philippe seguin was not man to compromise his convictions sarkozy said in
his tribute
everyone remembers the homeric struggle he waged in the referendum campaign for
the maastricht treaty during which he deployed his remarkable oratory skills to
defend his vision of the french people sovereignty
tributes poured in from across the political spectrum and also from the french
football world which counted him as one of its strongest fans
former interior minister charles pasqua fellow euro sceptic said seguin was
passionate man who loved his country and his death was great loss for
france
born in tunis seguin hailed from modest roots but set himself on path to
power when he won entry into the ena elite school of public administration and
later joined the right wing rally for the republic rpr party
his first election victory came in when he won parliament seat in the
eastern vosges district and eight years later seguin became minister of social
affairs and employment in government led by jacques chirac
as parliament speaker seguin supported chirac bid for the presidency in
and became key advocate of centre right social policies that helped propel
chirac to victory
in he took over the helm of chirac rpr party but he later fell out with
the president and resigned as party leader two years later leaving sarkozy in
charge
his political career suffered setback in when he was defeated in the
elections for paris mayor by socialist bertrand delanoe
since he had been president of france public audit office
former prime minister jean pierre raffarin told radio classique that seguin was
an exceptional character he was afraid of nobody
flags flew at half mast in the northeastern town of epinal where he served as
mayor from to funeral services will be held on monday
afp world economic news summary
paris jan afp
the top world economic stories on thursday
us economy unemployment
washington new claims for us jobless benefits edged up by in the past
week to while other data showed modest improvement in the troubled labor
market official figures showed
japan politics economy
tokyo japan new finance minister rattled financial markets with call for
weaker yen sending the currency sharply lower on speculation that he might
order official intervention
france finance economy forex dollar
paris french president nicolas sarkozy urged an end to the dollar
predominance warning that its weakness poses an unacceptable threat to
european competitiveness
france internet tax advertise online company google
paris france may slap google tax on online advertising under proposals that
drew complaints from the internet sector
eu eurozone economy
brussels pre christmas fall in retail sales across the euro countries caused
flutters among experts concerned that recovery prospects could run into rut
britain economy bank rate forex money decision
london the bank of england said it was keeping its key interest rate at
record low level of percent and maintaining credit easing plans as britain
officially remains in recession
iceland economy finance bonds politics
reykjavik iceland president insisted the country will meet its compensation
obligations to foreign governments over the icesave bank collapse after putting
the issue to referendum
eu space satellite it galileo
brussels the eu much delayed satellite navigation network galileo will begin
operations in the european commission said as it awarded key contracts to
germany ohb system and france arianespace
japan airline company distress jal
tokyo japan airlines jal shares plunged as fears mounted that the debt ridden
carrier will file for bankruptcy despite reports it is set to get an injection
of public funds
sweden us auto company takeover gm saab spyker
the hague dutch sportscar maker spyker will submit definitive updated bid
for general motors swedish unit saab its chief executive officer victor muller
said
argentina economy bank politics debt
buenos aires argentina central bank chief again rejected government pressure
for him to resign as row over the legacy of the country economic bust
deepened
zimbabwe halts disputed diamond sale
harare jan afp
zimbabwe on thursday halted controversial sale of carats of diamonds
but blamed bureaucratic hold ups rather than scandal over rights abuses by the
military in the diamond fields
the auction of diamonds has been stopped but no sales were made said
augustine rukwaya ceo of mbada diamonds one of the two companies running the
marange fields in eastern zimbabwe
there are some issues within various inter government departments which had to
be addressed he told afp
buying diamonds is very complex process we will be issuing full statement
later in the day
in november zimbabwe escaped ban on its international diamond sales by the
kimberley process scheme that aims to prevent blood diamonds from entering
the mainstream market
kimberley investigation found unacceptable and horrific violence against
civilians by authorities including forced labour torture and beatings by
soldiers against villagers
despite calls for zimbabwe suspension over abuses in marange the global body
gave harare june deadline to make reforms to comply with its regulations
zimbabwe went into partnership with two south african owned firms including
mbada to extract diamonds in october
the following month mines minister obert mpofu said that soldiers and police
had withdrawn from the fields and that zimbabwe had complied with more than
percent of the reforms set by kimberley
corrected us watchlist adds to nigeria many woes
lagos jan afp
an absent president row over the budget no promised reforms no electricity
