laying the ground for new economic and financial governance and averting new
world economic crisis
october he suffers his first failure with the elimination of chicago as
candidate to host the olympic games in the first round of voting after
obama had personally visited copenhagen to plead the cause of his hometown
before the international olympic committee ioc
october obama is awarded the nobel peace prize which he receives in oslo
on december
december after weeks of consultations he announces the deployment in
of extra soldiers in afghanistan at the fastest pace possible and in
the name of the vital national interest of the united states
january he promises rapid coordinated and energetic response to
the devastating earthquake in haiti sending nuclear aircraft carrier and more
than soldiers
canada ready to send police to haiti
ottawa jan afp
canada stands ready to send policemen to haiti to firm up security in hopes of
speeding up aid deliveries foreign affairs minister lawrence cannon said
wednesday
he said the un mission in haiti minustah had reported that the situation in the
capital port au prince remains stable with limited localized violence and
looting occurring mainly in areas that were categorized as high risk prior to
the earthquake
the united nations security council has approved an increase of troops and
policemen to its peacekeeping force in haiti bringing the total numbers
to and respectively
canada is working closely with the un on this issue and stands ready to send
more police officers cannon told press conference
the additional troops are essential to escort humanitarian convoys but also to
secure the route and for reserve force in case security deteriorates further
he said
canada is also concerned about reports of relief fraud he said asking
canadians to report any suspected cases
finnish electricity demand signals improving economy agency
helsinki jan afp
electricity consumption by finnish industry rose for the first time in two years
in december signalling that better times could lie ahead for the economy an
energy industry body said wednesday
towards the end of last year power consumption again turned to growth an
indication that the worst of the recession is over finnish energy industries
et said in statement adding industrial electricity consumption grew in
december versus the same month year ago for the first time in two years
electricity consumption by industry nevertheless fell by percent over the
year dented by the slowdown in the global economy which has hit demand for
finnish manufacturing and led to companies trimming production
the share of industry in finland power consumption fell to percent the
share is lower than ever before in terms of volume industrial consumption fell
back last year to below the level the agency said adding the forestry
industry had seen the biggest drop in electricity use
in the autumn there was clear change for the better in industrial
electricity consumption and by december there was clear growth it said
overall finnish electricity consumption fell by seven percent in but
carbon dioxide emissions stemming from electricity production grew due to
problems in biofuel supply smaller combined heat and power chp production and
the replacement of some gas by coal
last year percent of the electricity generated in finland was greenhouse
gas emissions free finnish energy industries said adding renewable energy
sources accounted for about third of all power production
rugbyu bastareaud road to international rugby redemption complete
marcoussis france jan afp
stade francais centre mathieu bastareaud completed an extraordinary turnaround
in his fortunes on wednesday when he was named in france initial man squad
for the six nations opener against scotland on february in edinburgh
the year old whose recall was not expected even by sports newspaper
equipe when they predicted their squad of in wednesday edition looked
to have abruptly cut short burgeoning international career when last year he
falsely claimed to have been beaten up outside the french team hotel in
wellington new zealand
it was only after the new zealand government issued formal apology for the
incident that distressed bastareaud admitted he had made the story up and had
instead fallen over table in his hotel room in drunken stupor
however after undergoing treatment in psychiatric unit and performing
community service on the orders of the french rugby federation the musclebound
youngster has returned to the fray reinvigorated and has been stade
outstanding player in what has been turbulent season
bastareaud chances of making the matchday and even the starting line up
have been enhanced because of an injury to experienced centre damien traille
whose biarritz team mate prop and fellow injured fabien barcella is probably the
biggest loss to lievremont
it is imperative that the kid is left alone said lievremont
there will certainly be an extra amount of stress for him when he arrives at
marcoussis the squad training centre
that will be an extra source of motivation for him of course his return will
be commented on but he has justified it by the level of his performances
there were also recalls for experienced duo toulouse scrum half cum fly half
jean baptiste elissalde and clermont flyer aurelien rougerie
elissalde whose halfback partner at toulouse the mercurially gifted frederic
michalak was not included in the squad as was neither another toulouse player
maxime medard played the last of his tests in november
we needed second scrum half who could also kick at goal said lievremont
the experience his vision and mastery of the game persuaded me to select jean
baptiste elissalde ahead of frederic michalak added lievremont
rougerie who has been in outstanding form for the top leaders this term
last played in the six nations victory over whipping boys italy last year when
he won his th cap but fell out of favour with lievremont when he pulled out of
the tour in the summer before he had been officially declared unfit
lievremont who will be bidding to win his first grand slam in his third
