the involvement of the whole nation in the final decision is therefore the
prerequisite for successful solution reconciliation and recovery grimsson
said
in swift response britain insisted that the compensation deal must go through
while the netherlands said it was unacceptable and demanded an explanation
under the icelandic constitution if president refuses to sign bill voted by
parliament the issue is put to popular referendum or the bill is withdrawn by
parliament
icelandic prime minister johanna sigurdardottir has staked her political future
on passage of the bill saying in the past that her government could step down
it it were blocked
she told press conference the government would start preparing the referendum
and she would be meeting with members of her governing coalition at gmt on
tuesday to decide what steps to take to ensure the survival of the government
we express disappointment with our president decision she told reporters
adding the president decision could have great consequences for the economic
plan with the imf
the dispute over the icesave compensation scheme had delayed the disbursement of
funds under of billion dollar imf standby loan arranged in november
following the collapse of icelandic banks
the imf announced on december it had reached an agreement with iceland on the
release of third instalment of the loan
the icesave bill narrowly approved by the icelandic parliament on december
calls for the payout of billion euros billion dollars to the british
and dutch governments for having compensated more than british and dutch
savers who lost money in the collapse of the icelandic bank
the payout has stirred up resentment among many ordinary icelanders hard hit by
their country financial meltdown in october
about people about quarter of the country electorate have
signed petition protesting against the bill and calling for the issue to be
put to referendum
public opinion polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of the nation is
of the same opinion the president said in his speech
poll taken in august suggested that nearly percent of icelanders were
against the icesave deal the compensation amounting to about euros for
each citizen on the small island nation
however spokesman for britain treasury said the uk government expects
iceland to live up to its obligations
the treasury will consult with colleagues in iceland to understand why this
bill has not been passed and will work with them the netherlands and within the
eu to resolve this issue as soon as possible
in the netherlands finance ministry spokesman ruud slotboom told afp we are
extremely disappointed
that formulation of words is usually considered to be strong language in
diplomatic terms
the netherlands maintains that iceland is compelled to pay back the money he
said
we expect of the government of iceland to give us an explanation in the short
term of the situation now created and the steps to be taken said slotboom
the lack of solution for icesave is unacceptable
an earlier hold up in implementing the icesave compensation scheme had
threatened to complicate iceland bid to join the european union
on thursday ratings agency standard amp poor rewarded the decision by
iceland parliament to approve the bill with an announcement that it had raised
its outlook on iceland credit standing to stable from negative
the agency said it was also maintaining its long and short term bbb minus
rating on the country foreign currency debt
cricket cricket smith amla make england toil in heat
cape town south africa jan afp
graeme smith and hashim amla shared the best partnership of the match and made
england toil under hot sun as south africa stretched their lead on the third
day of the third test at newlands on tuesday
south africa were for one in their second innings at tea an overall lead of
smith not out and amla not out added an unbeaten for the second
wicket as south africa took advantage of the best batting conditions of the
match and england struggled in temperatures nearing
the first century stand of the test followed south africa quick wrapping up of
england first innings
england were all out for losing their last three wickets for runs in six
overs to give south africa lead of runs
fast bowler morne morkel took wickets off successive balls in the first over of
the day to complete his second five wicket haul in tests he finished with five
for
morkel had the right handed graeme swann and the left handed james anderson
caught at first slip by south african captain graeme smith off fast lifting
deliveries
matt prior hit boldly to take his overnight score from to before he was
bowled off bottom edge when he shaped to pull dale steyn who had figures of
four for
smith and ashwell prince put on for the first wicket in the second innings
before prince was leg before wicket to off spinner swann seventh ball of the
innings
prince survived one review successfully winning the reversal of leg side
caught behind decision made by umpire daryl harper off the bowling of anderson
when he had five replay showed the ball had glanced off his pad with the bat
not near the ball
but there seemed little point to his second call for review when he prodded
forward to swann and was given out by umpire tony hill he looked palpably out
and this was confirmed by replay
smith also survived review after being given out leg before to swann by umpire
hill
review showed he was beyond the discretionary distance from the stumps
