tighten up security following failed plot to bomb us airplane the
government said tuesday
the controversial scanners capable of peering through clothes to create three
dimensional images of passengers to reveal any concealed weapons or explosives
are to be installed at airports over the next two months
eventually scanners are to be deployed in all at cost of about
canadian dollars each us minister of state rob merrifield told
press conference
we are not immune to acts of terrorism or terrorist threats and we must remain
vigilant to be at the forefront of new security technology he said
today announcing the government of canada is purchasing new millimeter
wave imaging scanners to enhance passenger security at canadian airports
the scanner will offer an additional layer to security measures that are
already in place
travelers selected for secondary screening at checkpoints will be asked to walk
through the scanner or may alternatively submit to physical search
merrifield explained
graphic images created by the machines criticized by privacy advocates as
amounting to virtual strip searching would be viewed by officers in closed
room with no view of the passengers themselves and deleted he said
several countries led by the united states have announced additional security
measures at airports since nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab was charged with
trying to blow up us bound jet on christmas day
the netherlands britain and nigeria earlier announced that body scanners would
also be rolled out at their international airports
abdulmutallab reportedly confessed to being trained by an al qaeda bomb
maker in yemen for the suicide mission on the northwest airlines flight from
amsterdam to detroit
it was foiled when explosives sewn into the man underwear failed to detonate
and passengers jumped on him
urgent israeli airstrike kills one wounds three in gaza medics
gaza city jan afp
an israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded three in the hamas ruled gaza
strip on tuesday palestinan medics said
the israeli military confirmed the attack which hit near the southern town of
khan yunis
witnesses said the target was group of militants
rallying dakar rally results
copiapo chile jan afp
dakar rally results on tuesday in the km fourth stage from fiambala in
argentina to copiapo km of which is timed
stage four
motorbikes
marc coma esp ktm hr min sec david casteu fra sherco at
cyril despres fra ktm francisco lopez chi aprilia paulo
gon alves por bmw luca manca ita ktm jakub przygonski
pol ktm olivier pain fra yamaha helder rodrigues
por yamaha pal ullevalseter nor ktm david fretigne
fra yamaha
overall standings
cyril despres fra ktm david casteu fra sherco at
helder rodrigues por yamaha luca manca ita ktm alain
duclos fra ktm marc coma esp ktm francisco lopez
chi aprilia jonah street usa ktm pal ullevalseter
nor ktm paulo goncalves por bmw
us to unveil new air security steps
washington jan afp
us president barack obama was unveiling tuesday tough air security reforms after
an attempted attack on us passenger jet as new details emerged about the
would be bomber
obama who has denounced systemic intelligence failures after the botched
christmas day bombing was huddling with his top national security and spy
chiefs at the white house to discuss the findings of two reviews
as the probe continued into the thwarted attack on northwest flight the
white house said the suspect year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab
was providing useful information during fbi interrogations
dutch prosecutors said tuesday that abdulmutallab had probably obtained the
explosives which were stitched into his underwear before he arrived at
amsterdam schiphol airport where he boarded the flight to detroit
at the moment it appears that he was already in possession of the explosives
before he reached schiphol the prosecutors office said presenting the initial
findings of an official inquiry
investigations spanning from west africa to europe to the middle east have been
trying to piece together abdulmutallab whereabouts and actions leading up to
the strike when the explosives failed to detonate properly
abdulmutallab currently detained in detroit spent number of hours with fbi
investigators in which we gleaned usable actionable intelligence white house
spokesman robert gibbs said
us officials said meanwhile that additional visas had been revoked since the
christmas day plot but gave no details of how many or which countries the
applicants were from
additional visas have been revoked for people that we believe have suspected
ties to terrorism us state department spokesman pj crowley told reporters
it based on our assessment of the risk associated with specific
individuals on information that we have you know from various sources
crowley said
responsibility for the christmas day attack has been claimed by al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula aqap which has also urged attacks on western interests in
yemen
the us embassy in yemen reopened tuesday after two day closure prompted by the
al qaeda threats as us secretary of state hillary clinton warned unrest in the
arab country was threat to global stability
the us embassy said on its website that yemeni security forces had addressed
specific area of concern in the north of the capital sanaa on monday paving
the way for the reopening
the british and french authorities also closed their embassies while japan
suspended consular services at its embassy full services at the three latter
missions have yet to resume
the west has had long standing concerns that yemen country on the southern
tip of the arabian peninsula has become haven for islamic terror groups the
nigerian would be bomber allegedly claimed he was trained there
the white house said on tuesday it had decided not to transfer any more
guantanamo bay prisoners to yemen for now following the plot
