on monthly basis the december cpi fell percent from november on lower
fruit and vegetable costs and also reductions in consumer electronics prices it
said
last month food prices fell as transportation edged down percent
apparel prices dropped percent from year ago due to year end promotions
launched by department stores the government said
the december core price index which excludes vegetables fruit fishery
products and energy costs fell percent from year earlier while the
wholesale price index wpi rose percent from year earlier
for the whole year the cpi fell percent the core price index dropped
percent and the wpi fell percent from year earlier
who chief vaccinated against swine flu spokeswoman
geneva jan afp
world health organisation chief margaret chan has been vaccinated against the
swine flu spokeswoman said tuesday adding that the un health agency
recommends vaccination for everyone
we continue to recommend vaccination fadela chaib who spokeswoman told
journalists in geneva
she added that the who director general who had admitted during year end
press conference on december that she was yet to be vaccinated had received
her jab against the virus day later
many countries have rolled out their vaccination programmes over the past three
months but the take up rate has been lower than expected
on monday france cancelled purchases of million doses of flu vaccines and
said it may sell some of its stocks
germany had said in early december that it wants to sell spare vaccines while
switzerland said in mid december that it would give away part of its stock to
developing countries and sell another part to countries that are still trying to
procure vaccines
chaib defended the who against criticisms that the swine flu threat was
overhyped leading to countries stocking far too many vaccines
it was completely within our mandate to alert the world she said noting that
countries had decided themselves how they would like to respond to the pandemic
threat
she also warned against complacency against the flu which has claimed
lives worldwide since it emerged in march
we must not lower our guard countries in the northern hemisphere are in the
middle of winter she said
nestle makes giant pizza strike leaves cadbury to kraft
zurich jan afp
food giant nestle made giant pizza strike in north america on tuesday
announcing the purchase of kraft foods pizza business for billion dollars
billion euros
but nestle cash rich and takeover hungry revealed also that it was shunning
the british cadbury confectionary chain
cadbury will now receive an improved bid from kraft in big re slicing of the
food retail sector financed in part by assets in the health business of eye
care
kraft said it would use the entire proceeds from the deal to improve its bid for
cadbury
the statement by nestle was seen as quashing rumours that the group which said
day ago that it would bank billion dollars for selling its stakes in
eyecare giant alcon to novartis would use its treasure chest to bid for
cadbury famous for milk chocolate bars
bank vontobel analyst claudia lenz pointed out that nestle having renounced
bidding for cadbury would have enough firepower to do further acquisitions
buying kraft frozen pizza business would meanwhile boost the group frozen
food business in north america lenz said making point also raised by nestle
chief paul bulcke
this frozen pizza business greatly enhances nestle frozen food activities in
north america bringing together selection of great us and canadian brands
industry leading amp and excellent route to market capabilities which
complement our existing ice cream direct store delivery said bulcke
with total sales of around billion swiss francs nestle will become the
world leader in the attractive fast growing frozen pizza category he added
the united states is the biggest pizza market in the world with consumer sales
of about billion dollars said nestle in statement
with estimated sales of billion dollars in kraft foods was the leader
in the frozen pizza category and had enjoyed double digit growth in the us and
canada over the last four years it added
brands owned by kraft include digiorno tombstone and california pizza kitchen
analysts from bank wegelin viewed the purchase as positive move for nestle
this pizza deal would not kill investors appetite as the frozen food sector
is taking on an immensely important role in today society it said
for kraft chief executive officer irene rosenfeld the sale would help the
company better focus our resources on priority global brands and categories
net proceeds from the sale would be used to offer cadbury shareholders an
additional partial cash alternative of pence per cadbury share
the original cash and shares offer by kraft valued cadbury at about billion
pounds but the value has fallen to around billion pounds billion euros
billion dollars amid drop in kraft share price and the weakening us
dollar
explaining its improved offer kraft said it was response to the desire
expressed by some cadbury security holders to have greater proportion of the
