he has faced severe criticism from western powers over august fraud tainted
elections and his weak leadership but said his position could be strengthened
by increased resources
nba fans vote iverson into all star starting spot
new york jan afp
cleveland star lebron james was the top vote getter but nba fans showed their
enduring support of allen iverson steve nash and tim duncan by electing them to
starting spots in the all star game
phoenix nash passed the inactive tracy mcgrady as the western conference
second guard while duncan passed dallas forward dirk nowitzki in late voting
for the february game to be played at cowboys stadium
james became the first player to earn at least million votes three times
the fans still love and see what do every night and they appreciate it and
appreciate them for electing me as an all star starter james said before the
cavaliers hosted the los angeles lakers on thursday it still special
the cavs star and iverson were joined as eastern conference starters in the
annual mid season exhibition by miami guard dwyane wade orlando center dwight
howard and boston forward kevin garnett
lakers guard kobe bryant was picked in the west along with phoenix center amare
stoudemire and denver forward carmelo anthony
starters were decided by fan balloting conducted online and at nba arenas
head coaches in each conference will vote on the reserves who will be announced
next thursday
fans showed their affection for iverson even though he has played just games
and is enduring the worst season of his career
iverson appeared on the west ballot since he began the season in memphis but he
and the grizzlies parted ways after just three games
iverson votes counted in the east since he rejoined his old team
philadelphia
he is averaging only points with the ers but will get shot at earning
third all star game most valuable player award if he decides to play
iverson who has been battling sore knee said he would consider his health
before deciding whether to play in his th all star game
mcgrady has played even less this season appearing sparingly in just six games
for houston before the team gave him leave to go work out on his own while they
sought trade even so mcgrady was second among western conference guards on
january before he was passed by nash and new orleans chris paul
duncan was voted to his th all star appearance bryant who claimed his third
all star game mvp last year when he shared it with shaquille neal in phoenix
also will be appearing for the th time
garnett selection was his th trailing only the of neal among active
players
obama moves to rein in banks in wall street assault
washington jan afp
president barack obama unveiled plans thursday to limit the size and scope of us
banks and financial firms in new offensive against wall street excesses laid
bare by the financial crisis
never again will the american taxpayer be held hostage by bank that is too
big to fail vowed obama flanked by former federal reserve chief paul volcker
who advised the president on the rules
the plans aim to limit excessive risk taking and to protect taxpayers by
preventing banks or financial institutions from owning investing in or
sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds
they will effectively force financial firms to choose between proprietary
activities trading in stocks and sometimes risky financial instruments for
their own benefit and traditional activities like making loans and
collecting deposits
the initiative which must be approved by congress includes new proposal to
limit the consolidation of the finance sector placing broader limits on
excessive growth of the market share of liabilities at the largest financial
firms
obama blamed banks for sparking the worst economic crisis since the great
depression with huge reckless risks in pursuit of quick profits and massive
bonuses in binge of irresponsibility
my resolve to reform the system is only strengthened when see return to old
practices at some of the very firms fighting reform and when see record
profits at some of the very firms claiming that they cannot lend more to small
business cannot keep credit card rates low and cannot refund taxpayers for the
bailout the president said
he vowed to enact the reforms in congress even if wall street deployed an army
of lobbyists to kill them
if these folks want fight it fight ready to have he vowed
defiantly
the announcement was the latest attempt by the white house to harness public
rage at wall street bonuses and the financial crisis
wall street gave an immediate thumbs down to obama plans as us stocks plunged
with the blue chip dow jones industrial average down more than points or two
percent
david easthope analyst with celent research and consulting firm said the
effort could hit the banks in one of their most profitable areas
proprietary trading has been the sweet spot for leading investment banks over
the last few years and executives will be concerned that washington will be
taking away the frosting he said
the financial services roundtable which represents of the largest
integrated financial firms said the proposal would do little to improve risk
management or protect consumers from irresponsible loans and trades
the proposal will restrict lending increase risk decrease stability in the
system and limit our ability to help create jobs said steve bartlett
president and chief executive for the roundtable
the group represents top financial services firms providing banking
insurance and investment products and services
