activists around the world google said tuesday
the chinese government operates one of the most sophisticated operations in the
world to control the internet it is essential that technology companies not
assist in efforts that violate human rights or prohibit the free exchange of
ideas said pelosi
latin america rallies to help haiti
mexico city jan afp
latin american nations many with experience of devastating earthquakes and un
peacekeepers in haiti scrambled to send aid to the earthquake hit island
wednesday
rescue efforts stepped up as haiti prime minister warned the death toll may
top from tuesday brutal magnitude earthquake that flattened much
of the capital port au prince
neighboring cuba which also felt the quake and evacuated some people
following brief tsunami alert sent doctors on wednesday according to
cuban media
some cuban medical staff already in haiti were largely unharmed and two
cuban field hospitals in the capital port au prince had dealt with almost
wounded by early wednesday said foreign minister bruno rodriguez
an argentine un built hospital was caring for some people mainly women and
children and was in critical situation due to the number of dead and
wounded said its director daniel desimone on todo noticias argentine news
channel
all haitian hospitals had collapsed desimone said
the quake killed at least peacekeepers with the brazilian led un mission in
haiti and brazil defense minister was on his way to the caribbean state
brazil said it was sending million dollars in immediate disaster aid
including tonnes of drinking water and food including sugar powdered milk
and sardines
venezuelan president hugo chavez promised more aid after the departure of
first group of doctors firefighters and rescue workers from venezuela early
wednesday
it very painful tragedy chavez said during public event broadcast on
national television
chile will shortly send metric tons of food and medicines team of search
and rescue experts and doctors said president michelle bachelet
bachelet said two chileans connected to the un mission were reported missing
mexico colombia and guatemala promised to send rescue workers and aid as soon
as possible
surviving soldiers from the un peacekeeping mission in haiti of
soldiers and police were now carrying out disaster relief operations
though were hampered by debris blocked roads and teetering buildings officials
said
an argentine gendarme was reported killed and another was missing and seven
soldiers from brazil and uruguayan soldier were also missing
bolivian defense minister walker san miguel said none of bolivia estimated
soldiers in haiti had been killed and that the impoverished andean nation was
offering to help un rescue operations
medical charity overwhelmed by haiti quake victims
washington jan afp
international medical charity medecins sans frontieres msf struggled wednesday
to cope with massive influx of survivors of the powerful earthquake in
haiti many with severe injuries spokesman said
patients with severe traumas head wounds crushed limbs have been streaming
into temporary structures set up by msf in and around port au prince but the
medical charity is only able to offer them basic medical care toronto based msf
spokesman paul mcphun told tele conference
though not all of msf local and international staff in haiti have been
accounted for many staff worked through the quake and into the following night
and morning trying to help people injured in the strength quake
many msf workers were in structures that fell apart during the earthquake and
many more have families who live in precarious conditions in port au prince and
they are trying to establish what happened to their families while they also
support emergency care operations mcphun said
but teams did try to get out and about in their cars after the quake and were
mobbed by people he said
they reported finding people sleeping on roads that were still passable and
not completely obstructed with rubble said mcphun
everywhere we go there massive demand from people to help them with
trapped family members or people suffering from major injuries so you re on the
streets and you re getting mobbed with people needing medical care he said
teams are basically managing what comes to them they are already getting
overwhelmed
destruction on the impoverished island nation was massive including msf
infrastructure said mcphun
all of our health structures are either condemned or collapsed so we can use
them he said
one of msf emergency care centers collapsed in the earthquake and two others
were severely damaged and unusable
the level of care we can provide without that infrastructure is limited we are
able to provide stablization basically first aid because we don have the
infrastructure to manage surgery right now and unfortunately what we re seeing
is large number of patients in critical condition mcphun said
we need referral we need secondary level hospital care we need surgical care
that our focus to try to bring that to them and try to address that that
our priority mcphun said
msf expects within the coming days to be able to send more international aid
workers to haiti to bolster its harried team there
the challenge now is how to get them there but we need to get them in there
and we need to get them in there fast he said
port au prince airport reopened wednesday to allow aid shipments to come into
the devastated country
msf was preparing emergency freight shipments including an inflatable hospital
for dispatch to haiti said mcphun
aid operations in port au prince have been hampered by power cut that left the
capital in the dark after the quake struck shortly before nightfall on tuesday
by downed communication lines and by haiti chronic safety woes
