WORLD
* Ukraine hopes to find a solution to the gas dispute with Russia soon, President Viktor Yanukovych said on Friday in Davos at the World Economic Forum
RUSSIA
* A bill introducing life sentences and mandatory chemical castration for pedophiles passed the crucial second reading in the Sta ...
Ministers want the head of the Royal Bank of Scotland to give up his £1 million
bonus voluntarily after admitting that voters are angry at the scale of the
award.George Osborne, the Chancellor, yesterday spoke of “frustration” over the
bonus for Stephen Hester, chief executive of the state- ...
The UN Security Council has met to consider a possible resolution against Syria's government.Dozens of people have died in an upsurge in violence this week, leading activists and the Arab League to urge the UN to take stronger action.
The Security Council is discussing a resolution supporting the A ...
Newt Gingrich is on a roll: "Ladies and gentleman," announces his warm-up man, a bull-headed retired Army Ranger, "please welcome the next commander in chief of the United States of America."In a Florida ballroom packed with war veterans and grassroots Tea Party
activists, the former House Speake ...
Hopes of a Greek debt deal were undermined on Friday night after Fitch
downgraded the ratings of six eurozone countries, including Italy and Spain.Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs,
cheered markets by claiming a deal to end Greek's debt impasse was "very
...
Hopes of a Greek debt deal were undermined on Friday night after Fitch
downgraded the ratings of six eurozone countries, including Italy and Spain.Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs,
cheered markets by claiming a deal to end Greek's debt impasse was "very
close" but hopes were hit by the rating agency's actions.
Following similar action from rival Standard & Poor's (S&P) earlier
this month, Fitch downgraded Italy, Spain and Slovenia by two notches ...
Demi Moore suffered convulsions after smoking an undisclosed substance, according to a tape of an emergency call from last Monday.The 49-year-old actress is described as "semi-conscious, barely" in the recording, which was released by Los Angeles fire officials.
The tape captures the few minutes it took paramedics to arrive as friends gathered round the collapsed star.
In November, she ended her marriage to actor Ashton Kutcher, 33.
In the emergency call, a woman is asked by operators: "Is sh ...
Marriage must remain a union between a man and a woman, says the Archbishop of
York, and David Cameron will be acting like a “dictator” if he allows
homosexual couples to wed.In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr John Sentamu, the second most
senior cleric in the Church of England, tells ministers they should not
overrule the Bible and tradition by allowing same-sex marriage.
The Government will open a consultation on the issue in March and the Prime
Minister has indicated ...
A serial thief nicknamed the "Barefoot Bandit" has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges stemming from a sensational, two-year crime spree as a sometimes-shoeless teenage runaway.The federal judge also ordered that Colton Harris-Moore, 20, who read a
statement in court apologising for his crimes with "acceptance,
humility and remorse," serve his federal sentence concurrently with a
state term he received in December of more than seven ...
MOSCOW, January 28 (RIA Novosti) - International ratings agency Fitch downgraded its sovereign credit ratings of five Eurozone states - Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Slovenia.
Ratings of Italy and Spain, two Eurozone economic heavyweights, were slashed by two notches . The countries now have the ratings of A- and A, respectively.
Ratings on Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus were also reduced, to АА, А and ВВВ-, respectively.
The agency assigned Negative Outlook on all six countries, w ...
Ford underlined the headache Europe's debt crisis is giving the car industry
after higher losses in the region dented the company's latest profits.America's second-biggest car-maker racked up a European operating loss of
$190m (£121m) in the final three months of the year, more than triple the
loss in the same quarter of 2010.
That left Ford's group profits for the fourth quarter trailing Wall Street's
estimates, driving the company's shares down 3pc at $12.38 in early US
trading ...
Ministers want the head of the Royal Bank of Scotland to give up his £1 million
bonus voluntarily after admitting that voters are angry at the scale of the
award.George Osborne, the Chancellor, yesterday spoke of “frustration” over the
bonus for Stephen Hester, chief executive of the state-owned bank, but said
any attempt to veto it would have cost taxpayers more money.
The Government owns 83 per cent of RBS but ministers say that does not give
them the power to overrule the bank ...