for much of the time and now its appearance on us terror watchlist add up to
bad new year for african giant nigeria
washington placing of nigeria on nation travel watchlist after nigerian
tried to blow up us plane could hardly have come at worse time
the government in abuja is under intense criticism over perceived lack of
leadership given the continued absence of president umaru yar adua and
persistent rumours over his state of health
yar adua has been in hospital in the saudi arabian city of jeddah with heart
problems since late november citing lack of regular medical bulletins from
the government there have been strident opposition calls for him to be replaced
by vice president goodluck johathan
the ship of state has almost ground to halt says prominent rights activist
and lawyer femi falana who has mounted one of three separate court challenges
calling for yar adua to be replaced
falana said the year old yar adua was incapacitated and the lawsuit was
aimed at ensuring there was no vacuum in the nigerian presidency
there is no state no authority observed one foreign diplomat
things have never been so bad for nigerians and democracy has never been so
threatened as it has in been in recent times said lai mohammed opposition
action congress spokesman
opposition parties are now challengeing the official version of events whereby
yar adua was sufficiently alert last week to sign supplementary budget law at
his hospital bed
the opposition say yar adua continued absence has further stalled badly needed
reform of the country corruption ridden oil and gas sector
and it fell to jonathan to admit in his new year message that the country had
failed to achieve even modest increase in the electricity supply which
remains at megawatts for its population of million
the vice president apologised to the millions of nigerians who continue to live
in darkness despite nigeria being one of the world largest oil producers
an amnesty for so called oil rebels in the southern niger delta has taken much
of the sting out of crippling war that slashed output
however islamist violence in the muslim dominated north where security
forces clashed with militants last month killing and the involvement of
year old nigerian in plot to blow up us plane has heightened us
suspicions that nigeria could become breeding ground for al qaeda
foreign minister ojo maduekwe summoned us ambassador robin sanders to protest
the move to place nigeria on washington watchlist but such indignation is
unlikely to sway washington
unusually the accumulation of crises has moved two former us ambassadors to
abuja to voice their concerns
john campbell ambassador from said that if the current crisis spins
out of control the nigerian army is likely to intervene possibly with
nominal civilian leader
it will justify itself saying it would prepare for elections and deal with
extremism in the niger delta and following the abdulmuttalab incident in
the north campbell added
one of campbell predecessors princeton lyman who was envoy from
said nigeria can become less relevant to the united states
relations with washington dominated wednesday cabinet meeting in abuja with
statement released later saying the watchlisting has the potential of
undermining long standing and established us nigeria bilateral ties and the
goodwill the us enjoys in nigeria
sarkozy warns of threat from weak dollar
paris jan afp
french president nicolas sarkozy urged an end to the dollar global dominance
on thursday warning that its weakness poses an unacceptable threat to
european competitiveness
the monetary disorder has become unacceptable said sarkozy who later this
month is due to address the world economic forum in davos
the world is multipolar the monetary system must become multi monetary he
said in an apparent call for other currencies to be promoted over the greenback
the dollar has weakened considerably against the euro in the past year making
euro priced exports more expensive and putting eurozone producers at
competitive disadvantage
sarkozy said on wednesday that the dollar weakness posed considerable
problem for french businesses and should be at the centre of international
debate
on thursday he told paris conference on new approaches to capitalism that we
cannot fight in europe to improve the competitiveness of our businesses and
have dollar that is losing half of its value
sarkozy office has said he is due on january to give the inaugural speech
at the annual forum of world political and business leaders in the swiss resort
of davos becoming the first french president to attend the gathering
he took harsh stance during the global crisis against freewheeling capitalist
practices and pushed hard for stricter line on bank regulation and tax
evasion taking vocal role among leaders of the grouping
he has said he wants to transform the international monetary system when france
takes over the leadership of the in
sarkozy view gained the backing of the nobel prize winning us economist joseph
stiglitz who was taking part in the paris conference
the french president articulated some of the problems with the global
financial system the currency and how it is putting europe at disadvantage
said stiglitz who was an advisor to former us president bill clinton
dollar based system might have made sense in the th century but doesn
make sense in the th century
on thursday the euro fell to dollars having traded late last year
around levels
british pm dismisses plot as storm in teacup
london jan afp
embattled british prime minister gordon brown dismissed as storm in teacup
thursday new plot questioning his leadership few months before general
