the relief effort faced serious challenges with many roads around the capital
impassable communications rudimentary and aftershocks still shaking the area
and its distraught citizens
part of the us effort was aimed at helping the estimated americans in
haiti some of whom were injured in the disaster
over us citizens were evacuated thursday and more were to be rescued
later in the day the state department said
group of wounded including spain ambassador to haiti and some staff from
the us embassy were taken to the nearby us naval base at guantanamo bay cuba
home of the controversial prison camp for terror suspects for medical
treatment
us officials were also acutely aware of the need to contain possible mass panic
or attempts to flee haiti by sea to the united states
over the years hundreds have made the perilous kilometer mile
journey in leaky boats and many have perished on the way
japanese stocks end up percent
tokyo jan afp
japanese share prices closed up percent on friday at month high
tracking gains on wall street following positive us corporate earnings news
the tokyo stock exchange benchmark nikkei index rose points to
posting the best finish since early october
the broader topix index of all first section shares climbed points or
percent to
shares in cosmetics maker shiseido soared on news the company will spend
billion dollars to buy bare escentuals of the united states
technology stocks were also in demand after us bellwether intel the world
biggest chipmaker posted profit surge
the nikkei has risen at good pace so far in so this may be time to
take profits shinichiro matsushita market analyst at daiwa securities told
dow jones newswires
afp graphics advisory
hong kong jan afp
we shall move the following graphics
haiti quake aid
graphic on international aid pledged after the magnitude quake in haiti
text slug haiti quake
mm
available now
also available
search and rescue methods mm
un mission in haiti mm
quake map mm
port au prince map mm
tectonic plates caribbean map mm
haiti facts mm
jal shares
chart showing daily closing values for japan airlines for the past month
text slug japan airline company distress jal
mm
available now
japan refuelling mission
graphic on japan indian ocean support mission for the us led war in
afghanistan which ended friday after eight years of suppling oil and water to
coalition vessels
text slug japan afghanistan us military
mm
available now
doomsday clock
graphic on the doomsday clock symbolic indicator to show how close the world
is from nuclear annihilation sponsored by the bulletin of atomic scientists
the project panel pushed it back by one minute thursday to indicate small
nudge away from disaster citing new opportunities for denuclearisation
text slug us nuclear climate science
mm
available now
uss independence warship
fact file and illustration on the uss independence trimaran warship designed
for the us navy due to be commissioned on saturday
stand alone graphic
mm wide
available by gmt
world least known bird
graphic on the large billed reed warbler dubbed in as the world least
known bird after only handful of sightings in over century but now
discovered to be breeding in remote part of afghanistan the findings were
published in the british journal birding asia
stand alone graphic
mm wide
available by gmt
solar eclipse
graphic fact file and illustration on the solar eclipse visible from africa to
east asia friday
text slug astronomy eclipse
mm
available now
solar eclipse asia
graphic focussing on the asian section of friday eclipse showing major cities
in the path of the obscured sun from sri lanka colombo to china chongqing
text slug astronomy eclipse
mm
available now
asia pacific markets
closings for key asia pacific markets
text slug stocks
mm
available by gmt
google graphics
asia internet audience
chart comparing internet audiences in asian countries
text slug us china it company internet
mm
google income
graphic showing google revenue from various world markets
text slug us china it company internet
mm
also available
pakistan waziristan map mm
afghanistan deaths mm
chile factfile mm
solar eclipse mm
solar eclipse asia mm
paris hong kong
tel
tennis hobart international results
hobart australia jan afp
results from the sixth day of the hobart international women tennis tournament
here friday denotes seed
semi finals
shahar peer isr bt sara errani ita
tennis sydney international results
sydney jan afp
results from the sixth day of the sydney international wta atp tennis tournament
on friday denotes seed
men
semi finals
richard gasquet fra bt julien benneteau fra
football africa cup of nations group standings
benguela angola jan afp
africa cup of nations group standings ahead of saturday matches played
won drawn lost goals for against points
egypt
benin
mozambique
nigeria
fixtures
benguela unless noted times gmt
jan
benin nigeria
egypt mozambique
jan
benin egypt
at lubango
mozambique nigeria
note group winners and runners up qualify for quarter finals
golf barnes porter and senior qualify for british open
melbourne jan afp
australians kurt barnes ewan porter and peter senior qualified for the british