obama first year in office was dominated by efforts to rescue handful of
banks that threatened to topple the us economy after being exposed to massive
losses on the subprime mortgage market
according to treasury officials about billion dollars was pumped into
banks under the government rescue plans
obama has sounded tougher tone towards banks in recent weeks as he faced
widespread voter anger at the massive government bailout which came as
americans faced surging unemployment home foreclosures and national debt
top obama economic aide austan goolsbee sought to counter criticism that the
plan is returning to the depression era law creating wall between investment
and commercial banks
it not returning to glass steagall goolsbee said
while the act repealed in forbid underwriting securities or investing in
securities by any commercial bank goolsbee said this is not that this says
bank cannot own hedge fund cannot own private equity fund or do trading for
its own account that is not related to its client business
he added that the goal is to get back to the fundamental nature of the bank
which is serving its clients rather than investing for its own profit
football italian serie table
rome jan afp
italian serie table ahead of this weekend matches played won drawn lost
goals for against points
inter milan
ac milan
as roma
napoli
juventus
palermo
cagliari
fiorentina
bari
parma
genoa
chievo
sampdoria
livorno
udinese
lazio
bologna
atalanta
catania
siena
obama moves to rein in banks in wall street assault
washington jan afp
president barack obama unveiled plans thursday to limit the size and scope of us
banks and financial firms in new offensive against wall street excesses laid
bare by the financial crisis
never again will the american taxpayer be held hostage by bank that is too
big to fail vowed obama flanked by former federal reserve chief paul volcker
who advised the president on the rules
the plans aim to limit excessive risk taking and to protect taxpayers by
preventing banks or financial institutions from owning investing in or
sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds
they will effectively force financial firms to choose between proprietary
activities trading in stocks and sometimes risky financial instruments for
their own benefit and traditional activities like making loans and
collecting deposits
the initiative which must be approved by congress includes new proposal to
limit the consolidation of the finance sector placing broader limits on
excessive growth of the market share of liabilities at the largest financial
firms
obama blamed banks for sparking the worst economic crisis since the great
depression with huge reckless risks in pursuit of quick profits and massive
bonuses in binge of irresponsibility
my resolve to reform the system is only strengthened when see return to old
practices at some of the very firms fighting reform and when see record
profits at some of the very firms claiming that they cannot lend more to small
business cannot keep credit card rates low and cannot refund taxpayers for the
bailout the president said
he vowed to enact the reforms in congress even if wall street deployed an army
of lobbyists to kill them
if these folks want fight it fight ready to have he vowed
defiantly
the announcement was the latest attempt by the white house to harness public
rage at wall street bonuses and the financial crisis
wall street gave an immediate thumbs down to obama plans as us stocks plunged
with the blue chip dow jones industrial average down more than points or two
percent
david easthope analyst with celent research and consulting firm said the
effort could hit the banks in one of their most profitable areas
proprietary trading has been the sweet spot for leading investment banks over
the last few years and executives will be concerned that washington will be
taking away the frosting he said
the financial services roundtable which represents of the largest
integrated financial firms said the proposal would do little to improve risk
management or protect consumers from irresponsible loans and trades
the proposal will restrict lending increase risk decrease stability in the
system and limit our ability to help create jobs said steve bartlett
president and chief executive for the roundtable
the group represents top financial services firms providing banking
insurance and investment products and services
obama first year in office was dominated by efforts to rescue handful of
banks that threatened to topple the us economy after being exposed to massive
losses on the subprime mortgage market
according to treasury officials about billion dollars was pumped into
banks under the government rescue plans
obama has sounded tougher tone towards banks in recent weeks as he faced
widespread voter anger at the massive government bailout which came as
americans faced surging unemployment home foreclosures and national debt
top obama economic aide austan goolsbee sought to counter criticism that the
plan is returning to the depression era law creating wall between investment
and commercial banks
it not returning to glass steagall goolsbee said
while the act repealed in forbid underwriting securities or investing in
securities by any commercial bank goolsbee said this is not that this says
bank cannot own hedge fund cannot own private equity fund or do trading for
its own account that is not related to its client business
he added that the goal is to get back to the fundamental nature of the bank