when he was struck on the pad and that the ball would have gone just over the
top of the stumps
iraq to file us lawsuits over oil for food minister
baghdad jan afp
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 told afp tuesday
we have asked an american lawyer to prosecute the companies that violated the
law regarding the oil for food programme safaldin al safi said but did not
give any further details
french newspaper liberation said on tuesday that the iraqi government has
demanded total of billion dollars in compensation from companies for
alleged violations of the terms of the programme
according to the newspaper among the companies are french vehicle manufacturer
renault and banking giant bnp paribas
liberation said that bnp paribas rejected the allegations
the un oil for food programme ran from until when us led forces
invaded iraq
it allowed baghdad to sell limited amounts of oil to fund un supervised imports
of humanitarian goods which the country lacked because of tight un sanctions
imposed after iraq invasion of kuwait in
saddam government allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from the scheme
sparking scandal that caused major embarrassment to the united nations
last october the us magazine vanity fair reported that the federal reserve
shipped to baghdad total of billion dollars including oil for food funds
handed over by the united nations between april and june
at least nine billion dollars has gone missing unaccounted for in frenzy of
mismanagement and greed it said
cricket south africa england tea scoreboard
cape town jan afp
scores at tea on the second day of the third test between south africa and
england at newlands on tuesday
south africa first innings
england first innings
overnight
strauss boucher morkel
cook prince morkel
trott steyn
pietersen and steyn
collingwood lbw morkel
bell duminy kallis
prior steyn
broad steyn
swann smith morkel
anderson smith morkel
onions not out
extras lb nb
total overs min
fall of wickets strauss trott pietersen
collingwood cook bell broad swann
anderson
bowling morkel de wet nb steyn kallis
harris duminy
south africa second innings
prince lbw swann
smith not out
amla not out
extras lb pen
total wkt overs
fall of wicket prince
to bat kallis de villiers duminy boucher steyn morkel
harris de wet
bowling anderson onions swann broad
pietersen trott
match position south africa lead by runs with nine wickets remaining in the
second innings
toss england
umpires daryl harper aus tony hill nzl
tv umpire aleem dar pak
match referee roshan mahanama sri
london zoo stock take is elephantine task
london jan afp
at london zoo the animals come two by two and sometimes in fours and sixes
as well
the zoo annual stocktaking took place on tuesday giving keepers chance to
check on the numbers of everything from stick insects to tigers and even
sex change meerkat
it was an essential opportunity to draw breath after busy months which saw
host of new arrivals including the first two lion cubs to be born at the zoo
for decade
zoological director david field said it hugely important day of course we
are monitoring the information right throughout the year but today we make sure
that all our figures are correct to make sure we know who is breeding with who
and when
while the trio of giant galapagos tortoises had characteristically slow year
there was excitement in the meerkat enclosure with the birth of lia and her
brother roo only for lia to become liam five months later when she was found
to be boy
the gender of meerkats is often hard to establish immediately after birth
said zoo spokeswoman emma kenly but it was nice surprise for all of us when
lia changed sex
the dozen meerkats four lions including cubs gabriel and rudi and two
tigers are just some of the zoo mammals and it is home to more than
amphibians reptiles and over fish
and spare thought for the staff given the task of counting the bugs
the zoo attracts more than one million visitors year
kuwait parliament delays debt relief vote amid angry scenes
kuwait city jan afp
the kuwaiti parliament postponed scheduled vote on controversial multi
billion dollar scheme to buy up citizens private debt after heated exchanges on
tuesday
speaker jassem al khorafi adjourned the session until wednesday as he failed to
bring order to the floor when supporters and opponents of the plan traded
accusations
the bill which was approved at first reading two weeks ago would require the
government of the oil rich gulf state to buy up some billion dollars of
personal and consumer loans taken out by citizens
it would require the government to reschedule the repayment of the principal in
interest free instalments over years and forgive the interest currently owed
which is estimated at more than billion dollars
the government has strongly opposed the bill warning of serious economic
consequences and vowing to reject it even if parliament passes it at second and
final reading
under kuwaiti law the government can reject legislation passed by mps but it
must then go back to parliament which can override the veto if it can muster
two thirds majority in new vote
at first reading mps passed the bill by votes to following marathon
hour debate half of the mps who voted against were cabinet ministers who
have ex officio seats
in total the seat parliament has elected members one of whom is also
minister the other ministers hold their seats ex officio
finance minister mustafa al shamali told parliament on december the debt
relief scheme breached the constitution and could cost up to billion dollars