the obama administration has been under intense pressure from domestic critics
and some friendly lawmakers not to send any more inmates back to yemen because
of fears they will slip into extremism
obama meanwhile was to make public remarks focusing on an initial series of
reforms to the us terrorist watch list system at pm gmt after his
meeting in the secure white house situation room us official said
the bombing attempt triggered an overhaul of us terrorist watchlists and added
dozens more suspects to no fly lists
further boosting security measures all travelers coming from or via terror
linked countries will have to undergo compulsory enhanced screening
nigeria one of the countries on the list on tuesday protested to the us
ambassador over washington new rules
made it clear through the us ambassador to the us government that this is
unacceptable to nigeria foreign minister ojo maduekwe told journalists
eu security experts will meet in brussels on thursday to discuss the emergency
measures amid privacy and health concerns over broader use of full body
scanners
spanish transport minister jose blanco said spain would not bring in additional
measures such as scanners without an eu agreement
he stressed any new security measures had to be compatible with the freedom
and privacy of individuals
afp world news agenda
hong kong jan afp
what coming up around the world
un afghanistan envoy briefs security council
obama spy chiefs to discuss thwarted plane attack
japan finance minister resigns
united nations security council to be briefed on the situation in afghanistan
by the un special representative to the country kai eide at gmt
afghanistan unrest un
washington president barack obama to meet spy chiefs and security officials to
discuss the findings of two investigations into the botched christmas day plane
attack attacks us nigeria
tokyo following reported resignation of japan year old finance minister
hirohisa fujii over health concerns despite pressure to stay on in the post
japan economy politics fujii
accra agents of the us federal bureau of investigation look into the sojourn in
the country of nigerian man accused of trying to blow up us airliner
cairo foreign ministers of egypt france jordan spain and tunisia meet in
bid to relaunch the mediterranean union
kigali bernard kouchner arrives in kigali on the first visit to rwanda by
french foreign minister since diplomatic ties resumed in november rwanda
france diplomacy
london prime minister gordon brown faces his weekly question and answer session
with lawmakers in the house of commons as britain iraq war inquiry has resumed
gmt
london french councillor will enter her plea at tribunal in portsmouth on
charges of helping to smuggle vietnamese immigrants into britain britain
france vietnam immigration court
nairobi china foreign minister yang jiechi meets senior kenyan officials on
the second leg of his african tour
cameroon football star samuel eto holds news conference on new
environmental initiative ahead of the world cup fbl cam
wc environment
riyadh jordan king abdullah ii ends two day visit to saudi arabia saudi
jordan diplomacy
sanaa following developments after the us embassy closed for two days
reopened following an easing of security fears over by al qaeda threats against
western targets in impoverished yemen attacks yemen qaeda
bridge collapses in brazil seven dead
sao paulo jan afp
rain swollen river in southern brazil swept away cars and at least people
tuesday seven of whom were confirmed dead local media reported
the bridge on route ers near agudo in rio grande do sul state apparently
was knocked down by the raging jacui river globo reported in its online
edition
part of the bridge collapsed and some people went over to see what was
happening and then the rest of it fell down firefighter menardino weber told
globo
some press reports said dozens of people were still missing which could not be
immediately confirmed
floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed people in brazil
in the past week with the greatest number of fatalities in angra dos reis
beach city south of rio de janeiro
imf says iceland bank payout not condition for aid
washington jan afp
the imf said tuesday its aid program for iceland was not linked to measure to
compensate britain and the netherlands for the failed icesave bank after the
country president refused to sign the unpopular bill
an icesave agreement is not condition for iceland program with the imf so
long as the program is fully financed said mark flanagan iceland mission
chief for the international monetary fund
the reaction came after iceland president olafur ragnar grimsson refused to
sign an unpopular bill to compensate britain and the netherlands over the
failure of icesave bank leaving the matter to referendum
the icesave bill narrowly approved by the icelandic parliament on december
called for the payout of billion euros billion dollars to the british
and dutch governments for having compensated more than british and dutch
savers who lost money in the collapse of the icelandic bank
the payout has stirred up resentment among many ordinary icelanders hard hit by
their country financial meltdown in october but british and dutch
officials said iceland must live up to its obligations to repay the two
governments
about people about quarter of the country electorate have
signed petition protesting against the bill and calling for the issue to be
put to referendum
flanagan said the imf will evaluate the situation with the icelandic
authorities and consult with the other countries providing financing for the
program
the fund staff will also continue working with the icelandic authorities
towards implementing the policies necessary to fully extricate the country from
its crisis he added
the imf fast tracked billion dollar loan to iceland in november one
month after the collapse of the country booming financial sector about half
of the funds have been released to iceland
