laws who was sacked by sheffield wednesday last month succeeds owen coyle who
quit burnley to take over as manager of local rivals bolton
imf launches mission to debt stricken greece
athens jan afp
team of international monetary fund experts on wednesday began week long
mission to mentor the greek government on how to plug multi billion hole in
its public finances the finance ministry said
the visit came after damning report from the european union this week on
greece official statistics raised fears that the debt crisis in one of the
eurozone weakest economies could worsen and hit other parts of europe
the five member mission requested by the greek government began the visit by
meeting finance minister george papaconstantinou
the meeting discussed the prospect of the imf providing assistance on matters
of tax policy tax management budget drafting systems and public spending
evaluation and monitoring systems the ministry said in statement
greek officials have repeatedly stressed that the country does not intend to
apply for an imf loan
recession mired greece has public spending deficit that rose to percent
of output last year far above the percent ceiling permitted to countries
sharing the euro currency
it is also burdened by debt constituting percent of gross domestic product
gdp
prime minister george papandreou was expected to address greece economic woes
at news conference on his administration first days in power scheduled
for later on wednesday
across the continent there is concern that serious fiscal problems in greece
and elsewhere threaten the credibility of the eurozone and could be precursor
to similar debt crises in other european economies
the european union incoming economic chief on monday warned about potential
spillover effect for the entire euro area from greece debt crisis but said
there should be no imf type of financial assistance
the nation eurozone first recession has exacerbated fiscal weakness among
its members presenting the european central bank with the challenge of dealing
with weaker economies such as greece ireland portugal and spain
the recently elected greek socialist government which must present its crisis
plans to the european commission by late january has said it will cut the
deficit to percent in by slashing spending and fighting tax fraud
it aims to bring the deficit to below percent of gdp in
european officials have criticised athens for the failure to control its
finances and the three main credit rating agencies all downgraded the country
sovereign debt standing last year
in report wednesday about threats to european sovereign ratings this year
moody agency warned the greek and portuguese economies face slow death if
they do not stem the loss of economic potential and tax raising capacity
the european commission this week also published damning report on greece
unreliable economic figures increasing the chances of the eu executive
launching infringement proceedings against athens
commentator john authers writing in the financial times on wednesday said that
the eu report was broadside that raised fears once more that greece could
default without being bailed out by fellow eurozone members
the european union new president herman van rompuy was more confident during
visit to athens on tuesday noting that the government is already taking the
necessary further steps to address the situation
the athens stock exchange closed percent down on tuesday after the report
was issued and was down percent in afternoon trading on wednesday
report by the european central bank in december said there was little chance
of eurozone member leaving or being forced out but the fact the bank produced
such document at all raised eyebrows in financial markets
despite the downgrade blows greece has found plenty of demand in fresh bond
issues to meet borrowing target in excess of billion euros this year
an auction of six month and one year treasury bills on tuesday was over
subscribed and netted billion euros three billion dollars
turkey threatens to recall israel envoy
ankara jan afp
turkey threatened wednesday to recall its ambassador from israel if row over
the envoy treatment was not resolved within hours dismissing israeli
statements aimed at appeasing ankara
unless they make up for it by this evening our ambassador will return on the
first plane tomorrow president abdullah gul was quoted as saying by the ntv
news channel
ankara was demanding formal israeli letter of apology for the incident
according to media reports
gul warning marked another high in tensions between the two regional allies
since israel war on the gaza strip last year prompted an unprecedented barrage
of criticism from the islamist rooted government in ankara
israeli deputy foreign minister danny ayalon embarrassed ambassador oguz
celikkol monday making him sit on low couch and removing the turkish flag
from the table in meeting called to convey israeli protests over turkish
television series
turkey on tuesday demanded an explanation and apology over the incident which
celikkol described as mise en scene saying he was led to believe he had
been invited for introductory talks and not protest
in response israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the foreign
ministry protest to the turkish ambassador was just in its essence but should
have been conveyed in an acceptable diplomatic manner
and ayalon said in the future will clarify my position in diplomatically
acceptable ways
but an unnamed turkish foreign ministry official told anatolia news agency that
the israeli statements were inadequate
speaking during visit to cyprus wednesday israel ultranationlist foreign
minister avigdor lieberman said his country had no desire to fall out with
turkey but urged ankara to show reciprocal respect
you know regarding turkey maybe it time to clarify our position we are not
interested in confronting or arguing with turkey lieberman said
we have had good relations with turkey for many years and we respect the
