activists around the world
google said the online espionage has it reconsidering its business operations in
china and it has decided to no longer filter internet search engine results in
china
these attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered combined with the
attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web have led
us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations
in china google chief legal officer david drummond said in blog post
we have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on
google cn and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the chinese
government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine
within the law if at all he said
drummond said google realizes that defying chinese government demands regarding
filtering internet search engine results may mean having to shut down its
operations in china
drummond said google detected in mid december highly sophisticated and
targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from china that
resulted in the theft of intellectual property from google
evidence indicated that the attackers were trying to get access to gmail
accounts of chinese human rights activists according to drummond
google believes the attack was mostly blocked and that only minor information
like creation dates and subject lines were stolen from two accounts
at least other large companies including finance internet media
technology and chemical businesses were similarly attacked according to
google
we are currently in the process of notifying those companies and we are also
working with the relevant us authorities drummond said
google said its investigation revealed that accounts of china human rights
activists who use gmail in europe china or the united states have been
routinely accessed using malware sneaked onto their computers
independent of the attack on google we have discovered that the accounts of
dozens of us china and europe based gmail users who are advocates of human
rights in china appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties
drummond said
we have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with
broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications
of what we have unearthed but also because this information goes to the heart
of much bigger global debate about freedom of speech he said
the decision to review our business operations in china has been incredibly
hard and we know that it will have potentially far reaching consequences he
added
google was careful to stress that the decision was made by the california
company executives in the united states and not by workers within easy reach
of authorities in china
google also said it has used information gained from studying the attack to
improve the internet titan security
we have been working hard to secure our systems confirm the facts and notify
the relevant authorities said google spokesman gabriel stricker
we ve gone public with this as quickly as we sensibly could
aide to ex british pm denies sexing up iraq dossier
london jan afp
tony blair former chief spin doctor alastair campbell fiercely denied tuesday
sexing up dossier which claimed iraq could launch chemical or biological
weapons within minutes ahead of the war
in defiant appearance before public inquiry on the conflict campbell said
that while the highly controversial document could have been clearer he still
defended every single word of it and the invasion itself
think britain as country should feel incredibly proud of the role it played
in taking on one of the most brutal barbarous regimes in history said
campbell one of the former prime minister closest allies
the first big name to appear before the chilcot inquiry he appeared days before
blair gives evidence later this month or early next
current prime minister gordon brown who campbell said was one of the key
ministers blair consulted in the run up to war will appear after this year
general election expected in may
large part of campbell evidence focused on september dossier which
the british government issued to explain its growing concerns over iraq six
months before britain joined the invasion
the bbc subsequently reported that campbell had sexed up the report which
claimed iraq could launch chemical or biological attack within minutes
sparking an angry row with the prime minister office in downing street
on tuesday campbell again insisted he had never tried to beef up anything
written by the dossier author john scarlett then chairman of high level
committee advising the government on intelligence
at no point did anybody from the prime minister down say to anybody within the
intelligence services you have got to tailor it to fit this judgment or that
judgment campbell said
the whole way through it could not have been made clearer to everybody that
nothing would override the intelligence judgments and that john scarlett was the
person who if you like had the single pen
campbell downing street former director of communications and strategy
resigned in august the month after ministry of defence weapons expert dr
david kelly was found dead near his home with slashed wrists
kelly believed he may have been the source of the bbc sexing up story and
officials confirmed his name as such to some reporters
at the time campbell insisted he wanted to resign to spend more time with his
family well before kelly death and previous official inquiry exonerated him
over the affair the chilcot inquiry is not covering kelly death
its committee members have faced criticism over alleged soft questioning of
witnesses but the ex bbc journalist who made the original sexing up claim was
among those to praise their hard line with him tuesday
campbell inevitably ran classic no surrender defence andrew gilligan
wrote on his blog for the daily telegraph
but the behaviour of chilcot committee the people on the other side of the
