already at the centre of unwelcome media attention over claims she mistreated
maid israel first lady sara netanyahu is facing another lawsuit from
housekeeper the yediot aharonot newspaper said on monday
the case was filed over two months ago but the court imposed gag order at the
request of the housekeeper who made the complaint the mass circulation paper
reported
while no details of the case were given the revelation is certain to cause
further embarrassment to hawkish prime minister benjamin netanyahu who has
tried in vain to get the media to stay out of his family affairs
in the first lawsuit which came to public attention earlier this month
housekeeper lillian peretz claimed that while in netanyahu employ she was
made to shower and change her clothes several times day and to compliment the
first lady telling her she was pretty and smart
the lawsuit alleges peretz woes were like the story of cinderella evidently
comparing sara netanyahu former air stewardess and now practising
psychologist to the fairy tale evil stepmother
netanyahu piled on her impossible tasks tyrannised her and screamed at her
insulted her femininity until her mental and physical collapse
the year old mother of four claimed she was paid less than the minimum wage
and the netanyahus did not pay her social benefits when she worked at their
weekend home in the plush coastal town of caesarea between and
the netanyahus have vehemently rejected the allegations saying in statement
that the lawsuit is riddled with slander and inventions against the prime
minister wife
haiti counts quake victims fears more dead
port au prince jan afp
haiti said around bodies were expected to have been recovered from the
wreckage of its devastating earthquake by monday with another feared
dead under the rubble
international donors were set for an emergency meeting in montreal to draw up
long term recovery plan for the stricken caribbean country where the
magnitude tremor demolished the capital port au prince
the united nations has appealed for more troops to bolster police efforts to
control fresh outbreaks of looting in the city where hundreds of thousands are
homeless hungry and wounded despite large scale us military intervention and
un run aid program
the cme health commission told me that they expected figure of dead
by monday communications minister marie lawrence jocelyn lassegue told afp
referring to the number of bodies found and officially counted
it very difficult to estimate how many more people might be dead but the
prime minister has spoken of she added previously haitian health
officials had quoted figure of just over dead
there were no reports of new casualties after magnitude aftershock rattled
haiti sunday
heard sound like grumbling then drumbeat as if something wanted to
burst from the belly of the earth said patrice dumont teacher from the
ruined town of leogane west of the capital
ministers in montreal will discuss how to streamline the delivery of food
water drugs and medical supplies to the swelling number of people living in
makeshift camps around the shattered capital
us secretary of state hillary clinton haitian prime minister jean max
bellerive canadian prime minister stephen harper and officials from the united
nations will attend monday talks
aid workers have been moving into the recovery phase after the government
officially called off search and rescue efforts but french rescue workers said
on sunday they had detected what might be another survivor
we detected movement on radar we don know what it is it could be an
animal or person we have been digging since gmt and it will take
hours french civil defense service commander philippe chaussinaid told afp
in the downtown district of delmas two dozen french firefighters were working
in and around the building behind cordon protected by armed french gendarmes
there was someone who came to talk to tell us that they heard noises from that
house there commander samuel bernes also of the french civil defense service
told afp at the scene
search teams on friday dug out year old shop employee wismond exantus
from the ruins he said he survived his days beneath the ruins by drinking
coca cola and eating snacks
in port au prince earthmovers demolished damaged buildings and cleared downtown
rubble spewing rotting corpses into the streets and opening new routes for
looters to swarm through the ruins
haitian police shouted out from time to time to deter the gangs but with little
conviction and less success the police shot one young man witnesses said who
was treated by us troops
meanwhile mass exodus from the capital was putting huge burden on small
towns like saint marc where refugees were lodging with friends
strangers or in churches
buses passed incessantly through the town some kilometers miles north of
port au prince loaded with earthquake victims hoping to find food and shelter
my house was destroyed we slept on the pavement near the wounded we had to
leave said magalie esteverle year old dressmaker with three children
staying with distant cousin of her husband
with the hobbled haitian government almost nowhere to be seen the first lady
defended her husband president rene preval handling of the aftermath of the
quake following scattered protests by desperate survivors
there have been criticisms that we ve heard about but like to urge people
to have sense of proportion elizabeth preval told reporters
as the potential for chaos rose the new un chief of mission in haiti called for
more manpower and vehicles and said that clearing rubble and counting victims
could take years
need manpower need soldiers edmond mulet whose predecessor was killed
when the un headquarters in port au prince collapsed in the january quake