offer in cash and because kraft foods shareholders have expressed desire for
kraft foods to be more sparing in its use of undervalued kraft foods shares as
currency for the offer
the us group said it believed its share price has been depressed due to short
term factors which would dissipate once the uncertainty surrounding its offer
for cadbury is resolved
football french coaches dominate african nations cup again
luanda jan afp
france will dominate the african nations cup coaches line up for the second
consecutive tournament with five of the in angola this month hailing from the
european state
there were also five french handlers at the edition in ghana although none
survived to be involved in the first showcase of african football staged by
portuguese speaking country
jean francois jodar mali roger lemerre tunisia henri michel morocco
robert nouzaret guinea and claude le roy ghana were the french
representatives at the previous tournament
and in angola it will be the turn of michel dussuyer benin alain giresse
gabon paul le guen cameroon herve renard zambia and hubert velud togo
to try and become the fourth french creator of champions
le roy striking figure with flowing blond locks and now in charge of oman
guided the indomitable lions of cameroon to victory over nigeria in the
casablanca final
lesser known pierre lechantre was next to succeed also with cameroon in
and once again the runners up were nigeria after lagos penalty shoot out
lemerre completed unique double in when he lifted the carthage eagles of
tunisia to the top four years after steering france to the euro title with
golden goal triumph over italy
le guen french ligue title winner with lyon is well placed to succeed in
angola while his four compatriots will struggle to get their adopted countries
beyond the first round
disciplinarian le guen inherited mess when he took over cameroon in the middle
of last year from former national team goalkeeper thomas black spider kono
who lasted just one game after unpopular german otto pfister quit
the year old frenchman elevated inter milan striker and three time african
footballer of the year samuel eto to captain and predecessor veteran central
defender rigobert song was axed from the starting line up
his bold moves paid off with cameroon defeating gabon in libreville and yaounde
inside four days to rise from the bottom to the top of world cup nations
cup qualifying group
further wins at home to togo and away to morocco assured the indomitable lions
not only of place in angola but record sixth appearance by an african
country at the world cup when south africa stages the tournament
coaches from portugal nigeria two each algeria bosnia and herzegovina
egypt malawi netherlands serbia and tunisia complete the line up for the
january nations cup in luanda benguela cabinda and lubango
who chief vaccinated against swine flu spokeswoman
geneva jan afp
world health organisation chief margaret chan has been vaccinated against the
swine flu spokeswoman said tuesday adding that the un health agency
recommends vaccination for everyone
we continue to recommend vaccination fadela chaib who spokeswoman told
journalists in geneva
she added that the who director general who had admitted during year end
press conference on december that she was yet to be vaccinated had received
her jab against the virus day later
many countries have rolled out their vaccination programmes over the past three
months but the take up rate has been lower than expected
on monday france cancelled purchases of million doses of flu vaccines and
said it may sell some of its stocks
germany had said in early december that it wants to sell spare vaccines while
switzerland said in mid december that it would give away part of its stock to
developing countries and sell another part to countries that are still trying to
procure vaccines
chaib defended the who against criticisms that the swine flu threat was
overhyped leading to countries stocking far too many vaccines
it was completely within our mandate to alert the world she said noting that
countries had decided themselves how they would like to respond to the pandemic
threat
she also warned against complacency against the flu which has claimed
lives worldwide since it emerged in march
we must not lower our guard countries in the northern hemisphere are in the
middle of winter she said
iceland president refuses to sign bank payout bill
rejkjavik jan afp
iceland president said tuesday he would not sign controversial bill to
compensate the british and dutch governments over the failure of icesave bank
instead referring the issue to referendum
have decided according to article of the constitution to refer this new
act to the people president olafur ragnar grimsson said in speech televised
to the nation
it has steadily become more apparent that the people must be convinced that
they themselves determine the future course the involvement of the whole nation
in the final decision is therefore the prerequisite for successful solution
reconciliation and recovery he said
