harare treason trial begins of former white farmer roy bennett an aide to
zimbabwe prime minister morgan tsvangirai
beginning of public consultations on preparing new constitution
la granja spain meeting of eu ministers for european affairs to
lisbon parents of missing british toddler madeleine mccann sue former police
inspector handling the inquiry
london alastair campbell former prime minister tony blair chief spin doctor
appears before inquiry into iraq war
moscow turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan visits and
riyadh china vice minister of foreign affairs yang jiechi visits saudi arabia
to
the hague war crimes trial of ultra nationalist serb leader vojislav seselj
adjourned because of witness safety concerns to resume
wednesday january
danang vietnam asean foreign ministers meeting and
manila trial of main suspect in political massacre resumes
thursday january
abuja court of justice of the economic community of west african states
ecowas rules on whether it can hear complaint against senegal by former
chadian president hissene habre of rights abuses
batumi georgia international summit on energy security including talks on
building odessa gdansk oil pipeline
beirut palestinian foreign minister riad al maliki visits
strasbourg european court of human rights conducts hearings into the case of
former russian oil company yukos which is claiming nearly billion dollars
from the russian state
tripoli appeal hearing of swiss businessman max goldi sentenced to months
in jail for residence permit offences
friday january
beijing mr gay china pageant the first such event staged in the asian nation
berlin gruene woche the world largest food and agriculture fair opens to
kathmandu indian foreign minister krishna starts three day official visit
milan italy trial resumes in corruption case against prime minister silvio
berlusconi accused of buying the silence of his british former lawyer david
mills
seville spain eu energy and environment ministers meet to
saturday january
rawalpindi pakistan pakistani anti terror court resumes hearing of seven
suspects accused of involvement in mumbai attacks
tokyo ruling democratic party of japan holds party convention
forum for east asia latin america cooperation holds two day meeting of foreign
ministers
vilnius polish president lech kaczynski visits
sunday january
kiev ukraine holds presidential elections
rome pope benedict xvi visits rome synagogue
los angeles golden globes awards
santiago second round of presidential elections in chile
monday january
abu dhabi world future energy summit to
abuja summit of heads of state of the economic community of west african states
ecowas
ankara mehmet ali agca turk who tried to kill pope john paul ii in set
to be freed from prison
augsburg germany arms merchant karlheinz schreiber goes on trial for fraud and
corruption
beijing austrian president heinz fischer visits to
beirut austrian foreign minister michael spindelegger visits
berlin meeting between the israeli and german cabinets postponed from
november
brussels eu agriculture ministers meet and
eurogroup meeting
kuwait new hearing in trial of six kuwaitis accused of plotting to attack us
military base
milan italy trial resumes in case against prime minister silvio berlusconi
concerning television rights for his broadcasting group mediaset
vilnius arms smuggling trial resumes of michael campbell alleged member of the
hardline real ira
tuesday january
brussels eu economy ministers meet
paris trial of alleged eta deputy military chief harriet aguirre and two other
members of the basque separatist organisation arrested in
the hague appeal hearing for former bosnian army commander rasim delic against
his conviction and three year sentence for his troops cruel wartime treatment
of serb detainees
tokyo th anniversary of signing of japan us security treaty
wednesday january
athens trial begins of policeman who allegedly shot dead student alexis
grigoropoulos in december triggering riots across greece
ho chi minh city four democracy activists including prominent lawyer le cong
dinh and it engineer nguyen tien trung to go on trial for subversive activities
and
toledo spain european justice and interior ministers meet to
washington socialites tareq salahi and wife michaele quizzed by congress after
gatecrashing white house state dinner
thursday january
prague polish president lech kaczynski visits
friday january
belgrade serbian orthodox church synod meets to elect new patriarch
saturday january
colombo sri lanka holds presidential election
sunday january
cannes france midem international music industry fair opens to
monday january
brussels eu foreign ministers meet
kathmandu opposition maoist party launches general strike
kuala lumpur malaysian opposition leader anwar ibrahim trial on sodomy
charges scheduled to begin to feb
tuesday january
beijing argentinian president cristina kirchner visits
colombo sri lanka presidential elections
warsaw eu president herman van rompuy visits
wednesday january
brussels eu employment labour health and consumer affairs ministers meet to
davos switzerland world economic forum to
madrid trial opens of basque separatist leader arnaldo otegi
milan italy verdict expected after trial of four google executives for an
internet video showing the bullying of teenager with down syndrome
oswiecim poland ceremonies marking th anniversary of the liberation of the
auschwitz nazi death camp
tegucigalpa honduran president porfirio lobo sworn in
thursday january
