vases from shipwreck the greek culture and tourism ministry said tuesday
the vases from the fourth and fifth century bc were pulled up from depths of
between to metres to feet off the coast of the polyaigos island
southwest of the cyclades archipelago located between greece and turkey in the
aegean sea
the finds by the aquatic archaeologists including vases used for transportation
and two small table vases all intact as well as fragments of the vessel
anchor shed light on commercial routes during the period
greek authorities have been mapping its seabeds for few years sometimes
cooperating with international institutes and have so far located several dozen
old shipwrecks
clinton positive on forgiving haiti debt
washington jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton voiced support tuesday for forgiving
haiti debt doubting the earthquake battered nation would be able to repay it
it just unrealistic to think that haiti would ever in the far foreseeable
future be able to repay clinton said in an interview with american urban
radio networks broadcast tuesday
clinton said the united states was looking at plans outlined by international
lenders to forgive haiti debt which stood at around one billion dollars before
the earthquake
three lenders the international monetary fund imf the world bank and the
inter american development bank made presentations on debt relief tuesday at
an emergency conference on haiti in montreal
absolutely it feasible we are looking at that clinton told the radio
network which is geared toward an african american audience
the imf and world bank last year forgave billion dollars in debt owed by the
western hemisphere poorest nation which was already suffering from floods and
high food prices
after the earthquake the world bank gave haiti five year grace period on debt
payments and the paris club which groups rich countries recommended canceling
the million dollars owed by haiti to its members
haiti top lender was venezuela not member of the paris club but leftist
president hugo chavez on monday announced he was forgiving the nation
million dollar debt to caracas
us representative maxine waters has appealed with the congressional black caucus
for the united states to use its influence with international lenders to forgive
haiti remaining debt
kosovo vows to improve minority serbs conditions
pristina jan afp
kosovo and the international community are working on special plan to better
integrate the country serb majority north into its social and political
institutions cabinet member said tuesday
the government is actively engaged with the ico international civilian office
in drafting the plan which would lead to the north integration sadri ferati
kosovo minister for local administration told afp
kosovo is predominantly ethnic albanian but its northern region which borders
serbia is almost exclusively inhabited by ethnic serbs who reject the central
government authority
the plan aims at establishing physical presence of the kosovo institutions in
the north as well as at strengthening the municipalities by integrating them
into the national administration he added
serbia considers kosovo breakaway province and actively encourages the
strong serb minority to boycott the government in pristina
separated from the rest of kosovo by the ibar river the north remains
flashpoint amid continuing tensions between its serbs and the ethnic albanian
majority
while the kosovo government does not wield any significant power over the north
serbia exercises control over the area by backing and financing its parallel
political economic and social system
ferati said the plan would consist of establishing the rule of law in the area
which has been considered one of the most tense and insecure in the balkans
citizens will be able to become decision makers without the need to improvise
parallel governance he said adding the plan would foresee special funds which
would provide great perspective for the region
serbian president boris tadic has dismissed the plan as useless provocation
the plan proposed by the ico anticipates some activities aimed at forcing the
serb majority in the north of kosovo to accept the unilateral proclamation of
independence tadic said during un security council session devoted to the
kosovo issue last week
serbian foreign minister vuk jeremic on tuesday in brussels called for an end to
all unilateral steps in kosovo
it extremely important that no unilateral steps are taken by anybody anymore
we ve had enough of unilateralism jeremic said
the ico in kosovo is mission that regroups the main countries that have
recognized the independence of kosovo proclaimed in february
it is in charge of monitoring the implementation of status settlement proposal
drafted by un special envoy martti ahtisaari
the ico is led by pieter feith who is also the european union special
representative to kosovo but does not represent all eu countries as cyprus
greece romania slovakia and spain do not recognize kosovo independence
noriega to appeal supreme court ruling lawyer
washington jan afp
panama former strongman manuel noriega plans to appeal us supreme court
decision allowing him to be extradited to france his lawyer told afp tuesday
frank rubino the former general long time attorney and confidant said he
spoke to his year old client after the supreme court on monday refused to
take up an appeal to bar his extradition to france on money laundering charges
he was of course disappointed rubino said from his offices in miami but he
is hopeful
we have days to file motion for reconsideration we are going to petition
the court he added
noriega was overthrown and captured during the us invasion of panama in
dubbed operation just cause
the former cia asset was later sentenced to years for drug trafficking
offenses term that was reduced for good behavior
