it further mandated that every individual flying into the us from anywhere in
the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism
or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced
screening
among the affected countries are yemen cuba iran sudan syria afghanistan
libya nigeria pakistan and somalia
mafia flexing muscles with italy court blast prosecutors
rome jan afp
homemade bomb attack on court in southern italy was the work of the local
mafia trying to reassert its power in the region prosecutors said on monday
the sunday morning blast in the entrance to the prosecutor office in reggio
calabria one of the main cities of the calabria region damaged the building
but caused no injuries
prosecutors in the city said the calabrian mafia the ndrangheta had been hurt
by their work and wanted to mount show of strength
one of the reggio prosecutors giuseppe pignatone told la stampa newspaper the
attack seems to be an angry protest against inititatives undertaken by judges
in reggio calabria in the fight against organised crime way of
reasserting their supremacy in the area
pignatone said in the authorities arrested local mafia members
including who were on italy list of most dangerous criminals and seized
assets worth around million euros billion dollars from the
organisation
number of legal rulings involving the ndrangheta are expected in
including the seizure of million euros worth of assets and an appeal verdict
on the san luca vendetta which led to the murder of seven people in duisburg
western germany in
reggio chief prosecutor salvatore di landro told the corriere della sera daily
the ndrangheta would not influence verdicts with warnings like sunday
blast
the newspaper said the ndrangheta was trying to sicilianise itself in
reference to la cosa nostra the sicilian mafia notorious for intimidatory
attacks including the murder of judges
sunday blast was the first time the ndrangheta has attacked judicial
building corriere della sera said
according to la repubblica newspaper as many as people belong to the
ndrangheta
the group is seen as the most violent of italy criminal organisations and
with an estimated annual turnover of billion euros percent of italy
gdp one of the most powerful
international activists leave egypt after gaza entry denied
cairo jan afp
more than international activists have headed home after egypt denied them
passage to gaza for solidarity march with the besieged enclave palestinians
organisers said monday
most participants of the gaza freedom march have gone home around are
still in cairo some will try to get into the gaza strip and some will go home
one of the organisers ann wright told afp
egyptian authorities had banned the activists who had come to cairo from
countries from entering the gaza strip through the rafah border crossing the
only entry that bypasses israel
they had hoped to join palestinians for march on new year eve to mark the
first anniversary of israel devastating war on gaza that killed
palestinians thirteen israelis also died
the activists had staged demonstrations and hunger strikes around cairo to
protest at egypt refusal to let them leave the city
after intervention by first lady suzanne mubarak egypt last week allowed
protesters to enter the gaza strip
dozens of protesters who had camped out outside the french embassy in cairo for
days have also left embassy staff said
egypt had said it barred the protesters because of the sensitive situation in
the gaza strip accusing them of trying to embarrass cairo with their
demonstrations
the participants of the gaza freedom march included irish nobel laureate mairead
corrigan maguire filipino senator and activist walden bello writer alice
walker year old holocaust survivor hedy epstein and hundreds of politicians
writers artists and activists from over countries
turkish airlines to buy airbus jets
istanbul jan afp
turkish airlines thy said monday it would buy short to medium haul
passenger jets from airbus taking options on more
the istanbul based company will purchase and six planes to
be delivered in thy statement to the istanbul stock exchange said
the company has also decided to submit an optional order for planes
with delivery in
thy gave no cost for the order
the orders come as part of an ambitious plan thy announced in to expand its
fleet with up to new aircraft by
the company currently has planes of which are airbus
thy which flies to destinations has grown rapidly in recent years posting
net profit of billion turkish liras million dollars million
euros in up percent from according to company figures
it increased the number of its passengers by percent to million over the
period to
czechs post record budget gap
prague jan afp
the czech republic budget posted record deficit in and was almost four
times higher than planned as the economic crisis battered revenues the finance
minister said monday
the deficit amounted to billion koruna billion euros billion
dollars eduard janota said citing official figures
this is the highest deficit ever and reflected exclusively failure on
the revenue side he told reporters adding the tax take was much lower than
planned
on sunday prime minister jan fischer announced preliminary gap of billion
euros
the figures far exceed the billion euro gap first approved by lawmakers
who raised the estimated shortfall from an original billion euros in
november because of the economic crisis
the finance ministry warned at that time that the final figure could be much
higher
the deficit raised the overall public finance gap to some percent of
gross domestic product gdp from percent in janota said adding the
figure was very unacceptable
the public deficit to gdp ratio is way above the percent limit set down in