turkish state and people but that is exactly what we expect in return from them
to treat us with dignity and respect he said
the minister urged direct dialogue even if we don see eye to eye on some
issues
think this is the best way and hope we can come back to the normal
relations between the two countries he said
the series that sparked the row showed turkish secret agent storming an
israeli diplomatic mission to rescue turkish boy kidnapped by mossad agents
an episode which israel slammed for portraying israel and jews as baby
snatchers and war criminals
but relations had been already poisoned by ankara severe criticism of
israel deadly offensive on gaza last year and its persistent blockade of the
impoverished palestinian enclave
in memorable outburst turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan stormed out
of debate at the world economic forum accusing israel of barbarian acts and
telling its president shimon peres sitting next to him that you know well how
to kill people
the latest row has overshadowed planned fence mending visit by israeli defence
minister ehud barak who insisted tuesday that he would travel to turkey on
sunday despite the tensions
turkish foreign minister ahmet davutoglu denied the row was symptom of
islamisation in turkish foreign policy urging the jewish state to show
commitment to peace in the middle east
if israeli policy turns towards policy of peace orientation next day the
turkish israeli relations will change in positive direction he said during
visit to london tuesday
turkey has been israel main regional ally since the two signed military
cooperation pact in
obama to unveil bank fee to cover bailout losses official
washington jan afp
president barack obama will thursday unveil fee on top finance firms to recoup
billions of taxpayers dollars used rescuing the sector during the economic
crisis senior official said
the scheme will be unveiled as many of the firms rescued by public funds gear up
to announce huge bonus payouts to top executives while the rest of the united
states remains mired in economic woe and high unemployment
the obama administration has repeatedly said it will try to recoup the full cost
of the billion dollar troubled asset relief program tarp
president obama will announce thursday the administration plan to recoup
expected losses from tarp in the form of fee on the country biggest
financial firms the senior official said on condition of anonymity
the president and the economic team felt it was important to discuss ways to
recoup every dime for the american people more quickly than the law required
the official said
some reports had said the money raised by the new levy could go as high as
billion dollars but the official said that figure was likely too high
it was not immediately clear how the fee would be calculated but reports have
suggested it could be levied only on high risk transactions carried out by
leading banks and finance firms not on small commercial institutions
bank fee may help the white house channel public anger over big bonus payments
on wall street as americans face the reality of percent unemployment and
slow economic recovery
according to treasury report to congress published on monday the government
had committed billion dollars in tarp funds as of january
of that figure billion dollars have been disbursed out of which
billion dollars has already been repaid by banks leaving billion dollars
outstanding
with the bonuses issue likely to explode into political controversy later in the
week the us government made clear however on monday it had no intention of
imposing one off tax on individual bankers bonuses
asked if the united states was planning to follow moves unveiled this week by
britain and france for community taxes on bankers bonuses treasury
spokeswoman meg reilly said in an email not at this time
argentina death flights pilot drops extradition fight
madrid jan afp
an argentine pilot suspected of flying death flights under that country
former dictatorship dropped wednesday his fight against extradition from spain
agreeing to stand trial in argentina
julio alberto poch had been fighting extradition since he was arrested in
spain in september but agreed during madrid court appearance to face trial in
argentina to be able to defend himself of charges that he rejects
the former argentine navy lieutenant is wanted for allegedly piloting death
flights in which drugged and blindfolded prisoners were thrown alive out of
planes during argentina dirty war in the and
more than people are estimated to have died this way
as many as people including students intellectuals and labour leaders
disappeared or were held in secret jails and torture centres during argentina
right wing dictatorship because of their political views
police arrested poch pilot for dutch airline transavia at valencia airport
in eastern spain as he was preparing to take off for the netherlands where he
has been living for nearly three decades
madrid then approved his extradition to argentina on october
argentine authorities allege he was pilot for the naval mechanics school
esma one of the biggest torture and detention centres of the argentine
military regime
but poch lawyer has argued that his name was not on list of officers who
belonged to esma
about one sixth of the people whom human rights organisations estimate
went missing during argentina dictatorship had passed through esma
poch who holds both dutch and argentine nationality had previously asked to be
extradited to the netherlands to be tried there
but this was rejected last month by dutch authorities and the netherlands
insisted poch must stand trial in argentina
consider myself to be political prisoner poch said wednesday during his
appearance at spain national audience the country top criminal court
the netherlands wanted to unload itself of citizen without giving him the
opportunity to defend himself for political reasons he charged