The UN Security Council has met to consider a possible resolution against Syria's government.Dozens of people have died in an upsurge in violence this week, leading activists and the Arab League to urge the UN to take stronger action.
The Security Council is discussing a resolution supporting the Arab League's call for political reform and for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Russia, an ally of Mr Assad, has indicated it would not back the text.
"Such a call for support for Assad's dep ...
Newt Gingrich is on a roll: "Ladies and gentleman," announces his warm-up man, a bull-headed retired Army Ranger, "please welcome the next commander in chief of the United States of America."In a Florida ballroom packed with war veterans and grassroots Tea Party
activists, the former House Speaker gets a welcome that rattles the roof
tiles. "Noot! Noot!" they chant, "Noooot!"
As he pads onto the stage in a crumpled charcoal suit, Mr Gingrich isn't a man
with military bearing, but that ...
Shumen/Varna. Traffic on Hemus Motorway has been resumed in the section from the town of Shumen to coastal Varna, press centre of Agency Road Infrastructure announced. Ban on movement of heavy-freight vehicles with weight over 10 tons remains in the both municipalities until lifting the Red Code warning. ...
Two men have been charged with the murder of a man who was found decapitated and burnt in Stockport.The body of John Grainger, 32, was found by fire crews early on Thursday in Wellington Street.
Tests confirmed he had a shotgun wound to his head and another head injury.
Anthony Jenkins, 22, and Joseph Jenkins, 19, both of Covent Gardens, Stockport have been will appear at Stockport Magistrates Court on Saturday accused of killing him. ...
Nicolas Sarkozy has said he and Hamid Karzai will ask Nato to hand over all combat missions in Afghanistan to local troops a year earlier than the planned date of the end of 2014.Mr Sarkozy, the French
president, announced that France will complete the withdrawal of its troops
from Afghanistan by the end of 2013, a year earlier than planned by Nato for
its forces to leave the country.
France had informed US President Barack Obama of the plans, and would present
them at a meeting of ...
Dmitry Medvedev has not done enough to support Vladimir Putin's presidential election campaign, according to the Russian strongman's campaign chief.Mr Medvedev should have been more active in campaigning for Mr
Putin for the March 4 election, Stanislav Govorukhin told the daily
newspaper Izvestia in an interview published Friday.
Mr Medvedev succeeded Mr Putin as president when he stepped down in 2008 due
to term limits, but he has largely been seen as a stand-in for the figure
who ...
A shareholders meeting of Hungarian national carrier Malev on Friday failed to decide on the extension of an aircraft lease contract or on a capital raise, Malev board chairman Janos Berenyi told in a statement to MTI late on Friday.
Talks on the lease in Amsterdam are still underway, Mr Berenyi’s statement said, adding that Malev board will tackle the issue at its meeting on Monday.
Malev communications director Marta Rona told MTI earlier in the day that the shareholders meeting was recessed ...
Former President Pervez Musharraf has decided to postpone his return to Pakistan, one of his aides says.Mr Musharraf had previously vowed to end his self-imposed exile and fly back to Pakistan by the end of this month to revive his political career.
He faces arrest on arrival as he is accused of failing to provide adequate security for former PM Benazir Bhutto ahead of her assassination in 2007.
The former military ruler, who stepped down in 2008, denies wrongdoing.
On Friday Pakistan's Prime ...
James Murdoch, the News Corporation executive embroiled in the News of the
World phone-hacking scandal, is quitting the board of drug-maker
GlaxoSmithKline.Mr Murdoch, who joined Glaxo in 2009 as a non-executive director and sat on
the company's ethics committee, has told the board he has no plans to stand
for re-election at May's AGM.
His position has been under increasing scrutiny following high-profile
grillings from MPs over his role in the hacking scandal that forced the
...
When a city of 9 million people comes under almost daily assault, the police
would normally step up their presence. But not in Kano.In the biggest urban centre in northern Nigeria
a new terrorist group has inflicted a steady drumbeat of violence since
carrying out the deadliest attacks in its history.
The local police - despised and demoralised - virtually disappeared from the
streets after suicide bombers destroyed two of their stations, a regional
headquarters and the official ...