open after taking the top three positions in the international final qualifying
australasia at kingston heath here on friday
barnes finished top after the holes following second round eight under par
to finish on ten under
he was two shots ahead of overnight leader ewan porter with senior
taking third place on five under par
the british open takes place at st andrews in scotland in july
football win or bust for nigeria and coach shua
benguela angola jan afp
nigeria face benin on saturday with the world cup bound super eagles under huge
pressure to stay in the african cup of nations after loss to defending
champions egypt in their opener
nigeria coach shuaibu amodu has also been issued an ultimatum to beat next
door neighbours benin or else make way for his assistant daniel amokachi to
take the team through the rest of the championship
despite qualifying nigeria for the world cup in south africa later this year
amodu has come under fire over his tactics and team selection
the loss to egypt on tuesday paved the way for his critics to again call for his
head
amodu also qualified nigeria for the world cup but after he failed to
guide the team to the final of the africa cup of nations same year in mali he
was given the boot and in his place adeboye onigbinde took charge of the eagles
at the world cup
top officials have admitted that they have already held talks with the dutch
coach of mozambique mart nooij over the eagles job even though the nigeria
football federation nff have continued to declare their confidence in amodu
first round exit from angola would also hit the players in the pocket
after they agreed win bonus deal of dollars man if they progress to
the kockout stage of the competition
they will be left empty handed if they crash out in the first round
wolfsburg striker obafemi martins has been permitted to fly out to europe to
appear before an english court over compensation claim brought against him by
his former agent after officials initially announced he was away to look over
troublesome shin problem
officials are confident however he will return in time for saturday clash
fulham midfielder dickson etuhu has shrugged off knock on his left knee he
received against egypt and which forced him to skip training on wednesday while
lokomotiv moscow striker osaze odemwingie would likely start after he recovered
from throat infection
nigeria will be favourites to win this clash but skipper joseph yobo they have
to be at their best against benin side that was full running and commitment
against mozambique in their opening group fixture
we are all disappointed about what has happened loss to egypt and we know
it is time to step up our game to avoid an early elimination from this
championship said yobo
no one is happy about the result and we are looking forward to giving our all
in the next games
benin are making their third nations cup appearance and on all three occasions
they have clashed with their fellow west africans losing all three matches
however the squirrels nigerian born striker razak omotoyossi has said he
will not be doing the eagles any favours on saturday
my target is to score against nigeria said the metz striker who was in
action two years ago in ghana when benin fell to nigeria
omotoyossi was at the heart of benin effort to record their first ever nations
cup victory against mozambique on tuesday he netted the penalty after he was
upended by the goalkeeper and then initiated the move that resulted in an own
goal by mozambique defender dario khan
however the game ended in draw
the stocky striker will again be complimented by stephane sessegnon from paris
saint germain who against mozambique showed flashes of the brilliance that has
sparked off scramble for his signature by several top english clubs
football egypt seek mozambique springboard to knock out stage
benguela angola jan afp
six time champions egypt hope to have foot into the next round of the africa
cup of nations with win over mozambique in group fixture at the ombaka
stadium here on saturday
the pharaohs got off to winning start in angola against nigeria regarded
by most as their closest rivals in benguela
it was dream start for team injury has robbed of the services of stars like
mohamed aboutrika and amr zaki
however coach hassan shehata has admitted that he missed both players but
his target remains to complete personal hat trick of nations cup triumphs in
angola
we miss players like aboutrika and zaki but that will not make us lose
focus from our target to successfully defend our crown in angola declared
shehata who led egypt to win the continental trophy in and
it was great to begin with win against big team like nigeria but that
match is now in the past and we have to look forward to winning our next games
beginning with the match against mozambique on saturday
borussia dortmund striker mohamed zidan playing only his second nations
cup has thus been entrusted with even bigger responsibilities in the absence of
zaki and mido while strike partner emad motaeb silenced his critics with
solid showing against nigeria