in public funds in addition to encouraging citizens to spend lavishly
the minister said the government is currently helping citizen debtors who are
unable to repay through billion dollar defaulters fund set up year ago
mps backing the plan however blamed the government for causing debt problem by
failing to apply strict monitoring on local banks which they said lured
citizens into taking out loans beyond their ability to repay
they said that more than citizens are facing legal action over debt
arrears
the bill would require the government to use returns on some billion dollars
of state deposits at local banks to cover the cost of the scheme
kuwait which says it sits on percent of global oil reserves has citizen
population of million people it pumps around million barrels per day
the emirate holds assets estimated at billion dollars mostly invested
abroad amassed during the past decade on the back of high oil prices
more than percent of the citizen workforce is employed by the government and
their average monthly salary is dollars per capita income in was
about dollars
turkish pm to visit russia for economic energy talks
ankara jan afp
turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan will fly to russia next week for
talks on boosting economic and energy cooperation his press office said
tuesday
the january visit will allow for strengthening multi dimensional ties
between the two states and discussing prospects of further developing
cooperation statement said
mutual economic issues especially the energy sector will also be on the
agenda
russia is one of turkey top trading partners and its main gas supplier
accounting for about percent of the country gas imports
on visit to ankara in august russian prime minister vladimir putin and
erdogan signed protocol to start surveying in turkish waters for the south
stream gas pipeline which is seen as rival to the eu backed nabucco pipeline
project
russia has been promoting south stream as an alternative route to europe after
price row with ukraine last year left millions without heating in winter and
sparked accusations moscow was using gas as political weapon
iran parliament advances plan to lift subsidies
tehran jan afp
iran conservative dominated parliament authorised the creation of state run
body on tuesday that will implement major plan to scrap costly subsidies on
energy and goods the isna news agency reported
mps approved the establishment of the organisation of targeted subsidies to be
responsible for spending the extra income generated from the phased out
subsidies
approval must be finalised by the guardians council iran legislative
oversight body
the performance of the new government agency will be examined by parliament as
well as the state audit organisation every six months
direct and indirect subsidies on goods cost the iranian government as much as
billion dollars year
currently iran petrol stations sell both domestically made and imported
unleaded petrol at rials per litre us cents and charge rials
per litre us cents for higher quality super unleaded petrol
electricity costs just six cents per kilowatt hours
the lifting of subsidies will take place in staged process and is due to be
concluded by the end of the country fifth five year development plan in
march
economists have warned about the inflationary effects of the plan which will
push up the cost of staples and transportation
according to iran central bank the year on year inflation stood at percent
at the end of november
the price of petrol kerosene lpg gasoil and other oil derivatives will be
gradually adjusted based on gulf prices and by march iran plans to raise
its fuel prices to no less than percent of gulf prices
president mahmoud ahamadinejad criticised for his expansionary and populist
policies said in that percent of the money saved from the plan would be
used to boost the spending power of people on low and middle incomes
eu experts to thrash out airport security response officials
brussels jan afp
european experts will meet on thursday to thrash out response to the foiled
christmas airline bombing amid moves to introduce body scanners and beefed up
us airport security eu officials said
at closed door talks in brussels aviation security experts will discuss the
fallout from the botched attempt to blow up us passenger jet using chemicals
raising fears of attacks with new materials easy to get through airports
the security committee is going to talk about the consequences of what happened
before christmas an eu transport official said on tuesday it would see what
happened and what each eu member state is doing
number of european union nations led by britain and the netherlands and
backed by germany and italy are ready to introduce scanners but the european
commission insists privacy and health concerns about them must be addressed
the eu executive arm considers body scanners if they meet the health
standards and security standards as useful additional tool providing they do
not contradict existing european legislation transport spokeswoman said
they should be considered additional to other security measures she said
in rome italian foreign minister franco frattini defended the use of full body
scanners saying the need for safety was more important than concerns they
invade privacy
some airports are bringing in the scanners which can see through clothing
after the nigerian man smuggled explosive chemicals onto the us plane but failed
