beds and an operating room
but it hard to get it here alcindor said it powered by an pound
kilogram generator we need to transport it
so for the moment most teams are working with what they have to hand as they
await the arrival of further supplies saying they have only seen handful of
un sri lankan peacekeepers so far
do you have speculum asked one doctor another answered no but let me
figure out how to make you one two spoons
sure replied the doctor
nurse gave big smile as she walked passed the door we just delivered two
babies she said as one young mother cradled her newborn in her arms
outside young couple arrived with their son on motorbike his leg was
encased in makeshift splint
in the sky black clouds gathered
it going to rain we need tents and mosquito nets said alcindor this is
swamp area imagine the number of mosquitos there will be
us seeks allies in afghan campaign in london
washington jan afp
two months after ordering more troops into afghanistan the united states is
hoping this week conference in london will also deliver international support
for long term civilian campaign for the war torn nation
secretary of state hillary clinton will take part in the talks wednesday and
thursday on yemen and afghanistan both key concerns in the us led campaign
against islamic extremism she will also visit france
the london conference comes as leaders increasingly look for ways to integrate
taliban extremists into the mainstream as president barack obama
administration looks to transfer control to afghan authorities in mid
the state department last week outlined new civilian strategy to stabilize
afghanistan and neighboring pakistan which includes improving the farm sector
and governance in the two nations
state department official speaking on condition of anonymity expected the
nation conference to focus on ways to implement the new civilian strategy and
build the broadest support for it
obama said on december he would deploy another us troops to afghanistan
this year on top of more than already there to undercut resurgent
taliban
obama national security adviser james jones said that while it was much too
early to judge the success of the plan early signs are encouraging
he pointed to efforts by president hamid karzai re elected last year in
disputed vote to tackle corruption and said afghan perceptions of the taliban
were changing
most afghans believe the taliban is growing weaker and by huge margins about
nine to one clearly prefer the afghan government that they have to any
alternative the taliban might offer jones said monday at the center for
american progress think tank
but jones said that the success of efforts would depend also on whether pakistan
where many strongly oppose us military efforts sees the urgency of
fighting al qaeda extremists on its territory
jones said the united states understood pakistan concerns and was committed to
long term partnership the us congress last year approved billion
dollar year aid package to stabilize the islamic world sole declared nuclear
power
the obama administration has also had an unsteady relationship with karzai who
was close to former president george bush but is widely accused by the new us
team of corruption and nepotism
karzai visiting istanbul ahead of the london conference said he would ask for
taliban names to be removed from un blacklist to spur reconciliation and
sought western support to offer money and jobs to taliban who lay down arms
white house spokesman robert gibbs did not rule out the plan noting that top us
generals david petraeus and stanley mcchrystal had drawn parallels between
afghanistan and reconciliation schemes that had worked with factions in iraq
gibbs said washington was open to similar path to what happened in iraq
provided that whoever this is accepts the afghan constitution renounces
violence and publicly breaks with groups that advocate violence
that think what people expect under the notion of reconciliation
richard holbrooke the us special envoy for afghanistan and pakistan voiced
support for karzai proposed reintegration fund
the reintegration program that president karzai is announcing and the
international community will support is an opportunity for people fighting at
the local commander level to stop fighting come in from the cold and rejoin
afghan society if they renounce al qaeda holbrooke said
nato seeks endorsement of afghan security handover
brussels jan afp
nato will seek international endorsement thursday for plans to boost the size of
afghanistan army and police so they can more rapidly assume responsibility for
national security
mired in an increasingly costly fight against taliban and al qaeda linked
insurgents the nato led international security assistance force isaf wants to
expand the afghan security force to some personnel by late
nato officials refuse to speak of an exit strategy but building the afghan
force to point where it can stand alone is the only way international troops
can safely drawn down numbers
as the force grows isaf wants to transition control of security to the
afghans district by district in line with plan by afghan president hamid
karzai to assume full responsibility within five years
the conference cannot be just talk show nato secretary general anders fogh
rasmussen told reporters monday ahead of the major international meeting in
london aimed at adding impetus to efforts to break the back of the insurgency
it has to deliver results and hope to see agreement on way forward for
transition to afghan lead in security he said as to when it will end
think it too early to say but as to when it should begin my answer is
simple this year
but the transition effort will require thousands of trainers something nato
has struggled to find and money to equip the new soldiers not to mention
recruits for the endeavour with attrition rates already high
nato has to continue increasing the number of trainers and the funds devoted to
supporting this increase as we go forward chief nato spokesman james
appathurai said last week
under the new targets the afghan army will grow to troops in october