the criteria for euro adoption expected in the czech republic by at the
earliest
the initial budget was drawn up before the ex communist economy fell into
recession at the end of and was based on forecast gdp growth of
percent
but the central bank now expects percent economic contraction for
followed by percent growth this year
in the three months to september the economy contracted at month pace of
percent but grew by percent from the second quarter official figures
showed last year
in december lawmakers approved this year budget with of billion euros
equal to percent of gdp but this is expected to rise to percent of gdp
if left wing proposals for higher spending on benefits and welfare are approved
janota added on monday that the cabinet also approved bill enabling the state
to issue bonds worth billion euros to cover part of this year budget
deficit
tennis federer counting on outstripping successes
doha jan afp
roger federer answered his doubters some of whom claim his record breaking
success will make it harder to achieve more in by suggesting he may enjoy
an even better year than last
federer whose triumphs in the french open and wimbledon took him to career
total of grand slam titles reckons it is quite possible that he will win
more titles on the new atp world tour which began monday than he did in
think can definitely if my body allows me win many more tournaments than
did last year the year old swiss legend claimed
really just had to focus on the big tournaments the major events last year
obviously those are the hardest ones to win and it reflects in the tournaments
was able to win hardly played any smaller events
but if am healthy this year can win many more tournaments and that could
also get me more confident more momentum and even more things could also
become possible even though last year was was fantastic
federer bullish attitude is not good news for rafa nadal novak djokovic and
andy murray especially as federer also claims to know why he has lasted the
course better than his younger rivals so far have
part of it has been due to his smooth court coverage which is less destructive
to the body than the movement of the other three but part has been due to
important choices he has made federer claims
it just important to listen to your signals think that is also one thing
did really well when became number one in the world had all the things
going for me and huge opportunities to go and chase money or tournaments around
the world said not going to do it you know he pointed out
said am going to look at the big picture and it been paying off so
very happy with my decisions over the years
he concluded would like to stay number one in the world it an obvious
goal there are no secrets about that because going from number two to number
one was hard work and not an easy thing to do especially with rafa playing so
well and with other guys around
that was major accomplishment for me and would like to stay there as long
as possible and try to finish as world number one
federer begins tuesday against christophe rochus the world number from
belgium and should go on to have semi final with nikolay davydenko the world
number six from russia who caused big surprise by wining the atp world tour
masters the season end title in london
if he does it will offer chance of revenge for federer whose last match of
was to lose for the first time in matches to davydenko six weeks ago in
the semi finals
federer should play the final on saturday against nadal who starts against
simone bolelli the world number from italy and may meet mikhail youzhny
another top russian in the semis
major chilean copper mines go on strike
santiago jan afp
workers at two mines owned by chile codelco company the world biggest
copper mining concern went on strike monday demanding higher pay and better
work benefits
miners at the chuquicamata and mina sur mines which together account for four
percent of the world copper production are calling for percent pay
hike after copper prices hit month peak at more than dollars per
tonne
both mines belong to the state owned chilean group codelco the national copper
corporation of chile which produces around million tonnes of copper per
year and employs around workers
about third of the unionized miners failed to show up when their shifts began
at am gmt monday
codelco has been beset by strikes and other worker actions in recent years
which have forced concessions from the company
codelco could lose eight million dollars per day of strike action it has
proposed percent pay rise and bonus
the miners demands for more concessions come as the price of copper which fell
significantly during the global economic crisis has jumped in recent months
amid renewed demand from china the world largest copper consumer
copper prices have rocketed by more than percent since the start of
driven by signs of global economic recovery after the steep worldwide downturn
chile in had copper output of some million tonnes and was estimated
to have produced similar amount in accounting for about one third of
global production
major chilean copper mines go on strike
santiago jan afp
workers at two mines owned by chile codelco company the world biggest
copper mining concern went on strike monday demanding higher pay and better
work benefits
miners at the chuquicamata and mina sur mines which together account for four
percent of the world copper production are calling for percent pay
hike after copper prices hit month peak at more than dollars per
tonne
both mines belong to the state owned chilean group codelco the national copper
corporation of chile which produces around produces million tonnes of
copper per year and employs around workers