to detonate device stitched into his underwear
it is the most reliable instrument frattini former eu justice
commissioner told radio
the scanners could even detect if terrorist has swallowed capsule full of
explosives and could become human bomb which would escape metal detector
he said
even if the scanners meant sacrifice for passengers privacy the right to
security is essential for all other freedoms he said
but in britain privacy campaigners told the guardian newspaper that the images
created by the machines were so graphic they amounted to virtual strip
searching and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy
terri dowty of civil rights group action on rights for children said the
scanners could breach child protection laws which made it illegal to create an
indecent image or pseudo image of child
they do not have the legal power to use full body scanners in this way she
said
eu justice experts are also closely monitoring tough new security measures being
introduced in the united states to try to stop any similar attacks
there has to be clear transatlantic partnership when it comes to introducing
these sorts of measures an eu justice official said we are of course
observing what is going on
mccain warns of growing qaeda threat from yemen
baghdad jan afp
us senator john mccain warned tuesday al qaeda is increasingly using yemen as
base to launch attacks around the world and called on washington to help the
arab country expel the terror network
mccain and fellow us senator joseph lieberman who both visited yemen in august
told reporters on one day trip to baghdad that the united states needed to
help yemen build up its economy
we cannot allow yemen to be base for al qaeda to mount attacks on other
countries in the region as well as the united states said mccain the
republican presidential candidate in
the government of yemen is going to need our help in combatting al qaeda there
needs to be significant effort made at improving their economy
mccain and lieberman were with fellow senators john barrasso and john thune
speaking at media conference at the us embassy in baghdad heavily fortified
green zone
lieberman said an american who was working in yemen had warned him during the
august visit that iraq was yesterday war afghanistan is today war and if
do not act pre emptively now yemen will be tomorrow war
long standing concerns that yemen has become haven for islamic terror groups
materialised on christmas day when nigerian man allegedly trained in yemen was
charged with trying to blow up us bound jet
tennis brisbane international results roundup
brisbane australia jan afp
results from the third day of the brisbane international tennis tournament on
tuesday denotes seed
first round
men
carsten ball aus bt mischa zverev ger
tomas berdych cze bt nick lindahl aus
oleksandr dolgopolov jr ukr bt bernard tomic aus
marcos baghdatis cyp bt mardy fish usa
james blake usa bt sam querrey usa
matthew ebden aus bt jurgen melzer aut
florent serra fra bt julian reister ger
gael monfils fra bt taylor dent usa
second round
women
andrea petkovic ger bt vania king usa
melinda czink hun bt barbora zahlavova strycova cze
kim clijsters bel bt alicia molik aus
ana ivanovic srb bt timea bacsinszky sui
sarkozy wants french carbon tax to take effect in july
paris jan afp
the french government decided tuesday that new carbon tax to fight global
warming will go into force in july week after the constitutional court struck
down previous version of the measure
president nicolas sarkozy told the council of ministers that the revamped tax
would be presented to the cabinet later this month and that it would go into
force on july government spokesman luc chatel told reporters
the constitutional council last tuesday declared the tax illegal just days
before it was to kick in dealing severe blow to sarkozy who championed the
measure aimed at encouraging french consumers to stop wasting energy
the court ruled that too many exemptions to the tax on carbon dioxide emissions
created inequalities and unfairly placed the burden of cutting down wasteful
energy use on minority of consumers
the council said more than of france top polluters would have been able
to dodge the tax and that the legislation did not apply to percent of
emissions from industrial sources
under the first law the new levy on oil gas and coal consumption had been set
at euros dollars per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions
finance minister christine lagarde suggested on tuesday that industry could be
subjected to the carbon tax but at separate rate to ensure companies are not
penalised with heavy tax burden
the new bill will be drafted following consultations with industry which was
exempt from the first version and submitted to parliament where sarkozy
party holds majority chatel said
the president raised the issue of the carbon tax said chatel during press
briefing after the cabinet meeting held at the elysee palace
the government reaffirmed its conviction that carbon tax is necessary to
change behaviour toward the environment am announcing that new carbon tax
will go into force on july he added
the government had anticipated revenues of billion euros billion
dollars from the tax in but the funds were earmarked for redistribution
in the form of tax breaks and green cheques to families that cut down
consumption
nestle makes giant pizza strike leaves cadbury to kraft
zurich jan afp
food giant nestle took big slice of the giant pizza market in north america on
