collapse of several floors of the building that killed three people and left
missing officials said
orthodox christians brave rain to mark jesus baptism
jericho west bank jan afp
thousands of orthodox christians braved rain on the banks of the jordan river on
monday to plunge into plastic tubs filled with its murky water to celebrate
jesus baptism
greek orthodox patriarch of jerusalem theophilos iii led ceremony attended by
the faithful from several eastern denominations on the river marking the heavily
guarded west bank jordan border
theophilos tossed cross adorned with flowers into the river and released doves
at the site where jesus is believed to have been baptised
many followers then immersed themselves in the tubs or poured buckets of water
over their heads as israeli security forces prevented them from approaching the
river itself
this is very important day for us as christians and came with my son to
baptise him at this holy place where christ was baptised said medina who
came with delegation of eritreans and ethiopians working inside israel
the event marks the feast of the epiphany when jesus began his public ministry
by receiving baptism from john the baptist
the monastery and the riverside site where the baptism is thought to have taken
place are located in what has been closed israeli military zone since the
september outbreak of the latest palestinian uprising
western christians celebrate epiphany on january days after their
christmas the orthodox who continue to use the old julian calendar mark the
date on january
haiti mobile phone network back on track firm
paris jan afp
haiti top cell phone operator digicel said monday it had restored percent
of coverage in the capital port au prince after the deadly quake there and was
aiming for full coverage by the weekend
we have about people out trying to fix network installations the irish
owned company chief operating officer kevin white told afp adding that of
his company cell towers were currently on air
roaming is fully operational which is key because you have huge number of
relief groups and us army in there and media he said referring to the ability
to use foreign registered mobile phone while abroad
less than one percent of haitians have landlines according to digicel figures
so mobile phones are crucial for communications in the impoverished caribbean
state
mobile phone coverage outside the capital is already back to normal said white
digicel is haiti biggest foreign investor it pumped in million dollars
when it set up in the country in and is one of the island biggest
employers with around people on its staff
irish telecom billionaire denis brien who founded digicel flew into haiti
late sunday for hour visit to assess damage and bring in equipment to help
repair the network and to ferry relief supplies for quake victims
digicel said it had donated five million dollars to help haiti recover from the
earthquake that hit last tuesday
the company has also given each of its customers in haiti the equivalent of five
us dollars in free credit so they can keep in touch with relatives in the wake
of the quake white said by phone from his firm base in jamaica
white said his company haiti foundation had previous to the earthquake built
around schools in the country which is the poorest in the western
hemisphere
european stocks close higher
london jan afp
european stock markets closed higher on monday after falling last week with
london ftse index of leading shares rising by percent to
points
in paris the cac gained percent to points while in frankfurt
the dax was up percent to finish at
football mali lead malawi at half time
cabinda angola jan afp
mali scored twice within three minutes of the kick off through frederic kanoute
and seydou keita to lead malawi at half time in an africa cup of nations
group match at chiazi stadium here on monday
urgent americans hurt in haiti in mass casualty event cnn
port au prince jan afp
about americans were hurt monday while delivering aid for earthquake victims
haiti in what us military officials were calling mass casualty event cnn
television reported
cricket botha and tstosobe recalled for testing indian tour
johannesburg jan afp
off spinner johan botha and left arm fast bowler lonwabo tsotsobe were on monday
named in man south african squad for two test matches in india next month
india recently took over the number one place in the international cricket
council test rankings from south africa who remain in second place
the test matches will be played in nagpur and kolkata the south african team
departs on january
botha and tsotsobe were added to the man squad that was picked for the fourth
and final test against england in johannesburg in which south africa levelled
the series with win by an innings and runs
batsman alviro petersen and left arm spin bowler paul harris who were not
selected for the final xi in johannesburg will also be touring
botha regular in the one day squad returns to the test squad for the first
time since tour of bangladesh in tsotsobe was member of the south
african team that toured australia last year
it is important to have second specialist spin bowling option for test
series on the asian sub continent said selection convenor mike procter
we feel this squad covers all our tactical options
there was no place for makhaya ntini who was dropped after the second test
against england
free scoring batsman herschelle gibbs returns to the national team for the first
time since the world twenty in england in june as part of man squad
for three one day internationals in india which will follow the test series
gibbs who will turn during the tour has been in good form in domestic one
day cricket
loots bosman another hard hitting batsman has also been called up he hit
in twenty international against england in november but did not play in the
one day series
we feel that bosman gives us an explosive hitting option up front and this will
