borg
best quotes from around the world over the past week
paris jan afp
best quotes from around the world over the past week
screw up
this was screw up that could have been disastrous we dodged bullet but
just barely it was averted by brave individuals not because the system
worked
us president barack obama dressing down the chiefs of us security and
intelligence agencies over the failure to prevent an attempt to blow up us
airliner on christmas day as reported by white house official
show me the money
it real easy just show up with the money and you can have it but nobody
shown up with the money so we re in wind down mode here
gm chairman and chief executive officer ed whitacre on why swedish mark saab
will be shut down despite several attempts at sale
overcoming hurdles
absolutely loved having bigger boobs
australian star hurdler jana rawlinson after having breast implants removed
to boost her chances of medal at the london olympics
on the borderline
this border it is border of friendship and love and peace and border of
collaboration where there is economic trade totalling five billion dollars
every year
iranian foreign minister manouchhr mottaki speaking in iraq of the border
between the two predominantly shiite muslim countries
great name
today the united arab emirates achieves the tallest building ever created by
the hand of man and this great project deserves to carry the name of great
man today inaugurate burj khalifa
dubai ruler sheikh mohammad bin rashed al maktoum speaking at the
inauguration of the world biggest skyscraper which is named after
united arab emirates president sheikh khalifa bin zayed al nahayan ruler of abu
dhabi the uae emirate which bailed out dubai with billion dollars
storm in frozen teacup
this is bit of storm in teacup we are actually dealing with real storms
at the moment
british prime minister gordon brown speaking of the challenge to his
leadership of the labour party by two ex ministers as britain also confronts
major winter snow storms
urgent two men arrested in ny bomb plot probe law enforcement
new york jan afp
two men were arrested friday in connection with an alleged plot to bomb new york
last year law enforcement officials said
eu aspirant croatia elects president on sunday
zagreb jan afp
final polls ahead of croatia sunday presidential vote give the social
democrats candidate clear lead over the populist mayor of zagreb with both
vowing to crack down on corruption to secure eu entry
the opposition social democrat ivo josipovic holds an almost point lead over
zagreb major milan bandic who runs as an independent according to the poll by
the mediana fides agency
the survey expected to be the last one published before sunday vote was
similar to earlier ones giving josipovic stable lead
the year old law professor and classical music composer won the first round
on december with percent of the vote more than double the support for
bandic
bandic who was expelled from josipovic sdp party in november when he
announced he would run for president has sharpened his rhetoric hoping to woo
supporters of the ruling conservative croatian democratic union hdz whose
candidate did not make it into the run off
these also include some ethnic croats living in bosnia who
traditionally back the conservatives and are entitled to vote as they have dual
nationality
the outspoken bandic who insisits on patriotism philanthropy and love of
god also enjoys the backing of the powerful roman catholic church
both candidates are running on similar platform promising to crack down on
corruption one of the key remaining hurdles to croatia entry into the
european union and popular theme in the country which has plunged into deep
economic crisis
croatia hopes to join the bloc by putting it squarely within the new
president five year mandate
if croatia chooses me it will get decent man and program that can be
achieved said josipovic who has campaigned under the slogan justice for
croatia
bandic emphasised his competency in running the capital since
during the past years made zagreb into civilised european capital and
convinced that can do the same from croatia my rival did not do anything
concrete in that sense he told afp
despite the candidates wide ranging pledges the croatian president has limited
powers which were curtailed by the incumbent stipe mesic who steps down on
february after serving the maximum two terms
in croatia the president is the supreme commander of the army helps shape
foreign policy and takes part in the nomination of secret services chiefs
with such similar political platforms observers say voters will look to the
different personalities and view points of the two candidates
the campaign led to polarisation mild mannered professor against
populist loudmouth civil left or nationalism playing with rightwing
sentiments secular state or cross in institutions modern or
conservative croatia the novi list independent daily commented
while josipovic who declares himself as an agnostic is credited for his
untarnished political career and his competency analysts warn the chemistry
between the courteous intellectual and voters is lacking
in contrast the energetic year old bandic is an outspoken populist who spent
years cultivating his image of fighter for the common man
however during debates bandic made several gaffes about foreign policy and