A suicide bomber killed at least 32 people on Friday by driving an
explosives-laden vehicle into a Shia Muslim funeral procession in Baghdad,
heightening fears that Iraq is in the grips of sectarian conflict.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the capital's predominately Shia district of Zafraniya, which also wounded more than 60 people, but it came just days after al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate pledged to step up attacks on the country's Shia majority.
The majori ...
Moscow, Russia - The talks with Russia and NATO about European missile shield are at dead centre(WAPA) - Today "Ria Novosti" report that the Russian vice-prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, in the margin of an official visit to the armaments industry, Almaz-Antey, has declared to the press that Moscow should equip of a State corps to which assign the strengthening of efforts in favour to the creation of an efficient aerospace defense network of the Country. "We need to create a kind of systemic integ ...
Friday acquitted former defence minister Nikolai Tsonev of
crime in official capacity charges, SAC told BTA.
Tsonev was Defence Minister from April 2008 until the end of the
previous government's term in the summer of 2009. ...
Negotiations over a controversial anti-piracy agreement have been described as a "masquerade" by a key Euro MP.Kader Arif, the European Parliament's rapporteur for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta), resigned over the issue on Friday.
He said he had witnessed "never-before-seen manoeuvres" by officials preparing the treaty.
On Thursday, 22 EU member states including the UK signed the agreement.
The treaty still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament before it can be enact ...
January 27 (BTA) - "The Cohesion Policy will be subject
to changes during the next programming period, it will be
thoroughly reformed and will be turned into an instrument for
discipline, especially budget discipline," EU Funds Management
Minister Tomislav Donchev said during the opening of a national
conference on "The New Programming Period for the Cohesion
Policy of the European Union 2014-2020: Principal Changes and
Challenges", held in Sofia Friday. ...
BRUSSELS - The EU's famed diversity was on show on Friday (27 January) during first concrete discussions on the European Union's next long term budget, a debate that threw up as many points of view as there are member states.
Trying to start what is normally a fraught debate on a constructive note, the Danish EU presidency asked ministers to indicate whether they agreed with the budget priorities and the overall sum - a five percent increase to €1.025 billion for the 2014-2020 period - as propo ...
DAVOS, January 27 (RIA Novosti) - Economic deregulation will be a priority for Russia’s new president and government in the next five-six years, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Friday.
“Significantly reducing the government’s role [in the economy] is our principal goal for the next five to six years. It is a political goal for the future leadership, both the President and Prime Minister,” he said.
Economic regulation has increased over the past few years, largely due to t ...
More than half of young Spaniards are out of work, according to fresh statistics, signalling a lost generation that has been hit hardest by Spain's economic woes, as the total number of unemployed surged above five million.The number of 16-24 year old Spaniards out of work rose to 51.4 per cent in
December, more than double the European Union average, according to a report
by Spain's
National Statistics Institute. The national unemployment rate hit 22.85 per
cent, the highest rate in ...
These two young bear cubs show they can rough and tumble just like their
parents. They may look cute, but their playfight prepares these cubs for
the day when they will have to defend their territory and gain crucial
mating rights. Photographer Marina Cano took these pictures close to her
home in Santander, northern Spain. ...
BRUSSELS - The EU commission wants to redirect €82bn worth of structural funds to projects aimed at boosting employment and growth, particularly in bailed-out countries, measures seen as both vague and inadequate by critics.
Anticipating a demand from Monday's EU summit to redeploy as yet unspent structural funds for employment-related projects, the EU commission on Friday (27 January) announced its intention to work with member states on redistributing €82 billion.
Speaking at a press confere ...
Holocaust remembrance day marks the day of liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps 67 years ago.
Above: A candle burns in front of a memorial wall bearing the engraved names of tens of thousands of Hungarian Holocaust victims in the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Budapest ...
Bulgaria’s Parliament approved on January 27 2012 a mandate for Bulgaria’s Government in negotiations on a European fiscal pact, setting certain conditions. One of the conditions is that the participation of Bulgaria must not entail financial obligations and an engagement to harmonise tax policy with other EU countries. The decision envisages Bulgaria implementing part of the regulations after ratification by Parliament, but with implementation of the pact as a whole only after Bulgaria joins th ...