however midfielders hosni abdrabou and hossam ghaly have fallen sick here
in angola with abdrabou voted the best player at ghana hardest hit as he
was unable to train on wednesday but they are both expected to be fit for this
encounter
against mozambique shehata is most likely to pick the same team which
battled from goal down against nigeria to win but as this tournament has
already shown reputations are set aside once on the pitch and so even the firm
favourites have had to fight for everything
the mambas from mozambique have even before angola proved they can hold
their own against some of africa top teams like the ivory coast tunisia and
nigeria
they are back among the continent football elite years after their
last appearance in burkina faso and their confidence would have received boost
after they fought back from two goal deficit after minutes to draw with
benin on tuesday
every game for us in angola is cup final and so will be the game against
egypt said dutch coach mart nooij who has been credited with the southern
african team recent exploits
was bit surprised by how easily nigeria lost to egypt but we will
fight because we have prepared very well for this tournament and that was why
for the first minutes the players who were so full of energy lost their
head for benin to go in front
however we played wonderful second half to draw the game
nooij disclosed that his game plan against the pharaohs is to man mark their
fast forwards
we will man mark egypt forwards because they are so fast he said we
will try to defend well hit back on the break and see what we can get from the
game we hope we can clinch positive result
the mozambicans are very athletic team who in skipper manuel bucuane aka
tiko tiko and striker dario monteiro have two of the most experienced
campaigners in angola as both players featured at burkina faso
their fightback against benin also demonstrated that the team have strong
character which will again be tested by the most successful team at this
championship
sam lp
golf australasian british open qualifying scores
melbourne jan afp
final scores in british open international qualifying australasia at kingston
heath here on friday
kurt barnes aus qualified
ewan porter aus qualified
peter senior aus qualified
steve jones aus aaron townsend aus
mitchell brown aus steven jeffress aus anthony summers
aus paul sheehan aus
eclipse plunges central east africa into semi darkness
nairobi jan afp
an annular eclipse raced across central and eastern africa friday briefly
reducing the sun to blazing ring surrounding sombre disk
the solar coverup visible in roughly kilometre mile band running
kms miles will at one point set duration record that will
remain unbeaten for more than thousand years
in the ugandan capital kampala motorcycle taxi drivers stopped on street corners
to share dark glasses and gaze up at the sky
some residents were afraid of the intensity of the light
can it burn someone you can even look direct because fearing for my
eyes fearing it can burn me said angela namukwaya shopkeeper in
kampala suburb
in kenya john saitega year old maasai and father of six in olte tefi
kilometres miles south of nairobi said he and his friends learned of the
eclipse and the risk gazing at it carries for their eyesight from local radio
and television
they were all sharing one pair of dark goggles and taking turns to look at the
sun he said
it getting interesting birds are singing it actually getting cold here
it looks like night now he told afp
an annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the sun but
does not completely obscure it thus leaving ring an annulus of sunlight
flaring around the lunar disk
the moon shadow first struck the southwestern tip of chad and western central
african republic at gmt and then flitted across uganda kenya and somalia
the lunar umbra or shadow was set to cross the indian ocean bangladesh india
myanmar and china before expiring in the shandong peninsula at gmt
many foreigners missing in haiti quake
paris jan afp
foreign countries continued friday to try to obtain news of their nationals
reported missing in haiti devastating earthquake
following is breakdown of foreigners feared or known to be casualties of
tuesday disaster which is thought to have killed some people
australia the foreign ministry says small number of australians remain
unaccounted for but that there is no evidence of australian deaths
the good news is that we have been able to confirm the safety of australians
in haiti department of foreign affairs and trade spokesperson said
brazil at least brazilian peacekeepers were killed in the haiti earthquake
according to the country military
britain foreign office says more than of its citizens found safe and well
no reports of british casualties
canada one canadian un staffer found dead another missing police in ottawa
say
china government said four of its peacekeepers were buried in the rubble and
another four chinese nationals were still missing
france six french nationals were killed by the earthquake the french foreign
ministry says
