caught fugitive prisoner by following his
footprints in the freshly fallen snow
in blow to obama top senate ally announces retirement
washington jan afp
us president barack obama democratic allies were off to rocky election year
start wednesday with high profile retirements endangering their fragile senate
majority and his agenda
democratic senator christopher dodd chairman of the powerful senate banking
committee announced he would not seek re election in november depriving obama
of steadfast powerful ally and year veteran of washington
this is my moment to step aside dodd told reporters outside his connecticut
home acknowledging series of troubles had left him in the toughest political
shape of my career
democrats their senate and house of representatives majorities up for grabs in
the november vote hoped the embattled lawmaker departure would help them keep
his seat in state where obama won easily in
the announcement came day after democratic senator byron dorgan of north
dakota announced he would not seek another term boosting republican chances of
seizing his spot which would strengthen their ability to block obama agenda
today the senate democrats when joined by two independents who are often
their allies have the bare minimum vote majority needed in the seat
senate to overrun any republican delaying tactics
dodd hurt by controversial home loan and failed white house bid has
been key author of legislation to enact obama top domestic priority
remaking us health care and key player in efforts to revamp rules for wall
street battle climate change and pressure iran over its nuclear program
dorgan and dodd departures leave democrats defending four open senate seats
and three highly vulnerable ones including the spot held by democratic senate
majority leader harry reid of nevada
republicans will defend six open senate seats and democrats hope to wage
competitive races in five of those
republican national committee chairman michael steele has already said his party
will not retake the house even though mid term elections usually result in
losses for the president camp
democrats praised dodd starting with obama who said the senator worked
tirelessly to improve the lives of our children and families support good jobs
for hard working americans and keep our nation strong and prosperous
while his work in the senate is not yet finished his leadership in that
institution will be missed the president said in statement
some senate observers said democrats who were on the cusp of passing historic
health care overhaul within weeks would redouble their efforts to pass key
parts of obama agenda while they still have their vote majority
white house spokesman robert gibbs sidestepped questions about the impact of
democratic departures on obama legislative priorities saying it is hard to
look into the crystal ball months from election day
dodd whose term ends in january refused to speculate on the impact of his
move one year from this week our state will have new senator in the
meantime we have important work to do he said my service is not over
democratic representative barney frank chairman of the house financial services
committee praised dodd and said they would be working closely for the rest of
this year on rewriting tougher rules for wall street
but delighted republicans pounced on the news which they described as evidence
of democratic pessimism about the coming election after squandering the
opportunities wrought by obama ascent
for nearly year congressional democrats have been turning deaf ear to the
concerns of the american people and as the elections of approach many of
these same democrats are deciding to simply leave office instead of risking
certain defeat said michael steele republican national committee chairman
the senate retirements came as democratic governor bill ritter of the once
solidly republican state of colorado and one time rising star in the party
also reportedly was set to announce he would not seek reelection
dodd saw his political stock fall beginning in late with his failed bid for
the democratic presidential nomination and drew heavy fire over receiving
discounts from troubled lender countrywide financial
dodd faced deep disapproval from voters in his home state and the prospects of
tough re election fight against wealthy businesswoman linda mcmahon
suspected us holocaust museum shooter dies official
washington jan afp
an elderly white supremacist accused of shooting dead guard at the us
holocaust museum in washington last year died wednesday in hospital near the
jail where he was being held federal prisons official said
authorities at the location where james von brunn was incarcerated the federal
correctional complex at butner north carolina told us that he was pronounced
dead at local hospital shortly before pm today edmond ross spokesman
for the federal bureau of prisons told afp
he had long history of poor health which included chronic congestive heart
failure and sepsis ross said although he was unable to state the precise
cause of von brunn death
kramer public defender who was appointed to represent von brunn in
court confirmed that the year old had died in hospital
total us online holiday sales click up percent
washington jan afp
americans spent some billion dollars shopping online in november and
december gain of four percent helped by late season snowstorm and retailer
promotions research firm said wednesday
the market research firm comscore said the full holiday season of november and