table was much more interesting and unexpected
thought they were quite focused thought they were quite feisty quite
well informed they asked quite good questions and they didn seem to be
buying what campbell was telling them he told bbc television
elsewhere in his evidence campbell insisted blair was determined to deal with
saddam hussein regime peacefully right up to crucial vote on the iraq war in
the house of commons on march
think the prime minister was all the way through trying to get it resolved
without single shot being fired he said
us led forces began their invasion of iraq two days after that vote despite the
lack of explicit backing from the un security council britain was the second
biggest troop contributor its deployment peaking at
campbell also said while britain pressed the united states to seek diplomatic
solution blair wrote notes in to then president george bush saying he
would support military action if this did not work
if that cannot be done diplomatically and it is to be done militarily britain
will be there that would be the tenor of the communication to the president
he said
his evidence came as an independent commission in the netherlands found that the
iraq war lacked legitimacy under international law
alert
haiti presidential palace other buildings collapse after quake haiti tv
britain bans islamist group after row over planned march
london jan afp
britain announced ban tuesday on radical islamic group which triggered
outrage by planning an anti war march through town where processions are held
for soldiers killed in afghanistan
islam uk will be banned from thursday under anti terror legislation making it
criminal offence punishable by up to years in jail to be member of the
group which also uses other names said home secretary alan johnson
have today laid an order which will proscribe al muhajiroun islam uk and
number of the other names the organisation goes by it is already proscribed
under two other names al ghurabaa and the saved sect he said
proscription is tough but necessary power to tackle terrorism and is not
course we take lightly we are clear that an organisation should not be able to
circumvent proscription by simply changing its name he added
prime minister gordon brown said last week that he was appalled by islam uk
plans to commemorate the muslim civilians killed in the conflict with march
through wootton bassett in southwest england
hundreds of people regularly gather in the town which is close to the raf
lyneham airbase where the bodies of british soldiers are returned from
afghanistan to pay their respects
islam uk said sunday it was abandoning plans for the march adding the group had
successfully highlighted the plight of muslims in afghanistan without it
taking place
its leader anjem choudary condemned the banning order
the word terrorism has been defined in the dictionary as the use of violence
against community or section of the community he told bbc radio denying
that any of his group members were involved in violence
have been campaigning to say that that is precisely what the british
government is doing in iraq and afghanistan and even domestically he added
oddly we are now being targeted as an extremist or terrorist organisation and
even banned for merely expressing that feel this is failure of the concept
of democracy and freedom
total of british service personnel died in afghanistan last year the
bloodiest for the british military since the falklands war total of
have been killed since operations began in
the mayor of wootton bassett steve bucknell welcomed the ban
very pleased the march was called off in the first instance and hope that
no one else tries to arrange any kind of march or protest whatever their
motivation he said
local mp for wootton bassett james gray added mr choudary can sound like
clever cheerful lawyer modest and sensible and in sense that even more
worrying than extremist hate preachers
british anti terror legislation allows groups to be banned which commit or
participate in acts of terrorism prepare for promote or encourage terrorism or
are otherwise concerned in terrorism
it was widened in to include groups which unlawfully glorify the
commission or preparation of acts of terrorism
but rights group liberty questioned whether authorities had taken the right
decision given extreme groups in britain were normally allowed to air their
views
the legal tradition and the political tradition very noble one in britain
is that we only proscribe terrorist organisations not extreme organisations
director of the group shami chakrabarti told bbc television
sincerely hope that the home secretary and the home office have got some hard
evidence to back up this ban she warned
guinea junta chief travels to burkina said to be speaking
ouagadougou jan afp
guinea junta chief moussa dadis camara hospitalised in morocco after an
attempt on his life last month arrived in burkina faso on tuesday and was lucid
and speaking an official said
he is lucid he is speaking source in the office of burkina faso president
blaise compaore told afp
camara had been hospitalised in rabat after being shot in the head by his aide
de camp on december following dispute allegedly over bloody crackdown on
an opposition rally
since the assassination attempt he has not appeared in public
it was not immediately known if camara planned to stay in burkina faso or travel
to another country
we don know yet its for him to tell us for the moment he hasn told us
anything said the presidential source
burkina faso had provided plane to evacuate camara from guinea to morocco for
hospital treatment
compaore has also acting as mediator between guinea new strongman general
sekouba konate the defence minister and the opposition
snooker misfiring rocket beats robertson as williams wins
london jan afp
ronnie sullivan came from down to beat australia neil robertson in
thrilling style at the masters snooker tournament here on tuesday
