without social security benefits or paying taxes
mimmo owner of citrus orchard in rosarno said some migrants had been
desperate to work for euros day but even at that rate farmers were
having problems making profit he said
when speaking to the press most farmers claim they never hired any clandestine
workers but charities say africans were illegally employed in the rosarno
area until the latest violence
so next year the fruits will not be picked domenico friend of giuseppe
added wearily
years ago we had the romanians poles and bulgarians who worked for not much
but since they have joined the european union they prefer to work in northern
italy where they make more while working legally
uae bonn urge iran to abandon uncooperative nuclear stand
abu dhabi jan afp
the united arab emirates and germany said on sunday that iran must do more to
allay the international community concerns about its nuclear programme or
fresh sanctions would be likely
following meeting in abu dhabi uae foreign minister sheikh abdullah bin zayed
al nahayan said he hoped iran would cooperate with the un nuclear watchdog
we are very concerned about iran non transparent behaviour with regard to its
nuclear programme he said after talks with his visiting german counterpart
guido westerwelle
that is based on its lack of cooperation with the iaea international atomic
energy agency we want more active cooperation from iran that would be in the
interests of the world the region and iran itself
sheikh abdullah noted that the un security council could soon pass fourth
round of sanctions to try to force iran to abandon sensitive nuclear work which
the west fears is cover for an atomic weapons programme
tehran denies wanting to acquire nuclear bomb
we hope that iran will behave so cooperatively that sanctions will not be
necessary the uae foreign minister said
we in the united arab emirates as neighbour state are particularly affected
by what iran is targeted by but also everything it does
he added that his country could serve as an example for the transparent use of
nuclear energy pointing to billion dollar deal with south korea to build
four nuclear power plants in the united arab emirates
westerwelle who is on tour of gulf states and whose country is one of six
working to convince tehran to cooperate with the iaea said he and abdullah were
in broad agreement
the ministers also discussed the security of yemen amid reports that westerwelle
planned to visit the strife ridden country on monday and negotiations to end
continuing hostage crisis there
westerwelle declined to comment directly on either issue
the hostage taking is of course barbaric act that we condemn he said
referring to german family of five and briton who were abducted in yemen
last june
we are doing everything we can to allow the hostages to return to their loved
ones he said but declined to discuss specifics
on yemen westerwelle said would not like to talk about travel plans at this
time for various reasons
delegation sources also said they would not confirm the reports
long standing concerns that yemen has become haven for islamic militants were
thrown into sharp focus when nigerian man allegedly trained in yemen was
charged with trying to blow up us bound jet on december
al qaeda in the arabian peninsula claimed the botched attack and has called for
attacks on western interests in yemen
germany is by far the largest european contributor of development aid to yemen
with some million euros million dollars earmarked for the impoverished
country for
during talks earlier on sunday in doha with his qatari counterpart sheikh hamad
bin jassem bin jabr al thani and the emir sheikh hamad bin khalifa al thani
westerwelle also discussed yemen
sources said the emir and westerwelle agreed that lasting solution to the
internal conflicts on its borders with shiite rebellion in the north and the
rise of secessionist movement in the south could only come through dialogue
saudi police seize eight million captagon pills
riyadh jan afp
saudi police seized more than eight million so called captagon pills in an
operation that also led to the seizure of raw materials for illegal narcotics in
turkey the interior ministry said sunday
six men three saudis and three foreigners were arrested in the operation
which netted million riyals million dollars worth of illegal drugs
the ministry said in report on the official news agency spa
the drugs were described as tablets of captagon the popular name for
what is usually some sort of amphetamine according to international drug
trafficking experts
the ministry did not say when the operation took place but said that information
from the investigation passed on to turkish authorities led to the seizure of
tonnes of materials used in producing such pills
first british reporter killed in afghanistan
london jan afp
newspaper journalist became the first british reporter to die covering the war
in afghanistan when he was killed in an explosion while embedded with us
marines officials said sunday
rupert hamer of the sunday mirror newspaper was blown up saturday by roadside
bomb as he accompanied marines patrolling near nawa southern afghanistan the
ministry of defence in london said
philip coburn photographer for the british tabloid working alongside
hamer was injured in the explosion and was in serious but stable condition
officials said us marine also died in the blast
hamer year old father of three young children and the paper defence
correspondent was the first british journalist to die in the afghanistan
conflict the foreign office said
he was the second foreign journalist to be killed in the country in the space of
days
prime minister gordon brown said my heartfelt thoughts and sympathies are with
