super combined in wengen
ukraine orange villain seeks last laugh
kiev jan afp
when ukraine ousted its old order in the orange revolution viktor
yanukovich was cast in the west as the villain of the piece scheming servant
of russia who rigged an election
yanukovich pipped pro western viktor yushchenko in the run off of presidential
polls only to find the result overturned by the supreme court after tens of
thousands took to the streets in the orange uprising
the supreme court found mass vote rigging and ordered re run which was won by
yushchenko
now yanukovich political streetfighter who was twice jailed under the soviet
union for petty crime smells revenge
the trained mechanic and spare time pigeon fancier is well ahead in opinion
polls for the first round of sunday presidential polls and is forecast to beat
his nearest contender prime minister yulia tymoshenko in the run off
much can change in the next month but yanukovich remains the favourite to
become ukraine fourth president since independence
after the orange revolution debacle he received help from us image makers
including top consultant paul manafort and his hitherto monochrome regions party
receiving much needed injection of colour
he sought to bury his image as stooge of moscow targeting eu membership as
strategic goal for ukraine and vehemently criticising the deal agreed between
russian strongman vladimir putin and tymoshenko that ended the january gas
crisis
yanukovich still draws the bulk of his support from around his home donbass
region ukraine smoke stacked eastern industrial heartland where russian
rather than ukrainian is the language of daily life
but he has also sought to enhance his appeal in the more nationalist western
ukraine and analysts say yanukovich performance here will be crucial in
determining the course of the election
yanukovich claims his durability stems from childhood of abject misery on the
streets of yenakiyevo town outside the east industrial capital of donetsk
went around bare footed on the streets had to fight for myself every day
he wrote
the tough early years had another dark side in the late he fell in with
local street gang and and was convicted of robbery in and assault in
serving time in prison on both occasions
the convictions were then erased in december but had repeatedly been
brought up by his opponents in the campaign
yanukovich worked for two decades as regional transport executive in donetsk
before moving into local politics in the late and rising to prime minister
under president leonid kuchma in
in building the regions party into major political force he enjoyed the
financial support of one of ukraine richest oligarchs the metals and mining
magnate rinat akhmetov who also owns uefa cup winner shakhtar donetsk
avatar eyes awards season gold at golden globes
los angeles jan afp
science fiction blockbuster avatar will be aiming to convert box office riches
into movie industry accolades sunday as hollywood awards season gets underway
in earnest at the th golden globes
the horrors of the haiti earthquake are likely to give somber tone to
proceedings with many celebrities including best actor nominee george clooney
expected to encourage donations to help the relief effort
clooney will host telethon to raise funds for haiti next friday while globes
organizers the hollywood foreign press association have announced
dollar donation to musician wyclef jean relief effort
all eyes are on james cameron avatar to see if its remarkable box office
performance billion dollars worldwide since december translates into
awards season honors
the million dollar epic is vying for four honors at the globes which begin
in beverly hills at pm gmt monday
as well as best picture avatar has nods for best director cameron best
original score and best original song
however the film faces stiff competition from recession era drama comedy up in
the air which has six nominations as well as the gripping iraq war drama the
hurt locker which has three nominations
nods for up in the air include best actor clooney best director jason
reitman as well as nominations for vera farmiga and anna kendrick
in quirk of fate the hurt locker director kathryn bigelow finds herself
nominated for best director alongside ex husband cameron
bigelow scored pre globes boost late friday when the hurt locker was named
best picture at the broadcast film critics awards bfca in los angeles bigelow
also beat cameron for the best director prize
yet while up in the air and the hurt locker remain critical darlings awards
season pundits say the members of the hollywood foreign press association
hfpa who pick the golden globes may lean towards avatar
globes voters are foreign journalists who consider it their job to track the
hot new thing said tom neil of the los angeles times theenvelope com
and there nothing hotter right now than avatar
however avatar almost certainly needed to triumph this weekend if it was to
emerge as an awards season favorite for the coveted best picture prize at the
oscars which will be handed out in hollywood this year on march
this is the award that avatar needs if it going to become the official
front runner for the oscars neil said if avatar gets crowned ahead of
time then it could be oscar bound
in the acting stakes clooney will be up against jeff bridges crazy heart
colin firth single man morgan freeman invictus and tobey maguire
brothers for best drama actor
the women acting awards could unfold as duel between sandra bullock and
meryl streep who both have two nominations each
bullock is nominated as best actress in both drama and comedy categories for her
respective roles in the blind side and the proposal while streep hoping
