of being the hosts
they won the sultan azlan shah invitation tournament in malaysia last year and
finished third behind new zealand and pakistan in the champions challenge event
in argentina
upm kymmene to close mills cut jobs in finland
helsinki jan afp
finnish forest industry group upm kymmene will cut around jobs at its timber
and plywood mills in finland and close four units in the first half of this
year it said tuesday
plywood mills in heinola and kaukas in southern finland sawmill in heinola
and processing mill in parkano in western finland will be closed permanently
during the first half of upm said in statement
all of its plywood and sawmills in finland may see temporary production
curtailments this year it said adding it would discontinue weekend shifts and
slash some jobs
upm announced restructuring plans to improve the competitiveness of its plywood
and timber operations in finland in november and at the time it estimated job
cuts at
upm which also produces pulp and paper repeated it would book restructuring
costs of some million euros million dollars in the fourth quarter
rbs bank boss vows to minimise staff bonuses
london jan afp
the boss of britain state controlled royal bank of scotland vowed tuesday to
minimise bankers bonuses amid public anger over potential payouts that could be
deemed reward for failure
the british bank which is percent owned by the state after series of
enormous bailouts was not going to pay penny more than we need to chief
executive stephen hester told panel of lawmakers
it is my duty as chief executive to protect shareholder interests and pay the
minimum bonuses that our group can get away with consistent with motivating
and keeping good staff hester told the treasury select committee
he added that the bonus levels would be minimal when they are announced in late
february
rbs was defeated by the global credit crunch and its takeover of dutch
banking giant abn amro at the top of the market in before the financial
crisis ravaged markets and economies across the world
some observers blamed the banking sector bonus culture for encouraging
excessive risk taking and helping to tip the world economy into the global
financial crisis
britain spent billions of pounds bailing out some of the country biggest
institutions including rbs and lloyds banking group which is percent owned
by the state while lender northern rock was nationalised
last month the british government slapped percent tax rate on bank
employee bonuses above pounds euros dollars to recoup
some of the cash spent rescuing the financial sector
britain hopes to recoup more than half billion pounds but recent media
reports suggested that some large financial institutions may be considering
moving staff to avoid the so called super tax
iran puts seven bahais on trial for spying
tehran jan afp
iran on tuesday put on trial seven members of the banned bahai religion on
charges of spying for foreigners and cooperating with israel the isna news
agency reported
the first hearing for seven leaders of the illegal group of bahais who were
arrested in may was held today in the presence of their lawyers in tehran
revolutionary court isna said
the charges include spying for foreigners cooperation with the occupier regime
of qods israel holding meetings with the aim of action against domestic
security and corruption on earth
under iran islamic law corruption on earth is punishable by death
all the activities of the outlawed bahai sect in iran is being led by its
global centre based in israel isna cited the revolutionary court as saying in
statement
the bahais have sprawling temple in haifa in northern israel which is the
islamic republic arch foe
based on the evidence and the defendants confessions they held meetings with
ambassadors of different western countries and discussed information and actions
with them it added
followers of the bahai faith founded in iran in are regarded in the
islamic republic as infidels and suffered persecution both before and after the
islamic revolution
the bahais consider bahaullah born in to be the latest prophet sent by
god
washington on monday condemned iran decision to try the seven bahais
the united states strongly condemns the iranian government decision to
commence the espionage trial against seven leaders of the iranian bahai
community us state department spokesman pj crowley said
we are deeply concerned about iran ongoing persecution of bahais and
treatment of other members of religious minorities who continue to be targeted
solely on the basis of their beliefs he said
iran has also arrested around dozen bahais who it said will go on trial this
week in connection with anti government protests in late december
they were not arrested because they are bahais arms and ammunition were
seized in some of their homes tehran prosecutor abbas jafari dolatabadi said
urgent iran to give verdict on french academic after next hearing
tehran jan afp
iran will make final decision regarding french academic clotilde reiss
charged in iran with taking part in anti regime protests after hearing on
saturday tehran prosecutor said
oil price drops under dollars
london jan afp
the price of crude oil dropped under dollars tuesday on expectations of
easing heating fuel demand as warmer temperatures reach parts of the united
states recently hit by cold snap traders said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in february
fell cents to dollars barrel
the new york contract had hit month peak of dollars barrel on
monday before traders decided to bank profits
elsewhere on tuesday brent north sea crude for february was down also by
cents at dollars in midday london trading
weaker oil prices are the result of weather forecasts in the united states that
the temperatures would be moderating this week said purvin and gertz energy
consultancy analyst victor shum
it looks like in the us the cold snap is coming to an end