mauritius the foreign ministry said it had no news of two mauritian citizens
one serving with the united nations and the other in the tourist sector
netherlands the dutch foreign ministry said it is seriously concerned about
nine dutch people thought to have been in hotels that collapsed
new zealand according to new zealand family members two new zealand born
children and their french haitian father were believed killed in collapsed
port au prince hotel third child was injured and taken to the dominican
republic by their uninjured new zealand mother
new zealand foreign minister murray mccully said there were no other new
zealanders known to be affected by the quake
philippines three philippine peacekeepers including two female sergeants are
missing although fourth who had been declared missing was rescued on thursday
from collapsed building
poland one student missing according to foreign ministry spokesman
portugal two citizens are so far uncontactable according to the department for
portuguese communities
senegal two policemen serving with the un mission are missing the senegalese
gendarmerie said
spain spanish worker with the european commission delegation in haiti is
missing spokesman said
thailand the foreign ministry said one thai missionary is missing
united nations some un staffers are still missing after the quake which
killed at least un spokesman said
united states diplomat was the first us citizen confirmed killed in the
earthquake the state department said
golf sony open scores
honolulu hawaii jan afp
leading first round scores here on thursday in the million dollar sony open
usa unless noted
ryan palmer zach johnson davis love troy merritt robert allenby aus
john merrick
jeff quinney carl pettersson swe pat perez angel cabrera arg shane
bertsch tom lehman steve stricker brian stuard roger tambellini martin
flores
ricky barnes michael allen troy matteson
stephen ames can liang wen chong chn ryuji imada jpn rory
sabbatini rsa ryuichi oda jpn
marc leishman aus ernie els rsa vijay singh fij retief goosen
rsa graham delaet can
yang yong eun kor fredrik jacobson swe brian davis gbr
nathan green aus richard johnson swe matt jones aus tim clark
rsa choi kor nick hern aus daisuke maruyama jpn henrik
bjornstad nor
stuart appleby aus cameron percy aus justin rose gbr brenden
pappas rsa brendon de jonge zim
charlie wi kor daniel chopra swe mathias gronberg swe david
lutterus aus jason day aus
luke donald gbr
jesper parnevik swe shigeki maruyama jpn
kaname yokoo jpn
tim wilkinson nzl
olympics nagasaki out of olympics bid
tokyo jan afp
nagasaki has pulled out of bid to co host the summer olympics with
hiroshima the other japanese city hit with an atom bomb in world war ii
nagasaki mayor tomihisa taue said friday
the international olympic committee rules stipulate that in principle only one
city can host the olympics but there have been exceptions such as the
beijing summer games when hong kong staged equestrian events
hiroshima and nagasaki announced in october that they wanted to co host the
olympics in the name of world peace and help acclerate the drive for the global
abolition of nuclear weapons
but the japanese olympic committee has refused to support the idea japanese ioc
member chiharu igaya told the two cities this week the co hosting idea would run
counter to the ioc ideal of holding compact olympics
if we continue the co hosting bid it would only diminish the chance of staging
the olympics in an atomic bombed area taue told televised news conference in
nagasaki we will extend full cooperation to hiroshima if it goes on with bid
campaign alone
hiroshima and nagasaki some kilometres miles apart announced the
joint bid in october shortly after the ioc chose rio de janeiro as the
summer olympics host city over tokyo chicago and madrid
the ioc is expected to select the host in
tokyo governor shintaro ishihara has already expressed his wish to bid again
for the games
japan has already hosted three olympics the summer games in tokyo as
well as the and winter games in sapporo and nagano
rome venice palermo and istanbul are reportedly preparing bids for the
summer olympics other cities including cape town durban dubai and rabat
have also been mentioned as possible candidates
colleagues concerned about china rights lawyer
beijing jan afp
chinese lawyers and us based rights group on friday demanded that beijing
police locate prominent attorney who disappeared in september seven months
after being taken into custody
according to the us based chinaaid rights group the family of gao zhisheng was
recently told by police that the lawyer went missing in september prompting
fears by the group that he was beaten to death in prison
it is totally unacceptable for the chinese government to lose track of their
own prisoner said chinaaid president bob fu
it is absolutely clear that he was forcibly taken from his home in february
nearly year later the chinese government now says they do not have
him
according to chinaaid the police officer that took gao into custody recently
told gao brother gao zhiyi that the lawyer has been missing since
