and crew as it approached detroit michigan
the united states has accused the al qaeda branch in yemen of training
abdulmutallab who tried to blow up northwest airline flight before it landed
in detroit but was overpowered by passengers
yemeni authorities said on wednesday they are probing how abdulmutallab managed
to leave yemen despite overstaying his visa
abdulmatallab disappeared inside yemen from the day his permit to stay expired
on september until he flew out from the capital on december an official
told afp on condition of anonymity
authorities are investigating with police officers at the airport to find out
how he managed to leave the country although his permit to stay had expired he
said
people overstaying their visas in yemen are not easily allowed to leave the
country and are usually taken into custody until they settle their violation by
paying fine along with their host in the country
the official said that on september abdulmutallab had left the arabic
language institute in sanaa his official host and headed to the airport
but on arrival at the airport he changed taxis and travelled to an unknown
destination the official said
he resurfaced on december at the sanaa airport with reservation on flight
to dubai but changed his ticket to board plane to addis ababa the official
added
the united states has accused the cleric awlaqi of instigating terrorism and
has said he had links with the man suspected of shooting dead people at
texas military base in november major nidal hasan
mr awlaqi is problem he clearly part of al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula he not just cleric he is in fact trying to instigate terrorism
us homeland security and counterterrorism adviser john brennan told cnn last
week
the new york times previously reported that abdulmutallab told fbi agents he was
connected to the al qaeda affiliate by radical yemeni cleric whom he contacted
online
europe shivers in winter chill
london jan afp
europe shivered in bitterly cold temperatures again thursday as britain braced
for more snow that has already caused chaos amid its most brutal winter in
decades
millions of britons endured another day of icy conditions and disrupted
transport links that have already kept many away from work and knocked britain
recession hit economy
temperatures overnight dropped to minus degrees celsius in woodford outside
manchester northwest england and in benson southern england glasgow saw
minus nine degrees celsius while london fell to minus three
no major british airports reported closures thursday with runways open
following day of disruption wednesday
but budget airline easyjet scrapped around flights as result of severe
weather conditions largely due in and out of london gatwick airport south of
the british capital
flights to and from budapest paris orly milan linate and geneva were also
affected
there are delays but also cancelled flights due to the snow spokesman for
aeroports de paris told afp about the situation at orly return flights are
also being diverted towards charles de gaulle or other airports
british airways said it had cancelled number of flights and was experiencing
delays due to icy conditions at both gatwick and london heathrow
both runways are open and the airport is operating there may still be some
disruption however said spokeswoman for heathrow the world busiest
international passenger airport
britain met office weather service said the cold spell was the worst since
and warned of more to come
much of the rest of europe was also hit by the winter blast with freezing
temperatures causing treacherous conditions and travel mayhem across the
continent
in france snow caused traffic problems in paris grenoble bordeaux and the
north thirty one departments largely in the south were put on alert for
further snowfall and icy conditions
in austria authorities are on standby amid forecasts of some centimetres of
snow at the weekend in low lying parts of the country normally spared much of
the regular snowfalls in its alpine areas
on thursday norway was among the coldest countries with temperatures ranging
from minus degrees celsius about minus fahrenheit to minus degrees
celsuis
no buses ran in olso on thursday as temperatures plunged so low that the petrol
froze in the tanks ferry services in the capital also came to standstill
the cold snap also hit train services in the netherlands
meanwhile torrential rain hit parts of italy and officials feared the swollen
river tiber could threaten rome in coming days
in britain hundreds of schools were closed thursday giving children another
chance to spend the day playing in the snow
fallen trees bringing down lines left about homes in southern england
without electricity
football matches were called off including wednesday night league cup semi
final between manchester city and manchester united and arsenal premier
league game with bolton
meanwhile police in manchester northwest england caught fugitive prisoner by
following his footprints in the freshly fallen snow
alert
eurostar blocked for two hours in channel tunnel french rail company
alert
christian copts police clash after killings in southern egypt police
briton germans kidnapped in yemen still alive official
sanaa jan afp
five germans including two children and british national who have been held
by kidnappers in yemen for the past six months are still alive top official
said on thursday
we have confirmed information that they are still alive they are five germans
and british national deputy prime minister for defence and security affairs
rashad al aleemi told press conference
the three possible places they could be in are maarib al jouf and saada he
said
vancouver green games to recycle banners
vancouver jan afp