december saw sales of billion dollars compared with billion in
the same period in
the online holiday shopping season was positive one as its growth rate
slightly surpassed our forecast and returned to solidly positive rates after
nearly full year of marginally negative growth said comscore chairman gian
fulgoni
among the highlights of the season was the first million dollar online
spending day and strong late season spending surge propelled by effective
retailer promotions guaranteed shipping and major snowstorm on the eastern
seaboard that convinced many to shop from the comfort of home
it possible that this better than expected end of year performance is
harbinger of renewed vigor and optimism for as the consumer economy seeks
to rebound from one of the worst years in memory
the single largest spending day was december one of the last days to order
for guaranteed christmas deliveries when online sales totaled million
dollars
the next best day was cyber monday at the start of the holiday shopping
season with sales of million dollars for november
online spending during the december weekend of the snowstorm rose to
million dollars from million dollars year ago
the top growth category for online sales was jewelry and watches up percent
following disastrous holiday season in which sales plummeted percent
consumer electronics ranked second with percent sales growth bolstered by
strong sales of flat panel tvs
urgent suspected us holocaust museum shooter dies official
washington jan afp
an elderly white supremacist accused of shooting dead guard at the us
holocaust museum in washington last year died wednesday in hospital near the
jail where he was being held federal prisons official said
alert
suspected us holocaust museum shooter dies official
korean firm to build billion dollar ecuador refinery
quito jan afp
south korean firm sk engineering amp construction is to build billion
dollar refinery in ecuador those managing the project said wednesday
sk will be in charge of construction said carlos proano of the pacific
refinery company said they are carrying out the study and helping to create
pool to finance the project with export credit agencies and other entities
the governments of ecuador and venezuela who are backing the project as means
of reducing dependence on us refiners both confirmed the news
the project backers hope to have finance in place by july and to begin work
as soon as possible with eye to finishing by the end of
the project is to be built near manta and montecristi on ecuador coast
despite tight credit markets and slew of similar projects proposed in latin
america proano said investors from britain south korea and japan were
interested
the plant could be capable of refining barrels of crude day supplied
by state run firms pdvsa of venezuela and petroecuador
the project was launched in july by the presidents of both nations
tears and exhaustion at snow bound london airport
gatwick airport england jan afp
sleeping yawning queueing and making tearful phonecalls thousands of
frustrated passengers were stuck in snow bound london gatwick airport on
wednesday
they should have been in accra mexico city and fuerteventura but instead they
were trapped at london second airport which was not spared the overnight
blanket of snow that fell on england
they sat wherever they could sleeping on suitcases reading books or trying to
keep their children entertained as they waited to get away
sat by plug trying to recharge her phone angela diaz guerra year old
student from madrid broke into tears
ve been here since yesterday five flights cancelled don know anything
this is the worst she told afp her five day trip to london was looking like
it would last seven days
upset alone my friends are in spain and don speak english very
well if they said you can take the flight tomorrow we would go away to london
or to hotel don know when can go home
nearby the prayer room was full but rather than seeking divine intervention to
help them get to tenerife the floor was full of people snoozing
the departures board read delayed and cancelled while the arrivals board told
the same story
the runway at gatwick airport is currently closed and we are unable to confirm
when it will reopen said message over the speakers
but having heard it all before most people at the world busiest single runway
airport seemed to have given up listening
by the time the snow finally got shifted from the runway in the evening
flights had been cancelled and the departures board was still plastered with
the word delayed
dazed chris hayes from bournemouth in southern england should have been
in malaga on the southern spanish coast starting his new job which involves
helping friend set up business
but instead he was in exactly the same spot as hours before dozing on his
luggage at the monarch check in desk
tired because haven slept and hungry and don want to queue up
for anything else in this airport because there people in every queue and
everyone tired and angry so it better to sit by myself
students andrew mcphee and terilynn fairbairn played newly bought
game of battleships to while away the hours with pack of cards in store for
later
they were waiting to get back to calgary in canada after spending christmas and
new year travelling around britain
england needs to buy some snow ploughs mcphee said an entire huge city is
bowing down to snowfall
fairbairn added when we left it was minus degrees celsius