geneva new session of talks between russia and georgia
london international conferences on afghanistan and yemen
monday february
oslo deadline for nominations for the nobel peace prize
tehran st anniversary of ayatollah ruhollah khomeini return to iran from
exile in paris beginning day commemorations of the islamic revolution
warsaw meeting of foreign ministers of weimar triangle group france germany
poland
tuesday february
pontoise france trial opens to determine culpability for the fatal crash of
supersonic concorde airliner after take off from charles de gaulle airport on
july killing people
singapore asia largest aerospace and defence exhibition singapore airshow
starts to
wednesday feb
jerusalem italian prime minister silvio berlusconi to address israel
parliament
friday february
munich germany international defence and security conference to
sunday february
san jose legislative and presidential elections in costa rica
baseball beltre red sox finalize million dollar deal
boston massachusetts jan afp
the boston red sox finalized one year contract with adrian beltre that
guarantees the third baseman million dollars in
the deal was agreed to on tuesday but subject to beltre passing medical
exam
beltre became free agent after five seasons with seattle he ll take over
third base from mike lowell the world series most valuable player who had
thumb surgery last month
the red sox had agreed to trade lowell to the texas rangers for catcher max
ramirez but the deal was undone by his injury
lowell is now expected to be ready for spring training but boston may well
still seek to trade him
beltre played just games last season because of injuries that was his
fewest since he was rookie with the los angeles dodgers in
in career games beltre has hit with homers and rbis and he
won gold gloves for fielding in and
airline plot buck stops with me obama
washington jan afp
president barack obama declared thursday the buck stops with me over major
intelligence flaws exposed by an al qaeda attack on us passenger jet and
ordered sweeping homeland security overhaul
releasing two reports on the thwarted christmas day bombing obama said spy
agencies did not properly connect and understand disparate data that could
have busted the plot as it was planned by an al qaeda affiliate in yemen
he said the probes revealed that us analysts knew alleged attacker umar farouk
abdulmutallab was an extremist and knew al qaeda in yemen was plotting an attack
but could not connect the two strands of intelligence
and as critics charge his administration is too soft on terror and slow to act
after the attack obama said the united states is at war with al qaeda but
promised terrorists would not force americans to adopt siege mentality
am less interested in passing out blame than am in learning from and
correcting these mistakes to make us safer obama said signaling there would
be no immediate firings of top spy chiefs over the security breakdown
ultimately the buck stops with me as president have solemn responsibility
to protect our nation and our people and when the system fails it is my
responsibility
obama top anti terror official john brennan however delivered personal mea
culpa
told the president today let him down told him that will do
better
obama said the plot was not the fault of single individual or organization
but rather systemic failure across organizations and agencies
he said the us homeland security system and intelligence community broke down in
three ways allowing abdulmutallab to board northwest jet from amsterdam to
detroit with explosives hidden in his underwear
he blamed us spies for not aggressively chasing down the al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula aqap group that planned the attack then did not properly
analyze intelligence
then the intelligence that was known was not properly filtered through the us
terror watch list system allowing abdulmutallab onto the plane
to remedy the failures obama directed that specific individuals or teams must
be assigned to follow up on intelligence leads to ensure accountability and
close attention to suspected threats
intelligence reports must be shared among the clandestine community more quickly
and better analyzed and improvements will be made to watch listing procedures
he said
though warning there were no silver bullets obama also vowed significant
investments in aviation security
homeland security secretary janet napolitano promised new and layered
approach and called on foreign nations to do their part to safeguard their own
citizens as well as us security
there were passengers from countries aboard flight this is an
international issue not just one about the united states she said promising
to initiate global negotiations to improve security standards
napolitano promised to speed up the deployment of body imaging machines at
airports and raised the possibility of more and said the government would
aggressively seek to develop new detection technology
there will also be an overhaul of terrorist watch lists more canine security
teams at airports and more uniformed and undercover detection officers
including more federal air marshalls on planes
obama has faced barrage of criticism since the christmas day attack
including from republicans who say he still does not understand the nature of
the terrorist threat facing the united states
but in his speech he attempted to stamp out such claims
we are at war obama said
we are at war against al qaeda far reaching network of violence and hatred
