abdulmutallab is accused of attempting to bring down the northwest jet outside
detroit with explosives sewn into his underwear he was thwarted by passengers
and crew
obama high powered meeting included the heads of the cia the fbi the
national security agency and the national counterterrorism center as well as
secretary of state hillary clinton and defense secretary robert gates
us urges guinea to restore civilian rule
washington jan afp
top us and french diplomats held talks in morocco tuesday with guinea interim
junta leader general sekouba konate about the need to restore civilian rule in
conakry us spokesman said
johnnie carson the assistant secretary of state for african affairs raised
our ideas on seeking peaceful resolution to the political situation in
guinea during talks in rabat state department spokesman pj crowley said
crowley told reporters that carson accompanied by his french counterpart
echoed us calls to establish civilian led transition government leading to
free fair and transparent democratic elections
the talks underscored us moves to reach out to konate who officials in
washington suspect may be more supportive for guinea return to civilian rule
and democracy than the junta leader moussa dadis camara
crowley said carson did not meet camara who is being treated in rabat
hospital for month old wounds sustained when his aide de camp shot him in the
head during an assassination attempt
junta source said camara did not seem aware of his surroundings when konate
visited him last week but guinea official media reported earlier that the
leader is recovering and will return to conakry as soon as possible
crowley hinted at us opposition to camara return
yes the spokesman replied when asked if us officials believed guinea was more
likely to transition back to democracy if camara remains outside the country
analyst john campbell former us diplomat with broad experience in africa
said last month that camara could return to guinea and launch reprisals that
could split the army into warring factions
under such scenario camara could fall back on ethnic militias with ties to
groups in neighboring sierra leone and liberia countries that were engulfed in
civil war in the
in an interview with afp last month carson deputy william fitzgerald echoed
fears of new regional civil war
we re very concerned about these ethnic militias and the potential if dadis
were to return of civil war that would spill over the borders and reinfect
sierra leone and liberia fitzgerald said
the united states along with international and african regional groupings has
been urging the junta to step down and make way for transitional body since
the army massacred dozens of opposition protesters on september
fitzgerald said konate appears to be an ideal transition leader as he
demonstrates no political ambitions
camara seized power in bloodless coup in december
google unveils new smartphone
mountain view california jan afp
google unveiled its new nexus one smartphone tuesday in direct challenge to
heavyweight apple iphone handsets
the touch screen device was billed by google as superphone and the next step
in the evolution of its android software
the internet giant worked with taiwanese electronics titan htc to make the nexus
one
think you will see it pushes the limits of what possible on smart phone
htc chief executive peter chou said as the smartphone debuted at google
headquarters in mountain view california
it is very thin and feels good in your hand he added
nexus one handsets are no thicker than pencils and no heavier than keychain
swiss army knives google engineer erick tseng said while demonstrating one of
the smartphones
it is great marriage of form and function tseng said it is really light
nexus one smartphones are built on the same android software that runs droid
smartphones that recently hit the market but feature innovations including
graphics according to tseng
the handsets feature new speech command capabilities that allow users to speak
emails text messages or internet search queries
nexus one devices can provide turn by turn spoken driving directions from
google mapping program
google also launched its own online store at google com phone at which the nexus
one will be sold
nexus one smartphones will be sold at the google hosted web store for
dollars us unlocked without ties to telecom carrier
nexus one handsets will be offered at prices starting at dollars us if
paired with mobile service contracts in the united states
google has made strategic partnerships with telecom firm verizon in the united
states and vodafone in europe
nexus one devices linked to service from verizon in the us and vodafone in
europe should be available by mid year according to google
google said it will ship nexus one devices to buyers in the singapore hong
kong britain and the united states
nexus one smartphones are designed to work with variety of telecom carrier
networks
you can take out your sim card from any provider and put it in the phone said
google vice president of product management mario queiroz
the internet search and advertising giant has already gained foothold in the
market with its android mobile operating system featured in more than phones
since starting with mobile in october
nexus one represents significant departure in that google is selling the
google branded phone directly to consumers who will not be tied to any one
telecom carrier
apple popular iphone for example is available exclusively in the united
states through at amp
analysts have expressed concern that google move could irk partners backing
handsets based on the internet firm open source android software
don see it as threat said sanjay jha chief of mobile devices at
handset titan motorola which recently brought to market droid smartphone
based on android software
