university disguised as woman unleashing cyber campaign by male
opposition supporters wearing islamic headscarves in solidarity and calling for
his release
he has been sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring and gathering
against the establishment and one year for propaganda against the system amir
kabir news letter an opposition student website said
it added that tavakoli was also handed two year jail term for insulting the
supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei and another six months for insulting
president mahmoud ahmadinejad
the opposition has rejected ahmadinejad june re election as fraudulent and has
staged protests at every opportunity
tavakoli is leading activist who spent months in jail along with two fellow
students after being arrested in on charges of insulting religion and the
country leadership in student publications
bank of england policymakers united in rate call minutes
london jan afp
bank of england policymakers voted unanimously earlier this month to keep
british interest rates at record low and maintain credit easing plans minutes
of their meeting showed on wednesday
the central bank monetary policy committee voted in favour of keeping the
status quo at their last meeting held on january
the nine strong mpc decided to leave the bank key interest rate at
percent and maintain its so called quantitative easing qe plans that seeks to
boost lending by commercial banks
the boe key task is to keep annual british inflation close to government set
target of percent
however official data showed tuesday that annual inflation in recession hit
britain surged to percent last month owing to taxation changes and other
exceptional factors which had boosted the december figure
but the minutes showed wednesday that the mpc expected inflation to fall below
target in the coming months
committee members continued to expect inflation to fall below the target for
period once the various near term price level shocks to inflation had worked
through the minutes read
committee members agreed that recent developments did not provide grounds for
substantially changing their views about the medium term prospects for
activity
earlier this month the boe said it would continue to pump out up to billion
pounds billion euros billion dollars of new money under its qe
project that is also aimed at helping to lift britain out of recession
britain is the last major world economy officially in recession but data due
next week is widely expected to show that the nation returned to growth in the
fourth quarter of or three months to december
capital economics analyst vicky redwood forecast that any change in policy was
unlikely at the boe next meeting in february
the minutes of january meeting suggested that the committee is unlikely to
change policy either way next month
she added the mpc is still content to look through any near term rise in
inflation and focus on the longer term effects of the large amount of spare
capacity
last month spike in annual inflation was skewed by lower inflation in december
after the government had cut taxation on goods and services to help
revive the recession struck economy
that month inflation was also lower because of falling oil prices and seasonal
sales
the british government had slashed vat or value added tax to percent in
bid to boost consumer spending vat reverted back to percent on january
football maradona saviour joins fiorentina
rome jan afp
fiorentina have signed argentina midfielder mario ariel bolatti the man
credited with saving diego maradona job as national team coach
the year old came off the bench to score an th minute winner for argentina
against uruguay in montevideo in october to send the argentines to the world
cup and allegedly sparing maradona the sack
bolatti joins from porto where he struggled to break into their team and spent
the last six months on loan at huracan back in his homeland
fiorentina did not reveal how much the deal cost but said he would wear the
number shirt
bolatti revealed that he had spoken to maradona who himself played in italy for
napoli before joining the club
before coming to florence spoke with maradona on the phone and he wished me
luck for this new adventure he said before adding that part of his reason for
the move was to improve his chances of making the world cup squad
very happy to be coming here to play for great club like fiorentina
every player dreams of going to the world cup and for me it is also important
but there no team in the world where would be guaranteed starting place
and so first and foremost ll try to do well in florence
he is the second midfield signing made by fiorentina during the january transfer
window following that of serbian teenager adem ljacic from partizan belgrade
he the central midfielder we wanted had come to an agreement with porto
back in december said fiorentina sporting director pantaleo corvino
britain suspends direct flights from yemen pm
london jan afp