and by october while the police numbers would expand from
some now to in october and the following october
but the attrition rate the number of troops who are killed retire or desert
is high sometimes climbing to more than two percent in single month
according to isaf officers
the ethnic balance is also out of kilter in the army with the tajiks
minority of the population over represented at percent and the pashtun
majority under represented at percent
above all standards are quite low with recruits graduating based often on
attendance rather than their skills experts say and lacking expertise on
complicated equipment not to mention dearth of any leadership base
without leaders the afghan security force will not be able to progress nato
top military officer us admiral james stavridis wrote to afp in answer to
questions about the challenges
leadership is the key to many of the challenges that it faces literacy
retention attrition corruption and performance
we are addressing each of these through leadership development programme and
continuous mentoring and liaison teams in the field pay problems have been
minimized through an electronic pay programme and we re currently looking into
cellular banking option he said
the whole process costs vast sums of money which the afghan economy cannot
generate karzai leader of one of the world poorest nations warned last
month that the military would need outside financial help for to years
despite that stavridis sees light at the end of nato tunnel
the government of afghanistan has suggested that it could have the lead for
security operations across the country within five years which is achievable
he said
davos limo ban makes greens see red
davos switzerland jan afp
the political and business elite heading for the davos forum this week have been
told to leave their polluting limousines behind
under new climate change initiative the world economic forum is blocking the
gas guzzling cars that normally clog the roads around the congress but vips
such as presidents can claim diplomatic immunity and environmentalists have
derided the limits as not very challenging
the ban only applies to cars that give off more than grammes per kilometre
of carbon dioxide and consume more than nine litres of fuel per kilometres
the initiative does not take into account the tonnes of emissions from the
flights that bring politicians bankers and academics from around the world and
then the helicopter shuttles from zurich airport to the resort in the
southeastern swiss alps
few of the top participants are believed to use the other main transport link up
to davos the cog wheel railway
from there you can see the intentions of the wef it really just to give
itself good image greenpeace switzerland bruno heinzer told afp
environmentalists called on the davos organisers to go beyond symbolic measures
and get corporate and political leaders to commit to clear push for global
climate deal
if you try to imagine the overall carbon footprint of the meeting you will see
that those restrictions on cars are probably going to be just rounding value
said rob bailey senior policy adviser at oxfam international
while porsche cayennes lexus rxs or petrol engined bmw would be blocked
under the new rules most diesel run cars such as the bmw series or audi
or mercedes class will slip through
it not to say that there no value in the meeting but if the objective is
to minimise carbon emissions then it doesn seem to challenging target
noted bailey
he pointed out however that even if some consider the wef green initiative
rather feeble the meeting of over political business and civil society
leaders remains important after the failure to secure un climate deal last
month
the copenhagen hangover is starting to lift the discussions now will be key in
deciding the direction that we would take will we take our feet off the pedal
or will we take this as kick in the backside
the davos meeting will be one of the first indications of that bailey told
afp
what we need to see from business is strong indication that we need global
deal he stressed adding that business must play role in adaptations for
climate change
aron cramer who heads non governmental group business for social
responsibility made similar points
the only way to have zero emissions is to hold the entire meeting virtually but
you lose something there as well he told afp
he pointed out that davos is unique because it is not just for politicians
unlike the group of eight or group of summits
overall would like to see businesses governments and civil societies
recommit the world economy on more sustainable basis he said
would like businesses to speak very clearly that they want to see policy
framework on climate change and they are not going to go back and wait for that
to happen it important that businesses stand up to be counted cramer added
greenpeace heinzer is less hopeful about davos
the goal of davos is not how can we save the world it is how can we save
businesses he said pointing out that any climate steps taken by industry are
likely to be limited
it remains to be seen if business executives can prove sceptics wrong by
ditching their cars and taking advantage of the free buses linking zurich and
davos or paying for their emissions through carbon offset
the frequency of shuttle buses running within davos itself will be stepped up
wef spokesman said
he described the car restrictions as just first step we do need limousines
for some of our participants and with these limits we are actually at the low
end for limousines the spokesman added
bonus wrath hits bankers defences to new rules
davos switzerland jan afp
global bankers return to the international spotlight at the davos forum on
wednesday to battle increased regulation while still fighting off anger over
bonuses
facing the mother of all public relations battles deutsche bank chief executive
josef akerman brian moynihan of bank of america vikram pandit of citi group
and hsbc chairman stephen green will be among leading bankers at the world
econonic forum wef in the exclusive swiss ski resort
only green braved the davos storm last year as governments poured trillions of