september
repeated phone calls by afp to gao brother were not answered friday
colleagues of the lawyer also said they could not contact the family
the beijing public security bureau refused to immediately comment on the case
stance the police have taken since gao was taken into custody
if the police officially told the family that he is missing then this is not
normal said mo shaoping prominent beijing based rights lawyer and colleague
of gao
if he is missing the police must immediately establish case in accordance
with legal procedures and look for this person this is their duty
gao once prominent lawyer and communist party member has been an outspoken
defender of people seeking redress from the government including coal miners
underground christians and the banned falungong spiritual movement
in december he was convicted of subversion and given suspended sentence
of three years and placed under house arrest
after writing an open letter to the us congress in gao said he was
subjected to several weeks of torture prior to his trial including suffering
electric shocks to his genitals and having his eyes burned by cigarettes
he was then rearrested
as the police took him away they are completely responsible for his
whereabouts they cannot say that he is missing teng biao former colleague
and lecturer at the university of politics and law in beijing told afp
his arrest and the way his case has been handled has been completely illegal
and has repeatedly violated legal procedure
mr gay contenders on parade in china
beijing jan afp
eight chinese men will strut their stuff in front of hundreds of people friday
at china first gay pageant in sign of new openness about homosexuality in
nation where it remains largely taboo
the contestants are taking part in the mr gay china competition which
organisers say will include an underwear show vying to represent the asian
giant at the worldwide mr gay pageant in norway next month
if the winner is some guy who is masculine caring and responsible person
this image will help society jiang bo one of the contestants from
southwestern sichuan province told afp in telephone interview
lots of people have misunderstandings about gay people they think gay people
are sissies and feminine but it not true some of them are very straight
acting they re totally responsible just like straight men
jiang member of the tujia ethnic minority says he entered the contest as
personal challenge but there could be higher stakes
he has not yet come out to his family and said he hopes they won find out
because of the pageant which is being staged at beijing club and is being
covered mostly by foreign media according to organisers
it would be so embarrassing to the whole family they would lose face because
their son is gay he said
jiang comments echoes the feeling of other homosexuals in china who find it
difficult to come out to their friends and family although many say the
situation has improved over the past few years especially in big cities
one problem lies in the nation one child policy which makes parents rely on
their only child to marry and produce grandchildren
according to chinese experts cited in press reports there are an estimated
million homosexuals in china two thirds of them men
homosexuality was crime in china until and it was officially considered
mental illness until since then however an increasing number of
visible gay and lesbian events has taken place
last june china first gay pride festival was held shanghai albeit in very
discreet fashion and with some events cancelled at the last minute by the
authorities
although participation in these events is limited the news spreads widely in
chinese cyberspace and through print media said patrick bao phd student at
the university of sydney who is researching gay culture in china
those events have had huge impact on gay people in china they seem to be
quite inspired and encouraged by them said bao himself chinese gay man
in recent weeks signs have emerged that homosexuality in china may gradually be
becoming more accepted
the official english language china daily newspaper splashed photo of the
nation first publicly married gay couple on wednesday same sex marriages or
civil unions however have no legal basis
and last month china first government backed gay bar opened in the tourist
town of dali in the southwestern province of yunnan in bid to boost hiv aids
prevention efforts
according to bao china has one advantage in that it does not have religious
barriers to homosexuality like some western countries but sexual taboos remain
problem
many people especially the older generation still consider talking about sex
and not abiding by social and sexual norms to be shameful and this shame
culture is as insiduous as the religious reasons he said
and whereas gay bars and clubs are tolerated in big cities government
authorities are sometimes still jittery
according to the china daily for example more than gay men in the southern
city of guangzhou protested in august against attempts by police to push them
out of park over allegations of petty crime
