belfast jan afp
northern ireland first minister peter robinson denied friday innuendo that he
was in any way implicated in alleged financial dealings linked to his wife
affair with teenage lover
the story erupted this week in an emotionally charged admission of the affair by
robinson who leads the province devolved government and his wife iris who
tried to commit suicide last year while suffering from depression
but it threatened to develop into political crisis after bbc programme
alleged that iris robinson had secured pounds dollars
euros from wealthy developers for her then year old lover so that he
could open restaurant
iris robinson who is also politician but announced her resignation last month
on health grounds faces charges she failed to declare her financial interest
since she sat on the council which approved the business project
more seriously for her husband it is claimed that he became aware of the
situation but failed to alert appropriate watchdog authorities which would be
breach of parliamentary rules
but said robinson completely reject bbc spotlight attempt to implicate me
by insinuation and innuendo will be resolutely defending attacks on my
character and contesting any allegations of wrongdoing
deputy first minister martin mcguinness from the catholic republican party sinn
fein said he wanted urgent clarification
was shocked at the financial revelations made in last night spotlight
programme he said
have sought an urgent meeting with the first minister to discuss the
implications for the office of the first minister and deputy first minister he
added
the new revelations come amid heightened tension between robinson pro british
democratic unionists dup and its partners in the power sharing government in
belfast sinn fein who want united ireland
protestant conservative unionists the dup and catholic socialist republicans
sinn fein have shared power since but concern over return to violence
was fuelled by the death of two british soldiers and policeman in attacks by
dissident republicans last year
the good friday agreement ended most of the violence which had plagued
northern ireland for decades killing at least people and paved the way
for the establishment of devolved self rule in
sinn fein leader gerry adams meanwhile voiced growing frustration over the
transfer of justice and police powers
while not commenting on the robinsons latest woes he said we are totally
dissatisfied with the approach taken by the dup and this has continued in recent
days their return to business as usual is just that
they are still refusing to honour the commitment which they made in relation to
the transfer of powers on policing and justice and indeed in relation to power
sharing itself
it is three years ago this month since we held special party meeting in
relation to policing and for the last three years the dup have done everything
they can to prevent change from happening enough is enough
in london british prime minister gordon brown spokesman said the prime
minister view is that completing the devolution process is extremely important
and peter robinson is very closely involved in that
obviously there are personal issues that peter robinson has spoken about but
that is not for the prime minister to comment on
urgent swedish carmaker saab put into liquidation union
stockholm jan afp
swedish carmaker saab whose us owner gm has received several bids for the loss
making brand was placed in liquidation on friday the head of sweden main
industrial union said
spain dreams of economic government in europe
madrid jan afp
spain plans to use its eu presidency to push for form of european government
on economic issues with the promise of rewards for members who meet binding
targets and the threat of sanctions for those that don
the spanish government intends to launch the initiative at an eu summit in
brussels on february which will focus on ways to revive sluggish growth
prime minister jose luis rodriguez zapatero told reporters late thursday
in launching the potentially controversial initiative madrid is clearly posting
its desire to play leading role in european affairs despite the new leadership
dynamic created by the lisbon reform treaty under which belgium herman van
rompuy has become the european union first permanent president
spain hopes the eu can agree on replacement for the bloc long term growth
strategy known as the lisbon agenda which was supposed to make it the world
most competitive economy by but never achieved its aims as governments were
under no obligation to conform
spain which began its six month eu presidency stint on january now plans to
learn from that failure and introduce new year growth strategy
it is vital to have new kind of strategy for to make it more
efficient said zapatero
the new plan must include incentive measures and corrective measures for
states that fail to fall into line he said
he mentioned information technology and energy as sectors where this could be
applied
spain secretary of state for european affairs diego lopez garrido said the
idea would be to reward countries with eu aid when they meet the binding
targets and to sanction those that do not
that would imply that the eu would have the right to oversee national budgetary
priorities in addition to the existing stability pact which imposes limits on
public deficits for eurozone members
spain risks antagonising britain and other countries with more liberal
economies which fear loss of sovereignty on economic issues
but spanish economy minister elena salgado said the global economic slowdown had
changed the view of number of countries which are most conscious of the need
of reinforced cooperation
zapatero said that certain number of countries back greater economic unity