be the ideal opportunity for him to show his worth on the sub continent where
next year world cup will be played said procter
test squad graeme smith captain hashim amla johan botha mark boucher
wkt ab de villiers jp duminy paul harris jacques kallis ryan mclaren
morne morkel wayne parnell alviro petersen ashwell prince dale steyn
lonwabo tsotsobe
one day international squad smith captain loots bosman botha boucher
wkt de villiers duminy herschelle gibbs kallis albie morkel morne
morkel parnell petersen steyn tsotsobe roelof van der merwe
south africa in india
february
first test nagpur
second test kolkata
first odi jaipur
second odi kanpur
third odi ahmedabad
alert
americans hurt in haitian capital in mass casualty event cnn
world bank criticises serbia over loans report
belgrade jan afp
the world bank is unhappy with the way serbia has used loans intended to help it
through the economic crisis the head of the bank belgrade office said monday
in an interview with serb newspaper blic
there is definitely problem simon gray was quoted as saying in the serbian
language daily he said belgrade was sometimes slow in withdrawing funds which
in turn hampers implementation of the planned projects
there are some signs of improvement but it cannot be said that everything is
fine regarding withdrawal of approved loans he added
as result the world bank has decided to re assess the situation in april when
senior bank official will visit belgrade he said
if it is clear that the loans are not being used then they could be reduced
or even cut altogether he added
contacted by afp world bank officials could not immediately confirm the
comments
the world bank has approved loans to serbia for projects for total of
million dollars million euros
out of the million dollars approved in million is for budget
support while the rest is for investments and reform projects
the world bank has no plans to approve new investment loans to serbia in
gray also said
football henry escapes punishment over handball incident
zurich jan afp
french captain thierry henry escaped being punished for his infamous handball in
the world cup finals play off against ireland fifa announced on monday
fifa disciplinary committee said that they were powerless to punish the
world cup winning striker because their rules forbade them to do so if the
original misdemeanour had not been seen by the match officials
on december the fifa executive committee asked the fifa disciplinary
committee to analyse the handling offence committed by thierry henry during the
france republic of ireland match on november and to consider the
possible disciplinary consequences read the statement from the committee
at its meeting on january the disciplinary committee reached the
conclusion that there was no legal foundation for the committee to consider the
case because handling the ball cannot be regarded as serious infringement as
stipulated in article of the fifa disciplinary code
there is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions
for any incidents missed by match officials
the meeting of the man disciplinary panel an independent body chaired by the
swiss marcel mathier was announced by fifa president sepp blatter in cape town
on december following an extraordinary executive committee meeting
had phone conversation with thierry henry said blatter at the time
we didn talk about guilty or not guilty it was conversation between
sportsmen didn say that he would be punished said he be the subject of
an investigation
blatter diplomacy can be explained by the lack of precedent regarding
retrospective punishments meted out to players
any punishment meted out would have been purely symbolic one as fifa rules
do not explicitly address incidents of such nature and heavy punishment
would have created an unwelcome precedent for world football governing body
blatter meanwhile has raised the possibilty of awarding moral compensation
to the irish team
that could be special trophy or prize we ll have to see he said
france were losing to ireland at the stade de france on november having
won the first leg when henry teed up william gallas in extra time for what
proved to be the decisive goal after illegally controlling the ball with his
hand
zimbabwe minister urges urgent resolution of debt crisis
harare jan afp
zimbabwe enormous foreign debt is hampering efforts to mend the economy
finance minister tendai biti said monday urging the government urgently to
resolve the debt crisis
zimbabwe is suffering as result of its debt overhead biti told journalists
after meeting with representatives of the african development bank
we have to resolve our debt crisis as matter of urgency
zimbabwe owes billion dollars to multilateral donor agencies an amount
slightly large than the size of the national economy last year
without the debt overhead we can grow the economy by up to percent biti
said we hope the government of zimbabwe will take bold decision and do what
is best for the economy
african development bank vice president for operations aloysius uche ordu
commended efforts by the government to revive the economy
on the economic side progress has been made ordu said we believe this
progress on the economic front will help
he said zimbabwe had asked the adb to help in its process of re engaging
multilateral finance institutions
arrears clearance is so important because it the only way to re engage the
multilateral finance institutions
government report seen by afp in december said various options were being
considered for paying off the external debt including asking for debt
cancellation in move to secure new financing from lenders
biti said the country will need billion dollars to restore its economic
performance to levels seen in
president robert mugabe who has ruled since independence in was forced
into power sharing arrangement with prime minister morgan tsvangirai following