which is serving its clients rather than investing for its own profit
icann approves internet addresses in arabic cyrillic script
san francisco jan afp
the global agency overseeing internet domain names on thursday said egypt
russia saudi arabia and the united arab emirates can begin creating online
addresses in their native languages
the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers icann effectively
broke the latin alphabet three decade hold on internet domain names
this marks pivotal moment in the history of internet domain names said
icann chief executive and president rod beckstrom
these international names will now allow people to type entire domain names in
their own language
the four approved countries may request local language internet addresses to be
included in domain names root system that will be accessible to users
worldwide by the middle of this year according to icann
sixteen applications in eight languages had been received as of thursday
in october icann approved new multilingual address system which it said would
open up the internet to millions more people worldwide
in the future it will be possible to write an entire website address in any of
the world language scripts
icann chairman peter dengate thrush has described the new measure as the biggest
technical change to the internet for years
icann says more than half the world billion internet users use languages
with scripts that are not latin based
icann non profit body formed in by the us government was last year
given more autonomy after washington relaxed its control over how the internet
is run
football milan title chances on line against inter
rome jan afp
ac milan head into this weekend top of the table derby clash with inter milan
knowing defeat could spell the end of their serie title hopes
champions inter have six point lead at the top although milan in second have
game in hand away to fiorentina in february
in form milan head into this match with eight wins from their last nine serie
clashes while inter have stumbled several times recently particularly on their
travels
they have won only one of their last four away matches in the league and even
needed two late strikes to earn victory at home to rock bottom catania in
their last home match
they will be the hosts at the san siro on sunday although the stadium is also
milan home
the nominal visitors know that while draw would not be disaster the loss of
all three points would be
the table says we are six points back with game in hand although that is away
to fiorentina and will be very difficult said combative midfielder gennaro
gattuso
but we cannot afford to lose the derby even with draw we still be in with
chance we still be six points back but with game in hand and the fight
would be open
gattuso though admitted to being worried about inter amazing powers of
recovery
inter cause fear because many times they go behind but still pull out
incredible recoveries he said
thinking of the match against siena or the one at san nicola stadium when
they were down to bari and only narrowly failed to come home with the three
points
inter have strength and squad that worries you there wesley sneijder
and diego milito who have great quality but it coach jose mourinho himself
who worries me the most because he one who certainly won go to sleep until
he found solution to stop us
know that right now he watching many videos to study and see how to stop
us
mourinho is going to have to come up with something as he is likely to be
without three important midfielders in dejan stankovic thiago motta and sulley
muntari all stuggling with muscle problems
things are little better in their neighbours treatment room where striker pato
and full back gianluca zambrotta have been ruled out while centre back
alessandro nesta is struggling to be fit
further down the table crisis club juventus host as roma with claudio ranieri
coming back to face the club that fired him two games before the end of last
season
ironically it was following home defeat to juve at the beginning of the
season that saw luciano spalletti leave roma and replaced by ranieri
juve looked set for great season back then as they won their first four league
matches while roma struggled
however roma have won seven and drawn three of their last league games while
juve have lost seven of their last in all comeptitions and ranieri
replacement ciro ferrara is under extreme pressure
roma are third with juve down in fifth although they could be overtaken by both
fiorentina and cagliari if they win their games in hand
fixtures
saturday
catania parma juventus as roma
sunday
bologna bari genoa atalanta inter milan ac milan lazio chievo
livorno napoli palermo fiorentina siena cagliari udinese sampdoria
obama sets up tough battle with plan to curb banks
washington jan afp
proposal by president barack obama to curb the size and scope of us banking
firms sets up tough battle to pass and implement an ambitious plan to reduce
risk in the financial system analysts say
news of the effort thursday sent shivers through wall street where investors
feared limits may hurt us firms and drew mixed reactions from economists and
other analysts
the plan is aimed at limiting excessive risk taking and preventing banks and
other financial institutions from owning investing in or sponsoring hedge funds
or private equity funds
this would force financial firm to choose between proprietary activities
trading in stocks and sometimes risky financial instruments on its own account
