from the rubble sheets curtains even doors we chased them off with stones
and sticks said nazaire
at nightfall the men regrouped lit fires and kept watch
arriving little later year old christer desulmain asked for help to dig
out the rotting bodies of victims emanating an unbearable smell
we try to get organized we try to form communities but they also need to send
us help from outside he said
british couple held by somali pirates fears death in days
london jan afp
british man taken hostage with his wife by somali pirates almost three months
ago has said he fears the couple could be executed within days
paul chandler who was kidnapped with his wife rachel chandler on october
when pirates boarded their yacht in the indian ocean also said the pair were
being treated like captive animals
they ve lost patience they set deadline of three or four days if they don
hear then they say they will let us die the year old told britain itv
news
afraid that they will just kill us and abandon us in the desert here he
said in the interview given to the broadcaster late wednesday
the couple was snatched when their yacht the lynn rival was sailing from the
seychelles en route to tanzania they were moved to mainland somalia at the end
of october according to one of the pirates
the husband made similar statement in video broadcast by different british
television channel on november in which he said the pirates were losing
patience and may kill the couple in week without ransom payment
the pirates have demanded seven million dollars million euros but the
foreign office has ruled out paying it
in the latest video paul chandler said he had been violently separated from his
year old wife who was now being constantly tormented
we tried to stay together and they threw us to the ground and whipped us and
beat rachel with the rifle butts and was dragged off and taken to different
location he said
was allowed to telephone her about days ago she said she was being
tormented all the time and she said she was giving up
paul chandler also told the broadcaster that british military ship that was in
range when the couple were kidnapped could have attempted to rescue them
previous report in the times newspaper said the couple had been moved between
safe houses close to haradheere in somalia to prevent their capture by other
gangs or islamist insurgents
itv news said it had passed the information to the couple family and foreign
office before broadcasting the interview
the foreign office said they were monitoring the situation and doing everything
possible to secure the couple release
figure skating us championships results
spokane washington jan afp
results here on thursday from the united states figure skating championships
qualifier for the vancouver winter olympics
ice dance
compulsory dance
meryl davis charlie white pts tanith belbin ben agosto
kim navarro brent bommentre emily samuelson evan bates
madison hubbell keiffer hubbell madison chock greg zuerlein
google quarterly net profit up five fold
san francisco jan afp
google on thursday posted five fold rise in quarterly net profit to
billion dollars and said annual net profit rose percent to billion
dollars
fourth quarter revenue rose percent to billion dollars the internet
giant said in statement
given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery this was
an extraordinary end to the year google chief executive eric schmidt said
as we enter we remain hugely optimistic about the internet and are
continuing to invest heavily in technological innovation for the benefit not
only of our users and customers but also the wider web schmidt said
figure skating european championship results collated
tallinn jan afp
results from the third day of the european figure skating championships here on
thursday
men final result
yevgeny plushenko rus stephane lambiel sui brian
joubert fra michal brezina cze samuel contesti ita
yannick ponsero fra alban preaubert fra
javier fernandez esp stefan lindemann ger tomas
verner cze
kevin van der perren bel adrian schultheiss swe
anton kovalevski ukr sergei voronov rus kristoffer
berntsson swe paolo bacchini ita viktor pfeifer
aut gregor urbas slo zoltan kelemen rom
jorik hendrickx bel
free skate standings
yevgeny plushenko rus stephane lambiel sui brian
joubert fra samuel contesti ita michal brezina cze
javier fernandez esp yannick ponsero fra
stefan lindemann ger alban preaubert fra tomas verner
cze
kevin van der perren bel sergei voronov rus
adrian schultheiss swe anton kovalevski ukr paolo
bacchini ita viktor pfeifer aut kristoffer berntsson
swe gregor urbas slo jorik hendrickx bel
zoltan kelemen rom
ice dance
standings after original dance
oksana domnina maxim shabalin rus federica faiella massimo scali
ita jana khokhlova sergei novitski rus nathalie
pechalat fabian bourzat fra sinead kerr john kerr gbr
alexandra zaretsky roman zaretsky isr anna cappellini luca lanotte
ita anna zadorozhniuk sergei verbillo ukr ekaterina
bobrova dmitri soloviev rus alla beknazarova vladimir zuev ukr
nora hoffmann maxim zavozin hun pernelle carron lloyd jones
fra christina beier william beier ger zoe blanc
pierre loup bouquet fra caitlin mallory kristjan rand est
penny coomes nicholas buckland gbr kira geil dmitri matsjuk
aut kamila hajkova david vincour cze allison reed otar
japaridze geo nikola visnova lukas csolley svk
katelyn good nikolaj sorensen den federica testa christopher
mior ita nikki georgiadis graham hockley gre oksana
klimova sasha palomaki fin ramona elsener florian roost sui
lesia valadzenkava vitali vakunov blr
original dance standings
federica faiella massimo scali ita oksana domnina maxim shabalin
rus nathalie pechalat fabian bourzat fra jana
khokhlova sergei novitski rus sinead kerr john kerr gbr
alexandra zaretsky roman zaretsky isr anna zadorozhniuk sergei
verbillo ukr ekaterina bobrova dmitri soloviev rus anna