the families friends and colleagues of rupert and philip
their courage skill and dedication to reporting from the frontline was
incredibly important and ensured that the world could see and read about our
heroic troops
the sunday mirror said the vehicle in which hamer and coburn were travelling was
hit by an improvised explosive device ied they had flown to the region on
december for what was to have been one month reporting assignment with us
forces
on december canadian reporter michelle lang of the calgary herald newspaper
was killed in kandahar province in southern afghanistan alongside four soldiers
when roadside bomb exploded beneath their armoured vehicle
the taliban claimed responsibility for that attack
in all of last year three journalists including lang died in afghanistan
according to tally by the international news safety institute
it was the fifth time hamer whose children are aged six five and months
had been to afghanistan and he had also reported from iraq sunday mirror editor
tina weaver said
he was fine fearless and skilled writer who joined the paper years ago
weaver added
affectionately known as corporal hamer in the office he was gregarious
figure wonderful friend who was hugely popular with his colleagues
she said one of hamer last acts had been to organise special christmas
newspaper produced especially for british troops packed with messages from their
families
colonel richard kemp former commander of british forces in afghanistan told
sky news television that hamer was popular with troops because he was determined
to experience the dangers they faced for himself
soldiers and journalists don always necessarily get on well together they
have very different jobs to do but that wasn the case for rupert kemp said
he was very well respected by everybody he worked with never heard bad
word said about him
defence secretary bob ainsworth said there had been great respect for hamer in
his ministry
the sacrifice of service personnel is well documented and rightly respected
but this news demonstrates the risks also faced by journalists who keep the
public informed of events on the front line he said
foreign secretary david miliband also paid tribute to hamer saying he had died
in the course of important work informing the world about the situation in
afghanistan
the ministry of defence initially said an afghan soldier had been killed in the
blast which killed hamer but later corrected the statement to say no afghans
died or were wounded
total of troops in the military coalition have died in afghanistan since
according to the icasualties org website including british soldiers
rallying lopez and peterhansel win dakar stages
copiapo chile jan afp
chilean motorcyclist francisco lopez won his second stage of the dakar rally
here on sunday when he took the eighth leg of the race kilometres special
from antofagasta
frenchman cyril despres was fifth in the stage but retained the overall lead
another frenchman stephane peterhansel put aside the disappointment at being out
of contention for the overall victory in the car section to take the eighth
stage
spain two time world rally champion carlos sainz was second on the stage and
retained the overall lead
lopez was delighted with his performance as it elevated him into the top three
overall
rode fast as the seventh stage had finished on sour note said lopez who
also won the fifth stage
wanted to put in good finish for all those people waiting for me today
sunday there was bit of everything stones navigation and dunes am
pleased because it all went well and the bike responded well
despres for his part said he had had tough day and had been saved by one of
his team mates
was battling against myself more than anything else exclaimed despres
hit two stones one at the front and one at the rear it was only when got
to the kilometres mark that noticed what state my wheels were in
they were split in two luckily my red bull team mate ruben faris turned up at
that moment we swapped our front rims since didn think the back one needed
to be changed
once set off again made sure was careful in the stones to look after the
back wheel am really lucky to have finished anything can happen in the
dakar
widgets are hot at gadget show
las vegas nevada jan afp
spend lot of time on the web while watching television maybe not but lot
of companies are betting you will
all of the top television manufacturers at the annual consumer electronics show
ces here are offering internet enabled tv sets and most of the popular web
brands have built the programs known as widgets to run on them
amazon ebay facebook netflix twitter and youtube to name just few are
among the web titans which offer the miniature windows that pop up on tv screens
while shows are on
they re really popular said jeila foroozani of us television maker vizio if
you want to keep up with your facebook account or your twitter account you can
just call it up anytime while you watch your shows
right now we have to widgets she told afp by the end of we
should have about and then we ll just go up from there
vizio lg electronics samsung and sony use the yahoo widget platform for their
tv applications and yahoo used ces as stage to announce widget partnerships
with hisense viewsonic mips technologies and sigma designs
viewsonic vmp media player will allow high definition tv owners to view
movies tv shows web videos and photos and go shopping and play games with tv
widgets
consumers can enjoy the greatest internet content while simultaneously viewing
their favorite programming said viewsonic americas vice president jeff volpe
jean pierre abello director of product management for yahoo connected tv
group said yahoo widget gallery is very much like the iphone app store
