amman jan afp
suicide bomber who killed eight people at cia base in afghanistan was an al
qaeda triple agent who duped western intelligence services for months before
turning on his handlers jihadist websites boasted on tuesday
the jordanian intelligence services believing the bomber to be their double
agent brought him to eastern afghanistan with the mission of finding al qaeda
number two ayman al zawahiri the websites and western intelligence agents
cited by us media said
but instead he blew himself up at forward operating base chapman in khost
province near the pakistani border killing seven cia agents and his jordanian
handler top intelligence officer and member of the royal family
the deaths of the seven agents marked the us central intelligence agency worst
single loss of life since the bombing of the us marine barracks in beirut in
jordanian media gave no details of how captain ali bin zeid died even though
king abdullah ii queen rania and virtually the whole royal family turned up at
his funeral
the slain officer family said that bin zeid had been in afghanistan for
days and had been due to return home on december the day he was killed but
even on monday officials continued to deny any jordanian involvement in the
international coalition there
both jihadist websites and western intelligence agents cited by us network nbc
news identified the bomber as humam khalil abu mulal al balawi alias abu dujana
al khorasani
balawi was arrested in late and then recruited as double agent by the
jordanian intelligence services but in reality continued to work for al qaeda
they said
he ran blog http abudujanakharasani maktoobblog com on which he posted
calls for jihad holy war and martyrdom that the jordanian authorities
presumably regarded as cover for the role of double agent
the blog was still available on monday but was inaccessible on tuesday
he spent months travelling between afghanistan and pakistan and fed the
americans the information that the mujahedeen jihadists wanted them to
receive the ana muslim am muslim in arabic website boasted
every time that the reports which he gave proved accurate their confidence in
abu dujana rose
balawi was taken to the cia base in khost because he claimed to have urgent
information about zawahiri the website said
he was not searched as he went in because cia agent boasted he is our man
so there is no need the website claimed
the bomber then pretended to detail plans for mooted operation on piece of
paper and asked the intelligence agents to gather round to look before blowing
himself up the website said
jordanian islamist sources said that balawi was doctor by profession and
married father of two
he was born in the impoverished amman satellite city of zarqa hometown of al
qaeda in iraq leader abu musab al zarqawi who became infamous for series of
videotaped beheadings of western hostages before his death in us air strike in
june
the penetration of the base in khost reportedly major base for covert
operations along the afghanistan pakistan border was setback for already
under fire us intelligence agencies
obama top military spy chief in afghanistan major general michael flynn has
delivered blistering assessment of their capabilities
in report published by washington think tank on monday flynn urged radical
changes to an intelligence apparatus which still finds itself unable to
answer fundamental questions about the environment in which we operate and the
people we are trying to protect and persuade
us intelligence officers he said are starved for information from the field
so starved in fact that many say their jobs feel more like fortune telling
than serious detective work
the problems flynn stressed in the document are less environmental than
attitudinal cultural and human
urgent nigeria will appeal to us to reverse flight screening
abuja jan afp
nigeria will appeal to the united states to remove it from terrorism flight
watchlist drawn up in the wake of failed plot to blow up us airliner
justice minister michael aondoaaka said tuesday
german new car sales up percent in auto federation
frankfurt jan afp
german new car sales jumped percent in but began to slow in december
after cash for clunkers scrapping scheme expired figures released on tuesday
by the vda auto federation showed
buffett berkshire opposes kraft share plan for cadbury
washington jan afp
billionaire investor warren buffett holding company berkshire hathaway said
tuesday it was opposing plan by us food giant kraft to issue new shares under
plan to buy british based cadbury
berkshire hathaway which said it is likely the largest shareholder in kraft
with stake of percent said it had voted no on kraft proposal to
authorize the issuance of up to million shares for the acquisition
the share issuance proposal will give kraft blank check allowing it to change
its offer to cadbury in any way it wishes
to state the matter simply shareholder voting yes today is authorizing
huge transaction without knowing its cost or the means of payment the
berkshire statement said
what we know with certainty however is that kraft stock at its current price
of dollars is very expensive currency to be used in an acquisition
the statement pointed out that in kraft spent billion dollars to
repurchase shares at about dollars per share presumably because the
directors and management thought the shares to be worth more
the statement did not rule out support for cadbury bid but said berkshire
would decide after final offer is announced by deadline of january
if we conclude at that point that the offer does not destroy value for kraft
shareholders we will change our vote to yes the statement said
at this time however we believe no shareholder should vote yes when he
can possibly know what he is voting for