cappellini luca lanotte ita alla beknazarova vladimir zuev ukr
nora hoffmann maxim zavozin hun pernelle carron lloyd jones
fra zoe blanc pierre loup bouquet fra christina
beier william beier ger caitlin mallory kristjan rand est
penny coomes nicholas buckland gbr kamila hajkova david vincour
cze allison reed otar japaridze geo kira geil dmitri
matsjuk aut nikola visnova lukas csolley svk
katelyn good nikolaj sorensen den oksana klimova sasha palomaki
fin nikki georgiadis graham hockley gre federica
testa christopher mior ita ramona elsener florian roost sui
lesia valadzenkava vitali vakunov blr
figure skating plushenko crushes rivals to claim sixth euro title
tallinn jan afp
yevgeny plushenko gave warning that he is ready to defend his olympic title next
month by crushing his rivals to claim sixth men gold at the european figure
skating championships here on thursday
the competition in the estonian capital is the first major event since the
year old russian retired four years ago because of knee injuries after claiming
gold at the turin olympics
but the three time world champion showed that he can still compete at the
highest level finishing massive points ahead of olympic silver medallist
stephane lambiel of switzerland
defending champion brian joubert had to settle for bronze after sloppy free
skating final
things have gone according to plan but the most important thing is the
olympics said plushenko
the russian only blemish in his four and half minute routine was the
doubling of his planned triple lutz which he two footed on the landing
skating to edvin marton tango amore he opened with solid quadruple
toeloop triple toeloop combination adding an additional five triples including
two in combination
he scored for the free skate and overall
lambiel also returning from retirement after thigh injury fell during his
routine to verdi la traviata but held on for his third silver medal at
europeans with in the free skate and overall
three time winner joubert struggled in his programme to ronan hardiman ancient
land dropping to third from second after the short programme scoring
and overall
plushenko gold gives russia their second title in as many events at these
championships after yuko kavaguti and alexander smirnov won the pairs title on
wednesday
russia are also poised to take the ice dance title with oksana domnina and maxim
shabalin leading thursday original dance to take comfortable point
margin on italy federica faiella and massimo scali into friday free skate
final
wall street slumps on obama bank limit plans
new york jan afp
wall street stocks tumbled thursday with the blue chip dow index down more than
two percent after us president barack obama unveiled plans to limit the size
and scope of us banks and finance firms
the dow jones industrial average slumped points percent to
in final trades posting its biggest drop for the year and extending
losses after big drop on wednesday
the nasdaq composite tumbled points percent to and the
standard amp poor index dropped points percent to
provisional close of
the market was dragged down mainly by concerns over obama new plans to limit the
size and scope of us banks and finance firms
persistent worries over moves to clamp down lending in china the global
economic growth driver also troubled investors analysts said
urgent google quarterly net profit up five fold
san francisco jan afp
google on thursday posted five fold rise in quarterly net profit to
billion dollars and said annual net profit rose percent to billion
dollars
alert
google fourth quarter net profit up five fold to billion dollars
mass funerals as troops patrol nigeria riot city
jos nigeria jan afp
tank rumbled through the troubled nigerian city of jos thursday as soldiers
escorted truck loaded with bodies to mass grave after four days of inter
religious clashes left some dead
with permanent curfew relaxed for few hours religious leaders conducted
mass funerals after the government ordered in troops to quell attacks by
rampaging gun and machete wielding gangs that had raged since sunday
one after another bodies shrouded in white were laid in rows and on top of
each other in square metre square foot grave at the city
narukuta cemetery
the city chief imam balarabe dawud appealed to muslims not to avenge the
killings
appeal to all muslims in plateau to remain calm and law abiding our muslim
brethren in all parts of the country to refrain from any reprisal attacks he
said
many of the shrouds were blood stained testimony to the shocking violence of
the slaughter that began sunday reportedly sparked by muslim christian land
dispute
many were hacked to death with machetes others simply shot according to the
international committee of the red cross
impunity is the fuel that has been the fire of senseless killings burning in
jos dawud said in eulogy delivered in the local hausa dialect
dawud spoke as security was reportedly being stepped up in selected states in
the predominantly muslim north where violence linked to islamist sects has
killed hundreds over the past year alone
vice president goodluck jonathan pledged that all those responsible for the
killings would be arrested
the federal government is determined to secure convictions of the perpetrators
of this crime no matter how highly placed he said in his first broadcast to
the nation since he has began filling in for president umaru yar adua
yar adua has been hospitalised in jeddah for heart ailment since november
those found to have engineered encouraged or fanned the embers of this crisis
through their actions or pronouncements will be arrested and speedily brought
to justice jonathan said
leaders of both faiths claim the fighting had little to do with religion and was
an expression of the failure of the political leadership to address ethnic
differences
christian leaders have blamed nigerian troops for the killings in jos which
