Thursday, February 4, 2010

Europe's debt crisis threat to recovery


Markets rattled as woes of fragile countries such as Greece and Portugal start to infect other EU members; euro zone's growth outlook dims

Obama's silent war shocks Pakistan


The latest Taliban bombing has uncovered America's low-profile funding of the Pakistan military To many Pakistanis the most shocking aspect of the latest bombing was not the death toll, or the injuries inflicted on survivors, but the question that it raised: what was a team of American soldiers doing in a tense corner of North West Frontier...

Clinton says no prisoner swap with Iran


WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday ruled out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suggestion that three detained American hikers in Iran be swapped with Iranian citizens held in the United States. Clinton said that the hikers, along with other Americans jailed in Iran, should be released immediately on...

Obama vows to get tough with China on currency


Obama vows to get tough with China on currency President Barack Obama vowed to "get much tougher" with China on trade rules, including currency rates, to ensure that U.S. goods do not face a competitive disadvantage....

China hits back at US over trade


China has hit back at the US a day after President Barack Obama promised to take a tougher line with Beijing over trade. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu accused the US of "wrongful accusations and pressure", AFP reports. Mr...

China attacks Guantanamo Uighurs' asylum in Switzerland


China has criticised a Swiss offer of asylum for two ethnic Uighur Chinese inmates at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay. "The position of Switzerland will surely undermine China-Switzerland relations" a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told the AFP news agency....

Haiti charges US missionaries with child kidnapping


Port-au-Prince: Ten US missionaries detained in Haiti were charged on Thursday with child kidnapping and criminal association for trying to take children illegally out of the earthquake-hit country. After announcing the charges, Haitian deputy prosecutor Jean Ferge Joseph told the Americans their case was being sent to an investigative judge....

To win over Afghans, US must listen


Recent announcements on the war in Afghanistan - from US defence secretary Robert Gates' call for Taliban disarmament and reintegration, to the US state department's pledge to increase political, diplomatic and economic engagement, to the recent London conference of international leaders - bode well for a country riddled with violence and poverty....

Tymoshenko threatens replay of 2004 Orange revolt


KIEV, Ukraine -- Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko vowed Thursday to send her followers to the streets if her opponent steals this weekend's presidential vote in Ukraine, raising the threat of indefinite political turbulence in this former Soviet nation. "We will rally the people" a grim Tymoshenko told reporters, pledging to use "all means" to...

NATO chief denies that Afghanistan's reconciliation plan aims to 'bribe' Taliban fighters


ISTANBUL - NATO does not intend to bribe Taliban guerrillas to defect to the Afghan government side as a way to end the war, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday, dismissing concerns over the latest plan to end the country's growing insurgency. Fogh Rasmussen's comments came amid a renewed push to make peace with moderate...

MPs told to repay £1.1 million in expenses



LONDON (AFP) – MPs were ordered Thursday to repay more than one million pounds of expenses linked to their second homes, after an investigation into a scandal which rocked parliament. The long-awaited review by former civil servant Thomas Legg found lawmakers must return 1.1 million pounds in payments received for loans on second...

John Terry got secret lover pregnant























ENGLAND Captain John Terry made his lover pregnant - then paid for her to have an abortion.

Married Terry - whose bid to stop us exposing his affair was thrown out by the High Court on Friday - was at the bedside of secret mistress Vanessa Perroncel for the procedure in a private clinic.


Afterwards he gave her £20,000 to "cheer herself up".


Terry organised the abortion for his secret mistress just weeks into their affair.

READ: Are you sleeping with my man?

Lingerie model Vanessa, ex-partner of Terry's England team-mate Wayne Bridge, got pregnant at the beginning or their relationship, the News of the World can reveal.


A source close to the French beauty revealed that she was worried because the lovers hadn't used protection. A fortnight later, tests confirmed she was carrying married Terry's child. And around seven weeks into the pregnancy the pair decided the baby should be aborted.


The revelation will stun Terry's loyal wife Toni Poole, 28, and throws fresh doubt over his ability to captain England just five months before the World Cup.


After we discovered the four month affair, the Chelsea defender won a High Court gagging order last week to stop us publishing the story. But on Friday it was overturned.

Closer
Our source revealed that Terry, 29, did not pressure Vanessa to have an abortion - it was a joint decision.


She had the procedure under general anaesthetic at a private clinic in London. The News of the World understands that Terry wanted to be there and asked for special permission to leave an England training camp early so he could go.


But he was late so the operation was delayed. The experience brought them closer together, said our source. They felt the situation had bonded their relationship.


And last night Vanessa, 33, spoke for the first time about the affair.


She said Bridge - father of her three year old son - only found out about it after Terry's attempts to gag the News of the World.


She said: "Wayne rang me last weekend and started shouting at me and accusing me of having an affair. It was terrible. He was saying horrible things." She said Bridge did not believe what she said, adding: "Wayne was convinced I had been cheating on him because the court action had been taken. It was an agonising call and he was furious."