the news came as kraft sweetened its bid for cadbury by modifying the cash and
stock offer to reflect the decline in kraft share price
kraft said it made the change because of the desire expressed by some cadbury
security holders to have greater proportion of the offer in cash and because
kraft foods shareholders have expressed desire for kraft foods to be more
sparing in its use of undervalued kraft foods shares as currency for the offer
kraft hostile bid which has been repeatedly snubbed by cadbury had valued
cadbury at some billion dollars billion pounds billion euros
italian police arrest mafia members
rome jan afp
police have arrested mafia members in the naples area of southern italy
accused of involvement in violent struggle between organised crime factions
italian media reported on tuesday
those arrested were given jail sentences of between six and years in october
for drug dealing extortion associating with mafia members and holding illegal
weapons
in the late they used kalashnikov automatic rifles and grenades in
violent struggle between factions of the naples mafia the camorra to control
the drugs trade extortion and other criminal activities authorities said
during their investigation police identified the people behind killings
alert
nigeria will appeal to us to reverse flight screening minister
over million german bank cards hit by bug banks
berlin jan afp
around million german debit cards and million credit cards have been hit
by software bug related to adapting to the new year the country savings
bank association said on tuesday
the problem has hindered cardholders trying to use cash machines or make
payments throughout the country and abroad and is linked to software unable to
recognise the year
us pilot admits breaking alcohol limit for london flight
london jan afp
us pilot admitted in court tuesday turning up to fly plane from london
heathrow airport while over the legal alcohol limit
united airlines pilot erwin washington from lakewood outside denver
colorado pleaded guilty at uxbridge magistrates court west london to being
above the alcohol limit for flying plane
he had been due to captain boeing bound for chicago with passengers on
board and crew members on november last year when colleague smelled
alcohol on his breath
he was arrested shortly before the flight departure
the legal limit of alcohol allowed to fly plane is nine micrograms per
millilitres of breath however washington was more than three times over the
limit with breath test reading of micrograms
for comparison the british legal limit for driving car in breath is
micrograms
blood test showed he had milligrams of alcohol in millilitres of blood
the limit for pilots is milligrams for driving car it is milligrams
washington lawyer chris humphreys said the pilot was remorseful for events
he was released on unconditional bail and will be sentenced on february at the
nearby isleworth crown court
afp middle east news summary
nicosia jan afp
top middle east stories on tuesday
attacks world
sanaa the us embassy in yemen reopened after two day closure prompted by al
qaeda threats as us secretary of state hillary clinton warned unrest in the arab
country is threat to global stability
yemen unrest media demo
sanaa yemeni police lifted the siege of banned local newspaper in aden
accused of sympathising with separatists after two days of fighting that left
policeman and an armed guard dead and seven wounded
afghanistan unrest jordan qaeda
amman suicide bomber who killed eight people at cia base in afghanistan was
an al qaeda triple agent who duped western intelligence services for months
before turning on his handlers jihadist websites boasted
iran politics opposition media
tehran iran has banned its citizens from having contact with organisations
including the bbc human rights watch and opposition website rahesabz as well as
us funded broadcasters state media have reported
iran nuclear politics
tehran iran repeated on tuesday its counter proposal for staged swap of its
low enriched uranium leu for nuclear fuel from abroad for research reactor
leaving details open to discussion
mideast conflict settler construction
jerusalem israeli authorities said they had approved the construction of
homes for jewish settlers in occupied east jerusalem in move the palestinians
said would further threaten peace efforts
mideast conflict gaza justice israel britain
jerusalem israel has delayed visit by senior military officers to britain
amid fears the group could be arrested there on war crimes charges deputy
foreign minister danny ayalon said
mideast diplomacy saudi egypt iran
sharm el sheikh egypt exiled hamas leader khaled meshaal has assured saudi
arabia his movement is loyal to arab states said the kingdom foreign
minister prince saud al faisal
iraq us justice security blackwater politics
baghdad four us senators voiced regret over us court decision to drop
charges against american private security guards accused of killing iraqi
civilians in an unprovoked attack in
iraq oil un justice france us
baghdad iraq will file lawsuits in the united states against foreign firms for
alleged fraud in un oil for food scheme under saddam hussein regime the
country commerce minister said
kuwait politics economy debt
kuwait city the kuwaiti parliament postponed scheduled vote on
controversial multi billion dollar scheme to buy up citizens private debt after
heated exchanges
iraq justice rights execution
baghdad iraq executed people last year all of whom were convicted of
terrorism related offences the country supreme court said
tennis spain close in on hopman cup final
perth australia jan afp
spain are on target for fifth hopman cup final after an injury to victor
hanescu forced romania to forfeit their crucial group tie tuesday
both nations won their first ties earlier in the mixed teams tournament but the
