the clash began when redrado refused to rapidly hand over more than billion
dollars from argentina foreign currency reserves to pay off national debt
after the president ordered him to do so
kirchner called for the money to guarantee debt payments part of an effort to
end argentina isolation from global credit markets in the wake of its
default she demanded his resignation on wednesday
redrado vowed to stay in his post to guarantee as we have done in the last
five years monetary and financial stability
the government threatened to take redrado to court if he refused to hand over
the reserves to pay the debt
while opposition lawmakers and economists have backed redrado bankers and
unions asked for him to step down
the spat has unsettled markets and prompted sales of the argentine peso and
credit the buenos aires stock exchange opened down percent thursday
according to the central bank charter the government would have to turn to
congress to decide to remove sitting central bank president
however kirchner control over congress has weakened since mid term elections
last year
several hundred employees demonstrated wednesday in support of their boss
redrado will not leave read pamphlet handed out to passersby
kirchner in december signed presidential decree ordering the transfer of more
than billion dollars from central bank reserves to new fund known as the
bicentennial fund to guarantee debt payments in and free up cash for other
spending
redrado had sought to investigate all the possible legal consequences of such
decision
redrado took control of the central bank in under the government of nestor
kirchner the husband of the current president and his mandate is due to expire
in september this year
the government has offered his post to mario blejer who led the central bank
under the government of eduardo duhalde in during the worst economic
crisis for decades
although the government now has long running fiscal surplus it cannot borrow
freely in international capital markets because of lingering mistrust from
investors and because it still has to settle with bondholders who boycotted
previous debt restructuring in
argentina faces maturing debt repayments totaling billion dollars in
while the central bank reserves hold more than billion dollars
argentina fulfilled its repayments of billion dollars in but the rate
of growth in government income has slowed down due to the global economic
crisis
european stocks close narrowly mixed
london jan afp
european stock markets closed narrowly mixed on thursday ahead of us
employment report many are hoping will signal that the us economic recovery is
picking up steam dealers said
they said better than expected us weekly jobless claims bolstered confidence
amid speculation that friday us data might show return to job creation after
two years of heavy losses
investors however were not ready to make any major commitments leaving the
markets to trade in narrow ranges they added
in london the ftse index of leading shares slipped percent to
points in paris the cac added percent to points while in
frankfurt the dax shed percent to points
global equity markets have struggled to build on recent gains ahead of friday
crucial non farm payroll figures in the us said etx capital senior trader
manoj ladwa
in new york the blue chip dow jones industrial average was flat at around
midday gmt but the tech heavy nasdaq composite was down percent
the stock market appears to be marking time waiting for friday employment
report said fred dickson at da davidson and company
it would not surprise us to see big market reaction if friday employment
report shows job growth in december he said
consensus forecasts are for the data to show nonfarm payrolls fell by
after shedding in november with the unemployment rate flat at
percent
figures released thursday showed us initial claims for unemployment benefits
edged up in the past week to while other data pointed to modest
improvement in the labour market
today data is still headed in the right direction but the problem is that
these figures are not deemed anywhere near enough to considerably move the
needle in unemployment nor in jobs growth said jon ogg at moody economy com
dealers said there was little action overall
the bank of england held its key interest rate at record low percent
following two day meeting as expected
britain is the last major economy officially in recession but data due later
this month is expected to show return to growth in the fourth quarter of
it was very quiet day with no particular news lead wall street was steady
while the weekly jobless claims figures were slightly better than expected but
not too much of surprise one dealer in paris said
elsewhere in europe amsterdam fell percent brussels shed percent
madrid was down percent but milan rose percent while swiss stocks
slipped marginal percent
earlier thursday in asia markets were lower ahead of the us data and after new
japanese finance minister naota kan ruffled feathers with call for weaker
yen so as to boost exports
tokyo closed percent lower while sydney ended down percent at
as hong kong lost percent
signs that beijing might be tightening monetary conditions also dampened
sentiment pushing shanghai down percent
clinton okada due to meet in hawaii january
washington jan afp
the united states said thursday that secretary of state hillary clinton will
meet her japanese counterpart katsuya okada in hawaii on january adding the
issue of us bases is likely to come up
clinton will have meeting with okada on january during her stop in hawaii
en route to asia state department spokesman pj crowley said adding he
wouldn be surprised if bases were to come up in talks
talks start in guinea on new prime minister
conakry jan afp
