separately rival told afp that it was closely following developments over
the nexus one handset
we have been following google announcement with interest said spokeswoman
for which is the british division of spanish telcoms group telefonica
we welcome innovation in our industry and have already seen devices such as the
apple iphone and palm pre have huge effect on the way people use their mobile
phones
she added we have no current announcement to make about supporting the google
nexus one but we will continue to review and refresh our product range to ensure
we meet the demands of our customers
france wants to save airbus military transport project
paris jan afp
france on wednesday insisted that the building of high tech airbus
military transport planes must not be abandoned but germany looked unwilling to
plough more money into the much delayed project
french defence minister herve morin said that programme must be completed
responding to report that the airbus head wants to pull out and insisted that
client countries share the unforeseen extra costs
we want this programme to be completed morin said in televised interview on
wednesday we have put all possible technological efforts into this plane
morin had said earlier that talk of dropping the billion euro project was
bid by the european aeronautic defence and space company eads to gain leverage
in refinancing talks
he pointed the finger at the german government reportedly reluctant to share
the mounting costs
according to the financial times deutschland on tuesday airbus chief thomas
enders told group of airbus directors he no longer believed in pursuing the
programme and had begun to prepare for it to be terminated
morin said on tuesday that this was way of putting pressure on the german
government to help pay for completion of the project
developing the innovative high tech aircraft has proved much more costly and
time consuming than first planned when the project was agreed in by nato
members germany spain france britain turkey belgium and luxembourg
total of aircraft have been ordered for about billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to plough in more to cover unexpected costs
which morin estimated at five billion euros
source close to the german defence ministry was quoted on wednesday in the
newspaper handelsblatt as saying it is out of the question for us to pay more
than the million euros extra stipulated in the contract
germany defence ministry which has ordered of the aircraft for six billion
euros said on wednesday it aimed to reach an agreement with airbus but declined
to say whether it would to cough up more money
we are focusing on implementing the deal agreed with the company so that
the aircraft is made ministry spokesman steffen moritz told reporters in
berlin
but of course there are constant considerations about what other options there
are
morin criticised airbus the pride of the french aerospace industry for its
handling of the project
he said it should have drawn up specific military contract in which there
are always clauses that allow the price to be re evaluated because we know there
are always cost increases with military programmes
aerospace analyst howard wheeldon of london stockbrokers bgc partners said that
despite the german reservations he expected the countries concerned to reach an
agreement
termination at this interesting juncture would set the air forces of many
nations back to the point of their not being able to meet their respective nato
commitments few more years from now he wrote on tuesday
having got this far it would be quite ridiculous for governments to walk away
cricket south africa in sight of victory after breaking opening stand
cape town south africa jan afp
south africa were frustrated by century opening stand between andrew strauss
and alastair cook but remained on course for series levelling win on the
fourth day of the third test against england at newlands on wednesday
set to win or to bat out potential overs england were for
three at the close
strauss and cook survived some hostile new ball bowling and stayed
together until the th over before with just over an hour play remaining in
the day cook made crucial error top edging pull against friedel de wet to
send the ball high in the air for wicketkeeper mark boucher to make an easy
catch
strauss followed three overs later when he was caught at short leg off bat and
pad off left arm spinner paul harris
england hopes of saving the match suffered major blow shortly before the
close when kevin pietersen was leg before wicket to dale steyn two balls into
the fast bowler last spell of the day
pietersen had earlier been given out leg before to de wet but he sought review
of umpire daryl harper decision and was reprieved when it was clear he had
edged the ball into his pad
but there was no doubt about the decision when he walked across his stumps
against steyn and he walked off immediately when umpire tony hill gave him out
morne morkel and steyn both bowled well at the start of the final innings but
strauss and cook batted resolutely
steyn induced an edge from strauss in the second over but it fell short of
graeme smith at first slip
six overs later he had two close leg before wicket appeals turned down by umpire