spanish pairing of tommy robredo and maria jose martinez sanchez aiming to give
their country its third title remained unbeaten when they were handed the
victory over romanians sorana cirstea and hanescu
the spanish only need to win one of their three rubbers against australia on
thursday to be certain of reaching saturday final
martinez sanchez was too smart for cirstea in the women singles using deft
ball placement and touch rather than power to unsettle the romanian winning
in minutes
robredo who was part of the last spanish team to win the hopman cup when he
teamed with arantxa sanchez vicario in then took the first set off
hanescu before the romanian retired
hanescu who struggled with cramp against lleyton hewitt on saturday sought
treatment after the third game for what appeared to be an upper leg or groin
injury
he played on but conceded as soon as robredo claimed the first set forcing the
romanians to also concede what would have been dead mixed doubles rubber
regardless of whether hanescu is fit for thursday clash with the united
states the clean sweep means romania cannot reach the final
earlier australia kept their final hopes alive with win over the usa
the top seeds were stunned by romania on the opening day but bounced back to
trounce the americans who are now out of contention after also losing to spain
on sunday
samantha stosur the world number rebounded after her surprise loss to
cirstea on saturday to fire down aces and easily account for melanie oudin in
straight sets
hewitt then secured the tie for australia with barnstorming start winning the
first five games of the match on his way to an impressive win over
lanky american john isner
the americans gained some consolation by winning the dead mixed doubles rubber
in match tiebreak
hewitt aiming for return to the top made it two wins from as many singles
matches to start dismantling the imposing isner serve early
the former world number one was delighted with his form against isner
particularly with the way he handled the big man serve breaking it three
times despite aces
it was important to get good start and jump him early and was able to do
that hewitt said
felt like was reading his serve very well
moved extremely well passed extremely well and served as well as have in
long time
hewitt said strapping on his knee was simply precautionary after slightly
jarring the joint on saturday
football league cup semis fall victim to winter freeze
london jan afp
sub zero temperatures and heavy snow in the northwest of england has resulted in
both this week league cup semi final first leg ties being postponed
blackburn meeting with aston villa at ewood park scheduled to take place on
tuesday evening and manchester city derby clash with manchester united
which had been due to be played hours later both had to be called off
although ground staff would have been able to ensure playable conditions at both
venues thanks to under soil heating it was decided that the conditions would
make it hard for fans to get to the grounds and back home safely
the city united first leg has been rescheduled for january with the second
leg now to be played on january the new dates for the other semi final have
still to be arranged
football atletico to sign arsenal merida reports
madrid jan afp
arsenal spanish midfielder fran merida is set to sign five year deal with
atletico de madrid spanish sports newspapers said tuesday
the year old contract with the gunners expires this summer and he is ready
to move back to his homeland the as newspaper said
another sports daily marca said merida is one step away from signing for
madrid
the spain under international was signed from barcelona in but has
failed to secure regular first team spot at the london club
atletico has been active in the mid season transfer window after poor start to
the season that has left it in th place in the primera liga points behind
leaders barcelona
cricket comeback bid flops for pakistan younus
karachi jan afp
former pakistan captain younus khan chances of making quick comeback to
international cricket looked bleak tuesday as he flopped fourth innings in
row in drawn match in karachi
the year old younus who pulled out of pakistan tour of new zealand in
november due to poor batting form managed scores of nine in each of the two
innings in the four day match
younus played for habib bank against sui northern gas
younus who was caught at short cover off paceman imran ali in the first
innings again fell to sharp bat pad catch in the second innings off spinner
mohammad hafeez bowling
younus managed scores of seven and four for habib bank in the final of the
country premier first class tournament last month
the elegant batsman withdrew from the tour of new zealand and stepped down as
captain following his dismal run of scores in the three match one day series
against new zealand in the united arab emirates in november
because of his failure younus decided to take break from the game to regain
his form in bid to return to international cricket
there were also reports he had fallen out with team mates reason which forced
him to quit as captain
younus was not considered for the tour of australia after not making himself
available
team managers sent an sos for younus after their run defeat against
australia in the first test at melbourne last week but pakistan cricket board
chairman ijaz butt refused to concede to their demand
younus has not made enough runs to prove that he is in good form and we cannot
send player like that butt told the daily jang last week
pakistan is due to announce one day squad for the tour of australia in the
next couple of days but younus recent failures will make it hard for him to
press for place in the squad
pakistan are currently playing three test series in australia which will be
