she said she would now visit the us pacific command which has better
communication facilities than her hotel in honolulu delaying her departure
wednesday for papua new guinea
she is due then to travel to new zealand the same evening or thursday before
heading to australia on sunday
in canberra clinton and us defense secretary robert gates will hold the th
australia united states ministerial consultations with their counterparts
foreign minister stephen smith and defense minister john faulkner
the meetings are scheduled for monday with visit to melbourne planned for
tuesday
clinton was orignally supposed to return washington early on january
zimbabwe stops electricity exports to namibia
harare jan afp
zimbabwe power utility has been ordered to stop electricity exports to namibia
until it can meet its own country needs state daily reported on wednesday
the herald newspaper reported that energy minister elias mudzuri said the power
utility could not continue exporting electricity to namibia under deal signed
in while simultaneously importing to cover perennial power deficit
we can have situation where we import to export mudzuri told the
newspaper
in the past we have never stopped supplying them namibia with electricity
even when hwange power station was down this meant we were importing and then
re exporting and am saying that is not proper he said
zimbabwe has for years experienced erratic supplies with some areas facing
blackouts lasting up to hours as the country battles to keep its thermal
power generators at hwange running
in zimbabwe and namibia entered into an agreement under which namibia gave
zimbabwe million dollar loan for repairs to its thermal power stations
while zimbabwe would pay back by exporting electricity to namibia
but namibia utility nampower said that zimbabwe electricity company zesa had
not informed it of any changes to the deal
nampower has so far not received any official communication from zesa
confirming the media reports and it is business as usual between zesa and
nampower the company spokesman john kaimu said late wednesday
media reports on the alleged directive from the zimbabwean energy minister to
zesa to stop energy exports to namibia has generated much public interest and
consumer panic
last week zimbabwe power utility signed an eight million dollar deal with
botswana to revive shut down thermal power station in the second city of
bulawayo and ease national blackouts
under the deal the botswana power company will provide funds to the zimbabwe
power company zpc to refurbish and buy coal from the country main colliery
zimbabwe will export power to gaborone in return it added
bulawayo and other small thermal power stations in the country were shut down in
june due to zimbabwe financial crisis
rugbyu south african barnard released by toulon
toulon france jan afp
south african utility back conrad barnard has been released by french top
club toulon the team announced on wednesday despite effectively saving them
from relegation last season
the year old who can play either fly half or fullback had asked to be let
go few days ago according to club president mourad boudjellal
barnard arrived at toulon in february last year when the richly assembled team
bankrolled by boudjellal was struggling to stay out of the relegation places
however thanks to his goalkicking in the seven matches he played they managed
to garner an invaluable point which proved the difference between going down and
retaining their place among the elite
however this campaign has seen him play just four times only one of them as
starter
he barnard wanted to have more playing time but with jonny wilkinson felipe
contepomi and tom may in the squad it was very difficult for him to get place
in the side boudjellal told afp
boudjellal who revealed they had come to gentleman agreement was not
willing to say how much they had paid barnard for his departure
football coppa italia results st update
rome jan afp
results from the coppa italia on wednesday
last
ac milan inzaghi flamini novara gonzalez
genoa rossi catania plasmati
playing later
juventus napoli
playing thursday
fiorentina chievo lazio palermo udinese lumezzane
played tuesday
as roma brighi vucinic baptista triestina della rocca pen
played december
inter milan sneijder livorno
afptv agenda for thursday
paris jan afp
we plan to file the following videos on thursday please consult the advisory
for additions and amendments
horror in haiti quake continues
port au prince haiti
the aftermath of the calamitous earthquake in the haitian capital has left
streets strewn with corpses and thousands missing in scene of utter carnage
news coverage images amp soundbites voiced report
berlusconi trial resumes
milan
the trial for corruption against italian premier silvio berlusconi resumes on
friday as he stands accused of having bough the silence of his former british
lawyer david mills voiced report
polish ski stations cash in on cold snap
goldap poland
europe cold snap has covered poland in blanket of snow gift to the
country private ski resorts afptv reports from the mazurian lakes region in
the north of poland voiced report
french producers find ethics in traditional foie gras
aux assat france
foie gras that standard bearer of french haute cuisine is eaten primarily in
winter often as an exceptional dish served up during christmas and new year
meals its production involves the force feeding of ducks and geese procedure
condemned by rights groups who blame the automated methods of several producers
but in handful of farms across france artisanal methods and respect for
the animals hold sway producing foie gras they say is the taste of true
french tradition voiced report
tintin breaks through in china
beijing