alert
israeli air strike kills one wounds three in gaza medics
my gr al
rallying gordon pips peterhansel to win dakar fourth stage
copiapo chile jan afp
american robby gordon won the fourth stage of the dakar rally cars category
tuesday km special stage from fiambala in northern argentina to copiapo
in chile
gordon driving hummer came in an astonishing one second ahead of bmw
stephane peterhansel of france the overall race leader
peterhansel held off qatari rival nasser al attiyah by min sec and spaniard
carlos sainz likewise of volkswagen by min sec and is still over seven
minutes ahead of closest challenger sainz
today was fast stage with fast off road sections which means you have to
keep your eyes on danger said peterhansel
it was tough we had to watch out when you have designed car all year long
you do hope it performs and delivers in technology in the sand dunes
everywhere
but nothing is ever certain so far however the car is not driving too bad
after seeing his hummer restricted by the tighter roads in argentina gordon
could let his hummer loose on the more open terrain of stage four to claim his
first win of the edition
despite negotiating km of jumps and slaloms around camel grass his win is
likely to stir up memories of when he won his first special stage on
similarly vast terrain in zouerat mauritania
the american however is not celebrating yet
stage victory means nothing to us it the final victory we are in for he
said
have been very careful during the first two days and yesterday monday we
lost one hour am sure that today we managed to climb up in the standings and
we will see how chile will treat us
today special stage was perfect for us with lot of camel grass it on
this type of terrain that the hummer is doing great
ktm rider marc coma won the fourth stage of the motorcycling category after
coming in min sec ahead of frenchman david casteu of sherco
another frenchman cyril despres of ktm who was third on the day min sec off
the pace retained his overall lead
coma win was his ninth stage victory in the race and allows him to close the
gap slightly to despres although the spaniard is still rueing losing more than
minutes in two days due to penalties and grumbling engine
thanks to his performance in the first day of racing in the hautacam desert the
spaniard moves up three places to sixth overall at behind despres
it was an important day after the bad results and the bad luck said coma
we got our good habits back and we got back on the right track it good for
the morale of the team after few bad days the strategy is something you do
each day we will make the most of the race climb in the standings and move
forward till the end we won let our guard down
corrected google unveils new smartphone
mountain view california jan afp
google unveiled its new nexus one smartphone tuesday in direct challenge to
heavyweight apple iphone handsets
the touch screen device was billed by google as superphone and the next step
in the evolution of its android software
the internet giant worked with taiwanese electronics titan htc to make the nexus
one
think you will see it pushes the limits of what possible on smart phone
htc chief executive peter chou said as the smartphone debuted at google
headquarters in mountain view california
it is very thin and feels good in your hand he added
nexus one handsets are no thicker than pencils and no heavier than keychain
swiss army knives google engineer erick tseng said while demonstrating one of
the smartphones
it is great marriage of form and function tseng said it is really light
nexus one smartphones are built on the same android software that runs droid
smartphones that recently hit the market but feature innovations including
graphics according to tseng
google also launched its own online store at which the nexus one will be sold
nexus one smartphones will be sold at the google hosted web store for
dollars us unlocked without ties to telecom carrier
nexus one handsets will be offered at prices starting at dollars us if
paired with mobile service contracts in the united states
google has made strategic partnerships with telecom firm verizon in the united
states and vodafone in europe
nexus one devices linked to service from verizon in the us and vodafone in
europe should be available by mid year according to google
google said it will ship nexus one devices to buyers in the singapore hong
kong britain and the united states
nexus one smartphones are designed to work with variety of telecom carrier
networks
you can take out your sim card from any provider and put it in the phone said
google vice president of product management mario queiroz
the internet search and advertising giant has already gained foothold in the
market with its android mobile operating system featured in number of phones
starting with mobile in october and more recently with the droid
from motorola
but the nexus one represents significant departure in that google is selling
the google branded phone directly to consumers who will not be tied to any one
telecom carrier
apple popular iphone for example is available exclusively in the united
states through at amp
analysts have expressed concern that google wading into the smartphone market
could irk partners backing handsets based on the internet firm open source
android software
don see it as threat said sanjay jha chief of mobile devices at
handset titan motorola which recently brought to market droid smartphone
based on android software
think the nexus one is good phone think we will upgrade droid to the
software available on nexus one
chou and jha took part in the google press conference saying they supported the
internet firm new phone and web store as healthy expansion of the mobile
phone ecosystem
google executives sidestepped questions about whether the nexus one is intended
as an iphone killer but did say that it should prove to be powerful
competitor