campaign after two fairly undistinguished previous attempts recalled toulouse
perennially exciting but unpredictable fullback clement poitrenau who has not
featured since last year six nations
clermont winger julien malzieu also deservedly returns after overcoming series
of injuries along with brive fullback winger alexis palisson while bourgoin
fly half benjamin boyet earns an unexpected call up having only won one of his
five caps under lievremont aegis agaisnt australia on their tour down under
in
the only new face among the is year old brive back fabrice estebanez
whilst castres prop luc ducalcon will hope to at last win his first cap having
not got run out despite being called up for last year tour to the southern
hemisphere and the autumn internationals
squad
forwards sylvain marconnet stade francais thomas domingo clermont william
servat toulouse dimitri szarzewski stade francais nicolas mas perpignan
luc ducalcon castres romain millo chluski toulouse lionel nallet racing
metro sebastien chabal racing metro pascal pape stade francais louis
picamoles toulouse imanol harinordoquy biarritz thierry dusautoir
toulouse capt fulgence ouedraogo montpellier alexandre lapandry
clermont julien bonnaire clermont
backs jean baptiste elissalde toulouse morgan parra clermont benjamin
boyet bourgoin francois trinh duc montpellier fabrice estebanez brive
yannick jauzion toulouse mathieu bastareaud stade francais david marty
perpignan aurelien rougerie clermont julien malzieu clermont clement
poitrenaud toulouse alexis palisson brive vincent clerc toulouse
benjamin fall bayonne
doubts about greece starting to lift finance minister
athens jan afp
climate of doubt against debt hit greece and its questionable statistics has
started to lift among eu states after two days of talks in brussels the greek
finance minister said on wednesday
left the meeting with the feeling that the climate against greece is starting
to change and that we are slowly starting to build confidence finance
minister george papaconstantinou told news conference
papaconstantinou this week promised fellow eu finance ministers shakeup of
national statistics after the recently elected socialist government shocked
brussels in october by announcing that the country deficit had been under
reported by its conservative predecessors
on wednesday the minister said that damning european commission report on
greece statistics earlier this month had been slap in the face and that
the credibility shortfall had hurt the country on borrowing markets
the three main credit rating agencies fitch standard and poor and moody
have successively downgraded the country sovereign debt standing
moody yesterday said it was maintaining negative outlook on greece amid
doubts over its chances
athens needs affordable loans as it aims to borrow over billion euros
million dollars this year but the credit downgrades have raised the risk factor
of greek government bonds for potential investors
last week greece sold billion euros in six month and one year treasury
bills on tuesday it raised another billion euros in week bills
greece has public spending deficit that rose to percent of output last
year far above the percent ceiling for countries that use the euro
it is also saddled with debt constituting percent of gross domestic
product gdp
number of greece eurozone peers have criticised athens as its financial woes
have put strong strain on the euro in recent weeks
the european commission sought permission tuesday to check data sent by eu
governments concerning their deficits to avoid repeat of cases like that of
greece accused of playing down its debt
the eu executive arm will propose next month that the bloc statistics
office eurostat be allowed to carry out audits on information provided by
national governments economic and monetary affairs commissioner joaquin almunia
said
the greek government last week unveiled front loaded three year crisis
blueprint to cut back public deficit of over billion euros and rein in
government debt estimated to exceed billion euros this year
the plan aims to save more than billion euros in with improved tax
collection cost cuts and reduced arms spending to bring the public deficit to
percent of output by
bank of america posts loss on public aid repayment
new york jan afp
bank of america said wednesday it posted loss of million dollars in the
fourth quarter of and that repayments of government aid boosted the loss
for shareholders to billion dollars
for all of the largest us bank by assets had profit of billion
dollars but for shareholders the results were loss of billion following
payments to the us treasury stemming from bailout aid
the last quarter results were affected by charge of billion dollars to
repay the us government for its capital aid under the troubled asset relief
program tarp massive effort to stabilize the banking system bank of
america said
while it disappointing to report loss for the fourth quarter there were
number of important accomplishments worth noting said chief executive brian
moynihan
first we repaid the american taxpayer with interest for the tarp investment
second we have taken steps to strengthen our balance sheet through successful
securities offerings and third all of our non credit businesses recorded
positive contributions to our results
moynihan added as we look at we are encouraged by signs the economy is
improving as we have seen in the stabilization of our credit costs
particularly in the consumer businesses
that said economic conditions remain fragile and we expect high unemployment
levels to continue creating an ongoing drag on consumer spending and growth
the results amounted to loss for shareholders of cents share worse than
the cent loss expected by analysts
bank of america which weathered the financial crisis with billion dollars in
government aid after it absorbed troubled brokerage merrill lynch and home
lender countrywide financial said results were hurt by high credit costs
offset in part by gains in investment banking and trading