kuwait oil minister sheikh ahmad abdullah al sabah on tuesday said that at
around dollars the price of crude oil was fantastic
oil prices are fantastic because of what is happening with the cold
weather in europe and as demand is picking up the minister told reporters
outside parliament
the minister said kuwait does not want any change to production quotas when the
organization of petroleum exporting countries meets in march
he also expected demand to pick up in the second quarter of as the global
economy is expected to continue its recovery and as crude inventories decline
elsewhere on tuesday the market was following development in opec member
nigeria where gunmen kidnapped three britons and colombian working for anglo
dutch oil giant shell while shooting dead their police escort
the four were seized around am gmt on road leading from the
southern oil city of port harcourt to the shell operated afam power plant
police said
they were ambushed by gunmen rita abbey police spokeswoman for rivers state
told afp
they are shell contractors who were going to aba in abia state she said
adding police had launched search in and around the town situated northeast of
port harcourt
the gunmen shot dead the police officer escorting the group and wounded their
driver
it is the first major kidnapping in southern nigeria for months following
lull in the wake of government amnesty which saw thousands of militants lay
down their arms
armed groups claiming to seek fairer share of oil revenue for local
communities have since staged attacks on oil installations in the niger
delta playing havoc with crude output and international oil prices
oil prices had meanwhile closed lower on monday as traders locked in profits
after brief bounce on the back of robust chinese economic data that pushed the
barrel to month high near dollars
china the world second largest energy consumer behind the united states saw
exports surge percent in december after months of declines the country
announced on sunday
the jump in exports renewed market hopes that sustainable global recovery is
underway led by china huge economy
chinese oil imports rose to record five million barrels day in december
percent jump compared with the same month in
french prime minister wants anti burqa measures deputies
paris jan afp
french prime minister francois fillon on tuesday told lawmakers he was in favour
of banning the full islamic veil through raft of legal and parliamentary
measures deputies said
fillon told meeting of deputies from his governing right wing ump party that
parliament should adopt resolution outlining france rejection of the burqa
and that several legislative texts and regulations should follow
the prime minister waded into heated debate over whether to bar muslim women
from wearing the full veil known as the niqab or burqa just weeks before
parliamentary panel was due to release report on the issue
many politicians from the left and right have cautioned that draconian law
banning the head to toe veil would be difficult to enforce and probably face
challenge in the european rights court
the goal is to ensure that the burqa does not have place in france fillon
said according to one lawmaker
the ban on the full veil must be applied through resolution that is
sufficiently firm to outline the principles and through legislative texts and
regulations to apply these principles he said
home to europe biggest muslim minority france set up the special panel six
months ago to consider whether law should be enacted to ban the burqa
sarkozy himself has said that the burqa is not welcome in france but has not
stated publicly whether legislation should be enacted
france political establishment is divided on whether to ban the burqa with
the opposition socialists saying that they opposed law even though they
believed muslim women should be discouraged from wearing the full veil
parliamentary resolution would provide the governing majority with political
cover by making national statement but there could also be amendments
introduced to amend security laws according to deputies
jean francois cope leader of the ump majority in the national assembly last
week unveiled draft bill that would make it illegal to cover the face in
public places and on the streets with the exception of carnivals
under that measure that has yet to be submitted to parliament burqa wearing
women could be fined up to euros dollars
men who force their wives to wear the burqa or niqab could face an even heavier
fine according to cope proposal
critics argue that specific law enacted to ban the full veil would be
tantamount to using sledgehammer to swat fly only women wear the full
veil in france according to the interior ministry
parliament speaker bernard accoyer warned that broad ban on the veil would
likely be overturned in court and that such development would be victory
for extremists
france has had long running debate on how far it is willing to go to
accommodate islam without undermining the tradition of separating church and
state enshrined in flagship law
in it passed law banning headscarves or any other conspicuous
religious symbols in state schools
defector foster unlikely path to ireland top job
belfast jan afp
arlene foster who at has become northern ireland acting first minister
while scandal hit peter robinson steps aside has taken an unlikely route to the
top having defected from rival party
the enterprise minister who began her first full day in the job tuesday faces
the task of stopping the province power sharing process from backsliding
further as the main parties clash over devolution
the former lawyer must also ensure that the scandal engulfing robinson does not
inflame the situation
robinson chose foster to fill in for six weeks while he takes break in bid
to clear his name over crisis sparked by his wife affair