think the nexus one is good phone think we will upgrade droid to the
software available on nexus one
chou and jha took part in the google press conference saying they supported the
internet firm new phone and web store as healthy expansion of the mobile
phone ecosystem
google executives sidestepped questions about whether the nexus one is intended
as an iphone killer but did say that it should prove to be powerful
competitor
like iphones nexus one devices feature accelerometer capabilities allowing
images or games on handsets to be controlled with twists or turns
the message isn to the iphone specifically it is to consumers said google
vice president of engineering andy rubin choice is good thing
google has an online android marketplace stocked with about fun
functional or hip applications for smartphones running the software
apple online app store with far greater stockpile of applications has been
cited as among the reasons iphones have become globally coveted devices
apple on tuesday announced that more than three billion mini applications for
iphone and ipod touch devices have been downloaded from the app store
three billion applications downloaded in less than months this is like
nothing we ve ever seen before apple chief executive steve jobs said in
release
we see no signs of the competition catching up any time soon
hubble telescope peers at oldest ever galaxies
washington jan afp
the refurbished hubble space telescope has set new record by discovering the
oldest galaxies ever seen dating back billion years or million
years after the big bang nasa said tuesday
the never seen before galaxies are key to interpreting the development of the
first stars and the formation of the first galaxies that later evolved into the
elliptical galaxies like our own milky way that now populate the universe the
space agency said
the age and masses of the galaxies were calculated by combining new data from
hubble the first space telescope was refurbished by shuttle mission in may
and images from nasa spitzer space telescope the agency said
the masses are just one percent of those of the milky way explains astronomic
research team member ivo labbe of the carnegie observatories
to our surprise the results show that these galaxies existed at million
years after the big bang and must have started forming stars hundreds of
millions of years earlier pushing back the time of the earliest star formation
in the universe he added
with the rejuvenated hubble and its new instruments we are now entering
uncharted territory that is ripe for new discoveries said team co leader garth
illingworth of the university of california santa cruz
still we are reaching the limit of what we can do with hubble labbe
explained to witness the emergence of the first galaxies requires bigger
facilities such as the future james webb space telescope and large telescopes on
the ground such as the planned giant magellan telescope
hubble underwent repair during shuttle mission in may that left it with new
camera and spectrograph as well as fixed and spruced up scientific instruments
the repair job marked the end of nasa human missions to the year old but
beloved hubble launched in the telescope was repaired and upgraded in
and
the latest and final upgrade have extended the life of hubble another five
years
syria deems us screening rules insufficient miss the point
buenos aires jan afp
new us rules tightening security checks for airline travelers from or via
countries including syria miss the root of the problem top syrian official
told argentina telam news agency tuesday
it like giving aspirin to seriously ill patient syria information
minister mohsen bilal told the news agency in an interview
you can resolve this with wars scanners or blacklists bilal said of the
measures that went into effect monday prompted by foiled attempt to blow up
detroit bound airliner on december
the measures include random checks on all passengers flying into us airports as
well as compulsory stricter checks on those coming from or via nations
the countries include cuba iran sudan and syria all us designated state
sponsors of terrorism they also apply to passengers traveling from or through
afghanistan libya pakistan somalia yemen nigeria and four other nations
these measures are not true remedy for this international criminal phenomenon
that threatens us all regardless of religion race or nationality and is
condemned across the planet by syria argentina and the whole world bilal
told telam
the syrian official proposed an international conference to deal with terrorism
just like we met in copenhagen december to study the climate problem
think new copenhagen summit is needed to study this phenomenon terrorism
he said
it would help great deal to detect the roots of the problem and fight it he
added
egyptian police activists clash over gaza relief convoy
el arish egypt jan afp
at least three people were injured tuesday in clashes between egyptian police
and pro palestinian activists trying to get relief convoy into the gaza strip
witnesses said
some activists belonging to the convoy led by charismatic and outspoken
british mp george galloway broke down the gate at the port in el arish to
protest an egyptian decision to ship some of the goods through israel
they blocked the two entrances to the port with vehicles and clashed with
police an afp correspondent said policeman and two protesters were hurt in
the violence
the protests were sparked by an egyptian decision to allow vehicles to enter
gaza through the rafah bordering crossing about kilometres miles from
el arish but requiring remaining vehicles to pass via israel
talks in which galloway and delegation of turkish mps sought to change the
egyptian minds proved unsuccessful
the convoy of nearly vehicles arrived in the mediterranean town on monday