dollars into saving the financial system
banks now face barrage of regulatory proposals which they are expected to
fiercely oppose when with the heads of state and government leaders in davos
but their troubles are not yet over as fierce critic president nicolas sarkozy
gives the opening speech wednesday
us president barack obama has proposed making top us banks pay an estimated
billion dollars in fees over the next decade to recoup every single dime of
the wall street bailout
obama also wants to limit the size and scope of us banks so that they never
again get so big that taxpayers have to bail them out
britain in turn is leading push for global banking reform deal that could
include special tax on lenders
the bankers campaign also comes in the midst of the bonus season which is
expected to see about billion dollars handed out in the united states alone
banks have already tried to assuage the anger barclays staff will defer payment
of bonuses for up to three years the financial times reported barclays
executives are flying to davos on commercial airlines rather than corporate
jets
after britain and france announced percent tax on big bonuses other
institutions such as goldman sachs and credit suisse have cut the controversial
payouts
the major banks face an uphill battle to stave off growing interference in their
affairs and the ethics onslaught appears never ending
obama called the annual payouts obscene as he outlined his reforms former
french prime minister lionel jospin said the bankers will take any bawling out
as long as they get their bonuses
multitude of international religious and faith leaders have become the latest
group to weigh in with withering commentaries for wef report which highlighted
what it called crisis of ethics and values
the most fundamental question today is whether we can adopt more
communitarian spirit or whether we will fall back into old habits and excesses
said the report faith and the global agenda values for the post crisis
economy
facebook poll of people in france germany india indonesia israel
mexico saudi arabia south africa turkey and the united states found that more
than two thirds believe the economic crisis is also crisis of ethics and
values
in the report lesley anne knight secretary general of caritas international
the roman catholic charity operating in more than countries said the crisis
had shown that deciders did not care about those most likely to suffer
attention was focused on financial mechanisms profits bonuses anything but
the human beings at whose doors the trail of disaster ended poor people
largely people who had been given loans they would struggle to repay and who
would subsequently lose their meagre savings and homes as result
mustafa cacgrici grand mufti of istanbul and professor of islamic theology
said globalisation had become so exaggeratedly individualistic hedonist
materialistic and in the last analysis destructive
katharine jefferts schori presiding bishop of the episcopal church said if
the wealthy of this world continue to reap outsized profits in the face of
mounting poverty we can expect only that violence and bloodshed and growing
global insecurity will be the result
sri sri ravi shankar the spiritual and humanitarian leader from india said
people have little or no faith left in banks and financial institutions and
called for moral revival
along the same lines as carbon credits system there could be points system
for corporate social responsibility csr too he suggested
korea declares no sail zone off west coast military
seoul jan afp
north korea has announced shipping exclusion zone off part of its west coast
south korean military official said tuesday move which in the past has
sometimes preceded missile test launches
the official confirmed to afp that the north had banned shipping from an area in
the yellow sea but gave no details yonhap news agency said seoul was watching
to see if there were any preparations for missile launch
geithner on hot seat over aig before restive congress
washington jan afp
us treasury secretary timothy geithner appears this week before lawmakers angry
over his part in the bailout of insurance giant aig with concerns mounting over
his role as the us administration top economic official
some analysts say geithner who was conspicuously absent during president barack
obama unveiling of tough proposals to regulate the banking system may now be
marginalized and could even be on his way out
the first casualty of the president political debacle will likely be timothy
geithner the severely overconfident treasury secretary well known as lapdog
of wall street wrote the left leaning journal the nation
geithner was effectively repudiated by the president last week when barack
obama abruptly announced new more aggressive approach to financial reform
but the immediate threat to geithner is the scandal of collusion and possibly
illegal behavior gathering around the federal reserve bank of new york for its
mega billion dollar takeover of insurance giant aig
on wednesday geithner must answer questions before the house of representatives
government oversight committee on his role when he was president of the new
york federal reserve in the controversial aig bailout
the congressional panel noted that internal aig emails obtained by the committee
to date indicate that the new york fed may have urged aig to keep secret the
details of the counterparty payments despite the fact that taxpayer dollars
made the payments possible
the fed provided loan of billion dollars to aig in september in what
would be the first portion of staggering bailout worth some billion
dollars
because aig used the funds to reimburse banks holding the distressed mortgage
securities some have called the move backdoor bailout of those firms
including goldman sachs and number of foreign banks
the details of the counterparty payments were initially kept secret but the
recipients were disclosed in march
the billion dollars in payments were made to number of firms france
societe generale germany deutsche bank and new york based investment bank