but msf is hoping that the reputation it has established for itself during its
or so years in haiti will provide it with security cloak as it works to
help haitians recover from the massive quake
msf is one of few aid organizations that have worked continually in haiti red
zone described by mcphun to afp as an area of certain insecurity level
that prohibited many organizations from actively working there without armed
escorts
we have long history in haiti and have been identified as very medical aid
organization we hope that will work in our favor now mcphun said
us economic recovery is broader beige book
washington jan afp
the us economy is seeing broader improvement in activity even if conditions
are still sluggish the federal reserve said in its beige book report wednesday
the report to be used by policymakers at the federal open market committee
meeting january said data from the federal reserve districts showed
modest improvement in key areas such as consumer spending manufacturing and
housing
the data indicated that while economic activity remains at low level
conditions have improved modestly further and those improvements are broader
geographically than in the last report the beige book said
ten districts reported some increased activity or improvement in conditions
while the remaining two philadelphia pennsylvania and richmond virgina
reported mixed conditions
this was better than the last beige book when eight districts showed increased
activity four were little changed
most districts reported consumer spending in the holiday season was slightly
greater than in but still far below levels
auto sales held steady or increased slightly since the last beige book in most
regions
manufacturing activity has increased or held steady since the last report in
most districts it added
home sales increased in most areas especially for lower priced homes with
price little changed
in the critical labor market the fed cited some hiring in few parts of the
nation but said labor market conditions remained generally weak with modest
wage increases appearing in just few districts
france calls for less eu representatives at summits
la granja spain jan afp
france wednesday called for tighter european representation at major world
summits so the bloc did not appear ridiculous
the question of the representation of europe on world scale was raised
after the un climate summit in copenhagen last month said france secretary of
state for european affairs pierre lellouche
when you have representative from india one from china and one from
the united states if you line them up with seven or eight european
representatives it not great for strengthening the position of the million
europeans
we need to progessively arrive at more concentrated position he told afp
in its representation abroad europe must be visible and not ridiculous with
eight or nine representatives he said
he was speaking on the sidelines an informal meeting of eu affairs ministers in
the spanish town of la granja outside madrid
he said the issue was brought up at the la granja conference wednesday but it
was up to european leaders to take decision
lellouche also regretted the absence of the europe new foreign affairs chief
catherine ashton at the meeting organized by the spanish rotating presidency
of the eu
he urged that the future conferences of eu affairs ministers be chaired by the
new president of the european union herman van rompuy and by ashton
rallying dakar rally results
san juan argentina jan afp
results from dakar rally following wednesday th stage the kilometres
special from santiago to here
cars
stage
guerlain chicherit fra bmw hr min sec orlando terranova
fra stradale at sec giniel de villiers rsa volkswagen sec nasser
al attiyah qat volkswagen min sec mark miller usa volkswagen
stephane peterhansel fra bmw robby gordon usa hummer
nicolas misslin fra stradale carlos sainz esp volkswagen
carlos sousa por stradale
overall
carlos sainz esp volkswagen hr min sec nasser al attiyah
qat volkswagen at min sec mark miller usa volkswagen
stephane peterhansel fra bmw hr min sec guerlain chicherit fra bmw
hr carlos sousa por stradale hr giniel de villiers
rsa volkswagen hr guilherme spinelli bra stradale hr
orlando terranova fra stradale hr robby gordon usa hummer hr
motorcycles
stage
frans verhoeven ned bmw hr min sec jonah street usa ktm at sec
alain duclos fra ktm min sec pal ullevalseter nor ktm
francisco lopez chi aprilia david fretigne fra yamaha
cyril despres fra ktm juan pedrero garcia esp ktm marc
coma esp ktm jakub przygonski pol ktm
overall
cyril despres fra ktm hr min sec pal ullevalseter nor ktm at hr
min sec francisco lopez chi aprilia hr helder rodrigues
por yamaha hr alain duclos fra ktm hr david fretigne
fra yamaha hr jonah street usa ktm hr olivier pain
fra yamaha hr jakub przygonski pol ktm hr juan
pedrero garcia esp ktm hr
selected
marc coma esp ktm hr
power of genomics cracks soybean code
paris jan afp
scientists on wednesday unveiled the genome of the soybean saying it was an
achievement that should deepen understanding of one of the world most
important crops help to boost yields and defend the plant against pests
the study published by the british weekly science journal nature provides
springboard for research into soy dna structure and protein making machinery
its authors said
eighteen organisations most of them american teamed up in year endeavour
that yielded draft of percent of the soybean billion base pairs the
rungs in the double helix ladder of dna
soybean and other legumes play critical role in global food security and
human health and are used in wide range of products from tofu soy flour
meat substitutes and soy milk to soy oil based printing ink and biodiesel said
molly jahn deputy under secretary at the us department of agriculture