disputed elections in
the deal remains shaky due to disagreements over the allocation of key jobs but
the new government has stopped zimbabwe economic freefall
croatia police arrest food company heads over corruption
zagreb jan afp
croatian police said monday they had arrested top business executives in
connection with corruption probe at the country leading food producer
podravka
the arrested include one manager from podravka and the nine others are
directors or other managers from companies that have worked with podravka
police said in statement giving no further details
the local press said one of those arrested is businessman close to former vice
prime minister and economy minister damir polancec
polancec resigned in october after the national bureau for the fight against
corruption and organised crime began its investigation into podravka leading to
the arrest of four top officials from the company
they are suspected of trying to acquire percent stake in podravka with the
company money by means of financial transactions through the sms food firm
and the fima grupa brokerage company
media reports say they cost podravka some million euros million
dollars
according to podravka figures in its revenue amounted to million
euros while net profits were some six million euros
the company which operates in eastern and central europe was privatised in
and the state owns percent stake
fighting corruption is one of the key conditions for croatia to satisfy if it is
to succeed in joining the european union by
since october three anti corruption operations have led to the arrest of top
officials from state owned companies
ukraine industrial output fell pct in official data
kiev jan afp
industrial production in ukraine plunged percent in compared to the
year before the state statistics committee announced on monday
the ex soviet republic of million people was badly shaken by the global
economic crisis particularly in its huge steel industry which is highly
dependent on foreign exports
ukraine gross domestic product shrank an estimated percent in
according to the international monetary fund
football henry escapes punishment over handball incident
zurich jan afp
french captain thierry henry escaped being punished for his infamous handball
incident in the world cup finals play off against ireland fifa announced
on monday
fifa disciplinary committee said that they were powerless to punish the
world cup winning striker because their rules forbade them to do so if the
original misdemanour had not been seen by the match officials
on december the fifa executive committee asked the fifa disciplinary
committee to analyse the handling offence committed by thierry henry during the
france republic of ireland match on november and to consider the
possible disciplinary consequences read the statement from the committee
at its meeting on january the disciplinary committee reached the
conclusion that there was no legal foundation for the committee to consider the
case because handling the ball cannot be regarded as serious infringement as
stipulated in article of the fifa disciplinary code
there is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions
for any incidents missed by match officials
ukraine industrial output fell pct in official data
kiev jan afp
industrial production in ukraine plunged percent in compared to the
year before the state statistics committee announced on monday
the ex soviet republic of million people was badly shaken by the global
economic crisis particularly in its huge steel industry which is highly
dependent on foreign exports
ukraine gross domestic product shrank an estimated percent in
according to the international monetary fund
russia gains as ukraine awakes from orange dream
kiev jan afp
whoever becomes ukraine next president russia has strengthened its influence
and orange revolution dreams of creating new western oriented model for post
soviet states have suffered rude awakening
the revolution was the worst defeat of russian strongman vladimir putin
decade in power after he congratulated the victorious pro kremlin candidate
before an uprising and court order annulled the rigged vote
now in stunning turnaround viktor yanukovich the same moscow leaning
candidate accused of rigging the elections in won the first round of
presidential elections on sunday and will be favourite in the run off
yanukovich second round opponent prime minister yulia tymoshenko may be an
orange veteran but she has struck pragmatic tone on kremlin ties and above all
built up strong relationship with the ever important putin
meanwhile the political career of the orange revolution defeated hero
president viktor yushchenko who dreamed of turning ukraine away from russia
towards eu and nato membership appears to have sustained terminal blow
there are not too many differences between yanukovich and tymoshenko on
foreign policy said nico lange director of the ukraine programme at the konrad
adenauer foundation in kiev
russia can live with both of them very well
while both tymoshenko and yanukovich have set joining the eu as policy goal
neither shares yushchenko enthusiasm for bringing ukraine into nato move
some analysts warned risked causing military conflict with russia
ksenia lyapina an mp close to yushchenko grimly acknowledged moscow has won
they can be congratulated
by contrast sergei markov russian mp from the pro putin united russia party
could not disguise his glee russia won the orange revolution and the politics
of de russification of ukraine have been discredited he said
as well as his aim of permanently extracting ukraine from russia orbit also
in tatters is yushchenko programme of pushing the country to eu membership
with an ambitious programme of domestic reform
many of the thousands from all over the country who in poured into kiev
independence square universally known as the maidan to support the
