Russia: French Mistral warships[ 1945 ]

Russia Selects Warships From France

Click for Full story: Defense News

By PIERRE TRAN
Published: 25 Dec 2010 11:09

Russia has selected France's controversial offer of two Mistral command and projection warships, with an option for two more units, for an undisclosed amount, a French official statement said Dec.

Christmas in...China..[ 1944 ]

China fights inflation with Christmas rate rise

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A shopper walks past a window displaying prices of dresses and handbags at a shopping mall in central Beijing October 21, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/David Gray

By Ben Blanchard and Zhou Xin 

BEIJING | Sat Dec 25, 2010 9:18am EST

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank raised interest rates on Saturday for the second time in just over two months as it stepped up its battle to rein in stubbornly high inflation.

The People's Bank of China said it will raise the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.81 percent and lift the benchmark deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent.

The central bank said in a statement on its website (www.pbc.gov.cn) that the latest rate rise would take effect on Sunday.

The move came after Beijing said earlier in December it was switching to a "prudent" monetary policy, from its earlier "moderately loose" stance.

Analysts said the change of wording, along with a recent pledge by top leaders to make inflation fighting a top priority for 2011, could pave the way for more interest rate increases and lending controls.

"This rate hike demonstrates Chinese authorities' determination to keep inflation under control up front, or front-loaded tightening," said Qing Wang, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong.

"Compared to rate hikes in the beginning of next year, a rate hike before year-end will have a more tightening impact, as the interest rates on the medium- and long-term loans and deposits are reset at the beginning of each year according to the base rates."

The central bank said on Friday it will deploy a range of policy tools to head off inflationary pressures and asset bubbles.

To tame price pressures, China raised interest rates on Oct 19 for the first time in nearly three years. The consensus of analysts polled by Reuters this month was for three rate rises of 25 basis points each by the end of next year.

Along with playing a key role in the fight against inflation, policy tightening also signals the government's confidence that the world's second-largest economy is on solid ground, even as the U.S. and European recoveries remain fragile.

CHRISTMAS SURPRISE

While almost all investors and analysts thought more policy tightening was coming, there was uncertainty about whether the central bank would raise rates before the end of the year.

The central bank opted to raise banks' reserve requirements on Nov 19 ahead of data which showed inflation hit a 28-month high of 5.1 percent.

"We expected a rate hike by the end of the year, though Christmas Day is something of a surprise -- a rate hike is not normally on the wish-list for Santa Claus, but in China's case this is a prudent move," said Brian Jackson, economist with Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong.

"We think it is increasingly clear that using quantitative measures, such as reserve ratios, to rein in liquidity and credit has not been enough, and that adjusting the price of credit -- that is, interest rates -- is needed to get price pressures under control."

Xmas 2010..[ 1943 ]

                Birth of Christ                         

London.,Christmas exodus...[ 1942 ]

Break in snow aids Christmas exodus

Standard co.uk.,24 Dec 2010

Pleasure boats are unable to move as the River Ouse froze overnight in York

Millions of people are expected to travel home for Christmas today as a break in snowfall gave welcome relief after the worst winter weather for a century.

Roads and rail tracks were expected to get respite from snow but forecasters warned of sharp frosts that would leave widespread ice on the ground.

And train passengers were warned to expect a reduced service with three rail operators due to cut their timetables by a quarter.

Temperatures overnight were due to plummet to as low as minus 15C (5F) in remote parts of Scotland and were unlikely to get above freezing for most of the country today.

But while some parts could see the occasional flurry, most of the country will escape heavy snow. The news will bring some late Christmas cheer to the thousands of passengers waiting to travel at Heathrow Airport, which was forced to close earlier this week because of the weather.

BAA launched an inquiry on Thursday into its planning, execution and recovery from the extreme weather that left planes grounded and passengers bedding down in terminals. An international panel of experts from airports and airlines around the world will make recommendations to BAA.

Chief executive Colin Matthews said: "The inquiry will forensically examine what went wrong at Heathrow, and look fundamentally at our ability to prepare and respond more effectively to periods of bad weather at an airport operating at its maximum capacity."

Forecasters said London and the South East would see a relatively mild frost today but temperatures would be much colder elsewhere.

Matt Dobson, forecaster with PA's weather division MeteoGroup, said: "The cold air is not going anywhere fast. Away from the south east of England where the frost is going to be a lot slighter, there's going to be a very sharp frost. Parts of Northern Ireland could be getting close to another record-breaking temperature.

He added there was a "small chance" of snow falling very early on Christmas Day across Kent, East Anglia and Lincolnshire with the highest chance of snowfall in Scotland. Bookmaker Ladbrokes stopped bets on a white Christmas on Thursday but Mr Dobson said most parts were expected to see a dry, sunny and cold day

Stockholm subway shut [ 1941 ]

Stockholm subway station shut over suspicious item

By the CNN Wire Staff

December 24, 2010 -- Updated 0437 GMT (1237 HKT)

                    Stockholm subway
 -
 (CNN) -- A Stockholm subway station shut Thursday night as Swedish police converged on an item made to look like a bomb.

Authorities got a call around 8:30 p.m. alerting them about the suspicious device at Kungstradgarden subway station in the Swedish capital, said Stockholm police Capt. Henrik Billstam.

The station was promptly evacuated. Bomb technicians determined that the device was harmless, and the station reopened.

"It did not contain any explosives, but it was clearly made to look like a bomb," Billstam said. "So this must have been some kind of bad joke."

While not historically a hotbed for terrorist activity, Sweden has been on edge since its first suicide bombing.

Earlier this month, two explosions killed the bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab, and wounded two other people in a district full of Christmas shoppers.

Authorities say Abdulwahab had lived in Iraq and sent e-mails indicating his distaste for the presence of Swedish troops in Afghanistan and the Scandinavian country's tolerance of Lars Vilks' newspaper cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed as a dog

Days later, Swedish police released a report indicating that violence-promoting Islamist radicals do exist in their country and should not be underestimated as potential threats, according to a study from Swedish Security Police.

The report -- commissioned months before the terrorist bombings -- identified almost 200 individuals, mostly young males, as Islamic extremists who advocate violence. Still, while noting the presence of such people, the study did not find any indication that their number is growing.

CNN's Per Nyberg contributed to this report.