washington jan afp
two leading democrats in the us senate are announcing they will not seek re
election in november dealing double blow to efforts by president barack
obama allies to retain their critical vote majority
hours after senator byron dorgan announced tuesday he was retiring at the end of
the year us media citing democratic sources reported that senator chris dodd
would announce that he too would be stepping aside
it is grim political news for obama whose democrats when joined by two
independents currently hold exactly the seats in the seat senate needed
to overrun republican procedural roadblocks
over this holiday season have come to the conclusion with the support of my
family that will not be seeking another term dorgan said citing desire
to pursue other priorities after years in public life
dorgan denied his decision was tied to glum political prospects saying he would
have won reelection if he had run but republicans pounced on his retirement as
symptom of democratic pessimism about the coming election
for nearly year congressional democrats have been turning deaf ear to the
concerns of the american people and as the elections of approach many of
these same democrats are deciding to simply leave office instead of risking
certain defeat said michael steele republican national committee chairman
dodd will make his announcement at press conference in his home state of
connecticut according to the washington post which reported the story late
tuesday
the loss of dorgan from the relatively conservative state of north dakota was
seen as major blow for obama democrats while dodd had been considered one
of the seats most vulnerable to poaching by republican party eager to whittle
away at the majority
the question will be can democrats recruit serious and viable candidates in
both of those states harold ford jr chairman of the democratic leadership
council told msnbc on wednesday
dodd saw his political stock fall beginning in late with his failed bid for
the democratic presidential nomination which garnered meager public support
problems mounted when reports emerged later that year accused him of improperly
receiving discounts from troubled lender countrywide financial
as chairman of the powerful senate banking committee dodd elected to the
senate in had been deeply involved in the bitter debate about overhauling
the us health care system as well as the economic stimulus package adopted in
early
dodd had been facing what by all accounts was to be tough re election fight
against wealthy businesswoman linda mcmahon
democratic sources told political news outlet politico that dodd announcement
would allow connecticut popular attorney general richard blumenthal to run in
his place giving the party what they described as stronger nominee in the
race
he totally in top national democrat said about blumenthal candidacy
according to politico
republicans will have to defend six open seats in november while several obama
allies face tough campaigns as well
democratic senators appointed to fill vacancies in illinois and delaware
seats held by obama and vice president joe biden respectively have said they
will leave office when their terms expire in january
but dorgan is the first elected democratic senator to do so dodd would be the
second
senator dorgan should be very proud of his more than years of devoted
service in the united states congress obama said in statement tuesday
describing him as trusted leader for the people of his state
dorgan decision came after public opinion poll found him trailing north
dakota republican governor john hoeven who has yet to enter the race by
double digits
among the other white house allies in trouble democratic senate majority leader
harry reid and senator blanche lincoln of arkansas
politico citing democratic sources reported that colorado democratic
governor bill ritter will announce wednesday he will not seek reelection
mid term us elections typically see the party that holds the white house lose
congressional seats and republicans hope rising anti incumbent tide fed by
double digit unemployment will further boost their fortunes
us missiles kill militants in pakistan officials
miranshah pakistan jan afp
two us drone attacks killed at least militants in pakistan tribal belt on
the afghan border on wednesday flattening an extremist taliban training centre
pakistani officials said
suspected us drone fired missile at militants trawling through the wreckage
of the mud brick fort in sanzali village in north waziristan trying to pull out
bodies and survivors after an earlier attack on the centre
two foreigners died in the initial attack senior pakistani security
official in the northwestern city of peshawar told afp the nationalities of the
two were not immediately clear
five militants were killed in the previous attack and six in this attack the
official added speaking on condition of anonymity
another pakistani security official put the death toll at
eu takes icesave into account on iceland membership
brussels jan afp
iceland handling of the icesave bank failure will be taken into account in its
quest for european union membership the eu executive arm warned on wednesday
as britain threatens to withdraw its backing
the european commission is preparing an opinion for the eu member states on