told cnn
experts warn that hundreds of thousands of haitians will be living off foreign
aid and in temporary housing for years to come as rebuilding the nation may take
at least decade thousands have been left disabled
tennis australian open schedule
melbourne jan afp
tuesday schedule of play on show courts for the australian open tennis at
melbourne park denotes seeding all sessions start at am gmt
unless stated
rod laver arena
justine henin bel nadia petrova rus
zheng jie chn maria kirilenko rus
andy roddick usa marin cilic cro
not before pm gmt
andy murray gbr rafael nadal esp
bob bryan mike bryan usa eric butorac rajeev ram usa
margaret court arena
michael kohlmann ger jarko nieminen fin fernando gonzalez chi ivan
ljubicic cro
bettanie mattek sands usa yan zi chn venus williams serena williams
usa
lukasz kubot pol oliver marach aut ivo karlovic cro dusan vemic srb
show court
lisa raymond usa rennae stubbs aus gisela dulko arg flavia pennetta
ita
iveta benesova kukas dlouhy cze lisa raymond usa wesley moodie rsa
cara black zim liezel huber usa victoria azarenka blr svetlana
kuznetsova rus
marriages decline in korea due to economic downturn
seoul jan afp
more couples got divorced and fewer people married amid an economic downturn in
south korea last year adding to fears about the nation already low birthrate
data showed monday
statistics korea reported the number of weddings between january and november
last year fell percent year on year to
the number of divorces rose percent year on year to during the same
period the statistical office said in report
it said the number of babies born between january november last year decreased
percent year on year to
the economic downturn which makes it hard to find jobs may have led to
delayed marriages and more divorces statistics korea official told afp
the country is already waging uphill battle to raise its birthrate amid fears
of rapidly ageing society
the birthrate the average number of babies born during woman lifetime
remained near the world lowest at in and there are fears the
population will begin shrinking within decade
ericsson says profit shrinks to cut jobs
stockholm jan afp
swedish telecom giant ericsson said tuesday its net profit fell by percent in
the fourth quarter due to the costs of restructuring plan in which jobs
will be cut
ericsson reported net profit of million kronor million euro
million dollars between october and december compared to billion kronors
in the same period in the company said in statement
the profit margin was much worse than expected as analysts polled by dow jones
newswires had forecast net profit of billion kronors
ericsson had planned to slash jobs under cost cutting plan that was
launched in january but the swedish company said it would now lay off
people
philips turns th quarter profit
the hague jan afp
dutch electronics giant philips reported on monday fourth quarter net profit
of million euros million dollars against loss of billion euros
year earlier citing reduced costs and earnings growth
the result was better than expected by analysts questioned by dow jones
newswires who predicted net profits of millions euros
philips reported fold increase in earnings before interest tax and
amortisation ebita of million euros
thanks to the increased resilience of our company we ended the year with
strong fourth quarter said gerard kleisterlee president and ceo
he said the results left him confident about the firm future performance
while today economic circumstances do not allow for reliable prediction
of future developments am confident that based on our performance the
strength of our portfolio of globally leading businesses and our engaged
workforce will be year of further progress towards becoming the leading
company in health amp well being
sales for the three months to december stood at billion dollars drop of
five percent from year earlier due to foreign exchange factors
net profits for the year totalled million euros against net loss of
million euros in with sales percent lower at billion euros
world bank praises china anti inflation steps
beijing jan afp
the world bank said monday recent moves by china to clamp down on rampant
lending were the best way to tackle the problem of rising inflation and the
threat of asset bubbles
it is very tricky once you are in this situation of heavy credit growth to try
to come off that it is very fine line between doing it too quickly and not
doing enough ardo hansson lead economist of the world bank in beijing said
at news conference
trying small steps and seeing how the market reacts and hoping that the
market reacts in reasonable way is the best way to start
beijing moved this month to calm growing inflationary pressures and soaring
stock and property prices caused by runaway bank lending which last year nearly
doubled from
the people bank of china last thursday raised the interest rate on its
benchmark three month treasury bills for the second time in two weeks in bid
to deter new lending
it followed an earlier move on its benchmark one year treasury bills and
official data that showed the world third largest economy grew by percent
in and percent in the fourth quarter
chinese banks have also been ordered to increase their capital reserves
effectively limiting the amount of money they can lend amid mounting fears
over bad debts as consumers go on spending spree on property and cars
but if the banking sector does not heed government orders to rein in lending
beijing should raise interest rates hansson said
he said fears that higher interest rates will attract flood of speculative
hot money into the country were overstated