britain has ordered the suspension of direct flights from yemen until further
security measures are agreed following the detroit bombing scare prime
minister gordon brown said wednesday
we have agreed with yemenia airlines pending enhanced security that they
suspend their direct flights to the uk from yemen with immediate effect he
said in statement on counter terrorism to the house of commons
but he added we are working closely with the yemeni government to agree what
security measures need to be put in place before flights are resumed aviation
security officials are in sanaa at present looking at this
hope that flights can be resumed soon but the security of our citizens
must be our priority
yemen is under intense us and western pressure to clamp down on al qaeda which
claimed responsibility for the december bid to blow up flight from
amsterdam as it landed in detroit
yemen government says it is winning the battle against the jihadists pointing
to two air strikes in december which it said killed in all more than
suspected al qaeda members
the nigerian who allegedly attempted to blow up the detroit flight umar farouk
abdulmutallab had studied in britain at university college london
in other new counter terrorism measures the british premier announced the
extension of watch lists to include no fly list for the first time
abdulmutallab was on british watch list and britain home office said it
shared information on him with us authorities but he was not on us no fly
list allowing him to board the christmas day flight
ecb will not bend rules for greece chief economist
leipzig germany jan afp
the european central bank will not bend its rules to help countries like greece
resolve debt and deficit crises chief ecb economist juergen stark stressed on
wednesday
greece knows that it must do its homework stark told students during
university lecture in leipzig eastern germany
as the ecb president jean claude trichet recently declared we will not
modify our rules stark added
the government in athens must make fundamental change in economic policies and
comprehensive fiscal consolidation its top priority the german economist said
his comments came day after the ratings agency moody investors service
welcomed greek stability and growth plan to correct its soaring budget deficit
but maintained negative outlook on the country sovereign debt
moody said it was unclear whether the government could implement its plan to
shore up public finances
greece has public spending deficit that rose to percent of output last
year far above the percent ceiling for countries that use the euro
it is also saddled with debt constituting percent of gross domestic
product gdp
new obstacles hit historic armenia turkey deal
yerevan jan afp
armenian and turkish efforts to establish ties after decades of hostility hit
fresh snags wednesday after ankara accused yerevan of trying to set new
conditions on the historic deal
armenia expressed bewilderment at turkish claims that ruling by its
constitutional court this month had set new conditions while turkish prime
minister recep tayyip erdogan said yerevan was trying to doctor the text
armenian foreign minister eduard nalbandian said in statement that he intended
to speak with turkish counterpart ahmet davutoglu in order to express my
bewilderment and clarify where exactly in the decision of the constitutional
court the turkish side sees preconditions
turkey and armenia signed two protocols in october to establish diplomatic ties
and reopen their shared border in deal hailed as historic step towards
ending decades of hostility stemming from world war era massacres of armenians
under ottoman turkey
armenia constitutional court on january upheld the legality of the
agreement but also said the two protocols cannot be interpreted to contradict
paragraph in armenia declaration of independence that refers to the
genocide in ottoman turkey and western armenia
turkey refusal to establish ties with armenia stems in part from yerevan
attempts to have the world war era massacres internationally recognised as
genocide
references to western armenia are also sensitive as some in turkey see use of
the term as making territorial claims on areas in eastern anatolia
in statement turkey foreign ministry said the court ruling contains
preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of
the protocols
erdogan said wednesday that the ruling was an attitude that can never be
accepted anatolia news agency reported
armenia has attempted to doctor the text this must be rectified or otherwise
the process will be harmed he told reporters during visit to saudi arabia
armenia in recent weeks has expressed growing frustration over the turkish
parliament failure to ratify the protocols
it has also accused turkey of altering the terms of the deal by linking it with
armenia conflict with turkish ally azerbaijan over the disputed nagorny
karabakh region
the armenian parliament also has yet to ratify the accord
nalbandian said he hoped the fresh turkish objections are not aimed at