independent observers point to his suspected links with corruption in the
capital which could work against him
total of million croatians are entitled to vote the polling stations open
at am gmt and close twelve hours later exit polls are to be released
shortly after polls close with the first official results expected by midnight
rich economies signal recovery is gaining strength oecd
paris jan afp
signs of recovery in rich economies gained strength in november the oecd said
on friday on the basis of its index of leading indicators
the leading indicators for all seven leading oecd economies have moved above
their long term trend implying an expansionary outlook the organisation for
economic cooperation and development said
the outlook for major non member economies also continues to point to
recovery
leading indicators for the entire economies belonging to the oecd rose by
point in november and showed gain of points over months
the index for the united states also rose by point and was points higher
than the reading months previously
for the eurozone the index rose by points for month gain of
points
for big economies outside the oecd area the index for china rose by points
for gain over the figure in november last year of points
the oecd groups industrialised economies and is centre for studying
economic and social trends and advising governments on policy
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 to 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 which 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
but spain risks inciting britain and other countries with more liberal
economies which fear loss of sovereignty on economic issues
but know that certain number of countries back greater economic unity
france for example zapatero said
paris 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
spain assumed the eu presidency from sweden at the start of the year and will
oversee the first six month stint whereby the system of rotating presidency
sits alongside van rompuy in his new post as president of the european council
charlie chaplin to be animated star
mumbai jan afp
charlie chaplin is to be brought to life as cartoon character via an indian
french collaboration that will see the legendary british comedian featured in an
animated television series
dq entertainment an animation and special effects firm based in the southern
city of hyderabad is to reproduce the entertainer slapstick in and
computer generated images for television
the eight million euro million dollar project is joint venture with
french media groups method animation and mk the companies said at news
conference in mumbai friday
total of six minute episodes without dialogue will be made inspired by
sketches and gags culled from short films made by chaplin involving his
iconic bowler hatted vagabond character with toothbrush moustache and cane
but there will also be original content method president aton soumache told
reporters
dq chairman and chief executive tapaas chakravarti said the project for which
the firms have been given approval from the chaplin estate would be better
than mr bean british comic rowan atkinson accident prone buffoon
mr bean has delighted everyone for number of years it very very clear
that to tickle people funny bones you don really have to talk all the time
and silent movies can work chaplin did it for so many years he added
we are absolutely sure that we have to get chaplin back for st century kids
and parents
the animated shorts aimed at children aged six and above are set to hit
screens from early next year chakravarti said
soumache said pre sale interest from international broadcasters had been high
and that funding was almost done
interested parties include companies in france germany britain switzerland
and scandinavia india and australia he said without revealing names
we re raising from europe almost to percent of the budget we re raising
the rest on video and few other international deals he added
revenue from the first cycle is expected to be in the region of million
dollars he said
london born chaplin who died in is recognised as one of the most
influential and recognisable comic actors and directors of the silent film
period
his most famous works include the kid the gold rush city
lights modern times and the great dictator
soumache told afp last november that their baggy trousered chaplin character
won be realistic portrayal but more like puppet in an offbeat universe
we ll put him in modern situations but at the same keeping his poetic child
like view of the world with retro feel he added
dq entertainment has worked with number of high profile studios and production
houses including nickelodeon the disney group cartoon network and host of
international broadcasters
the indian firm has percent stake in method and has previously worked with
them on computer animated adaptations of french children classics le petit
prince the little prince and le petit nicolas little nicolas
mk is one of france biggest independent film companies and owns the
international rights to the chaplin films which it has restored and reissued on
dvd and in cinemas
animation and special effects have become growth market in india as the
domestic film industry including bollywood turns to more modern production
methods
the trend has led to the creation of number of specialist companies who are