Last night we put the abortion story to Chelsea's press spokesman, who said they had nothing to add to a previous statement of support for Terry.

Vanessa is said to be considering her next move after hiring publicist Max Clifford, who refused to comment.


But the News of the World can reveal Terry has been bedding Vanessa TWICE A WEEK behind his wife's back since September.


The affair the Chelsea star tried to hide from the world began after his pal Bridge left Chelsea for Manchester City last year. Terry kept it under wraps until we caught him sneaking off to her home for secret romps after away games and training. He had already laid the groundwork by flirting heavily with leggy Vanessa while Bridge was still at Chelsea - KISSING and playing FOOTSIE with her under his wife's nose on team nights out.


As the affair gathered pace he even began canoodling with her in public.


Wayne, 29, and Vanessa eventually split last summer after his move to City in January last year. So Terry began comforting the French model.


"It may have started as a bit of friendship and support as early as last January, but it quickly grew from there last September," said another source. "He was going round there about twice a week or so, normally after training, on his way home. Or, if Chelsea had played an away game he would call Toni and say the team was due back at say 11pm, rather than 9pm.


"Then he could stop off at Vanessa's for a couple of hours."


Terry was careful to hide his car during his visits. "Vanessa has these big gates into the drive," said our source. "He would swing in in his Bentley, and tuck it behind her Range Rover.


"They couldn't really do much as a couple. He'd be recognised immediately. So they spent most of their time meeting secretly at her house."


The damning pictures here that Terry didn't want you to see were taken on January 13 at the home of Vanessa, mother of Bridge's three- year-old son, Jaydon, in Oxshott, Surrey.



OFFSIDE: Terry caught leaving the home of model Vanessa, right
Terry arrived in his dark blue £130,000 Bentley Continental at around 2pm shortly after leaving a training session at Chelsea's nearby Cobham training ground.


Parking his car alongside the brunette's £2million mock-Georgian house - hidden from the road by her black Range Rover - he went in as her young son played in the snow.


Over an hour and a half later he emerged from the five-bedroom house grinning as Vanessa saw him out. Terry, in a grey tracksuit over a white T-shirt, seemed to share a joke with her as they said goodbye. He then drove the mile or so to his own £4million home where wife Toni and their three-year-old twins, Georgie and Summer, were waiting, convinced his nasty little secret was safe.


The England star - worth £17million - has known the model and actress since her days working as a London club hostess. Close friends of the pair said there has long been a chemistry between them.


"Terry loves brunettes, and always has done," said a pal. "He would always look pretty doe-eyed when he was around Vanessa."


Even after Terry married blonde Toni at Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, in June 2007, he still flirted with Vanessa. Pals remember boozy nights when the Chelsea gang, including Terry and Toni, Bridge and Vanessa, Frank Lampard and Elen Rives, and Joe Cole and Carly Zucker would hit the town.


One friend said: "There was one night when some of them sat in a circle for a drinking game, and you had to kiss the person to one side.


"He kissed Vanessa, but the kiss was a bit longer than it should have been.


"There were other nights where he would be quite drunk on the way home in the car, and end up playing footsie with Vanessa, while Toni was there. One night when he was doing it Toni smacked his leg and said, 'That's my foot, you idiot'.


"Toni just seemed to put up with it all. I don't know if she's become more suspicious recently, but she has dyed her hair brown. Everyone thinks it's to match Vanessa."


Terry first realised he was in danger of being exposed when rumours of a rift with Bridge began to circulate.


He then called in the lawyers and on January 22 won a so-called 'super- injunction' preventing us from revealing the alleged affair, or even the fact there was an injunction.


His lawyers had argued that publishing the claims would breach his right to a 'private and family life' under EU human rights law. But on Friday Justice Michael Tugendhat ruled the rumours were too widely known in the media, footballing circles and beyond, to be protected by law. And he decided Terry was more interested in preserving his earnings than his reputation.


The judge said privacy law did not exist to protect sponsorship deals.


Terry was yesterday still insisting there had been no affair. He has told Toni they are just friends.


Our source said: "The truth is he's gutted his best mate and left his wife devastated while pretending to be a family man. But he's just a low-life cheat."

10 Americans charged in Haiti with kidnapping


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Ten U.S. Baptist missionaries were charged with kidnapping Thursday for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti to a hastily arranged refuge just as officials were trying to protect children from predators in the chaos of a great earthquake.

Haiti charges U.S. church members with kidnap


American missionaries, accused of illegally trying to take children out of Haiti, pray before hearing the charging decision from a Haitian prosecutor in Port-au-Prince on Thursday.

Venezuelan police break up anti-Chavez protest


CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Police used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter hundreds of students protesting against the government Thursday, while President Hugo Chavez's supporters celebrated the 18th anniversary of his failed coup as an army officer.