but the rocket was far from happy with his own game and insisted he wasn as
good player now as when he was or
meanwhile mark williams overcame the effects of neck injury sustained in car
accident to beat allister carter in the day other match at the wembley
arena
an underwhelmed sullivan who faces fellow englishman peter ebdon in the
quarter finals told worldsnooker com give my long potting two out of
it hard to get excited
to make two or three centuries in match is not big deal that how the
modern game is would have accepted winning or losing today
not the player was when was or lot of the time playing
sub standard shots now and then catch hold of one and play killer shot
he added don want to have to rely on the occasion of being down in
front of big crowd to salvage some pride
can pot ball in practice my attitude will be the same in my next match
won be surprised if win or lose
robertson took commanding early lead in the best of frames clash and looked
to be well on the way to quarter final spot
but four times masters champion sullivan hit back with two century and three
half centuries
sullivan started to stop the rot with break of against reigning grand
prix champion robertson and he got back to within frame at behind
following break of
fans favourite sullivan squared the match with contribution of before
cleaning up on the colours to go in front
robertson regained his composure in some style with break of to leave the
match all square at
but sullivan response was emphatic break of putting him within sight
of victory
two naturally attacking players then found themselves involved in safety
exchange at the start of the th frame before former world champion sullivan
ended the match with break
in tuesday other match williams twice world champion showed few ill
effects from his accident as he made breaks of and
someone rammed up into the back of us and that sort of did my neck in little
bit williams told bbc before the match
had sore neck virtually straight away the welshman the masters champion
in and added
williams found his english opponent hard to shake off and the match was all
square at before he pulled away from carter on the back of winning scrappy
seventh frame
obama says us ready to assist after haiti quake
washington jan afp
president barack obama on tuesday said the united states stood ready to assist
haiti after powerful quake rocked the impoverished caribbean nation
my thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this
earthquake we are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist
the people of haiti he said
the white house said obama was notified about the quake at pm gmt
and asked staff to find out if embassy personnel were safe
the department of state usaid and the united states southern command have
begun working to coordinate an assessment and any such assistance the white
house statement said
obama says us ready to assist after haiti quake
washington jan afp
president barack obama on tuesday said the united states stood ready to assist
haiti after powerful quake rocked the impoverished caribbean nation
my thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this
earthquake we are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist
the people of haiti he said
urgent obama says us ready to assist after haiti quake
washington jan afp
president barack obama on tuesday said the united states stood ready to assist
haiti after powerful quake rocked the impoverished caribbean nation
baseball bond son in court on battery charge
san francisco jan afp
nikolai bonds the son of disgraced former baseball star barry bonds has
pleaded not guilty to charges related fight with his mother and threatening
police
the year old nikolai appeared in san francisco court on five misdemeanor
charges tuesday with his father at his side
police say man tossed doorknob at woman and spit in her face during
december incident at neighbourhood park
police also say the man blocked the woman from leaving destroyed property worth
dollars and threatened an officer
nikolai bonds faces charges of battery false imprisonment vandalism making
threats to an officer and obstructing an officer
the court granted restraining order barring him from contacting his mother
barry and sun bonds have been divorced for five years
urgent guinea junta chief lucid and speaking burkina faso presidency
ouagadougou jan afp
guinea junta chief moussa dadis camara who arrived in burkina faso late
tuesday after being hospitalised in morocco following an attempt on his life
last month is lucid and speaking the office of burkina faso president
said
alert
obama says us ready to assist after haiti quake
google threatens to quit china over cyberattacks
san francisco jan afp
google threatened tuesday to shut down its operations in china after uncovering
what it said were highly sophisticated cyberattacks aimed at chinese human
rights activists
google said china based cyber spies struck the internet giant and at least
other firms to track activities of activists around the world
google said it will no longer filter internet search engine results in china and
the online espionage has it reconsidering its business operations there
these attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered combined with the
attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web have led
us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations
in china google chief legal officer david drummond said in blog post
we have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on
google cn and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the chinese
government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine
within the law if at all
drummond said google realizes that defying chinese government demands regarding
filtering internet search engine results may mean having to shut down its
operations in china