the message isn to the iphone specifically it is to consumers said google
vice president of engineering andy rubin
choice is good thing all the technology we can build into phone is
available
ny health department takes flak for heroin manual
new york jan afp
new york health authorities were on the defensive tuesday over pamphlet
likened by critics to diy manual for heroin addicts
the step pamphlet titled take charge take care features color drawings
and easy to read text starting with page on how to prevent overdose
the health department said the aim was to protect users from spreading the hiv
infection and suffering from overdoses
but critics including the city council and law enforcement officials lambasted
what they said was publicly funded encouragement for illegal drug use
think tips provided in the pamphlet are not good in terms of preventing
anyone from going down the road john gilbride special agent in the field
division of the drug enforcement administration told abc television
it enabling user or potential user it implies you can use heroin in
safe manner which is false there is no safe way to use heroin
the health department fought back saying the pamphlet provides potentially
life saving advice for people until they get into treatment
accidental overdose is the fourth leading cause of early adult death in new
york city claiming more than lives each year but there another big
issue here hiv and aids the department said in statement
while the purpose of this pamphlet is to get people off drugs and into
treatment we also can lose sight of the importance of preventing hiv
transmission
the page pamphlet includes tips such as use with someone else know your
tolerance don share and use new syringes
practical advice is given on how to prepare heroine and how to inject shoot
correctly to avoid infection and collapsed veins tip number six says
un cuts somalia food relief over islamist threat
nairobi jan afp
the un food agency said tuesday it had been forced to suspend food aid to
million hungry people in southern somalia after months of attacks and extortion
by al qaeda linked rebels
rising threats and attacks on humanitarian operations as well as the
imposition of string of unacceptable demands from armed groups have made it
virtually impossible for the world food programme wfp to continue reaching up
to one million people in need in southern somalia it said in statement
wfp humanitarian operations in southern somalia have been under escalating
attacks from armed groups leading to this virtual suspension of humanitarian
food distribution in much of southern somalia it said
mired in almost uninterrupted civil conflict since the ouster of president
mohamed siad barre and plagued by recurring natural disasters somalia is often
described as one of the world worst humanitarian crises
the radical islamist insurgent group shebab whose leader last year proclaimed
allegiance to al qaeda supremo osama bin laden has overrun and looted several
key un compounds in southern somalia in recent weeks
the latest to be attacked was in the southern town of buale forcing the wfp to
close it temporarily together with the agency offices in wajid beledweyn and
other major southern hubs
staff safety is key concern for wfp and recent attacks threats harassment
and demands for payments by armed groups have decimated the humanitarian food
lifeline it explained
in the areas they control the shebab have also imposed strict conditions on
foreign humanitarian organisations effectively stopping them from operating
somalia shebab fighters increasingly under the spell of al qaeda ideology
have been gradually weeding out the few foreign aid groups still operating in
the country central and southern regions
late last year the shebab administration in the south central regions of bay
and bakool handed aid groups list of rules to comply with including
registration fee of dollars payable twice year
drawing fresh comparisons with afghanistan under the taliban in the
shebab also imposed conditions complying with the strict brand of islamic law
they enforce in the regions under their control
aid organisations should distance themselves from anything that will affect
proper islamic culture like promoting adultery and establishing women
groups said document spelling out the rules obtained by afp
world women day is singled out along with christmas and world aids day as
proscribed celebrations while preaching democracy is also listed as value
interfering with islam that should be banned
wfp is deeply concerned about rising hunger and suffering among the most
vulnerable due to these unprecedented and inhumane attacks on purely
humanitarian operations the statement said
but shebab spokesman sheikh ali muhamud rage insisted that there is no
insecurity in the regions controlled by shebab as they claimed
he said the group had only told the un agency it should buy the food it
distributes from somali farmers instead of purchasing it from american farmers
some estimates say that close to half of somalia million inhabitants are in
need of humanitarian assistance in many cases emergency food aid
even in good years somalia is only able to meet per cent of the food needs
of its population through internal production in the last five years local
production has averaged only about per cent of food needs wfp said
wfp is continuing to provide life saving food distributions in the rest of the
country including the capital mogadishu reaching more than two thirds of the
hungry it has been targeting or million people it said
our people never rely on foreign aid as they claim allah assists them they
have their farms shebab rage said
backed by the international community but still under equipped and ill trained
the security forces of somalia federal transitional government have so far
failed to quash bruising shebab led nationwide insurgency
gaza relief convoy angered by egypt decision on goods
el arish egypt jan afp