justifying ankara continuous attempts to set preconditions on the deal
erdogan insisted that turkey has displayed its sincerity by sending the
protocols to parliament for ratification but added that we do not have the
luxury to keep armenian azerbaijani relations out of this affair
backed by yerevan ethnic armenian separatists seized control of nagorny
karabakh and seven surrounding districts from azerbaijan during war in the
early that claimed an estimated lives
turkey closed its border with armenia in in show of solidarity with
azerbaijan with which it has strong ethnic trade and energy links against
yerevan support for the enclave separatists
turkish newspapers wednesday said the armenian court ruling had endangered the
reconciliation process
the mass selling hurriyet daily wrote that the ruling pointed at new crisis
with armenia while the liberal radikal said that yerevan had tripped up the
protocols
football gillett and gerrard hand benitez double boost
liverpool jan afp
rafael benitez position as liverpool manager has been bolstered by an
unequivocal expression of support from the club co owner george gillett and by
assurances from steven gerrard that he has no plans to quit anfield
with liverpool embroiled in four club scrap to secure top four finish in the
premier league and return to the champions league next season benitez
leadership has been subjected to critical scrutiny by pundits some liverpool
fans and former players
but gillett who has in the past been less enthusiastic in his support for
benitez than co owner tom hicks has made it clear there are no plans to remove
the manager describing liverpool current woes as temporary blip
we believe if you were to put list together of the top five coaches managers
in the world he would definitely be on that list for us gillett told canadian
radio station prime time sports
and we think he been tossed curve ball by circumstance injuries and so
forth
think that been real challenge to the coach he had to really make some
innovations and play some players out of position and so forth
and notwithstanding that they ve generally played with lot of passion
really believes it blip
gillett comments came ahead of potentially pivotal match between liverpool
and tottenham at anfield on wednesday evening
recent weeks have seen flurry of reports suggesting that gerrard the club
captain and main striker fernando torres will both be sold if liverpool fail to
edge out spurs manchester city and aston villa in the race for fourth place
there have also been persistent claims that gerrard was involved in dressing
room bust up with members of benitez coaching staff at half time in
liverpool fa cup defeat by reading last week
but the england midfielder who has turned down previous opportunities to leave
his hometown club emphatically denied that there was any substance to the
stories
ve heard about dozen versions of the same rumour and they all as daft
as each other gerrard told liverpool daily post
if anyone thinks this nonsense unsettles either me or the club then they re
mistaken if anything it brought everyone even closer together because we ve
all had good laugh about it
on the transfer rumours gerrard added all the stories about me leaving are
unfounded the fans can be assured doing all can to get back to top form
and help liverpool finish the season on high
gerrard torres and israeli star yossi benayoun were all set to miss the
tottenham match through injury
yemen air strikes pound qaeda leader home military
sanaa jan afp
yemeni jets pounded the home of suspected al qaeda leader wednesday an army
source said as the military stepped up pressure on the group believed behind
botched bid to down us airliner
british prime minister gordon meanwhile announced in london the suspension of
direct flights from yemen until further security measures are agreed in the
wake of the christmas day detroit bombing scare
yemeni tribal source confirmed the air strikes in erq al shabwan village in
maarib province and said number of people had been killed local forces were
responding with anti aircraft fire
the wave of air strikes which began in the morning blasted the house of ayed
al shabwani one of six al qaeda leaders the government said were killed in an
air strike last week the tribal source said
military official who would not be named said there had been three strikes
on the house and one on an orange grove near the village where the authorities
think shabwani had built safe haven for dozens of al qaeda members
the official added that there had been large deployment of government troops
at the city of maarib about five kilometres three miles from erq al shabwan
village
during the afternoon witnesses said jets twice sent missiles smashing into the
orange grove and afterwards continued to fly in the area
the strikes come just days after yemen said it killed six suspected leaders
including shabwani of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in saada province
north of the capital
