the au suspended guinea from the member bloc after the december coup
that brought captain moussa dadis camara to power and imposed sanctions on the
military rulers after the massacre of opposition supporters last year
junta leader camara recovering from injuries inflicted last month in an
assassination attempt will remain in exile in burkina faso under the pact
camara interim junta chief general sekouba konate and burkina faso president
blaise compaore who is mediating between the ruling junta and the opposition
inked the accord
aar oto boc
football halilhodzic hails heroic ivory coast
cabinda angola jan afp
coach vahid halilhodzic hailed as heroes his ivory coast team after their
qualification for the africa cup of nations quarter finals
the competition favourites stepped up gear after their opening goalless draw
against burkina faso to beat ghana here on friday night despite playing the
last half an hour with only men
the elephants lost player on minutes when arsenal defender emmanuel eboue
was red carded for vicious tackle from behind on opoku agyemang with his team
one goal ahead
must congratulate my players for their heroic match to score two goals when
you are missing player against this fine team that really quite something
halilhodzic noted
lille forward kouassi gervinho yao put ivory coast ahead midway through the
first half at the new seat chiazi stadium siaka tiene scored direct
from free kick after minutes and chelsea striker didier drogba completed
the victory in the final minute
ghana got stoppage time consolation goal via an asamoah gyan penalty after he
had been fouled by souleman bamba
halilhodzic added this wasn easy because we had to win the game to
qualify the pressure was enormous on me but even with players we managed
to control the match
great team is in the process of being born
this win will give the players lot of confidence we ve come here to go right
to the finish line
told the boys that we had to choose path between paradise and hell as
nation like the ivory coast would never forgive us if we lost
his team now have yawning ten days before quarter final against one of the
teams in group angola algeria mali or malawi
now we ll have little rest because with this heat and the sandy pitch it
wasn easy we ve exerted exceptional energy
we ll have to see whether we finish first or second in our group ll try and
organise training game now because don like the idea of not having game
over the next ten days
victory lifted the title favourites to four points from two matches and they
will be joined in the knockout phase by burkina faso or ghana who clash tuesday
in the final mini league fixture
togo the other country drawn in group withdrew before the tournament kicked
off last sunday after the bus convoy carrying them into angola was attacked in
this restive northern angolan enclave
ghana kicked off without raft of first choice players in defenders john
pantsil and john mensah midfielders anthony annan stephen appiah michael
essien who came on as substitute laryea kingson and sulley muntari and
striker asamoah gyan
ghana coach milovan rajevac believed the scoreline did not do his world cup
qualifiers justice
we didn play as badly as the score suggests he reflected
most of the time we played well but unfortunately we didn have any luck and
they took advantage of that
this defeat means our next game against burkina faso in luanda on tuesday is
double or quits affair like it was for the ivory coast here
turning to essien who has been struggling with fitness and was late arrival
in angola rajevac remarked he wasn ready to play full minutes but
with three more days until our next game hope he ll be ready
aid trickles onto haiti streets as us troops pour in
port au prince jan afp
desperate haitians cowered in fear and cried out for food on saturday as armed
looters roamed the streets of their ruined capital while us troops struggled to
break an aid logam
four days after tuesday catastrophic earthquake the haiti government admitted
it was no longer able to function properly as us secretary of state hillary
clinton was to oversee relief efforts
people are hungry thirsty they are left on their own said leon meleste an
adventist sporting white new york baseball cap
it is increasingly dangerous the police doesn exist people are doing what
they want
the haitian capital insecure at the best of times is now devoid of
functioning police force bringing fears of dystopian war of all against all
in the wake of tuesday huge magnitude earthquake
men suddenly appeared with machetes to steal money said evelyne buino
young beautician after long night in neighborhood not far from the ruined
city center this is just the beginning
all the bandits of the city are now on the streets local policeman said
standing near the city collapsed jail rifle at the ready they are robbing
people it is big problem
vanguard of the us troops being deployed to haiti has taken control of
the airport clogged with tons of relief supplies and has begun the first
distribution of aid to quell the threat of violence
aid is also being distributed from the uss carl vinson nuclear powered
aircraft carrier where helicoptes have been carrying out limited aid drops
we have lift we have communications we have some command and control but we
don have much relief supplies to offer said rear admiral ted branch aboard
the carl vinson
clinton said she will travel to haiti to see the earthquake relief efforts first
hand deliver more supplies and meet haitian president rene preval