tuesday announcing the purchase of kraft foods pizza business for billion
dollars billion euros
but nestle cash rich and takeover hungry revealed also that it was shunning
the british cadbury confectionary chain
instead it was kraft that said it would use the entire proceeds from the deal
with nestle to modify bid for cadbury in big re slicing of the food retail
sector financed in part by assets in the health business of eye care
the statement by nestle was seen as quashing rumours that the group which said
day ago that it would bank billion dollars for selling its stakes in
eyecare giant alcon to novartis would use its treasure chest to bid for
cadbury famous for milk chocolate bars
cadbury meanwhile which had rejected kraft earlier bid quickly said in
reaction that the hostile offer from kraft remained the same
kraft has once again missed the point despite this tinkering the kraft offer
remains unchanged and derisory with less than half the consideration in cash
said cadbury spokesman
under the new offer kraft has offered cadbury shareholders an additional
partial cash alternative of pence per cadbury share in place of some of the
new kraft foods shares that they would have otherwise received
the original cash and shares offer by kraft included pence in cash and
new kraft foods shares valuing cadbury at about billion pounds
initially
however the value has since fallen to around billion pounds billion
euros billion dollars amid drop in kraft share price and the
weakening us dollar
explaining its revised offer kraft said it was response to 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
the us group said it believed its share price has been depressed due to short
term factors which would dissipate once the uncertainty surrounding its offer
for cadbury is resolved
meanwhile nestle move to renounce bidding for cadbury means that it would
have enough firepower to do further acquisitions said bank vontobel analyst
claudia lenz
buying kraft frozen pizza business would meanwhile boost the group frozen
food business in north america lenz said making point also raised by nestle
chief paul bulcke
this frozen pizza business greatly enhances nestle frozen food activities in
north america bringing together selection of great us and canadian brands
industry leading amp and excellent route to market capabilities which
complement our existing ice cream direct store delivery said bulcke
with total sales of around billion swiss francs nestle will become the
world leader in the attractive fast growing frozen pizza category he added
the united states is the biggest pizza market in the world with consumer sales
of about billion dollars said nestle in statement
with estimated sales of billion dollars in kraft foods was the leader
in the frozen pizza category and had enjoyed double digit growth in the us and
canada over the last four years it added
brands owned by kraft include digiorno tombstone and california pizza kitchen
analysts from bank wegelin viewed the purchase as positive move for nestle
this pizza deal would not kill investors appetite as the frozen food sector
is taking on an immensely important role in today society it said
mergers acquisitions at five year low in survey
london jan afp
global merger and takeover activity fell by percent by value last year from
the level to trillion dollars trillion euros the lowest
total for five years survey found on tuesday
the fall would have been much bigger but for state rescues of several banks
the survey by consultants dealogic on the basis of worldwide announcements
showed that there was sharp recovery of merger and acquisition activity
towards the end of
the biggest deal of the year was the purchase of us pharmaceutical group wyeth
by us group pfizer for billion dollars
second came tie up of the australian iron ore activities of rio tinto and bhp
billiton followed by fusion of us pharmaceutical groups merck and schering
plough
however activity was propped up by rescues for several banks and financial
institutions notably by the british government rescue of royal bank of
scotland
the figures were also boosted by tie ups resulting from bankruptcies or
restructuring as the financial crisis exposed weaknesses across finance and
industry
by region activity fell by percent in the united states to billion
dollars and by percent in europe to billion dollars
but in the asia pacific region excluding japan it rose by percent to
billion dollars driven by the rio tinto bhp deal
dealogic data showed that merger and acquisition business appeared to be
recovering in the last quarter of last year the volume of mergers and
takeovers jumped by percent from the figure for the previous quarter to
billion dollars
strong aftershocks rattle solomons after quake and tsunami
honiara jan afp
series of powerful aftershocks rattled the solomon islands tuesday day
after magnitude quake and tsunami left around people homeless on the
remote pacific islands
the aftershocks ranging from magnitude to struck just minutes apart
from around gmt and came as officials visited isolated villages to check on
damage after monday earthquake
the latest aftershocks struck very close to monday quake off the south pacific
nation according to seismologists at the us geological survey
the pacific tsunami warning centre said there was no threat of pacific wide
tsunami but warned that localised destructive waves were possible
information from the remote area remained sketchy but police patrol boat from