that attacked us on that killed nearly innocent people and that is
plotting to strike us again
we will do whatever it takes to defeat them
the central intelligence agency said it plans to increase the number of analysts
looking at yemen and africa with director leon panetta also ordering the agency
to formally distribute information on possible terrorists within hours and
to expand records on those suspects
panetta instructed the cia to review information on individuals in countries of
concern and to recommend if their status on terror watchlists should be
changed spokesman george little said in statement to afp
some republicans were not satisfied however
worry that the president preoccupation with health care and other
domestic issues has distracted him from keeping our nation and its citizenry
safe from harm said republican senator john cornyn
republican national committee chairman michael steele added too often
president obama and democrats disregard the fact that terrorists are at war with
us which is dangerous thinking in this post era
col ao jm
tennis brisbane international results
brisbane australia jan afp
results from the sixth day of the brisbane international tennis tournament on
friday denotes seed
semi finals
women
justine henin bel bt ana ivanovic srb
japanese shares up percent at break
tokyo jan afp
tokyo stocks rose percent in morning trade on friday lifted by overnight
gains on wall street and weakening of the yen in the wake of remarks by
japan new finance minister
the tokyo stock exchange benchmark nikkei index climbed points to
by the lunch break off an earlier high of which was the
strongest since october
the broader topix index of all first section shares added points or
percent to
exporters such as toyota and sony were boosted by weaker yen after comments
day earlier by incoming finance minister naoto kan that he would like to see the
currency decline further
the remarks were in contrast to those of his predecessor who was widely seen as
being tolerant of stronger currency
bucking the trend japan airlines plunged more than percent as fears grew
that it will be forced to file for bankruptcy
there is no point in holding jal shares any longer trader at japanese
brokerage firm told dow jones newswires
golf glover bounces back to seize lead in season opener
kapalua hawaii jan afp
us open champion lucas glover survived double bogey at the opening hole to
seize the lead in the first round thursday at the sbs championship the us pga
tour season opener
glover rallied mid round playing nine holes from the fifth in nine under par
he capped seven under with tap in for birdie that gave him one stroke
lead over group of five players australian nathan green scotland martin
laird dustin johnson matt kuchar and nick watney
it was further shot back to argentina masters champion angel cabrera
british open champ stewart cink sean hair and john rollins
the other major champion in the field which includes only winners from
was south korea pga champion yang yong eun who carded
glover day did not get off to an auspicious start when wayward four iron led
to double bogey
was aiming feet left of the hole and hit it feet to the right he
said got what deserved
but glover bounced back with eagles at the par five fifth and ninth throwing
in birdie at six as well
he then made four birdies in row from gave shot back with bogey at
and then claimed sole possession of the lead with his closing birdie
defending champion geoff ogilvy of australia carded on plantation course
that finally saw the customary tradewinds conditions rather than the kona winds
that prevailed during practice rounds earlier in the week
it was totally different golf course with the kona winds blowing laird
said some of the holes we were hitting four or five irons into earlier in the
week we were hitting sand wedges into today
laird and green each had seven birdies and one bogey laird who played in the
first group of the day reeled off four of his birdies in row from the th
only two players in the man field heath slocum and mark wilson were over
par
glover who captured the us open at weather whipped bethpage black last year
said he was able to shrug off his early miscue knowing plenty of scoring
opportunities awaited
knew there were lot of birdies he said saw some scores early and
knew guys were making birdies and if played well could get something
going so just don rush anything be patient
at the fifth he hit six iron to feet for eagle and he hit three wood to
feet for an eagle at nine
obviously happy to be getting started again glover said played and
practiced when could but it might be tough to hit three iron off of
hanging lie
china offers free swine flu jabs to children under
beijing jan afp
china has said it will offer free swine flu jabs to children aged six months to
three years as the government ramps up its vaccination programme ahead of the
lunar new year holidays
children are among the most susceptible to the influenza virus the
health ministry said in statement posted on its website thursday
vaccination designed for children had been tested in several regions xinhua
news agency said citing an earlier statement from the ministry
china has so far vaccinated nearly million people the health ministry said
the largest campaign in the world but still only small proportion of the
country billion people
the government reported total of swine flu deaths by the end of with
nearly all of them in the last two months of the year the ministry has warned