china has quite tight capital controls there is some money coming in but it
really domestic policy that has been driving this credit growth hansson said
think there will and should be an interest rate increase at some point in
time
raising rates may encourage investors to buy higher yielding yuan denominated
assets exacerbating inflation and putting pressure on the yuan to appreciate
in its annual report on the global economy released last week the world bank
said it expected china to grow by percent in which would dwarf the
global rate of percent
curfew relaxed in nigeria violence wracked city army
jos jan afp
authorities in central nigeria said monday curfew had been further relaxed and
normal life had returned to the city of jos where muslim christian clashes had
left an estimated people dead
following the return of normalcy to the city of jos and its environs the
curfew has been further relaxed to be from gmt to
gmt military spokesman colonel galadima shekari told afp
he advised residents of jos and its environs to adhere strictly to the curfew
hours
originally hour curfew had been imposed at the height of bloody violence on
tuesday which was relaxed the following day to gmt to
gmt lockdown
the decision to relax the curfew further by five hours was taken late sunday at
meeting of the plateau state government security council following gradual
return of normalcy to jos and its environs radio nigeria reported
the radio also confirmed that frightened residents continued to flee the
troubled city despite the gradual return of normalcy
fighting first erupted on sunday when christian youths protested the building of
mosque in christian majority area of jos capital of plateau state and
later spread to nearby towns and villages
houses churches mosques and vehicles were set ablaze in the four days of
fighting
figures provided by medical and aid officials religious and community leaders
as well as global rights watchdog human rights watch hrw put the death toll in
the clashes at
hrw quoting figures it got from muslim officials said that of those killed
were muslims
ethiopian plane crashes in lebanon no sign of survivors
beirut jan afp
an ethiopian jet carrying people plunged into the sea off the coast of
lebanon in ball of fire just after takeoff in stormy weather early monday with
no sign of survivors officials said
helicopters and navy vessels rushed to the crash site as president michel
sleiman ruled out foul play
transport minister ghazi aridi said ethiopian airlines flight lost contact
with the airport control tower shortly after takeoff and crashed into the
mediterranean sea nautical miles off the coastal town of naameh south of
the airport
the control tower was assisting the pilot of the plane on takeoff and suddenly
lost contact for no known reason aridi told reporters
families of the passengers some of them weeping could be seen huddled at the
vip lounge of beirut international airport while awaiting news of their loved
ones
one woman was sobbing and screaming why why
government official said there were several children on board the plane which
crashed about five minutes after takeoff at am gmt
witnesses reported seeing ball of fire as the boeing plunged into the sea
military official said four bodies had been recovered at the crash site by
early morning
sleiman said authorities had ruled out terrorism or sabotage as the cause of the
crash
up until now we have ruled out foul play sleiman told reporters
this is painful tragic event we are sparing no efforts in trying to find
survivors he added
our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the families of those on board
the accident took place amid heavy rains and storms in lebanon in the past two
days that have caused heavy flooding and damage in some parts of the country
officials listed passengers and seven crew members as having been on board
the flight
aridi said the passengers include lebanese ethiopians one iraqi one
french woman one syrian and seven crew members there were also several dual
nationals including two british lebanese one canadian lebanese and russian
lebanese
thousands of ethiopians are employed as domestic workers in lebanon and
ethiopian airlines operates regular flight between addis ababa and beirut
among those on board the flight was marla sanchez pietton the wife of france
ambassador to lebanon denis pietton the french embassy told afp
aridi said he had formed an investigative committee to determine the cause of
the crash and had contacted nearby countries to assist in the search and rescue
effort
the lebanese army navy as well as the united nations interim force in lebanon
unifil were assisting in the rescue aridi added
we have contacted everyone inside and outside the country that can assist us
and the lebanese navy the army and unifil have joined in the rescue the
minister added
he said the french organisation responsible for technical investigation of civil
aviation accidents was taking part in the probe
government official said cyprus was assisting in the search and rescue efforts
as were naval vessels from the un force stationed in lebanon unifil
prime minister saad hariri declared monday national day of mourning
the boeing which entered into commercial service in is one of the
latest versions of the world most widely used short to medium haul airliners
and is capable of carrying up to passengers
the accident comes just one month after panamian flagged ship transporting
livestock capsized in stormy weather and sank off the coast of northern lebanon
with around sailors on board
the majority of the sailors were rescued but were unaccounted for and
presumed dead
ferrero says won bid for cadbury
london jan afp