election
in deeply embarrassing challenge to his already weakened authority former
ministers geoff hoon and patricia hewitt called wednesday for ballot of
governing labour party lawmakers on whether brown should remain their leader
but brown in his first comments on the plot said it not going to take up
much of my time and hasn certainly taken up much of my time
this is bit of storm in teacup we are actually dealing with real storms
at the moment he told bbc radio referring to bitterly cold temperatures and
snowfalls gripping the country
in their letter to all labour lawmakers hoon defence secretary when britain
joined the invasion of iraq in and former health secretary hewitt said
the party was deeply divided over whether brown should be leader
many colleagues have expressed their frustration at the way in which this
question is affecting our political performance they wrote
the letter gained early support from handful of persistent brown critics but
no major labour figure backed the move and hoon admitted late wednesday that it
had failed
brown who succeeded tony blair as premier in must face general election
by june at the latest his labour party has long been more than points behind
in polls against the main opposition conservatives
ministers rallied round brown on thursday after the failed leadership challenge
it is something we could have easily done without justice secretary jack
straw admitted but insisted think it will actually have the effect of
bringing people behind the leadership even more
northern ireland minister shaun woodward said what happened yesterday was
without question unfortunate it was distraction but what we know this
morning is that this is party that wants gordon brown as leader
in june last year brown fended off nascent leadership plot after several
government ministers quit in quick succession and one james purnell urged him
to step down
commentators agreed thursday that brown appeared to have seen off the latest
attempt to unseat him despite receiving only lukewarm public backing from
some of his key cabinet ministers
foreign secretary david miliband who reportedly considered standing against
brown in took seven hours to issue statement which failed to mention
brown by name commentators noted
the times newspaper described miliband statement as less than wholehearted
while the guardian daily said it was both later and less full throated than
anything offered by fellow cabinet members
the bbc reported wednesday that six cabinet ministers had been prepared to
support coup but straw among those named on thursday denounced the report
as sub standard journalism
defence secretary bob ainsworth was also alleged to be among those backing the
plotters but spokesman denied this
the prime minister has bob full support he said adding mr ainsworth had
no part in this so called plot
the timing of the row could hardly be worse for brown he and conservative
leader david cameron effectively started election campaigning this week after
the christmas break even though ballots are not expected until may
cameron said the fresh labour infighting showed the government was deeply
divided
this is incredibly depressing for the country he said
we cannot go on like this we ve got to have an election and change of
government he said adding if ever there was time when our country needed
strong leadership and united government it is today
tennis hong kong tennis classic results
hong kong jan afp
results from the second day of the hong kong tennis classic exhibition
tournament on thursday matches were shortened to one set each due to rain
delay
women
victoria azarenka bel bt gisela dulko arg
venus williams usa bt caroline wozniacki den
egypt christians clash with police after christmas murders
cairo jan afp
clashes erupted on thursday as thousands of coptic christians in southern
egyptian village gathered to bury six of their number gunned down on coptic
christmas eve by men believed to be muslims security officials said
officials and the local bishop said three men in car had raked pedestrians
with gunfire along street containing two churches and shopping precinct late
on wednesday
bishop kirilos said the victims were people who had just emerged from church
after attending christmas eve service and the proximity of the shopping area
might have drawn some of them to it
six copts and muslim policeman were killed while at least nine more copts
were wounded two of them seriously security official said
the wounded were evacuated to hospital in the nearby governorate of sohag
an estimated copts attended thursday funeral in nagaa hammadi miles
kilometres from the popular tourist city of luxor
police said group of protesters stoned cars as the dead were buried and
police responded with tear gas the demonstrators chanted with our spirit and
blood we will sacrifice ourselves for the cross
they said copts earlier stoned police cars and the hospital where the bodies of
the six dead were held before the service chanting no to repression
an initial investigation reported that the gunmen opened fire as they sped along
the street killing and wounding people over distance of metres yards
as the car headed out of town the gunmen fired at convent which also housed
the bishop offices before fleeing to rural area near the town in qena
province kilometres miles south of cairo
copts celebrate christmas on january along with many other orthodox
communities around the world
bishop kirilos told afp on thursday that he saw gunmen spraying worshippers with
automatic gunfire outside the archbishopric after the mass ended the previous
night