he was due to be released on parole from florida jail in september
the appeal in which noriega will ask the supreme court justices to reconsider
tuesday decision will be just the latest in series he has launched as he
fights to return to his native panama after years in us custody
although noriega faces year sentence in panama for his role in the
beheading of political foe hugo spadafora and for the killing of nine underlings
who staged an unsuccessful coup against him in he would likely serve that
sentence under house arrest because of his age
but us law experts said noriega and rubino latest legal bid is highly
unlikely to succeed
reconsiderations are rarely if ever granted said tina drake zimmerman of
georgetown university supreme court institute there has been only one grant
from reconsideration petition in the last years
italy berlusconi praises generous us aid to haiti
rome jan afp
italian prime minister silvio berlusconi praised as generous and significant
tuesday us aid to haiti after us secretary of state hillary clinton said she
resented foreign criticism of the effort
the catastrophic scale of the haiti earthquake set the international community
an enormous task to relieve the people suffering berlusconi said in
communique
without the generous and significant intervention of the united states
everything would have been much more difficult he said
in critical situations like this it is unfortunately inevitable that
difficulties will emerge in the coordination aid efforts he said
statements that might inadvertently spark debate should be avoided he added
italy chief public safety official guido bertolaso has been among critics of
relief efforts in the devastated country saying sunday that the united states
had sent too many officers there and could not find capable leader
deeply resent those who attack our country the generosity of our people and
the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous
conditions after the earthquake clinton said in washington
berlusconi was adding his voice to that of his foreign minister franco
frattini who already sought to distance the italian government from bertolaso
remarks
they were dictated by emotions frattini said praising us leadership in
haiti
dubai property drag prompts imf to downgrade uae growth
dubai jan afp
the international monetary fund said tuesday it was downgrading its economic
growth forecast for the united arab emirates due to the drag of the dubai real
estate sector
overall gross domestic product in would be about flat between zero
percent and one percent masood ahmed the imf director of the middle east
and central asia told reporters in dubai
he added the debt problem of state firm dubai world which is negotiating the
restructuring of some billion dollars in debt would have some effect on the
uae economy for this year and also for next year
we expect continued contraction in dubai and positive growth in abu
dhabi the oil rich leading uae partner he added
as far as dubai is concerned the delay in recovery will result in the year
as whole in small contraction this will be compensated by abu dhabi
growth he said
ahmed said non oil economic growth in the uae will be near flat due to
continued drag from real estate in dubai which saw property prices drop by
half since the global financial crisis hit the once booming emirate in autumn
he said last year gdp of the uae contracted by percent after the fund had
projected it to shrink by percent
the imf was forecasting the uae economy to grow by percent in
according to the fund world economic outlook in october
in november dubai sent jitters throughout global markets when it said it wanted
to request freeze on debt repayments by its largest conglomerate dubai world
the group paid up islamic bonds worth billion dollars which were due on
december narrowly escaping default thanks to last minute five billion
dollar lifeline from abu dhabi
ahmed praised the dubai government cooperative approach to the restructuring
of dubai world debt but pointed out the process would take some time
we are very encouraged by the commitment of the authorities to continue with
the restructuring in cooperative way this is very important he said
underscoring the restructuring also extended to the operations of the troubled
subsidiaries themselves
that why we believe it will take time he said
ahmed added however that dubai would benefit from pick up in demand for
services from the region and emerging markets in light of an anticipated global
recovery
dubai has built modern infrastructure in recent years that is unmatched in the
region it has also established itself as the regional hub for tourism and
financial services
but the debt financed boom has resulted in huge debt burden whose exact figure
remains disputed
dubai debt was reportedly in autumn around billion dollars mostly owed by
state corporates but efg hermes regional investment bank said last week dubai
total debt could be as much as billion dollars
two russians jailed for attack on non slavic men
moscow jan afp
moscow city court said it jailed two russian youths tuesday for attacking
group of men of non slavic appearance one of whom georgian national
later died of stab wounds to the neck and chest
jury found year old student yegor kostyunin guilty of murder and
hooliganism he was sentenced to nine years the court said in statement
the second man mikhail kirillov was jailed for four years on charges of
hooliganism it said
the two were acquitted on additional charges of acting with motives of ethnic
hatred although investigators said that kirillov had shouted abuse accentuating
the nationality of the men
the youths drunkenly attacked the group of men in an underpass near moscow
yaroslavsky rail station in february investigators said
one of the victims georgian national later died of knife wounds inflicted by
kostyunin
the jury did not find that the crime was race related because the two youths