followed by five one day matches
younus last month vowed to stage comeback soon
regarded as one of the three finest batsmen in the world he has played
tests scoring runs with hundreds he also has runs in one
day internationals
he took over as pakistan captain in january last year and led pakistan to the
world twenty title in england in june
urgent over million german bank cards hit by bug banks
berlin jan afp
around million german debit cards and million credit cards have been hit
by software bug related to adapting to the new year the country savings
bank association said on tuesday
jal wins backing from workers for pension cuts
tokyo jan afp
japan airlines said tuesday that it had won vital backing from its workers to
slash their pensions as tokyo signalled that bankruptcy was possibility for
the debt ridden carrier
about of jal workers have agreed to reductions in their
corporate pensions more than the percent legally required for such move
spokesman for the airline said
however only about of jal retirees had accepted cuts in their
pension payments as of monday evening he said adding we are continuing to
try our best to gain their understanding
jal huge pension obligations are seen as major reason for its financial
troubles which were aggravated by the global recession
transport minister seiji maehara indicated tuesday that bankruptcy proceedings
were still an option for the money losing airline saying the priority was to
keep it flying
specific measures are more important than the form of jal restructuring he
told press conference
the focus should be on how jal can be revived as it continues its flight
services he added
jal private lenders favour out of court restructuring fearing legal
bankruptcy would damage the airline reputation and make it harder for them to
recoup their investments
the airline president haruka nishimatsu has told local media he also opposes
bankruptcy filing
the government backed body overseeing jal restructuring hopes to bring in an
outsider with no aviation experience as successor to nishimatsu the wall
street journal reported tuesday on its website
the enterprise turnaround initiative corp has asked japanese manufacturing
executive with revival experience to head jal the newspaper cited an unnamed
person familiar with the matter as saying
the newspaper said it was not clear who the executive was
jal shares closed up percent at yen tuesday extending rebound seen
after the government pledged over the weekend to expand an emergency credit line
to the airline to billion yen billion dollars
the stock had surged percent on monday after plunge of almost percent
on the last trading day of
battered by the global recession the carrier is seeking its fourth government
bailout since
the airline which lost about billion dollars in the six months to
september has said it plans thousands of job cuts and drastic reduction in
routes as part of its efforts to return to profitability
jal will receive fewer flight slots than its smaller rival all nippon airways
ana for new runway at haneda airport tokyo busiest air hub which serves
mainly domestic routes report said tuesday
the government has traditionally given equal treatment to the two major
carriers but judged that jal could not cope with sharp increase in flights
given its deep financial troubles the nikkei business daily said
officials at the transport ministry jal and ana declined to comment
jal has been offered financial assistance by both american airlines and delta
air lines which are competing to take stake in the japanese carrier as way
to expand into the asian market
the airline is reportedly leaning towards forging capital tie up with delta
air lines and joining the skyteam global alliance leaving the oneworld group
which includes american airlines
jal sees tie up with delta as way to fend off calls for it to end its
international service the nikkei reported
jal hopes that presenting its alliance with the us carrier as done deal will
allow it to keep its international routes and avoid court led bankruptcy it
quoted an unnamed person familiar with the matter as saying
dow jones newswires contributed to this story
troubled irish catholic church pays tribute to late leader
armagh northern ireland jan afp
ireland top catholic cleric paid tribute to his predecessor cardinal cahal
daly at his funeral tuesday and said the church must learn from him in
overcoming child abuse scandal
cardinal sean brady gave the homily for daly the former primate of all ireland
and archbishop of armagh who died on december aged at st patrick
cathedral in armagh northern ireland
hundreds of mourners were among the congregation including senior catholic
figures from britain and politicians such as northern ireland deputy first
minister martin mcguinness and irish president mary mcaleese
brady who took over as primate following daly retirement in said
shameful revelations of abuse of children by catholic clergy last year had
brought the church in ireland to defining moment in its history
as we contemplate the manifold challenges which lie ahead for the pilgrim
church in the ireland which he daly loved so dearly and served so generously
we would do well to draw strength from his tireless spirit and his boundless
confidence he said
he said the abuse scandal had damaged trust so profoundly in the integrity of
the leaders of the church and this could only be restored through the humble
service of god people and the safeguarding of children
it will require complete commitment to the path initiated by cardinal daly of
working with the civil authorities and whole parish communities to ensure best
practice cooperation and accountability in safeguarding children in all church
activities he said
brady also paid tribute to daly commitment to peace in british ruled northern