pro palestinian activists who brought relief convoy to egypt for delivery to
the gaza strip protested on tuesday against an egyptian decision to ship some of
the goods through israel
some activists belonging to the convoy led by charismatic and outspoken
british mp george galloway broke down the gate at the port in el arish and
gathered to protest the decision security official said
they blocked the two entrances to the port with vehicles preventing hundreds of
police who had set up cordon from reaching the port
viva gaza demonstrators shouted while demanding lifting of the blockade
imposed on gaza by israel and to certain degree aided by egypt
their anger was sparked by an egyptian decision to allow vehicles to enter
gaza through the rafah bordering crossing about kilometres miles from
el arish but requiring remaining vehicles to pass into israel
talks in which galloway and delegation of turkish mps sought to change the
egyptian minds proved unsuccessful
the convoy of nearly vehicles arrived in the mediterranean town on monday
after dispute with cairo on the route to be taken for its gaza bound aid
but the convoy arrival came after bitter dispute between its organisers and
the government which banned the convoy from entering egypt sinai from jordan
by ferry forcing it to drive north to the syrian port of lattakia
cairo accused the convoy organisers of trying to embarrass egypt which has
refused to permanently open its rafah border crossing with gaza after the
islamist hamas movement took control of the palestinian enclave two years ago
israel and egypt have severely restricted travel to and from the gaza strip
since hamas seized power there in june after winning palestinian
legislative elections in
hamas takeover of the impoverished and densely populated territory led to an
israeli blockade that allows in only very basic supplies gaza was devastated in
war last winter between hamas and israel
us slaps duties on china wire decking
washington jan afp
us authorities slapped tariffs on chinese wire decking after preliminary
finding that the products were dumped at below market value officials said
tuesday
in the latest trade row with china the department of commerce announced
preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation on imports of
steel wire decking designed mainly for industrial and other commercial storage
rack systems
the tariffs of between to percent will be imposed and collected until
final determination is made in the case
the case results from complaint from us manufacturers awp industries of
kentucky itc manufacturing of arizona amp wire cloth of minnesota
nashville wire products of tennessee and wireway husky corporation of north
carolina
the united states has imposed duties on variety of chinese goods including
steel pipes grating and tubular goods based on other investigations
us halts guantanamo transfers as obama meets top spies
washington jan afp
the united states tuesday said it would halt transfers of guantanamo bay inmates
to yemen as president barack obama met spy chiefs to probe an airliner bomb
plot blamed on al qaeda cells in the arab country
the white house under increasing political pressure over the thwarted christmas
day attack meanwhile said the fbi had extracted actionable intelligence from
year old nigerian suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab
the decision on guantanamo bay where nearly half of the remaining inmates are
from yemen cast more doubt on obama vow to shutter the camp seen by the
white house as prime recruiting tool for radical islamic groups
while we remain committed to closing the facility the determination has been
made that right now any additional transfers to yemen is not good idea white
house spokesman robert gibbs said
it was not clear how long the suspension of transfers mentioned by gibbs would
last
but he said the decision will increase the number of prisoners from the camp
that could be sent to thomson correctional center in illinois selected by the
administration to hold guantanamo bay inmates
as republicans rail against the decision to treat abdulmutallab as criminal
suspect rather than an enemy combatant liable to military questioning gibbs
insisted fbi interrogations had yielded useful leads
abdulmutallab spent number of hours with fbi investigators in which we
gleaned usable actionable intelligence gibbs said
obama meanwhile mustered high powered line up of spy agency chiefs and heads
of government agencies and departments with anti terror responsibilities to
investigate intelligence failures before the thwarted attack
the president wants to know where the systemic failure happened and what we re
going to do to ensure that we can do everything in our power to make sure it
doesn happen again gibbs said
obama was expected to outline for americans how he planned to thwart future
airborne terror attacks and the progress of reviews into the attempt to bring
down the northwest jet which was thwarted by passengers and crew
he was also set to lay out timeline of future reforms of the aviation security
system and passenger watch lists after already ordering more stringent checks
and searches of certain travelers heading for the united states
day after returning to the white house after his hawaiian vacation obama will
also seek to project authority as political opponents try to shred his
credibility on national security
the state department meanwhile said tuesday it had revoked more visas for people
with suspected ties to terrorism
it based on our assessment of the risk associated with specific
individuals on information that we have you know from various sources said
spokesman pj crowley
many experts have expressed incredulity that abdulmutallab was able to travel on
valid us visa despite his suspected ties to extremists
officials have said that us spy agencies and other government departments failed
to piece together bits of intelligence which might have prevented the attack