under the icelandic constitution if president refuses to sign bill voted by
parliament the issue is put to popular referendum
the icesave bill narrowly approved by the icelandic parliament on december
calls for the payout of billion euros billion dollars to the british
and dutch governments for having compensated more than british and dutch
savers who lost money in the collapse of the icelandic bank
the payout has stirred up resentment among many ordinary icelanders hard hit by
their country financial meltdown in october
some people about quarter of the country electorate have signed
petition protesting against the bill and calling for the issue to be put to
referendum
football french coaches dominate african nations cup again
luanda jan afp
france will dominate the african nations cup coaches line up for the second
consecutive tournament with five of the in angola this month hailing from the
european state
there were also five french handlers at the edition in ghana although none
survived to be involved in the first showcase of african football staged by
portuguese speaking country
jean francois jodar mali roger lemerre tunisia henri michel morocco
robert nouzaret guinea and claude le roy ghana were the french
representatives at the previous tournament
and in angola it will be the turn of michel dussuyer benin alain giresse
gabon paul le guen cameroon herve renard zambia and hubert velud togo
to try and become the fourth french creator of champions
le roy striking figure with flowing blond locks and now in charge of oman
guided the indomitable lions of cameroon to victory over nigeria in the
casablanca final
lesser known pierre lechantre was next to succeed also with cameroon in
and once again the runners up were nigeria after lagos penalty shoot out
lemerre completed unique double in when he lifted the carthage eagles of
tunisia to the top four years after steering france to the euro title with
golden goal triumph over italy
le guen french ligue title winner with lyon is well placed to succeed in
angola while his four compatriots will struggle to get their adopted countries
beyond the first round
disciplinarian le guen inherited mess when he took over cameroon in the middle
of last year from former national team goalkeeper thomas black spider kono
who lasted just one game after unpopular german otto pfister quit
the year old frenchman elevated inter milan striker and three time african
footballer of the year samuel eto to captain and predecessor veteran central
defender rigobert song was axed from the starting line up
his bold moves paid off with cameroon defeating gabon in libreville and yaounde
inside four days to rise from the bottom to the top of world cup nations
cup qualifying group
further wins at home to togo and away to morocco assured the indomitable lions
not only of place in angola but record sixth appearance by an african
country at the world cup when south africa stages the tournament
coaches from portugal nigeria two each algeria bosnia and herzegovina
egypt malawi netherlands serbia and tunisia complete the line up for the
january nations cup in luanda benguela cabinda and lubango
cia afghan base bomber was qaeda triple agent militants
amman jan afp
suicide bomber who killed eight people at cia base in afghanistan was an al
qaeda triple agent who duped western intelligence services for months before
turning on his handlers jihadist websites boasted on tuesday
the jordanian intelligence services had brought the bomber to eastern
afghanistan with the mission of finding al qaeda number two ayman al zawahiri
believing he was their double agent 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
jordanian media gave no details of how captain ali bin zeid died even though
king abdullah ii queen rania and virtually the whole royal family turned up at
his funeral
the slain officer family said that bin zeid had been in afghanistan for
days and had been due to return home on december the day he was killed but
even on monday officials continued to deny any jordanian involvement in the
international coalition there
both jihadist websites and western intelligence agents cited by us network nbc
news identified the bomber as humam khalil abu mulal al balawi alias abu dujana
al khorasani
balawi was arrested in late and then recruited as double agent by the
jordanian intelligence services but in reality continued to work for al qaeda
they said
he ran blog http abudujanakharasani maktoobblog com on which he posted
calls for jihad holy war and martyrdom that the jordanian authorities
presumably regarded as cover for the role of double agent
the blog was still available on monday but was inaccessible on tuesday
he spent months travelling between afghanistan and pakistan and fed the
americans the information that the mujahedeen jihadists wanted them to
receive the ana muslim am muslim in arabic website boasted
every time that the reports which he gave proved accurate their confidence in
abu dujana rose
balawi was taken to the cia base in khost because he claimed to have urgent
