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Arsenal travel to Birmingham in the late Premier League match on New Year’s Day after wins for leaders Man Utd, Man City, Tottenham, Liverpool and West Ham and a full programme in the Football League.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The clean-up has begun in areas where waters have receded A senior official has warned of the economic impact of flooding in Queensland, Australia, describing the disaster as one of “biblical proportions”.
State Treasurer Andrew Fraser said that on top of recovery costs, the state would receive less income because of damage to the mining sector.
Flood waters are continuing to encroach on Rockhampton, a city of 77,000.
The floods have affected about 200,000, thousands of whom have been evacuated.
An estimated 22 towns have been left isolated or inundated by the rising waters over an area larger than France and Germany.
There are concerns that damage could cost billions of Australian dollars to repair.
Mr Fraser has had to delay a fiscal and economic review in order to account for the costs of the floods.
“In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions,” he told journalists in the flood-hit town of Bundaberg.
“The cost to the state will be huge – both in direct costs such as rebuilding roads, and other damaged infrastructure and providing relief payments to families – but also in lost income, while the mining, agriculture and tourism sectors recover,” he said.
“Royalty forecasts are likely to be hit with freight lines cut and reports that many mines may not reach full production again for two to three months.”
In some areas the waters have been receding, but around Rockhampton they are still rising.
Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter said about 40% of the city could be affected when the Fitzroy River reaches its expected peak next week.
“We know we have prepared as best we can – most people who are expecting water to inundate their houses have evacuated,” he said.
He said others who needed to evacuate would be advised to leave their homes, and those who refused could be forced to leave.
Among the areas already hit by the flooding are Emerald – a town of some 11,000 people – and two smaller towns, Theodore and Condamine, which have been completely evacuated.
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Arabinda Rajkhowa was greeted by crowds of supporters upon his release from jail A separatist leader in India’s north-eastern Assam state has been released from prison amid growing speculation about peace talks between his rebel group and the central government.
Arabinda Rajkhowa leads the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), which has been fighting for an independent homeland for more than 30 years.
Crowds of supporters gathered outside the jail to welcome his release.
He had been in prison after being arrested in Bangladesh a year ago.
He was released from jail in the state capital of Assam, Guwahati, where he was being held on charges of sedition.
Ulfa rebels have fought for a separate Assamese homeland since 1979.
Rajkhowa, 54, said Ulfa was ready for peace talks with the Indian government.
“It is the mood for peace among the people of Assam that has brought us to this situation today, where we are set to begin a peace dialogue with the Indian government,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
However, other members of the Ulfa leadership are known to oppose talks.
In 2009, the government in Bangladesh launched a crackdown on Indian separatists operating out of Bangladeshi territory.
More than 50 rebel leaders and activists have been handed over to India since then, while others have been arrested while trying to enter the country to avoid capture in Bangladesh.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is stepping down after seven years in office Hollywood action star turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to leave office in January, following one of the more challenging periods in the state’s history. The BBC’s Peter Bowes looks back at the so-called governator’s transition from muscle-bound Austrian actor to US politician.
The era of “the Governator” is drawing to a close.
After seven years running America’s most populous state, Arnold Schwarzenegger is stepping down.
He will be replaced on Monday by Jerry Brown, the Democrat who beat the billionaire Republican businesswoman Meg Whitman in the November election.
Austrian-born Schwarzenegger, a former Mr Universe, world-class bodybuilder and Hollywood action star, stormed into office as the 38th governor of California in a special recall election in 2003.
“You got to see elements of what made Arnold Schwarzenegger the man”
Michael Linder TV producer
It was to be his highest-profile and most challenging role – a far cry from the weight-lifter’s early days in the Golden State.
“We made the first home video work-out cassette, called Shape Up With Arnold,” says Michael Linder, a TV and radio producer who first met Mr Schwarzenegger in the early 1980s.
“You got to see elements of what made Arnold Schwarzenegger the man,” he adds.
“He told me that when he was a boy growing up in Austria he was so ashamed of the muscular development of his calves that he cut off all of the trouser legs in his closet, from the knee down, so that he would have to walk around and be humiliated by his puny calves.
“It was that kind of dedication that really took him from being an emigre bodybuilder with promise, to major motion picture star and then the governor of California.”