this new information about soybean genetic makeup could lead to plants that
produce more beans that contain more protein and oil better adapt to adverse
environmental conditions or are more resistant to diseases she said in press
release
more than soy genes have been identified including key genes involved in
the transformation of water sunlight carbon dioxide nitrogen and minerals
into energy and proteins
one early breakthrough is the discovery of gene that appears to confer
resistance to disease called asian soybean rust which can devastate up to
percent of harvest
another more futuristic benefit could be in next generation form of
biodiesel
more than genes involved in lipid metabolism have been spotted said one
of the researchers gary stacey of the national center for soybean biotechnology
at the university of missouri
these genes and their associated pathways are the building blocks for soybean
oil content and represent targets that can be modified to bolster output and
lead to the increase of the use of soybean oil for biodiesel production
biotechnologists have already unravelled the genome of rice corn and the grape
vine among other staples
clinton to shorten asia trip over haiti quake
honolulu jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton said here wednesday she will shorten
trip to asia because of the devastating earthquake in haiti
clinton who earlier spoke by telephone with president barack obama told
reporters she still planned to visit papua new guinea new zealand and australia
but would spend less time in each place
it is biblical the tragedy that continues to stalk haiti and the haitian
people she said
rallying al attiyah closes on sainz chicherit wins car stage
san juan argentina jan afp
qatar nasser al attiyah made large inroads on volkswagen team mate carlos
sainz overall lead in the dakar rally on wednesday following the th stage
the kilometres special from santiago in chile
al attiyah who was leading when disqualified last year gained over five
minutes on two time world rally champion sainz on day when frenchman guerlain
chicherit driving bmw took the stage itself
al attiyah who has been crowned middle east champion five times was ecstatic
even if he had his nervy moments
it unbelievable he crowed thought this stage would be easy but it
wasn we were in the dust behind carlos and when we went off the road we hit
big tree
we are lucky we did not roll the car the next three days will be very long
added the year old whose rallying idol was sainz
sainz said he had had very taxing stage
we got two slow punctures don know how we got them he said we kept on
losing time and we had to stop
mark miller another volkswagen team mate passed us and when we got going
again we were in his dust we couldn do anything there were bits of trees on
the stage and we hit quite few of them added sainz who only holds lead of
min sec over al attiyah
dutchman frans verhoeven won the motorcycling section
verhoeven edged out american jonah street by three seconds while frenchman cyril
despres seventh on the stage over four minutes in arrears remained comfortably
the overall leader with just three stages remaining
verhoeven said he was just happy to still be in the race having experienced an
unnerving first few days on bmw bike unfamiliar to him
very happy to be here at the end of the stage he confessed had lot
of difficulties during the first two to three days
we re here with brand new bike it bmw and we didn really know lot
about it so we sort of jumped into the deep end with it now everything is under
control
despres whose main pre race rival for the title spaniard marc coma saw his
chances disappear last weekend when he was penalised six hours for illegally
changing tyre has lead of hr min over norwegian pal ullevalseter
despres admitted that while he was happy with his day work not everything had
gone according to plan
it was strange at the beginning because after km there was banner stopping
us following track he said
went straight ahead for about metres before turning around after saw
marc coma coming back in the other direction followed by other riders
that said rather enjoyed myself it was quick km and went like flash
was being extremely careful no when climb on the bike just can hold
myself back just want to have fun
chile francisco lopez retains third place overall while the big loser of the
day in terms of podium finish was portugal helder rodrigues who held on to
fourth place but lost six minutes on ullevalseter
france sends rescuers doctors to haiti
paris jan afp
france flew planes full of rescuers to help drag people from the rubble of the
huge earthquake that devastated haiti plus humanitarian aid and doctors to
treat the masses of victims
civil safety authorities on wednesday said total of french rescuers
doctors and nurses as well as trained rescue dogs were due to reach haiti within
day with tonnes of aid and rescue material
president nicolas sarkozy expressed his deep emotion and solidarity with the
people of haiti and with the un personnel who were seriously affected by the
earthquake in statement released by his office
foreign minister bernard kouchner former humanitarian aid worker said on
wednesday evening that france was sending four planes from the nearby french
caribbean island of martinique with police and rescuers and hospital staff
another aid plane was also due to take off from france to haiti where around
french nationals live officials said
kouchner told news conference that the french embassy was still looking for at
least french people who were in areas particularly affected by the
destruction
cooperation minister alain joyandet who is responsible for foreign aid himself
planned to visit haiti on saturday kouchner said