we ve done lot of research to see what usage models work on television and
what don he said
on tv what we ve found out is that simple widget doesn take too much
attention away from the tv and it easy to navigate with remote he said
it off to the side and covers no more than third of the screen he said
viewer also has the option of seeing the widget and full tv picture
christopher rayner of yahoo partner lg said the growth of web enabled tv sets
is going to make widgets huge huge hit
it going to be growing category because home theater and computer online
capabilities are just merging so fast rayner said
the customer going to be expecting to see this he said the reason this
hasn grown so fast before is because in the past you had to have set top box
or hard line to get it
lg offers web enabled tvs across its range of lcd led and plasma sets and
analyst rob enderle of silicon valley enderle group said it won be long
before every tv is web connected in one shape or form
he noted that much of the growth has been spurred by microsoft xbox live
which allows users to play each other over the internet on web enabled tvs but
also allows them to rent movies through services such as netflix
yahoo abello said being able to access the web through your tv has some
distinct advantages
you can now buy or rent the same movies from amazon that you buy or rent on
your pc he said the difference is that you can watch them on tv where you
have immensely better video capabilities than you have on your pc
the image is not only bigger it better he said
with web video on demand social networks games and online shopping now
available scott steinberg the lead technology analyst for digitaltrends com
said the tv is becoming an interactive medium that everyone uses
tvs are turning the living room back into the hearth of the home he said
france vows response to rebel comments after togo attack
paris jan afp
france on sunday vowed response to comments from angolan separatist whose
group has claimed the deadly attack against togo football squad after the
france based rebel threatened more violence
such comments are unacceptable and will not go without response said
bernard valero spokesman for the french foreign ministry we condemn them in
the strongest terms nothing can justify the call to violence nor inciting
violence through the press
valero added that france had immediately condemned the attack on the bus that
transported the togo national team and demanded that those responsible be
pursued arrested and held responsible for their crimes before the courts
rodrigues mingas secretary general of the forces for the liberation of the
state of cabinda military position flec pm who now lives in exile in france
had earlier threatened further violence in an interview with afp
friday gun attack that killed at least two members of the togo squad cast
pall over the opening of africa premier football tournament the africa cup of
nations
this is going to continue because the nation is at war because hayatou
persists said mingas referring to confederation of african football boss issa
hayatou
weapons will continue to talk this is our home and it time angola
understood that
he told afp by telephone we wrote two months before the nations cup to mr issa
hayatou to warn him that we were at war he did not want to take our warnings
into consideration
they were warned they knew it and they closed their eyes
mingas faction is one of several groups battling for independence in small but
oil rich cabinda cornerstone of angola economic boom despite peace
agreement
obama pressed on accountability for christmas day attack
washington jan afp
president barack obama came under pressure from conservative lawmakers sunday to
hold intelligence officers accountable for botched christmas day attempt to
bring down us bound passenger
somebody has got to be held responsible republican us senator john mccain
told cnn television state of the union program saying we can go back to
the old washington kind of routine we are all responsible so therefore nobody
is responsible
obama last week castigated the us intelligence agencies for failures that
allowed year old nigerian to board detroit bound northwest airliner and
allegedly attempt to detonate explosives sewn in his underwear
but he said he was not interested in passing out blame for what he said were
system wide failures for ultimately the buck stops with me obama said
but mccain and senator joe lieberman an independent with hawkish views on us
foreign policy said individuals should be held accountable
who specifically that might be should be determined by government
investigation currently underway said lieberman who was with mccain in
jerusalem on tour of the region hotspots
think the investigation will show that he said
if human errors were made think some of the humans who made those errors
have to be disciplined so that they never happen again said the connecticut
senator who is chairman of the us senate homeland security committee
think some people have to be held accountable for the mistakes the human
errors that the president acknowledged that enabled the nigerian bomber getting
on the plane lieberman said
another top republican in the us senate minority whip jon kyl said he puts the
blame for the security breakdown squarely on obama not the people who work
under him
think the president was right when he said the buck stops with me kyl
told fox news sunday
the problem is he can be fired right now so what he got to do is provide
sense of urgency with these people who work for him said kyl who also was
critical of obama drive to prosecute terrorists in the us courts which
affords accused terrorists constitutional protections rather than in the
