Bomb explodes near Athens courthouse

By the CNN Wire Staff

December 30, 2010 -- Updated 1101 GMT (1901 HKT)

Police investigators search for evidence outside a court building after a bomb exploded in Athens, Greece.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• A caller gives advance warning
• Police verify information and evacuate the building

(CNN) -- A strong bomb blast shook one of the main courthouse buildings in central Athens on Thursday morning, Greek police said.

The explosion occurred about 40 minutes after an unidentified person placed warning calls to a local TV station and newspaper, saying a bomb would explode outside the "administrative first instance courthouse." The advance notice gave police enough time to evacuate the building.

Police said the blast came from a motorbike rigged with explosives that was parked in the median across from the courthouse in the Ambelokipi district. The caller provided the place number on the bike.

A cloud of smoke was visible in the area and there was some damage to the front of the building and nearby cars from the explosion.

Journalist Elinda Labropoulou contributed to this report.

4 men face terror charges in plot against Danish newspaper

From Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, CNN

December 30, 2010 -- Updated 1112 GMT (1912 HKT)

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has erected a fence and security cameras to protect itself against potential attacks.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• One of four men arrested in a suspected plot against a Danish newspaper is released
• Three men were arrested in Copenhagen, Denmark, after arriving from Sweden
• They are believed to be "connected to international terrorists," Denmark authorities say
• Swedish intelligence sources say a fifth suspect was arrested in Stockholm

(CNN) -- One of four men arrested in connection with a suspected plot against a Danish newspaper was released Thursday after being charged with attempted terrorism, the Danish security and intelligence service said.

The 26-year-old Iraqi national is suspected of arranging housing for the other three men, all of whom were arrested Wednesday, the intelligence service said. The man, who was previously reported to be an asylum seeker, is in fact a legal resident of Denmark, the service said.

The other three men have also been charged with attempted terrorism. They were due to appear at a hearing Thursday to determine whether they will remain in custody, the service said.

The suspected plot was against the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, the nation's authorities said.

The three men due to appear in court were arrested in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday after arriving from Sweden. They are believed to be "connected to international terrorists," Denmark's intelligence service said.

One of the men arrested is a Tunisian national while at least two have Swedish citizenship, including one of Lebanese origin. The Iraqi national is thought to have provided the alleged plotters with a place to stay in Herlev near Copenhagen.

Swedish intelligence sources say a fifth suspect, a 37-year-old Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin, was arrested in Stockholm. He is believed to have visited Afghanistan and Pakistan last year, officials said.

The group was allegedly planning a gun attack on the offices of the Danish newspaper, which published the cartoons in 2005 and reprinted them in 2008.

"Our assessment is that their plan was to try to get access to the Jyllands-Posten building and carry out a Mumbai-style attack," the head of Denmark's intelligence service, Jakob Scharf, said Wednesday. He described the suspects as militant Islamists.

Pakistani terrorists launched gun attacks on hotels and other targets in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, killing more than 170 people.

Denmark's Justice Minister Lars Barfoed said the plot constituted "probably the most serious terror attempt in Denmark so far."

The men had been under surveillance for months, and were among 200 radicals identified in a recent Swedish intelligence report, according to intelligence sources in Scandinavia. Sweden raised its terror alert in October. An estimated 300,000 Muslims live in Sweden.

Denmark's intelligence service said the men had rented a car near Stockholm and driven to Denmark with a sub-machine gun, silencer and ammunition, with the intent of carrying out an attack by the New Year. Swedish authorities say the car was followed by security police who knew there were weapons in the car.

Danish intelligence sources say they are not ruling out a connection between the plotters and Islamist extremists in Scandinavia who were in contact with American citizen David Headley. Headley said he had visited Sweden and Denmark last year. Headley was arrested in Chicago in October 2009 as he was about to leave for Pakistan. He later confessed to planning the Mumbai attacks and to carrying out a reconnaissance of the offices of the newspaper with the intent of launching a terror attack. Video of the newspaper's offices was found in his luggage.

According to an interview of Headley by India's National Investigation Agency obtained by CNN, he met with a Moroccan living in Sweden in the summer of 2009. The man, known only as Farid, was an associate of a senior al Qaeda commander, Ilyas Kashmiri, whom Headley had met while in Pakistan.

"Farid told me he was being continuously watched and he was not available for Denmark project," Headley is quoted as telling Indian investigators.

There have been several plots against the newspaper building. Earlier this year, a Belgian of Chechen descent was injured in Copenhagen when a bomb he was carrying blew up in a nearby hotel. He is awaiting trial.

According to Danish terrorism expert, Michael Taarnby, it's unclear whether Islamic radicalization is growing in Denmark, but believe extremists appear more prepared to use violence.

Intelligence analysts point out that the men alleged to have been involved in this latest plot are between ages 26 and 43, and are not the alienated youth often associated with such plots.

2.5m targeted by con artists in 2010

Thursday, 30 December 2010

NEARLY 2.5m people in the UK were taken in by scams this year, research suggests. A survey by the charity Age UK found that 29% of respondents believe they were targeted by con artists during the year, with 17% of those actually falling victim. Online deception was the most common fraud, the poll found, followed by bogus telephone calls. Age UK questioned 4,732 people across the UK as part of their research into scams.

Health club business is fit to revolutionise gyms

Thursday, 30 December 2010

A NEW pay-as-you-go gym venture has secured £260,000 in funding from private investors as it looks to revolutionise the health club market.

Investment firm Envestors said it had successfully launched a financing from private investors for start-up company payasUgym, which aims to offer casual gym users access to a network of gyms with no membership ties.

PayasUgym is hoping to launch next month, allowing customers to "load" cash on to an online account that can be used at a wide range of fitness centres, from spas to leisure centre gyms.