to win her seventh globe is double nominee in the comedy category for her
performances in julie amp julia and it complicated
bullock and streep shared the best actress prize at the bfca awards on friday
and delighted star studded audience by engaging in mock playfight on stage
underscoring the good natured rivalry between the two
for actors the golden globes are often seen as vital dress rehearsal for the
oscars well received acceptance speech at the globes can help build
unstoppable momentum while poor performance can derail even best laid plans
the golden globes is your oscars audition neil said hilary swank won for
boys don cry because she wowed the audience with her speech at the globes
same thing for jamie foxx he sealed his oscar win at the globes
unlike the oscars the golden globes splits its best picture prizes between
genres honoring best drama and best comedy musical
the globes are often viewed as key barometer of which films may go on to
challenge for honors at the oscars
although percent of films which won best picture at the academy awards also
won golden globe in recent years the awards have proved an unreliable guide
for likely oscar winners
rags to riches drama slumdog millionaire is the only film in the past five
years to have followed up best picture statuette at the golden globes with
victory at the oscars
winter olympics advisory
paris jan afp
the winter olympics take place in vancouver from february and afp
sports is filing package of advancers
in the build up to the games we will file individual sports previews guides to
the ins and outs of winter sports as well as focus on the stars to watch on the
snow and ice of vancouver and whistler
we will also be filing series of colour stories focussing on national
prospects as well as the offbeat side to the olympics
questions queries etc can be directed to our olympic desk contact is
david james afp com
we are about to move
oly ski men preview
paris
the men winter olympic alpine skiing events promise to be mouth watering
showdown between powerhouses austria and switzerland with handful of other
racers bidding to upset their likely podium dominance
words by luke phillips
oly ski women preview
paris
american star lindsey vonn is set to make up for her olympic heartbreak in turin
by targeting at least three golds at the vancouver games
words by justin davis
oly ski guide preview
vancouver canada
afp bluffer guide to alpine skiing at the winter olympics
words
oly ski races preview
vancouver canada
event by event guide to the alpine skiing disciplines at the winter olympic
games
words
oly fskate women preview
paris
the long running rivalry between south korea kim yu na and japan mao asada
is set to spice up the women figure skating competition at the winter
olympics
words by emmeline moore
oly fskate men preview
paris
defending champion yevgeny plushenko has been lured out of retirement by the
dream of second olympic gold but the pretenders will be lining up to take the
russian crown in vancouver
words by emmeline moore
oly fskate preview guide
vancouver canada
afp bluffer guide to figure skating at the winter olympics
words
moving at gmt
oly ihockey men preview
los angeles
the spotlight will clearly be on hosts canada and mighty russia in the men
ice hockey tournament in vancouver but don count out the savvy swedes who
could very easily spoil the party as they seek to defend their gold medal
words by greg heakes
oly ihockey women preview
los angeles
take you pick between hockey superpowers canada or the united states for the
gold medal as the rest of the world plays perennial catch up in the women
ice hockey tournament
words by greg heakes
oly ihockey guide
vancouver canada
afp bluffer guide to ice hockey at the winter olympics
words
already moved
jan
oly advancer
los angeles
olympic red mittens are flying off the shelves as fast as retailers can stock
them and six metre tall downtown clock is counting down the final days and
hours to the winter games
words by greg heakes
oly programme
oly venues
oly history
oly greats
jfk terminal evacuated in security scare
new york jan afp
busy jfk international airport terminal in new york was evacuated saturday
after an unauthorized person entered secure zone officials said
passengers at terminal which serves american airlines were told to leave for
rescreening the transport security administration said in statement
an individual entered the sterile area in terminal through non public
employee door used by airlines the tsa said
tsa is working closely with the port authority to find the individual the
terminal is being evacuated in order to rescreen all passengers to ensure the
safety of the traveling public
the rest of the airport was reported to be unaffected by the incident
an unauthorized entry of man into secure zone at newark international
airport earlier this month caused huge delays although he was later found to
have just been trying to give departing passenger last kiss
us airports are on high alert after the december attempt by nigerian man
allegedly to set off bomb aboard northwest airlines passenger plane
disillusioned ukraine votes for new president
kiev jan afp
disappointed by the orange revolution ukrainians sunday vote in presidential
polls set to mark stunning comeback by pro russia politician viktor yanukovich
over his west leaning rivals
yanukovich former mechanic jailed for theft in the ussr was ingloriously
beaten in when the orange revolution street protests forced re run of
presidential polls marred by mass vote rigging in his favour
but the failure of the revolution figurehead and winner president viktor
yushchenko to usher in new era in the country of million bridging the eu
and russia has left ukrainians deeply disillusioned