we concluded the mass at pm gmt and was heading to the bishopric
when saw man in car open fire with an automatic rifle at copts who were
walking past the building kirilos said in phone interview
the gunman then continued to fire on copts in the streets of the town he
said
the bishop said the author of this crime has police record and should have
been arrested for past crimes but is under the protection of prominent figures
close to the ruling national democratic party
witnesses cited by local officials earlier said the main gunman is muslim
wanted by police and linked the shooting to the abduction of year old
muslim girl in november who was allegedly raped by coptic youth
the first elements of the investigation based on testimony of people on the
ground indicate that the main shooter is town resident identified as mohammed
ahmed hussein who is wanted by the police one official said
kirilos also told afp that for the past week some of his parishioners had
received cell phone hate calls and threats alleging that muslims will avenge
the rape of the girl during the christmas celebrations
copts who represent roughly percent of egypt million strong population
are the largest christian community in the middle east but they frequently
complain of discrimination harassment and sectarian attacks
in november hundreds of muslim protesters torched christian owned shops in the
town of farshut near nagaa hammadi and attacked police station where they
believed the suspected rapist was being held
it was latest in wave of sectarian tension between muslims and egypt copts
on wednesday the head of the coptic minority pope shenuda iii led christmas
midnight mass at the abbassiya church in cairo which was attended by thousands
of worshippers including president hosni mubarak son and heir apparent gamal
dubai projects percent budget deficit in
dubai jan afp
the government of the financially troubled dubai announced on thursday
projected budget deficit its of six billion dirhams billion
dollars billion euros or percent of expenditure
income is projected at billion dirhams billion dollars percent
drop from billion the head of the department of finance abdulrahman al
saleh said in statement carried by wam state news agency
spending is projected at billion dirhams billion dollars down
percent from last year billion
saleh said percent of spending or billion dollars has been earmarked
for investment expenditure to upgrade and complete infrastructure projects
in past years dubai has channeled large sums of money into building modern
infrastructure including metro link and numerous wide highways
saleh said the deficit represents just two percent of the gross domestic product
of the emirate whose economy had been hit badly by the global financial crisis
which crippled its once booming and vital real estate sector
dubai also narrowly escaped debt catastrophe last month its major state owned
dubai world nearly defaulted on some of its debt but was rescued by last
minute lifeline of billion dollars from neighbouring abu dhabi
dubai debt mostly owed by its state firms is around billion dollars
despite the crisis dubai inaugurated this week the world tallest tower which
rose metres feet
known since construction began as burj dubai the tower was renamed as burj
khalifa after the president of the united arab emirates sheikh khalifa bin
zayed al nahayan who is also the ruler of oil rich abu dhabi
eu backs commissioner under fire from dr congo
brussels jan afp
the european commission on thursday backed the eu top aid official after he
was made persona non grata in the democratic republic of congo for raising
doubts about its use of aid money
at the european parliament last month development commissioner karel de gucht
questioned whether aid provided to kinshasa by eu nations was being put to good
use given the humanitarian crisis in parts of the country
it was not expressing personal opinions he was speaking on behalf of the
european commission as political body and with the full support of its
president spokesman said in brussels
an eu official said the dr congo government recently made it known to the
commission that de gucht who as former belgian foreign minister also had
testy relations with kinshasa would not be welcome to visit
de gucht spokesman said the commissioner announced in late november that he
planned to travel to goma and would have used his visit to sign documents
activating aid projects worth some million euros million dollars
in strasbourg on december de gucht noted that tens of millions of euros are
being sent there but asked what is in the end the effectiveness of all this
if you don have proper counterpart in the political arena
kinshasa dismissed the criticism and accused de gucht of acting like some sort
of divine donor recalling that remarks he made as belgian foreign minister in
april had resulted in serious detioration of relations
us gunman kills one in office shooting reports
chicago jan afp
gunman stormed power company office in st louis missouri on thursday
killing one person and wounding several others according to local media
reports
the gunman who wielded an assault rifle entered the offices of power
company forcing those inside to scatter in panic according to the st louis
post dispatch
company supervisor at abb power reportedly told police the man was
disgruntled worker who may have recently been fired
corrected more eurostar misery as winter chill brings mayhem
london jan afp
eurostar passengers faced new winter misery when another high speed train broke
down in the channel tunnel on thursday as heavy snow brought down powerlines