about third of the unionized miners failed to show up when their shifts began
at am gmt monday
codelco has been beset by strikes and other worker actions in recent years
which have forced concessions from the company
codelco could lose eight million dollars per day of strike action it has
proposed percent pay rise and bonus
the miners demands for more concessions come as the price of copper which fell
significantly during the global economic crisis has jumped in recent months
amid renewed demand from china the world largest copper consumer
copper prices have rocketed by more than percent since the start of
driven by signs of global economic recovery after the steep worldwide downturn
chile in had copper output of some million tonnes and was estimated
to have produced similar amount in accounting for about one third of
global production
new us flight security checks discriminatory nigeria
abuja jan afp
nigeria on monday criticised new security measures for passengers flying to and
from the united states as unfair and said they amounted to discrimination
against million people
the us government has announced that travellers from countries including
nigeria are to be subjected to extra checks including body pat downs after
young nigerian was accused of trying to blow up us jet on christmas day
but nigeria information minister dora akunyili said that nigeria africa most
populous nation did not have history of terrorism and such move could not
be justified
it is unfair to include nigeria on the us list for tighter screening because
nigerians do not have terrorist tendencies akunyili told journalists
it is unfair to discriminate against over million people because of the
behaviour of one person said the minister
year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab has been accused of trying to
trigger an explosion on the northwest airlines plane with chemicals which had
been stitched into his underwear
abdulmutallab behaviour is not reflective of nigerians and should therefore
not be used as yardstick to judge all nigerians said akunyili
he was not influenced in nigeria he was not recruited or trained in nigeria
he was not supported whatsoever in nigeria
prosecutors say that abdulmutallab tried to carry out the attack after
undergoing training by yemen based militants who have said they were behind the
plot
six arrested in senegal over cocaine smuggling
ziguinchor senegal jan afp
six people have been arrested in ziguinchor southern senegal after police
seized two kilogrammes pounds of cocaine on the minibus they were riding
police said monday
the six comprise three senegalese including the bus driver two nigerians and
gambian who have been placed in custody in ziguinchor the capital of senegal
casamance province
the cocaine was seized in bag at the border village of mpack where the bus
was coming from guinea bissau
the two kilogrammes of cocaine were in bag of which none of the eight
passengers acknowledges being the owner police source told afp
two passengers senegalese woman and her little girl were allowed to go free
west africa notably guinea bissau has in recent years become staging post
for south american cocaine towards european markets partly because of poverty
and the lack of rigorous controls
the region also has many islands that are good territory for smugglers
gunmen flee with millions from van heist in southern france
gemenos france jan afp
dozen masked gunmen made off with several million euros on monday after using
explosives to blast open cash carrying armoured van in village in southern
france
the gang used several vehicles to block the sazias security van in the village
of gemenos near aubagne before firing rocket and finally resorting to
explosives to get their hands on the stash
the van was carrying more than eight million euros but the attackers only
managed to break into two of the four safety deposit boxes taking some four
million euros said eric pernet from sazias
mickael maurid an employee at nearby shop who witnessed the heist said the
men were armed with kalashnikovs and had placed blaring police siren on one of
their vehicles to halt the van
after brief exchange of gunfire with local police the gunmen managed to
escape aboard several vehicles that were later abandoned and set on fire
it lasted five minutes they were not panicked it was quite impressive said
maurid they seemed to be in no rush
this was very organised gang said marseille prosecutor jacques dallest
they were able to break into the van using explosives which suggests that they
had serious means at their disposal he said
sazias said the van outfitted with state of the art security technology had just
left the firm storage and was en route to toulon to make deposit at the
banque de france
sazias van was targeted in another heist in gemenos in september in which
million euros were stolen
gm launches new small car eyes indian growth company
new delhi jan afp
general motors launched new small car on monday priced at about dollars
that will be released first in the indian market and eventually sold in
countries
the chevrolet beat is compact hatchback aimed at the growing indian middle
classes that gm hopes will help boost its sales in the country by percent
this year to units
on the eve of the delhi auto show which kicks off tuesday gm india chief karl
slym admitted the beat would enter an increasingly competitive market where
foreign manufacturers are jostling for position in the small car segment
there is competitive market in india slym told reporters there are more
and more players coming in with different capabilities
the beat to be priced at rupees dollars in its basic model
will be sold in more than countries worldwide including europe other parts