the pilot also reiterated that he had nothing to do with the death flights and
asked for fair trial in argentina
poch was navy pilot in argentina from until late after leaving the
navy he moved to the netherlands
argentine federal judge sergio gabriel torres sought his extradition after
according to argentina government run telam news agency the pilot told
colleagues and friends about his alleged involvement in the death flights
the national audience will decide over the coming days whether to agree to
torres request that poch be extradited to argentina
football wigan target celtic star caldwell
london jan afp
wigan have made bid to hijack scotland star gary caldwell proposed move from
celtic to middlesbrough
caldwell had been expected to be reunited with former celtic manager gordon
strachan at championship second division club middlesbrough after falling out
with the glasgow club over the terms of new contract
but he could now be on his way to premier league side wigan after latics
chairman dave whelan confirmed that they had made an offer for the centre back
who can also operate as midfield holding player
we knew the lad was keen to work again with gordon strachan at middlesbrough
but we wanted him to come here and made him very good offer whelan said
you always think player will fancy crack at the english premier league
rather than the championship
wigan manager roberto martinez has already signed one defender former ivory
coast international steven gohouri and serbian goalkeeper vladimir stojkovic in
this transfer window
gohouri has signed until the end of the season after being released by
borussia moenchengladbach last month and is hoping that playing in england will
help him regain his place in his national squad in time for the world cup in
june and july
it big challenge for me overall coming to the premier league but as
footballer ve always wanted to play in this country gohouri said
all the strikers in the league are big players and every week will be new
test and looking forward to that there are big differences between the
premier league and the bundesliga notably the intensity
in england that level is much higher and there are many more one on one
incidents during the game so know it will be very hard but here now and
ll have to work hard and challenge for place in the team
martinez added he powerful defender with plenty of pace and we all hope
that he going to reach match fitness really soon because he not had that
recently
as player he going to give us different outlook and he ll be great
asset to have in the squad he got great experience international pedigree
and is desperate to get into the ivory coast squad for this summer world cup
yemeni army training jet crashes in south yemen
sanaa jan afp
yemeni military training jet crashed on wednesday in south yemen due to
technical problem defence ministry official said
the training aircraft crashed in the area of salah al din west of the port
city of aden the official said according to the ministry linked news website
sep net
he said the aircraft manufactured in the former czechoslovakia encountered
technical problem during training
security official told afp earlier that the pilot survived
mou ak sma
zimbabwe civil servants snub paltry pay offer
harare jan afp
civil servants in zimbabwe who earn only us dollars month on wednesday
rejected the government paltry offer to raise salaries by maximum of
percent
after zimbabwe abandoned its local currency one year ago civil servants were
offered uniform salaries of dollars euros month
the national unity government has offered to raise their salaries by seven to
dollars depending on experience but unions say the increase still would not
meet workers basic living expenses
we are suffering we are failing to send our children to school water and
electricity tariffs are higher than what we are earning cecilia alexander
president of the public service association told journalists
the two main teachers unions and the public servants association sent
statement to the government calling the offer inadequate ridiculous and out of
sync with the cost of living
meanwhile we are giving the leadership of this country days to decisively
intervene on the issue as matter of urgency before it blossoms into conflict
the letter said
government should be warned that civil servants may deliver half baked services
that may ultimately compromise government processes
the unions said the government stance was recipe for industrial disharmony
likely to frustrate economic recovery but did not threaten to go on strike
zimbabwe power sharing government formed last year to try to ease political
tensions and mend an economy that had been wracked by hyper inflation
most workers have found other sources of income including street vending to
try to top up their salaries
sarkozy becomes grandfather
paris jan afp
french president nicolas sarkozy became grandfather on wednesday when the wife
of his son jean gave birth to baby boy officials said
yes he had grandson this morning said presidential aide who went on to
say that he had been given very unusual name
sarkozy year old son jean married jessica sebaoun heiress to the big
electronics company darty in september and the couple announced last year
that they were expecting their first child
parliamentary official said the boy was named solal from the novel by
the same name written by swiss author albert cohen
french prime minister francois fillon congratulated sarkozy who turns on
january on behalf of the government at the start of the weekly cabinet
meeting
there was no applause but we all congratulated him budget minister eric
woerth said after the meeting
the prime minister had the opportunity on behalf of the government to
congratulate the president who said that this birth gave him great joy said
government spokesman luc chatel
sarkozy has two sons from his first marriage jean and pierre and third
year old louis from his second
sarkozy married supermodel turned singer carla bruni sarkozy two years ago and