aqap denied that anyone was killed in the attack on three vehicles in
remote desert area saying instead that some of its members had been wounded
no one commented on whether the government now believed shabwani had in fact
survived that raid
the government has also claimed that qassem al rimi the military leader of
aqap was among those who died in the missile attack
rimi was among people who had made daring escape from state security
prison in sanaa in february that left the yemeni government red faced and
he was on list of wanted suspects
yemen is under us pressure to clamp down on al qaeda which claimed
responsibility for the december bid to blow up flight from amsterdam as it
landed in detroit
british premier brown said in statement on counter terrorism to the house of
commons on wednesday that in the wake of the failed attack no more direct
flights from yemen would be allowed to land in britain
we have agreed with yemenia airlines pending enhanced security that they
suspend their direct flights to the uk from yemen with immediate effect he
said
yemen government insists it is winning the battle against the jihadists
pointing to two air strikes in december which it said killed in all more than
suspected al qaeda members
on saturday the authorities announced the arrests of three suspected militants
in the northern area of alb near the border with saudi arabia they said the
trio were wearing military fatigues and had guns and explosives
on january security forces killed abdullah mehdar said to be the group
kingpin in shabwa
provincial governor ali hassan al ahmadi said dozens of fighters including
saudis and egyptians who had fled afghanistan were holed up in shabwa
among them he said were current aqap chief nasir al wahishi his saudi number
two said al shihri and radical us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
it was not immediately clear if the orange grove outside erq al shabwan was
their hideout
on wednesday yemeni journalist close to awlaqi abdullah shaea said the
cleric had told him he would not surrender and denied claims the government was
negotiating with him in hopes he would give himself up
the prospects of the married father of five being take alive are scant given
shaea description of sentiment in shabwa after deadly december air raid
there by government forces that killed al qaeda suspects and number of
civilians
after that raid on an area controlled by the awlaqi tribe people were
furious throughout the region they all went over to the side of al qaeda and
prevent anyone from approaching shaea said
there was fighting the government well knows that if it sends forces into the
area they will be beaten it will not even try that is why anwar is safe where
he is
football livorno strengthen for relegation battle
rome jan afp
serie strugglers livorno signed striker claudio belucci from sampdoria on
wednesday just day after defender andrea esposito joined on loan from genoa
recent improvement in results has seen livorno move out of the relegation
zone which they had occupied for much of the season
but now they have strengthend with year old belucci who signed an month
deal while year old esposito who was called up to the italy squad by
marcello lippi in may while at lecce although he did not play joins until the
end of the season
meanwhile midfielder andrea candreva is on the verge of move to turin giants
juventus
rugbyu bastareaud road to international rugby redemption complete
marcoussis france jan afp
stade francais centre mathieu bastareaud completed an extraordinary turnaround
in his fortunes on wednesday when he was named in france initial man squad
for the six nations opener against scotland on february in edinburgh
the year old whose recall was not expected even by sports newspaper
equipe when they predicted their squad of in wednesday edition looked
to have abruptly cut short burgeoning international career when last year he
falsely claimed to have been beaten up outside the french team hotel in
wellington new zealand
it was only after the new zealand government issued formal apology for the
incident that distressed bastareaud admitted he had made the story up and had
instead fallen over table in his hotel room in drunken stupor
however after undergoing treatment in psychiatric unit and performing
community service on the orders of the french rugby federation the musclebound
youngster has returned to the fray reinvigorated and has been stade
outstanding player in what has been turbulent season
bastareaud chances of making the matchday and even the starting line up
have been enhanced because of an injury to experienced centre damien traille
whose biarritz team mate prop and fellow injured fabien barcella is probably the
biggest loss to lievremont
there were also recalls for experienced duo toulouse scrum half cum fly half
jean baptiste elissalde and clermont flyer aurelien rougerie
elissalde whose halfback partner at toulouse the mercurially gifted frederic