tony hill and south africa decided not to seek reviews strauss responded in
steyn next over with three off side boundaries off successive balls
south africa added runs for the loss of five wickets in overs on
wednesday before smith declared
smith took his overnight score of to as he and jacques kallis batted
comfortably against the second new ball which was taken at the start of play
smith showed attacking intent as he added runs off balls but was caught on
the fine leg boundary when he top edged hook against graham onions he made
his off balls with fours
having successfully asked for review of leg before wicket decision when he
was on smith might have survived again had umpire hill spotted that onions
over stepped the bowling crease or smith asked for another review england
have only bowled two no balls in the first three matches of the series
kallis followed up his first innings century by making before he edged an
attempted square cut against james anderson and was caught behind
england went on the defensive in the second hour slowing down their over rate
and setting run saving fields only ten overs were bowled after the mid morning
drinks with anderson and stuart broad both taking six minutes or more to bowl
an over
south africa went for their shots after lunch when runs were added in
overs with all three batsmen who were dismissed falling in chase for quick
runs including jp duminy who made breezy off balls
anderson took three for and graeme swann three for
senegal creates religious affairs minister after spat
dakar jan afp
senegal president abdoulaye wade whose comments sparked row with christians
last week has appointed the country first minister for religious affairs the
government announced wednesday
mamadou bamba ndiaye former journalist and member of wade ruling party was
appointed minister and presidential spokesman communications minister moustapha
guirassy told afp
the appointment follows street clashes last week between christian youths and
security forces in dakar after wade angered christians by saying jesus christ
was not viewed as god by the country majority muslims
senegal top catholic cleric cardinal theodore adrien sarr accused the
government of insulting senegal christians
wade later issued an apology but the country roman catholic church called on
him to say sorry publicly
wade has also clashed with muslim religious leaders over his plans to erect
huge monument on the dakar seafront
we have had misunderstandings with the religious community in recent times
it absolutely normal to resolve the problem in putting system in place to
accompany the president guirassy told afp
wade muslim said on december during speech in which he defended his
decision to build the monument that muslims views christian churches as places
to pray to someone who is not god
in his new year message wednesday the archbishop said it was scandalous and
intolerable that the divinity of jesus christ heart of our faith is called
into question and ridiculed by the highest authority of the state
some percent of the population of the west african country is muslim and only
around five percent christian
football italian league table
rome jan afp
italian league table ahead of wednesday late match between ac milan and genoa
played won drawn lost goals against for points
inter milan
juventus
ac milan
napoli
roma
parma
fiorentina
bari
palermo
sampdoria
chievo
cagliari
genoa
lazio
udinese
livorno
bologna
catania
atalanta
siena
rugby union venter charge for ref rant
london jan afp
brendan venter the saracens director of rugby was hit with disciplinary
charges on wednesday after an outburst over the standards of refereeing in the
english premiership
venter was summoned to disciplinary hearing on january to answer charges of
conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game
the charges relate to venter comments about the performance of referee david
rose following saracens loss away to leicester on january
venter is accused of questioning rose integrity by saying the official had
been different referee in the second half of saturday match at welford road
the former springbok comments received wide publicity partly because he
broadened his comments to slam the standard of officiating in the premiership in
general which he blamed for lack of tries this season
venter said there is problem and that is the game is determined by referees
and not by teams
everybody says why don you play lot of rugby
go maybe it just not worth it because it is lottery
everybody wants to know why the game is dying maybe that is why the game is
dying
venter faces heavy fine and touchline ban if the charges against him are
upheld
blair allies call for ballot on british pm
london jan afp
two ex ministers called wednesday for ballot of labour lawmakers on whether
british prime minister gordon brown should remain leader highlighting his
vulnerability months before general election
brown has faced repeated rumours of threat to his struggling leadership since
taking over from tony blair in but has held on and will have to fight
general election before june this year
although the latest development seems unlikely to unseat brown it is deeply
embarrassing and makes public the splits which have dogged labour for most of
his premiership