being increasingly used by hollywood and other foreign studios because of their
lower costs
india animation and special effects industry is expected to be worth
billion rupees this year and is expected to grow to billion rupees by
consultants kpmg said last year
the animation sector is projected to grow by percent in the five years to
it added in report on the media and entertainment industry for the
federation of indian chambers of commerce and industry
alert
two men arrested in new york bomb plot probe law enforcement
egypt police arrest three suspects in christmas eve shooting
nagaa hammadi egypt jan afp
egyptian police announced they had arrested three suspects on friday in the
christmas eve shooting of six coptic christians but the southern town where the
gunmen struck remained tense
shops were closed in nagaa hammadi where three gunmen sprayed christian
passersby with bullets on wednesday as they emerged from mass the night before
coptic christmas
muslim policeman was also killed in the attack
muslims who attended the main weekly prayers in the town on friday dispersed
swiftly afterwards and there were few people on the streets which were
patrolled by plainclothes police officers
of course we are scared muslims and christians are scared our businesses will
close it will be disaster for all of us said ashraf mohammed muslim
butcher
the interior ministry said the three suspects surrendered to police on friday
morning after they were encircled on farm close to the town
as result of the security services efforts to arrest the criminals behind
the killing of seven citizens in nagaa hammadi on friday morning mohammed al
kawmi kurshi abul haggag and hindawi hassan surrendered ministry statement
said
the suspects all have previous convictions the ministry added
police believe the attack was related to the alleged rape of muslim girl by
coptic man in the nearby village of farshut in november
muslim villagers responded to that incident by burning coptic owned stores in
farshut and surrounded police station where the coptic suspect was held
nagaa hammadi bishop kirilos said that for the past week some of his
parishioners had received threatening phone calls
the callers said muslims will avenge the rape of the girl during the christmas
celebrations kirilos said
he told afp he had cut the christmas eve mass short because he feared something
might happen and asked priests not to attend because he did not want large
crowd in one place
the attack further stoked feelings of alienation among copts
coptic mourners clashed with police on thursday as they buried their dead the
shooting raised tensions in southern egypt where there have been repeated
sectarian clashes in the past
wednesday attack which also wounded six people was the deadliest since
copts were killed in sectarian clashes in also in southern egypt
copts who account for up to percent of egypt population of million are
the middle east largest christian community but complain of routine
discrimination and harassment
they have two ministers in government and several members of parliament but
face restrictions on building churches which must be approved by presidential
decree and have get security and provincial clearance to refurbish existing
churches
skeleton world cup results
konigssee germany jan afp
results here on friday in the sixth event in the skeleton world cup
mellisa hollingsworth can
kerstin szymkowiak ger at
shelley rudman gbr
marion trott ger
anja huber ger
overall world cup standings after of events
mellisa hollingsworth can pts
shelley rudman gbr
kerstin szymkowiak ger
marion trott ger
amy williams grb
austrian police sacked for mistreating gambian
vienna jan afp
two austrian policemen who beat up gambian resisting deportation have been
sacked police spokesman said friday
two other policemen who took part in the assault have also been sanctioned the
spokesman said
the gambian identified as bakary suffered injuries to his jaw and eyes
when he was beaten after refusing to board an airliner returning him to his
country
the incident in april in vienna sparked outrage among human rights
defenders particularly when the two policemen were allowed to rejoin the
service despite being given suspended prison sentence of six and eight months
respectively
disciplinary review panel finally decided they should be dismissed the
spokesman said third policeman involved was fined the equivalent of five
months pay while the fourth who has since retired was deprived of his police
pension rights
canada jobless rate steady at percent in december
ottawa jan afp
employment in canada was unchanged in december following large bump the
previous month and the unemployment rate remained steady at percent
government agency announced friday
analysts had expected new jobs to be created in december following the
creation of new jobs in november
statistics canada said employment has stabilized over the past nine months but
that the country economy has lost jobs percent from an october
peak
football essien boost for ghana
luanda jan afp
injury ravaged african nations cup contenders ghana have received welcome
boost with the return to full fitness of star player michael essien
essien tore his hamstring in chelsea champions league game against apoel
nicosia on december but resumed full training this week
the year old midfielder is due to join up with his ghana teammates in angola