the french humanitarian group medecins sans frontieres msf said it was
treating around people in its centres in port au prince and that it would on
wednesday send bed inflatable field hospital
the group employs expatriates and more than locals in haiti
medecins du monde another french aid group that operates in haiti said it was
sending extra staff and was chartering plane to transport tonnes of
equipment and medical supplies to the stricken country
aid group action contre la faim and the french red cross were among other aid
groups that said they were also mobilised
it was the strongest earthquake to hit haiti in more than century the death
toll could top prime minister jean max bellerive told cnn
kouchner said in paris that the centre of the capital port de prince was
completely destroyed with the french embassy among the buildings ruined and
medical aid urgently needed
the hospitals are all very badly damaged he said
football tunisia zambia teams
lubango angola jan afp
teams for africa cup of nations group game here on wednesday
tunisia
aymen mathlouthi khaled souissi ammar jemal karim haggui capt yassin
mikari ousama darragi khaled korbi hocine ragued youssef msakni zouhaier
dhaouadhi amine chermiti
coach faouzi benzarti
zambia
kennedy mweene chintu kampamba joseph musonda emmanuel mbola thomas
nyirenda rainford kalaba felix katongo stoppila sunzu james chamanga
christopher katongo capt jacob mulenga
coach herve renard fra
football sakho gaffe sends psg out of league cup
paris jan afp
comical own goal from paris saint germain defender mamadou sakho handed
second division guingamp victory and place in the quarter finals of the
french league cup on wednesday
the promising year old defender horribly sliced an attempted clearance over
his own goalkeeper apoula edel and into the net in the th minute after
brazilian forward gilmar had seen his attempted lob parried
guingamp had been made to weather stern pressure throughout the last tie at
their icy stade du roudourou home with psg veteran ludovic giuly seeing an
effort cleared off the line and driving blistering shot against the crossbar
the hosts victory was rendered all the more impressive by the fact that
midfielder moustapha diallo had been sent off barely four minutes before sakho
own goal for an ugly two footed lunge on jean eudes maurice
it huge disappointment because we have been knocked out said psg coach
antoine kombouare
there were lot of problems with our game both in attack and in defence when
you can score you are always vulnerable
second division metz will hope to repeat their victory over lyon at the same
stage of last season competition when they travel to the stade gerland to
renew acquaintances with claude puel side later on wednesday
marseille visit saint etienne in the late kick off with om coach didier
deschamps pledging to field full strength line up that could feature mamadou
niang and lucho gonzalez who are on the recovery trail after injury
wednesday three remaining ties all exclusively feature top flight clubs with
lens facing lorient toulouse hosting nancy and high flying lille currently
second in ligue taking on rennes
holders bordeaux tie at le mans was postponed for the second time in two days
after local authorities deemed the home side snowbound pitch unplayable
the game initially due to be played on tuesday was postponed again on
wednesday and will now go ahead on date to be decided at meeting between the
french football federation and the professional football league on thursday
sedan became the first side to book place in the last eight when they beat
clermont on tuesday thanks to goal in the th minute from former monaco
trainee alexis allart
iberdrola ebrd to develop wind farms in eastern europe
madrid jan afp
spanish renewable energy group iberdrola renovables said wednesday it had
reached deal to develop wind farms in eastern europe in conjunction with the
european bank for reconstruction and development
under the deal the ebrd will buy percent of iberdrola renovable units in
poland and hungary for million euros million dollars the company said
in statement to spain stock market regulator
it said formal contract was expected to be signed in the coming weeks
iberdrola renovables subsidiary of spanish power group iberdrola is global
leader in wind power and is present in countries
it ended with an installed capacity for wind power production of around
megawatts
the company announced last week it had won contract along with sweden
vattenfall to build one of the biggest offshore winds farms in the world in
britain
urgent clinton to shorten asia trip over haiti quake
honolulu jan afp
secretary of state hillary clinton said here wednesday she will shorten trip
to asia because of the devastating earthquake in haiti
rugbyu dupuy season over as suspension cut by just one week
paris jan afp
stade francais scrum half julien dupuy season came to premature end on
wednesday when his appeal against week suspension for gouging was only
reduced by week according to his club president max guazzini
the france international had received the original punishment on december on
being found guilty of gouging ulster irish international backrow forward
stephen ferris in their european cup clash on december
alert
clinton says will shorten asia trip over haiti quake
football laws vows to build on coyle legacy at burnley
burnley england jan afp
brian laws started work as manager of burnley on wednesday with pledge to
build on the achievements of his predecessor owen coyle
the former sheffield wednesday boss was surprise choice to take charge of the
premier league side but he insisted he could win over supporters who are
sceptical of his ability to keep the lancashire club in the top flight