talks began thursday in guinea on who will be the new prime minister after the
junta announced that it was ready to share power with the opposition to end
crisis in the west african country
bauxite rich guinea has been under military rule since december and
tensions reached their height last september when troops massacred at least
people at an opposition rally
the opposition has reacted with caution and goodwill to speech wednesday by
the interim junta leader general sekouba konate who opened the way to power
sharing and appeasement and urged politicians and civil society to work together
for elections
many questions remain unanswered who will be the consensus prime minister
responsible for leading the country to the elections will the new leader come
from political party trade union or civil society what will his or her
powers be
speculation was rife within hours of konate speech
we need someone technically competent and politically mature bah amadou oury
vice president of the opposition union of democratic forces of guinea ufdg
told afp thursday
for rabiatou serah diallo trade union leader in the forefront of the struggle
against the junta it would be ideal if the prime minister was neutral if he
had no political ambition it best if he comes from civil society and we are
categorical on this subject
the african encounter for the defence of human rights raddho based in dakar
estimated thursday that the best person for the job would be man of integrity
from civil society above all suspicion to lead transition that doesn take
long said its secretary general alioune tine
this man will need everybody help tine added suggesting that the new
leader could be religious person that would be the ideal he would reassure
everyone because he doesn rely on the state to wage campaign and wouldn
show any political ambition
officials from opposition parties briefly met thursday at the conakry home of
jean marie dore president of the union for progress in guinea upg and
spokesman of the forces vives active forces coalition that includes the
country political opposition trade unions and civil society
the meeting on konate speech has been postponed until friday at am
gmt because each party wants to go back to its headquarters to reflect
oury said
the social movement grouping labour leaders employers and civil society had
meeting thursday with prime minister kabine komara and went out later to report
to their followers and staff
you can see that clear will is taking shape trade union leader serah
diallo
the government has set up three working groups notably concerning the security
of opposition figures returning from exile she said after general konate
asked exiles to come home
there is also commission responsible for studying the claims of the work
force and another charged with getting the administration up and running again
the un secretary general special representative in west africa said djinnit
went wednesday to conakry and met konate the prime minister labour leaders and
the spokesman of the forces vives
konate initiative followed week long visit to morocco where the leader of
the junta captain moussa dadis camara is in hospital after being shot in the
head by his aide de camp on december
the moroccan foreign ministry announced thursday that during his stay in rabat
konate had talks with american and french officials
on tuesday washington announced that us assistant secretary of state for
african affairs johnnie carson had met konate and other members of the junta
slovenia favours spanish bank as partner for nlb minister
ljubljana jan afp
the slovenian government would be favorable to spanish bank banco santander
taking major stake in slovenia largest bank nlb finance minister franc
krizanic said thursday
according to report in the daily dnevnik banco santander is interested in
buying percent stake in nova ljubljanska banka from belgian bank kbc
kbc said in it would withdraw from nlb after ljubljana which controls
percent stake in the slovenian bank did not allow the belgian group to raise
its holding to majority
we would appreciate banco santander as strategic partner krizanic told
reporters
in december slovenian media reported that china development bank and british
private equity fund apax were interested in kbc stake in nlb
urgent clinton okada due to meet in hawaii january
washington jan afp
the united states said thursday that secretary of state hillary clinton will
meet her japanese counterpart katsuya okada in hawaii on january adding the
issue of us bases is likely to come up
corrected
washington jan afp
clinton to meet japan okada in hawaii on january us says
us police on hunt for girl bank robbers
washington jan afp
police were searching thursday for two adolescent girls suspected of robbing
bank in the northeastern state of ohio
the girls one believed to be between the ages of and and the other
couple of years younger pulled off the unarmed heist tuesday at bank in
suburb of cincinnati
police said the juvenile suspects wearing hooded sweatshirts that partly
concealed their faces passed note to teller demanding money and left with
an unspecified amount of cash in robbery recorded by the bank video camera
we never had teenagers robbing bank in the area it pretty uncommon said
sheriff department spokesman steve barnett who said the suspects likely would
be charged with aggravated bank robbery when apprehended
while teenage bank robbers are unusual robberies by young females are rarer
still officials said
according to fbi statistics young males are about ten times more likely than
girls to be arrested for robberies thefts or break ins
alert
clinton to meet japan okata in hawaii on january us says
rallying coma wins motorcycling stage
iquique chile jan afp