the host city for next month winter games has been draped in banners
celebrating the olympic spirit and its mayor vows to reuse the nylon pennants
as part of vancouver commitment to going green
earlier banners celebrating the city being awarded the olympics were sewn into
schoolbags for local children
the first of thousands of fluttering nylon flags aimed at welcoming and guiding
international visitors during the olympics in february and the paralympic games
which follow in march went up on wednesday
in the coming weeks more than six miles kilometers of roadways and
promenades will be decked out in the banners which are printed in the
olympics official colors of blue green and white and depict the pacific ocean
canada forests and the snowcapped peaks of british columbia
the city plans to recycle the banners when the events are over and mayor gregor
robertson said he welcomed ideas for what to do with the flags
reusing these banners will reduce the environmental impact of the games
robertson said wednesday
at the same time we want the banners to be transformed into something that
will help people in our community and will become lasting meaningful legacy
the games begin february
urgent briton germans kidnapped in yemen still alive official
sanaa jan afp
five germans including two children and british national who have been held
by kidnappers in yemen for the past six months are still alive top official
said on thursday
continental shares climb on capital increase news
frankfurt jan afp
shares in the german auto parts group continental leapt in morning trading here
on thursday after the firm unveiled capital increase of little more than one
billion euros billion dollars
the stock gained percent to euros while the mdax index on which it
is listed was percent lower overall
continental said on wednesday that it would sell million new shares for
euros per share and that it expected to use the billion euros raised to
pay down debt
the group is being crushed by billion euros in debt and has slogged through
months of conflict stemming from its tie up with the family run schaeffler
group
continental has also reached agreement with creditor banks on another
billion euros in loans which together with the fresh funds raised would allow
it to repay tranche of credit that come due in august statement said
market traders told dow jones newswires the conditions for continental capital
increase are favourable for the group with banks set to subscribe to the
increase in full and then sell the shares on to investors
schaeffler currently owns percent of the shares in continental directly
and controls percent along with partners
that figure is set to drop to percent once the capital increase has been
completed
oil prices drop after spike
london jan afp
oil prices fell on thursday on profit taking after freezing winter across the
northern hemisphere helped push them to month high points overnight analysts
said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for february delivery shed
cents to dollars barrel
the us benchmark oil rose to an intraday peak of dollars on wednesday its
highest price since october
brent north sea crude for february delivery fell cents to dollars in
london trading early on thursday
the cold spell sweeping across the northern hemisphere has helped the surge in
crude prices but investors on thursday were evaluating signs of weakening energy
demand in the us the world biggest oil user analysts said
weekly report by the us department of energy doe published on wednesday
showed that 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 us
the inventory statistics were very bearish said mitsubishi corp analyst tony
nunan
much bigger draw was expected but it got lot colder after that report so
we could see much bigger draws in inventories next week
nunan added that geopolitical factors including terrorism concerns in yemen
following the attempted christmas day bombing of northwest airlines flight and
tensions between us and iran could send prices higher
think that lot of people realise that there is still big threat in yemen
which is right next to saudi arabia so that could be big geopolitical risk
issue
afp world news agenda
paris jan afp
what coming up around the world
us releases report on airliner plot
iran foreign minister visits baghdad
washington the us government releases an unclassified version of its report on
intelligence failures relating to terrorist watch lists following the failed
christmas day airliner attack attacks us nigeria
baghdad iranian foreign minister manouchehr mottaki visits baghdad focusing on
security co operation and border problems just weeks after dispute between
the two countries over an oil well iraq iran diplomacy
bethlehem cairo orthodox christians mark christmas but celebrations in egypt
are marred by an attack by gunmen on crowd of shoppers which left six coptic
christians dead religion orthodox christmas
kigali bernard kouchner meets rwandan president paul kagame during the first
visit to rwanda by french foreign minister since the two countries resumed
ties in november rwanda france diplomacy
las vegas nevada opening of the four day international consumer electronics
show with an array of televisions among the main drawcards us it internet
electronics consumer ces picture
london follow up after two ex ministers called for ballot of labour lawmakers
on whether british prime minister gordon brown should remain leader
highlighting his vulnerability months before general election britain
politics
alert
briton five germans kidnapped in yemen still alive official
korea celebrates birthday of leader son reports
seoul jan afp
north korea ruling communist party will pledge loyalty thursday to the