goldman sachs were the top three recipients
fed chairman ben bernanke who has also taken heat over aig and his economic
stewardship has welcomed congressional efforts to look into the aig bailout
the new york fed has delivered pages of records that were requested by
the house committee
but with the political landscape shifting after key republican victory in
special senate election last week geithner and bernanke are now in the
crosshairs of critics
john hussman of hussman funds said it is time to replace both bernanke and
geithner
since the beginning of the credit crisis both of these bureaucrats have proven
themselves to be ardent defenders of bank bondholders but danger to the
interests of the public hussman wrote in weekly commentary
finnish unemployment rose to pct in official
helsinki jan afp
finland unemployment rate rose to percent last year up from percent
in the national statistics agency said tuesday
in the average number of unemployed persons was which was
higher than in statistics finland said in statement
finland economy is highly dependent on exports and has been hit strongly by
the global economic crisis which has forced many finnish companies to cut jobs
due to weakened demand
while there have been some positive news from finland important trade partners
like germany the nordic country recovery from the recession is expected to be
slow
the finnish government said in december it expected the economy to contract by
percent in recession deeper than the percent fall previously
forecast for the year
india celebrates republic day under tight security
new delhi jan afp
blanket fog obscured india th republic day celebrations tuesday with the
annual military parade in new delhi held under heightened security due to fears
of militant attacks
before the ceremonies kicked off indian and pakistani troops exchanged fire
along their border in kashmir while four policemen were hurt in bomb blasts in
the northeast where separatist groups traditionally disrupt the event
paramilitary officer sagwan in kashmir accused pakistan of opening fire to
help cross border rebels sneak into the indian zone of the divided territory but
said no one was injured in the clash the third reported exchange this year
in new delhi south korean president lee myung bak the guest of honour at the
main celebration joined his indian counterpart pratibha patil in bullet proof
enclosure as the military paraded its latest weaponry
around police officers lined barricades across delhi and paramilitary
soldiers manned sand bagged pillboxes along the fogged out eight kilometre
five mile parade route city police commissioner dadwal said
special emphasis was laid on anti sabotage checks access control measures and
intelligence coordination he added
elaborate air defence measures including deployment of anti aircraft guns
were also taken to check possible intrusion of air space dadwal said
dense fog spoiled the spectacle for thousands of spectators watching the march
past which included camel back troops along delhi ceremonial rajpath avenue
india also showcased its latest prized possession an israel built airborne
early warning system which joined plane fly past that was largely obscured
from view
president patil on the eve of the celebrations hailed the achievements of the
past years but warned of growing gap between demand and supply of food
products
there is rising demand for food grains and this foretells the need for an
intense focus on increasing agriculture productivity to ensure food availability
and avoid spiralling food prices patil said
the contribution of agriculture to gross domestic product has skidded from
percent in to percent in prompting worries of lopsided economic
growth
security was especially tight this year following series of incidents and
alerts
on friday india upped airport security and warned its embassies in neighbouring
countries of possible passenger plane hijacking attempts by islamic militants
following intelligence tip offs
last week raid by taliban gunmen and suicide bombers in the heart of the
afghan capital kabul also set alarm bells ringing with its strong echoes of the
militant attacks on india financial capital mumbai
celebrations were held across the country and similar measures were enforced in
major cities such as mumbai and the insurgency hit northeast
separatist sponsored strike kept people off the streets in towns across the
kashmir valley where thousands have died since in an anti indian revolt
republic day marks the date in when india new constitution came into
effect india gained independence from britain in but went through
transitional phase when it was still classed as dominion
the th anniversary comes as india is emerging as an increasingly powerful
economic and diplomatic player but some used the occasion to highlight domestic
concerns over unemployment poverty healthcare and social inequality
ethiopian airlines says crash survivors very unlikely
addis ababa jan afp
ethiopian airlines tuesday said it was very unlikely that any survivors would
be found among the people flying on one of its jets which crashed into the
sea shortly after leaving beirut
spokeswoman wogayehu tefere also told afp that bodies had been recovered by
foreign military off lebanon coast since the boeing plunged flaming into the
mediterranean the worst disaster in the airline long history
it is very unlikely that we can still recover some survivors but the search
and rescue operations are going on she said
so far bodies have been recovered and according to the first report of our
team there there are six ethiopian bodies among them and eight lebanese but
it has to be confirmed wogayehu added
ethiopian airlines which was established in and operates an all boeing
fleet is considered one of africa best carriers
lebanese information minister tarek mitri earlier said that only bodies had
so far been recovered by task force including ships from the united nations
interim force in lebanon unifil us navy destroyer as well as aircraft from
france britain and cyprus
according to lebanese and airline officials the passengers comprised
