Greek parliament approves 2010 austerity budget

Athens - The Greek parliament voted early Thursday to adopt spending cuts and other austerity measures aimed at reducing the country's massive budget deficit. The Athens-based parliament voted strictly along party lines. All 160 lawmakers from the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) voted in favor, while 139 opposition members were against the measure, state television reported.

Greece's current deficit is 12.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The 2010 budget aims to cut the deficit to 9.1 per cent of GDP next year through 8 billion euros in spending cuts and tax hikes.

Greece is grappling with a national debt of more than 300 billion euros (440 billion dollars), the largest in the country's history. Last week, Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou called on all Greeks to participate in rebuilding the economy in order to stop the debt-ridden country from going bankrupt.

He said the nation's aim was to reduce the deficit to less than 3 per cent of GDP.

"This budget is not just about reordering our economy, but also about rebuilding our credibility," Papandreou said just before the vote.

The opposition Communist party has criticized the austerity measures as a pretext for attacking the working class.

Greece is a founder member of the euro zone, but its public finances have spiralled out of control in recent months, leading to fears of a default that could undermine the European Union's flagship project.

Malaysian customs seize alcohol for Christmas, New Year's revelries

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian customs officers seized more than 1 million ringgit (285,715 dollars) of liquor and beer believed to have been smuggled from India to meet demand during this year's Christmas and New Year's celebrations, a news report said Thursday. Two containers from India, which had been falsely declared as turmeric spice, were stopped in the northern city of Penang late Monday after a tip-off, state customs director Matrang Suhaili was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

Customs officers seized 1,100 crates of beer and liquor from the containers, he said.

Christmas celebrations and New Year's countdown parties, which are fueled with alcohol, are popular in Malaysia despite the country having a minority Christian population and a majority Muslim population, which is forbidden to consume alcohol.

Every year, dozens of revelers are detained at the end of the year for causing public disturbances and vandalism and engaging in drunk driving.

South Korean star Ki Sung Yong hopes to shine at Celtic

Seoul - South Korean midfielder Ki Sung Yong said Wednesday he hoped to shine at Celtic after signing a four-year deal with the Scottish club. Ki, 20, who is expected to be in South Korea's World Cup squad, pledged to "give it my best" to become a top player at Celtic.

"Celtic is one of the biggest and best clubs in the world and I know that playing for Celtic will make me a better player when I play for South Korea in the World Cup," Ki said at Incheon airport before his departure for Glasgow.

Ki, who signed with Celtic on Monday, said he was a little short of match fitness as his side, FC Seoul, completed their season a few weeks ago.

"I would say I am about 70 per cent of my full fitness. I expect it would take at least one or two weeks to be fully fit for matches," he said.

Ki is set to raise the profile of Celtic in South Korea. Around 14 South Korean fans avidly follow the fortunes of star players such as Manchester United Park Ji Sung and Bolton's Lee Chung Yong.

Turkish premier hopes for increased trade with Syria

Damascus - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that he hopes to see trade with Syria increase to 5 billion dollars annually. "The abolition of visa requirements between the two countries and the free trade zone agreement led to a rise in the volume of trade and we will work to increase this over the upcoming years to 5 billion dollars," Erdogan said during a visit to Damascus.

Trade between the two neighbors reached 1.8 billion dollars in 2008, according to official figures, up 50 per cent over the previous year. The free trade deal was signed in 2002.

In October, the countries canceled visa requirements and have seen relations relations warm in recent years, after nearly going to war a decade ago over Damascus' alleged support of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria held a public appearance with the visiting premier and was scheduled to meet Erdogan later for high level talks.

The Turkish premier, who also met with his Syrian counterpart Muhammad Naji al-Otari, was in Damascus for the first meeting of the Syrian-Turkish High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

He called the event an "historic day." The two countries are expected to sign more than 50 new agreements, mostly relating to economic cooperation.

The Turkish delegation includes the ministries of foreign affairs, justice, interior, health, transport, agriculture and energy.