michalak was not included in the squad as was neither another toulouse player
maxime medard played the last of his tests in november
rougerie who has been in outstanding form for the top leaders this term
last played in the six nations victory over whipping boys italy last year when
he won his th cap but fell out of favour with lievremont when he pulled out of
the tour in the summer before he had been officially declared unfit
lievremont who will be bidding to win his first grand slam in his third
campaign after two fairly undistinguished previous attempts recalled toulouse
perennially exciting but unpredictable fullback clement poitrenau who has not
featured since last year six nations
clermont winger julien malzieu also deservedly returns after overcoming series
of injuries along with brive fullback winger alexis palisson while bourgoin
fly half benjamin boyet earns an unexpected call up having only won one of his
five caps under lievremont aegis agaisnt australia on their tour down under
in
the only new face among the is year old brive back fabrice estebanez
whilst castres prop luc ducalcon will hope to at last win his first cap having
not got run out despite being called up for last year tour to the southern
hemisphere and the autumn internationals
squad
forwards sylvain marconnet stade francais thomas domingo clermont william
servat toulouse dimitri szarzewski stade francais nicolas mas perpignan
luc ducalcon castres romain millo chluski toulouse lionel nallet racing
metro sebastien chabal racing metro pascal pape stade francais louis
picamoles toulouse imanol harinordoquy biarritz thierry dusautoir
toulouse capt fulgence ouedraogo montpellier alexandre lapandry
clermont julien bonnaire clermont
backs jean baptiste elissalde toulouse morgan parra clermont benjamin
boyet bourgoin fran ois trinh duc montpellier fabrice estebanez brive
yannick jauzion toulouse mathieu bastareaud stade francais david marty
perpignan aurelien rougerie clermont julien malzieu clermont clement
poitrenaud toulouse alexis palisson brive vincent clerc toulouse
benjamin fall bayonne
urgent suspect in shooting deaths of eight people arrested cnn
washington jan afp
police wednesday in the southern us state of virginia arrested suspected
gunman believed to be responsible for the fatal shootings of eight people cnn
reported
tennis henin keeps fairytale alive as clijsters powers on
melbourne jan afp
justine henin kept her fairytale comeback on track while it was business as
usual for fellow belgian kim clijsters on an intriguing third day of the
australian open on wednesday
but while the two belgians were recording victories in contrasting fashion at
either end of the day the eastern european armada sailed on remorselessly
russians dinara safina svetlana kuznetsova and vera zvonareva belarusian
victoria azarenka and serb jelena jankovic all recorded easy wins over
outclassed opponents
fourth seed caroline wozniacki also got her campaign off to positive start
when she beat canada alexsandra wozniak in match held over from the
previous day
however all the attention in melbourne was on the second round classic between
former champion henin and world number five dementieva match which lived up
to all expectations when henin beat the russian
playing just her second tournament since returning from an month retirement
henin outlasted dementieva in two hours minutes of pulsating tennis
it magical to win this kind of match in this kind of atmosphere henin said
concerned about tomorrow when going to wake up how going to feel
said the other day wasn feeling old well ll see tomorrow morning
both women played some spectacular attacking tennis over the two sets with the
quality of the match more suited to final than the second round
either would have made worthy winner but henin just managed to keep her
composure on the big points to eke out the narrowest of victories
earlier clijsters put in workmanlike performance to see off thai veteran
tamarine tanasugarn then said she planned to step up gear
clijsters went into the match as the overwhelming favourite but was made to
work hard for over minutes
you know feel like good enough on the day to beat my opponents she
said
the year old said she had always been able to time her run at tournaments
knowing when she needed to take her game to another level
even last week in brisbane was good example clijsters said
you know won my matches not always convincingly but good enough
but when had to play well against justine henin in the final was able to
really raise my level
second seed safina was another to impress as she dominated barbora zahlavova
strycova of the czech republic
safina who finished runner up to serena williams here last year looks to have
recovered from back injury she sustained late last year
she made nine more unforced errors to than her th ranked opponent in
but she could never be accused of playing conservatively as she also belted
winners to zahlavova strycova seven
safina was satisfied with the win but admitted there was plenty of room for