Mr Schwarzenegger won the approval of California voters in 2003 Mr Schwarzenegger replaced Governor Gray Davis, who was hugely unpopular and a career politician.
The former actor, a Republican, was full of enthusiasm, promises and California dreams.
From the outset, it was clear that he would be no ordinary governor.
“Schwarzenegger surrounded himself with red carpet glam,” says Mr Linder, who now runs KVB.FM – an internet radio station based at Venice Beach, where Mr Schwarzenegger first pumped iron in the US.
“He smoked cigars, he was surrounded by burly, beefy bodyguards. He was accompanied by a satellite truck that broadcast everything he did on the web, live in real time,” adds Mr Linder.
The superstar governor won early approval from voters when, on his first day in office in California’s state capital, Sacramento, he repealed the increase of the car tax, which had been due to take effect.
“Now, they [California residents] will have more money in their pockets to pay for needed goods and services,” said the new governor.
It was a promising start with an electorate yearning for change and a better standard of living.
Mr Schwarzenegger is not the first actor to serve as governor of California “We did not giggle the way the rest of the world did at the Governator assuming office,” says Dr Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior fellow at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California.
“This state was more than willing to give Arnold Schwarzenegger a chance. Remember, he’s not the first actor-governor we have had.
“The first one, in modern history, Ronald Reagan, did a very good job as governor, was respected and of course went on to become president of the United States.”
Mr Schwarzenegger pledged to reform California’s political system and fix its broken economy. But he was thwarted as the state’s perilous financial position went from bad to worse.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger had no idea what it was like to govern,” says Dr Jeffe.
“Sacramento isn’t Hollywood, the power is not with the charismatic action hero alone, if at all. In Sacramento, any governor has to deal with the legislature that feels that it is the governor’s equal.”
“In the end voters look at what the product is, and Californians have seen very little that has changed their lives, that’s moved them out of this recession”
Dr Sherry Bebitch Jeffe University of Southern California
Mr Schwarzenegger frequently locked horns with his Democratic rivals in the state legislature.
He famously expressed his frustration in a colourful speech to the Republican National Convention in 2004.
“To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say, ‘Don’t be economic girlie men!'” the governor said.
He received rapturous applause.
At the time, Mr Schwarzenegger was the Republicans’ new poster boy.
There was even talk of a move to change the law so that one day, as a naturalised American, he could run for president.
But these days there is no such talk, as Mr Schwarzenegger’s political star has faded.
“In the end, voters look at what the product is, and Californians have seen very little that has changed their lives, that’s moved them out of this recession,” says Dr Jeffe.
“We are the centre of the foreclosure crisis. We have a long way to go before Californians feel that they are out of the woods economically, and we’ve gone deeper and deeper into those woods during the tenure of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“It’s very hard to argue that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the cause of the state’s recession but the worst happened on his watch.”
Mr Schwarzenegger will be remembered more favourably, by his supporters, for his environmental initiatives.
Mr Schwarzenegger helped introduce strict laws aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions He helped to introduce some of America’s toughest laws to try to combat global warming.
He inspired the idea of a hydrogen highway – a road system with hydrogen-equipped filling stations to allow hydrogen-powered cars to move around the state with ease.
The concept, however, is still to become a reality.
When he leaves office, Mr Schwarzenegger has said he hopes to write books, specifically the autobiography that he says publishers have been urging him to write for two decades.
He has also pledged to continue his work on public policy, although he has not been specific about working with any organisation.
One theory is that he could try to become a global ambassador as an environmentalist.
A return to film-making seems unlikely, at least in a major role.
The one-time Terminator has said he doubts whether he would have the patience to hang around a set, during the often laborious process of shooting a movie.
Whatever his role, it is clear that Mr Schwarzenegger will be back.
Hasta la vista, Governator.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Looking ahead to the showbiz stories of 2011
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The radical pro-Gbagbo Young Patriots have threatened to storm the hotel where Mr Ouattara is holed up Ivory Coast’s incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has rejected a deadline set by his rival for him to stand down, saying the international community is trying to stage a coup against him.
Alassane Ouattara is widely recognised as the victor in elections last month.
His supporters said Mr Gbagbo would have “no difficulties” if he resigned before 0000 GMT on Friday.
But Mr Gbagbo said the country could face greater violence if he were to leave office.