the group repaid the entire tarp injection in december after raising fresh
capital in the markets
revenues in the quarter grew percent to billion dollars reflecting in
part the addition of merrill lynch
the provision for credit losses was billion dollars billion lower than
the third quarter and billion higher than the same period year earlier
the bank added billion dollars to cover new credit losses but said the rate
of consumer and business loan delinquencies was not as high as in previous
quarters
for the full year revenue net of interest expense rose percent to
billion dollars due in part to the addition of countrywide and merrill lynch
the results are part of mixed set of earnings for the banking sector which is
returning to health after more than year of crisis but drawing intense
scrutiny over hefty executive pay schemes
france lowers deficit forecast
paris jan afp
the french government said wednesday that its public deficit for and
would be better than once feared though still outside european union targets
the new figures reflect the improved economic outlook with the growth forecast
for this year revised from percent to percent
budget minister eric woerth told france television we ll be at deficit of
percent of gdp for the public sphere in the government until now had
foreseen shortfall of percent
the figure while better than expected remains well above the percent
limit stipulated for countries in the euro currency zone
the public deficit covers state and local spending along with social welfare
accounts
the government presented an updated version of its budget on wednesday that
takes account of the revised data
for authorities now predict public deficit of about percent rather
than percent
prime minister francois fillon stressed that the government would work to reduce
the deficit and bring it within the three percent threshold for eu countries
we will have to reduce the deficit by more than one percentage point of gross
domestic product to reach our set objective which is to be below three percent
within reasonable timetable said fillon
will be very important year for france rating which must be
protected fillon told lawmakers
the european union executive commission has given france until to bring
its public deficit in line with the percent limit
woerth said the administration was determined to control public spending
we spent less in than in apart from the stimulus plan which
constituted exceptional spending
woerth said that the government priority was to consolidate the recovery from
the global finance crisis
even before the question of public spending the real question is how to
strengthen the recovery he said adding that if the financial crisis is
behind us the economic crisis is still there
despite the economic turnaround unemployment remains high in france with some
million jobless and more jobs losses are expected in
the government expects the economy to have shrunk by percent last year but
president nicolas sarkozy has said the contraction could have been between
and percent
sri lanka heading for flawed election report
colombo jan afp
sri lanka upcoming presidential polls could be seriously flawed as state
officials violated laws governing the conduct of the vote the country
independent elections chief has said
elections commissioner dayananda dissanayake was quoted as saying wednesday that
he had stopped issuing directives to the police and other government authorities
who disregarded his orders for conducting free and fair election
dissanayake said he would not issue any more directions to the police because
his directions have been ignored in the run up to the january presidential
election the centre for policy alternatives cpa said
the cpa whose affiliate the centre for monitoring election violence has access
to the elections commission said dissanayake told party representatives that he
had become helpless
the commissioner of elections appears to have given up on his attempts to
enforce the law in terms of his powers the cpa said in statement
he has withdrawn the competent authority appointed to regulate the state media
institutions due to the refusal of those bodies to implement his directions
the elections commission has declined comment but has been meeting with
representatives of political parties to discuss next week poll in which
president mahinda rajapakse is seeking re election
police have reported at least four campaign related deaths and have also
received complaints of more than poll related incidents of violence across
the island
the cpa said there was rising trend of violence and possibility for widespread
election malpractice
it is also in the interests of those contesting this historic first post war
presidential election that there is no scope for question of the integrity of
the electoral process and its legitimacy the cpa said
rajapakse called the election two years ahead of schedule to benefit from
popularity following the crushing of tamil tiger separatists in may last year
however he faces an unexpected challenge from his former army chief sarath
fonseka who has the backing of the combined opposition
rugby union six nations grass is greener again for parks
edinburgh jan afp
scotland have recalled australian born flyhalf dan parks and included uncapped
glasgow duo richie gray and ruaridh jackson in their squad for their opening six
nations matches against france and wales next month
gray year old flanker and flyhalf jackson both step up from the
scotland squad while parks returns to the fold after being overlooked for
scotland tests in november which included famous win over his native
country
gloucester prop alasdair dickinson gloucester and edinburgh lock jim hamilton
are back in the squad having missed out in november through injury
head coach andy robinson said parks had earned his recall
dan has been playing well and it an asset for us to have someone of his
ability in the squad the former england coach said
toulon full back rory lamont may be added to the squad for the game against