information about zawahiri the website said
he was not searched as he went in because cia agent boasted he is our man
so there is no need the website claimed
the bomber then pretended to detail plans for mooted operation on piece of
paper and asked the intelligence agents to gather round to look before blowing
himself up the website said
jordanian islamist sources said that balawi was doctor by profession and
married father of two
he was born in the impoverished amman satellite city of zarqa hometown of al
qaeda in iraq leader abu musab al zarqawi who became infamous for series of
videotaped beheadings of western hostages before his death in us air strike in
june
there was no immediate confirmation of any links between the two men
western diplomats said that the revelation of jordanian involvement in us
intelligence operation in afghanistan was blow for the amman government
jordan is likely to be embarrassed by the fact that captain ali death has
revealed its cooperation with the cia which is not going to go down well with
predominantly anti american public opinion one western diplomat told afp
on monday information minister nabil sharif rejected as baseless reports that
the bomber was jordanian and again denied jordanian role in the coalition
operations in afghanistan
jordanian intelligence services are not involved in any such operation sharif
said
he was not immediately available on tuesday for renewed comment
jordan official petra news agency said only that bin zeid had given his life
in the cause of duty it gave no details at all of the location or
circumstances of his death
the deaths of the seven agents in khost marked the us central intelligence
agency worst single loss of life since the bombing of the us marine barracks
in beirut in
france cancels half flu vaccine orders
paris jan afp
france cancelled purchases of million swine flu vaccines after ordering far
more than needed but was confident on tuesday that it would not have to
compensate the big companies that provide them
health minister roselyne bachelot said france was cancelling million of the
million doses ordered from companies including sanofi pasteur and
glaxosmithkline amid criticism of the government vaccine planning
france had expected to give most of its population of at least million two
doses each to protect against the virus but only five million have been
vaccinated and european health authorities have said one dose is enough
sanofi pasteur has told us that the order for nine million doses was simply
cancelled without any indemnity payments bachelot said on tuesday on radio
station rtl
france had ordered total of million doses from sanofi the health ministry
said negotiations to cancel the outstanding two million were ongoing
following bachelot comments shares in parent group sanofi aventis fell
percent in morning trading on the paris stock exchange
bachelot said the government would negotiate very firmly with the other
companies and expected to avoid fines for the rest of the cancelled orders
the british pharmaceutical giant glaxosmithkline said on monday it was willing
to re discuss its deal the rest of the cancelled doses were ordered from
swiss drug maker novartis
there was no cancellation clause but we have seen substantial change in the
nature of the product bachelot said since the doses were sold to us as two
injection vaccines
she valued france orders at million euros billion dollars and said
the cancellations saved it more than half that this was lower than an earlier
government figure of million euros due to variation in vat tax
opposition politicians are accusing the government of botching its vaccination
strategy driving bachelot and other ministers onto the defensive
made sure got the widest possible scientific consensus on the vaccination
plan bachelot said feel was well advised on an extremely difficult
complex subject
qatar has bought doses from france and egypt is negotiating to buy two
million according to the health ministry france is also in discussions with
mexico and ukraine to sell some of its stock
socialist opposition spokesman benoit hamon said president nicolas sarkozy
government was trying to justify the fact that it paid one billion euros to
pharmaceutical companies who are the big winners in this entire affair
swine flu has killed at least people worldwide with the biggest share of
victims in the united states and canada though it is now declining in north
america according to the world health organisation
total of people including children under the age of have died
from the virus in france and its overseas departments according to health
authorities
poland seeks swedish help in auschwitz theft probe
stockholm jan afp
sweden said tuesday it had got request from poland for help in probing the
theft of the infamous nazi german arbeit macht frei sign from the former
auschwitz death camp
can confirm that we have this morning received request for legal assistance
in criminal investigation from the polish ministry of justice martin