that the danger of mass outbreaks still exists in certain areas
ministry officials have warned of grim winter flu outlook and are urging
caution ahead of the february lunar new year holidays when hundreds of millions
of people swamp roads and railways to visit loved ones
canada probing mistreatment of arrested men in mexico
ottawa jan afp
canadian authorities are investigating the possible abuse of five canadians
detained in mexico since december for unknown reasons an official at
canada department of foreign affairs said thursday
the government of canada takes all allegations of mistreatment of its citizen
very seriously nathalie sarafian spokeswoman for foreign minister lawrence
cannon canada told afp in an email
canadian embassy officials in mexico have visited the five men on two occasions
she said and mexican authorites have been asked for details about the abuse
allegations
diplomatic note has also been sent to the mexican ministry of foreign affairs
the detainees identity and the reason for their arrest have not been released
because of privacy laws sarafian said
quebecois media said the arrests occurred in puerto vallarta nightclub in
western mexico and the men were later handed over to the army
argentine president decrees removal of central banker
buenos aires jan afp
argentine president cristina kirchner signed decree thursday ordering the
removal from office of the head of the central bank in bitter showdown over
payments on the country national debt
the president of the central bank dr hernan martin perez redrado has been
removed from office for misconduct and having failed in his official duties
the decree stated
kirchner took the action after redrado rejected her demand that he step down
invoking the bank autonomy from the executive branch under charter that
gives only the congress power to remove sitting central bank president
kirchner control over congress has weakened since mid term elections last
year apparently prompting her to launch direct challenge that could end up
being decided by the courts
the decree signed by kirchner entire cabinet at an emergency meeting she
convened in her office said central bank vice president miguel pesce will
provisionally take over redrado functions as of friday
the confrontation stems from redrado refusal to hand over billion dollars
from argentina foreign currency reserves to pay off part of billion
dollar payment of the national due this year 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
redrado had sought to investigate all the possible legal consequences of such
decision
in defying the presidenti demand on wednesday that he resign redrado said he
would remain in his post to guarantee as we have done in the last five years
monetary and financial stability
after the decree was announced redrado huddled with lawyers to study his
options spokesman told afp
while opposition lawmakers and economists have backed redrado bankers and
unions urged him to step down
several constitutional experts defended the central bank autonomy and
criticized the kirchner decree dismissing redrado
the decree constitutional worthiness is questionable said gregorio badeni
adding that redredo could make strong case for himself in court of law
felix lon went further saying the central bank is being trampled this is an
extremely delicate issue from the institutional standpoint
evidently kirchner is letting herself in for political trial lon added
opposition lawmaker elisa carrio agreed we re dealing with an obvious power
conflict in which redrado should stand his ground and defend his office in
court
there whole lot of irrationality in all this she said
redrado became president of the central bank in under the government of
nestor kirchner the husband of the current president and his mandate was 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 one of the country
worst economic crises
although argentina now has long running fiscal surplus it cannot borrow
freely in international capital markets due to lingering investor mistrust and
because it still has to settle with bondholders who boycotted previous debt
restructuring in
new debt swap offer that would reimburse percent of some billion
dollars held by us creditors is about to be presented in new york but major
debt holding group has already deemed it unacceptable
argentina faces maturing debt repayments totaling billion dollars in
while the central bank reserves hold more than billion dollars
argentina repaid billion dollars in but the rate of growth in
government income has slowed down due to the global economic crisis
support for british pm takes hit after leadership plot
london jan afp
support for british prime minister gordon brown party dropped further behind
the opposition in the wake of this week failed plot against his leadership
poll said friday
the yougov survey showed backing for the governing labour party fell one point
to percent points behind the main opposition conservatives just months
before the general election
the conservatives led by david cameron picked up two points to percent
according to the poll for the sun newspaper conducted immediately after the
leadership plot was announced on wednesday
two former ministers called for ballot of labour lawmakers on whether brown
should remain their leader in deeply embarrassing challenge to his already
weakened authority
the call gained early support from handful of persistent brown critics but no