france at murrayfield on february provided he comes through club game on
january
scotland will be without two former captains through injury scrum half mike
blair will train with the squad next week and could return from an ankle injury
later in the tournament but big hitting forward jason white is out for the
season with broken leg
scotland squad to face france at murrayfield on february gmt kick off
and wales at the millennium stadium cardiff on february gmt kick off
forwards john barclay johnnie beattie kelly brown all glasgow alasdair
dickinson gloucester eng ross ford edinburgh richie gray dougie hall
both glasgow jim hamilton edinburgh nathan hines leinster irl allan
jacobsen edinburgh alastair kellock glasgow scott lawson gloucester
moray low glasgow alan macdonald edinburgh euan murray northampton eng
alasdair strokosch gloucester eng
backs chris cusiter glasgow simon danielli ulster irl nick de luca
edinburgh max evans thom evans glasgow phil godman edinburgh alex
grove worcester eng ruaridh jackson glasgow sean lamont scarlets wal
rory lawson gloucester eng graeme morrison glasgow chris paterson
edinburgh dan parks glasgow hugo southwell stade francais fra
rugby league six huddersfield players arrested for rape
london jan afp
six huddersfield giants players have been arrested on suspicion of the rape of
young woman british police and the rugby league team said on wednesday
club managing director richard thewlis confirmed police were questioning some of
their players who were staying at the gosforth marriott hotel in newcastle
northeast england for team building exercise and training
can confirm that six of our playing squad are currently helping police with
their inquiries in the newcastle area regarding an allegation made in the early
hours of tuesday morning by an unnamed female he said
police confirmed that year old woman had made an allegation of rape
following an incident in gosforth newcastle early on january
six men have been arrested and are currently helping with inquiries the
investigation is in the very early stages and inquiries are ongoing
spokesman said
somalia islamist shebab group threatens attack on nairobi
nairobi jan afp
members of somalia hardline islamist shebab group on wednesday released song
threatening to march on nairobi in retaliation for deadly kenyan police
crackdown on muslims
we have reached the border we will enter kenya inshallah we will get to
nairobi inshallah we will get to nairobi says the insistent six minute piece
of capella singing interspersed with speeches and the sound of gunfire
when we reach there we will fight we will kill we have weapons enough
weapons the army of faith is on the way slowly we are advancing inshallah we
will get there it goes on
the tinny recording with melody modelled on the nasheed islamic songs of
praise often posted on the internet by jihadi groups also mentions shebab
leader sheikh mukhtar abu zubeyr who recently proclaimed his allegiance to al
qaeda supremo osama bin laden
abu zubeyr let move foward we will not retreat allah is with us abu
zubeyr we love you allah preserve you abu zubeyr move on until we re inside
rome says the song
the shebab who control large swathes of somalia and have been engaged in
bruising insurgency against the internationally backed transitional government
have repeatedly expressed their displeasure with kenya stand on the conflict
kenya which shares long and porous northeastern border with somali and has
offered assistance to government troops battling the insurgents has frequently
expressed fears that shebab suicide bombers would strike in kenya
on january muslims outside nairobi main mosque demonstrated to demand the
release of radical jamaican imam detained by police and were confronted by
security forces
at least five people were killed in the ensuing riots
kenyan interior minister george saitoti accused the shebab of infiltrating the
demonstration and ordered security sweep among the large somali community
during which hundreds were arrested
an introduction to the song posted on website close to the shebab said the
song was motivated by the arrest three weeks ago of jamaican preacher abdulla
al faisal who has served time in britain for inciting racial hatred
kenya then attempted and repeatedly failed to deport him
the mujahedin in somalia were angered by the deportation of renowned
religious person the text explains
after that incident took place muslims were displeased and took action then
the non muslims massacred the angry muslims it added
the website an unofficial mouthpiece of the shebab movement made it clear the
song was performed by shebab members but it was not accompanied by an official
statement from the group
higher gasoline prices push up canadian inflation
ottawa jan afp
canadian consumer prices rose percent in the months to december amid
higher gasoline prices government agency announced on wednesday
economists had expected higher inflation for the month following percent
rise in november
statistics canada said the december increase was the largest in almost year
and was due primarily to gasoline prices which were up percent year
over year
this follows an extended period in which they were the main contributors to
year over year declines in overall consumer prices it said
transportation costs were also up percent while food prices rose
percent
the cost of household operations furnishings and equipment rose percent
recreation education and reading costs advanced percent
health and personal care cost percent more in december than year earlier
however shelter and mortgage interest costs continued falling by percent
and percent respectively
some living in makeshift shelter in port au prince iom
geneva jan afp
some people affected by last week deadly earthquake are living in
improvised shelter throughout haitian capital port au prince the international
organisation for migration said wednesday
there are more than of these settlements scattered throughout the city
with an estimated people living under improvised shelter and no access
to water supplies said the agency in statement