Caracas Police Chief Carlos Meza said authorities broke up the protest because university students had not been granted permission to march. He said the denial was aimed at preventing clashes with thousands of "Chavistas" marching across the capital to mark the botched 1992 military rebellion that Chavez led as a lieutenant colonel.

"They don't have permission to march," Meza said.

Student leaders countered that they have the right to stage peaceful protests, and they said authorities loyal to Chavez frequently deny them permission to demonstrate. Before the protest was dispersed, students chanted: "We're students, not coup plotters!"

"This is one more demonstration of the government's abuse of power," student leader Roderick Navarro said.

Students started leading protests last week after the government pressured cable and satellite TV providers to drop an opposition channel. Students have organized demonstrations in cities across the country, accusing Chavez of forcing Radio Caracas Television International off the airwaves as a means of silencing his critics.

Chavez challenged the students to continue staging demonstrations, saying they won't weaken his socialist government. But he warned them against stirring up violence, suggesting authorities would break up protests that get out of control.

"Don't make a mistake with us. You'll get a firm response," Chavez said during a speech to his supporters at Venezuela's largest military fort.

Thousands of Chavez's backers gathered to listen to Chavez, who hailed the Feb. 4, 1992, military uprising against then-President Carlos Andres Perez as a justified rebellion seeking to topple a corrupt government that ignored the plight of Venezuela's poor.

More than 80 civilians and 17 soldiers were killed before troops loyal to the government quelled the coup attempt, which Chavez commemorates annually.


(Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

10 Americans charged in Haiti with kidnapping


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Ten U.S. Baptist missionaries were charged with kidnapping Thursday for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti to a hastily arranged refuge just as officials were trying to protect children from predators in the chaos of a great earthquake.

The Haitian lawyer who represents the 10 Americans portrayed nine of his clients as innocents caught up in a scheme they did not understand. But attorney Edwin Coq did not defend the actions of the group leader, Laura Silsby, though he continued to represent her.

"I'm going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border," Coq said. "But Silsby did."

The Americans, most members of two Idaho churches, said they were rescuing abandoned children and orphans from a nation that UNICEF says had 380,000 even before the catastrophic Jan. 12 quake.

But at least two-thirds of the children, who range in age from 2 to 12, have parents who gave them away because they said the Americans promised the children a better life.

The investigating judge, who interviewed the missionaries Tuesday and Wednesday, found sufficient evidence to charge them for trying to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without documentation, Coq said.

Each was charged with one count of kidnapping, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and one of criminal association, punishable by three to nine years. Coq said the case would be assigned a judge and a verdict could take three months.

The magistrate, Mazard Fortil, left without making a statement. Social Affairs Minister Jeanne Bernard Pierre, who has harshly criticized the missionaries, refused to comment. The government's communications minister, Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, said only that the next court date had not been set.

U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten showed up after 5 p.m. outside judicial police headquarters, where the Americans are being held and where President Rene Preval and top ministers now have temporary offices because theirs were destroyed in the quake.

"The U.S. justice system cannot interfere in what's going on with these Americans right now," he told reporters. "The Haitian justice system will do what it has to do."

U.S. consular officials have been making regular visits to the missionaries.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the Americans' behavior "unfortunate whatever the motivation."

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. was open to discuss "other legal avenues" for the defendants, an apparent reference to the Haitian prime minister's earlier suggestion that Haiti could consider sending the Americans back to the United States for prosecution.

It's unlikely the Americans could be tried back home, according to Christopher J. Schmidt, an expert on international child kidnapping law in St. Louis, Mo. U.S. statutes may not even apply, he said, since the children never crossed an international border.

Silsby waved and smiled faintly to reporters but declined to answer questions as the Baptists were whisked away from the closed court hearing back to the holding cells where they have been held since Saturday. People rendered homeless by the quake sat idly under tarps in the parking lot, smoke rising from a cooking fire.

Earlier, Silsby expressed optimism about being released.

"We expect God's will will be done. And we will be released. And we're looking forward to what God is going to do," she told APTN before learning they would be charged.

Coq complained about conditions where the Americans were being held. He said they are sleeping on the floor without blankets and aren't being provided with adequate food. He said he had delivered pizza and sandwiches.

Silsby had begun planning last summer to create an orphanage for Haitian children in the Dominican Republic. When the earthquake struck she recruited other church members to help kick her plans into high gear. The 10 Americans rushed to Haiti and spent a week gathering children for their project.

Most of the children came from the quake-ravaged village of Callebas, where residents told The Associated Press that they handed over their children to the Americans because they were unable to feed or clothe them after the earthquake. They said the missionaries promised to educate the children and let relatives visit.

Their stories contradicted Silsby's account that the children came from collapsed orphanages or were handed over by distant relatives. She said the Americans believed they had all the paperwork needed _ documents she said she obtained in the Dominican Republic _ to take the children out of Haiti.