Jamie Ward, co-founder of payasUgym, said: "Consumers are increasingly demanding more choice and flexibility with their gym memberships.

"PayasUgym will address these existing market restrictions and provide affordability and convenience for casual gym users."

Customers will be able to buy pay-as-you-go passes through payasUgym's website or with smartphone applications. But it is likely to face competition in providing more affordable gym access, with serial entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou planning to launch a budget fitness club offering next year.

Sir Stelios is gearing up to launch easyGym in the first half of 2011, allowing users to sign up for monthly-only contacts costing as little as £15 a month.

While not targeting the pay-as-you-go market, the easyGroup initiative is aimed squarely at those looking for a more affordable way to get fit.

PayasUgym was thought up by work colleagues Mr Ward and Neil Harmsworth, who came up with the idea when travelling back from a meeting discussing the difficulties in finding a gym you can visit on a one-off basis.

PayasUgym is set to go live on January 21 in London and the South East, branching out across the UK later in 2011. It already has more than 100 gyms on board in London and the surrounding commuter belt.

Envestors, which was bought by Braveheart Investment Group earlier this year, said payasUgym had a "great business model that serves a real need".

The investment firm specialises in matching high net worth private investors with fast growing start-ups.

'Santa rally' gives pre-Christmas boost to FTSE

Thursday, 30 December 2010

The FTSE 100 Index is on track to record one of the best December performances in its history thanks to a pre-Christmas Santa rally boost.

The blue chip index soared by 8.7% to 6008.9 in the first 24 days of December - beating its best ever December rise of 8.4% in 1987.

London's Footsie slipped into the red yesterday, marginally reducing gains seen so far this month.

But recent blue chip advances have helped the top tier reach levels not seen since before the financial crisis struck in the summer of 2008.

The Footsie has so far added around 11% since the start of the year as the global economic recovery has helped stabilise market conditions. The stellar December performance also came despite numerous setbacks including the eurozone debt crisis and heavy snowfall, which caused travel chaos and disrupted Christmas shopping.

December's rise is all the more remarkable because it followed a 15% rise in the market between the start of July and the end of November, said stock market historian David Schwartz.

"In 1987, the December rally occurred after shares did very poorly in October and November, so it was a bounce-back rally," he said. "But this year is a continuation of a strong rally earlier in the year."

So-called Santa rallies have caused the FTSE 100 to rise in December in all but five of the 27 years since the index was formed.

This year's December performance was particularly strong because investors' confidence in the stock market is steadily growing, added Mr Schwartz.

Fabregas calls for ref consistency

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Cesc Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas has criticised referees for inconsistency claiming Arsenal were denied a last-minute penalty at Wigan for exactly the same offence as he was penalised for in November's 3-2 loss to Tottenham.

Fabregas was suspended for Wednesday night's 2-2 draw at Wigan, but referee Lee Probert incurred the Gunners skipper's wrath for refusing to penalise James McArthur when Samir Nasri's free-kick clearly hit his hands in the last minute of the match.

The Spanish midfielder said on his Twitter account: "What's the difference between this handball and my one versus Spurs? Referees don't want us to complain about them but they make life difficult for themselves. I'm not complaining at all, I'm just saying why on the same thing some refs say it's a penalty and some not. Is it a rule or just what they feel?"

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said of the Wigan incident: "I personally did not see it but Nasri is adamant it was a 100% penalty."

Wenger also insisted his decision to make eight changes was not a gamble that backfired despite Arsenal letting 10-man Wigan off the hook.

The Gunners were leading 2-1, with Charles N'Zogbia having been red-carded for head-butting Jack Wilshere, only for the home side to level thanks to an own goal by Sebastian Squillaci.

The Arsenal manager said: "I had to change the team, with all these matches we cannot play always with the same team, but I don't think that was a problem at all. We had a disadvantage that Manchester United has not got - Wigan played three days ago and we played 48 hours ago, a big game in the evening.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez declared himself "extremely pleased" with the result but criticised N'Zogbia for his red card, although claimed the French winger had come in for rough treatment.

Martinez said: "There's no excuses - that's unacceptable, it's a bad reaction. Charles started the game very well, he won a penalty, he gets kicked in every game and there's a lot of emotions but you cannot accept that sort of reaction.

"From the first minute Charles got a rough treatment and you want to protect the skilful players and that protection should come from other areas not from himself."

Ancelotti: Title challenge on track

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti declared Chelsea back in the Barclays Premier League title race after seeing them end their miserable run by beating Bolton.

The Blues ground out the scrappiest of 1-0 wins on Wednesday night to take maximum points for the first time in seven matches and close to within four points of leaders Manchester United.

After watching his side edge back above Tottenham into fourth, the Italian said: "It's very important for us now to stay focused on the games. Because the league is open again - it is not closed for us."

But he admitted Chelsea would have surrendered their title had they failed to win against Owen Coyle's side.

"Obviously, yes," said Ancelotti, who went into the match with the backing of billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

"I think it was the most important thing to change the atmosphere, to change the trend, to come back to win."

Bolton boss Coyle was aggrieved after Chelsea's Didier Drogba got the benefit of a marginal offside call before laying on Florent Malouda's winner.

"Ultimately, we've been done with a huge decision that I believe was offside," he said. "But I was here last year and had two stonewall penalties - I think Didier Drogba was playing volleyball with one - and I never got a penalty, so I certainly wasn't going to get that."

Despite missing the chance to climb above Chelsea in the league, Coyle was nevertheless delighted at the progress his side had made since he took charge at the start of 2010 - when Bolton were in the drop zone.

He said: "If somebody had said we'd be coming to Chelsea in the last game of the year with a chance to leapfrog them, at that point they'd have probably taken me away in a straightjacket."