youngest son of leader kim jong il report said ahead of the birthday of the
man widely tipped to succeed his father
the show of support for kim jong un who turns on friday will take place in
the capital pyongyang said opennews for north korea seoul based media
organisation run by north korea watchers
party members have held series of rallies in other cities this week to pledge
loyalty to jong un nk intellectuals solidarity group of defectors said in
report
the south unification ministry which deals with cross border relations said
it could not confirm the reports
meanwhile the north korean central news agency reported thursday that mass
rallies were held in various provinces this week with speakers calling for
solidarity around the headquarters of the revolution headed by kim jong il
party officials and others vowed to thoroughly implement the militant tasks set
forth in policy setting new year editorial by state newspapers it said
the regime has used kim jong il birthday major national holiday to stress
loyalty to him
succession speculation has intensified since kim senior suffered stroke
in august widespread reports say he has chosen jong un to inherit power
there have been unconfirmed reports that jong un has already been given post
in the communist party in preparation for his eventual takeover
but some analysts say pyongyang is waiting for the right opportunity to announce
jung un nomination as eventual successor
kim jong il who took over after his father died in in long planned move
has three sons from two marriages according to outside analysts
information is scant about jong un the second son of kim jong il third wife
ko yong hee no adult photo of him is publicly available
some reports say jong un born in attended an international school in the
swiss city of berne under pseudonym
kenji fujimoto former personal chef to kim jong il has described the son as
chip off the old block who closely resembles his father physically and in
terms of personality
germany urges turkey to stay on eu reform track
ankara jan afp
german foreign minister guido westerwelle urged turkey thursday to press on with
reforms to bring it closer to the european union and denied berlin was blocking
ankara bid to join the bloc
westerwelle on two day trip to turkey said chancellor angela merkel new
centre right government would not create hurdles for turkey as perceived by
some
some have asked whether the new german government wants to close the door to
eu membership for turkey he told conference of turkish ambassadors in
ankara
will tell you quite clearly what the eu and turkey have agreed stands and
that applies to this german government too am committed to that
merkel conservative christian union would prefer to see turkey granted
privileged partnership with the eu while westerwelle is seen as having more
encouraging stance
westerwelle who is also vice chancellor quoted from the october coalition pact
between the christian union and his own pro business free democrats in which
berlin pledges its support for open outcome accession talks with ankara which
started in
he noted that turkey had as yet failed to meet key eu criteria such as opening
its borders to member country cyprus as well as environmental targets he also
called on nicosia to contribute to solution
would like to express my respect and my deep respect to the turkish
government parliament and the active turkish civil society for making progress
on eu reforms westerwelle said
encourage you to press on particularly in the areas of freedom of religion
expression and the press
westerwelle hailed ankara constructive contribution in regional trouble spots
such as iraq lebanon afghanistan and pakistan and to heal long standing rifts
with neighbours such as armenia
the glacial progression of eu accession talks has been major source of
frustration for ankara
the island of cyprus has been divided since when turkey occupied the north
in response to an athens engineered coup in nicosia aimed at uniting the island
with greece
since it began eu accession talks in turkey has managed to open of the
so called chapters and successfully negotiate and close just one
on top of its row with cyprus there is bigger more fundamental issue raised
by eu powerhouses france and germany and others whether such large mainly
muslim country on the borders of asia has place in europe
after his arrival in the turkish capital late wednesday westerwelle dined with
his counterpart ahmet davutoglu
they met again thursday ahead of scheduled talks with president abdullah gul
prime minister recep tayyip erdogan and other government ministers on trade
ties iran nuclear programme the stability of afghanistan and the threat
posed by al qaeda in yemen
westerwelle was to travel to istanbul later thursday before embarking on gulf
tour taking in saudi arabia qatar and the united arab emirates
nigerian bomb accused met radical cleric awlaqi official
sanaa jan afp
the nigerian who has been charged over botched christmas day bomb attack
onboard us airliner had met with radical us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
top yemeni official said on thursday
the nigerian hid in shabwa area in wadi rafadh east of sanaa where he met
awlaqi and mohammad omair who was killed in the air raid on wadi rafadh said
deputy prime minister for defence and security affairs rashad al aleemi
based on investigations the explosives found on the year old alleged bomber
umar farouk abdulmutallab came from nigeria and not from yemen he said
abdulmutallab was on wednesday indicted on six counts arising out of the botched
christmas day plot to blow up northwest airliner packed with passengers
and crew as it approached detroit michigan
the united states has accused the cleric awlaqi of instigating terrorism and
