A Romanian presidential candidate accused the incumbent president of tapping his phone and monitoring his movements. Former Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana blamed President Traian Basescu for creating a 'Big Brother' atmosphere in Romania, 20 years since communism collapsed in the country. During an interview with AP yesterday, Geoana said that his phone was tapped and his movements and conversations monitored by state "and quasi state structures".
Convicted mob hit man testifies
ROME (AP)
A convicted mob hit man testified yesterday that he was told Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi made a deal with the Mafia in the 1990s, offering unspecified benefits in exchange for political support. Berlusconi has denied the allegations, which have set off the latest storm to rattle the scandal-plagued premier. Gaspare Spatuzza testified as a prosecution witness in the appeals trial of Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, a close political associate of Berlusconi who was convicted in 2004 of ties with the Sicilian Mafia and sentenced to nine years in prison. Berlusconi is not formally involved in the trial. Spatuzza, who is serving a life sentence for several murders, told the court that in 1993 he was told by his boss, Giuseppe Graviano, that the mob had made a deal with Berlusconi that would provide "benefits" to the Mafia in exchange for the mob's support in elections.
Norwegians will not face execution
OSLO (AP)
Norway's foreign minister says he has received a guarantee from his Congolese counterpart that two Norwegians sentenced to death for espionage and murder in the African country will not face execution. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said yesterday that Congo's Alexis Thambwe Mwamba has assured him that a moratorium on executions in Congo means the two men's lives are not in danger.
An appeals court in Kisangani on Thursday upheld the death sentences of Tjostolv Moland and Joshua French, former Norwegian soldiers convicted of murdering their Congolese driver in May. Norway, which does not use the death penalty, condemned the decision.
UN to probe email leak
LONDON (AP)
The United Nations will conduct its own investigation into emails leaked from a leading British climate science centre in addition to the probe by the University of East Anglia, a senior UN climate official said yesterday. Emails stolen from the climate unit at the University of East Anglia appeared to show some of world's leading scientists discussing ways to shield data from public scrutiny and suppress others' work. Those who deny the influence of man-made climate change have seized on the correspondence to argue that scientists have been conspiring to hide evidence about global warming.
Poland unemployment rate increases
Poland (AP)
Poland's unemployment rate jumped to 11.4 per cent in November from 11.1 per cent the previous month, according to preliminary data released yesterday by the labour ministry. The ministry said some 1.81 million people in the nation of 38 million were without a job at the end of November, or 67,000 more than in October.
A ministry statement said that in November, people lost seasonal jobs in gardening, construction, forestry and farming. Poland's jobless rate peaked at 20.7 per cent in February 2003 amid stringent reforms applied to the post-communist economy. But after the 2004 accession to the European Union, there was a surge in economic growth, which brought the jobless rate down to 8.8 per cent in October 2008, just before the global economic crisis hit.
Canadian jobs on the rise
TORONTO (AP)
Canada's unemployment rate slipped to 8.5 per cent in November as the economy gained 79,000 jobs. Statistics Canada said yesterday full-time jobs rose by 39,000, the third month of gains in a row, and part-time jobs also went up by 40,000. The unemployment rate dropped from 8.6 per cent in October. Economists had expected a 15,000 gain in jobs overall in November.
Craig Wright, chief economist at Royal Bank, called the job numbers in Canada and the US "jaw dropping". The US unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 10 per cent in November as employers cut 11,000 jobs last month.