we will also be conveying very directly and personally to the haitian people
our long term unwavering support solidarity and sympathies to reinforce
president obama message that they are not facing this crisis alone said
clinton
the haitian government is operating out of police station at the airport
where preval looking exhausted with dark pockets under his eyes said the
government has lost its capacity to function properly but it has not
collapsed
in an interview with afp preval praised the massive international relief effort
but warned that the aid operation remains uncoordinated
he said planes from countries including the united states france and
venezuela had arrived at port au prince overwhelmed airport in single day
as the haitian leader struggles to piece together the remains of state the
country destitute citizens are left trying to fill the void
organize neighborhood committees to avoid chaos radio metropole implored
residents to prevent people looting shops and houses
patricia etique swiss citizen who divides her time between europe and haiti
explained the dire predicament many haitians faced
people had reserves for few days but now they are dwindling they are afraid
to go downtown in search of food because it has become too dangerous
at the city harbor late friday swarm of small boats surrounded the first
supply ship to arrive as it approached crumbled pier with supplies from
jeremie haitian town about kilometers miles from port au prince
bananas will provide local residents with necessary food while coal will help
boil water to avoid spread of disease
haitian officials said at least people had been killed and million
left homeless in the caribbean nation one of the poorest countries in the
world which has long witnessed violence and bloodshed
with food in such short supply vendors were selling plates of pasta for
gourds dollars times more than before the quake
kassana jean chilove young mechanic who lost her daughter in the earthquake
expressed fury at the government
the government is bluffing us she said there are millions of dollars
pouring into haiti but we see nothing
the haitian president called on his countrymen to show patience and defended the
government against accusations of inaction
no one is alone in his situation understand that people suffer because they
have relatives under the rubble but they must understand that there are
thousands of people in that very same situation said preval adding that
people underestimate the extent of the damage
un chief ban ki moon is set to visit haiti on sunday as the world body appealed
for million dollars from donors the un mission in haiti minustah was hit
hard by the quake with of its employees confirmed dead and some
still unaccounted for
un officials said the world food programme was now feeding around people
several times day and hoped to feed roughly one million people within days
and two million people within month
another church in malaysia vandalised spokesman
kuala lumpur jan afp
protestant church in malaysia has been vandalised its spokesman said
saturday apparently the latest in spate of attacks triggered by row over
the use of the word allah
windows of the two storey church in southern negeri sembilan state on the malay
peninsula were found to have been smashed late friday david raju spokesman
for the grace global prayer church told afp
think this is part of an attack on churches in the country raju said
somebody used thick iron rod to smash the thick glass he said adding that
we do not have any enmity with anyone
he said police were investigating the incident
the attack is th against christian church since the high court ruled in
favour of allowing the catholic church herald newspaper to use allah in its
malay language section as translation for god
in another incident on borneo island police confirmed reports that they had
found broken glass outside mosque in kota samarahan in sarawak state but
would not confirm that this was was evidence of an attack
broken glass was found outside mosque we are investigating do not want to
say anything more ismail omar deputy inspector of police told afp when asked
if this was evidence of an attack on the mosque
the malaysian government has strongly criticised the attacks on churches but
has been accused of stoking malay nationalism to protect its voter base after
the opposition made unprecedented gains in elections
in geneva the world council of churches said it was disturbed by the attacks
and called on the malaysian government to take immediate action
about nine percent of malaysia million people are christian including
catholics most of whom come from indigenous groups in the borneo states
of sabah and sarawak
urgent up to pct of haitian town of leogane damaged by quake un
geneva jan afp
up to percent of the buildings in leogane town to the west of the haitian
capital port au prince have been damaged by the devastating earthquake that
struck this week the united nations said saturday
us norway deny funding ouster of sri lanka president
colombo jan afp
the united states and norway on saturday denied funding sri lanka main
opposition to defeat president mahinda rajapakse re election bid later this
month
the us embassy in colombo said it strongly rejected the charges made by
ruling party legislator that he was given million rupees dollars
that had come from the us and norwegian embassies to defect to the opposition
legislator mohamed musammil told reporters in colombo friday that he was given