italian chocolate maker ferrero on monday said it did not intend making
counter bid for british confectioner cadbury which last week agreed to multi
billion dollar takeover from us giant kraft foods
ferrero international sa confirms that it does not intend to make an offer for
cadbury the group said in short statement to the london stock exchange
us chocolate maker hershey had on friday also ruled out counter bid after
reports suggested that it was weighing up joint offer with ferrero
ending bitter hostile takeover battle with kraft the board of cadbury last
week agreed to an improved offer worth billion pounds billion euros
billion dollars or pence per share
under the deal cadbury shareholders will also receive pence per share via
special dividend lifting kraft offer to billion pounds
indian police say kashmir plot to attack republic day foiled
srinagar india jan afp
troops in insurgency hit kashmir found large cache of arms and explosives that
were to be used in an attack on india republic day celebrations police said
monday
rebel violence routinely increases in the revolt hit muslim majority state of
kashmir ahead of january an annual national holiday
the discovery of the cache rendered severe blow to sinister plan of
militants to launch major offensive on the eve of republic day shakeel
beigh senior district police officer told reporters
grenades detonators mines and guns were found in the northern district of
baramulla and at another site in rajouri district near the de facto border
dividing kashmir between nuclear armed rivals india and pakistan
the region had been relatively stable in recent months
but there has been spike in violence in the run up to the republic day
festivities including militant siege of srinagar hotel that resulted in the
death of two militants policeman and civilian bystander
republic day marks the date in when india new republican constitution
came into effect india gained independence from britain in but went
through transitional phase when it was still classed as dominion
kashmiris have spurned the celebrations since the insurgency against rule from
new delhi began two decades ago
urgent ericsson says profit plunges to cut jobs
stockholm jan afp
swedish telecom giant ericsson said on tuesday its net profit plunged by
percent in the fourth quarter and the company would now cut jobs under its
restructuring plan
four bodies recovered from lebanon plane crash
beirut jan afp
lebanese rescue teams on monday recovered four bodies from the wreckage of an
airliner that crashed after takeoff in stormy weather off the coast just south
of beirut
we found the first debris off the coast of nehmeh kilometres seven miles
south of the airport and have so far found four bodies in that area an army
official told news conference monday morning
hopefully we will find survivors
ethiopian airlines flight carrying passengers and crew lost contact
with the airport control tower shortly after takeoff and crashed into the
mediterranean sea around am gmt
the accident took place amid heavy rains and storms in lebanon
this is painful tragic event we are sparing no efforts in trying to find
survivors our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the families of those on board
lebanese president michel sleiman told reporters
hospitals and medical teams must now be prepared as well as all those who will
be involved in keeping the families updated sleiman said the weather
conditions are terrible but rescue efforts are still underway
the lebanese army navy and the united nations interim force in lebanon unifil
are searching the area
ny bpz
oil prices turn higher in afternoon asian trade
singapore jan afp
oil prices were up in afternoon asian trade monday reversing earlier losses as
traders bought up cheap crude in an oversold market analysts said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in march rose
eight cents to dollars barrel in afternoon trade
brent north sea crude for march delivery gained cents to dollars
sometimes if the market is oversold there will be flurry of buying if the
prices drop enough said jason feer asia pacific vice president of energy
analysts argus media
however he added that the rise might not last
it hard to say whether it will be trending higher for today and if it just
short term trend that can be sustained
oil prices had fallen in the morning amid concerns of white house plan to
crack down on banks and prevent excessive risk taking analysts said
crude is under pressure from the slump last week after the white house
announcement said victor shum senior principal of purvin and gertz energy
consultants in singapore
the measures which require approval by congress would prevent banks or
financial institutions from owning investing in or sponsoring hedge fund or
private equity funds
tennis li breaks new ground for chinese tennis
melbourne jan afp
li na hailed another major step forward for chinese tennis after she upset
fourth seed caroline wonziacki in straight sets to reach the quarter finals of
the australian open here monday
the year old th seed joined countrywoman zheng jie in the last eight the
first time two chinese players have ever reached that stage of grand slam
li will face sixth seed venus williams in the quarters and won their only
previous clash at the beijing olympics in straight sets
her victory against wozniacki marked li best performance at the
australian open eclipsing her fourth round appearance in
it was the third time she has reached the last eight of grand slam but she
was most excited by joining zheng in the quarters
there is nothing better she said with broad grin mean this is good for
us for both players to reach the quarter finals