has said he had links with the man suspected of shooting dead people at
texas military base in november major nidal hasan
mr awlaqi is problem he clearly part of al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula he not just cleric he is in fact trying to instigate terrorism
us homeland security and counterterrorism adviser john brennan told cnn last
week
hong kong china shares end lower
hong kong jan afp
casino operators were among the big losers on thursday as investors decided to
take profits on recent rally in hong kong
the benchmark hang seng index gave up percent or points to
with turnover reaching billion hong kong dollars billion
us the market had rallied percent over the previous two days
it was pretty reasonable for the index to retreat today given its recent
strong performance and the decline in the shanghai composite index ben kwong
associate director at kgi asia ltd told dow jones newswires
casino sands china gave up percent to while sjm holdings fell
percent to and galaxy entertainment dropped percent to
foxconn dropped fell percent to hong kong dollars on profit taking
after rising percent since monday
but china developers rose on bargain hunting
mainland property stocks were left behind by the market for weeks so they re
just playing catch up said conita hung director at delta asia financial
group
overseas land rose percent to and shimao property gained percent
to
according to samsung securities the story of is not growth but the return
of inflation which could trigger an initial correction on concerns over an
earlier than expected central bank exit from easy monetary policy
chinese shares fell percent led by banks and automakers amid renewed
concerns over possible government tightening measures dealers said
the benchmark shanghai composite index which covers and shares closed down
points at on turnover of billion yuan billion
dollars
investors are still concerned over the financial companies possible
fundraising needs and follow up tightening measures targeting the real estate
sector huatai securities analyst li wenhui told dow jones newswires
financial companies led thursday fall with china merchants bank down
percent to yuan citic securities slid percent to yuan
auto companies fell due to market expectations that this year car sales will
not grow as quickly as they did last year
saic motor fell percent to yuan and chongqing changan automobile
ended percent lower at yuan
tennis israel peer defies protests to make classic semis
auckland jan afp
israel shahar peer defied noisy protests for third straight day to make the
semi finals of the auckland classic tournament thursday
peer was joined in the final four by third seed yanina wickmayer of belgium and
the italians francesca schiavone and top seed flavia pennetta who maintained
her relentless march through the wta event
police arrested five protesters from group of around outside the auckland
tennis complex as they chanted protests against israel policies towards the
palestinians during peer quarter final
but the year old shut out the distraction to triumph in see
sawing match against russia maria kirilenko and secure final four spot
against wickmayer on friday
the world number had shaky start to the third set finding herself down
on serve in the opening game but fought back before breaking the russian
in the next game
didn start the third set well and was still making little too many
mistakes but then got in my groove peer said
was serving better and being more aggressive and coming into the court
wickmayer overcame year old japanese veteran kimiko date krumm
breaking her service five times on the way to victory
pennetta then inflicted ruthless drubbing on slovak dominika
cibulkova an outcome the italian world number described as unbelievable
didn make many mistakes at all and was very aggressive she said
she always tough to play because she makes you play so many balls and it
not easy to make winner today everything was perfect
pennetta has conceded just games in her three matches so far in auckland and
will meet compatriot and number four seed schiavone who won against unseeded
frenchwoman alize cornet
schiavone was always in control against cornet but needed eight match points to
settle the contest
bombs greet thai pm on visit to troubled south
yala thailand jan afp
suspected separatist militants detonated two bombs in thailand troubled south
thursday killing one person as prime minister abhisit vejjajiva visited the
muslim majority region officials said
the first blast was just metres yards from where abhisit was later due to
open road in the town of yala and slightly wounded three policemen who were
part of the security team for the trip police and the military said
the second also in yala but about two kilometres one and half miles away was
more powerful bomb blast that killed civilian defence volunteer and left
large crater the army said
his body was totally torn apart southern army commander major general wichet
visaijorn told reporters the militants staged this violent attack to draw
attention
police said they had defused third bomb
more than people have died during six year anti government insurgency
across the south led by shadowy mix of islamist and separatist militants who
never publicly state their goals
speaking to members of government backed civilian militias in yala abhisit said
that the government would this year freeze the number of troops in the region
currently at troops and start to cut forces within two years
if we want to restore peace that cannot be achieved by deploying enormous
forces from outside the region at least this year the government will freeze
forces and by troops will start to reduce he said