how long the small island nation where the economy was ravaged by the economic
crisis might need to join
the opinion will of course take into account all relevant considerations for
fulfilling the criteria for membership commission spokesman told reporters
in brussels
in this context economic questions like the case of icesave will be
analysed very closely in light of iceland fulfilling its obligations in the
european economic area he said
iceland president olafur ragnar grimsson said on tuesday that he would not
sign controversial bill to compensate the british and dutch governments for
reimbursing icesave investors triggering anger in london and the hague
grimsson said he would put the bill to referendum instead
earlier wednesday britain financial services minister paul myners said
controversy over the billion euro billion dollar compensation deal
could impact on britain support for iceland eu bid
the collapse hit over british and dutch investors
iceland parliament voted last july to join the eu in the hope that membership
would help stabilise the economy following the collapse of its once booming
financial sector
iceland already applies about two thirds of eu legislation
the commission hopes that an acceptable solution for all the parties concerned
will be found the spokesman in brussels said
but he underlined the icesave agreement is mainly bilateral issue
between iceland the uk and the netherlands as it concerns compensation for uk
and dutch depositors in icesave accounts
france stands by airbus military plane project
paris jan afp
france insisted on wednesday that the european eads group must complete the
airbus military transport plane project after report that it wants to
pull out triggered sharp words from germany
french defence minister herve morin said that the much delayed contract must be
fulfilled and insisted that client countries share the unforeseen extra costs
which he estimated at five billion euros
we want this programme to be completed morin said in televised interview on
wednesday we have put all possible technological efforts into this plane
he had said earlier that talk of dropping the project was bid by the european
aeronautic defence and space company to gain leverage in refinancing talks and
pointed the finger at the german government which is 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 had been ordered for about billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to put up billions more to cover unexpected
costs
on wednesday morin criticised airbus the pride of the french aeronautic
industry for its handling of the civil contract for the planes
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
morin told bfm radio that germany was sticking point in the search for extra
funding
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 which has ordered of the aircraft for six billion euros said on
wednesday it was focused on finding joint solution but was tight lipped on
whether it was prepared to cough up more money
right now it about negotiating with the company and coming to joint
solution spokesman for the german defence ministry steffen moritz told
regular government briefing in berlin
he declined to comment on the handelsblatt report
economy minister rainer bruedele described the situation with airbus as poker
but said he expected sensible solution
airbus did not stick to its timetable it agreed to fixed prices that it was
obviously not able to keep to bruedele said on deutschlandfunk radio
otherwise they wouldn be in the current dilemma
urgent us missiles kill militants in pakistan officials
miranshah pakistan jan afp
two us drone attacks killed militants in pakistan tribal belt on the afghan
border on wednesday flattening an extremist taliban training centre pakistani
officials said
czech ex president havel protests chinese dissident jailing
prague jan afp
former czech president vaclav havel and two other communist era dissidents
wednesday denounced the conviction of leading dissident liu xiaobo and called
for the release of all political prisoners
we are here to ask the chinese president and through him the chinese
government not to persecute rights fighters who have their legitimate demands
backed by international pacts havel told reporters
havel actor pavel landovsky and bishop vaclav maly came to the mission to hand
over the letter to protest the december decision of beijing court to
sentence liu to years in jail for inciting subversion of state power
liu year old writer was detained in december after co authoring
charter bold manifesto calling for the reform of china one party
communist system and the protection of human rights
havel dissident playwright under prague communist regime toppled in
and then czechoslovak and czech president from to co authored
similar document charter published exactly years ago
in the letter the trio of ex dissidents said liu trial was the result of
political order and that it was chiefly meant as stern warning to others not
to follow his path
the letter also called on chinese president hu jintao to secure fair and
genuinely open trial for liu xiaobo when the court hears his appeal
we are also asking you and your government to end the house arrests and police
surveillance which have been imposed on other charter signatories to end