the board believe they have made the right decision and so do laws said
all can say to the supporters is that they will get my full commitment
laws former burnley player who was sacked by wednesday last month fills
vacancy created by coyle decision to move to local premier league rivals
bolton
laws beat off competition from doncaster manager sean driscoll to secure
two and half year contract at turf moor where he will be joined by his
former wednesday assistant russ wilcox
the pair left wednesday last month after the club dropped into the relegation
zone of the second tier championship
graham alexander the burnley club captain will become part of the new
management team after being handed role as player coach
laws takes over at club facing struggle to survive in the premier league in
its first season back in english football top flight since
the club currently th in the table but only two points above the relegation
zone has the smallest budget of any club in the division fact which
influenced coyle decision to move to bolton
laws faces tough task in attempting to build on the foundations laid by coyle
starting with daunting trip to champions manchester united on saturday
but the club directors believe they have found the right man for the job
we believe brian will deliver continuity of the culture to which burnley fans
and staff have become accustomed they said in statement as former
burnley defender he is especially familiar with the club the traditions we
have and the passion we all share
the statement also underlined that laws had proved he could operate effectively
with limited finances
the burnley board have been particularly impressed by the way brian
consistently achieved relative success in his former post at sheffield
wednesday while operating with one of the lowest wage and transfer budgets in
the championship
the results of deloitte and touche study delivered at the club request
confirm that he was top of the list of championship managers over the period
in terms of delivering the best results relative to financial
budgets
under coyle burnley earned reputation for playing an open passing game which
some argue made them vulnerable away from turf moor
laws hinted that more guarded approach might be on the cards under his
leadership
just think we can tinker with it and sometimes fresh ideas will help support
the players and give them license to express themselves but maybe be bit
tighter away from home he said
laws added like to play good football there good players here and they
like to play football it marriage made to work
not going to be changing anything there no broken wheel here as far as
concerned we ll add one or two bits but we want to tick over what owen has
done and just add little bit more
haiti quake was nightmare waiting to happen scientists
paris jan afp
the quake that hit haiti on tuesday was killer that had massed its forces for
century and half before unleashing them against wretchedly poor country
turning buildings into death traps experts said on wednesday
scientists painted tableau of horror where natural forces ignorance and
grinding poverty had conspired to wreak death toll tentatively estimated by
haitian prime minister jean max bellerive at more than
the magnitude quake occurred very close to the surface near the haitian
capital of port au prince leaving almost no natural buffer to soften the
powerful shockwave these experts said
it was very shallow earthquake occurring at depth of around kilometers
miles seismologist yann klinger of the institute of the physics of the
globe ipg in paris told afp
because the shock was so big and occurred at such shallow depth just below
the city the damage is bound to be very extensive he said
the us geological survey usgs said the quake occurred at gmt on tuesday
kms miles southwest of port au prince
it happened at boundary where two mighty chunks of the earth crust the
caribbean plate and the north america plate rub and jostle in sideways east
west movement
the usgs said the rupture occurred on the enriquillo plaintain garden fault
system slow moving fault that last unleashed large quake in prior
major events to that were in and
sandy steacey director of the environmental science research institute at the
university of ulster in northern ireland said the high death toll could be
pinned overwhelmingly to construction
it very very poor country without the building codes probably the fact
that earthquakes there are very infrequent contributes in way because it
not country that is focussed on seismic safety
looking at the pictures essentially it looks as if the buildings are of
breeze block or cinder block construction and what you need in an earthquake
zone is metal bars that connect the blocks so that they stay together when they
get shaken said steacey
in wealthy country with good seismic building codes that are enforced you
would have some damage but not very much
french seismologist pascal bernard also at the ipg said that given the nature
of the fault there was sizeable probability that another large quake could
occur in the same region within matter of years
like other faults around the world the haitian crack is well known for domino
activity in which the release of pressure on one stretch piles on pressure in
an adjoining stretch bringing it closer to rupture
in haiti case the likeliest spot of bust would be to the east of tuesday
quake bernard said
asked whether another big quake was in the offing roger searle professor of
geophysics at durham university northeast england said in the coming years
almost surely
we know pretty much where earthquakes occur they ve been mapped themselves and
we can map faults and so on
the difficulty is it very very hard to predict when they will occur because