on saturday but is doubtful for the black stars opener against togo on monday
essien is expected to be accompanied by chelsea doctor according to report
on the bbc
ghana four time winners of this biennial continentental championship face
tough opening group with favourites ivory coast waiting for them after togo
followed by burkina faso
serb coach milovan rajevac has had to contend with spate of injuries to key
personnel with central defenders john pantsil and john mensah and midfielders
stephen appiah and laryea kingston all ruled out
the first side from africa to qualify for the world cup aside from hosts south
africa ghana are seeking their first nations cup title in years
this appetising world cup forerunner gets underway in luanda on sunday with
hosts angola taking on mali
pi buster french software whiz claims record
paris jan afp
french software engineer said on friday he was claiming world record for
calculating pi the constant that has fascinated mathematicians for millennia
fabrice bellard told afp he used an inexpensive desktop computer and not
supercomputer used in past records to calculate pi to nearly trillion
decimal places
that is around billion digits more than the previous record set last august
by japanese professor daisuke takahashi he said
takahashi using open supercomputer took hours to crunch pi to
billion digits
bellard took days comprising for the computation in binary digits
days for verification days to convert the binary digits to base of and
three final days to check the conversion
the gear cost bit less than euros dollars bellard who earns
living as software consultant in digital television in paris said in an
email exchange
it is completely standard pc the only unusual thing is that it has five
teraoctet hard disks mainstream pcs generally have only one teraoctet
disk
bellard has placed on his website details of the achievement including the use
of high powered mathematical engine called the chudnovsky algorithm that
chewed through the computation
extracts of the digit outcome have been published so that they
can be compared to preceding records in order to gain independent verification
bellard told afp
files containing the digits are also being offered to any outside organism keen
on hosting the record he said
pi the ratio of circle circumference to its diameter kicks off with
in string whose digits are believed never to repeat or end
bellard said he was not especially interested in pi digits but more in
taking up the gauntlet of writing the software to carry out the arithmetic
optimising these algorithms to get good performance is difficult programming
challenge he wrote
tennis rain delays chennai open quarter finals
chennai india jan afp
murky weather and light rain have delayed the start of quarter final matches in
the dollar atp chennai open tennis tournament here on friday
fourth seed janko tipsarevic of serbia was due to open proceedings against
dutchman thiemo de bakker on the centre court of the nungambakkam tennis stadium
at pm gmt
in other quarter finals scheduled for the day fifth seed dudi sela of israel
meets slovak lukas lacko third seed stanislas wawrinka of switzerland takes on
michael berrer of germany and second seed marin cilic of croatia clashes with
santiago giraldo of colombia
gay marriage fundamental to equality portugal pm
lisbon jan afp
portugal prime minister jose socrates delivered passionate defence of plans
to legalise gay marriage friday saying it was fundamental to the concepts of
equality and justice
speaking ahead of first reading vote in parliament on the proposed
legislation the socialist premier said homosexuals had suffered decades of
discrimination in catholic portugal traditionally been one of the most
conservative countries in europe
this law is designed to redress the decades of injustice that have been
perpetrated against homosexuals added socrates recalling that up until
portugal was in the absurd and revolting situation in which homosexuality was
crime punishable by law
this law is one for all of us law which represents victory for liberty
for justice for equality and humanity he added
the legislation on gay marriage is widely expected to be approved by parliament
where socrates party and other left wing factions have clear majority
however proposal from other parts of the left wing bloc to allow same sex
couples to adopt which is also being debated on friday is seen as unlikely to
be voted onto the statute book
socrates defended the decision not to put the gay marriage bill to referendum
saying the plan was contained in his party manifesto for last september
election the same did not apply to the adoption bill he added
the mandate that we received from the portuguese people concerned the issue of
marriage between people of the same sex nothing more and nothing less he
said
this issue of adoption is different as it does not just involve adults who are
free to give their consent
in contrast to spain where the lead up to the legalisation of gay marriage in
brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets the bill
in portugal has provoked only muted opposition even from the right
while normally vocal on the role of marriage and the family in society the
catholic church has refused to mobilise on subject which according to
lisbon cardinal patriarch jose policarpo is parliament responsibility