and commercial activities like making loans and collecting deposits
the initiative which needs approval by congress includes new proposal to
limit the consolidation of the financial sector placing broader limits on
excessive growth of the market share of liabilities at the largest financial
firms
some analysts said the measure could be setback for the financial system by
bringing back number of the measures from depression era law that separated
investment banks and commercial banks known as the glass steagall act
it seems to me that going backward is not the right thing for us to do think
we should be going forward said sung won sohn economist at california state
university
sohn said the measure even if approved might not achieve its desired impact
because the global system is interconnected
most countries including europe have no glass steagall acts so they have free
range to get into almost every aspect of finance he said don think we
should handicap american institutions
but joseph stiglitz columbia university economist and nobel laureate said
the general idea of the obama plan was positive
think we do need to change the regulatory framework stiglitz said at
washington forum before details of the obama proposal were announced
if you look at the incentives at the individual level and the organizational
level they re distorted they encourage the kind of risk taking that we got
when you have banks that are too big to fail they gamble
the financial services roundtable which represents of the largest
integrated financial firms said the proposal would do little to improve risk
management or protect consumers from irresponsible loans and trades
the proposal will restrict lending increase risk decrease stability in the
system and limit our ability to help create jobs said steve bartlett
president and chief executive of the roundtable
david easthope analyst with celent boston based financial research and
consulting firm said the effort could hit the banks in one of their most
profitable areas
proprietary trading has been the sweet spot for leading investment banks over
the last few years and executives will be concerned that washington will be
taking away the frosting he said
top obama economic aide austan goolsbee said the goal is to refocus banks but is
not return to the depression era law creating wall between investment and
commercial banks
it not returning to glass steagall goolsbee said
while the the act repealed in barred commercial banks from underwriting or
investing in securities goolsbee said this is not that this says bank
cannot own hedge fund cannot own private equity fund or do trading for its
own account that is not related to its client business
he added that the goal is to get back to the fundamental nature of the bank
which is serving its clients rather than investing for its own profit
icann approves internet addresses in arabic cyrillic script
san francisco jan afp
the global agency overseeing internet domain names on thursday said egypt
russia saudi arabia and the united arab emirates can begin creating online
addresses in their native languages
the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers icann effectively
broke the latin alphabet three decade hold on internet domain names
this marks pivotal moment in the history of internet domain names said
icann chief executive and president rod beckstrom
these international names will now allow people to type entire domain names in
their own language
the four approved countries may request local language internet addresses to be
included in domain names root system that will be accessible to users
worldwide by the middle of this year according to icann
sixteen applications in eight languages had been received as of thursday
in october icann approved new multilingual address system which it said would
open up the internet to millions more people worldwide
in the future it will be possible to write an entire website address in any of
the world language scripts
icann chairman peter dengate thrush has described the new measure as the biggest
technical change to the internet for years
icann says more than half the world billion internet users use languages
with scripts that are not latin based
icann non profit body formed in by the us government was last year
given more autonomy after washington relaxed its control over how the internet
is run
afp news calendar
paris jan afp
the afp news calendar
monday january
berlin israeli president shimon peres visits to
brussels eu european affairs ministers meet
istanbul turkey hosts summit with pakistan and afghanistan aimed at
encouraging the two countries to overcome their differences
kathmandu opposition maoist party launches general strike
kuala lumpur malaysian opposition leader anwar ibrahim trial on sodomy
charges scheduled to begin to feb
montreal international meeting on aid to haiti
tegucigalpa president ma ying jeou visits honduras then dominican republic to
warsaw israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu starts three day visit to
poland
tuesday january
beijing argentinean president cristina kirchner visits
berlin chancellor angela merkel meets afghanistan president hamid karzai
brussels eu foreign ministers meet
colombo sri lanka presidential elections
cotonou carla bruni sarkozy the wife of the president of france who is also an
ambassador for the global fund to fight aids tuberculosis and malaria visits
benin along with us philanthropist melinda gates and