military tribunal system
don blame them as much as do him and don blame the people in the
cia for example or the counterterrorism center as much as blame the heads of
those groups who obviously are reflecting the sentiments of the president
which is we can just treat these people as common criminals and forget the
intelligence they can provide to us and still win war
the senators made their remarks as congress returns to work following its winter
recess with the failed terror attack and efforts to boost airport security
measures at the top of the political agenda
lieberman expressed concern that the recent security slip ups are part of
growing pattern in recent months
in the last year there have been more than dozen known attempted terrorists
attacks on the homeland of the united states he told cnn
as in any war when the enemy breaks through your lines you have got to
regroup you ve got to strengthen your defenses because the truth is in this
war we cannot set any goal less than percent success and that means we
have got to close the gaps he said
lieberman homeland security committee was among several congressional panels
that plan hearings on the incident which has been linked to al qaeda
the senate intelligence committee the senate commerce science and
transportation committee and the house homeland security committee all plan to
look into aspects of case
obama has said that the intelligence agencies missed numerous red flags that
could have disrupted the plot which us officials believe was hatched in yemen
and carried out by umar farouk abdulmutallab the year old nigerian charged
with trying to blow up the northwest airlines jet
abdulmutallab boarded the flight in amsterdam with no baggage and valid us
passport even though his father had warned the us embassy in nigeria that he was
worried that his son had become radicalized
the obama administration last week named former cia director john mclaughlin to
head an investigation into the airliner attack as well as shooting rampage at
the fort hood texas army base on novemer that killed people and left
dozens wounded
football spanish league table
madrid jan afp
spanish league table ahead of sunday late match played won drawn lost
goals for goals against points
real madrid
barcelona
valencia
deportivo la coruna
sevilla
real mallorca
getafe
athletic bilbao
sporting gijon
villarreal
atletico madrid
racing santander
espanyol
osasuna
almeria
valladolid
tenerife
malaga
real zaragoza
xerez
football new leaders real on cloud nine after mallorca win
madrid jan afp
real madrid moved top of the spanish league for the first time since the end of
november beating real mallorca at the santiago bernabeu on sunday as they
maintained their flawless home record with ninth consecutive win
argentine gonzalo higuain made it six goals in his last five league outings with
seventh minute strike before substitute esteban granero netted early in the
second half as real reached the summit for the first time since surrendering the
lead with loss at barcelona on november
real move point ahead of barcelona at the summit although the champions can
reclaim top spot with victory at tenerife later on sunday
mallorca drop to sixth although they are only one point off the champions league
spots due to their percent home record of eight wins
freezing temperatures and snow in the spanish capital saw some real fans stay in
the warmth of their home but for the players gloves and undergarments were the
order of the day
kaka returned for real in his first appearance since injuring his groin at the
end of november while fernando gago was given rare start
mallorca had won at real last season but got off to nightmare start
conceding after just seven minutes
higuain cut inside and curled beautiful shot into the top corner with his left
foot that gave the goalkeeper no chance
it was an th goal of the season for higuain taking him just one behind
valencia david villa in the goalscoring charts
two minutes later mallorca almost levelled but gonzalo castro headed wide when
well placed at the back post
on minutes kaka should have scored when through on goal but was off balance
and his lofted shot went over
mallorca still remained in contention at but their second half game plan
went out the window when granero scored four minutes after the break
granero on as substitute for the injured rafael van der vaart arrived on cue
in the box to show great technique to volley in higuain cross with his left
foot
valencia lie six points behind real in third after making it seven wins from
nine on the road defeating bottom side xerez on sunday
barcelona and real madrid have high number of points and in past seasons we
would be top or close to them with the points tally we have said valencia
coach unai emery
spanish internationals juan mata david silva and carlos marchena were all on
target to clinch victory at xerez and boost confidence for thursday last
king cup match at deportivo la coruna
deportivo are four points behind valencia in fourth after home victory
over osasuna on sunday thanks to juan rodriguez goal
depor won at valencia in the first leg of the kings cup tie so valencia will
need to win at the riazor to progress to the quarter finals
in other matches new real zaragoza coach jose aurelio gay has not managed to
change the club fortunes as his side crashed to loss at espanyol and
stay second from bottom
argentine crisis threatens kirchner standing
buenos aires jan afp
argentine president cristina kirchner has put her own political standing on the
line in showdown between her government and opposition lawmakers backing the
ousted central bank chief
the unprecedented confrontation which could end in the supreme court has