more than years after tintin first landed in china all of the comics will be
published in mandarin this year this time with very carefully vetted
translation this will mark new start for the character in china where he has
in the past fallen victim to hapless copies and bad translations voiced report
hosting the olympics during the great recession
vancouver canada
olympics organizers couldn have seen the worldwide recession coming when they
first won the bid to host the winter games in vancouver and whistler
years ago but as canada prepares to welcome athletes and fans from across the
world it boasts completed state of the art venues and facilities even if
there were some challenges in pulling them all together voiced report
algeria look for improvements in african nations cup
algiers
after their humiliating defeat to malawi on monday the algerian team are now
taking on mali in the african cup of nations they ll need the help of their
supporters who are already buoyed up by the team qualification for the
world cup later in the year voiced report
us may use guantanamo for haiti aid effort general
washington jan afp
the us military on wednesday said its naval base in guantanamo bay cuba might
be used to help with relief efforts in haiti
it resource that available if we need to take advantage of it for various
reasons general douglas fraser head of southern command told press
conference
fraser was asked if the guantanamo base which also includes the controversial
us military prison for terror suspects could be used to house refugees or even
to take in inmates from prisons in haiti that may have collapsed in tuesday
massive earthquake
we re looking across the region to just understand what the possibilities are
there he added
coast guard helicopter earlier wednesday evacuated four critically injured
members of the american embassy staff in haiti to the naval base in guantanamo
bay where they were receiving medical treatment officials said
port au prince airport useable but damaged
port au prince jan afp
the international airport in haiti earthquake ravaged capital is damaged but
useable authorities said wednesday as countries line up to fly in relief
supplies and rescue teams
prime minister jean max bellerive told cnn television planes were landing at the
airport but added know that there is some problems
us air force general douglas fraser head of us southern command said in
washington that the airport runway had survived the quake but communications
were knocked out and the passenger terminal sustained damage
fraser deputy commander who happened to be in haiti when the earthquake hit
had visited the airport he said
he says the runway is functional but the tower does not have communications
capability fraser said
un peacekeeping operations head alain leroy earlier told reporters the airport
is operational and that aid would start flowing soon
the use of the airport closest to hard hit port au prince would be crucial for
swiftly bringing in help that is desperately needed to rescue people trapped
under rubble and attend to casualties of the disaster
bellerive said the death toll could rise to over as schools government
buildings luxury hotels and shantytowns collapsed from the force of tuesday
magnitude quake
team of us air force experts was due to arrive later on wednesday to help
restore air traffic control and communications at the airport fraser said
we have group going in to make sure we can gain and secure the air field and
operate from it as it is expected to be hub for relief efforts the general
said
albert ramdin assistant secretary general of the washington based organization
of american states said haiti needed field hospitals water purification units
emergency shelters telecommunications and help with logistics
and also of course the most basic needs like water and fuel he added
but he expressed concerns that problems at the airport could snarl the flow of
supplies
the tower of the port au prince international airport collapsed which could
possibly hinder the release of the efforts coming in hours or days ramdin
told ambassadors from across the americas
the runway seems to be functioning but there no electricity that means
landing in the evening or in the night is impossible he warned
bur mdl jm
urgent turkey gets apology it wanted and expected from israel pm
ankara jan afp
prime minister recep tayyip erdogan said wednesday turkey had received the
apology it wanted and expected from israel over the dressing down of its
ambassador
nhl oilers goalie khabibulin to have back operation
edmonton canada jan afp
edmonton goalie nikolai khabibulin will have surgery to repair herniated disk
in his back the oilers said on wednesday
the nhl team said he would have the operation on thursday in los angeles
the oilers said the russian would be out indefinitely
khabibulin agent jay grossman said he would need weeks to recover which
could give him slim chance of returning before the regular season ends
khabibulin hasn played since shootout loss to columbus on november
he signed million dollar four year contract with the oilers prior to
this season
alert
turkey gets apology it wanted and expected from israel pm
israel issues apology after turkey ultimatum
jerusalem jan afp
israel on wednesday issued second apology to turkey over its envoy
treatment bowing to ankara ultimatum in bid to defuse the latest spat over
tv show that marred ties between the two allies
deputy foreign minister danny ayalon apologised to turkish ambassador oguz
celikkol for giving him an angry dressing down in front of cameras to protest
turkish television series portraying mossad agents as baby snatchers
statement from ayalon office said that out of respect for request by