suitcase full of the cash to defect and support the main opposition presidential
candidate sarath fonseka
this is the money which had come from the us embassy the norwegian embassy
musammil said
the us and norwegian embassies in separate statements denied the allegation and
said they were ready to work with whomever won the january election the two
countries had backed colombo failed peace bid with tamil separatists
the united states is neutral and we strongly condemn allegations that we are
supporting one side over another the us statement said
norway which was the peace broker until the rajapakse administration withdrew
from faltering truce and escalated military campaign against the tigers
early last year denied it was funding the opposition in colombo
the accusation is untrue and totally unacceptable the norwegian embassy said
in statement norway has never and will never interfere in an election
in another country
rajapakse is seeking re election after government troops in may wiped out the
tamil tiger rebels and ended year separatist conflict that claimed up to
people according to united nation figures
afp world news agenda
paris jan afp
what coming up around the world
clinton to visit haiti as us troops aid arrive
obama meets his predecessors on aid to haiti
iran court to rule in french academic case
port au prince us troops head up massive aid operation for survivors of
haiti deadly quake us secretary of state hillary clinton to visit to inspect
relief efforts and meet president rene preval haiti quake
washington us president barack obama meets his predecessors to discuss the
situation in haiti haiti quake us
tehran an iranian court is to hand down its verdict in the case of french
academic clotilde reiss charged with taking part in anti regime protests in the
islamic republic iran france trial protest
beijing china defends its censorship of the internet and tells foreign firms
they must play by chinese rules after web giant google threatened to pull out of
the country us china it internet google
berlin around agriculture ministers from countries including brazil china
india and russia meet to debate the role of farming in climate change press
conference gmt climate warming farm
kabul afghanistan parliament vote on president hamid karzai second list of
nominees for cabinet afghanistan politics
seville spain informal meeting of european environment ministers on lessons to
be drawn from the failed copenhagen summit press conference gmt eu
spain climate
new york six powers seeking to resolve nuclear dispute with iran meet amid
calls for new sanctions against the islamic republic iran nuclear talks
yemen confirms killing of six qaeda leaders
sanaa jan afp
yemen interior ministry confirmed on saturday the death of al qaeda military
chief in the country qassem al rimi and that of five of his lieutenants in an
air strike day earlier
there were conflicting reports on friday about who had been killed and whether
any of the eight people targeted had escaped
in statement on its website the ministry said rimi had died when missile
struck his vehicle in the eastern part of saada province also killed were ayed
al shabwani ammar al waili saleh al tais egyptian ibrahim mohammed saleh al
banna and an unidentified sixth person
late on friday after initially having said waili and tais had been killed
senior official said they had escaped
the ministry did not comment on the fate of the remaining two people targeted
rimi was among people who had made daring escape from state security
prison in sanaa in february that left the government red faced and he was
on list of wanted suspects
banna also known as abu aymen al masri was said to be an ideologist of the
group
friday operation was the latest in series of blows since late december when
the government launched its latest campaign against al qaeda
on tuesday security forces killed abdullah mehdar said to be the group
kingpin in shabwa province east of the capital
provincial governor ali hassan al ahmadi said dozens of fighters including
saudis and egyptians who had fled afghanistan were hiding in shabwa
among them he said were current al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap chief
nasser al wahaishi his saudi number two saeed ali al shehri and radical us
yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
on january officials announced the capture of key leader mohammed al hanq and
two other militants believed to be behind threats against western interests in
sanaa that caused embassies to close for several days
yemen has stepped up its campaign against al qaeda militants based in the
country since the united states accused aqap of training nigerian youth who
attempted to blow up us airliner on christmas day
alert
up to percent of buildings in haitian town of leogane damaged by quake un
cricket match referee defends harper over smith controversy
johannesburg jan afp
match referee roshan mahanama on saturday defended television umpire daryl
harper after controversial decision during the fourth and final test between
south africa and england
mahanama denied telling england coach andy flower that harper had failed to
adjust the volume of an audio feed from the stump microphone before upholding
decision by on field umpire tony hill to turn down an appeal for catch behind
the wicket against south african captain graeme smith
in statement issued through the international cricket council in dubai
mahanama said harper had followed the correct protocol
he said the volume on the third umpire feed was set by head engineer of the