the criminalisation of free speech and to release all prisoners of conscience
the letter added
havel angered china when he invited his friend the dalai lama tibet
spiritual leader and rebiya kadeer an exiled uighur leader to conference in
prague last september
on wednesday the former dissidents had to put the letter in letterbox as no
one answered the embassy door
we are gatecrashers and doubt the ambassador would have time to meet us
but would at least expect doorman to be here and take the envelope havel
said after ringing the bell several times
obama rebukes spy chiefs over intelligence screw up
washington jan afp
an angry president barack obama has lectured us spy chiefs on an intelligence
screw up that left us airliner carrying people open to barely averted
al qaeda attack on christmas day
in highly unusual public rebuke of the us clandestine community obama on
tuesday made terse televised statement about the thwarted bombing after
gathering agency chiefs and national security aides at high stakes white house
meeting
hours after his statement yemen police on wednesday arrested key al qaeda
chief believed to be behind threats that saw several foreign missions in the
capital sanaa including the us embassy close their doors
yemen has been under increasing pressure in recent days to deal with the al
qaeda cell in the country which obama has blamed for being behind the airliner
plot
mohammed al hanq had evaded arrest on monday during security force raid in
arhab kilometres miles north of sanaa in which two of his relatives
were killed and three other people wounded
during the televised remarks obama suggested that missed red flags before the
airliner attack were more serious than originally thought
it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully
leveraged obama said that not acceptable and will not tolerate it
he was more explicit during the meeting in the secure white house situation
room an official said calling for immediate repairs to the flawed us security
system
this was screw up that could have been disastrous the official speaking on
condition of anonymity quoted obama as saying in the meeting
we dodged bullet but just barely it was averted by brave individuals not
because the system worked the president said according to the official
obama sharply worded comments contrasted with some of his earlier statements
on the botched attack which had led to criticism that his response lacked
sense of urgency
nigerian suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab is accused of trying to bring
down the northwest jet outside detroit with explosives sewn into his underwear
passengers and crew sprung into action thwarting his attempted attack
the united states has since unleashed barrage of measures to stop would be
attackers riding planes into the country overhauling its terror watchlists and
adding dozens more suspects to no fly lists
all travelers coming from or via terror linked countries will have to
undergo compulsory enhanced screening
obama spokesman robert gibbs said abdulmutallab spent number of hours with
fbi investigators in which we gleaned usable actionable intelligence
the president also announced tuesday that he would suspend the transfer of
yemeni detainess from the guantanamo bay prison camp
we will not be transferring additional detainees back to yemen at this time
obama told reporters at the white house vowing however to make good on his
promise to close the camp which was one of his first official acts as president
last january
we will close guantanamo prison which has damaged our national security
interests and become tremendous recruiting tool for al qaeda obama said
obama said probes into the botched plot to blow up the airliner showed us
intelligence missed other red flags related to abdulmutallab who had previously
traveled to yemen
he said us intelligence knew that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula wanted to
strike not only us targets in yemen but in the united states itself over the
holiday season
the bottom line is this the us government had sufficient information to have
uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the christmas day attack but our
intelligence community failed to connect those dots obama said
this was not failure to collect intelligence it was failure to integrate
and understand the intelligence that we already had
when suspected terrorist is able to board plane with explosives on
christmas day the system has failed in potentially disastrous way
obama national intelligence chief acknowledged shortcomings
we got it and we are moving forward to meet the new challenges director of
national intelligence dennis blair said in statement
obama vowed to lay out further steps to safeguard aviation security in the
coming weeks
many experts have expressed incredulity that abdulmutallab was able to travel on
valid us visa despite his suspected ties to extremists
the us embassy in yemen reopened tuesday after the two day closure prompted by
fears of an attack while the french embassy in sanaa reopened wednesday
the british embassy also reopened wednesday but its consular services remained
closed
alert
us drone attacks kill militants in pakistan security officials
tennis henin comeback gathers pace
brisbane australia jan afp