after dispute with cairo on the route
but the convoy arrival came after bitter dispute between its organisers and
the government which banned the convoy from entering egypt sinai from jordan
by ferry forcing it to drive north to the syrian port of lattakia
cairo accused the convoy organisers of trying to embarrass egypt which has
refused to permanently open its rafah border crossing with gaza after the
islamist hamas movement took control of the palestinian enclave two years ago
israel and egypt have severely restricted travel to and from the gaza strip
since hamas seized power there in june after winning palestinian
legislative elections in
hamas takeover of the impoverished and densely populated territory led to an
israeli blockade that allows in only very basic supplies gaza was devastated in
war last winter between hamas and israel
britain blasted by winter chill
manchester england jan afp
freezing temperatures and heavy snow gripped northern england and scotland
tuesday halting transport and major football fixtures and closing airports and
hundreds of schools
storms moved further south late tuesday prompting fresh warnings of transport
disruptions with as much as centimetres inches of snow forecast to fall
overnight in some areas
britain brought in extra gas supplies from continental europe to meet
percent rise on normal seasonal use the bbc reported
but prime minister gordon brown denied the country was facing gas supply
crisis saying there are always difficulties when we have long spell of bad
weather
in northwest england heavy snow blocked roads and triggered accidents forcing
officials to advise against all but essential travel on the roads
one truck driver was killed in motorway collision in manchester
as the storms moved south luton and gatwick airports in london suspended
flights late tuesday liverpool and manchester airports reopened after closing
the snow wiped out both league cup semi final first legs with wednesday
manchester derby between city and united and blackburn match against visitors
aston villa postponed
the weather also brought filming to halt on two of britain top television
soap operas shooting was suspended on manchester based coronation street
while spokeswoman for emmerdale said percent of cast members didn make
it in
in yorkshire leeds bradford airport closed because of the conditions before re
opening while some train services between leeds and london were cancelled
in scotland where temperatures plunged to minus degrees celsius five
degrees fahrenheit in places flights were delayed at aberdeen and glasgow
airports while train services were disrupted from glasgow to edinburgh and
london
voicing the frustration of travellers norman baker transport spokesman for the
opposition liberal democrats party asked why is it that the british transport
system comes near to collapse at the first sign of snowflake
hundreds of schools were closed in scotland wales and northern england as
teachers struggled to get into work and parents kept their children at home
stephen davenport senior meteorologist at meteogroup said should conditions
continue in similar vein then by march we might just be looking back at one of
the coldest winters of the last years
elsewhere in europe temperatures plunged to minus degrees celsius in parts
of germany
parts of brittany and normandy in northwestern france were given overnight
snowfall warnings with the snow likely to cause traffic problems and hinder
businesses in the area said meteo france
this cold snap will be lengthy the service said
in switzerland slight delays were reported at geneva airport while zurich
airport saw delays on flights coming from paris charles de gaulle and
amsterdam
espn sony discovery imax to bring tv into the home
las vegas nevada jan afp
television entered new dimension on tuesday as us sports giant espn said it
will broadcast some world cup soccer matches live from south africa in and
sony teamed up with discovery and imax to launch tv network in the united
states
the new espn service plans at least live sporting events during its
first year starting with the opening fifa world cup match between south africa
and mexico on june espn and abc sports president george bodenheimer said
up to world cup matches will be shown on what espn called the industry
first television network along with college basketball college football
and other us domestic sports events
japanese electronics giant sony discovery communications and imax corp
announced meanwhile that they were creating joint venture to develop the
first dedicated television network in the united states
they said the new network which is expected to launch next year will
feature high quality premium content from genres that are most appealing in
including natural history space exploration adventure engineering
science and technology motion pictures and children programming
sony discovery and imax said they will be equal partners in the venture aimed
at bringing high quality three dimensional viewing experience to home
television audiences
the dueling announcements came as representatives of leading electronics firms
from around the world gathered in las vegas for the annual international
consumer electronics show ces
japanese and south korean television manufacturers have been pushing tv in
the home for some time now but its growth has been stunted by lack of
programming the need to wear special glasses and the high price of set
last month release of science fiction blockbuster avatar film by
titanic director james cameron has renewed interest in however and some
industry leaders believe the time has come for tv in the home
this is turning point for consumer electronics association chief
executive gary shapiro told usa today newspaper
espn bodenheimer said espn marries great content with new technology to