in letter to all labour lawmakers geoff hoon defence secretary when
britain joined the iraq war in and former health secretary patricia
hewitt said the party was deeply divided over whether brown should be leader
many colleagues have expressed their frustration at the way in which this
question is affecting our political performance they wrote
we have therefore come to the conclusion that the only way to resolve this
issue would be to allow every member to express their view in secret ballot
if there was no secret ballot this grumbling could continue into the election
campaign diverting attention from our real message said hoon and hewitt
seen as blair allies
the letter gained early support from handful of persistent brown critics who
say that with labour around points behind the main opposition conservatives
led by david cameron it is time for change
its timing is awkward british political parties effectively started election
campaigning this week after the christmas break brown has not yet called the
general election but it looks likely to come in may
it seems improbable that any vote which could come as early as monday would go
against him not least because there is no obvious candidate to replace him
but if it did it could allow figures like foreign secretary david miliband
who reportedly considered standing against brown in way to challenge
for the leadership without having wielded the knife
in june last year brown fended off nascent leadership plot after several
cabinet ministers quit in quick succession and one james purnell urged him to
step down
westminster rumours that another cabinet minister could be about to call
publicly for brown to quit in the coming days have so far proved unfounded
peter mandelson business secretary and brown effective deputy who reportedly
fell out with the premier in recent weeks responded to the letter by saying the
government should carry on as usual
no one should over react to this initiative he said it is not led by
members of the government no one has resigned from the government
the prime minister continues to have the support of his colleagues and we
should carry on government business as usual mandelson has also dismissed the
reports of resignation
one of brown closest allies schools secretary ed balls also dismissed the
call for ballot saying it would make voters think labour had lost our
marbles
the government the cabinet the labour party is fully behind gordon brown
balls told sky news television ve spoken to the prime minister but he
getting on with doing his job
us security rules likely to harm ties with nigeria government
abuja jan afp
new us security restrictions on air passengers from nigeria are likely to harm
ties between the two countries the government in abuja warned on wednesday
nigeria views this action as having the potential of undermining long standing
and established us nigeria bilateral ties and the goodwill the us enjoys in
nigeria statement released after cabinet meeting said
nigeria expresses its disappointment and concern over the undeserved placement
of nigeria on the countries of interest list said the statement read out to
reporters by information minister dora akunyili
washington on sunday introduced new security measures for passengers flying to
the united states from countries after year old nigerian was accused of
trying to blow up us jetliner over detroit on christmas day
umar farouk abdulmutallab trained mechanical engineer who had explosives
sewn into his underwear had boarded northwest airlines flight from amsterdam
to detroit he had flown to amsterdam on klm flight from lagos
nigeria has since december expressed its deep sorrow and dismay over the
incident which it condemned in all its ramifications the statement said
cricket south africa england close of play scoreboard
cape town jan afp
scores at close of play on the fourth day of the third test between south africa
and england at newlands here on wednesday
south africa first innings
england first innings
south africa second innings overnight
prince lbw swann
smith collingwood onions
amla cook swann
kallis prior anderson
de villiers broad anderson
duminy prior anderson
boucher bell swann
steyn not out
extras lb nb pen
total wkts dec overs mins
fall of wickets prince amla smith kallis
de villiers boucher duminy
did not bat morkel harris de wet
bowling anderson onions nb swann broad
pietersen trott
england second innings
strauss amla harris
cook boucher de wet
trott not out
pietersen lbw steyn
anderson not out
extras lb
total wkts overs
to bat collingwood bell prior broad swann onions
bowling morkel steyn de wet harris
kallis
match position england need another to win with seven 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
football davis becomes burnley caretaker as coyle departs
london jan afp
burnley have appointed first team coach steve davis as caretaker manager as they
begin the search for the man to replace manager owen coyle who is set to sign
for premier league rivals bolton
davis will take charge for burnley league match against stoke on saturday with
the support of goalkeeping coach phil hughes club chairman barry kilby has
confirmed
the backroom staff will take the team on saturday and steve will be in charge
said kilby
lawyers from both clubs are currently working on compensation deal for coyle