this kind of snow in calgary everything would just go on all the flights
would be on time nothing would be delayed it frustrating for us
paul atkins from somerset in southwest england was hoping to get to
vilnius with of his friends for three day hunting trip he spent night on
the tiles the hard airport floor
when you ve had night on this stuff it not pleasant he said
at midnight our flight was cancelled we didn know what to do it just so
frustrating but it no good worrying about it
hovering drone draws rave reviews at ces
las vegas nevada jan afp
hovering silently few feet off the ground it looks like flying saucer out of
steven spielberg film
but it no alien device it new toy called the ar drone from french company
parrot small remote controlled helicopter which is piloted using an apple
iphone or an ipod touch through wi fi connection
demonstration of the miniature helicopter or quadricopter for its four
propellers drew rave reviews at the opening here of the annual consumer
electronics show ces as it flew around the heads of exhibitors and
journalists
the pilot maneuvers the drone using the accelerometer in an iphone or ipod
moving the iphone forward makes the ar drone go forward while sideways
movement makes it turn corner or change direction command buttons on the
iphone allow it to go up or down
parrot specializes in making hands free wireless systems for cars and company
founder henri seydoux said the ar drone is the first product of its kind from
the paris based firm which employs people worldwide
we expect to have it on the market sometime this year the parrot chief
executive told afp
he declined to name price saying it had not yet been set
the ar drone weighs just over grams or half pound and is equipped with
video camera that streams to the iphone or ipod the view from the cockpit
the ar drone can be used for what parrot called augmented reality gaming
allowing real world objects and conditions like tree or wind to become
part of the video gaming experience
parrot said the ar drone is built on an open platform and the company is
inviting outside developers to creates games for the device
cl chr arb
football greek league results
athens jan afp
greek league results on wednesday
iraklis salonika panthrakikos komotini
giannina xanthi
panathina kos ergotelis crete
paok salonika panionios
olympiakos aek athens
tuesday
larissa asteras tripolis
kavala levadiakos livadia
atromitos athens aris salonika
standings all played panathinaikos pts olympiakos paok
aris aek asteras kavala panionios ergotelis
atromitos xanthi iraklis larissa giannina
levadiakos panthrakikos
bolivia road collision kills
la paz jan afp
twenty two people were killed wednesday when bus collided with car on road
in central bolivia sending both vehicles plunging over cliff police said
there are dead in the bus and two in the car said police colonel orlando
herbas adding that two children were among the dead
total of people were injured and three escaped harm he said
according to early reports on the crash the bus driver may have been speeding
and lost control careening into the car the two vehicles then plunged off an
meter high foot cliff
the accident took place about kilometers miles east of the capital la
paz
football fa cup hero beckford hands in transfer request
london jan afp
fa cup giantkillers leeds united goalscoring hero jermaine beckford as
expected on wednesday handed in transfer request opening the way for
lucrative move possibly to newcastle united
the year old whose contract expires at the end of the season scored his
th goal of the season for the league one leaders in their stunning win
over manchester united at old trafford on sunday
however on wednesday his agent told the bbc that beckford had indeed handed in
his transfer request
leeds manager simon grayson seemed resigned to losing the former windscreen
wiper fitter who cost pounds when he signed from non league side
wealdstone four years ago but insisted that he would not let him go for
derisory fee
newcastle manager chris hughton has already spoken of his desire to sign
beckford but says he will be patient in his pursuit of the striker
france wants to save airbus military transport project
paris jan afp
france on wednesday insisted that the building of high tech airbus
military transport planes must go ahead but germany looked unwilling to plough
more money into the much delayed project
french defence minister herve morin said the programme must be completed
responding to report that the airbus head wants to pull out and insisted that
client countries share the unforeseen extra costs
we want this programme to be completed morin said in televised interview on
wednesday we have put all possible technological efforts into this plane
morin had said earlier that talk of dropping the billion euro project was
bid by the european aeronautic defence and space company eads to gain leverage
in refinancing talks
he pointed the finger at the german government reportedly reluctant to share
the mounting costs
according to the 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
morin said on tuesday that this was way of putting pressure on the german
government to help pay for completion of the project
developing the innovative high tech aircraft 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 plough in more to cover unexpected costs
which morin estimated at five billion euros
source close to the german defence ministry was quoted on wednesday in the
newspaper handelsblatt as saying it is out of the question for us to pay more