In an address for the new year, Mr Gbagbo said the pressure for him to quit amounted to “an attempted coup d’etat carried out under the banner of the international community”.
The UN says some 200 people have been killed or have disappeared in the past month – mostly supporters of Mr Ouattara.
It says it has received reports of at least two mass graves and has been repeatedly blocked from investigating one of them, on the outskirts of Abidjan. The other reported site lies in the centre of the country.
The Gbagbo government has repeatedly denied the existence of any mass graves.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has written to Mr Gbagbo to tell him he could be held criminally accountable for abuses.
Some of Ivory Coast’s neighbours have threatened to oust Mr Gbagbo by force.
But analysts say intervention in Ivory Coast would be far more difficult than West Africa’s previous operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The UK has said it would back military intervention, if sanctioned by the UN.
Mr Ouattara is holed up in a hotel in the main city, Abidjan, protected by UN peacekeepers.
Some of Mr Gbagbo’s allies have threatened to storm the hotel – a threat which UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said could spark renewed civil war.
Mr Ouattara’s prime minister, Guillaume Soro, said Ivory Coast was “already in a civil war situation”.
The election on 28 November was intended to reunify the country which has been divided since a 2002 conflict.
Mr Ouattara was initially proclaimed the winner by Ivory Coast’s election commission, but the Constitutional Council said Mr Gbagbo had won.
Both men have been sworn in as president.
But Mr Gbagbo told Euronews that his departure would not necessarily end the unrest.
“If I said I would leave office right now, who could provide an assurance that it would bring peace and that it would not bring even greater violence?” he said.
However, he said his resignation was not on the agenda “for now”.
Mr Gbagbo also told Euronews he would be prepared to accept a recount, although he did not give any details of his proposals.
“We are negotiating. I ask myself why those who claim to have beaten me oppose a recount of the votes,” he said.
The UN helped organise the poll and says Mr Ouattara won.
Analysts say it would be unlikely to agree to a recount.
As international pressure increases on Mr Gbagbo to step down, the EU has agreed to widen a travel ban to 59 Gbagbo allies, diplomats say.
Mr Gbagbo accuses France, which retains considerable economic interests in its former colony, of mobilising international opinion against him.
“Amongst today’s great global powers, each has its own sphere of influence. When it’s something to do with Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, France speaks and the rest follow,” Mr Gbagbo said.
He has ordered the 9,500 UN peacekeepers to leave Ivory Coast and there have been some attacks on them by Mr Gbagbo’s supporters.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Ivory Coast’s incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has said the country could face ”even greater violence” if he were to resign.
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How Dilma Rousseff emerges from Lula’s shadow will be key to her presidency With the inauguration on 1 January of Dilma Rousseff, a 63-year-old economist with unproven political skills, Brazil has its first woman president. Analyst Paulo Sotero looks at the challenges she faces in governing Latin America’s biggest nation.
A technocrat who has never occupied elective office, Dilma, as Brazilians know her, was elected last October thanks to her political mentor and predecessor, the immensely popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The business of governing Brazil is first and foremost about putting together and managing a coalition of political parties that span the ideological spectrum, share a voracious appetite for government jobs and public resources, and see in every piece of legislation an opportunity to extract a concession from the executive.
In such an environment, having the support of 60% of Congress, as Ms Rousseff does, may be as much of a curse as a blessing.
Development of Brazil’s offshore oil fields will be a key issue However, since being elected, Ms Rousseff has surprised her adversaries by avoiding debilitating negotiations with the leaders of the 10 parties of her presidential coalition.
She has filled about half of the 37-minister cabinet with people already serving under Lula, picked low-profile figures for less important positions and appointed some well-regarded professionals for key posts – such as Chicago-trained economist Alexandre Tombini as Central Bank Governor.
Wisely, she assembled an inner cabinet of moderate, competent and well regarded advisors to run the government under the co-ordination of a highly skilled chief of staff, Antonio Palocci.
He was Lula’s first finance minister and played a central role to ensure the continuation of the economic stabilisation policies adopted by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula’s predecessor.
Ms Rousseff is known to favour a strong state role in the economy and presided over a reform of the oil sector that gave state company Petrobras a virtual monopoly over Brazil’s huge new findings of offshore oil. She has repeatedly clashed in the past with the more liberal Mr Palocci – so their current collaboration could prove interesting.
