detected the plot as it was planned by an al qaeda affiliate in yemen
he said the probes revealed that us analysts knew abdulmutallab was an extremist
and knew al qaeda in yemen was plotting an attack but could not connect the
two strands of intelligence
and as critics charged that his administration has been too soft on terror and
slow to act after the attack obama said the united states was at war with al
qaeda but promised terrorists would not force americans to adopt siege
mentality
am less interested in passing out blame than am in learning from and
correcting these mistakes to make us safer obama said signaling there would
be no immediate firings of top spy chiefs over the security breakdown
ultimately the buck stops with me as president have solemn responsibility
to protect our nation and our people and when the system fails it is my
responsibility
obama top anti terror official john brennan however delivered personal mea
culpa
told the president today let him down told him that will do
better
obama said the plot was not the fault of single individual or organization
but rather systemic failure across organizations and agencies
he blamed us spies for not aggressively chasing down the al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula aqap group that planned the attack and then not properly
analyzing intelligence
then the data that was known was not properly filtered through the us terror
watchlist system allowing abdulmutallab onto the plane
to remedy the failures obama said he ordered more careful follow ups on
intelligence leads quicker sharing and better analysis of intelligence data
and improvements to watchlist procedures
though warning there were no silver bullets obama also vowed significant
investments in aviation security
homeland security secretary janet napolitano promised to speed up the deployment
of body imaging machines at airports and called on other nations to do
their part to safeguard their own citizens as well as us security
more canine security teams will comb airports and additional uniformed and
undercover detection officers will be deployed including more federal air
marshals on planes
obama director of national intelligence dennis blair said thursday in letter
to intelligence employees that he would push for fresh and penetrating look
at strengthening both human and technical performance
the central intelligence agency said it planned to increase the number of
analysts looking at yemen and africa
obama has faced barrage of criticism since the attack but in his speech he
sought to address his critics
we are at war against al qaeda far reaching network of violence and hatred
that attacked us on that killed nearly innocent people and that is
plotting to strike us again he said
we will do whatever it takes to defeat them
eurostar cancels half of london to paris trains
paris jan afp
the beleaguered eurostar high speed train service on friday cancelled half of
its train services between london and paris because of freezing temperatures
spokeswoman said
on friday percent of the traffic is cancelled on the route the
spokeswoman told afp adding that eurostar urged passengers to travel only if
their trip was essential
given that the meteorological conditions are still very complicated with
temperatures between minus nine and minus degrees celsius traffic will be
reduced until sunday she said
those who decided to postpone their trips could change their tickets free of
charge or be reimbursed while eurostar would do its best to ensure that those
who turn up at stations reached their destination she said
eurostar faced fresh embarrassment on thursday when brussels to london train
had to be towed out of the channel tunnel after being stuck there for more than
two hours
snow and freezing temperatures were blamed for the breakdown last month of
several eurostar trains in the undersea tunnel between britain and france which
sparked three day suspension of the service
friday delays came as europe again found itself in the grip of snow and
freezing weather conditions causing widespread travel chaos
cricket sri lanka restrict bangladesh
dhaka jan afp
sri lanka boosted their hopes of qualifying for the triangular one day series
final when they restricted bangladesh to in their third league match here
on friday
they currently lead the points table with two wins from as many matches
followed by india and bangladesh each side will play four league
games before the top two make it to the final on january
bangladesh made sound start after being put in to bat in the day night match
when tamim iqbal and imrul kayes added for the opening wicket
but sri lanka never allowed the hosts to build big partnerships with seamers
thissara perera and nuwan kulasekara and off spinner suraj randiv grabbing two
wickets apiece
skipper shakib al hasan raqibul hasan mushfiqur rahim and
mohammad mahmudullah not out were the other notable contributors
the highest stand of the innings was for the fourth wicket between raqibul
and shakib
sri lanka made three changes from the side that beat india in the previous
match replacing chanaka welegedara suranga lakmal and muthumudalige
pushpakumara with kulasekara malinga bandara and mahela jayawardene
bangladesh retained the side that lost to india by six wickets on thursday
sri lanka faces new pressure over war crimes
colombo jan afp
sri lanka was under new pressure friday to submit to war crimes investigation
after the united nations authenticated video allegedly showing prisoners being
executed by troops last year
the government in colombo has faced repeated calls for probe from western
countries and rights groups ever since it launched final offensive to crush