who has expressed wish to leave turf moor for bolton where he played in the
mid
coyle was appointed burnley boss in november following spells in charge of
scottish clubs falkirk and st johnstone
the scot quickly made his mark in england with burnley generating number
of upsets in cup competitions before winning promotion to the top flight for the
first time in years
although bolton are currently in the premier league bottom three coyle will
enjoy considerably greater resources there than he has done at burnley who are
only two points clear of the drop zone
coyle came in tuesday and said goodbye to the staff at burnley and kilby could
not hide his disappointment at the glasgow born boss opting to move to their
lancashire rivals
he has big affection for this club there is no doubt about that it has been
fabulous two years he added
fully expected when he did move it would be upwards not sideways to club
we are fighting relegation scrap with we were surprised
but have been in football long enough to know these things happen and don
think owen took this decision lightly
kilby is now keen to get new man in place sooner rather than later
he added we have got to get going let put this behind us and make sure we
stay in this premier league
we have to see who is out there we need to get this one sorted out as soon as
we can
slovak police red faced over botched air security test
bratislava jan afp
slovak police apologised wednesday for botched security test that sent
explosives to ireland in the luggage of an unsuspecting air traveller and
sparked major security alert there
we are very sorry that good effort to test the security of civilian air
transport turned out so badly border police chief tibor mako told reporters
the test was performed saturday in the northeastern slovak city of poprad as
airports worldwide boosted security checks following an alleged attempt to set
off bomb on plane heading to detroit in the united states on december
but it almost turned into disaster as batch of explosives ended up on
dublin bound danube wings plane
mako said police planted two packages in order to test security at the airport
one dummy package and the other containing explosives
mako said the explosives package was successfully detected but police officer
forgot to remove the explosives after dog found them during security test
the explosives were then attached by accident to the backpack of year old
slovak electrician who unknowingly brought them to his flat in dublin he
added
mako said the police officer failed to inform his superiors and only told poprad
airport which in turn sent dublin airport telex message
dublin airport however said it had not learnt about the explosives until
tuesday
mako insisted the slovak side should not bear all the blame saying dublin
airport failed to discover the explosives during the luggage check
sections of inner city dublin were sealed off tuesday morning and homes and
businesses evacuated as anti terrorist police and irish army bomb disposal
experts raided the electrician apartment
they seized about grammes of research development explosive rdx in the
raid
the unwitting smuggler who has worked in ireland for three years and was
returning from christmas holiday in slovakia was arrested under anti
terrorist laws tuesday and released without charge later that day
slovak police said poprad airport immediately informed the pilot about the
explosives on board but he decided against an emergency landing
the plane and its passengers were actually in no danger as the explosives
didn have detonator mako insisted
but juraj zabojnik former top slovak security official said that amount of
explosives was serious danger even without detonator
the problem is that the explosives were allowed to leave slovakia in the first
place he added
slovak interior minister robert kalinak on tuesday apologised to irish justice
minister dermot ahern for the failed test his spokesman erik tomas told afp
tomas added the policeman would face disciplinary proceedings but it would be
unjust and inadequate to sanction his superiors
we also want to highlight similar case that happened in france in
available information shows they also held specific police officers
responsible he said
the blunder sparked outrage not only in ireland but also among slovak human
rights campaigners
our privacy is being compromised in the name of the war on terrorism but it
unacceptable to drag unsuspecting people into the police security tests
sarlota pufflerova head of the citizen and democracy association told afp
protests mark start of orthodox christmas in bethlehem
bethlehem west bank jan afp
orthodox christmas celebrations kicked off in the traditional birthplace of
jesus on wednesday to the sound of bagpipes and protests by palestinians
accusing church leaders of selling land to israelis
palestinian boy scouts played bagpipes and hundreds of pilgrims watched
colourful procession led by greek orthodox patriarch of jerusalem theophilos iii
through manger square in the israeli occupied west bank city of bethlehem
two columns of palestinian riot police escorted the top orthodox cleric in the
holy land to the church of the nativity built on the site where christians
believe mary gave birth to jesus after she and joseph found no room at the inn