Sofia. Ban on movement for all types of heavy-freight vehicles weighted over 10 tons remains in force in the following districts: Burgas, Varna, Dobrich, Razgrad, Targovishte, Silistra, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Shumen, Yambol. The reason for the ban is the heavy snowfall and complicated meteorological environment. The ban has been lifted in the rest districts, press centre of Agency Road Infrastructure announced.
Republican roads are passable under winter conditions. Temperatures vary in the term ...
Germany marked Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday with a special session of parliament and a call for the nation's citizens never to forget the danger posed by right-wing extremism.The president of the German parliament called on Germans to actively stand up to all forms of right-wing extremism, speaking on the 67th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
"It is these people who set an example and demonstrate courage," Bundestag President Norbert Lammert said in remarks ...
Late singer Michael Jackson has been honoured during a shoe and glove-print ceremony in Los Angeles.Late singer Michael Jackson has been honoured during a shoe and glove-print ceremony in Los Angeles.
Stars including Justin Bieber, Smokey Robinson and his three children all attended the event, held on Hollywood Boulevard.
Paris, Prince and Blanket made a rare appearance outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where hundreds of hand and footprints are recorded in cement.
Jackson's mother Katherine ...
Apple has defended its ethical standards after a newspaper reported factories
in China rely on child labour, 24 hour days and unsafe conditions to
manufacture iPhones, iPads and computers.In an email reportedly sent to Apple's 60,000 or so employees, Tim Cook, the
company's chief executive said that Apple "cares about every worker in
its supply chain".
The letter appears to be in response to a series of articles in the New
York Times cataloguing the company's problems in China an ...
January 27 (BTA) - President Rosen Plevneliev Friday
signed decrees appointing a new National Intelligence Service
(NIS) leadership, the President's Press Secretariat said.
Colonel Dragomir Dimitrov is appointed NIS Deputy Director. He
is promoted Brigadier General and will be responsible for
directing the Service until a Director is appointed.
Colonel Georgi Milenov is appointed NIS Deputy Director.
Lieutenant General Kircho Kirov is relieved of his duties as NIS
director and is d ...
The sum of EUR 25.7 M will be added to the total cost of the construction of the second bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania across the Danube River, the Bulgarian Parliament agreed.
The bridge will finally be completed by the end of November 2012, Bulgaria's Transport Ministry announced in a statement Friday as the Bulgarian Parliament voted to approve the measures taken by Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski over the past two years in order to ensure the completion of the bridge between Bulgar ...
The launch of a Soyuz capsule carrying the new International Space Station (ISS) crew may be postponed over faults in the capsule’s assembly, a source within the Russian space industry told RIA Novosti on Friday.
The three new crew members - Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and Joseph Acaba - are currently scheduled to launch on March 30 and dock two days later, bringing the station’s crew back up to six.
“The liftoff will be postponed. Most likely until the end of April from March 30, but ...
David Cameron has launched an attack on Europe for failing to deal with its "perilous"
financial crisis, as he warned the euro doesn't have the qualities of a
successful single currency.The Prime Minister risked fuelling tensions with France and Germany by
weighing into the debate on the future of the euro. His comments come just
weeks after being accused of "interfering" by French president
Nicolas Sarkozy.
Speaking at the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Cameron said Europe ...
A security camera captures the moment three buildings collapsed in Rio de Janeiro's downtown district, killing at least three people and leaving 18 others missing.This video has no sound.
The video from a building across the street showed people running for their
lives as a cloud of dust rose quickly, covering the camera's screen in a few
seconds.
A few minutes later the dust receded and showed several curious passers-by
surrounding the area until the police arrived and evacuated the ...
So is Tidjane Thiam right about minimum wage rules? The chief executive of the
Prudential was outspoken in his criticism of minimum wage legislation at a
high profile debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos.He is not alone. Many in business believe that the legislation is in effect a
barrier to entry if you find yourself unemployed.
They argue it creates a floor to the market price for labour which trade
unions then defend to the point that it becomes detrimental to those trying ...
Syrian security forces on Thursday launched an all-out assault on a rebel
suburb of the capital Damascus which had become the second town to force the
army out in two weeks.Read
an account from an eyewitness in Douma of the death of Samer Izz Aldeen
on Dec 23 2011
Dozens of military trucks poured soldiers into Douma, a town on the north-east
edge of the city and just ten miles from the centre, which has been a centre
of rebel activity. Other suburbs were then also atta ...