tamil tiger separatist rebels in the country northeast in early
the assault brought an end to year old ethnic conflict that had claimed
lives since but hurt the reputation of the country abroad amid
criticism of the conduct and tactics of government forces
the un estimates that civilians perished during the first four months of
last year though this figure is disputed by the government
on thursday un human rights envoy philip alston concluded that video footage
said to be of sri lankan troops executing unarmed tamil tiger rebels last year
was authentic and urged colombo to accept war crimes probe
reacting on friday sri lankan human rights minister mahinda samarasinghe again
dismissed the video as fraud and accused alston of leading personal crusade
against the country
philip alston is on crusade of his own to force an international war crimes
inquiry against sri lanka samarasinghe told afp we object to the procedure
he followed he should have shared his information with us first
he added as far as we are concerned the video is not genuine and it has been
doctored
sri lanka foreign minister rohitha bogollagama questioned the timing of
alston statement three weeks before sri lanka presidential elections
bogollagama said the remarks led to apprehensions that he was pursuing
campaign against sri lankan authorities with the deliberate timing to coincide
with the current sensitive phase of national elections
he said sri lanka would resist any move against it at the world body
sri lanka has always dismissed calls to probe its rights record arguing that
there are no grounds for an investigation given that there were no civilian
casualties or extrajudicial killings
in may last year colombo managed to stave off resolution condemning it at the
un human rights council thanks to the backing of china
but new charges emerged last month when the former army chief sarath fonseka
alleged that troops had been ordered by top defence official to execute
surrendering rebels charge the government vehemently denies
the government accused fonseka who is challenging president mahinda rajapakse
in the january vote of betraying the country and making the statement for
political gain
three tiger political wing leaders who were arranging their surrender with un
assistance were shot dead on may according to official reports the
government maintained that they were killed by the guerrillas themselves
secretary general ban ki moon said through his spokesman martin nesirky in new
york that full and impartial investigation into allegations of human rights
is critical if we are to confront impunity and bring justice
nesirky said ban informed colombo that he was considering appointing
commission of experts to advise him further and to assist the government in
taking measures to address possible violations of human rights and international
humanitarian law
the execution footage that has sparked the latest war of words between colombo
and the un was shot during the final stages of the army battle against the
tigers according to the group that distributed it
it shows man dressed in army uniform shooting naked bound and blindfolded
man in the back of the head while the bodies of eight others can be seen nearby
in muddy field
it was not clear if the dead were tiger rebels or civilians th man was also
shot in the same way towards the end of the video while men in the background
gloat over the killings
alston said the authenticity of the video was established by three us based
independent qualified experts he had commissioned to conduct an impartial
evaluation after four sri lankan specialists concluded it was fake
football fulham portsmouth match off
london jan afp
fulham have called off saturday premier league match against portsmouth
because of concerns for the safety of spectators making their way to craven
cottage the club announced
the match is the first of this weekend premier league fixtures to fall victim
to the freezing weather currently afflicting most of england
liverpool have recommended that their encounter with tottenham at anfield on
sunday should also be called off but no final decision had been taken by friday
lunchtime
although london has escaped the heavy snowfall experienced by other parts of the
country sub zero temperatures have left the streets around fulham ground in
the west of the capital covered in ice making access to the ground hazardous
for supporters
almost half the fixtures in england lower divisions have already been called
off and only handful of matches have survived in scotland
german industrial output inches up
berlin jan afp
industrial production in european powerhouse germany inched up in november as
recovery gathered pace government data showed on friday partly reversing dip
the previous month
output rose by percent from october preliminary figures adjusted for
seasonal effects and inflation from the economy ministry showed following
fall of percent in september
economists polled by dow jones newswires had forecast on average for november
slightly stronger increase of percent however
government figures published on thursday showed industrial orders edging up by
percent significantly weaker than the percent rise expected by
economists
the recovery in industrial production is continuing despite the drop of the
previous month the ministry said in statement warning meanwhile that
modest recent order intake might temper further rises
commerzbank economist ralph solveen said that the rise coupled with strong
export data also published on friday signal renewed strong growth of real gdp
gross domestic product in the fourth quarter
capital economics said the increase was welcome sign that the recovery
there is back on track but with unemployment still rising in the euro zone as