president shimon peres the deputy minister sent the envoy an apology
all differences between turkey and israel will be solved in mutually
respectful manner ayalon wrote according to his office
there was no intention to personally humiliate the ambassador and he regrets
the way his protest was conveyed
ankara key muslim ally to israel was infuriated and demanded an explanation
and apology after ayalon on tuesday made celikkol sit on low couch and
removed the turkish flag from the table at their meeting
ayalon late on tuesday issued an apology prompting prime minister benjamin
netanyahu to declare that the protest to the turkish ambassador was just in its
essence but should have been conveyed in an acceptable diplomatic manner
but turkish president abdullah gul on wednesday threatened to recall the
ambassador if there was no formal apology media reports said turkey would wait
until thursday before announcing its response
following the second formal apology netanyahu expressed the hope the two
allies would put the crisis behind them
prime minister benjamin netanyahu together with foreign minister avigdor
lieberman coordinated the apology letter sent by deputy foreign minister ayalon
to the turkish ambassador and hopes this would end the affair
the premier again expressed his concern over the cooling of the ties between
israel and turkey and instructed officials to find ways to prevent this
trend netanyahu office said in statement
the latest row has added to tensions between the two regional allies since
israel war on the gaza strip last year prompted an unprecedented barrage of
criticism from the islamist rooted government in ankara
the treatment of the turkish ambassador dubbed as hazing by israeli media
also revealed differences between netanyahu and his ultra nationalist foreign
minister
speaking during visit to cyprus on wednesday lieberman said israel had no
desire to fall out with turkey but urged ankara to show reciprocal respect
you know regarding turkey maybe it time to clarify our position we are not
interested in confronting or arguing with turkey he said
we have had good relations with turkey for many years and we respect the
turkish state and people but that is exactly what we expect in return from them
to treat us with dignity and respect
the series that sparked the row showed turkish secret agent storming an
israeli diplomatic mission to rescue turkish boy kidnapped by mossad agents
an episode israel slammed for portraying israel and jews as baby snatchers and
war criminals
however relations had already been poisoned by ankara severe criticism of
israel deadly offensive on gaza last year and its persistent blockade of the
impoverished palestinian enclave
in memorable outburst turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan stormed out
of debate at the world economic forum accusing israel of barbarian acts and
telling peres sitting next to him that you know well how to kill people
the latest row has overshadowed planned fence mending visit by israeli defence
minister ehud barak who insisted on tuesday that he would travel to turkey on
sunday despite the tensions
turkey has been israel main regional ally since the two signed military
cooperation pact in
ireland first lady quits over sex and cash scandal
belfast jan afp
northern ireland leader peter robinson wife has quit as lawmaker in the wake
of the sex and cash scandal which has thrown the british province into political
turmoil officials said wednesday
iris robinson resignation came amid conflicting signs of whether the crisis
can galvanise rival party leaders into making progress on stalled talks
threatening the power sharing government in belfast
her departure from the northern ireland assembly was expected after she admitted
to an affair with year old and financial impropriety which forced her
husband to stand aside as first minister in bid to clear his own name
assembly officials announced that she had been appointed steward and bailiff of
the three hundreds of chiltern formal arrangement which allows her to quit
as member of parliament
her husband announced on monday that he was standing aside for six weeks in
bid to clear his name prompting concerns the once troubled province already
strained administration could collapse altogether
the british and irish governments have rallied round both arguing that the
crisis could help focus minds on unblocking talks on transferring police and
justice powers from london to belfast
robinson himself has pledged to remain in charge of his democratic unionist
party dup talks on the crunch issue and media reports wednesday suggested
deal could be close
but senior member of the dup told afp there is no imminent deal
robinson is facing questions over whether he can come back after his wife iris
admitted securing pounds euros dollars from two wealthy
developers to help her former lover kirk mccambley set up cafe
her husband insists he was unaware of her financial dealings he has attacked as
unfounded and mischievous allegations that he did know of them yet failed to
report it to officials
irish prime minister brian cowen will travel to london on thursday for talks
with his british counterpart brown on northern ireland political crisis an
irish government spokeswoman told afp
back in belfast catholic policeman seriously injured by car bomb last week
had his right leg amputated spokesman said the attack was blamed on
dissident republican militants
guyana trinidad pledge two million dollars to haiti
georgetown jan afp
caribbean countries guyana and trinidad and tobago announced wednesday the
donation of two million to help earthquake hit haiti bringing the total
regional government and private sector aid to eight million dollars so far