Several hundred business people from both countries were attending a joint business forum to expand links.

Thousands of pilgrims expected in Bethlehem for Christmas

Bethlehem, West Bank - Some 15,000 pilgrims are expected to visit Bethlehem Thursday and Friday to celebrate Christmas, Victor Batarseh, the mayor of the West Bank biblical city said. The hotels in the city are also fully booked, as they were last year, after a period in which Israeli-Palestinian violence, and Israel's stringent security measures, kept tourists away from the city revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Christmas celebrations are due to start at noon Thursday, Christmas Eve, with the annual procession led by the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal.

Twal will lead the Midnight Mass at St. Catherine's Church in the Nativity in Bethlehem in the presence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian and foreign officials.

In his Christmas message, Twal expressed regret that "our dreams for a reconciled Holy Land seem to be utopia."

"Despite the praiseworthy efforts of politicians and men of goodwill to find a solution to the ongoing conflict, all of us, Palestinians and Israelis, have failed in achieving peace. The reality contradicts our dreams," he said.

"The best gift we seek, above money and wealth, is peace," his message, concluded.

Chinese pandas draw 3 million visitors to Taipei Zoo

Taipei - Two giant pandas given by China to Taiwan have drawn 3 million visitors to Taipei Zoo since their arrival a year ago, the zoo said Wednesday. Hsu Liang-ting, a four-year-old Taiwan girl visiting the zoo with her parents, became the 3 millionth visitor to the Panda House. She received a large panda doll from the zoo.

Zoo spokesman man Chin Shih-chien said the two star animals have helped raise Taipei Zoo's popularity and its revenues from the sale of tickets and panda souvenirs.

The two panda bears arrived at Taipei Zoo on December 23, 2008, and met the public on January 26, 2009, after a month in quarantine.

Since then 3 million people have visited the panda house, averaging 9,000 every day.

"The two pandas have adapted well to life in Taiwan. Both have put on weight. Their favorite food is the Taiwan-grown golden bamboo and kui bamboo. Each eats about 20 kilograms of bamboo every day," Chin said.

Taipei Zoo hopes the two pandas, a male and a female, can mate next year.

China gave Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names together mean "reunion" in Chinese, to Taiwan as a goodwill gesture.

Most Taiwan people like the giant pandas, but some have questioned China's motive in presenting the animals to Taiwan, saying the two pandas were being used by Beijing as propaganda tools.

Hamas says needs time to study Israeli prisoner swap reply - Summary

Wed, 23 Dec 2009

Gaza/Tel Aviv - Hamas needs time to study Israel's reply to demands to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier, a senior official of the Islamist group said Wednesday. "Hamas needs several days to study the Israeli response and then we hand our answer to Israel through the German mediator," Mohammed al-Zahar, among the Hamas leaders who has been indirectly negotiating the swap with Israel, told Israel Radio's Arabic-language service.

The Hamas leadership in both the Gaza Strip and Damascus would study the Israeli response, he said, without giving any hint of what Hamas' answer would be.

The German mediator, who handed over the Israeli response on Wednesday morning, has meanwhile left the Gaza Strip to head back to Germany to spend the Christmas holidays with his family, al-Zahar added.

Hamas is demanding the release of around 1,000 jailed militants in exchange for Gilad Shalit, who was snatched on June 25, 2006 during a cross-border raid by three militias based in the Strip.

Key Israeli ministers, who held a series of meetings on the matter Sunday and Monday, gave the green light to continue with the mediation efforts, but attached conditions.

Although the details of the negotiations have been kept under tight wrap, the Israeli Ma'ariv daily reported Wednesday that Israel was insisting that 120 of the prisoners to be freed be sent to the Gaza Strip, or even exiled abroad, rather than be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opposed to allowing freed Hamas activists to return to their homes in the West Bank, for fear they would launch attacks on nearby Israeli population centers, or would attack the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank and is Hamas' bitter rival.