ireland which endured three decades of civil conflict between catholics and
protestants that ended in the good friday peace deal in
daly who lay in state in st peter cathedral in belfast from saturday until
monday will be buried in the grounds of st patrick
airbus set to ditch transport plane report
frankfurt jan afp
the head of european plane maker airbus is preparing to ditch its military
transport project which is bogged down in talks with clients german press
report said on tuesday
but german official said the intention was to press on with the programme
thomas enders reportedly told group of airbus directors last month he no
longer believed in pursuing the programme and had begun to prepare for it to be
terminated the financial times deutschland ftd said
lists of engineers to be transferred from the to the development of two
other key aircraft the superjumbo and the have already been drawn
up the newspaper added
the german defence ministry however said it aimed to continue with the
programme and hoped talks could still be wrapped up the end of the month
we will continue to clarify the necessary details for continuation of the
programme with the industry until the end of the month ministry spokesman
said
he added that state secretaries from the seven countries planning to buy the
plane were planning to meet in mid january
an airbus spokesman said it hoped to wrap up the negotiations positively
and constructively by january
airbus and its parent group the european aeronautic defence and space company
eads have been in discussions over cost overruns for several months with the
seven countries
total of aircraft had been ordered for around billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to pony up billions more to cover
unexpected costs
the financial times deutschland said enders estimated the chances of reaching an
agreement at around
and the german boss is not ready to threaten the civil aviation division which
is doing well just for the source close to the matter was quoted as
saying
the plane made its maiden flight on december in spain but deliveries are at
least three years behind schedule
an aeronautics industry expert at the private german economy institute klaus
heiner roehl said enders comments could be understood as threat to the
governments backing the programme to step up their support
it would of course be complete nonsense now that the maiden flight was
success to back out he told german rolling news channel tv
dow jones newswires contributed to this report
football birmingham set to capture michel
london jan afp
miguel marcos michel is set to become the first big signing of carson yeung
reign at birmingham with manager alex mcleish hoping to finalise deal for the
spanish playmaker this week
michel is currently at la liga side sporting gijon and is expected to move
to the premier league in deal worth around three million pounds
mcleish almost signed the midfielder in august but the clubs were unable to
agree on the structure of payments for the player
hong kong tycoon yeung who took over birmingham in october has promised to
back mcleish in the transfer market and the former scotland manager has said he
is looking to bring in two or three quality players during january
rangers striker kris boyd has also been touted as possible target for mcleish
who has been told he can spend up to million pounds
dave kitson the ireland striker who is out of favour at stoke would relish the
chance of move to celtic following six week loan spell under former hoops
boss gordon strachan at middlesbrough
kitson joined stoke from reading for million pounds in july
but having failed to establish himself as first team regular at the britannia
stadium he has welcomed reports of interest from celtic manager tony mowbray
who has also been linked with move for blackburn benni mccarthy
have just come back from being on loan at middlesbrough where gordon
strachan is the manager and he only has fantastic things to say about celtic
including how unbelievable the fans are kitson said
obviously stoke would need to be happy with any deal but moving to celtic
would be great opportunity am at critical point in my career when
should be at my peak and need to be playing
and unfortunately it doesn look like going to play too much at stoke
fulham manager roy hodgson meanwhile is bracing himself for multiple bids for
his on form striker bobby zamora
zamora who rejected move to hull last summer has scored six in his last
seven games and has goals to his name this season
sure he would attract attention because as have said before there are
not so many players of that type playing in the premier league and there are
even fewer english ones playing in the premier league said hodgson
we used to produce lot of big strong target playing type centre forwards and
we were always lamenting the fact that we didn have the little quick tricky
ones to play off them
now it seems there is dearth of target men so wouldn be at all surprised
if we have calls for bobby
hodgson however insists sale is out of the question
we ll tell those that do bid hopefully that he is not for sale and we want to
keep him here and we hope he wants to stay with us as well hodgson said
alert
over million german debit cards hit by software bug banks
icelandic president angers britain dutch over bank bill
reykjavik jan afp
iceland president said on tuesday he would not sign an unpopular bill to
compensate britain and the netherlands over the failure of icesave bank
threatening the survival of the government and triggering anger in london and
the hague
president olafur ragnar grimsson said in televised speech that he would put
the bill to referendum instead
have decided according to article of the constitution to refer this new
act to the people he said