guyana president bharrat jagdeo and trinidad and tobago prime minister
patrick manning said their governments would each donate one million dollars to
relief efforts
manning said his oil rich nation would provide additional assistance to
regional effort that caribbean community caricom of which haiti is member
is expected to mobilize
haiti as the poorest country in the western hemisphere is now severely
challenged to cope with this tragedy haiti needs all countries including the
small developing countries to come to its aid urgently said jagdeo whose
country is the second poorest in the western hemisphere after haiti
the barbados based caribbean development bank cdb separately announced it
would immediately disburse one million dollars in relief in the wake of the
widespread devastation
of that amount dollars would be spent on restoring key facilities and
dollars on potable water food medicines and temporary shelter for
quake survivors
the caricom headquarters said it was distressed at the initial reports coming
out of haiti in the wake of the destruction wrought by the series of earthquakes
which struck its member state on tuesday
as it continues to monitor the situation closely caricom will move quickly to
mobilize its disaster emergency response systems in order to render assistance
to haiti the guyana based regional headquarters said in statement
spain sees end of cycle in high immigration
madrid jan afp
the spanish government said wednesday the number of immigrants in the country
plummeted in due to the economic slowdown marking the end of long
cycle of high numbers
we are seeing transition towards new period that will be characterised by
slower rate of arrivals who are more qualified consuelo rumi the secretary of
state for immigration said following the publication of its immigration
directory
it is the end of long cycle she said
spain received about legal immigrants last year compared to in
and in rumi said
another illegal immigrants arrived in half the that came in
and down from the record which arrived on spain canary islands
alone in when jobs on the country then booming construction sites were
plentiful
the drop in the number of new arrivals comes as spain has seen sharp rise in
unemployment especially among immigrants as the global credit crunch worsened
correction underway in its key property sector
the country unemployment rate has more than doubled from percent in
mid to around percent currently one of the highest rates in europe
according to government statistics
by comparison the unemployment rate among spain army of foreign workers who
care for its elderly build its houses and serve at its tables rose from
percent to percent
the immigrant jobless rate rose sharply because foreigners continued to enter
the spanish workforce in at the same rate as during spain boom years even
though the economy had soured said applied economics professor josep oliver
from the autonomous university of barcelona
he estimates that the number of immigrants who joined spain workforce dropped
to in from in the previous year
the immigrant unemployment rate will stabilise itself over the coming
quarters said oliver
the number of immigrants in spain rocketed from around in to
million or about percent of the country total population of million
people with most coming from latin america morocco and eastern europe
in prime minister jose luis rodriguez zapatero socialist government
issued an amnesty for around illegal immigrants living in spain but last
year it toughened its immigration policies
under law passed in october which restricts family immigration to just parents
and their underage children and extends from to days the maximum period
that illegal immigrants can be held in detention centres before being deported
the government is also allowing out of work immigrants to collect their jobless
benefits in lump sum if they agree to return to their home countries
football tunisia zambia drawing at half time
lubango angola jan afp
tunisia and zambia were drawing at half time in an africa cup of nations
group match at tundavala stadium on wednesday
jacob mulenga fired slight underdogs zambia ahead after minutes and zouhaier
dhaouadhi levelled five minutes before the break with close range shot
no ransom demand for qaeda held italians in mali fm
addis ababa jan afp
italian foreign minister franco frattini said wednesday his country had not
received demands for ransom for two italian nationals believed to be held in
mali by al qaeda
frattini arrived in the ethiopian capital late on tuesday following stops in
mauritania and mali to seek the release of six europeans including the two
italians
we have not received any request for ransom we have activated all possible
channels and information with the cooperation of all neighboring countries in
the region he said after giving lecture at addis ababa university
we have to cooperate more and more so that terrorism cannot prevail he added
frattini who first stopped in mauritania told president mohamed ould abdel aziz
there that rome would renew police and army training assistance for the west
african nation to help combat the al qaeda threat
sergio cicala and his burkina faso born wife philomene kabore were
kidnapped in southeast mauritania and their minibus was found empty and riddled
with bullets according to security officials
they are now believed held in neighbouring mali by al qaeda in the islamic
maghreb
frattini had also discussed the situation with president amadou toumani toure
during his subsequent visit to mali
six europeans three spaniards french national and the italian couple
were kidnapped in november and december in mauritania and mali
spanish newspaper claimed last month that the group was demanding seven