heslinki trial opens of nurse accused of killing patients
istanbul turkey hosts regional meeting of afghanistan and its neighbours
ahead of the london conference on achieving the international community goals
in the conflict ravaged country
strasbourg council of europe parliamentarians debate human trafficking
warsaw eu president herman van rompuy visits
wednesday january
brussels eu employment labour health and consumer affairs ministers meet to
davos switzerland world economic forum to
london international conference on yemen
madrid trial opens of basque separatist leader arnaldo otegi
jordan king abdullah ii visits spain
milan italy verdict expected in trial of four google executives for an
internet video showing the bullying of teenager with down syndrome
oswiecim poland ceremonies marking th anniversary of the liberation of the
auschwitz nazi death camp attended by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu
svay rieng cambodia trail begins of main opposition leader sam rainsy and five
villagers on charges of uprooting markings on border with vietnam
tegucigalpa honduran president porfirio lobo sworn in
washington president barack obama gives first state of the union address to
congress
thursday january
geneva new session of talks between russia and georgia
london international conference on afghanistan
manta ecuador defence ministers of union of south american nations unasur
meet
the hague court appeal by relatives of the victims of the srebrenica
massacre against an earlier finding that they cannot sue the un in the
netherlands for failing to protect the enclave
preparatory status conference in the international criminal court for the
former yugoslavia ahead of the resumption on march of the war crimes trial of
bosnian serb wartime leader radovan karadzic
tripoli resumption of appeal hearing of swiss businessman maxi goeldi
convicted of overstaying his libyan visa
friday january
beijing opening of chocolate theme park
hanoi writer tran khai thanh thuy who was allegedly beaten and arrested last
year after supporting pro democracy activists faces trial for causing harm
london former british prime minister tony blair testifies to inquiry on iraq
war
milan italy hearing in corruption case against prime minister silvio
berlusconi
prague eu president herman van rompuy visits
saturday january
bamako deadline given by al qaeda in the islamic maghreb for mali to free four
of its captured fighters or see frenchman held hostage executed
fromelles france beginning of reburial of australian and british soldiers
of world war recovered from mass graves
tripoli trial of maxi goeldi one of two swiss businessman accused of illegal
business activities resumes in tripoli
sunday january
addis ababa african union summit to feb
herzliya israel annual international conference on security and policy with
italian prime minister silvio berlusconi among the keynote speakers to feb
sanaa conference on national dialogue sponsored by yemen president ali
abdullah saleh
tokyo visit by mexican president felipe calderon to feb
tripoli resumption of the trial of rashid hamdani one of two swiss businessman
accused of illegal business activities resumes in tripoli
monday february
kuwait city trial resumes of six suspected al qaeda members alleged to have
plotted attacks against us military base in kuwait
oslo deadline for nominations for the nobel peace prize
seville spain eu central america summit and
tehran st anniversary of ayatollah ruhollah khomeini return to iran from
exile in paris beginning day commemorations of the islamic revolution
warsaw meeting of foreign ministers of weimar triangle group france germany
poland
washington lithuanian prime minister andrius kubilius visits
tuesday february
pontoise france trial opens to determine culpability for the fatal crash of
supersonic concorde airliner after take off from charles de gaulle airport on
july killing people
sargodha pakistan court resumes hearing the case of five us suspected
militants facing terror charges for allegedly plotting attacks in pakistan
singapore asia largest aerospace and defence exhibition singapore airshow
starts to
wednesday february
jerusalem italian prime minister silvio berlusconi to address israel
parliament
riga baltic countries summit on energy and infrastructure and
thursday february
nanterre france court rules on demand by jailed terrorist carlos the jackal to
vet television film on his life
friday february
iqaluit canada finance ministers and central bank governors meet on aid for
haiti and
islamabad rallies in pakistan to demonstrate solidarity day with kashmiris
munich germany international defence and security conference to
tehran nationwide ceremonies to mark the shiite mourning day of arbaeen
days after ashura
saturday february
awka nigeria gubernatorial election in nigeria anambra state in vote seen
as precursor to the general elections in the country
sunday february
kiev second round of ukrainian presidential elections
san jose legislative and presidential elections in costa rica
monday february
geneva un human rights council begins new session with countries on the
agenda including iran to
tuesday february
manila presidential election campaign starts
strasbourg european parliament confirms new team of eu commissioners
wednesday february
helsinki baltic sea action summit brings together heads of state and
government business leaders and civil society representatives to make
commitments to action to save the baltic sea one of the most polluted in the
world