host broadcaster the south african broadcasting corporation and an icc
technical adviser
if the audio level had been increased above its optimum level distortion on
the audio feed would have occurred and the feed might not have given clear
indication of the true sound he said
at no stage had indicated to the england team management that the third
umpire had forgotten to adjust the volume of the speakers had actually
briefed the england team management of the protocols that were followed during
this review
it should be kept in mind that the tv umpires sometimes receive feeds which are
at different level to what others are receiving for the simple fact that
various broadcasters at times use different technologies while televising
match and the johannesburg test is case in point
this tallies with what flower told journalists on friday evening when he said he
had been informed by mahanama in first meeting with the match referee
following the incident that harper did not receive the same feed as south
african pay channel supersport and england sky television
viewers of supersport and sky clearly heard noise as the ball passed the edge
of smith bat but there was apparently no obvious noise on the sabc broadcast
which it appears is the same feed received by the television umpire
but flower then said on subsequent investigation we found that wasn correct
went back and this time he said that daryl harper hadn turned up the volume
on his mic we have heard the nick but the third umpire hasn
flower said he was very disappointed with the decision and planned to make an
official complaint
according to mahanama the third umpire when reviewing the decision used
range of technologies that were made available to him by the host broadcaster
including the slow motion replays amplified stump microphone sound at normal
speed and slow motion approved ball tracking technology and pitch mat
generated by the ball tracking technology
during the review the tv umpire followed the correct protocol and as he did
not hear any noise to indicate the ball hitting the bat he recommended mr hill
to uphold his earlier decision it must be noted that umpire decision is
final
in the end it must be remembered that there needs to be conclusive evidence to
over turn the decision of the on field umpire as the decision review system has
been designed to eliminate the obvious umpiring errors
cricket bangladesh too ordinary to beat india says sehwag
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
india vice captain virender sehwag has said bangladesh are an ordinary side
and cannot beat his world number one team in two test series starting here on
sunday
don think so sehwag said on saturday when asked whether bangladesh could
beat india in tests
bangladesh can surprise anybody in one day matches but not in tests it an
ordinary side
the hosts have won just three of their matches since gaining test status in
losing and drawing six they have lost four of their five tests against
india the lone draw coming in rain hit match here in
bangladesh beat an under strength west indies in an away test series last
year but sehwag said the hosts did not have the bowlers to put pressure on
strong indian batting line up
the kind of batting line up we have think it difficult for bangladesh to
take indian wickets even sri lanka can do that so it very very
difficult for bangladesh said sehwag
india batting has been strengthened with the return of veterans sachin
tendulkar rahul dravid and venkatsai laxman who were not part of the side that
lost tri series in bangladesh recently
india became the top ranked team in tests when they beat sri lanka in home
series last year but sehwag said his side were focused more on playing good
cricket than rankings
we are playing test match tomorrow and we re not thinking that we are number
one number two or number three yes we have test against bangladesh and we
have to do well to win the match he said
bangladesh skipper shakib al hasan said his side were capable of giving good
account of themselves
think we have very good chance in this test match hopefully our boys will
come up with their best said shakib
india have been ranked number one only recently think south africa and
australia are much better than them it true that the indians are playing very
good cricket but still they are human
they can always make mistakes if they make mistakes and we capitalise on them
we will be very good team
bangladesh coach jamie siddons said his side were keen to prove that they were
improving
we are not an extraordinary side but we have proved in recent history that we
are an improving side we will take the test day by day and hopefully prove
sehwag wrong he said
obviously we have not got the attack that australia or other test playing
nations have at the moment but we have got spinner shakib who is world
class we also have some good honest fast bowlers
siddons also said the team could opt for three pronged pace attack because
india were very good against spin
it means shafiul islam year old seamer who made his one day debut in the
tri series is likely to win test cap
bangladesh will be without fast bowler and regular skipper mashrafe mortaza who
is recovering from knee injury
the second and final test will begin in dhaka on january
bangladesh from shakib al hasan capt mushfiqur rahim tamim iqbal imrul
kayes junaid siddique mohammad ashraful raqibul hossain mohammad
mahmudullah shahriar nafees shahadat hossain rubel hossain enamul hossain
mahbubul alam shafiul islam