was playing aggressive today know she good player and knew if gave
her chance maybe she would beat me so was trying to hold on every point
and didn want to give her chance
li said tennis was improving in china and tipped the chinese men to start making
an impression on the tour before too long
it is because we are working so hard she said
actually in china we also have good men players but right now they don have
high rankings so they always play small tournaments
still believe after three years we will see more of the best of china male
tennis players
in match dominated by breaks of serve li was down service break and in
the first set but then rattled off the next six games to win the first set and
be break up herself in the second
the groundstrokes by the pair were as good as the serving was bad both players
trading powerful winners in an entertaining clash
however there were seven successive services breaks in the second set after li
held in the first game until the chinese star was able to steady and serve out
the match
denmark wozniacki was able to save one set point but then pushed forehand
long to hand li the upset win
wozniacki last year us open finalist called for the trainer after the fourth
game of the second set receiving treatment on her right thigh and returning to
the court with it bandaged
on the other hand li said she was enjoying the benefits of being fully fit at
the start of the year
last year didn play australian open because had knee surgery she said
but now that is much better
everyone can see was running so fast on the court
alert
ericsson says to cut jobs
cricket results from under world cup
wellington jan afp
results on monday from the first semi final of the icc under world cup being
played by countries in new zealand
at lincoln
west indies in overs kraigg brathwaite shane dowrich andre
creary sarmad bhatti raza hassan
pakistan in overs hammad azam not out rameez aziz jason
holder
pakistan won by wickets
second semi final between sri lanka and australia to be played on wednesday
alert
telecom giant ericsson says fourth quarter profit plunged percent
tennis davydenko takes long route to quarters
melbourne jan afp
nikolay davydenko smooth run at the australian open struck heavy going when he
needed five sets to douse spaniard fernando verdasco and advance to the quarter
finals on monday
the russian sixth seed bungled fourth set tiebreaker and was taken into
nervy fifth set before prevailing over the ninth seeded verdasco
in almost four hours
davydenko improved his winning streak to matches and he will take on either
top seed roger federer or australian nd seed lleyton hewitt in the quarters on
wednesday
it was great relief for the quirky russian who was known as the ice man
before becoming one of the hottest players on the men tour with his run of
form against the top stars
leading into his first match on the rod laver arena davydenko had dropped just
games in straight set victories in his three previous rounds
he looked like he would have few problems with misfiring verdasco claiming
the opening two sets before he was pulled into dogfight as the left hander
roared back taking the third set and the fourth set in fluctuating
tiebreaker
davydenko worked his way to in the tiebreaker with two serves to come but
imploded with backhand and forehand errors for verdasco to claim send the match
into fifth set
the russian recovered his composure to break verdasco in the sixth game to sail
to victory
it will be davydenko th grand slam quarter final and fourth in six years at
the australian open he has yet to progress past the semi final stage in grand
slams
it was again more misery for verdasco who served double faults among his
unforced errors
last year verdasco reached his only grand slam semi final here losing in five
sets to eventual champion rafael nadal in five hours minutes the longest
ever men match at the australian open
china denies state role in google cyberattacks
beijing jan afp
china on monday denied any state involvement in cyberattacks on google and
accused the united states of double standards as row with washington over
internet freedom intensified
the latest salvo from beijing came after the white house said us president
barack obama was troubled by google statements that it had been attacked by
china based hackers and demanded official answers
the us internet giant has threatened to abandon its chinese search engine and
perhaps end all operations in the country over the cyberattacks it has also
said it is no longer willing to bow to chinese government censors
but china said the hacking charges were without foundation
the accusation that the chinese government participated in any cyberattack
either in an explicit or inexplicit way is groundless and aims to denigrate
china an unnamed spokesman for the ministry of industry and information
technology told state news agency xinhua
we are firmly opposed to that the spokesman said
china policy on internet safety is transparent and consistent he added
saying that the country with the world largest online community was itself the
biggest victim of hacking
the global times an english language newspaper run by the people daily the
ruling communist party mouthpiece went even further saying the united
states itself was major source of hack attacks
the us is the first country to launch cyber warfare it said in an editorial
it said washington had cyber army of people equipped with over
computer viruses citing us defence expert joel harker
do unto others as you would have them do unto you the golden rule should
apply even online the paper said point made by xinhua in an editorial
calling the us hypocritical for criticising others on hacking