yushchenko is expected to record dismal single digit rating and be eliminated
in sunday election first round which polls forecast will be swept by
yanukovich with charismatic prime minister yulia tymoshenko in second place
with total of candidates standing yanukovich is expected nonetheless to
fall short of an overall majority and the elections are set to go to run off
on february with still all to play for between him and tymoshenko
polls open at gmt and close hours later exit polls are expected to give
the first indication of trends
tymoshenko famed for her peasant style golden hair braid is seen as more in
favour of eu integration than yanukovich but has also played up her close ties
to russian strongman vladimir putin
the bitter campaign saw tymoshenko saying yanukovich lacked the intellectual
capabilities to distinguish austria from australia and yushchenko lamenting that
if either won ukraine can say goodbye to democracy
it also saw the shady pasts of the candidates once again dredged up
yanukovich was jailed twice in the soviet era for theft and assault though the
convictions were erased in the late tymoshenko herself was briefly
detained in on smuggling charges that were later quashed
the electorate who took part in the orange protests are disappointed that the
majority of their expectations have not been fulfilled volodymyr fesenko
director of the penta centre for political studies in kiev told afp
increasingly voters have critical attitude to all politicians they want to
see new faces
such is the level of cynicism in ukraine that one local politician is even
standing under the name of protivsikh against everyone while website
appeared last week offering voters the chance to auction off their votes
yanukovich should win around percent of the vote in the first round and
tymoshenko percent according to the latest polls by the kiev international
institute of sociology
third place is expected to go to businessman sergiy tigipko who appears to have
made late surge and is given an outside chance of springing first round
upset
yushchenko won the presidency in re run election in december ordered by
the courts after tens of thousands took to the streets to accuse yanukovich of
vote rigging in the original polls that he won
yushchenko and tymoshenko were comrades in arms in the orange revolution but
later became sworn enemies their relationship poisoned by perennial power
struggle and mutual accusations of criminal wrongdoing
since yanukovich has sought to reinvent himself with the help of western
pr strategists and to show he is not servant of the kremlin but defender of
ukrainian interests
he has also sought more support in the country ukrainian speaking west
traditionally the heartland of tymoshenko and yushchenko supporters while
holding on to his powerbase in the russian speaking east
anger at us builds at port au prince airport
port au prince jan afp
anger built saturday at haiti us controlled main airport where aid flights
were still being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the
relief effort four days on
let take over the runway shouted one voice we need to send message to
us president barack obama cried another
control remained in the hands of us forces who face criticism for the continued
disarray at the overwhelmed airfield
dozens of french citizens and dual haitian french nationals crowded the airport
saturday seeking to be evacuated after tuesday massive earthquake which
leveled much of the capital port au prince
but at the last minute plane due to take them to the french island of
guadeloupe was prevented from landing leaving them to sleep on the tarmac
waiting for way out
they re repatriating the americans and not anyone else said charles misteder
the american monopoly has to end they are dominating us and not allowing
us to return home
the crowd accused american forces who were handed control of the airport by
haitian authorities of monopolizing the airfield single runway to evacuate
their own citizens
the us embassy denied it was putting the evacuation of the approximately
to american citizens in the country first
others waiting for way out were taken aback by the chaotic scenes that
confronted them when they arrived at the toussaint ouverture airport
haven been able to tell my family that alive the coordination is
joke said wilfried brevil year old housekeeper
was at the christopher hotel said daniele saada referring to the
headquarters of the un peacekeeping force in haiti minustah
was extremely shaken up was pulled out the others weren added saada
minustah employee
decided to return to france have nothing and now am stuck she said
caught between fury at the chaos and sheer exhaustion
the disorder even appeared to cause diplomatic ripples with french secretary of
state for cooperation alain joyandet telling reporters he had lodged complaint
with the united states over its handling of the port au prince airport
have made an official protest to the americans through the us embassy he
said at the haitian airport after french plane carrying field hospital was
turned away
spokesman for the french foreign ministry later denied france had registered
protest saying franco us coordination in emergency aid for haiti is being
handled in the best way possible given the serious difficulties
the us ambassador to haiti defended american efforts at the small airport which
was up and running hours after the massive quake even though the air traffic
control tower was damaged
we re working in coordination with the united nations and the haitians said
ambassador kenneth merten though he acknowledged some difficulties
clearly it necessary to prioritize the planes it clear that there
problem