Mustafa al-Sawaf, a Gaza-based political analyst close to Hamas, said the deportation of the prisoners either to the Gaza Strip or abroad, was a last obstacle in the way of closing the deal.

He said he thought Hamas would not accept the deportation of a large number of prisoners "but would accept what the prisoners themselves decide."

According to Ma'ariv, the Israel proposal suggests releasing 450 "heavyweight" Palestinian prisoners, as a first stage, and then, in a second stage, freeing another 550 prisoners, whose identity it alone will determine.

The rival Yediot Ahronot daily, meanwhile, reported that the German mediator, whose identity is being kept secret, is expected soon to receive a new position in Germany which will prevent him from continuing to shuttle between the Israeli and Hamas positions.

Quoting "sources involved in the negotiations," the Israeli newspaper said while the mediator has not issued any ultimatum to the sides, he has recommended that they speedily reach a deal, otherwise they would have to entrust the talks to a new envoy who would need time to familiarize himself with the situation.

Efforts to effect a prisoner swap have been taking place for years, mostly under Egyptian mediation. However, only after the German mediator was brought on board in the summer has the pace of the indirect negotiations picked up.

Egypt to aid return of stolen Asian, African artifacts - Summary

Cairo - Egypt's antiquities chief announced plans on Wednesday for a conference to help coordinate the strategy of African and Asian countries who had artifacts "stolen" from them. "At the end of March we will hold a conference to meet with others who suffered like us from stolen artifacts and to discuss how to help all of us in efforts to return the stolen artifacts," said Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities...

U.S. judge backs return of $500 million coin haul to Spain

MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. district judge has ruled that U.S. treasure-hunting company Odyssey Marine Exploration should return to Spain a fortune in old coins recovered from the wreck of a 19th-century Spanish warship.

In an order filed in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, Judge Steven Merryday nevertheless directed that the return of the treasure to Spain be stayed until an appeals process in the case was concluded. It was the latest twist in a complex dispute over the treasure involving Spain, Odyssey and Peru.

Merryday's order backed a recommendation by a U.S. magistrate judge in June that Odyssey should hand over to the Spanish government nearly 600,000 silver and gold coins valued at some $500 million that it recovered from the wreck of the 19th-century Spanish warship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.

Spain said the Spanish naval frigate was carrying treasure back from Peru when it was sunk by British gunboats in 1804.

Odyssey, which has disputed the treasure came from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, discovered wreckage and the 17-tonne haul of artifacts in March 2007 in international waters about 100 miles west of the Straits of Gibraltar, which separate Spain from North Africa.

"The ineffable truth of this case is that the Mercedes is a naval vessel of Spain and that the wreck of this naval vessel, the vessel's cargo, and any human remains are the natural and legal patrimony of Spain," Merryday said in his order.

Odyssey, which specializes in the recovery of sunken treasure and had codenamed this particular project "Black Swan," says the coin haul legally belongs to the company.

Odyssey said in a statement on Wednesday that Merryday's ruling would for the time being keep the coins in Odyssey's custody pending an appeals ruling by the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Judge Merryday's ruling serves to move this case to the appellate court faster, where we feel confident that the legal issues are clearly in our favor," Odyssey CEO Greg Stemm said.

"We will file our notice of appeal with the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals within the required time and look forward to presenting our case in that forum," said Melinda MacConnel, Odyssey vice president and general counsel.

The Mercedes sank in the first few minutes of the Battle of Cape St. Mary's as an explosion ripped it apart, killing more than 200 sailors. The attack led Spain to declare war on Britain and enter the Napoleonic Wars on the side of France.

Peru, which was ruled by Spain at the time the Mercedes was sunk, entered the legal fray in August when it filed a claim for information with the Tampa court. The filing said the coins may be "part of the patrimony of the Republic of Peru."

Judge Merryday also backed the magistrate judge's June recommendation that Spain and Peru's competing claims over the coins would be best resolved through direct negotiations and not in a U.S. court.