of asia and north america the company said
small cars account for percent of passenger car sales in india
the beat will be one of the attractions at autoexpo in new delhi which
runs until january and is showpiece for compact vehicles
slym also said gm india would double production at its talegaon plant in the
western state of maharashtra to cars per year because of the beat
introduction
the company said its sales in december more than doubled to vehicles the
highest ever in month since it started selling cars in the country in
indian car sales are expected to cross two million units in
dow jones newswire contributed to this story
football macedonia forward pandev returns to inter milan
rome jan afp
goran pandev is set to help fill the gap left at inter milan by samuel eto
departure for the african nations cup after the serie leaders said monday
that the macedonia international has rejoined them on four and half year
deal
the inventive forward moves to inter as free agent having succeeded in
legal challenge to liberate himself of his contract with lazio last month
because he had been frozen out at the rome side for making transfer request in
the summer
it is return to the club he first signed for in although he never played
for them in serie he went to lazio in as part of the deal to send dejan
stankovic the other way after loan stints at spezia and ancona
fc internazionale announces that goran pandev joined the club on permanent
deal this morning the club said in statement
the macedonian striker has signed contract until june
italian media reported that pandev has good chance of making his league debut
for inter in wednesday game at chievo verona
eto spell away with the cameroon national team this month leaves jose
mourinho with just two other forwards diego milito and mario balotelli as the
club have loaned honduran david suazo to genoa and austrian marko arnautovic
does not seem to figure in the portuguese coach thinking
pandev could be used on the wing in verona though as mourinho is short of
midfielders because of dejan stankovic and thiago motta suspensions
new us flight security checks discriminatory nigeria
abuja jan afp
nigeria on monday criticised new security measures for passengers flying to and
from the united states as unfair and discriminatory
it is unfair to include nigeria on the us list for tighter screening because
nigerians do not have terrorist tendencies information minister dora akunyili
told journalists
it is unfair to discriminate against over million people because of the
behaviour of one person said the minister
officials in washington announced sunday that travellers from countries
including nigeria would be subjected to extra security measures including body
pat downs in the wake of the attempt to blow up us jet on christmas day
year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab is accused of trying to
trigger an explosion on the northwest airlines plane through chemicals which
were stitched into his underwear
bangladesh court bans religion in politics minister
dhaka jan afp
bangladesh dozens of islamic political parties must drop islam from their name
and stop using religion when on the campaign trail following court ruling the
country law minister said monday
the supreme court on sunday upheld an earlier ruling by the high court from
throwing out the fifth amendment of the constitution which had allowed
religion based politics to flourish in the country since the late
all politics based on religion are going to be banned as per the original
constitution shafique ahmed told afp
the verdict does not affect constitutional amendments that made islam the muslim
majority nation state religion in and incorporated koranic verse in the
constitution
the main opposition bangladesh nationalist party bnp which is allied with two
islamic parties said it would appeal the verdict
bangladesh original constitution drafted by the secular awami league party
after the country became independent from pakistan in barred the use of
religion in politics
we want to reinstate the original constitution secularism was pillar of the
constitution said ahmed
the move follows the awami league sweep to power in elections which saw
them beat the bnp with landslide
the new government outlawed controversial islamic party in october accusing
it of destabilising the country
four other islamist organisations including the jamayetul mujahideen bangladesh
jmb were earlier banned after they carried out series of nationwide
bombings that left people dead in
turkish airlines to buy airbus jets
istanbul jan afp
turkish airlines thy said monday it would buy short to medium haul
passenger jets from airbus taking options on more
the istanbul based company will purchase and six planes to
be delivered in thy statement to the istanbul stock exchange said
the company has also decided to submit an optional order for planes
with delivery in
in thy said it planned to expand its fleet with up to new aircraft by
thy gave no cost for the order
urgent new us flight security checks discriminatory nigeria
abuja jan afp
nigeria on monday criticised new security measures for passengers flying to and
from the united states as unfair and discriminatory
germany posts net business creation despite recession
frankfurt jan afp
the number of new german businesses rose last year and surpassed the number of
those closing down despite or possibly because of historic recession an
official study released on monday showed
some new companies were registered compared with fewer than in
according to provisional estimation by the ifm institute that follows
small and medium sized enterprises for the economy ministry
at the same time companies closed down in four percent fewer than