the first ever woman to take the top job foster was surprise choice to step
into the breach with deputy leader nigel dodds and finance minister sammy
wilson among the more senior figures in the democratic unionist party dup
hardline protestant conservative grouping determined to keep northern ireland
within the united kingdom the dup is the biggest party in the province
partly thanks to foster defection
arlene isabel kelly was born on july in the town of enniskillen in the
southwestern county fermanagh
she graduated from queen university belfast with law degree whilst there
she joined the student branch of the ulster unionist party uup the long
standing unionist party in northern ireland which takes more moderate
centre right approach than the hardline dup
she returned to fermanagh to start work as lawyer in her political life she
was considered hard liner within the uup and found herself increasingly at
odds with the party leadership direction
in the november northern ireland assembly elections she was elected as one
of the six representatives for the fermanagh and south tyrone constituency
under the uup banner
however she and two others quit the uup in protest at the party direction and
joined the dup in january in high profile defection that rocked the uup
and boosted their rivals for the unionist vote
the assembly was suspended but she held her seat in the march elections
after which the assembly reconvened
she gave up her legal post after years and was appointed environment minister
in may
she became the minister for enterprise trade and investment in june key
post in battling the recession
now she finds herself in the breach again at another delicate post
foster is married with two sons and daughter
british minister niece faces verdict in sex murder trial
versailles france jan afp
british government minister niece faced up to years jail tuesday when
french court decides if she is guilty of drunkenly stabbing to death frenchman
she picked up in pub
jessica davies has admitted plunged the knife into the naked body of year old
olivier mugnier in november but said she had no idea why she did it
looking pale and drawn and dressed in jeans and black top she told the court
in versailles she had blacked out and had no recollection of the killing except
the sensation of the knife going in
do not even dare ask forgiveness from olivier family she said tuesday
the second and last day of her trial what did terrifies me can
guarantee that will never again touch drop of alcohol
davies who has french mother and british father is the niece of britain
multi millionaire junior defence minister quentin davies
she said she was close to her uncle and had spent christmases in his home and
admired him for his success his convictions and his humanism
she told the court monday that she remembered telling the police who arrived at
the murder scene that was monster
don remember killing olivier but take responsibility for killing him
she said in court
she said she no longer remembered making statement the day of the murder in
her flat in saint germain en laye chic paris suburb in which she said
just wanted to cut him little but the knife went in by itself
the blood stained kitchen knife with six inch blade that killed mugnier was
passed round for inspection by the three judges and the five women and four men
of the jury
the court on monday heard her parents speak of their dysfunctional family and
her troubled adolescence
davies who grew up mostly in france faces maximum sentence of years in
prison if convicted of voluntary homicide without premeditation
she said she had begun the weekend that mugnier died by sleeping with an ex
boyfriend on the friday night
she spent most of the saturday drinking in series of bars with friends before
going alone to sullivan irish pub near her home where she met and began
flirting with mugnier
they had several drinks and when the bar closed decided to go to davies place
opened bottle of wine he rolled joint we started undressing making
love she told the court
he couldn have proper erection but that was understandable given how
much we drunk we stopped making love he took off the condom said davies
then she said the next thing she knew she saw him lying bleeding from the neck
on the bed and she was trying to stem the blood with one hand and with the
other was calling emergency services
they arrived around am on the sunday morning but within an hour mugnier had
succumbed to the two knife wounds one of which proved fatal after it went right
through his body and touched his spine
davies said the knife that killed mugnier was the one she had used to slash her
own wrists and legs in her bathtub just few months earlier when she was
depressed after splitting up with her boyfriend
the court heard how davies developed behavioural problems after the acrimonious
divorce of her parents when she was and how she was badly affected by her
maternal grandmother repeated suicide attempts
she started drinking heavily as teenager and later developed cocaine habit
verdict is expected tuesday
her uncle hit the headlines in when he defected from britain opposition
conservatives to the ruling labour party just before gordon brown was named
prime minister
he has since been appointed brown junior defence minister
cyprus in shock as media mogul gunned down outside home
nicosia jan afp
cypriot president demetris christofias ordered police to pull out all the stops
on tuesday to find the culprits in the murder of media mogul just metres
yards from the heavily guarded us embassy
such an act can only be described as monstrous christofias told reporters
want to believe and do believe that the police will exhaust every
possibility to solve this brutal crime
antis hadjicostis was shot dead outside his home on monday night in what police
believe was professional hit his sigma tv channel reported
christofias said he had very good relationship with the hadjicostis family