google said it detected highly sophisticated and targeted attack on its
corporate infrastructure in mid december that resulted in the theft of
intellectual property drummond said the attack originated in china
evidence indicated that the attackers were trying to get access to gmail
accounts of chinese human rights activists according to drummond
google believes the attack was mostly blocked and that only minor information
like creation dates and subject lines were stolen from two accounts
at least other large companies including finance internet media
technology and chemical businesses were similarly attacked according to
google
we are currently in the process of notifying those companies and we are also
working with the relevant us authorities drummond said
google said its investigation revealed that accounts of dozens of china human
rights activists that use gmail in europe china or the united states have been
routinely accessed using malware sneaked onto their computers
nigerians protest as leader breaks silence
abuja jan afp
nigerian lawmakers voted tuesday to send delegation to saudi arabia to discuss
issues of national importance with ailing president umaru yar adua as protests
mounted for him to stand down
the year old president earlier broke seven week silence to insist he is
getting better and plans to return to work but opposition protesters marched
regardless through abuja to demand he resign
the house of representatives or lower house of parliament adopted motion to
send delegation to meet yar adua at his hospital bedside and report back its
impressions no date was set for its departure
the senate which had tabled similar motion decided instead to invite the
secretary to the government yayale ahmed to explain the president state of
health
the lawmakers move came as the clamour to remove yar adua reached fever pitch
in africa second biggest oil exporter
around opposition supporters rallied in the capital demanding he hand over
power to vice president goodluck jonathan to speed up electoral and
constitutional reforms that have stalled since november when yar adua was
flown to jeddah for treatment for mystery heart ailment
it has since emerged he is being treated for acute pericarditis an inflammation
of the membrane around the heart but little detail has been released by the
government
wearing white shirts emblazoned with the words enough is enough the
protestors brandished placards demanding yar adua speak to us and what
happening to yar adua
the issues are not simply about yar adua being in the country or outside the
country the issues are numerous nobel laureate wole soyinka told the rally
we challenge him on the continuing corrupt company that we see plotting around
and controlling affairs from aso rock presidential villa said soyinka who
slammed the insolence with which the legislators have treated this nation
hundreds of youths under the umbrella of youth alliance also on tuesday in
abuja staged peaceful counter march in support of yar adua state run radio
nigeria reported
the marchers who carried placards and moved from the eagle square in central
abuja to the national assembly condemned calls for the resignation of yar adua
expressed their support for him and wished him speedy recovery to enable him
resume work the report said
yar adua condition has been the source of widespread speculation in nigeria
and on monday some online publications reported he had died the previous day
at the moment am undergoing treatment and getting better from the
treatment the bbc quoted him as saying from his hospital bed in jeddah saudi
arabia
hope that very soon there will be tremendous progress which will allow me to
get back home
as soon as my doctors discharge me will return to nigeria to resume my
duties
but critics say his being alive but absent makes little difference to what
they say is dangerous power vacuum in africa most populous country split
between muslim dominated north and christian south and grappling with periodic
outbreaks of religious violence
yar adua muslim did not delegate executive powers to his christian deputy
jonathan when he flew to saudi arabia the law demands he does so in writing
the main opposition action congress said while happy to hear that the head of
state is alive it was disappointed that he chose foreign media outlet to
speak to his country which has been on edge for weeks
while we are happy that he is alive that he spoke we are disappointed that he
chose the bbc to break his silence it quite shameful and very big
disrespect to nigerians ac spokesman lai mohamed told afp
the fact that he is alive does not say anything about his state of health
yar adua voice sounded weak in the interview
his absence has coincided with nigeria being placed on us terror watchlist
after the failed attempt by year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab
to blow up us airliner on christmas day
alert
guinea junta chief lucid and speaking burkina faso presidency
football mokoena gives pompey fa cup relief
london jan afp
south africa aaron mokoena scored right at the end of extra time as crisis
club portsmouth came from behind to beat coventry city in an fa cup third
round replay on tuesday
victory gave portsmouth bottom of the premier league and beset by financial
problems fourth round tie at home to top flight rivals sunderland
both of pompey goals were heartbreaking for second tier coventry coming in
the last minute of normal time and in time added on at the end of the second
half of extra time
the win gave portsmouth fans rare moment of celebration in an otherwise
chaotic season on and off the field and mokoena said it had come at vital
time for the south coast club
it was very important to win this game so we can build on it mokoena told
itv we needed it so badly it big win for us
he added it always difficult to come to these places and credit to coventry
they made it difficult for us at the end of the day we managed to wrap it up