france for example
paris has for some years has pushed for an economic government at least
within those nations that share the euro single currency despite resistance
from germany which sees it as threat to the independence of the european
central bank on interest rates
france floated such plan in late at the height of the financial crisis
now zapatero wants to pick up the baton
the idea is still on the table he said
german finance ministry spokesman michael offer said friday there were
definitely some core ideas there that are not wrong in spain proposal
it contains issues that are important to us how to drive growth so that we can
create jobs and tax income and the exit strategy of stimulus measures that we
want to put into place from he told regular government briefing in
berlin
but this doesn mean that we are at some point going to implement every single
measure as it stands instead they constitute an opening shot that will now be
taken up in the relevant bodies
spain assumed the eu presidency from sweden at the start of the year and will
oversee the first six month stint where the system of rotating presidency sits
alongside van rompuy in his new post as president of the european council
football vieira completes city move
manchester england jan afp
inter milan midfielder patrick vieira on friday completed his move to manchester
city
france international vieira who becomes new blues boss roberto mancini first
signing has signed six month deal with an option for further year
the year old deal at inter was due to expire in the summer and the former
ac milan and arsenal midfielder is desperate to secure first team football as he
bids for place in france world cup squad
mancini who worked with vieira at the san siro told the club website
www mcfc co uk patrick is world class midfielder with winner mentality
and will fit into this group very well
he knows me and my staff well and importantly he also knows what the premier
league is all about he will not need much time to settle in
patrick is one of the great players of his era with almost every honour in the
game against his name am sure city fans will welcome him warmly and
appreciate the contribution he will make
vieira joined arsenal from ac milan in and went on to become pivotal
figure as the gunners landed three premier league titles and four fa cups
he moved to juventus in spending one season there during which time the
club claimed the scudetto before being stripped of the crown due to the match
fixing scandal and consequently relegated to serie
vieira then joined inter where he won three serie crowns and two italian cup
titles
he has won caps with france helping them to their world cup and
european championship successes
although vieira is no longer the dominant midfielder he once was arsenal boss
arsene wenger believes he can make success of his second spell in english
football
at that age it is very difficult to stay at your best if you do not play
wenger said was asked many times the question in france and have said
patrick needed to change clubs to play so he could be competitive
for me he has made the right choice city have made the right choice so it
should be good marriage
wenger had been interested in bringing vieira back to arsenal at the start of
this season but finally decided he had enough cover in midfield with alex song
abou diaby and denilson all capable of playing the kind of role in which the
frenchman thrived
yes thought about it but here we had players like song coming out and it
was important that nobody stepped in front of them wenger added
tottenham boss harry redknapp revealed that vieira had almost signed for
arsenal local rivals before the start of this season
he showed lot of bottle to want to play at tottenham after being such
legend at arsenal redknapp said that shows his character to want to take
that challenge on
but it didn happen because he got back into the squad at inter milan and it
drifted this time when he was available did get some phone calls about the
possibility again but we felt we moved on bit from then and we were happy
with what we had at the club
redknapp added am sure he ll do well he has lot to offer he leader
and winner and terrific guy the motive is to get back into the france world
cup team he could have stayed at inter and taken the money
france coach raymond domenech meanwhile offered vieira an assurance that he will
be part of his world cup plans as long as he is playing regularly
he needed to play again it didn really matter where domenech told equipe
sports daily but now it bonus that he finds himself again at very good
club it good for him it good for les bleus
in so far as he plays and he is at his right level there is no reason that he
won go to south africa
argentine judge blocks government debt plan
buenos aires jan afp
an argentine judge on friday upended government plans to use central bank
reserves to pay down the national debt proposal that has sparked major
political crisis
the judge suspended government decree allowing the use of reserves to pay debt
set to mature in according to judicial source plan which forced
central bank chief martin redrado from office
judge maria jose sarmiento on friday provisionally suspended the application of
the decree judicial source told afp
the government had argued the move was necessary and urgent to retain
international creditors confidence decimated after the country default in
president cristina kirchner had strongly backed the use of reserves to pay at
least some of the billion dollar debt in bid to return argentina to
international credit markets
ruling party lawmaker miguel angel pichetto said the government would
certainly appeal the decision
tennis qatar open tennis results
doha jan afp