in the previous year leaving the country with net gain amid its worst post
war recession
ifm said the economic crisis had spurred salaried workers who were laid off or
who expected to be fired to start their own firms
people who ran their own companies were also less likely to throw in the towel
because the chances of getting job elsewhere were slimmer
last year meanwhile the number of german bankruptcies jumped to more than
from in the provisional data showed
volcanic lava threatens drcongo national park
goma dr congo jan afp
lava flows from an erupting volcano in the dr congo picked up speed monday
vulcanologist said threatening wildlife in national park that is home some of
the world last mountain gorillas
the amount of lava being spewed from mount nyamulagira was roughly double that
of the start of the eruption in the early hours of saturday goma vulcanological
observatory director karume katcho told afp
the lava was also increasing speed as it hit steeper ground in the virunga
national park he said
the situation is not very good he said
the lava trail had grown to become kilometres miles long compared
with kilometres on sunday and was metres wide he said
katcho estimated at the weekend the it had burnt about hectares acres of
the forest he said monday the extent of the damage would need to be evaluated
by satellite imagery
officials have said the eruption was concentrated in sparsely populated area
but wildlife habitats were under threat
the park unesco world heritage site is home to around of the world
last mountain gorillas but they are east from the volcano near the border
with rwanda
it also contains large numbers of other species including elephants
hippopotamus and buffalo along with range of reptiles and birds
the eruption is not considered threat to people as they can protect themselves
from its hot ash and volcanic fibres however these substances are considered
harmful to animals as they can pierce their stomachs and intestines
the volcano is kilometres from the provincial capital goma which it last
threatened in
alert
new us flight security measures disriminate against nigerians minister
germany westerwelle to tour turkey gulf
berlin jan afp
german foreign minister guido westerwelle will tour turkey and the gulf this
week to promote relaunch of the middle east peace process and weigh events in
iran and yemen spokesman said monday
westerwelle will embark on the trip wednesday in turkey for talks with his
counterpart ahmet davutoglu and european affairs minister egemen bagis ministry
spokesman andreas peschke said
the minister the leader of the pro business free democrats who became foreign
minister and vice chancellor in november will also likely meet president
abdullah gul and prime minister recep tayyip erdogan
the issues will include the items on the extensive bilateral and international
agenda that we have with turkey peschke told regular government news
conference
germany has the largest population of turkish origin outside turkey comprising
nearly three million people
chancellor angela merkel centre right government is sceptical about ankara
bid to join the european union and would prefer it to be granted privileged
partnership with the bloc
he will go on to riyadh for talks with saudi foreign minister prince saud al
faisal and other members of the government followed by meetings in doha with
his qatari counterpart sheikh hamad bin jassim bin jabor al thani and the
emir sheikh hamad bin khalifa al thani
the five day trip will wind up in the united arab emirates for talks with
president sheikh khalifa bin zayed al nahayan and foreign minister sheikh
abdullah bin zayed al nahayan
in the arabian peninsula the issues will also include the situation in middle
east the state of the peace process and how we can manage together with our
partners in the region to bring about new start in the middle east peace
process peschke said
he added that the subjects of iran afghanistan and yemen would also figure on
the agenda
germany has tightened its security at its embassy in yemen due to fears of
strikes by an al qaeda branch linked to botched attack on us airliner last
month
the us british and french missions in sanaa have shut for security reasons
karzai orders afghan parliament to delay recess for cabinet
kabul jan afp
afghan president hamid karzai ordered parliament monday to cancel its winter
recess so lawmakers can consider his new cabinet nominees his office said as
nato announced its first deaths of the year
four us troops and british soldier were killed in two separate roadside bomb
attacks in southern afghanistan on sunday nato international security
assistance force isaf said
nato and the us have troops in afghanistan battling taliban led
insurgents aiming to overthrow karzai fragile administration
karzai decree ordered that the legislature should delay its day recess
until he proposes new ministers in place of those rejected by parliamentarians
on saturday his office said in statement
it ordered the national assembly to postpone leave until the members of the
cabinet are approved
parliament had been due to break on tuesday
of the names karzai put forward for cabinet portfolios only seven won
approval in secret ballot of of the lawmakers
the rejections effectively leave afghanistan without fully functioning
government dragging out political vacuum that has prevailed since an august
presidential election
the president issued the decree under article of the afghan constitution in
bid to complete as soon as possible the cabinet and prevent obstruction of
government work the statement said
the decree appears to be recognition that he is running out of time to prove his
stated commitment to clean and competent government as the international