were not known members of an ultra nationalist group said galina kozhevnikova
from the sova ngo that monitors hate crimes
it is thought that racist murder can only be committed by members of
nationalist organisation kozhevnikova told afp
the jury had also not understood the shouting if nationalist slogans to be sign
of racism said the sova deputy director
it not xenophobia on the part of the jury it is just mistaken idea of what
racism is
survey published in december by independent pollster the levada centre found
that percent of russians support the nationalist slogan russia for
russians
prime minister vladimir putin monday praised authorities with cutting by half
last year the number of racially motivated crimes in russia where people of
non slavic appearance are frequent targets of harassment including violent
attacks by skinheads
the moscow bureau for human rights said in report this month that people
were killed in racist attacks in drop from the people killed in
british economy staggers out of record recession
london jan afp
britain narrowly emerged from its longest ever recession in the final quarter of
official data showed on tuesday but massive debt could stunt recovery
before general election due by june
gross domestic product the value of all goods and services produced in the
economy grew by just percent in the three months to december aided by
the services sector after percent contraction in the third quarter
the recession is officially over but only just said deutsche bank
economist george buckley
the positive figure which dashed market expectations for percent
expansion marked the end of deep recession which began in the second quarter
of as result of the global financial crisis
the return to quarterly growth may also not be enough for prime minister gordon
brown to keep his job in the upcoming election as the nation faces tough
recovery amid calls to tackle soaring state debt
while the uk may be officially out of recession it is far from out of the
economic woods said ihs global insight economist howard archer
like many western countries britain public debt has rocketed as the
government spent billions on financial stimulus measures and banking sector
bailouts in an attempt to avert economic meltdown
brown was confident but cautious about the outlook for the battered economy
his spokesman said on tuesday
the state of the economy has become the key battleground ahead of an election
that is likely to see brown labour party defeated by the main opposition
conservatives according to polls
whichever party wins power the nation faces serious public spending cuts and
taxation hikes in the years ahead to cut borrowing economists said
finance minister alistair darling told the bbc that the recovery would be
bumpy
there are many bumps along the way we are not out of the woods yet so think
my caution is right he said
what would say though is these figures which show modest growth demonstrate
the need for us to maintain support for the economy now
the conservatives finance spokesman george osborne blasted the government
over its handling of the economy
after this great recession any signs of growth are welcome but these very
weak growth figures show that gordon brown government left us badly prepared
for the recession and badly prepared for the recovery osborne said
we urgently need new model of economic growth that includes credible
deficit reduction plan that keeps mortgage rates low creates jobs and doesn
choke off recovery
but darling argued that the recovery could be compromised by cutting public
expenditure too soon
if you start to take money out of the economy and start cutting spending too
early you will end up wrecking the recovery
the return to growth after record six straight quarters of contraction means
that spain is the only major economy still trapped in recession after the worst
global economic downturn since the
the uk economy finally exited recession in the fourth quarter last year but at
snail pace said capital economics analyst jonathan loynes
with households under pressure credit in short supply and fiscal squeeze
looming the path back to pre recession levels of activity will be long and
bumpy one
british gdp shrank by percent in the fourth quarter compared with the
equivalent october december period in
the outlook for the global economy is far from rosy with the international
monetary fund imf and the united nations recently warning of possible
renewed or double dip recession this year
some commentators argued that britain return to growth was skewed because
temporary government measures had lifted gdp particularly in the retail and car
sectors
the ons said tuesday that the economy shrank percent in the biggest
annual contraction on record the government had forecast contraction of
percent in followed by growth of percent this year
the economy has shrunk by percent over the last six quarters
olympics fskate plushenko mulls sochi games showing
prague jan afp
russian figure skating star evgueni plushenko seeking to defend his olympic
title at the vancouver games is looking ahead revealing tuesday he was
already thinking about the games on home ice in sochi
in principle am not ruling out this idea will see how feel said
plushenko
everyone is trying to convince me to go it will be at home in russia so it
possible ll participate he told news conference in prague to promote his
ice olympic tour scheduled for april
plushenko is fresh from picking up his sixth european title in tallinn having
seen off games rivals such as swiss stephane lambiel and brian joubert of
france
after taking the olympic title in turin plushenko at first decided to
retire to spend more time on his skating company but he elected to make
comeback in order to try to win another gold in vancouver
he also garnered silver at the games in salt lake city and has