whole it could be some time before consumers join in
germany which accounts for third of euro zone output suffered last year it
worst recession since world war ii as the global downturn hit demand for its
exports but recent data have shown it is on the road to recovery
german trade figures published on friday suggested the country lost in its
crown as the world biggest exporter to china
cricket bangladesh sri lanka one day scoreboard
dhaka jan afp
scoreboard after bangladesh innings against sri lanka in the triangular one
day series here on friday
bangladesh
tamim iqbal lbw randiv
imrul kayes lbw perera
mohammad ashraful run out
raqibul hasan randiv perera
shakib al hasan tharanga thushara
mushfiqur rahim bandara randiv
mohammad mahmudullah not out
naeem islam kulasekara
abdur razzak run out
rubel hossain sangakkara kulasekara
syed rasel not out
extras
total for nine wickets overs
fall of wickets iqbal ashraful kayes raqibul
shakib rahim naeem razzak hossain
bowling kulasekara thushara randiv
perera bandara samaraweera
toss sri lanka
umpires simon taufel aus and shahid saikat ban
tv umpire enamul haque ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
football ferguson insists united debts not stopping him spending
manchester england jan afp
sir alex ferguson on friday dismissed claims he is prevented from dipping into
the transfer market to strengthen his squad because of the financial pressure
generated by manchester united huge debts
united american owners the glazer family are attempting to re structure
debts which stand in the region of million pounds billion dollars
leading to an assumption that their manager would be prevented from
strengthening his squad in january
the million pounds banked from the summer sale of cristiano ronaldo to real
madrid remains largely untouched but while ferguson is adamant he will not be
spending any of that sum this month he insists that is only because he cannot
see the quality or value for money available in the current market
we have got the money there is no doubt about that no question ferguson
told reporters
just don see that player who can make difference for us in terms of value
and availability
it is still the case that won be buying can never see any real diamonds
in january only now and again
we struck lucky with nemanja vidic and patrice evra although it took them
time to adjust we bought louis saha in the window who was marvellous
player but had lot of injuries and we bought andy cole in the window who was
fantastic
so those have been success stories for us but you can guarantee that in
january you re looking for players to possibly play in europe and that
limited because of other teams involvement in europe it never certain
success route
rather than activity in the transfer window ferguson has maintained his bigger
concern is the fitness of his central defenders and the united manager is
hopeful that rio ferdinand will be back in full training within two weeks
however nemanja vidic who declared himself injured while warming up for last
weekend surprise home fa cup defeat to league one leeds will be out for ten
days
ferguson had said after the match he did not know why vidic had pulled out of
the match comment which fuelled speculation of behind the scenes rift and
further encouraged rumours the serbia international is keen on move to either
barcelona or real madrid
ferguson however moved to clarify the situation on friday saying vidic had
damaged nerve
vidic felt bit of problem with the nerve going down the right side of his
leg it has been problem recently for him said ferguson he didn feel
confident about playing the game understand that because it was quite
painful
we sent him to specialist on wednesday and the problem will be solved by some
exercises we are going to have to give him now he should be back in about ten
days time it is not long term problem we think we are in control of it
hopefully he will come back quite quickly
vidic will miss saturday premier league match at birmingham and next weekend
home clash with burnley
bangladeshi worker to hang in singapore for murder court
singapore jan afp
singapore high court sentenced to death on friday bangladeshi construction
worker involved in love triangle with an indonesian maid for murdering the
woman more than two years ago
kamrul hasan abdul quddus was found guilty of strangling his girlfriend
indonesian maid yulia afriyanti on december
the prosecution has proved its case against the accused beyond reasonable
doubt the accused is found guilty and convicted on the charge against him and
shall suffer the mandatory death sentence high court judge kan ting chiu said
in his verdict
singapore carries out the death penalty by hanging
the city state has been criticised by human rights groups like amnesty
international for imposing the death penalty for certain offences like murder
and drug dealing but singapore says this is necessary to deter crime
afriyanti naked body was found stuffed in cardboard box at construction
site where kamrul had worked
it emerged during the trial that the woman was also seeing another man while
maintaining her relationship with the bangladeshi
the judge said there was strong circumstantial evidence to prove the accused
had strangled his victim
abdul quddus fingerprints were found at the crime scene and dna tests showed he
had sex with the woman before her death
the evidence leads inevitably and inexorably to the conclusion that the accused
had strangled the deceased the judge said
eurostar cancels half of london to paris trains
paris jan afp
the beleaguered eurostar high speed train service on friday cancelled half of