she has son eight year old aurelien from previous relationship
un haiti peacekeeper chief believed dead in quake french fm
paris jan afp
the tunisian head of un peacekeepers in haiti and all those around him are
believed dead after their headquarters collapsed in the huge earthquake there
france foreign minister said wednesday
the building of the un peace mission collapsed and it would appear that all
those who were in the building including my friend hedi annabi and that all
those who were with him and around him are dead bernard kouchner told rtl
radio
kouchner also confirmed earlier that haiti president rene preval had survived
the quake and had phoned the french ambassador in the capital port au prince
brazil said four of its members of the un force were killed and that five
brazilians were wounded and an undetermined number missing in the aftermath of
tuesday quake
filipino diplomat told television station in his home country that rescuers
had retrieved several bodies as well as injured survivors from the rubble of the
un headquarters
bodies littered the streets of port au prince after the earthquake that may have
killed thousands in shantytowns luxury hotels and even the presidential palace
annabi is the head of the strong force united nations stabilisation
mission in haiti minustah brazil is the biggest contributor to the mission
with personnel
cricket tour success depends on last test strauss
johannesburg jan afp
england will go into the fourth and final test against south africa at the
wanderers stadium on thursday knowing that win will seal successful tour
at the end of the tour lot will be judged on whether we win this game or
not said touring skipper andrew strauss on wednesday
england who have already won one day series against the home nation go into
the match with lead in the test series
it nice feeling to know we can lose the series but if it finishes one all
we ll feel disappointed said strauss
the england captain said his players could not afford simply to try to preserve
their lead on pitch expected to help the seam bowlers
in all likelihood there isn going to be draw here so we need to get ahead
of them put them under pressure and win this test match
if you go in with the mindset that you only need draw that dangerous you
start getting bit negative bit hesitant and ultimately you hand the
momentum of the game over to the opposition
strauss expected to come up against determined opponents
we know south africa will come back harder and we have to be ready to withstand
whatever they throw at us
south african captain graeme smith said his team were determined to win
if we play well over the next five days we retain the basil oliveira trophy
and that our goal
smith said south africa had played really strong cricket in the drawn third
test in cape town after disappointing defeat by an innings and runs in the
second match in durban england held on with nine wickets down in their second
innings for the second time in the series
we just want to be positive said smith we ve prepared well again and we
take lot of good things out of the cape town test match
smith confirmed that south africa were set to hand first test cap to left arm
fast bowler wayne parnell and did not rule out the possibility of going in
with an all seam attack which would mean all rounder ryan mclaren playing ahead
of left arm spinner paul harris
the captain admitted that it had been disappointing not to have built on the
successes of when south africa won away series in england and australia
in addition to being in danger of home defeat in the current series south
africa were beaten at home in return series by australia last season
asked whether there was more pressure when playing at home smith said
sometimes being away from home does allow you more to space to prepare and
more cocooned environment but don think there any more expectation we ve
got to get to that point where we raise the bar again
zambia shortlists four firms to bid for telecom stake
lusaka jan afp
four firms from russia india angola and libya have been shortlisted for the
next round of bidding for partial stake in zambia state run telecom company
zamtel an official said wednesday
all the four companies and consortia that submitted the first round bids on
december for up to percent stake in zamtel have been short listed to
proceed to the next round of bidding muhabi lungu acting director of the
zambia development agency said
he said the next round of bidding would begin during the week starting january
and the short listed bidders would have an opportunity to conduct further due
diligence
angola mps to approve constitution next week state media
luanda jan afp
angola parliament is set to approve the country constitution next week
state media reported wednesday in move which should end confusion over the
long delayed presidential election
on the day of january the constitution will be approved state owned
national radio said
the parliamentary vote would take place as angola is hosting the africa cup of
nations the continent premier football event which has been overshadowed by
separatist attack that killed two of togo squad in the northern enclave of
cabinda
president jose eduardo dos santos has been in power for years but has only
faced an election once in abortive polls that triggered new phase in
angola civil war
angola held parliamentary elections in six years after the end of its
nearly three decade civil war presidential poll was expected last year but
was put on hold to allow preparation of the constitution
three possible constitutions have been proposed but the version seen as backed
by dos santos mpla popular movement for the liberation of angola would
strengthen the powers of the presidency
under that charter the president would be chosen through party list system
meaning dos santos would not have to face direct popular vote the charter
electoral rules could allow the head of state to remain in office until