valfridsson spokesman for swedish justice minister beatrice ask told afp
we have also this morning forwarded the request to the prosecution authority
he added explaining that the swedish prosecutor general would then forward
this to prosecutor who will take the further steps
karin rosander spokeswoman for the swedish prosecution authority told afp
the request had been received
swedish news agency tt reported tuesday that polish justice minister krzysztof
kwiatowski spoke with his swedish counterpart beatrice ask in late december and
told her warsaw would make formal request for legal assistance
last month polish investigators said the mastermind of the theft which sent
shockwaves around the world lived abroad
but they have consistently refused to confirm reports that the individual is in
sweden and that his or her name is known to polish investigators
swedish tabloid aftonbladet has claimed the mastermind of the theft planned to
sell the sign to finance far right terrorist attacks against sweden parliament
and the home of its prime minister on december swedish intelligence
announced it was probing plot to attack both targets
the sign above auschwitz gateway has long symbolised the horror of the camp
created by nazi germany in occupied poland in and in operation until soviet
troops liberated it in
football kitson eyeing celtic move
london jan afp
dave kitson the ireland striker who is out of favour at stoke would relish the
chance of move to celtic following six week loan spell under former hoops
boss gordon strachan at middlesbrough
kitson joined stoke from reading for million pounds in july but
having failed to establish himself as first team regular at the britannia
stadium has welcomed reports of interest from celtic manager tony mowbray who
has also been linked with move for blackburn benni mccarthy
have just come back from being on loan at middlesbrough where gordon
strachan is the manager and he only has fantastic things to say about celtic
including how unbelievable the fans are kitson said
obviously stoke would need to be happy with any deal but moving to celtic
would be great opportunity am at critical point in my career when
should be at my peak and need to be playing
and unfortunately it doesn look like going to play too much at stoke
fulham manager roy hodgson meanwhile is bracing himself for multiple bids for
his on form striker bobby zamora
zamora who rejected move to hull last summer has scored six in his last
seven games and has goals to his name this season
sure he would attract attention because as have said before there are
not so many players of that type playing in the premier league and there are
even fewer english ones playing in the premier league said hodgson
we used to produce lot of big strong target playing type centre forwards and
we were always lamenting the fact that we didn have the little quick tricky
ones to play off them
now it seems there is dearth of target men so wouldn be at all surprised
if we have calls for bobby
hodgson however insists sale is out of the question
we ll tell those that do bid hopefully that he is not for sale and we want to
keep him here and we hope he wants to stay with us as well hodgson said
japan pm wants ailing finance chief to stay on
tokyo jan afp
japan prime minister said tuesday he wanted his elderly finance minister to
remain at the helm of the world number two economy despite health problems as
speculation grew that he may step down
hirohisa fujii was admitted to hospital on december due to high blood
pressure and fatigue saying he was exhausted after weeks of hard work on the
national budget for the next financial year
he has since resumed some of his duties but said he would respect the advice of
his doctors about whether to return to work full time
fujii was expected to return to hospital after attending cabinet meeting
tuesday and his regular press conference on wednesday was cancelled finance
ministry spokesman said
prime minister yukio hatoyama met fujii earlier in the day to discuss his health
and later told reporters he wanted him to remain in the key cabinet position
he fujii told me that he was undergoing tests in hospital and that his
doctors had yet to reach final conclusion hatoyama said
he has been carrying on and want him to carry on further it is matter of
course it was not that persuaded him to stay on he said
the kyodo news agency reported quoting an unnamed ruling party lawmaker that
fujii had offered to resign but that hatoyama was trying to persuade him to stay
in the cabinet
earlier in the day fujii declined to comment on whether he might step down
saying he was still waiting for test results
the doctors decision will come soon he said at press conference after
regular cabinet meeting will respect the doctors decision
asked whether he would consider leaving his post if the test results were not
positive fujii said the question was too hypothetical to answer
the veteran lawmaker was picked by incoming premier hatoyama in september to
steer asia biggest economy out of its worst recession in decades returning to