major labour figure backed the move and one of the ex ministers later admitted
that it had failed
brown who succeeded tony blair as prime minister in on thursday dismissed
the plot as storm in teacup and ministers rallied round him
the premier must face general election by june at the latest labour has long
been more than points behind in polls against the conservatives although the
party in power since recently narrowed the gap
the timing of the row was seen as disastrous for brown as he and cameron
effectively started election campaigning this week after the christmas break
yougov polled voters between wednesday afternoon and noon thursday
anti whalers vow no surrender as superboat sinks
sydney jan afp
defiant anti whaling activists on friday vowed to fight on after their high tech
superboat sank in antarctic seas following collision with japanese ship
peter hammarstedt first officer of the sea shepherd group bob barker ship
said the celebrated ady gil was abandoned in the southern ocean after tow
line snapped
at this point unfortunately the ady gil is on the bottom of the southern
ocean he told afp
it leaves us with no other option but to re take up the pursuit of the whaling
fleet hammarstedt said we have no intention of backing down we will never
surrender
the futuristic trimaran which held the round the world record had several
metres yards of its front end sheared off in the collision with japanese
security vessel on wednesday
footage of the incident showed the shonan maru ploughing across the new
zealand registered ady gil bow and firing water cannon while its crew dived
for safety
hammarstedt said the powerboat bankrolled by hollywood businessman ady gil was
being towed to an antarctic port when the line broke overnight
last time we saw the ady gil the entire engine room was fully submerged in
water as well as the fuel tanks he said
it was going down pretty quickly captain pete bethune estimated two to three
hours before being fully submerged at that point we decided to take up the hunt
for the whaling fleet again
new zealand and australian authorities are investigating the incident while
japan lodged strong protest with the wellington government both the whalers
and the protesters blame each other for the crash
after abandoning the trimaran the bob barker financed by former us talk
show host resumed its pursuit of the japanese fleet along with the steve
irwin another ship operated by the sea shepherd conservation group
sea shepherd claims to have saved hundreds of whales by chasing the japanese
fleet over six year campaign backed by hollywood listers including sean
penn martin sheen and pierce brosnan
japan hunts the animals using loophole in international moratorium
which allows lethal research defying regular protests from australia new
zealand and the netherlands
the skirmishes have grown increasingly sophisticated with the activists
deploying laser like devices and stink bombs and the japanese fleet operating
military style acoustic weapons and water cannon
australia is also investigating claims that the whalers chartered flights to spy
on the sea shepherd ships and harass them using the shonan maru security
vessel
the ady gil was stricken after its very first engagement with the whalers after
finally catching up with them before dawn on wednesday
the sleek carbon and kevlar trimaran was capable of speeds up to knots and
claimed the circumnavigation record in under its former name earthrace
hong kong shares open percent higher
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares opened up percent on friday with the benchmark hang seng
index rising points in early trading to
football boyd looks to make cup victory academical
glasgow jan afp
rangers striker kris boyd is looking forward to adding to his impressive goal
tally against hamilton in the scottish cup on sunday if their fourth round
clash can beat the big freeze
the wintry weather conditions gripping scotland have already claimed eight of
this weekend ties including rangers old firm rivals celtic away trip to
morton
five games remain but pitch inspections are scheduled for all these games
although public safety fears involving surrounding roads and stadium
infrastructure could bring halt to any proceedings
one of those games still on is the tie at new douglas park between hamilton and
rangers
rangers have won the previous two scottish cup finals and prolific striker boyd
has played major part in these successes including two goals in the
final against queen of the south
hamilton was the scene of one of rangers biggest scottish cup shocks in january
when the then first division club knocked them out of the competition
but boyd who has scored eight times in six appearances against billy reid
side aims to shoot rangers to victory on sunday as they aim to make it three
scottish cup wins in row
it always nice to do well in the cups and in the past two or three years we
have managed to do that boyd said
losing to celtic in the league cup in march last year has been our only
disappointment really
it good to finish any season with win in the scottish cup at hampden
but to reach any final you have to beat lot of good teams along the way and
this weekend we will give hamilton the respect they deserve
it will probably be their cup final coming up against rangers and they will
make it difficult for us
but if we go to new douglas park and perform the way we can am confident we
can progress to the next round
the tie of the day on saturday is the all spl tie between aberdeen and hearts