which made his grief that much worse
the cyprus president took time out from un led reunification talks with turkish
cypriot leader mehmet ali talat which had just stepped up gear on monday to
visit the bereaved family and give his condolences
hadjicostis was ceo of the dias media group one of the island largest
which owns the sigma tv channel radio proto daily newspaper simerini and
other publications
sigma interrupted its programmes to announce the killing of the father of two
who was ambushed by two men while getting out of his car and shot twice at close
range in the chest and the back
no shell casings were found at the scene said police who declined to speculate
on the motives
one person was waiting for him outside his home while another was on high
powered bike nearby to ensure quick getaway according to witnesses
the dias media empire is owned by antis tycoon father costis hadjicostis who
has one other older son
the shooting happened at around pm gmt metres yards from
the heavily guarded us embassy in the capital nicosia
the motive for the killing is unknown but attacks on media figures are rare in
cyprus sigma called it an unprecedented and shocking crime
daily newspaper politis said the killing had financial motive behind it while
others have suggested it could be linked to the bizarre body snatching of ex
president tassos papadopoulos
papadopoulos grave was violated on december and police are still struggling
to find any hard leads
simerini newspaper said the dias group would not bow to terrorism and said the
cold blooded crime came at crucial juncture for the cyprus problem
cyprus archbishop chrysostomos ii said the shooting was an attack on
democracy
politicians press organisations family and friends have inundated tv and radio
shows to convey their respects and express horror and disbelief over the attack
football zenit sign danish defender lund
saint petersburg jan afp
russia champions zenit st petersburg signed danish defender michael lund
on three year contract from aarhus the buying club announced on tuesday
the year old made his debut for aarhus at the age of and went on to play
matches for them
no financial details of the deal were disclosed
alert
iran to give verdict on french researcher after saturday hearing prosecutor
one killed in sri lanka poll attack police
colombo jan afp
gunmen in sri lanka on tuesday opened fire on bus carrying supporters of the
main opposition presidential candidate killing one political activist police
said
several other people were wounded when unidentified attackers sprayed bullets
into the vehicle of campaigners backing sarath fonseka in elections due on
january
one person was killed instantly another opposition supporter was hospitalised
and several others had minor injuries local police officer who declined to
be named told afp by telephone
sri lankan elections have been marred in the past by violence but tuesday
shooting near the town of hungama in the south of the island was the first in
the run up to the presidential vote
fonseka former general quit the army and entered politics in november over
differences with president mahinda rajapakse who accused him of trying to seize
power after crushing separatist tamil tiger rebels last year
rajapakse standing for re election called the poll two years ahead of schedule
in bid to ride wave of public acclaim after the rebels defeat and the
killing of their notorious founder velupillai prabhakaran
victory over the rebels in may brought decades of ethnic bloodshed on the island
to an end but fears remain over continued friction between the majority
sinhalese population and the battle scarred tamils in the north and east
the tamil tigers often used violence to stop voting and also carried out suicide
bomb attacks and assassinations in the run up to previous elections
fonseka suffered serious injuries in when he was targeted by female
suicide bomber inside the army headquarters
woman who saved anne frank diary dead at
the hague jan afp
miep gies the woman who hid dutch youngster anne frank from the nazis and
guarded her diary that became one of the world most read books has died after
brief illness at the age of
the anne frank museum said that gies the last surviving helper of anne and
those who shared her hiding place in an amsterdam canalside house died in the
western town of hoorn on january
it was gies who guarded anne memoirs and presented it to the girl father
otto when he returned from the auschwitz concentration camp at the end of world
war ii the only one of his family to survive
in her diary anne frank chronicled the details of her teenage life hiding from
the nazis in amsterdam from to when the nazi secret police discovered
her and her family hiding place
anne and her sister later died at the bergen belsen concentration camp
the diary first published in became one of the most renowned accounts of
jews hiding from nazi persecution and has been translated into languages
until she suffered stroke decade ago gies travelled around the world
giving lectures about the consequences of intolerance and anti semitism
according to the anne frank museum
anne frank expressed great wish to live on after her death miep gies saw it
as her duty to help in making this happen it said in statement
born hermine miep santruschitz in vienna in gies moved to the
netherlands at age
in she began working for otto frank at his opekta trading company
at great risk to her own safety she and four other helpers brought food and
supplies to the frank family and others hiding in secret annex of opekta
office building for more than two years
when she turned last february gies sought to play down her own role
not hero she said it wasn something planned in advance simply
did what could to help
she suffered stroke at the age of which seriously affected her speech and
writing and forced her to stop her activities