results from the fifth day of the qatar open here on friday denotes seeding
semi finals
rafael nadal esp bt viktor troicki srb
alpine skiing women world cup downhill results
haus im ennstal austria jan afp
results from the women world cup downhill friday re scheduled here following
cancellation at val isere france in december
lindsey vonn usa min sec anja paerson swe maria
riesch ger nadia fanchini ita marion rolland fra
marie marchand arvier fra daniela merighetti ita
andrea fischbacher aut nadja kamer sui
emily brydon can fabienne suter sui nadia styger
sui stacey cook usa julia mancuso usa
martina schild sui viktoria rebensburg ger
anna fenninger aut elena fanchini ita gina
stechert ger tina maze slo
world cup downhill standings after three races
lindsey vonn usa pts maria riesch ger anja paerson swe
emily brydon can marion rolland fra
world cup overall standings after races
lindsey vonn usa pts maria riesch ger kathrin zettel
aut anja paerson swe tina maze slo sandrine aubert
fra kathrin hoelzl ger elisabeth goergl aut maria
pietilae holmner swe sarka zahrobska cze
norway newspaper publishes mohammed cartoons
oslo jan afp
the norweigan newspaper aftenposten published friday reproductions of
controversial cartoons of the prophet mohammed by kurt westergaard the victim
of attempted murder last week
in an article on westergaard the daily printed small versions of six out of the
drawings by the danish cartoonist that had infuriated muslims around the
world when danish newspaper jyllands posten first published them in
several of the drawings were seen as linking islam and the prophet mohammed to
terrorism and suicide bombings and one cartoon showed the prophet with hat in
the shape of bomb
on january an axe wielding year old broke into westergaard home
screaming for revenge and blood before police alerted by the cartoonist
who had hidden in panic room shot and arrested him
referring to the case of the attacker in denmark aftenposten editor hilde
haugsgjerd said it seemed natural and justified to republish the artistic and
journalistic body of work that is likely the cause of this violence
aftenposten first published copies of the cartoons in but did not join
newspapers in many other countries when they reprinted in some or all of
westergaard drawings citing freedom of expression
angry crowds had demonstrated across the muslim world leaving dozens of people
dead and causing major damage to danish embassies and other facilities
alert
swedish carmaker saab placed in liquidation union
alpine skiing women world cup downhill results
haus im ennstal austria jan afp
results from the women world cup downhill friday re scheduled here following
cancellation at val isere france in december
lindsey vonn usa min sec anja paerson swe maria
riesch ger nadia fanchini ita marion rolland fra
marie marchand arvier fra daniela merighetti ita
andrea fischbacher aut nadja kamer sui
emily brydon can fabienne suter sui nadia styger
sui stacey cook usa julia mancuso usa
martina schild sui viktoria rebensburg ger
anna fenninger aut elena fanchini ita gina
stechert ger tina maze slo
football african nations cup group squads
luanda jan afp
official african nations cup group squads with shirt numbers ahead of january
tournament in angola
benin squirrels
goalkeepers yoann djidonou libourne fra rachad chitou wikki
tourists ngr valere amoussou mogas
defenders mouftaou adou and junior salomon aspac khaled adenon
bastia fra damien chrysostome denizlispor tur capt emmanuel imorou
gueugnon fra reda johnson plymouth eng felicien singbo lokomotiv
plovdiv bul
midfielders gerard adanhoume soleil jocelyn ahoueya sion sui
pascal angan wydad casablanca mar romuald boco sligo irl djiman
koukou evian fra seidath tchomogo east riffa bhn nouhoum kobena
al madina lba mouriola ogunbiyi guingamp fra arnaud seka
tonnerre stephane sessegnon paris sg fra
strikers mohamed aoudou evian fra razak omotoyossi metz fra
mickael pote nice fra
egypt pharaohs
goalkeepers essam al hadary ismailia abdelwahed al sayed zamalek
mahmoud abolseoud mansoura
defenders wael gomaa sayed moawad and ahmed fathi al ahly
mahmoud fathalla hani said and mohamed abdelshafi zamalek moatasem
salem ismailia ahmed al mohamady enppi abdelzaher al saka
eskisehirspor tur
midfielders ahmed hassan ahly capt mahmoud shikabala abdelrazek
zamalek abdelaziz tawfik enppi ahmed eid abdelmalak harras al
hodoud hosny abd rabou al ahly uae hossam ghaly al nasr ksa
strikers emad meteeb ahly ahmed raouf enppi sayed hamdy
petrojet mohamed gedo nagy al ittihad mohamed zidan borussia
dortmund ger
nigeria super eagles
goalkeepers vincent enyeama hapoel tel aviv isr dele aiyenugba beni
yehuda isr austin ejide hapoel petah tikva isr
defenders yusuf mohammed and obinna nwaneri sion sui onyekachi
apam nice fra elderson echiejile rennes fra chidi odiah cska
moscow rus taiwo taye marseille fra joseph yobo everton eng
danny shittu bolton eng
midfielders john obi mikel chelsea eng oluwaseyi olofinjana
hull eng ayila yussuf dynamo kiev ukr sani kaita locomotiv
moscow rus dickson etuhu fulham eng kalu uche almeria esp
strikers obafemi martins wolfsburg ger osaze odemwingie locomotiv
moscow rus nwankwo kanu portsmouth eng capt yakubu aiyegbeni
everton eng obinna nsofor malaga esp chinedu obasi hoffenheim ger
mozambique snakes
goalkeepers albino cossa liga muculmana joao rafael tersana egy
otshudi lama muculmana
defenders zainadine chavango and edson mexer sitoe desportivo
maputo samuel campira chapanga maxaquene dario khan al
kharitiyate qat fanuel massingue muculmana almiro miro lobo
platinum stars rsa martinho paito mucana sion sui simao mate
panathinaikos gre francisco whiskey massinga ferroviario maputo
midfielders momed hagi and carlos danito parraque ferroviario