than the million euros extra stipulated in the contract
germany defence ministry which has ordered of the aircraft for six billion
euros said on wednesday it aimed to reach an agreement with airbus but declined
to say whether it would to cough up more money
we are focusing on implementing the deal agreed with the company so that the
aircraft is made ministry spokesman steffen moritz told reporters in berlin
but of course there are constant considerations about what other options
there are
turkey meanwhile said it remained committed to the but insisted 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
he stressed that ankara which plans to buy of the planes could not go over
the price ceiling approved by the turkish parliament for the project
turkey position is to have no decrease in the number planes in the project
and no increase in the base price of plane gonul office said in
statement
morin criticised airbus the pride of the french aerospace industry for its
handling of the project
he said it should have drawn up specific military contract in which there
are always clauses that allow the price to be re evaluated because we know there
are always cost increases with military programmes
aerospace analyst howard wheeldon of london stockbrokers bgc partners said that
despite the german reservations he expected the countries concerned to reach an
agreement
termination at this interesting juncture would set the air forces of many
nations back to the point of their not being able to meet their respective nato
commitments few more years from now he wrote on tuesday
having got this far it would be quite ridiculous for governments to walk away
micheletti says us offers aid if he steps down reports
tegucigalpa jan afp
honduras de facto leader roberto micheletti accused the united states of
offering millions of dollars in aid to honduras if he steps down in
television interview wednesday cited by print media here
micheletti comments came during two day visit to honduras by the second
highest us diplomat for latin america craig kelly who sought to help resolve
the deep crisis set off by june coup
the united states wants me to withdraw on january with the promise to grant
many millions of dollars in aid to honduras said the de facto leader who took
over power after the ouster of president manuel zelaya in comments on canal
television cited by local press
the united states along with the european union and international
organizations froze millions of dollars of much needed aid to honduras after
the military backed coup
micheletti said he would step down on january when conservative porfirio
lobo who was elected in november was due to take office
many critics particularly in latin america slammed november polls held under
the de facto regime as an endorsement to the coup in region with painful
history of dictatorships
they sought for zelaya to return to office to finish his term
but the future of zelaya who has been holed up in the brazilian embassy under
threat of arrest since secretly returning to the country in september remains
uncertain
kelly met tuesday with zelaya and was also due to meet lobo and micheletti
during his visit
the military backed by the courts congress and business leaders ousted zelaya
during dispute over his plans to change the constitution which critics saw as
likely bid to extend his single four year term
cas shn mdl
white house to release watch list review thursday
washington jan afp
the white house will on thursday release an unclassified version of report
into intelligence failures relating to terrorist watch lists following the
thwarted christmas day airliner attack
white house spokesman robert gibbs said he anticipated the public portion of the
report will be released tomorrow after president barack obama receives
classified version of the data from his top anti terror expert john brennan
think you ll see tomorrow that this is failure that touches across the full
waterfront of our intelligence agencies gibbs said adding that obama would
make public statement on the review on thursday
the review will simply identify and make recommendations as to what was lacking
and what needs to be strengthened gibbs said
on tuesday obama said that the review into the terrorist watch listing system
had revealed human and systemic failures that led to the attempted downing of
northwest jet carrying people on christmas day
he said it showed that us intelligence agencies missed series of red flags
related to umar farouk abdulmutallab who is accused of trying to bring down
the northwest jet outside detroit with explosives sewn into his underwear
on addition to the fact that abdulmutallab had known extremist links but was
still able to get on the jet obama said us intelligence knew that al qaeda in
the arabian peninsula wanted to strike not only us targets in yemen but in the
united states itself over the holiday season
the bottom line is this the us government had sufficient information to have
uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the christmas day attack but our
intelligence community failed to connect those dots obama said
this was not failure to collect intelligence it was failure to integrate
and understand the intelligence that we already had
billion dollar florida fraudster pleads guilty
miami jan afp
disbarred florida lawyer pleaded guilty wednesday to defrauding investors of
billion dollars over four years in massive ponzi scheme and could face