the proposed system would also replace the position of prime minister with
vice president in order to give more power to the president who heads the
government and the armed forces
members of parliament are due to vote on the proposals next week but with an
percent majority the mpla is not expected to have any trouble getting its own
way
dos santos took over from angola first president agostinho neto in civil
society campaigners accuse him of clinging to power and manipulating the
constitutional process something the party has denied
kyocera founder to become japan airlines ceo
tokyo jan afp
kazuo inamori the founder of japanese high tech maker kyocera corp said
wednesday he has accepted an offer by the government to become the next chief
executive of troubled japan airlines
inamori the year old honorary chairman of kyocera met with officials of the
turnaround body overseeing jal restructuring and was asked to take the helm of
the money losing airline
after meeting with prime minister yukio hatoyama inamori told reporters that he
will work for free
jal turnaround is possible if the revival plan can be implemented as drafted
by the turnaround body he said
want to take this position for the sake of jal employees not jal as the
national symbol he said as the carrier stands on the verge of filing for
bankruptcy protection
hatoyama praised inamori as the best qualified person for the job
jal revival is deeply linked with the revival of the japanese economy
hatoyama separately told reporters
have high expectations for mr inamori management skills and his ability to
build enterprises loved by their employees hatoyama said
the carrier current president and chief executive haruka nishimatsu is
expected to step down after the carrier files for bankruptcy proceedings
japan airlines shares dived percent wednesday to just eight us cents as
investors dumped them ahead of an expected bankruptcy filing by the debt ridden
carrier
the government has pledged to avoid total collapse of the former state owned
airline but has signalled likely bankruptcy filing which could aid jal
recovery efforts while leaving investors out of pocket
unesco staff missing after haiti quake director
paris jan afp
fourteen staff members working in haiti for the un cultural agency unesco were
reported missing on wednesday after powerful quake hit the caribbean nation
the unesco director said
am anxiously awaiting news from the unesco team based in port au prince
said irina bokova
at this time members of staff who worked for the unesco office are
unaccounted for bokova said in statement
thousands of people were feared dead after the magnitude quake the
strongest to hit haiti in centuries levelled shantytown dwellings and collapsed
buildings on tuesday
oil prices drop before us energy report
london jan afp
world oil prices fell wednesday dropping under dollars in new york as
traders awaited the traditional weekly snapshot of energy inventories in the
united states analysts said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in february
fell cents to dollars per barrel
brent north sea crude for february was down cents at dollars in late
morning london trading
prices had slumped tuesday on prospects of easing heating fuel demand in the
united states due to milder weather and new moves by china to cool off its
economy
oil fell for the second consecutive day on tuesday and is now trading below
the dollar level said odl markets analyst marius paun
analysts are expecting milder weather than previously anticipated thus denting
consumption but it was moves by the chinese government to ease their own
expansion that sent jitters through the oil markets
following the impressive trade data on monday the people bank of china
lifted their interbank rate for the second time in week paun added
the news stoked the oil markets because china is the world second biggest
crude consumer after the united states
later wednesday at gmt the us department of energy doe will publish its
report on american oil stockpiles for the week ending january
distillates including heating fuel and diesel are expected to drop due to
recent freezing weather in the united states which is the world biggest
energy consuming nation
market expectations are also for one million barrel increase in crude reserves
and similar gain in gasoline or petrol inventories according to analysts
polled by dow jones newswires
signs of weaker energy demand emerged tuesday after the american petroleum
institute api reported that us crude stocks rose million barrels in the
past week
gasoline reserves increased by more than six million barrels it said with
distillate stocks including heating oil up million barrels
oil futures came off in choppy trading on tuesday ahead of the weekly us fuel
inventories report expected later today said vtb capital commodities analyst
andrey kryuchenkov
just like in the week before the cold snap should take its toll on distillate
inventories with potentially hefty draw he added
egypt court blocks france telecom mobinil takeover bid
cairo jan afp
an egyptian court on wednesday ruled in favour of orascom telecom in its bid to
block france telecom from buying outstanding shares of its telephone provider
mobinil orascom chief executive said
the court decision blocks the offer to buy the shares khaled bichara told
egyptian television
negotiations between both companies will continue we are ready for continued
cooperation with france telecom he said
the court ruling comes after egypt financial regulator last month approved an
offer from france telecom to buy the percent stake in mobinil it does not
already own
orascom appealed the december ruling which valued each share at egyptian
pounds dollars saying the price was unfair and the decision
contradicted the regulator three previous rejections of france telecom bids
mobinil egypt largest mobile phone provider had been at the centre of
dispute between france telecom and orascom which took the two giants to