yushchenko cause have been left feeling painfully betrayed
despite their promises the orange leaders failed to end corruption reform
ukraine creaking justice system or crack down on the oligarchs instead they
became embroiled in damaging internal struggles
do not like the way the orange leaders squabbled and yushchenko betrayed the
maidan said maria petriv an accountant from the western city of lviv
what happened to his steps for the people what happened to putting the
bandits in jail
yet for all the election day despondency the orange revolution led to changes
in ukraine that are almost unique in the former soviet union
the country now boasts vibrant media of websites news magazines and political
talk shows unafraid of touching on the most delicate of issues in contrast to
the turgid scene that existed before
in its latest report on global freedoms freedom house rated ukraine as the only
free country in the former soviet union excluding the baltic states russia
remained stuck in the section for nations deemed not free
in rare praise for any election in an ex soviet state western observers led by
the organization for security and cooperation in europe hailed the first round
high quality poll that largely met democratic standards
ukraine also has major opportunity in hosting the european football
championships jointly with poland unique chance for the country to showcase
its identity and cities to the world
there are achievements that are irreversible said lange of the adenauer
foundation
but it an evolutionary process and not revolutionary the problem with the
orange revolution was that the expectations inside and outside ukraine were far
too high he said
latvian court blocks salary freeze for judiciary
riga jan afp
latvia top court on monday struck down wage freeze for judges dealing
blow to the government austerity drive to meet the terms of the eu and imf led
bailout for the crisis struck baltic state
because it violates the principle of the independent judiciary and
disproportionately limits the financial security of judges the challenged law
violates article of the constitution latvia constitutional court said
the challenge was brought by more than judges after parliament approved wage
freezes for the judiciary in december part of the budget cuts
designed to meet the terms of the bailout agreement with international lenders
the court ruled the wage freezes to be unconstitutional stating its judgement
would take effect starting january but did not make its ruling retroactive
saying this could have negative consequences for latvia budget
judges in latvia earn an average of lats euros dollars per
month on par with the level
last month the government suffered the first blow to its austerity drive when
the court struck down pension cuts forcing it to scramble to find more than
million lats million euros million dollars to pay back pensioners
lost income
it was not immediately clear what impact the ruling would have on the
international rescue package that has been keeping latvia afloat or how the
country embattled centre right government would meet the challenge
the government faces vote on the international lending agreement in the
parliament on thursday
the number of people who do not want their wages cut is growing vyacheslav
dombrovsky an economist at the stockholm school of economics in riga told afp
now you have one more player that wants others salaries to be reduced and not
theirs given the number of such players already it hardly makes much of
difference he said
with unemployment soaring latvia is in the middle of one of the steepest
recessions in the nation european union its economy was expected to shrink
by up to percent in far cry from the double digit boom it enjoyed
after joining the eu in
its fractious coalition government has over the past year been raising taxes and
slashing public services as it tries to stick to the terms of billion euro
billion dollar bailout agreed at the end of with lenders including
the international monetary fund and the eu
under the deal latvia pledged to cut million lats million euros
billion dollars each year until
latvia country of million people broke from the crumbling soviet union
in its overheated economy withered in as credit bubble burst and
the global crisis struck
un death toll in haiti quake reached spokesman
united nations jan afp
forty six un personnel are now confirmed dead in the haiti quake and more than
are missing or unaccounted for un spokesman martin nesirky said monday
the death toll for the un as whole is he told reporters adding that
more than are missing or unaccounted for
un officials make distinction between missing which refers to those who were
not found in offices where they were supposed to be and unaccounted for which
would include people who many be at home but cannot be reached
egypt says coptic killings were criminal not sectarian
cairo jan afp
egypt sought to minimise the repercussions of the recent killing of six coptic
christians in the south by qualifying the incident as criminal rather than
sectarian affair
on january the eve of the coptic orthodox christmas three gunmen raked
worshippers emerging from mass in nagaa hammadi with bullets the deadliest
attack since when copts were killed in sectarian clashes
nearly two weeks after the incident president hosni mubarak made indirect
mention of the attack calling on muslims and christians to unite in statements
carried by the state owned al ahram newspaper
we are one people we are not fanatics because we are all children of this land
and there is no difference between egyptian muslims christians and jews
mubarak said
mubarak urged egyptians to rally together so as not to give anyone pretext to
sow discord rejecting sectarian disputes and extremism especially as there are
some abroad seeking to deepen rifts between muslims and christians
egyptian officials have denied sectarian element in the attack insisting it