us secretary of state hillary clinton who spent several hours at port au
prince airport during lightning visit saturday sought to reassure haitians
that help would come
we are here at the invitation of your government to help you she said after
meeting haitian president rene preval
as president obama has said we will be here today tomorrow and for the time
ahead she pledged
despite the chaos at the small airport group of french citizens was
eventually able to take off on saturday and the french plane carrying field
hospital landed safely around noon
still with aid continuing to flood into the quake stricken country concern
remains about the lack of coordination at the airport and across devastated
port au prince
the un security council was to meet monday to discuss coordination of the aid
effort mexico foreign ministry said as haitians complained they were being
kept in the dark
the haitians haven been notified about the arrival of planes and when they
do land there no one to take charge and large amount of goods are arriving
without coordination said haitian government official michel chancy
on port au prince streets the consequences of the coordination breakdown were
clear as traumatized and starving quake survivors approached passing foreigners
and begged them for food
rescuers battle to reach haitians still alive in rubble
port au prince jan afp
hearing jules strained voice pushes on adrenaline fueled israeli rescue
workers racing against time to pry him from the ruins as four days after the
haiti quake hopes fade of finding more survivors
the quake may have came and gone days ago but the urgency here remains palpable
this team has pulled out all the stops to save someone whose life is hanging in
the balance
and the clock is ticking
with hearts set racing by the slim chance they could help pull off miracle
this long after tuesday devastating temblor the team of men toils on to
save just one person sweating through the back breaking work hour after hour
inch by inch amid the stench of rotting corpses
today is the last day that think we will be able to find survivors mainly
because of dehydration said rami peltz one of the rescue workers on the
israeli team
facing the real possibility that what remains of this collapsed tax office could
come crashing down on them the rescuers grimace as they chip dig saw and
drill their way slowly painstakingly inching closer to the person trapped
beyond their sight
it is grueling exhausting work we work centimeter by centimeter said one
team member soaked with sweat after minutes in an cavity where the team is
hacking and drilling toward their target
the survivor has made it this far four days after the magnitude quake
felled thousands of buildings across the capital of the poorest country in the
americas
but he is trapped with steel reinforcement cable around his neck and huge
piece of ceramic flooring pinning his legs said one team member moshe sadir
all around them there are dead bodies and more dead bodies some of the people
survived the building collapse but then expired in the days that followed no
rescue team made it their way in time
that is what happened to nadine the wife of adras belly haitian man who
brought the israelis to this spot to search but it was bad news for him
rescuers called and called she did not answer and dogs found no trace of her
foreign rescue teams are spread out across the sprawling caribbean capital of
two million even as the clock ticked down on chances for miracle
they take their cues from various sources un staff sent some to locations where
survivors were believed to remain and desperate relatives dispatched others to
spots where loved ones were still missing and voices and moaning could be heard
inside
very few of the stories have happy ending
most end in sorrow and the discovery of tangle of dead bodies
the first hours are so important after that the chances just drop off
dramatically that is why it is so important to hurry early on said jose
ignacio bugella yudice here from the civil protection service in the spanish
city of getafe
the spanish team worked with colleagues from iceland in half collapsed
building where rescue dogs can detect any lucky if unlikely survivors
only the dogs can tell us if there is life in there then we pinpoint the spot
and we secure it the rescue operation can take minutes or several hours
said magnus hakonarson with the icelandic rescue team icesar
at the port au prince telecoms building rescue team from costa rica had no
luck as it called and called but got no answer from inside the flattened
building
when the dogs do not confirm somebody is alive in there we have to move on to
another spot swiftly so now we are going to school but would say there is
less than three percent chance of finding survivors in this city said
william hernandez leader of the costa rican rescuers
the best hope really is for small person who needs little oxygen which is
why child may be found alive even at this point he said
that has happened before hernandez said but it all depends on the space
they have and what shape they are in after the collapse
but surviving building collapse and then degree celsius daytime
temperatures without drop of water for days on end is unlikely and less
likely by the minute
some people end up dying of their injuries or from dehydration or brain
trauma said andres madrigal with the costa rican team
but for jules his will to live help him beat the longest odds
he just kept saying when we finally saw him at the bottom of the hole
want to live don leave me member of the israeli team said
haitian police feel helpless in face of looters
port au prince jan afp
exhausted police fired in the air to scare off armed looters pillaging shops