furthermore won three world titles
football ronaldo gets two match suspension for red card
madrid jan afp
real madrid cristiano ronaldo tuesday received two match suspension for
red card he picked up at the weekend the disciplinary committee of the spanish
football league announced
it said the world most expensive player had been punished for resorting to
dangerous play that caused an injury to an opponent
it also fined real euros and ronaldo euros
ronaldo spoiled stellar two goal display on sunday by getting sent off after
stray elbow caught danish defender patrick mtiliga who tugged the portuguese
winger shirt during the win over malaga
real sporting director jorge valdano described the referee decision as
unfair and very hard
but speaking prior to the disciplinary committee decision he told spain
cope radio that real will accept any decision by the body
the former manchester united star said monday he also felt his red card was
unjust
ve spoken to mtiliga and he said he doesn believe should apologise
because he doesn think hurt him intentionally he was quoted as saying on
the club website
never try to trick referees never intended to injure the player believe
they should be fair with what really happened
mtiliga suffered broken nose in the clash and has been ordered to rest for
week malaga said in statement on monday
it was the second dismissal of the season for ronaldo who was sent off in
win over almeria on december for kicking out at an opponent
football world cup maestro bora lends ghana support
luanda jan afp
the cheerful grey haired bespectacled man sitting alone in the stands watching
ghana train here on tuesday was none other than world cup maestro bora
milutinovic
the year old who is the only manager to lead five different countries to the
world cup has flown in to angola to offer support to his good friend and fellow
serb ghana coach milovan rajevic
milutinovic knows thing or two about nigeria ghana africa cup of nations
semi final rivals as he led the super eagles to the world cup finals
nigeria advantage is they have players with experience but ghana have good
young players and importantly they seem to have momentum behind them he told
afp
friends with the coach he done great job with ghana his team have
positive attitude
know they didn start this competition very well but they are gaining
experience and don forget have qualified for the world cup
in his widely travelled career milutinovic took mexico to the world cup
quarter finals in before also guiding costa rica united states
and nigeria to the second round
he was also in charge of china when it played its first world cup in he
has also coached the honduras and jamaican national teams
his last international position was with asian champions iraq whom he
managed at last year world cup dress rehearsal the confederations cup in south
africa
he predicted an open game at luanda november stadium in thursday semi
final
as for potential winners he said he had been impressed by defending champions
egypt who face algeria in thursday second semi final in benguela
egypt are playing very well they competed in the confederations cup last year
and it should be an exciting game against algeria
looking ahead to the first world cup on the african continent he added world
opinion says it time for an african team to win the world cup but it won be
easy teams have to have constant experience at this level
saudi passenger train derails injuring two tv
riyadh jan afp
saudi passenger train carrying passengers derailed on tuesday injuring
the driver and his assistant state run television reported
the injured men were hospitalised but none of the passengers were hurt in the
accident which took place kilometres miles east of the capital al
ekhbariya channel reported
the train was travelling along saudi arabia only passenger rail link some
kilometres miles long that connects riyadh and dammam coastal city in
the vast desert kingdom oil rich eastern province
european stocks rise london up percent
london jan afp
europe main stock markets rose on tuesday after good us company results and
report showing rising consumer confidence in the united states the world
largest economy
london benchmark ftse index rose percent to points the
paris cac gained percent to close at points and the frankfurt
dax advanced percent to points
germany boosts afghan efforts ahead of conference
berlin jan afp
germany announced on tuesday more troops for afghanistan and doubling of
its development aid in move that it hopes will set the tone for this week
london conference in on the war torn nation
unveiling development offensive and major boost to efforts to train the
afghan security forces chancellor angela merkel said soldiers would join
already in place and that reservists would be put on stand by
we have developed complete package for our future engagement which takes
it to new level namely new phase in handing responsibility to the afghan
government merkel said in berlin ahead of the arrival of afghan president
hamid karzai for talks
there can be no security without reconstruction but on the other hand there
can be no reconstruction without security
berlin stressed that it would begin this year to hand over responsibilities to
the afghan government this year and that it wanted its soldiers to start coming
home in target shared by us president barack obama
in the next four years we want to create the conditions to enable our military
presence to be wound down gradually we want to begin this year step by
step foreign minister guido westerwelle said
merkel noted however that the plans did not include setting fixed date for
the complete withdrawal of germany troops in the country currently based
mostly in the north
german troops currently form the third largest contingent in the strong
international force behind the united states and britain with the upper limit
capped by parliament at soldiers