enhance the fan viewing experience and puts espn at the forefront of the next
big advance for tv viewing
espn said it had tested the technology for more than two years including events
where it showed us college football game in limited number of movie
theaters
for the moment espn will just broadcast special live sports events in while
the sony discovery imax deal calls for the creation of dedicated
channel
by partnering with sony and imax on discovery will lead the way in
revolutionizing the next generation home viewing experience in the us and around
the world discovery president and chief executive david zaslav said
sony president and chief executive sir howard stringer called it
groundbreaking new venture
it is clear to us that consumers will always migrate to better and richer
entertainment experience and together we are determined to be the leader in
providing that around the world stringer said in statement
imax chief executive richard gelfond said this new business venture is the
first step in our strategic effort to take into the home and extend the imax
brand
we are thrilled to work with such strong partners to be the first to make in
home reality he said
discovery sony and imax said the network would launch first in the united
states and they would eventually explore international distribution
opportunities in selected markets
obama makes new vow to close guantanamo
washington jan afp
us president barack obama on tuesday renewed his vow to close the guantanamo bay
jail despite deciding to suspend transfers of prisoners to yemen following the
christmas day airliner attack
the white house has been under intense political pressure over the repatriations
since the thwarted attack on us airliner on christmas day which the president
has blamed on an al qaeda cell in the arab country
obama said he had spoken to attorney general eric holder and agreed that
additional inmates of the camp in cuba could not go back to yemen due to the
unsettled situation there
but make no mistake we will close guantanamo prison which has damaged our
national security interests and become tremendous recruiting tool for al
qaeda obama said
in fact that was an explicit rationale for the formation of al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula
the decision on guantanamo bay where nearly half of the remaining inmates are
from yemen cast severe doubt on obama plan to shutter the camp and he will
this month miss one year deadline to carry out that promise
obama in stinging rebuke of us intelligence failures
washington jan afp
an angry president barack obama on tuesday warned potentially disastrous us
intelligence failures over christmas day airliner attack were deeper than
first thought and demanded immediate action
it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully
leveraged obama said in terse televised statement after meeting us spy
chiefs and top national security aides at the white house
that not acceptable and will not tolerate it
obama said two probes into the botched plot to blow up northwest plane showed
us intelligence missed other red flags as well as the already revealed fact
that the top suspect was an extremist who had traveled to yemen
he said us intelligence knew that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula wanted to
strike not only us targets in yemen but in the united states itself
the bottom line is this the us government had sufficient information to have
uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the christmas day attack but our
intelligence community failed to connect those dots obama said
in other words this was not failure to collect intelligence it was
failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had
when suspected terrorist is able to board plane with explosives on
christmas day the system has failed in potentially disastrous way obama
said after meeting top spy chiefs and government agency heads
it my responsibility to find out why and to correct that failure so that we
can prevent such attacks in the future obama said
football english premier league table
london jan afp
english premier league table after tuesday match played won drawn lost
goals for goals against points
chelsea
man utd
arsenal
tottenham
man city
aston villa
liverpool
birmingham
fulham
stoke
sunderland
everton
blackburn
burnley
wolverhampton
wigan
west ham
bolton
hull
portsmouth
football stoke claim points as fulham feel the chill
stoke england jan afp
stoke mastered the elements better than visitors fulham to climb back into the
top half of the premier league with win at snow covered britannia
stadium here on tuesday
tony pulis side seized control of the encounter after tuncay sanli had headed
them into an early lead and further strikes from abdoulaye faye and mamady
sidibe gave them commanding three goal advantage by half time
ireland winger damien duff pulled goal back for fulham just after the hour
mark and clint dempsey strike five minutes from time made things frantic at
the end but stoke were able to hold out for win that lifts them to tenth in
the table place and three points behind their visitors
the evening had not started auspiciously for stoke with their danish goalkeeper
thomas sorensen suffering an injury the warm up
but once the action got underway they were quickly into their stride and matt
etherington had the ball in the net after only two minutes only to see his
effort ruled out for offside
the home fans however only had to wait ten more minutes for their side to take
the lead from corner
robert huth flicked etherington inswinging delivery on to the far post and
tuncay was on hand to beat mark schwarzer from close range
fulham came close to an equaliser when zoltan gera effort went just wide from
duff corner but stoke were to double their lead when another excellent cross