million dollars and the release of several of its members in return for the
spanish hostages held in mali but authorities in madrid refused to comment on
the claim
frattini week long african tour will also include kenya uganda egypt and
tunisia
formula one ferrari inspired by schumacher challenge
rome jan afp
ferrari insisted on wednesday that they are desperate not to be upstaged by
michael schumacher high profile formula one return
seven time world champion schumacher who enjoyed year association with
ferrari has come out of retirement to drive for mercedes in the world
championship which gets underway in march
but ferrari team principal stefano domenicali believes that his new signing
two time world champion fernando alonso can trump whatever schumacher can
produce
he schumacher decided to accept this challenge so think that he is
convinced that he has the possibility to prevail confirming the confidence we
had in him said domenicali
now he competitor and we ll give it our all to be ahead of him as we do
with all the others too for the whole team his decision is further stimulus
naturally seeing him yesterday at testing in jerez with the red helmet he
wore when he was with us it seems that also he has some difficulties drawing
line under the past
with formula one in the middle of winter testing ban the year old
schumacher got behind the wheel of gp car which is close to
specifications at jerez in spain on tuesday
the german legend who signed three year million dollar deal with
mercedes was due to test again on wednesday and thursday
meanwhile world motorcycling champion valentino rossi will test ferrari in
barcelona later this month
the test on january in an ferrari will not be the first time rossi
has tested an car
domenicali refused to rule out the possibility of yamaha rossi switching
racing codes
never say never there has been lot of discussion about third car and this
could be an interesting improvement said the ferrari boss
domenicali also announced the season new car would be unveiled on january
and insisted that the team has worked extensively on reliability issues
considering the problems we had in some of the last seasons it will be
fundamental to start with the reliability relying immediately on good
performance and continuing the car development until the end of the season
he said
unfortunately the new rules foresee just four test sessions in february and at
the moment it impossible to determine where we are compared to the others the
team is working hard and there the will to get back to winning
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
european rugby cup the organising body of the european cup confirmed the
reduction of the suspension
the appeals committee conceded that judge blackett who handed down the first
judgement had made mistake and reduced the suspension to weeks said
guazzini
however guazzini said he intended to try and have it reduced still further at
least in domestic terms through the french rugby federation ffr and the
national rugby league lnr
this suspension is totally unjustified the irish player even originally
testified that it wasn case of gouging said guazzini
dupuy stade francais team mate prop david attoub was due to have his appeal
for gouging heard later on wednesday
his defence is based on doubts over the accuracy of the incriminating
photograph
third appeal by french player perpignan prop jerome schuster over
headbutting munster player had to be put off to later date as he was unable
to travel to england because of the severe weather
iran speaker accuses obama of state terrorism
tehran jan afp
parliament speaker ali larijani iran former chief nuclear negotiator on
wednesday accused us president barack obama of state terrorism over the killing
in tehran of leading atomic scientist
in an angry address to iran conservative dominated parliament larijani
reiterated iranian charges that the us central intelligence agency and israel
mossad were behind the scientist death in bombing on tuesday
such filthy actions are easy to carry out but such adventurism will do you no
good the isna news agency quoted larijani as saying in reference to obama
you have practically promoted acts of terrorism he said
massoud ali mohammadi particle physics professor at prestigious tehran
university was killed by bomb strapped to motorcycle in the capital well
to do northern suburbs on tuesday
neither the police nor the intelligence services have yet reported any leads in
their investigation and foreign minister manouchehr mottaki stopped short of
explicitly accusing washington of being behind the bombing
the action taken yesterday by the enemies of logic justice humanity and the
iranian people is being investigated by relevant authorities mottaki told
reporters when asked about accusations of us and israeli involvement
larijani however was explicit in pointing the finger of blame at the cia and
israel mossad
similar allegations by other iranian officials of us involvement in the attack
have been dismissed out of hand by washington
former iranian presidents akbar hashemi rafsanjani and mohammad khatami on
wednesday condemned the killing
but the two politicians who backed defeated opposition leader mir hossein
mousavi in the disputed june presidential election which saw hardline president
mahmoud ahmadinejad re elected did not blame the cia and israel
islamist students and the volunteer basij militia also condemned the killing of
ali mohammadi whom they described as basiji professor
in an open letter members of the victim his family called ali mohammadi man
who followed the path of the supreme leader
we as children and wife of the martyr ali mohammadi give condolences to the
caring officials of the regime the noble people of iran and especially the