Expectation among analysts is that the new president will gradually replace some ministers as she emerges from Lula’s shadow and asserts her own leadership.
She will be keen to demonstrate she is not a mere instrument of her creator, charged with keeping the presidential seat warm for his return in 2014, as critics allege.
The over-valuation of the Brazilian real has caused some concern Ms Rousseff, a strong personality with a famously short temper, started to differentiate herself from Lula on foreign policy after the election, leading some analysts to speculate that the two may eventually clash if Lula fails in his promise to help her behind the scenes and stay away from the limelight.
In her victory speech, Ms Rousseff highlighted the importance of a free press, which came under fire by Lula in his final year in government.
Brutally tortured while in jail in the early 1970s for her participation in the armed resistance against Brazil’s then military government, Ms Rousseff has insisted she will not compromise in the defence of human rights.
In her first interview to the foreign media as president-elect, she told the Washington Post that Brazil’s abstention in a recent UN vote condemning stoning to death as a method of execution was “an error.”
She also signalled her misgivings, amply shared by Brazilians, about Lula’s failed attempt to mediate in the nuclear dispute between Iran and the international community, an initiative that proved costly to Brazil’s international prestige and its relations with the US.
As Lula was making gratuitous public attacks against the US in the waning days of his presidency, Ms Rousseff expressed her interest in developing a closer and more fruitful dialogue with Washington, indicating that she would adopt a more measured international strategy.
Her choice of of Antonio Patriota, a talented diplomat and former ambassador to the US, as the next foreign minister was well received in Washington.
Ms Rousseff lacks Lula’s natural talent to play on the world stage. Her view is that Brazilian foreign policy, while maintaining its global reach, should be refocused on underpinning domestic efforts to keep the nation on its current path of sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.
Brazil needs to upgrade large sections of its infrastructure With Brazil’s domestic savings and investment rates stuck at 17% (in contrast with 35% in India and 50% in China) and the public sector investment capacity limited by growing government expenditure, the Rousseff government will have to foster an environment that can attract foreign capital.
Her immediate challenge is to reduce current public expenditure – not a popular move among her Workers Party and the other parties of her coalition – and enable the Central Bank to lower the domestic interest rate of 10.75%, the highest among emerging economies.
Failure to do so will inevitably lead to tighter monetary policy to keep inflation within the target of 4.5%. This would slow growth, make Brazil attractive to more hot money and exacerbate the over-valuation of the currency – the real – further reducing the international competitiveness of the Brazilian economy.
Other pressing issues are:
upgrading the deficient infrastructure of ports, airports and roadsimproving the education systemadvancing microeconomic reforms, from taxation to customs procedures.
It will also fall to President Rousseff to prepare Brazil to host major international events: the Rio Plus 20 global environmental summit in 2012; the Fifa World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016.
This means international attention will be on Brazil, as the country experiments with innovative policies to reduce crime and violence in major cities.
There is also increasing pressure from Brazil’s expanding middle class to deal with rule of law issues, such as a dysfunctional and corrupt political system perpetuated by the impunity enjoyed by those in powerful positions.
Once discounted as little more than Lula’s political puppet, Dilma Rousseff has been able to generate positive expectations among Brazilians since her election.
Being the first woman to reach the presidency in Latin America’s biggest nation, however, will only add to her burden of succeeding the most popular Brazilian leader in history.
Paulo Sotero is director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington DC.
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Police on Anglesey are starting a second amnesty to educate people about the dangers of carrying knives.
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A simple rubber device that replicates complex bird-songs is developed by a team of US researchers.
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Police and fire services are called to Ford open prison in West Sussex after prisoners start fires and smash windows.
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An explosion has been reported outside a church in the north Egyptian city of Alexandria with unconfirmed reports of a number of casualties.
Several people were killed in the blast, an unnamed security official was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
Alexandria, with a population of about four million, is the country’s second-biggest city.
Christians from the Coptic Orthodox Church make up about 10% of Egypt’s predominantly Muslim population.
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Last year’s fireworks at the London Eye were watched by more than 200,000 spectators Crowds are lining the banks of the Thames in central London ahead of the New Year’s Eve fireworks, which are expected to be seen by up to 250,000 spectators at midnight.