india from mahendra singh dhoni capt virender sehwag gautam gambhir
rahul dravid sachin tendulkar venkatsai laxman yuvraj singh harbhajan singh
zaheer khan shanthakumaran sreesanth amit mishra pragyan ojha ishant sharma
murali vijay dinesh karthik sudeep tyagi
snooker masters results
london jan afp
result from the masters snooker tournament at the wembley arena here late
friday
quarter finals best of frames
stephen maguire sco bt ryan day wal
mark selby eng bt mark allen nir
french academic lawyer very confident of iran acquittal
tehran jan afp
the lawyer of french academic clotilde reiss told afp on saturday that he was
very confident his client would be acquitted of charges of acting against
iranian national security during anti government protests in june
she and made our last defence submissions lawyer mohammad ali mahdavi sabet
said after reiss appeared in court for the third and final hearing in the
longrunning case
in my closing statement for the defence rejected all the accusations against
her and said that she has not committed any crime he added
asked for her acquittal and am very confident and optimistic about her
acquittal
this was her last court session after that ms reiss left for the french
embassy where she has been staying since being granted bail in august
they will tell me the verdict when it is ready under iranian law the court
has week to issue its verdict mahdavi sabet said
reiss was arrested on july shortly before she was due to fly home after six
month study and teaching visit to the iranian city of isfahan
she was accused of taking photos and emailing material on the protests that
erupted after the disputed re election of president mahmoud ahmadinejad in june
and handing them to diplomat at the french embassy in tehran
france has strongly protested reiss innocence on all charges
afptv news advisory for saturday
paris jan afp
we will file the following videos
aiti coverage
looters roam haiti streets as troops and aid pour in
port au prince
machete wielding looters brought more terror to haiti streets friday as us
troops poured into the quake ravaged nation to start streaming tons of aid to
traumatized and destitute people four days after tuesday earthquake anger
and frustration mounted in the ruined capital city with thousands of people
still desperate for food and water amid the stench of corpses left rotting in
the tropical sun
news
voiced report to be transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
images of us troops arriving already transmitted
raw vid
web mmv
further news coverage as available
in ny haitians lead remote rescue mission over the radio waves already
transmitted
new york city
despite days of frantic phone calls many haitian new yorkers still haven
heard from their relatives after this week earthquake haitian radio stations
and community centers in brooklyn one of the largest haitian immigrant
communities in the are serving as remote command centers directing
rescuers on the ground to find missing loved ones
news
voiced report
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
us hospital ship on its way to haiti
baltimore maryland
it one of the us navy two main hospital ships metres long holding
hundreds of doctors and four operating theatres the usns comfort is now
speeding towards haiti and expected to arrive by thursday once there it will
be able to deal with injured day afptv follows the ship final
preparations before setting sail from baltimore
special report
voiced report to be transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
ther offers
speed meets skill with new olympic sport
alpe huez france
it the latest olympic discipline fast and furious form of skiing where
you re up against your rivals as well as against the clock ski cross
modelled on motorcross is time trial event which also incorporates jumps
and other obstacles organisers hope it will attract younger crowd while
enthusiasts are delighted their sport is finally getting the attention they
think it deserves
sport
voiced report to be transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
muslim brotherhood elect new leader
cairo
egypt top opposition movement the muslim brotherhood will be electing
successor to their supreme guide mohammed mahdi akef who stepped down after the
end of his mandate
news
images and soundbites to be transmitted by gmt
raw vid
web mmv
pro russian candidate out in front in ukraine polls
kiev mariupol ukraine
on the eve of the ukrainian presidential election leading opinion polls favour
pro russian candidate viktor yanukovich he was defeated in when the orange
revolution street protests forced re run of rigged polls and sparked hope of
new era
news
voiced report to be transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
as part of our africa cup of nations coverage we plan to offer the following
video
cameroon mixes blackboards with training pitches at football school
douala cameroon
cameroon which meets zambia in its second nations cup match on sunday is
grooming new set of young players to take the team to future glory afptv goes
to visit their training schools
sport
voiced report to be transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
in northern france the great return of local beers
saint amand les eaux france
france thirst for cold draught beer may be slowly be drying up but brewers
in the north of the country are still making inroads with specially concocted
brews kins to the famous fruit flavoured lambics and homegrown specialties of
their belgian neighbours