its train services between london and paris because of freezing temperatures
spokeswoman said
on friday percent of the traffic is cancelled on the route the
spokeswoman told afp adding that eurostar urged passengers to travel only if
their trip was essential
given that the meteorological conditions are still very complicated with
temperatures between minus nine and minus degrees celsius traffic will be
reduced until sunday she said
kenyan floods hit people un
geneva jan afp
some people have been affected by floods caused by torrential rains in
kenya the un humanitarian office said friday warning that the heavy flooding
could lead to cholera epidemic
heavy rainfall between december and january has caused massive
flooding in northern central and western kenya leaving people affected
by floods said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman of the un office for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs
in the north people have lost their homes and there are heightened
concerns for cholera outbreak in the region turkana district
the main concern from these floods in kenya is cholera last december the
turkana district faced an unprecedented cholera outbreak said byrs
we fear that this epidemic will reemerge and spread she added pointing out
that chlorination tablets are required to purify water
in affected zones roads bridges and infrastructure such as school buildings
have been damaged while thousands of livestock have also been washed away
crops have also been damaged although the impact is yet to be fully assessed
added byrs
on tuesday kenyan police said people have lost their lives in the floods
field hockey indians shun world cup camp says report
new delhi jan afp
india preparations for the upcoming field hockey world cup suffered setback
when the country leading players boycotted training camp over non payment of
match fees report said friday
we have decided to boycott the camp indefinitely till we are paid our money
india captain rajpal singh was quoted as saying by the press trust of india news
agency
earlier we used to be paid after every tournament but it is not the case now
we have reminded the officials few times but nothing has been done we will
now report to the camp only after we are paid
india and arch rivals pakistan have been drawn together in pool alongside
australia spain england and south africa in the nation tournament to be
played in new delhi from february to march
germany head pool which includes the netherlands south korea new zealand
canada and argentina
the players boycott comes at time when india have been struggling to revive
their fortunes after failing to qualify for the beijing olympics
hockey india an interim body formed to run the game in the wake of the olympic
fiasco said it had called the players planning the no show for meeting here
on saturday
will talk to them to understand what exactly their grievances are but we are
confident about working out solution when we talk to them hockey india
president ashok mattoo said
india last match was in the champions challenge tournament last month at salt
lake argentina where they won bronze
gm confirms receiving several bids for saab
stockholm jan afp
us auto giant general motors has received several bids for its loss making
swedish unit saab company spokesman told afp friday
we have now received several proposals for saab gm europe spokesman stefan
weinmann said
would certainly confirm we have received proposal from spyker but as far as
the others are concerned really don want to name names he said
weinmann added that as announced in december gm would carry on with its planned
closure of saab but would at the same time consider new bids for the swedish
brand
essentially the two processes will continue in parallel which means we ll
continue with wind down and at the same time we will look at the proposals and
analyse them and see whether we can find good solution for everybody he
said
in addition to dutch sportscar maker spyker eleventh hour bid submitted on
thursday luxembourg investment firm genii capital said it had teamed up with
formula one boss bernie ecclestone and announced its interest for saab
according to swedish media report on friday swedish group is also
interested in acquiring the beleaguered unit
oil prices dip as dollar strengthens
london jan afp
crude oil prices eased downwards on friday as the dollar strengthened and on
signs of slackening energy demand in the united states the world biggest oil
consuming nation analysts said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for february delivery
dropped cents to dollars barrel
the contract had topped dollars on wednesday for the first time for months
before closing lower on thursday for the first time in ten trading sessions
brent north sea crude for february delivery also lost cents to stand at
dollars barrel in midday london trading on friday
trade in oil is reasonably thin so we re not reading too much into the price
movements but in terms of the daily movement lot of it has to do with the us
dollar said ben westmore minerals and energy economist for the national
australia bank
the weakening of the us dollar was something that helped oil rally over mid
december as the us dollar strengthens that has an opposite effect on oil
prices he added
the dollar firmed after japan new finance minister naoto kan spooked
financial markets with call for weaker yen raising speculation about
government intervention in the market
stronger dollar often tends to dampen demand for dollar priced crude oil and
other commodities as they become more expensive to holders of weaker currencies
us energy inventory data showing easing demand in the world biggest economy
also helped push down prices analysts said