former world number one justine henin comeback gathered pace on wednesday with
hard fought win over sesil karatantcheva in the second round of the
brisbane international
henin remains on track to meet fellow belgian kim clijsters in the women final
but she will need to lift several notches if she is to trouble the reigning us
open champion
after downing second seed nadia petrova in the first round henin was expected
to crush the colourful qualifier from kazakhstan via bulgaria
however she struggled initially and found it hard to quell the challenge of
determined and aggressive karatantcheva
henin was forced to fight back from early breaks in both sets and despite the
belgian being in control for most of the match karatantcheva always seemed in
with chance
by contrast clijsters has demolished both her opponents in this tournament
tathiana garbin and alicia molik and is playing almost mistake free tennis
henin explained that she was simply rusty after being away from the game for
months
it was night game so we had different conditions from the first round she
said
playing in the evening waiting all day long not used to that so it took
me few games to get into the match
wasn aggressive enough but it question of rhythm and being used to
playing these types of matches
and the year old former world number one remained upbeat about her
performances so far this week
it only my second match and the fact that won and have another
opportunity to play third match tomorrow against melinda czink gives me
lot of confidence she said adding there was still room for improvement
think realised on the court at some points especially in the second set
that had to be more offensive more going to the net and did that when had
to
henin said there were no second thoughts about coming out of retirement to
rejoin the daily grind of the professional tour
it great being back on the court and of course every match is important and
every point is different she said
so happy being out there and that what remember now feel no
pressure now
earlier in the day the czech republic lucie safarova booked quarter final
against clijsters when she beat canada aleksandra wozniak in straight games
safarova was untroubled in her romp over the eighth seeded canadian and
said she was looking forward to her first meeting with clijsters
she great player will go out and give it my best safarova said
usually my game is very aggressive so going to try and get to the forehand
first and try to push her first because that the only way to beat her
third seed daniela hantuchova who is seeded to meet clijsters in the semi
finals was also impressive in win over agnes szavay of hungary
anastasia pavlyuchenkova set up quarter final against ana ivanovic after she
beat italian roberta vinci
corrected france stands by airbus military plane project
paris jan afp
france insisted on wednesday that the european eads group must complete the
airbus military transport plane project after report that it wants to
pull out triggered sharp words from germany
french defence minister herve morin said that the much delayed contract must be
fulfilled and insisted that client countries share the unforeseen extra costs
which he estimated at five billion euros
we want this programme to be completed morin said in televised interview on
wednesday we have put all possible technological efforts into this plane
he had said earlier that talk of dropping the project was bid by the european
aeronautic defence and space company to gain leverage in refinancing talks and
pointed the finger at the german government which is reportedly reluctant to
share the mounting costs
according to the financial times deutschland ftd 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 had been ordered for about billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to put up billions more to cover unexpected
costs
on wednesday morin criticised airbus the pride of the french aeronautic
industry for its handling of the civil contract for the planes
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
the german defence ministry has said it aims to continue with the programme and
hoped talks could be wrapped up the end of the month but morin told bfm radio
that germany was sticking point in the search for extra funding
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
formula one fia stand firm on briatore lifetime ban
paris jan afp
formula one governing body the fia insisted wednesday that the lifetime
suspension from motor sport imposed on former renault boss flavio briatore still
applies despite it being overturned by paris court
the high court in paris on tuesday ruled the sanction illegal citing
irregularities in the fia decision in september to ban briatore for
allegedly ordering nelson piquet junior to crash at the singapore grand
prix
former renault technical director pat symonds who had been handed five year
ban also had his suspension overturned
but the fia said in statement the court decision was not enforceable until
the fia appeal options have been exhausted
until then the world motor sport council decision continues to apply the
fia said
in addition the fia intends to consider appropriate actions to ensure that no
persons who would engage or who have engaged in such dangerous activities or