spain two time motorcycling champion marc coma won the sixth stage of the
dakar rally on thursday km special from antofagasta
coma eighth overall before the stage but who moved into fourth position
following his victory came in at least minutes clear of his rivals including
france overall leader cyril despres who finished second
golf africa open first round scores
east london south africa jan afp
leading africa open first round scores at par metre east london golf
club thursday rsa unless noted
richard sterne trevor fisher patrik sjoland swe titch moore mark
haastrup den
tjaart van der walt keith horne charl schwartzel thomas aiken
jake roos george coetzee deane pappas charl coetzee jose filipe lima
por sam hutsby eng jean baptiste gonnet fra michael lorenzo vera fra
justin walters eng james morrison eng miles tunnicliff eng andre cruse
james kingston michael hoey nir robert coles eng dion fourie
kenneth ferrie eng jarmo sandelin swe michiel bothma carl suneson
esp oliver bekker bradford vaughan hennie otto jbe kruger neil
schietekat marco ruiz par martin maritz thabang simon pelle edberg swe
darren clarke nir jaco van zyl louis de jager paulo pinto arg joost
luiten ned garry houston wal jacques blaauw
alejandro canizares esp steve basson alexandre kaleka fra raphael
jacquelin fra darren fichardt phillip archer eng stephen gallacher sco
mark murless oliver fisher eng desvonde botes klas eriksson swe reggie
adams clodomiro carranza arg andrew marshall eng peter baker eng sion
bebb wal gary boyd eng tyrone mordt branden grace ryan tipping
christiaan basson clinton whitelaw
selected
thomas bjorn den
phillip price wal
joakim haeggman swe
nick dougherty eng
danny lee nzl
cricket vaughan says england lucky over ball tampering
london jan afp
former captain michael vaughan said thursday england had been lucky to escape
official censure over allegations of ball tampering in the third test against
south africa
but michael atherton another ex england captain said stuart broad and james
anderson the two pace bowlers at the centre of the controversy were victims of
trial by television
the proteas raised concerns over the state of the ball after television pictures
during tuesday third day at newlands in cape town showed broad stopping the
ball with his boot spikes and moments later anderson working on the ball
ultimately no formal complaint was raised by south africa and that led the
international cricket council icc to announce the matter was closed as far as
it was concerned
but vaughan in his column in the london daily telegraph was in no doubt
england had been fortunate to avoid disciplinary action
they were lucky to get away without an official reprimand or even ban
because there was no doubt in my mind that they were trying to change the
condition of the ball
they will think twice before trying it on again at the wanderers next week as
it is anderson is lucky man don think anyone could have argued if he had
been asked to sit out the next match but the icc has brushed the whole thing
aside because they don want any controversy
vaughan also accused the world governing body of double standards saying there
would have been furore if for example pakistan had been involved
if shoaib akhtar or mohammad asif had been pictured using their fingers on the
ball there would have been uproar
meanwhile atherton who as england captain was fined in for rubbing dirt
into the ball against south africa at lord questioned the proteas behaviour
in raising the matter but then not following up with official action
atherton now the cricket correspondent of british daily the times wrote ball
tampering is serious allegation in cricket and if you make it as south africa
effectively did by publicly raising their concerns about the state of the
ball you had better be damn sure of your facts
but no formal complaint was forthcoming
after letting all and sundry know they felt england were up to no good on the
third evening south africa ran for cover yesterday wednesday
south africa actions were akin to throwing hand grenade in public place
then running before the explosion
atherton added anderson and broad have been tainted with cheating in the minds
of the public with no chance to state their case
it has been trial of television images shown the issue dissected judge
and jury without the defendants present
roughing up one side of the ball is way of inducing reverse swing and while
this can happen through wear and tear during the course of an innings it can
also be done through banned methods such as picking at the ball
but it was their batting above anything else that helped england escape with
draw on thursday final day when as happened in the first test they avoided
defeat with just one wicket standing
the result left england with an unbeatable series lead ahead of next week
fourth and final test at the wanderers ground in johannesburg
us airport scare was just kiss
new york jan afp
last minute kiss goodbye was responsible for massive security scare at
newark airport in new jersey newspaper reported thursday
newark international went on high alert sunday with huge delays for passengers
after an unidentified man was spotted in the sterile zone he was not caught
or even identified
the star ledger daily quoted security officials saying that videotape reveals
the feared intruder was no more than man wanting last kiss from departing
woman
he simply passed under rope barrier and with the woman went hand in hand
toward the boarding area the newspaper quotes the security officials and us
senator frank lautenberg as saying
the embarrassing revelation follows the brief shut down of bakersfield airport
in california on tuesday when passenger tried to bring five bottles onto the
plane