saturday in the quake ravaged haitian capital but to little effect only
seconds later the desperate mob was back
the uniformed police one of the rare signs that the haitian government has
not collapsed are under orders not to open fire on the hungry angry crowds
frantic to find food and water in the rubble of port au prince
but their shots fired in the air did nothing to dissuade the looters combing
the wreckage of shops public offices and houses destroyed in the tuesday
magnitude quake
ignoring the dangers of clambering through the unstable ruins haitians dash
into the rubble hoping to find something useful and still intact that could be
sold on the black market if it not edible
they steal whatever they can take whether they need it or not it crazy we
are under orders only to disperse them we can fire at them but it not
working we have no protection and we are afraid said policeman louis jean
eficien
lots of people are armed and the streets are full of criminals because all the
prisoners have escaped not far from here they fired on brazilian team
another officer said
chaos reigns in what used to be the commercial heart of port au prince foreign
aid groups can only work with the protection of un blue helmets
we are the first people to get to this area it delicate situation that
why we brought our own security services with us said an official from costa
rican aid group
at various points across the city saturday desperate haitians had begun to burn
bodies the former justice department was in flames
thousands left destitute by tuesday magnitude quake have begun leaving the
city taking their chances elsewhere in the hope of finding food water and
shelter in less ravaged parts of the country
leave the dead to rot and take care of the living give us food cried out
one woman as team of spanish aid workers passed by in truck
gunshots rang out and group of pillagers took off fleeing on foot their
arms stuffed with booty
have lost percent of my shop they ve stolen everything sobbed maxam
alcide the owner of beauty shop who was trying to recover what she could
from the ruins and take it to safety in her truck
standing next to her grocery shop owner jeanina saint georges held her head in
disbelief at the destruction as she stared at the ruins of her shop
ll never know how much have lost but we are all alive so in such
circumstances everything else pales by comparison
but it true there is no other authority we are alone in the face of the
criminals
houses have also been targeted by the looters
the thieves thought we had abandoned the house and they came in to try to rob
us but we met them with weapons said deslandes standing in front of his
partially destroyed house where he and his family still live
google attacks put spotlight on global cyber espionage
washington jan afp
cyberattacks on google and other firms are part of shadowy campaign in
cyberspace being waged by china and other nations which goes largely undetected
according to web security experts and analysts
china is not the only place to engage in this kind of espionage but they are
certainly busy said james lewis cybersecurity expert at the center for
strategic and international studies csis here
they re probably the biggest actors when it comes to economic espionage lewis
said and the hacking of google and more than other firms fits in with all
the complaints you ve heard about intellectual property and piracy
web security firm mcafee said in its virtual criminology report released in
november that china france israel russia and the united states were among the
countries which have developed advanced offensive cyber capabilities
china at the top of the list dmitri alperovitch vice president of threat
research for mcafee told afp they have great focus on espionage activities
and penetration of organizations
they ve been very successful in penetrating the us government in variety of
ways in recent years and exfiltrating valuable classified data about ongoing
military operations military hardware specs that sort of thing he said
while stressing mcafee had no proof the chinese government was directly behind
the attack on google alperovitch said there are indications though that
nation state is behind it
it fits the pattern of very sophisticated cyber espionage program that been
underway for years said csis lewis that involves more than just the
chinese government
there probably centrally directed program an espionage program he said
but there other people who do it as freelancers or companies do it or
ministries do it
there was ghostnet about year ago which was chinese effort to look at
computers around the world he said there was an effort in to look at
defense energy commerce nasa there were efforts before that targeted at
defense
ronald deibert director of citizen lab at the munk center for international
studies at the university of toronto agreed that chinese based hackers are by
no means the only ones probing the computer networks of business and political
rivals around the world
it not just china that doing it although china very aggressive said
deibert an author of the ghostnet report which uncovered china based network
that had compromised government and private computers in countries
including those of the tibetan spiritual leader the dalai lama
there is real arms race in cyberspace going on he said
espionage attacks that we ve seen that seem to come from mainland china are
consistent with china strategic doctrine in this area and also consistent with
what lot of other countries are proposing to do in this area he said
for example if you look at the united states the director of national
intelligence dennis blair said that we need to be more aggressive stealing
other countries secrets deibert said