portsmouth the fa cup winners were behind for most of the match after
coventry striker leon best fired the home side into nd minute lead
and it seemed cash strapped portsmouth whose officials met earlier tuesday with
premier league chiefs in bid to lift the club transfer embargo were about
to exit the fa cup until coventry stephen wright headed into his own net
shortly before the end of normal time at the ricoh arena
the tie was heading for penalty shoot out until defender mokoena headed in the
winner with virtually the last act of the game
earlier barry ferguson first goal for birmingham city saw them beat
nottingham forest in third round replay at st andrews to set up fourth
round tie away to premier league rivals everton
scotland midfielder ferguson struck from yards shortly after the hour mark as
birmingham saw off in form championship high flyers forest and extended their
unbeaten run in all competitions to matches
elsewhere second division derby beat third tier millwall on penalties after
the match at pride park finished extra time at
the deadlock was eventually broken when steve morison gave millwall th
minute lead before derby equalised soon afterwards through steve davies lob
derby goalkeeper stephen bywater saved from danny schofield in the shoot out
before dean moxey sealed the hosts place in the fourth round
sheffield united almost blew lead away to championship rivals qpr but held
on for win at loftus road
lee williamson opened the scoring in the th minute and then two goals in three
second half minutes from jamie ward and richard cresswell left the blades up
with minutes left
but akos buzsaky penalty gave rangers hope before damion stewart goal two
minutes from time set up frantic finish
in tuesday only third round match bristol city late equaliser secured
draw against championship rivals cardiff after substitute gavin williams scored
in the second minute of stoppage time at blizzard hit ashton gate to cancel
out michael chopra th minute opener for the visitors
wednesday third round replays see premier league liverpool looking to salvage
so far disappointing season at home to second tier reading while championship
leaders newcastle face divisional strugglers plymouth
urgent google threatens to quit china
san francisco jan afp
google threatened tuesday to shut down its operations in china after uncovering
what it said were highly sophisticated cyberattacks aimed at chinese human
rights activists
chrysler set for operating profit marchionne
detroit michigan jan afp
chrysler group llc is in position to post an operating profit in if it
hits its global sales target of million vehicles chief executive officer
sergio marchionne said tuesday
if you can say is going to be better than you can breathe sigh of
relief marchionne told reporters on the sidelines of the detroit auto show
we re through the tunnel the key now is not to fall back in to the same bad
habits
chrysler sold million units world in after sales in the us dropped to
units the lowest level since
marchionne forecast modest increase to million vehicles for us sales
while the remaining growth would come from canada mexico and other markets
the numbers cited by marchionne suggest that chrysler restructuring has
substantially lowered its break even point
we re on the money with our five year plan marchionne said adding that he
considers recent criticism of chrysler lack of new products to be unfair since
the number three us automaker emerged from bankruptcy only last summer
this is great car company it been just through lot marchionne said
you can undo history you just inherit all of it
he said one reason why chrysler did not host any press conferences to tout its
products at the auto show was to address its credibility problem
haven shown one single car don intend to launch he said referencing
the fact that chrysler management showed off several models that were never
going to reach production last year
not going to gamble the reputation of this leadership lots of people
overpromise in this business we re going to be humble he said
chrysler lacked direction prior to its bankruptcy and was allowed to drift
marchionne said
it lost its pride which is the most damaging thing you can do to an
organization he said
what we ve provide in the last six or seven months is sense of direction
marchionne reiterated that chrysler has every intention of paying back the
government loan that helped it restructure under bankruptcy protection
however the loans made to chrysler predecessor company are not the
responsibility of the new chrysler and will not be repaid he said
what happens to those old loans doesn concern me he said
snooker masters results
london jan afp
results from the masters snooker tournament at the wembley arena here on
tuesday
st rd best of frames
ronnie sullivan eng bt neil robertson aus
mark williams wal bt allister carter eng
haiti quake major catastrophe ambassador to us
washington jan afp
powerful quake that hit haiti on tuesday was catastrophe of major
proportions the country ambassador to the united states said on tuesday
think it is really catastrophe of major proportions raymond joseph told
cnn after speaking to government colleague in haiti capital port au prince
the ambassador said he was heartbroken as he had just spoken by telephone with
senior presidential aide who described scenes of chaos and devastation
he had to stop his car just about half an hour ago and take to the streets
start walking but he said houses were crumbling on the right side of the street
and the left side of the street joseph said
he does not know whether he would reach his home not knowing what he would
find because he had bridge to cross to get there
afp sports schedule for wednesday january
paris jan afp
afp sports schedule for wednesday january
football
in the africa cup of nations cameroon meet gabon having edged the latter out