post he held briefly in the early
one of the few members of the current cabinet with previous government
experience he had planned to retire from politics but was persuaded by hatoyama
to stay on to pursue an agenda of slashing public sector waste
law graduate of the elite university of tokyo fujii spent more than years
with the finance ministry before turning his hand to politics winning seat in
parliament for the first time in
his resignation would be another setback for hatoyama who has seen sharp drop
in his approval ratings since he took office in september with polls indicating
voters worry he lacks leadership
cricket india pick newcomer tyagi for bangladesh tests
new delhi jan afp
india selectors on tuesday named uncapped paceman sudeep tyagi in man
squad for an away two test series against bangladesh later this month
tyagi who has played just one one day international was included as the fourth
fast bowler behind zaheer khan ishant sharma and shanthakumaran sreesanth
sachin tendulkar the world leading scorer in test and one day cricket
returned to the side after opting out of the ongoing tri series in dhaka
press release from the indian cricket board said
dinesh karthik was included as reserve wicketkeeper in the squad which has
three specialist spinners in harbhajan singh amit mishra and pragyan ojha
india ranked as the number one side in tests after their series win at home
against sri lanka in november december will play the tests at chittagong
january and dhaka january
india test squad mahendra singh dhoni capt virender sehwag gautam gambhir
rahul dravid sachin tendulkar venkatsai laxman yuvraj singh harbhajan singh
zaheer khan shanthakumaran sreesanth amit mishra pragyan ojha ishant sharma
murali vijay dinesh karthik sudeep tyagi
coach gary kirsten rsa
us embassy in yemen reopens as clinton warns of instability
sanaa jan afp
the us embassy in yemen reopened tuesday after two day closure prompted by al
qaeda threats as us secretary of state hillary clinton warned unrest in the arab
country is threat to global stability
the embassy said on its website that yemeni security forces had addressed
specific area of concern in the north of the capital on monday paving the way
for tuesday reopening
warnings of possible al qaeda attack had led washington to close its embassy
in the yemeni capital on sunday the british and french authorities followed
suit while japan suspended consular services at its embassy
long standing concerns that yemen country on the southern tip of the arabian
peninsula has become haven for islamic terror groups were thrown into sharp
relief when nigerian man allegedly trained in yemen was charged with trying to
blow up us bound jet
the botched christmas day attack was claimed by al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula aqap which also urged attacks on western interests in yemen
us president barack obama was to hold talks tuesday with his intelligence and
national security chiefs on the failed bombing with an administration official
telling afp that obama would unveil an initial series of reforms following the
meeting
the us embassy in its statement announcing its reopening appeared to refer to
security operation conducted by yemeni police monday in the area of arhab
kilometres miles north of sanaa where two suspected members of al qaeda
were killed and three others wounded
successful counter terrorism operations conducted by the government of yemen
security forces january north of the capital have addressed specific area of
concern and have contributed to the embassy decision to resume operations
it said
the united states commends the government of yemen for its efforts to disrupt
al qaeda in the arabian peninsula networks and reiterates its commitment to
continue to support these efforts it added
british embassy staff meanwhile returned to their offices on tuesday after
having to work from elsewhere but the mission remained closed to public
foreign office spokesman said
the french embassy remained shut to the public tuesday while the japanese
mission kept its consular section closed
the yemen interior ministry insisted that all foreign missions and interests
were safe pointing out that it has reinforced security measures around
embassies and residences of foreigners
the ministry also said that it arrested five terrorist elements over the past
two days near the capital but gave no details
focus on al qaeda operations in yemen has intensified after the would be
bomber umar farouk abdulmutallab reportedly confessed to being trained by
an al qaeda bombmaker in yemen for the suicide mission on the northwest flight
from amsterdam to detroit
it was foiled when explosives allegedly sewn into the man underwear failed to
detonate and passengers jumped on him
us secretary of state clinton on monday warned of the potential threat to world
stability posed by the situation in yemen where the government is fighting al
qaeda militants and at the same time trying to put down shiite rebellion in
the north and face down separatists in the south