explosives tests initially came back positive police said but in the end the
substance turned out to be honey
us airports are jittery following christmas day incident in which nigerian
man allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on plane bound for detroit
president barack obama has called that major national security breach
gunman kills one wounds four at missouri power company
st louis missouri jan afp
gunman was on the run in missouri thursday after storming power company
office killing one person and wounding four others authorities said
fire brigade officials said five people were shot when gunman went on the
rampage at the offices of abb power two people were said to be in critical
condition and one was said to be serious as police hunted for the shooter
police swat teams entered the offices of abb power after reports of the shooting
spree at the busy factory of workers located near the center of st louis
the authorities shut down interstate highway in the hunt for year old
timothy hendron whom they named as their main suspect and said he was armed
with an assault rifle and handgun
police said the attack took place on semple avenue an industrial area that is
home to the local offices of the swiss swedish engineering giant abb
there is large business at this location with numerous employees inside of
the building police spokeswoman said the shooter is thought to be at this
location but he is currently unaccounted for
local media reported some employees had sought refuge on the roof of the
building to escape the gunman and were talking to police
we believe the suspect is in the complex right now that why are tactical
teams are going room by room it very large complex very
compartmentalized said police captain sam dodson
it very large complex and it connected to an even larger complex so its
very slow and methodical process and it will take several hours
he added there was no indication there was more than one shooter and confirmed
he was believed to be former employee
the suspect was armed with an assault rifle and hand gun and the whole
complex was involved in the shooting from the exterior to the interior dodson
added
according to kansas city court documents hendron was involved in legal
dispute with the firm over the management of employees retirement funds
abb spokesman bob fesmire could not confirm whether the shooter was former
employee
we can confirm that there was shooting but the information is still
unclear he told afp
fesmire said there would normally be around people in the factory from the
start of the first shift at around am to am around the time the
shooting is thought to have taken place
but he added there were fewer workers at the plant on thursday thanks to snow
blizzard and temperatures which plunged to degrees fahrenheit minus
celsius which forced some colleagues to stay at home
police said about to workers were inside at the time of the shooting at
the beginning of the shift
the plant is part of zurich based abb engineering business and makes power
transformers
estonia ready poised for talks with sas on estonian air sale
tallinn jan afp
the estonian government announced thursday that it will launch talks next week
with nordic carrier carrier sas on state takeover of the latter holding in
estonian air
we would like to buy up sas share at the lowest price possible but we do not
exclude the possibility that both estonia and sas will remain among the
company owners economics ministry spokesman kalev vapper told reporters
sas or scandinavian airlines system currently holds percent stake in
estonian air the estonian state owns percent and the remaining percent
belongs to estonian investment company cresco
the estonian daily postimees said thursday that sas was asking million
estonian kroons million euros million dollars for its stake
last month the government tasked economy minister juhan parts with beginning
talks with sas
at the time part said that if the state acquired majority holding it did not
plan to remain the main owner in the long term and would seek new strategic
investor
as recently as november sas had said it was considering buying the
estonian government share reportedly because of concerns about estonian air
financial woes and belief that it needed capital injection which the
government was unwilling to provide
estonian air has gradually recovered this year but sas has been refocusing on
its nordic operations in drive to stem its own financial problems offloading
subsidiaries such as spain spanair
estonian air was created as state owned carrier in the year the baltic
nation of million people won independence from the crumbling soviet union
in the government decided to privatise it launching tender for
percent stake which was won by danish aviation company maersk air working
with cresco maersk air sold its percent share to sas in
estonian air is minnow in the airline market with fleet of six planes
football giggs promises manchester united revival
manchester england jan afp
ryan giggs has insisted it won be long before he and his manchester united
team mates bounce back from their shock fa cup exit at the hands of third tier
leeds
manchester united loss at their old trafford home last weekend was one of
the most stunning cup upsets of recent seasons
but with united second in the premier league in the semi finals of the league
cup and through to the knockout phase of europe champions league there is
every chance of giggs english football most decorated player adding to his
league two european cups and two league cup winners medals
it has always been the same here one defeat and it is disaster giggs said
thursday ahead of united league match against birmingham on saturday
that is never going to change the welshman added