brought to head fight over bid by the president to use central bank
reserves to pay down the national debt
federal judge maria jose sarmiento will examine the government appeal of her
decision to temporarily suspend government decree that removed central bank
president martin redrado from office after he refused to let the reserves be
used for debt payments
sarmiento has two days to decide whether to accept the appeal lodged by the
government on saturday
if she rejects it the government can go to the supreme court for an urgent
decision to resolve an institutional conflict that could threaten argentina
fragile economy
kirchner dismissed redrado on thursday when he refused to release billion
dollars in central bank reserves to pay down debt due this year which the
government hoped would clear the way for argentina return to international
credit markets
redrado was replaced by central bank vice president miguel pesce who was given
provisional control of the bank
vice president julio cobos opposition leader and head of the senate summoned
political leaders in congress to analyze the situation on monday
as part of their deliberations they must decide whether to convene the
bicameral commission that kirchner should have consulted before removing
redrado under the central bank charter
the coalition behind kirchner minority in both chambers since its defeat in
june legislative elections could block the commission from taking up the matter
but such move could give more fodder to critics who say redrado dismissal
was illegal
jurist daniel sabsay called kirchner presidential decree anti
constitutional while felix leon another critic warned she was exposing
herself to impeachment
in addition to possible loss in the courts kirchner could also face
political defeat as the usually divided opposition unites against the move
some observers have already warned of new reversal in congress similar to the
protracted conflict with farmers in that led to drop for kirchner in the
polls and contributed to the bloodletting in last year elections
kirchner bid to use central bank reserves has precedent her husband former
president nestor kirchner relied on those monies to reimburse all of the
country debt billion dollars with the international monetary fund in
at the time redrado already at the helm of the central bank went along with
it but only after insuring that the reserves would only be used to pay
international institutions
this time the opposition fears the president will use the reserves to reimburse
private debt and that private creditors who rejected debt swap will take
advantage of the situation to demand the use of all the bank reserves
the crisis is headache for buenos aires as it prepares to offer private
creditors an exchange of bonds to the private creditors
argentine bonds sank on friday as the crisis deepened and local investors sought
better returns for increased risk raising the cost of borrowing
the country economy latin america third largest is still struggling to
recover from massive default in which left argentina finances
decimated and choked access to international credit markets
corrected anti qaeda fighters in iraq integrated us
baghdad jan afp
more than one in three of anti al qaeda militiamen have been integrated
into iraqi institutions as part of national reconciliation efforts senior us
general said on sunday
the men are members of the sahwa awakening movement known as the sons of
iraq by the us army which joined american and iraqi forces in and to
fight al qaeda and its supporters leading to dramatic fall in violence across
the country
seventy eight thousand right now are on the rolls over have been
integrated of those have been integrated directly into the ministries
over the last couple of months major general joseph reynes told reporters
around have been integrated into the iraqi security forces
control of the sahwa passed to iraq last october and for the past year their
wages said to have been cut from dollars under us leadership to
dollars have been paid often late by the shiite led government
but reynes said that these delays were now thing of the past
they iraq authorities have taken over and while there were some bumps and
some miscalculations in the way they executed the payments and how they
executed some things in the beginning the last two payments have been on time
the us military began recruiting the sahwa militias among sunni arab tribesmen
and former insurgents in turning the tide in the war against al qaeda in
iraq
baghdad has promised to incorporate percent of the sahwa into the police and
military and find civil service jobs for many of the rest but the process is
fraught with risks
the us military had expressed concern over the integration process
pentagon report in july argued the slow pace of integration has the
potential to undermine sunni confidence in the goi government of iraq and if
not corrected could undermine security progress
football spanish league results
madrid jan afp
spanish league results on sunday
sporting gijon castro getafe
xerez calvo valencia mata silva marchena
espanyol verdu marques real zaragoza arizmendi
deportivo la coruna rodriguez osasuna
malaga weligton athletic bilbao llorente pen
real madrid higuain granero real mallorca
playing later
tenerife barcelona gmt
saturday
valladolid atletico madrid jurado forlan reyes aguero
sevilla romaric racing santander canales
villarreal nilmar almeria corona pen
croatians backing bookish mister clean to lead eu entry
zagreb jan afp
croatians on sunday voted overwhelmingly for social democrat ivo josipovic to
become their next president and lead the country into the european union
according to exit polls
the candidate of the main opposition social democratic party spd has vowed