acts of intentional cheating will be allowed to participate in formula one in
the future
the fia ability to exclude those who intentionally put others lives at risk
has never before been put into doubt and the fia is carefully considering its
appeal options on this point
the scandal centred on driver piquet junior claims that the team had ordered
him to crash deliberately at singapore to enable teammate fernando alonso to go
on and win
tennis brisbane international results roundup
brisbane australia jan afp
results from the fourth day of the brisbane international tennis tournament on
wednesday denotes seed
second round
men
james blake usa bt marc gicquel fra
radek stepanek cze bt oleksandr dolgopolov jr ukr
wayne odesnik usa bt alejandro falla col
andy roddick usa bt carsten ball aus
richard gasquet fra bt matthew ebden aus
thomaz bellucci bra bt harel levy isr
gael monfils fra bt florent serra fra
tomas berdych cze bt marcos baghdatis cyp
women
daniela hantuchova svk bt agnes szavay hun
lucie safarova cze bt aleksandra wozniak can
anastasia pavlyuchenkova rus bt roberta vinci ita
justine henin bel bt sesil karatantcheva bul
chirac corruption trial expected in november official
paris jan afp
the trial of former french president jacques chirac on charges of corruption is
expected to begin in november judicial official said wednesday
the year old has been ordered to stand trial for misuse of public funds and
breach of trust related to accusations that he created fake jobs for political
allies when he was mayor of paris
president for years prime minister for six and mayor of paris for chirac
is accused of using the city payroll to provide salaries for aides who in
reality worked for his right wing political party
the charges centre on jobs attributed between and
chirac who has denied any wrongdoing faces up to years in jail and
euro dollar fine if convicted
formal hearing will be held on march to confirm the date
cricket south africa england scoreboard
cape town jan afp
scores at the end of south africa second innings on the fourth day of the
third test between south africa and england at newlands 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
match position england need to win in the second innings
toss england
umpires daryl harper aus tony hill nzl
tv umpire aleem dar pak
match referee roshan mahanama sri
slovaks apologise to ireland for botched air security test
bratislava jan afp
slovak police apologised wednesday for botched security test which led to
explosives they planted in the luggage of an unsuspecting air traveller to be
smuggled into ireland
it was the mistake of single policeman who forgot to remove the explosives
after dog found them during security test at bratislava poprad airport
on saturday border police chief tibor mako told journalists
the explosives were attached by accident to the backpack of year old
slovak electrician who unknowingly brought them to his flat in dublin mako
said
we are very sorry that good effort to test the security of civilian air
transport turned out so badly he added
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 man apartment
quantity of explosives thought to be grammes of research development
explosive rdx was seized in the raid which irish authorities said was
launched after the slovak side contacted police at dublin airport
the explosives 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
mako claimed the slovaks were not entirely to blame however
people in charge of security at dublin airport are partly responsible for the
incident as well as they failed to discover the explosives during the luggage
check he said
slovak interior minister robert kalinak on tuesday apologised to the irish
justice minister dermot ahern for the failed test interior ministry spokesman
erik tomas told afp
airports across the world have stepped up security checks and drills after
nigerian man allegedly tried to set off bomb on plane arriving at the us
airport of detroit on december
rugby union driscoll player of the decade for rugby world
london jan afp
leinster and ireland centre brian driscoll has been named as the player of the
last decade by rugby world magazine
driscoll who last year skippered ireland to their first six nations grand
slam and helped leinster win the european cup has been major figure in world
rugby since when he scored three tries for ireland in memorable win over
france in paris
the year old also played in all three lions tours during the noughties and
was nominated for the international rugby board world player of the year three
times
richie mccaw the only player to win the irb award twice had to be content with
place in rugby world team of the decade with england world cup
winning captain martin johnson deemed the best choice as skipper
rugby world team of the decade
mils muliaina nzl jason robinson eng brian driscoll irl matt giteau
aus shane williams wal dan carter nzl agustin pichot arg sergio
parisse ita richie mccaw nzl richard hill eng martin johnson eng
capt victor matfield rsa carl hayman new zealand john smit rsa
gethin jenkins wal
replacements rodrigo roncero arg mario ledesma arg sylvain marconnet
fra juan martin fernandez lobbe arg fourie du preez rsa jonny wilkinson
eng yannick jauzion fra juan martin hernandez arg
eu staff pay fight goes to court