When it comes to helping distressed Britons in far-away places, our Armed
Forces appear to have lost their appetite for robust intervention.In America, President Barack Obama congratulates the team of US Navy Seals who
carried out the daring rescue mission to free two hostages held in Somalia
on a job well done. In Britain, we are treated to the sombre spectacle of
the body of a British bodyguard murdered by his captors in Iraq finally
being repatriated to his grieving family, fou ...
Dobrich. It has been initiated traffic restrictions for all motor vehicles in Dobrich district, press centre of Agency Road Infrastructure announced.
Only road Dobrich-Balchik-Obrochishte-Albena-Kranevo would be treated and maintained for traffic. ...
Sofia. State of emergency has been declared in seven Bulgarian municipalities on Thursday. They are: Svoge, Godech, Lovech, Ivanovo, Lisichevo, Batak and Velingrad, press centre of the Ministry of Interior announced. Ban on movement of heavy-freight vehicles on the republican road network remains in force. Situation is still critical in Ruse district.
By 20.30pm situation remains very serious countrywide because of heavy snowfalls and rapid fall of temperatures. Roads are passable under winter ...
Medicins San Frontieres pulled its staff out of detention facilities in a Libyan city yesterday after witnessing more than 100 cases of torture against inmates by the revolutionaries that overthrew Col Muammar Gaddafi.MSF said it was withdrawing staff because it was effectively keeping prisoners alive so that authorities could continue to torture them.
The withdrawal came as Amnesty International reported separately that up to a dozen people had died after being tortured at the hand of the new ...
Delays to the Higher Education Bill will not stop the rise of privately-funded
universities.For the higher education sector, these are interesting times. This September,
fees will rise by more than 200 per cent at most universities; a new loan
scheme will be in place; the quota system for allocating places will be
relaxed to enable greater competition; and an auction process for 20,000
places will be introduced. This is hardly a Government that can be accused
of ducking the dif ...
For all Angela Merkel’s tough talk, she will eventually be forced to accept
the inevitable on the euro crisis.One of Davos’s more amusing characteristics is that it can be used as a quite
reliable contrary indicator. I’ve been coming to this annual gathering of
the world elite of finance, business and public policy for some years now,
and you can set your watch by it. If the mood is buoyant, you know that
disaster is just around the corner, and if it is intensely gloomy, that
t ...
Politicians have allowed base populism to overcome both their judgment and
their sense.It takes a great deal to place Sir Fred Goodwin on the moral high ground, but
our political leaders have managed it. By joining in the hue and cry for the
former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland to be stripped of his
knighthood, they have allowed base populism to overcome both their judgment
and their sense.
This newspaper holds no brief for Sir Fred. His cavalier behaviour while i ...
European aerospace giant EADS has appointed Airbus head Tom Enders as its next chief executive. In a carefully balanced procedure, a German is succeeding French CEO Louis Gallois.EADS, Europe's biggest aerospace and defense group, on Thursday named Tom Enders its new chief executive.
German-born Enders, 53, currently heads Airbus, the flagship of EADS. He will take over the position at EADS later this year from veteran French CEO Louis Gallois.
The position at the helm of Airbus, which is the ...
Brad Pitt has spoken candidly about how he dealt with depression in the 1990s before turning his life around when he witnessed poverty in Morocco.The 48-year-old Hollywood star made some of his biggest movies during the decade, including Fight Club, 12 Monkeys, and Seven, but said he became "sick of myself" towards the end of it.
He told the Hollywood Reporter: "I was hiding out from the celebrity thing, I was smoking way too much dope. I was sitting on the couch and just turning into a doughnu ...
The wife of the captain of the Costa Concordia has issued a robust defence of her beleaguered husband, decrying those who have judged his actions from the safety of "land".Fabiola Russo, whose husband Francesco Schettino who faces charges of
manslaughter and abandoning ship over the crash that led to the loss of at
least 16 lives, said his portrayal as 'Captain Coward' was grossly unfair.
"Those at sea navigate, while those on land judge," she told Oggi,
an Italian
weekly magazine.
...
telegraph.co.uk