The eight-minute display will have a musical soundtrack for the first time.
Thousands of people have gathered on Victoria Embankment and the South Bank, while nearby Tube stations and bus stops face restrictions.
Supt Julia Pendry of the Metropolitan Police said it was already “very busy”.
Many people may become very disappointed if they did not set out early, she said, and asked spectactors to consider using Tube stations away from the main fireworks areas to reduce congestion.
“It’s obviously very mild so lots of people have come to London,” she added.
“We want Londoners and all visitors to the capital to be able to welcome the new year in a safe and crime-free environment.”
The organiser of the celebrations, James Donald, said the display would consist of “really high-energy fireworks” at the London Eye, which opened in 2000.
He said BBC Radio 1 DJ Nihal had created a dynamic soundtrack of “cool tunes”.
The firework display will begin over Westminster as the chimes of Big Ben sound at midnight The show – which has taken five months of planning – will bring to life more of “the character of London” than in previous years, Mr Donald added.
London Ambulance Service staff are preparing for one of their busiest nights of the year, expecting more than 500 calls an hour.
Deputy director of operations Jason Killens asked people to “use the ambulance service wisely and only call us in a genuine emergency”.
“Don’t call the ambulance service simply because you’re drunk, when you’re looking to go home.”
Revellers can travel for free on Tube, bus, tram and train services run by Transport for London from 2345 GMT until 0430 GMT, but valid tickets are needed on national rail services.
Later on Saturday more than 500,000 people are expected to watch London’s new year parade, which is marking its 25th anniversary.
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Edinburgh’s annual Hogmanay festival got under way on Thursday and lasts four days Hundreds of thousands of revellers have welcomed in the new year at open-air parties around the UK.
An estimated 80,000 are attending the annual Hogmanay party in Edinburgh, while 250,000 are expected to have watchd the fireworks in central London.
Other cities in Scotland, including Glasgow and Inverness, are also hosting new year celebrations.
The better weather is also expected to encourage partygoers in Wales to take to the nation’s streets.
Hundreds of people were expected to attend the free Calennig celebrations at Cardiff Civic Centre, which features a live music concert with Dr and The Medics and T.
The event included a fire show and funfair, as well as midnight skating at an open-air ice rink.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay festival lasts four days and got under way on Thursday with a torchlight procession.
The ticket-only main event on New Year’s Eve includes an open- air concert starring Biffy Clyro, The Charlatans and Billy Bragg.
“It just works – I don’t think anyone else can do it like we do”
Peter Irvine Edinburgh Hogmanay director
Billy Bragg, who had finished his performance but was staying on with his family to watch Biffy Clyro and the fireworks, said he had taken along a pair of tartan long johns but had not needed them on stage.
He said Scotland had “kind of invented New Year get-togethers”, so Edinburgh was where he wanted to be.
Biffy Clyro’s frontman Simon Neil said: “There’s no better way to end the year.
“We have been really fortunate all year – but even if it had been awful, it would have felt great because of tonight.
“It’s a real honour and we’re looking forward to rocking some cold folk.”
Edinburgh Hogmanay director Peter Irvine said record numbers of revellers had been expected to gather in the capital city.
“We always say this is the home of Hogmanay,” he said.
“This event has a really good feeling and atmosphere. It just works – I don’t think anyone else can do it like we do.”
In Glasgow, crowds will be toasting the new year with one of Scotland’s biggest outdoor ceilidhs, in George Square.
Crowds also gathered in central London for the free annual fireworks, which were launched from three barges and the London Eye.
The eight-minute display had a musical soundtrack for the first time.
Some 3,000 police officers are on duty, and a Metropolitan Police spokesman said the crowds were larger than last year but so far there had been only five arrests for minor offences.
Party organisers will no doubt be relieved the freezing conditions of the past few weeks have been replaced by milder weather, with temperatures of 4-5C in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.
The BBC Weather Centre says it is a dull and misty end to 2010.
“A band of rain and hill snow will move south through Scotland overnight, reaching northern England and Northern Ireland by dawn, with colder, clearer conditions, frost and ice following behind in a northerly breeze,” forecasters said.
“Further south, mostly dry and cloudy.”
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The Archbishop of Canterbury says the 400-year-old King James Bible can help give meaning to modern lives, in his New Year address for the BBC.
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