improvement
in some moments played not bad but it good that won the match and still
there is so much room to improve she said
while the established stars were attacting all the attention up and comers
azarenka and zvonareva won their postponed first round matches with ease
seventh seed azarenka beat stephanie cohen aloro and ninth ranked
zvonareva downed kristina kucova by the same scoreline
jankovic moved almost unnoticed into the third round when she crushed england
katie brien
alert
suspect in eight fatal shootings in us surrenders cnn
britain suspends direct flights with yemen pm
london jan afp
britain has ordered the suspension of direct flights from yemen until further
security measures are agreed following the detroit bombing scare prime
minister gordon brown said wednesday
we have agreed with yemenia airlines pending enhanced security that they
suspend their direct flights to the uk from yemen with immediate effect he
said in statement on counter terrorism to the house of commons
vietnam dissidents jailed up to years for subversion
ho chi minh city jan afp
vietnamese court on wednesday sentenced group of dissidents to up to
years in prison for trying to overthrow the communist regime in case which has
sparked global concern
after day long trial human rights lawyer le cong dinh french trained
computer expert and blogger nguyen tien trung internet entrepreneur tran
huynh duy thuc and le thang long were convicted of activities aimed
at subverting the people administration
thuc received year sentence trung seven years while dinh and long got
five years each the court announced
all except long could have been sentenced to death
their prison terms will be followed by house arrest of three years for all the
men except thuc who faces five years
it is the most high profile case in series of arrests and convictions of
dissidents and bloggers in the communist country over the past year
the acts of the accused are very dangerous for the society and infringed upon
national security judge nguyen duc sau said
he found the men guilty of well organised non violent campaign in collusion
with overseas exile reactionary organisations aimed at overturning the
government with the help of the internet
although the defendants did not enter formal pleas dinh and trung told the
court in ho chi minh city the former saigon that they had violated the law an
admission which the judge said he took into account
dinh testified he had been influenced by western human rights ideals and he
believed that none of the accused had any real intention of overthrowing the
government
thuc who the prosecutor said was defiant before the court received the
harshest sentence
my behaviour did not violate the law thuc said admitting he signed
confession saying he had called for multi party system
but he alleged he was mistreated during the investigation process which was
not conducted in accordance with the law
the prosecution said thuc set up socio economic research organisation which
concluded vietnam would be struck by economic crisis this year presenting
good opportunity for political change
all except long were accused of links to the banned democratic party of vietnam
dpv which dinh testified wants to establish multiparty system and calls for
pluralism
they were accused of preparing dozens of anti state documents and blogs
dinh allegedly drafted new constitution while trung established democratic
youth movement together with students in france
was immature trung testified
long said that he and thuc were part of group that discussed socio economic
issues and ways to develop the country
long charged with the slightly lesser offence of being an accomplice was cited
by the prosecutor for his defiance in court
he admitted writing articles and sending them to foreign radio service and
said he had been wrongly accused
think my discussion is natural and it within my citizen rights he said
neither relatives of the accused nor foreign journalists and diplomats were
allowed into the courtroom and watched the trial via closed circuit television
dozens of police surrounded the people court complex in central ho chi minh
city where the defendants were arrested between may and july last year
dinh arrest in particular sparked concern in europe and the united states and
among global association of lawyers human rights watchdogs and press freedom
groups
us consul general kenneth fairfax who monitored the trial said the case
related to exercise of free speech and called for their release
crude oil prices dip
london jan afp
oil prices fell wednesday as the easing cold snap in the northern hemisphere
dented demand for heating fuel traders said
brent north sea crude for delivery in march fell cents to dollars
barrel in midday london trading
new york main contract light sweet crude for february delivery shed
dollars to dollars barrel
crude futures recovered tuesday after five session losing streak as oil cartel
opec had forecast modest growth in world crude demand this year