from etherington enabled faye to slide in at the far post to score
three minutes later stoke were up after flowing move down their left
involving both tuncay and etherington whose cross was flicked on for sidibe to
score with fine half volley
tuncay limped off with an injury just before the interval to be replaced by
ricardo fuller who had header in first half stoppage time scrambled off the
line and close range shot deflected over by schwarzer
it seemed inconceivable that stoke could surrender their lead but they flirted
with disaster after duff gave fulham lifeline with st minute drive that
beat stand in goalkeeper steve simonsen with the help of deflection off ryan
shawcross
dempsey had provided the pass for duff strike on goal and the american
demonstrated he knows how to finish as well with stunning dipping volley from
over yards that found the net with five minutes left
that ensured nervous finale for the home supporters but their side held on for
the points
hubble telescope peers at oldest ever galaxies
washington jan afp
the refurbished hubble space telescope has set new distance record by
discovering the oldest galaxies ever seen dating back billion years or
million years after the big bang nasa said tuesday
the never seen before galaxies are key to interpreting the development of the
first stars and the formation of the first galaxies that later evolved into the
elliptical galaxies like our own milky way that now populate the universe the
space agency said
the age and masses of the galaxies were calculated by combining new data from
hubble the first space telescope was refurbished by shuttle mission in may
and images from nasa spitzer space telescope the agency said
the masses are just one percent of those of the milky way explains astronomic
research team member ivo labbe of the carnegie observatories
to our surprise the results show that these galaxies existed at million
years after the big bang and must have started forming stars hundreds of
millions of years earlier pushing back the time of the earliest star formation
in the universe he added
with the rejuvenated hubble and its new instruments we are now entering
uncharted territory that is ripe for new discoveries says team co leader garth
illingworth of the university of california santa cruz
hubble underwent repair during shuttle mission in may that left it with new
camera and spectrograph as well as fixed and spruced up scientific instruments
the repair job marked the end of nasa human missions to the year old but
beloved hubble launched in the telescope was repaired and upgraded in
and
the latest and final upgrade have extended the life of hubble another five
years
dollar mostly higher as market braces for us jobs data
new york jan afp
the dollar traded mainly higher tuesday boosted by strong us factory orders
data with the market bracing for report later in the week on the critical
jobs picture in the united states
the euro fell to dollars at gmt from dollars in new york
late on monday
the dollar meanwhile fell to yen from yen on monday
also in late new york trade the dollar stood at swiss francs from
monday
the pound was at dollars after
data showing percent jump in november us factory orders helped the
greenback rebound from early weakness
it has been topsy turvy day in the currency market as the dollar came back
with vengeance said kathy lien at global forex trading
michael malpede at easy forex said the us unit appears to be getting boost
from strong economic data unlike the trend in most of when it was used as
safe haven from financial market turmoil
at the start of dollar price direction appears to have re linked with the
direction of equities and risk appetite malpede said
he added the market will be watching for clues of stronger us data that could
allow the federal reserve to boost interest rates sooner than anticipated
crucial to the outlook will be friday report on us unemployment and payrolls
with some analysts suggesting the report will show job growth in december for
the first time in two years
the trade will be looking at the unemployment report for confirmation that the
us labor market is improving malpede said
the latest estimate from jp morgan is us nonfarm payrolls rose by in
december ending months of decline if the nonfarm payrolls turn positive the
report will likely fuel speculation that the fed will raise rates sooner than
forecast and demand for dollar
neil looker of city index said there may be some bargain hunting in the us
dollar after the weakness over the last few sessions as we approach the jobs
report on friday
lien said the market will also pore over minutes from the federal open market
committee december meeting for clues on the next step in monetary policy
if minutes contain more upbeat tone like the fomc statement it could propel
the dollar higher but if the central bank puts greater emphasis on headwinds and
plans to keep interest rates low for long time dollar bulls could lose
control she said
obama democrats forge ahead on health care overhaul
washington jan afp
president barack obama and his top allies in congress groped their way tuesday
towards hard fought compromise to ensure final passage of historic us health
care overhaul within weeks
obama was to hold evening talks with democratic leaders of the senate and house
of representatives as they faced the difficult task of melding their rival
versions of the legislation the president top domestic priority
democratic house speaker nancy pelosi said she was optimistic the two sides
would bridge the gaps between their bills and agree on what would be the most
sweeping overhaul of its kind in four decades
the discussion at the dawn of mid term election year expected to see
democrats lose seats was the first in series aimed at securing final passage