leaving thousands without electricity in britain
as the rest of europe braced for more snow one of the most brutal winters in
decades caused more travel mayhem with scores of flights cancelled and many
roads proving impassable
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
dublin airport which closed for several hours on wednesday was operating
normally but there were number of flight cancellations and delays as some
airlines continued to experience knock on delays
arctic temperatures were blamed for the breakdown last month of several eurostar
trains in the tunnel between britain and france which sparked three day
suspension of the service
the company faced fresh embarrassment on thursday when train travelling
between brussels and london carrying passengers had to be towed out towards
the english side of the tunnel after being stuck for around two hours
eurostar spokesman bram smets said the cause of the latest breakdown was not
immediately known and warned of severe delays
we are not allowing any train to enter the tunnel at present they are waiting
we don want any more trains to be blocked in the tunnel if we don know
what happened he told afp in brussels
even before the new incident eurostar had already cancelled four of its
services for second straight day due to disruptions caused by speed limits
imposed by the cold weather
meanwhile electricians were working round the clock to restore current to around
homes in southern england which were left in the dark when snow brought
down power lines said edf energy
britain met office weather service said the cold spell was the worst since
and warned of more to come
much of southern france was put on alert for further snowfall and icy
conditions as snow caused traffic problems in paris grenoble bordeaux and the
north
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
celsius
no buses ran in olso on thursday as temperatures plunged so low that the fuel
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
children however lapped up the chance to spend another day playing in the snow
as hundreds of schools that had been due to reopen in both britain and ireland
after the christmas break remained closed
indian aircraft stowaway granted bail police
new delhi jan afp
an indian court granted bail on thursday to stowaway who sparked security
alert after hiding in the toilet of an airliner and travelling to the country
from saudi arabia police said
indian national habib hussain flew from the saudi city of medina to the western
indian city of jaipur aboard an air india flight in december with no ticket and
no passport
hussain who said he took the desperate action to escape poor treatment by his
employers in medina was released on bail on thursday after being arrested and
charged with violating passport regulations
he has been granted bail by the district judge in jaipur police
superintendent biju joseph told afp adding that no date had been set for his
trial
media reports said desperate hussain boarded the aircraft by pretending to be
cleaner then locked himself in the toilet from where he emerged soon after
take off
the year old from the northern indian state of uttar pradesh told police he
wanted to return from his cleaning job at medina airport because he was not
being paid but his employer had confiscated his passport
air india defended its security procedures by saying hussain had presented
valid identity card which allowed him into the boarding area in medina and was
not considered safety risk for the passengers on the aircraft
hussain told the bbc that he had been miserable in saudi arabia and was crying
all the time after being tricked by network of middlemen who had promised
him employment in the kingdom
but have not been paid salary for last five months he said now all
want to do is see my pregnant wife and two children
thousands of indians head to the middle east in search of jobs that pay more
than their equivalents back home
indian aviation officials were probing the incident the latest in string of
embarrassments for the state run carrier air india
in october pilots and cabin crew were involved in mid air brawl in full view
of passengers and later that month the airline had to replace drunk pilot who
reported for duty
nordic skiing tour de ski results
toblach italy jan afp
results from the fifth stage of the tour de ski series here on thursday
men
km classic
daniel richardsson swe min sec lukas bauer cze at sec
petter northug nor axel teichmann ger marcus hellner swe
matti heikkinen fin giorgio di centa ita dario
cologna sui alex harvey can jens filbrich ger
overall standings
petter northug nor hr min sec marcus hellner swe at sec
axel teichmann ger dario cologna sui daniel richardsson
swe matti heikkinen fin lukas bauer cze jean
marc gaillard fra giorgio di centa ita jens filbrich
ger
world cup overall standings after of events
petter northug nor pts marcus hellner swe matti heikkinen
fin dario cologna sui maxim vylegzhanin rus
cricket collingwood bell defy south africa
cape town jan afp
paul collingwood survived blistering spell of new ball bowling from dale steyn
as he and ian bell battled to save england from defeat on the fifth day of the
third test against south africa at newlands on thursday
england were for five at tea after collingwood and bell batted throughout
the afternoon giving their team an excellent chance of preserving their
lead going into the fourth and final test in johannesburg next week only
overs remained in the match
steyn gave south africa an important breakthrough minutes before lunch when
he bowled jonathan trott with superb delivery which swung in late