part of the downward correction in the oil prices has to do with the high
level of stockpiles at the moment and the fact that the outlook for global
growth is still reasonably uncertain westmore said
weekly report by the us department of energy released wednesday showed that us
crude oil reserves rose by million barrels in the week ending january
instead of the expected drop of some barrels
stockpiles of distillates including heating fuel and diesel fell by
barrels in the week sharply below the average analyst forecast of
drop of million barrels amid cold weather across sections of the united
states
oil prices began with bang on monday soaring by more than two dollars as
freezing temperatures spread
reports that russia had cut supplies to belarus also helped push prices higher
dealers said officials in belarus denied the reports however
skiing vonn wins world cup downhill
haus im ennstal austria jan afp
lindsay vonn of the united states made it three in row when she won the
women world cup downhill race here on friday
the reigning world champion and two time world cup winner clocked min sec
to finish sec ahead of swede anja parson the world champion and
germany maria riesch
the year old american also overtakes riesch in the overall world cup
standings after the race which replaces the postponed event at val isere
france in mid december
it is the th victory for vonn and her fourth since october
she has the chance to pull further ahead in the second downhill on saturday and
sunday super here
urgent eurostar cancels percent of london to paris trains
paris jan afp
the beleaguered eurostar high speed train service on friday cancelled half of
its train services between london and paris because of freezing temperatures
spokeswoman said
dollar stable before crucial jobs figures
london jan afp
the dollar steadied against the euro on friday with traders on tenterhooks
before key non farm payrolls data in the united states
the yen meanwhile fell further against the dollar after japan finance
minister hinted at possible intervention to sell the currency if it shoots
higher
in london late morning deals the european single currency eased to
dollars from dollars in new york late on thursday
against the japanese unit the dollar rose to yen from yen on
thursday when it had jumped as high as
with the us december payrolls report looming wide range of forecasts is
keeping the market guessing estimates range from loss of jobs to
gain of the consensus estimate calls for loss of jobs
dealers said the key issue remains the strength of the us recovery and the
timing of any us federal reserve interest rate rise which some have suggested
could come sooner than expected if recent positive data continues
market expectations are wide highlighting considerable uncertainty
surrounding the us economy recovery and its impact on employment said
rabobank analysts in research note
what we can say is that today payrolls number will be closely watched by
policy makers at the fed as well as in the market
the yen sank on friday as new japanese finance minister naoto kan said that it
was his duty to take action on foreign exchange when necessary
he added however that currency rates should in general be decided by markets
kan remarks came day after he rattled markets with call for weaker yen
prompting thinly veiled rebuke from prime minister yukio hatoyama who warned
him not to publicly comment on currency levels
the government basically should not discuss foreign exchange hatoyama told
reporters regarding foreign exchange stability is desirable
kan comment thursday that he wanted to see the yen weaken further was widely
seen as signal that tokyo was toughening its stance against the currency
strength which is bad for exporters
the remarks were in sharp contrast to his predecessor hirohisa fujii who was
widely seen as tolerant of the yen recent strength
in london on friday the euro was changing hands at dollars against
dollars late on thursday yen pounds and
swiss francs
the dollar stood at yen and swiss francs
the pound was at dollars
on the london bullion market the price of gold fell to dollars an
ounce from dollars on thursday
kampusch kidnapper acted alone austrian investigators
vienna jan afp
an austrian man who kidnapped natascha kampusch at the age of and held her in
captivity for more than eight years acted alone and without accomplices
prosecutors said on friday
we are certain that there were no accomplices ernst geiger the head of an
investigating team told reporters at the end of month probe stressing that
wolfgang priklopil was acting alone
kampusch was kidnapped on her way to school in but re emerged in
after eight and half years of captivity she was held in small cellar
undernath garage
prikopil killed himself on the night of her escape
the theory that there were several players involved can be rejected said
vienna prosecutor general werner pleischl
he said dna tests and the questioning of witnesses showed he was acting
alone
investigators had reached the same conclusion earlier but the probe was reopened
following speculation that there were others involved
year old girl said she had seen two men spiriting away kampusch
corrected australia slams indian newspaper ku klux klan cartoon
sydney australia jan afp
australia on friday angrily condemned an indian newspaper cartoon likening its
police to the ku klux klan over their investigations into the murder of young
indian man
new delhi mail today ran the cartoon showing figure with an australian
police badge wearing pointed white hood following the murder of year old
indian national nitin garg in melbourne last weekend
any suggestion of that kind is deeply deeply offensive to the police officers