maputo elias dominques pelembe mamelodi sundowns rsa eugenio
genito bila nea salamis cyp goncalves fumo olympiakos cyp josemar
machaisse costa do sol nasser nelinho carimo desportivo maputo
luis sousa vaz al mahalla egy
strikers helder pelembe maxaquene dario monteiro supersport
utd rsa manuel tico tico bucuane jomo cosmos rsa capt
football fergie heaps praise on yeung regime at birmingham
manchester jan afp
sir alex ferguson has heaped praise upon birmingham city new owner carson
yeung for his efforts in transforming the fortunes of the premier league club
the manchester united manager was scheduled to take his team to birmingham on
saturday evening for meeting with alex mcleish loyal ferguson player during
their time together at aberdeen
ferguson has paid close attention to the fortunes of birmingham under the
management of his former player and has been impressed by the strides taken by
the club since hong kong based businessman yeung completed his takeover from
david sullivan and david gold in october
alex mcleish has done brilliant job at birmingham absolutely wonderful
said ferguson
and think the change of owner has been good thing for them not in the
sense of making great deal of difference but it has given them freshness
they have different people to work with
the old regime were set in their ways about financing the team there never
seemed to be any great financial support in the sense of understanding how big
birmingham could be
as manager alex understands that in terms of the history if you go back
quite few years birmingham were the bigger team in that area obviously
aston villa have surpassed them in every way over the past few decades
but over the next two or three years you will find it will be different
birmingham they are on the way up they have very progressive young manager
alex has always been ambitious he is intelligent he is very good manager and
you will see change in birmingham
mcleish and birmingham entered in eighth place in the premier league an
impressive first half to the campaign for the newly promoted club even more
remarkable city are also unbeaten in games including an fa cup tie
with yeung having pledged to support mcleish with money to spend in the january
transfer window ferguson fully expects to see birmingham go from strength to
strength
have just read they are trying to buy one or two players for considerable
amount of money and it is the first time can remember birmingham doing that
said ferguson
it is about understanding how big the club can be it is great catchment
area you will see different birmingham now
football fergie heaps praise on yeung regime at birmingham
manchester england jan afp
sir alex ferguson has heaped praise upon birmingham city new owner carson
yeung for his efforts in transforming the fortunes of the premier league club
the manchester united manager was scheduled to take his team to birmingham on
saturday evening for meeting with alex mcleish loyal ferguson player during
their time together at aberdeen
ferguson has paid close attention to the fortunes of birmingham under the
management of his former player and has been impressed by the strides taken by
the club since hong kong based businessman yeung completed his takeover from
david sullivan and david gold in october
alex mcleish has done brilliant job at birmingham absolutely wonderful
said ferguson
and think the change of owner has been good thing for them not in the
sense of making great deal of difference but it has given them freshness
they have different people to work with
the old regime were set in their ways about financing the team there never
seemed to be any great financial support in the sense of understanding how big
birmingham could be
as manager alex understands that in terms of the history if you go back
quite few years birmingham were the bigger team in that area obviously
aston villa have surpassed them in every way over the past few decades
but over the next two or three years you will find it will be different
birmingham they are on the way up they have very progressive young manager
alex has always been ambitious he is intelligent he is very good manager and
you will see change in birmingham
mcleish and birmingham entered in eighth place in the premier league an
impressive first half to the campaign for the newly promoted club even more
remarkable city are also unbeaten in games including an fa cup tie
with yeung having pledged to support mcleish with money to spend in the january
transfer window ferguson fully expects to see birmingham go from strength to
strength
have just read they are trying to buy one or two players for considerable
amount of money and it is the first time can remember birmingham doing that
said ferguson
it is about understanding how big the club can be it is great catchment
area you will see different birmingham now
football big freeze hits epl programme
london jan afp
three of saturday english premier league fixtures have been postponed because
of concerns for the safety of spectators making their way to grounds in freezing
conditions
the fulham portsmouth sunderland bolton and burnley stoke matches were
all called off on friday
liverpool recommended that their encounter with tottenham at anfield on sunday
should also be called off and were awaiting confirmation from the league
authorities before confirming the postponement
with much of britain blanketed in thick snow almost half this weekend
fixtures in england lower divisions have been called off and only handful of
matches have survived in scotland
guinea opposition leader guarded about junta offer
dakar jan afp
one of guinea main opposition leaders cellou dalein diallo said friday that
the ruling junta had opened the way for talks but had taken no account of the