berlin would provide million euros million dollars over five years to
million dollar international fund proposed by karzai to woo insurgents to
lay down their guns with the lure of jobs and money merkel said
in addition germany is almost doubling development aid to million euros
over with the aim of giving three quarters of northerners or three
million people access to work compared with percent at present
other goals include kilometres miles of roads giving half of the
population access to energy and clean drinking water up from percent now
and schools for percent of boys and girls versus quarter at present
merkel said that the increased focus on training which would be done by
german troops up from just at present would involve more contact with the
local population but that this did not mean more danger to troops
asked how germany new commitments would be received by the us administration
which is pressing its allies to back its surge of new soldiers this
year merkel said she had nothing to be ashamed of
obama has said he wants his surge to be matched by more troops from
other members of the nato military alliance swelling the foreign force to about
by the end of this year nine years into the mission
her comments came ahead of two day visit to berlin starting late tuesday by
karzai who is under pressure from his western backers to tackle rampant
corruption following his tainted re election on his way to london
earlier tuesday karzai met in turkey with president abdullah gul pakistani
president asif ali zardari and top officials from iran china tajikistan and
turkmenistan who backed his plans to offer incentives to taliban fighters
highlighting the security challenge suicide bomber struck near us military
base in kabul on tuesday wounding at least nine people
finland to host multinational crisis training
helsinki jan afp
finland will host multinational crisis management exercise in september the
military said tuesday adding several countries including the united states
would participate
in addition to finland thus far germany sweden denmark estonia latvia
poland the netherlands france and the united states have registered for the
exercise it said in statement
it said the simulated crisis management operation would be conducted on land and
sea with the nautical operations supported by air and special force operations
around vessels aircraft and some people are expected to take part in
the northern coasts exercise on september it said adding this was the
fourth time such training was being organised
previous northern coasts training has been conducted on the southern baltic sea
led by germany
world best restaurant el bulli to shut for two years chef
madrid jan afp
el bulli the spanish restaurant repeatedly crowned the world best will be
temporarily closed in and its chef ferran adria said tuesday citing
fatigue and need to perfect new recipes
no meals will be served in el bulli in and said the guru of avant
garde cuisine and creator of molecular gastronomy
but el bulli is not closing down these are not two years on sabbatical need
time to decide how is going to be we want the year to stand out and
know that when return it will not be the same
statement on the restaurant website added that these two years will be
devoted to thinking planning and preparing the new format for subsequent
years
el bulli on spain northeastern catalan coast last year came top of the
world best restaurants list for the fourth year in row following poll
of more than chefs restaurant critics and industry insiders for britain
restaurant magazine
gourmets the world over reserved sometimes years in advance for table in the
establishment where about avant garde dishes are available on menu for
price of about euros
but adria who appeared tired and nervous said he found working hours
day difficult
it impossible with the current format of el bulli to continue to create he
said at madrid fusion the annual international culinary conference focusing on
the cutting edge in haute cuisine
it like telling british designer john galliano to go work in factory
he acknowledged that in closing the restaurant he would lose his three michelin
stars
have lot of respect for the guidebooks and when you go you go
adria who joined the kitchen staff of el bulli in and heston blumenthal
in england have since the late rocked the world of gastronomy by using
science to deconstruct and rebuild food both astonishing diners and
delighting reviewers
taste bud treats on the el bulli menu have included oyster meringue hot ice
cream frothy truffle cappuccino and liquid ravioli while vegetables are turned
into lollipops or whipped foams
but he has had to respond to critics who say the chemicals used in his
molecular gastronomy make it unhealthy
can we be proud of cuisine created by ferran adria and his chorus of fans
which fills plates with gelling agents and laboratory emulsifiers another top
spanish chef santi santamaria said in
adria dismissed the comments as nonsense
homemade ice creams those which are excellent must have stabilising
substance to avoid crystallisation sugar goes through chemical and physical
transformation chocolate contains lecithin agar is thick substance that has
been used in japan for centuries he said
before announcing the temporary closure of el bulli adria had put on
presentation of his new dishes at madrid fusion including hare with red
fruit cannelloni with mushrooms and strong cocktail based on sugar cane
afp europe news summary
paris jan afp
top european news stories on tuesday
france politics religion islam women rights
paris french parliament report called for ban on the full islamic veil
saying muslim women who wear the burqa were mounting an unacceptable challenge
to french values
germany israel diplomacy iran nuclear
berlin german chancellor angela merkel ramped up the pressure on iran over its