but we don get carried away with that just the same as we wouldn get
carried away if we had won on the bounce
it is up to us to work hard and get back to winning ways
we are still in strong position in the league and we are still in the
champions league
the turn of the year is when we are notoriously at our best
we have great team at the moment and still believe there is more for me to
win
giggs was speaking after receiving the freedom of salford which adjoins to
the west the larger city of manchester
although born and initially brought up in cardiff giggs moved north aged seven
when his father signed to play for the swinton rugby league club
played for salford boys at both rugby and football the united training
ground was at broughton my kids were born in hope hospital giggs recalled
everything big that has happened in my life has happened in salford
giggs one club man throughout his professional career said he was close to
following in his father footsteps and opting for rugby rather than football
until as teenager he met united manager sir alex ferguson for the first
time
moved to the area originally because my dad was rugby player and played
rugby from being or giggs said was certainly undecided
but at met the manager and that was the end of that
cyprus and russia violated human trafficking laws court
strasbourg jan afp
russia and cyprus broke laws on people trafficking europe top rights court
ruled thursday following the suspicious death of young russian cabaret
performer on the mediterranean island
in unanimous judgment the european court of human rights echr found the two
countries had violated article four of the european convention on human rights
which prohibits slavery and forced labour
the court also found cyprus breached articles protecting the right to life and
the right to liberty and security and awarded damages to the victim father of
euros from cyprus and euros from russia
oxana rancheva arrived in cyprus in march on an artiste visa to work
in cabaret only to quit her job after three days leaving note saying she
was going back to russia
after finding rancheva in disco ten days later the cabaret manager took her
to police in the early hours of the morning asking them to declare her an
illegal immigrant apparently to have her expelled with view to replacing her
in his show
the police found no evidence she was illegal and refused to detain her sending
her away with the cabaret manager
an hour later rancheva was found dead in the street below sixth floor
apartment where another cabaret employee lived bedspread looped through the
railing of the apartment balcony
an inquest in cyprus concluded she died by falling from the balcony while trying
to escape the apartment but found no evidence of criminal liability for her
death
her father nikolay ranchev who lives in the western russian town of
svetlogorsk took the case to the echr after cyprus refused to investigate his
daughter death any further
reports from the council of europe human rights commissioner and the us
state department have highlighted the role the cabaret industry and artiste
visas play in people trafficking for the sex trade in cyprus
the strasbourg judges found cyprus guilty of double breach of the rights
convention section on forced labour
firstly the court ruled cyprus failed to protect rancheva by failing to put in
place proper framework to fight people trafficking particularly under the
artiste visa regime
secondly the judges said the cypriot police had reason to suspect rancheva
might have been victim of trafficking and should have done more to protect
her
russia violated the same part of the convention by failing to investigate how
and where rancheva was recruited and identify those responsible
before the ruling the cypriot government unilaterally accepted it had breached
the rights convention and announced that three experts would investigate
rancheva death
in december the human rights commissioner thomas hammarberg slammed
cyprus for permitting flourishing trade in young foreign women imported for
sex in the island cabarets
hammarberg singled out the issue of special visas for so called artistes which
has facilitated the lucrative trade
cyprus issued some artiste visas in growing pressure from ngos and
the international community led it to abolish the scheme in but only with
effect from november
tennis hong kong tennis classic results
hong kong jan afp
results from the second day of the hong kong tennis classic exhibition
tournament on thursday matches were shortened to one set each due to rain
delay
women
victoria azarenka bel bt gisela dulko arg
venus williams usa bt caroline wozniacki den
men
stefan edberg swe bt michael chang usa
mixed doubles
caroline wozniacki den stefan edberg swe bt venus williams michael chang
usa
cricket dhoni kohli shape indian victory
dhaka jan afp
mahendra singh dhoni hammered an impressive century under pressure to power
india to six wicket victory over bangladesh in triangular one day series
match here thursday
india were struggling at before achieving stiff run target with
balls to spare in the day night match thanks to run stand for the fourth
wicket between skipper dhoni not out and virat kohli
the indian captain hit nine fours in his ball knock for his seventh one day
hundred
sri lanka lead the league table with two wins from as many matches followed by
india and bangladesh each side will play four league games before
the top two advance to the final
bangladesh earlier impressed with their batting with openers imrul kayes
and tamim iqbal and mohammad mahmudullah not out helping their team
to post the highest one day total against india
the hosts boosted their hopes of recording only their third one day win over