until tents can be provided priority needs for those in these settlements
include plastic sheeting water containers and water purification tablets it
added
those who have friends or family outside the city have fled to seek refuge with
these contacts the iom said
as result entire neighbourhoods in port au prince have emptied said iom
chief of mission vincent houver
the poorest of the poor have stayed in the city but many people have left port
au prince mainly to other towns where they have relatives or friends he
added
two jordanians jailed for raping british tourists
amman jan afp
two jordanian men were sentenced to years hard labour on wednesday for
raping two british women tourists who found themselves stranded in the desert
kingdom in court official said
amman criminal court jailed the two men aged and to years of hard
labour for raping the british women aged and he told afp without
elaborating
the men who worked at farm in the jordan valley were accused of attacking
the women after they failed to find transport to amman from the dead sea
according to the charge sheet
they offered to help the women find taxi but later threatened to kill them
and raped them it said
the two women were studying arabic in syria and had gone to the dead sea to
celebrate the holiday of eid al fitr the festival marking the end of the muslim
holy month of ramadan it added
afghan minister says un graft report full of flaws
kabul jan afp
afghanistan finance minister on wednesday lashed out at un report naming
corruption as the top concern for afghans saying the detailed document on graft
was full of flaws
the report released tuesday by the un office on drugs and crime unodc found
that percent of afghans felt that public dishonesty was bigger concern
than insecurity or unemployment
it calculated that afghans had paid about billion dollars in bribes over the
past months equivalent to almost one quarter of the nation gdp
finance minister omar zakhailwal dismissed the findings and accused united
nations officials of using the report for personal promotion
pretty confident that this report is full of flaws he said after
meeting of the joint coordination and monitoring board jcmb panel of afghan
and international officials overlooking progress in post taliban afghanistan
corruption exists we are committed to eliminating it but what makes us
unhappy is that people make either political statement of the corruption or
use it for personal promotion he said
think the un report doesn help with the corruption here think it was
for self promotion and think it very cheap way of doing that
zakhailwal said kabul was committed to fighting graft key demand from western
nations propping up president hamid karzai government
we have come long way in one year alone have doubled the revenue in
customs what does it mean it means both that corruption exists and the
progress we have made on this front must be acknowledged he added
based on interviews with people across afghanistan the un report found
graft was part of everyday life with police local officials judges and
members of government named as the biggest culprits
obama pick for aviation security withdraws name
washington jan afp
us president barack obama embattled choice to head the transportation security
administration tsa charged with aviation security said wednesday he was
withdrawing from consideration for the post
have decided after deep reflection and in consultation with my family and
friends to respectfully withdraw my name from consideration for confirmation
erroll southers said in statement released by the white house
the move left the agency without permanent chief at time when it is
grappling with failures leading up to the thwarted christmas day bomb plot in
which nigerian man boarded packed us bound airliner alleged with explosives
sewn into his underwear
southers whose confirmation had been blocked by obama republican foes in the
us senate blamed political ideology fueled bitter opposition to his
nomination and made no mention of the controversy over how he inappropriately
accessed federal database in the late in possible violation of privacy
laws
it is clear that my nomination has become lightning rod for those who have
chosen to push political agenda at the risk of the safety and security of the
american people this partisan climate is unacceptable and refuse to allow
myself to remain part of their dialogue said southers
white house spokesman nick shapiro said obama believes that erroll southers
would have been an excellent tsa administrator but understands his personal
decision and the choice he has made and accepted it with great sadness
fortunately the acting tsa administrator is very able and we have solid team
of professionals at tsa doing vital national security work to keep us safe
shapiro said in statement
suspect arrested in killings of eight people in us police
washington jan afp
police on wednesday said they arrested man suspected of shooting to death
eight people in the southern state of virginia
the suspect christopher speight turned himself in to police following
massive manhunt through rural central virginia police statement said
police who told cnn that speight surrendered without incident cornered him in
woods west of the historic town of appomattox after they discovered seven bodies
at rural home and another victim nearby
at est gmt this morning christopher speight walked in the
security perimeter and turned himself in without incident charges are pending
he was taken into custody and is being debriefed police statement said
more than sheriff department deputies police officers and state troopers
worked throughout the night to find speight cordoning off section of the
woods where he was hiding
the suspect on tuesday fired at helicopter called in to aid with the search
at least four shots hit the craft forcing it to make an emergency landing
officials said
nearby residence was evacuated as the manhunt grew ever tenser
the incident unfolded around noon on tuesday when deputy from the appomattox