is purely criminal act and have linked it to the the alleged rape of muslim
girl by coptic man in the nearby village of farshut last november
if it were an instant reaction to the rape why did it not happen earlier
said political analyst issandr al amrani
while the events may have started with criminal act the fact that authorities
refuse to recognise the sectarian element in events that followed is absurd
amrani said
one must recognise there are tensions between christians and muslims in egypt
this tension is even more acute in the south said mustafa kamel al sayyed
professor of political science at cairo university
the theory of revenge killing does not hold because the three men charged with
the nagaa hammadi killings are not members of the raped girl family said
sayyed adding why would they choose to shoot at copts on their christmas
eve
egypt minister of state for parliamentary affairs mufid shehab said that the
investigation into the attack revealed no religious motivations
for his part parliament speaker fathi surur said one isolated incident should
not be taken as proof of religious conflict
but on sunday coptic mp georgette qellini insisted the incident should be
recognised as sectarian prompting strong opposition from lawmakers of her own
ruling national democratic party
amrani said that the position of the authorities was expected
it their usual reaction in most cases he said they have the feeling that
talking about it will turn local crises into national one there is fear of
opening the debate on national level he added
think the government wants to minimise the gravity of the situation to
reassure egyptian arab and especially international public opinion sayyed
said
international condemnations poured in after the attack with the united states
saying the incident showed an atmosphere of intolerance in egypt
italian foreign minister franco frattini condemned the violence against coptic
christians in egypt as horrific and outrageous while pope benedict xvi said
the attack has caused indignation among many people
copts who account for nearly percent of egypt population of million
are the middle east largest christian community but complain of routine
harassment and systematic discrimination and marginalisation
three muslims were arrested two days after the attack and charged with
premeditated murder they will stand trial before an emergency security court
next month
pirates get record ransom for greek supertanker
mogadishu jan afp
somali pirates on monday freed the giant greek supertanker maran centaurus its
owners said after plane dropped ransom on seven million dollars in cash on
deck
pirates said two of their gang were killed in clash over the share out of the
spoils delaying the release of the tanker and its crew of hijacked in the
indian ocean on november
maran tankers management inc report that the vessel was released by those
holding her at local time today gmt the operators and managers of
the greek juggernaut said in statement
the european union anti piracy naval mission said the fs salamis warship had
sent helicopter to provide medical assistance and added that the metre
foot vessel was headed for durban in south africa
ecoterra international an environmental group that monitors illegal maritime
activity in the region said the last pirates left the year old supertanker
early monday
it said the ransom stash is reportedly now held in heavily guarded house in
harardhere the pirate lair on the somalia coast
the tanker owners did not comment on ransom payment but ecoterra said at
least seven million dollars are believed to have been dropped from small plane
onto the deck of the oil laden giant and another two million dollars paid in
cash transfer
it said the pirates reportedly bragged about generously giving dollars to
each crew member filipinos nine greeks two ukrainians and romanian
for good cooperation
the total of around nine million dollars exceeds the eight million believed to
have been paid for the release year ago of the sirius star saudi owned
supertanker of roughly the same size
the hijacking of the sirius star in sent shockwaves through the shipping
world as it demonstrated the ease with which pirates were able to operate in one
of the world busiest maritime trade routes
the incident also raised fears that pirates might one day use hijacked ship as
weapon to carry out an attack and cause unprecedented human and environmental
damage
foreign naval missions have largely secured the gulf of aden but are powerless
to effectively patrol the wider indian ocean and shipowners are increasingly
turning to private security to fend off the pirates
the maran centaurus which had no private guards to secure its two million
barrels of crude oil was headed from saudi arabia to the united states
the tonne deadweight supertanker was easy prey for pirates equipped
with fast skiffs and grapnels as it moves slowly could not outmanoeuvre its
attackers and fully laden has low freeboard
supertankers such as these with less than crew on ship third of
kilometre long cruise on auto pilot most of the time and would rarely have
anybody keeping watch on deck at night
since foreign navies deployed to protect the crucial maritime choking point of
the gulf of aden somalia pirates have ventured deeper into the indian ocean
seizing ships as far east as the seychelles and beyond
always paid in cash to avoid modern transaction monitoring large ransoms have
often been parachuted from small planes directly onto the deck of the hijacked
ship
but the payouts routinely trigger deadly struggles between fractious pirate
clans
the pirates still hold at least ships and around seamen hostage
unofficial figures showw that was the most prolific year yet for somali
pirates with more than attacks including successful hijackings and
total of ransoms believed to comfortably exceed the million dollars raked
in during the previous year