major demands of the opposition
diallo speaking by phone from paris welcomed the speech of appeasement on
wednesday by interim junta chief general sekouba konate who offered power
sharing arrangement with prime minister proposed by the opposition
this is speech of appeasement that constitutes an opportunity to relaunch the
dialogue between the opposition trade unions and civil society and the
authorities said the leader of the union of democratic forces for guinea
nevertheless the major claims of the opposition have not been taken into
account in this speech diallo added after meeting in paris with five other
members of guinea opposition
we need first to agree on the length of the transition the non candidacy of
junta and government members in eventual elections we have to set up
framework for consultations on the institutions of the transition draw up
road map and timetable for the transition he said
in his broadcast speech konate invited the opposition to select the next prime
minister ahead of the formation of transition government and called on
opposition leaders who fled to return saying he guaranteed their safety
the proposals were welcomed by the united states and the regional economic bloc
ecowas on thursday and led one exiled opposition leader mouctar diallo to say
he would return
the bauxite rich west african country has been under military rule since
december and tensions peaked last september when troops massacred
at least people at an opposition rally
four of the leaders at the paris meeting left guinea after the massacre in
conakry stadium when hundreds of people were wounded and many women and young
girls raped in what the united nations has called crime against humanity
we wanted together to analyse and draw the lessons of the speech by general
sekouba konate diallo said
us sheds jobs in december dampening optimism
washington jan afp
the us economy lost jobs in december while the unemployment rate held at
percent the government said friday in report dashing hopes of
turnaround in the ailing labor market
the labor department report on nonfarm payrolls was disappointment to those
hoping for growth in jobs which is critical to recovery from recession
the figure was far worse than the consensus expectation for no change in overall
employment levels and came amid wide array of predictions ranging from steep
losses to modest gains
the unemployment rate meanwhile was in line with expectations remaining near
its highest level since the
in revising data for prior months the data showed net gain of jobs in
november instead of loss of previously reported the first positive
month after months of losses
but the agency also revised its october estimate to show loss of jobs
in october instead of
we re getting steady but very slow improvement in the job market said
robert macintosh economist at eaton vance
we are going to have to get used to frustratingly high unemployment rate
cary leahey senior economist at the research firm decision economics called
the data disappointing and consistent with still sluggish economy
the labor market is struggling and is stuck in the water he said
you are seeing gains in output and manufacturing because of liquidation of
inventories but we haven seen decisive turn in the labor market
robert brusca at fao economics said however the market is healing and that the
losses were probably due to bad weather and government cuts
pessimists are out in force but the good trends remains in place he said
you cannot take each monthly jobs report as though it is an authentic change in
trend or speed in fact most of the good stuff is still underway
the december report showed the goods producing sector shed jobs including
in manufacturing and in construction
the services sector lost modest jobs with loss of in retail
offset by gains in education health care and professional services
government sector employment fell by in the month
average hours worked sometimes seen as proxy for economic activity was
unchanged in december average hourly earnings meanwhile rose percent
the civilian labor force fell by in the month suggesting that more
people are stopping their search for employment
the unchanged unemployment rate of percent understates labor market slack
since labor force participation fell sharply said sophia koropeckyj at moody
economy com
accordingly the broader measure of unemployment increased to percent
she said
the labor department data showed that for all of employment dropped by
percent the worst since the economy lost million jobs for the year
the most since data collection began in
argentine judge blocks government debt plan
buenos aires jan afp
an argentine judge on friday upended government plans to use central bank
reserves to pay down the national debt proposal that has sparked political
crisis
the judge suspended government decree allowing the use of reserves to pay debt
set to mature in according to judicial source plan which forced
central bank chief martin redrado from office
corrected us loses jobs in december
washington jan afp
the us economy lost jobs in december while the unemployment rate held at
percent the government said friday in report dashing hopes of
turnaround in the ailing labor market
the labor department report on nonfarm payrolls was disappointment to those
hoping for growth in jobs which is critical to recovery from recession
the figure was far worse than the consensus expectation for no change in overall
employment levels and came amid wide array of predictions ranging from steep
losses to modest gains
but in revising data for prior months the report showed net gain of
jobs in november instead of loss of previously reported
the agency also revised its october estimate to show loss of jobs in
october instead of