he also promised billion baht million dollar stimulus package for the
region to help double the average annual income to baht dollars
within five years
but he urged the militia members known as rangers to work with local people
and avoid rights abuses because militants could use them as pretext for more
attacks
militias and security forces in the region have been accused of widespread
abuses by rights groups
thai army chief anupong paojinda said that there were an estimated
militants active in the region
in other violence in the south gunmen on motorcycles wednesday shot dead
buddhist man who ran the local meteorology department in district of pattani
police said
year old islamic militant was shot and killed the same day in narathiwat
provincial town after he clashed with security team that was clearing the area
ahead of abhisit visit
thai authorities have mobilised more than security forces plus eight
helicopters to protect abhisit and senior ministers as they open roads give
gifts to children and visit model village during the trip
it comes just one month after the thai premier visited the region with his
malaysian counterpart to rename bridge between the two countries
tensions have simmered in the south with occasional flare ups since
predominantly buddhist thailand annexed the former malay muslim sultanate in
lanka presidential challenger vows press freedom
colombo jan afp
sri lanka former army chief on thursday launched his manifesto for the january
presidential elections promising greater press freedom and battle against
rampant corruption
sarath fonseka the main opposition challenger to president mahinda
rajapakse said he would scrap the press council which is empowered to shut down
news organisations and would introduce freedom of information act
fonseka has already announced he would if elected introduce laws to amend the
all powerful executive presidency and revert the country to parliamentary
democracy within six months
will abolish the executive presidency the press council and replace it with
freedom of information bill fonseka said in speech
fonseka was himself accused orchestrating attacks against journalists when he
was the army chief leading the military successful offensive to defeat the
tamil tiger rebels
more than dozen journalists and media workers have been killed in the past
four years and several journalists have been arrested for cricitising the
government
fonseka campaign received boost on wednesday when the country main
minority tamil coalition pledged support for him
rajapakse has also stepped up his campaign by granting salary increases to all
teachers raising pensions and slashing interest rates on agricultural loans
the president had called the early poll to capitalise on the victory over tamil
tigers who launched their battle for tamil homeland in
fonseka and rajapakse have been at loggerheads since the end of the conflict in
may fonseka quit after accusing the government of sidelining him and falsely
suspecting him of trying to stage coup
urgent nigerian bomb accused met radical cleric awlaqi official
sanaa jan afp
the nigerian who has been charged over botched christmas day bomb attack
onboard us airliner had met with radical us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
top yemeni official said on thursday
spyker to make new bid for saab report
the hague jan afp
dutch sportscar maker spyker will submit third updated bid for general
motors swedish unit saab on thursday dow jones newswires reported
we will make an offer today it quoted chief executive officer victor muller
as saying without giving further details of the bid
spyker renewed its initial offer on december two days after gm announced it
wanted to close down saab which employs people in sweden by year end
swedish press reports have said that gm agreed to re open negotiations after
the withdrawal of two of spyker russian investors from the bid gm was
reportedly concerned about the transfer of technical know how to russia
gm has set deadline of gmt thursday for final offers
according to dow jones muller had no idea whether spyker was the only bidder
on wednesday gm chief executive officer ed whitacre said he was not confident
of last minute deal being made to save saab which has barely turned profit
in two decades under gm management
saab is one of four storied brands being shed by gm as part of massive
restructuring effort that began in and accelerated last year when the
largest us automaker went bankrupt
mpa mlr hd
alerte
nigerian behind botched bombing met radical cleric awlaqi yemen official
british car sales jump percent in december trade
london jan afp
new car sales in britain jumped percent in december helped by
government backed scheme subsidising the cost of buying vehicles the society of
motor manufacturers and traders said on thursday
the number of new cars sold jumped to last month compared with the level
in december smmt said in statement
they had soared by almost percent in november as the global car industry
recovers following the severe economic downturn
smmt chief executive paul everitt said that british sales were boosted in
december by the so called scrappage incentive scheme and by consumers looking to
avoid this month increase in vat or tax levied on purchased goods
the scrappage scheme which allows car owners to trade in year old vehicle
for pound euro dollar discount on new car
helped to realise almost two million registrations in
the market of new car registrations was significantly above
early expectations and reflects the positive impact of the scheme due to end in
february said everitt
kenya deports radical jamaican muslim cleric
nairobi jan afp
kenya finally deported to gambia jamaican muslim cleric who is on global