prison sentence of up to years his lawyer said
scott rothstein made his pleading in federal court in fort lauderdale
which means he will avoid trial and could get somewhat reduced sentence
his attorney marc nurik said rothstein would like to return the money to his
clients but disputes some claims that have been made so far
scott rothstein dealt with only very limited number of people he is
surprised at the amount of people who actually claim to be investors nurik
said
rothstein was accused of scamming investors into lending money to non existent
borrowers using promissory notes and applications for short term commercial
bridge loans
through the firm he co founded rothstein rosenfeldt adler pa rothstein
allegedly sold fake legal settlements to investors at discount promising
repayment at full price prosecutors said
judge james cohn set january hearing at which rothstein was to make his
change of plea official
fed members see high unemployment as long term worry
washington jan afp
federal reserve members expressed concern at policy meeting last month that
unemployment would remain elevated for quite some time and limit economic
growth minutes released wednesday showed
the minutes from the december federal open market committee showed range
of economic views from central bank policymakers and staff but persistent
worries on joblessness and how it may impact the recovery from recession
the weakness in labor markets continued to be an important concern to meeting
participants who generally expected unemployment to remain elevated for quite
some time the minutes showed
although the november employment report was considerably better than
anticipated several participants observed that more than one good report would
be needed to provide convincing evidence of recovery in the labor market
the report on november unemployment showed job losses narrowed to
offering hope of return to growth in the ailing labor market as the
unemployment rate dipped slightly to percent
but fed members noted that the slowing pace of employment declines mainly
reflected diminished pace of layoffs few firms were hiring the minutes
stated
moreover the unusually large fraction of those individuals with jobs who were
working part time for economic reasons as well as the uncommonly low level of
the average workweek pointed to only gradual decline in unemployment as the
economic recovery proceeded
the minutes stated that the prognosis for labor markets remained an important
factor in the outlook for consumer spending which is the main driver of us
economic activity
uncertain job prospects modest growth in real incomes tight credit and
wealth levels that remained relatively low despite this year rise in equity
prices and stabilization in house prices were seen as likely to weigh on
consumer confidence and the growth of consumer spending for some time to come
the minutes said
against this backdrop few members suggested that the central bank might
might need to provide more policy stimulus by expanding the planned asset
purchases which some call quantitative easing to pump more money into the
financial system
by contrast one member saw improvement in financial market conditions enough
to warrant pullback in fed asset purchases
the fed staff report presented to members meanwhile suggested that the recovery
in economic activity was gaining momentum the minutes said
it noted that the pace of job losses slowed noticeably in recent months and
total hours worked increased in november even though the unemployment rate
remained quite elevated
the staff review noted that industrial production sustained the broad based
expansion that began in the third quarter and that consumer spending
increased at solid pace in october
at the december meeting the central bank extended its record low interest rates
and reaffirmed this policy would remain in place for an extended period to
support still precarious economic recovery
the fed maintained the federal funds base rate of range of zero to
percent which has been in place for the past year under plan to revive
economic activity
the panel headed by chairman ben bernanke did acknowledge some improvement in
economic conditions notably in the troubled labor market but indicated this
was not enough to shift away from massive stimulus effort
mother of jordan bomber says he was no extremist
amman jan afp
the mother of man named as an al qaeda infiltrator who blew himself up at
cia base in afghanistan said on wednesday that he was no extremist as officials
insisted he was useful agent
balawi mother said she had not heard from him in months and has no idea if
he is dead or alive insisting that he was never an extremist
we hear the news about my son humam khalil mohammed al balawi but don know
if he is dead or not shanara fadel al balawi told afp
he prayed and read the koran but was never an extremist he never shared
extremist views
jihadist websites have identified balawi as double agent who duped western
intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers
the jordanian intelligence services believing balawi to be on their side took
him to eastern afghanistan with the mission of finding al qaeda number two
ayman al zawahiri jihadist 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
even so senior official told afp on wednesday that jordan has benefited
since year ago from anti terrorist information provided by humam khalil al
balawi and shared them with other intelligence services as part of the fight