lebanese nationals ethiopians one french one british one iraqi one
syrian one turkish and another of as yet undetermined nationality
ethiopian airlines on monday sent an investigative team to beirut
we are still expecting the last news from our team in beirut the investigation
is going on wogaheyu said
we don have yet clear idea about the causes of the accident but it might
most probably be the bad weather not an attack she said
wogayehu added that she expected the ethiopian authorities to organise
memorial ceremony for the victims on wednesday
yemen court jails seven qaeda militants
sanaa jan afp
yemeni court sentenced on tuesday seven suspected al qaeda members between
five and ten years in jail after convicting them of plotting to attack foreign
interests and tourists
the seven were arrested while preparing explosives and monitoring tourist buses
to attack them according to police their trial began on october
they were convicted of plotting to form an armed gang to execute criminal acts
targeting foreign tourists and interests and government installments according
to the verdict
three of them hussein al marwalah mohammed al ghawly and hani al aleeni were
sentenced to years in prison while three others yossuf al hajjaji abdullah
al matari and amin al najjar were jailed seven years
the seventh muteab al qadi was sentenced to five years in prison
the militants chanted god is great and praised al qaeda chief osama bin laden
as their leader after they heard the verdict
we want bin laden to rule by allah law shame on you people that our hands
are chained we betray bin laden as we have betrayed palestine in the past
they chanted
we tell the worshippers of the cross and the americans that we will not rest
until we liberate jerusalem marwalah said from the dock
yemen has been the target of number of attacks claimed by al qaeda against
foreign missions tourist sites and oil installations four south korean
tourists died in march in terrorist bombing in the historic city of sham
in march schoolgirl and policeman were killed when bomb struck
girls school near the us embassy the state department said the target was its
mission in sanaa
the yemeni government has intensified its military campaign against al qaeda as
international pressure mounted on sanaa to clamp down on the militants who are
believed to be regrouping in the impoverished country
al qaeda branch in yemen al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap has
claimed responsibility for the botched christmas day attack on us airliner
washington accused the group of training the nigerian assailant described by
bin laden as hero
debt looms over obama prime time address
washington jan afp
president barack obama will address the united states debt woes in his first
state of the union address wednesday with experts warning the country
superpower status depends on his actions
obama will appear before congress after tempestuous first year in office
which saw the economy teeter on the brink and the budget deficit rise to
trillion dollars sum worth more than india gross domestic product
the wars in iraq and afghanistan as well as massive injection of cash to keep
the wheels of the us economy rolling have exploded government spending while
revenues have shrunk with the economy
the president facing anger that politicians are saddling future generations
with crippling legacy will talk about ensuring that we begin to get our
fiscal house in order white house spokesman robert gibbs said monday
many experts hope obama will do more than talk
it is the worst economic future that we have ever had said pete domenici
former head of the senate powerful budget committee the united states of
america could end up second rate world power
such is the level of fear that there are dark murmurings that the us credit
rating gold standard that underpins the world bond markets may be
downgraded
domenici worries that creditors like china may be so concerned about
washington ability to pay back loans that they bump lending costs leaving the
united states unable to pay for its social programs or the military
that prospect however remote is acute enough that the white house is being
forced to act
ahead of obama address the administration announced it would freeze all
discretionary spending not linked to security for savings worth billion
over the next decade
obama may also announce the appointment of bipartisan committee to come up
with ways to balance the books feat the country has not achieved since bill
clinton was president
but that plan faces partisan logjam that afflicts washington as both parties
eye crucial mid term elections later this year
republicans have criticized plans for similar panel as ruse to provide
political cover for raising taxes and have threatened not to appoint members to
the panels in protest
democrats are suspicious deficit reduction will be used as pretext to slash
government projects the republicans have long opposed on political grounds
indeed some prominent democrats are calling for further short term spending in
the hope that unemployment might abate
john podesta president bill clinton last white house chief of staff recently
warned lawmakers against over correcting by cutting government spending
programs that have kept the us economy afloat
pursuing drastic and immediate deficit reduction when the economy has only
recently returned to growth and unemployment is still at percent would be an
enormous mistake he said
deficit spending in the near term will help produce return to robust economic
and employment growth yielding significant dividends in terms of future deficit
reduction
but the hope that the deficit will correct itself when the us economy picks up
and tax revenues rebound was roundly dismissed by domenici republican who on
monday launched bipartisan panel that will produce concrete debt reduction
plans by the end of the year
william cline senior fellow at the peterson institute for international
economics said whatever the politics obama may have to wait for rosier
economic picture before making drastic cuts
you have to somehow lay the foundations for controlling the fiscal deficit