on her th birthday gies bought house with garden in hoorn where she
lived out the last years of her life she celebrated her th birthday on
february last year
bad fall in mid december left her with severe neck injury the anne frank
foundation said she died of complications in hospital in hoorn on monday
night
right until the end miep remained deeply involved with the remembrance of anne
frank and spreading the message of her story the museum statement said
everyday she received letters from all over the world with questions about her
relationship with anne frank and her role as helper
gies received numerous honours for her role including from the netherlands
germany and israel yad vashem holocaust memorial centre
of course it nice to be appreciated but only did my duty to my fellow man
helped people in need anyone can do that can they gies once said
hundreds of people had made contributions to an online condolence register by
lunchtime on tuesday
rest in peace your story reminds us of the nature of humanity wrote year
old andrew davis from london
she was humanity at its finest whilst surrounded by its worst added briton
garry owens
thousands rally in sweden for saab rescue
stockholm jan afp
several thousand people gathered for demonstration in sweden on tuesday to
call for iconic swedish carmaker saab to be rescued from its owner gm plan to
shut it down union official said
there were at least people at the demonstration including saab
employees employees from neighbouring companies and town residents paul
aakerlund the head of the saab branch of the if metall union told afp
the demonstrators chanted save saab save saab during the half hour protest
outside saab headquarters in the southwestern swedish town of trollhaettan he
said
according to swedish news agency tt other signs and banners read mr obama
please save saab and gm general mistake
general motors announced on december that it would wind down the brand which
has barely turned profit during two decades under gm ownership but several
groups have since made last ditch bids for it
they include dutch sportscar maker spyker group comprised of formula one boss
bernie ecclestone and luxembourg investment firm genii capital and swedish
group fronted by the former chief executive of german truck manufacturer man and
former politician
gm has said it would still consider offers for saab even though it has begun the
wind down operations
but on monday gm chief executive ed whitacre told swedish news agency tt that
none of the eleventh hour bids were strong enough financially
he said give us million dollars and the situation would be different
the financial details of the bids have not been disclosed
saab unions on tuesday sent an open letter to whitacre urging him to sell the
brand instead of shutting it down
show us that gm is responsible multinational company read the letter
copy of which was obtained by afp
show us respect as employees within gm show us that you represent moral and
integrity show us that you keep promises save saab sell saab it said
saab which employs people in sweden is one of four storied brands being
shed by gm as part of massive restructuring effort that began in and
accelerated last year when the largest us automaker went bankrupt
analysts have warned that some jobs could be lost with saab closure
china raises bank reserve ratio amid overheating fears
beijing jan afp
china central bank announced tuesday it would increase the amount of money
banks must keep in reserve as the government seeks to guard against possible
economic overheating
the people bank of china said in notice on its website that the deposit
reserve ratio would be hiked by basis points
the ratio is the minimum amount of money that banks must keep in reserves and
not use for lending or other purposes
the increase will take effect on monday the central bank said
the central bank did not say what the current rates were but state media reports
said the requirement for large banks was minimum percent which would
rise next week to percent
the media reports said the increase would not apply to small and medium sized
banks whose requirement was currently at percent
the announcement is the latest sign the government is moving to rein in an
explosion in new lending that has raised fears of inflation economic
overheating and possible rash of bad loans
last week it raised the interest rate on its three month treasury bills and
earlier on tuesday increased the rate on its one year bills
football korea pull out of asian women championship
tokyo jan afp
the north korean women team have pulled out of next month east asian
football championships in tokyo following diplomatic spat over visas
north korea withdrew because of visa problem and will be replaced by taiwan
who finished second in the qualifying round east asian football federation
president junji ogura told reporters on tuesday
taiwan will join china south korea and japan in the february tournament
north korea finished runners up to japan in the championship
japanese government minister spoke out in december against the north korean
team planned visit citing an official visa ban for north koreans imposed in
protest at pyongyang nuclear test
but tokyo made an exception and approved the visit earlier this month because
football governing body fifa prohibits political interference in the sport
ogura said
government officials made some comments and the news reached north korea said
ogura who is also on the fifa board and vice president of the japan football
association jfa
jfa general secretary kozo tashima said north korea didn say why they decided
to withdraw
relations have remained tense between japan which once colonised the korean
peninsula and north korea
agents from the communist nation abducted japanese in the and to
help train pyongyang spies in japanese language and customs further souring