theophilos was elected patriarch in to replace irineos dismissed by the
church over an alleged multi million dollar sale of church land in annexed arab
east jerusalem to jewish investors
the protesters chanted slogans against theophilos and held up signs in english
arabic and greek accusing him of betraying his palestinian followers
he did not fulfil his promise to cancel the deal said marwan tubasi
president of the council of arab orthodox organisations and palestinian deputy
tourism minister
tubasi said theophilos has since also approved the lease of further church land
to an israeli company
property transactions with israelis anger palestinians who see east jerusalem as
the capital of their promised state
following the procession theophilos began christmas ceremonies for greek
syrian and coptic churches leading prayers at the ancient church of the
nativity
some other orthodox churches also joined in rites that were attended by hundreds
of tourists and pilgrims
palestinian president mahmud abbas was due to attend midnight mass
the orthodox faith uses the old julian calendar in which christmas currently
falls days after its more widespread gregorian calendar counterpart on
december
the armenian church will celebrate the city third christmas on january
football italian league results st update
rome jan afp
italian league results on wednesday
chievo inter milan balotelli
cagliari lopez conti roma pizarro pen perrotta
atalanta napoli quagliarella pazienza
parma amoruso juventus salihamidzic castellini og
siena maccarone pen fiorentina kroldrup santana gilardino
mutu
catania spolli bologna
lazio floccari rocchi kolarov pen livorno bergvold
sampdoria cassano palermo cavani
bari riccardo meggiorini barreto udinese
evening match gmt
ac milan genoa
poland seeking three in sweden in auschwitz sign theft
warsaw jan afp
polish prosecutors said wednesday they wanted to question three swedish
residents over the theft of the infamous nazi german arbeit macht frei sign
from the former auschwitz death camp
we want to confirm the identity of these individuals about whom we have
partial details we want them to be questioned by polish investigators in
poland prosecutor artur wrona told reporters
the evidence gathered is solid enough to charge one of them and possibly
another the third would be questioned as witness he added
poland sent sweden formal request on december for aid in its probe of the
theft which sent shockwaves around the world
investigators declined to confirm reports by the polish news channel tvn that
the individuals are two swedes and swedish resident serb
the theft was discovered on december at the former world war ii death camp in
southern poland which is now state run museum and memorial
police recovered the five metre foot metal sign which means work will
set you free in german two days later in northern poland and arrested five
polish men the sign had been cut into three pieces
charged with theft and damage the men face up to years in prison
aged to they have criminal records for theft or violence but none
appeared to be neo nazis although they may have been working for foreign neo
nazis police said
swedish media have claimed the theft mastermind planned to sell the sign to
finance far right terrorist attacks against sweden parliament and the home of
prime minister fredrik reinfeldt on december swedish intelligence announced
it was probing plot to attack both targets
the cynical sign above auschwitz gateway has long symbolised the horror of the
camp created by nazi germany in occupied poland in and in operation until
soviet troops liberated it in
around million mainly jewish prisoners from across europe died at the camp
mostly in its notorious gas chambers among the other victims were non jewish
poles roma and captured soviet soldiers
afptv updated advisory
paris jan afp
we will file the following videos
yemen police capture key qaeda chief
sanaa
yemeni police on wednesday arrested key al qaeda chief believed to be behind
threats that saw several foreign missions in the capital sanaa close their
doors for the government the goal is to show it can eradicate extremists and
protect the interests of foreigners
news
voiced report to be transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
german credit card crisis cuts off millions of shoppers
berlin
more than million german bank cards have been hit by software bug that
cropped up on new year day keeping the cardholders from being able to
withdraw money from cash machines or make payments the problem stems from
faulty software unable to recognise the year according to bank
associations who have warned the feared computer bug has cropped up years
later than expected
news
images and soundbites to be transmitted by gmt
raw vid
web vid
we have already filed the following
snow brings mayhem to britain and france new offer
london
britain most brutal winter in decades caused chaos for travellers and
bitterly cold temperatures cloaked much of europe millions of people woke up to
heavy snow after storms spread overnight causing mayhem on the roads for
travellers
news
images and soundbites
raw vid
web mmv
all eyes on yemen after failed terror attack
sanaa
us and western anti terror efforts have refocused on the arab state of yemen in