blast kills eight insurgents at pakistan militant den
karachi jan afp
eight suspected insurgents were killed friday when their cache of explosives
accidentally blew up destroying militant safe house in pakistan financial
capital karachi police said
guns grenades and suicide vests were recovered from the house in poor karachi
neighbourhood which officials said was den for islamist insurgents waging an
escalating campaign of violence across the nuclear armed nation
the terrorists themselves are the victims of their explosives said karachi
city police chief waseem ahmad
in separate incidents in pakistan northwest five militants were killed in
khyber district when suicide bomber from rival islamist militia blew himself
up while two people were killed in bomb in bajaur
attacks have intensified as pakistan military with vocal support from
washington pushes into northwest taliban strongholds karachi suffered its
worst attack in two years when bomb killed people in december
fayyaz khan senior police official in the southern port city said eight
bodies had been pulled from the rubble of the house hand grenades kalashnikov
rifles and suicide vests were also recovered from the scene
so far evidence on the ground shows the occupants of this house were trying to
shift explosives and weapons when the blast occurred he said
it seemed they were using two motorcycles we found in the rubble to transport
explosives
interior minister rehman malik told reporters the people living in the house
were from swat northwestern district where the military launched an operation
last year to quash two year uprising by taliban fighters
suicide bombings and attacks by the taliban and other islamist militant groups
have intensified in recent months as the military pursues an aggressive
offensive to quash insurgent strongholds near the afghan border
karachi had until recently been spared the worst of the bloodshed then on
december bomb ripped through procession of shiite muslim worshippers
killing people and turning their holy day of ashura into bloodbath
in khyber tribal district meanwhile five people was killed and wounded when
suicide bomber blew himself at the offices of rival militant group top
local administration official shafeerullah khan told afp
this was suicide attack on ansar ul islam headquarters in which five
militants belonging to the outfit were killed khan said
ansar ul islam companions of islam is rival of lashkar islam army of
islam the main militant group operating in khyber which borders afghanistan
and is the key route for nato trucks supplying troops over the border
in bajaur district in the north of the tribal belt an anti taliban leader and
another man were killed by planted bomb local administration official ghulam
saidullah said
more than people have been killed in attacks in pakistan since militant
violence intensified in july
although cosmopolitan port city karachi sees fewer attacks there are fears
militants are using the cover of city of about million people to regroup
plan and finance attacks
islamist militants say their campaign is to avenge the military offensives and
pakistan unpopular alliance with the united states in the eight year war
against the taliban in neighbouring afghanistan
washington has praised pakistan action against the taliban but is urging the
country to also crack down on militants who hide out in the lawless northwest
and cross the border to attack nato and us troops in afghanistan
the two nations are also at odds over increasing missile strikes by unmanned us
aircraft targeting high level militants in pakistan northwest
speaking during visit to islamabad on friday us republican senator john
mccain defended the attacks
we will continue to try to find common ground with the pakistani government as
we have to do everything we can to protect americans from the attacks of
terrorists who may be based here and operate out of pakistan he said
nigerian bomb suspect due in court
detroit michigan jan afp
the nigerian terror suspect accused of trying to bomb us airliner is scheduled
to make his first court appearance friday as president barack obama ordered
sweeping overhaul of flawed intelligence
the arraignment in detroit follows the grand jury indictment of umar farouk
abdulmutallab on six counts including attempted murder and trying to use
weapon of mass destruction aboard us plane arising from the botched al
qaeda plot to blow up northwest airlines flight with people aboard
us marshals were helping local police secure the area around the us district
court in downtown detroit prior to abdulmutallab expected hearing at pm
gmt according to local reports
all efforts have been made to ensure that security will be at its highest
level during all matters involving abdulmutallab kevin pettit spokesman for
the us marshals service in detroit told the detroit free press
gaps in security checks allowed abdulmutallab to board the flight from
amsterdam allegedly with explosives in his underwear and on thursday obama
said the buck stops with me over intelligence shortcomings which led to the
near bombing
he unveiled measures including strengthening us watchlists and boosting airport
screening as part of broad orders to close us security gaps
releasing two reports on the christmas day bomb attempt obama said spy agencies
did not properly connect and understand disparate data that could have