straddles the rough dividing line between nigeria muslim dominated north and
the largely christian south
the senate said it would investigate reports that some of those arrested were
wearing military uniform
we are sad to announce that the real culprits that have been killing our
christian brethren are nigerian soldiers said the plateau state christian
elders forum in statement
the top muslim body in nigeria the jamaatul nasril islam jni said it was
highly disturbed with the repeated act of mass killing of innocent people and
destruction of property by hoodlums in jos
figures provided by christian and muslim leaders and paramedics pointed to
death toll of around with hundreds more wounded being treated in
overflowing hospitals and clinics
the red cross said people had been forced to flee many of them taking
refuge in military barracks churches and mosques around the city
thousands of troops patrolled the streets on thursday manning checkpoints and
stopping and searching vehicles
residents said unrest eased the night before and authorities relaxed
permanent curfew allowing people to leave their homes to replenish depleted
stocks of food and water after the curfew halted supplies to the city of some
the situation is calm said david maiyaki resident of nassarawa gwom
predominantly christian area where the clashes first erupted on sunday
plateau police commissioner gregory anting said normalcy has returned
there hasn been any report of violence since morning and those who fled at
the wake of the crisis are gradually returning home
but life was slow in picking up as most of the shops markets banks and the
airport remained shut
jos has been hotbed of religious violence in nigeria whose million people
are divided almost equally between followers of the two faiths
un chief ban ki moon has expressed alarm over the clashes and appealed to all
sides for restraint
obama health care plan in limbo
washington jan afp
president barack obama top ally in the us congress poured cold water thursday
on widely discussed way to rescue his embattled push to overhaul us health
care from deep in political limbo
democratic house speaker nancy pelosi said she did not have the votes to pass
the senate health care bill citing unrest and unease among house
democrats who prefer their more robust version of the sweeping legislation
in its present form without any changes don think it possible to pass
the senate bill in the house she told reporters don see the votes for it
at this time
pelosi tempered her doubts by saying nothing is discarded everything is on the
table and underlined that democrats will go forward on obama top domestic
priority because the present system is unsustainable
the overhaul was thrown into uncertainty after republicans won special
election in massachusetts on tuesday stripping away the already fragile vote
democratic supermajority needed to ensure senate passage
top house and senate democrats had hoped to meld the two chambers and vote
again on compromise bill but their plan collided with republicans newly
acquired power to stall the legislation
house democrats met to consider their options including passing the senate bill
and trying to change it later crafting stripped down measure or pushing
series of what one lawmaker called bite sized health care proposals anchored
on largely uncontroversial items in the giant package
we re not in big rush pelosi said shortly after talks with senate
democratic majority leader harry reid we ll take the time it needs
at the white house obama spokesman robert gibbs said the president believes it
is the exact right thing to do by giving this some time by letting the dust
settle if you will and looking for the best path forward
republicans gleeful over winning the massachusetts senate seat held for nearly
half century by democratic icon ted kennedy have said tuesday election
means the democratic approach is dead
the bottom line is nobody wants this bill but washington special interests
and if they jam it through think they re going to face fire storm from the
american public said house minority leader john boehner
they have also pointed to recent public opinion polls showing stiff opposition
to the democratic approach though voters who say the plan does not go far
enough account for much of the resistance
and pelosi said the vote has not diminished the need for affordable quality
health care reform and for health care to be available to all americans as
right not privilege
democrats already worried about the fate of their majorities in november mid
term elections hoped to have clear plan before obama delivers his marquee
state of the union speech on wednesday aides said
we have to get bill passed we know that that predicate that we all
subscribe to we have to pass legislation said pelosi
the united states is the world richest nation but the only industrialized
democracy that does not provide health care coverage to all of its citizens
the united states spends more than double what britain france and germany do
per person on health care
but it lags behind other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality
according to the organization for economic cooperation and development oecd
football us caps camp with friendly against honduras
los angeles jan afp
united states will conclude day training camp for the south africa
world cup on saturday with friendly against fellow qualifier honduras
largely us based talent pool for the americans includes forward conor casey
who scored two goals in victory last october at honduras that clinched
world cup berth for the us squad
defender jonathan bornstein who also started against honduras and midfielder
benny feilhaber who replaced casey in the american lineup are also on hand for
the latest matchup against the central american squad
the match is great way to start the year as we commence preparations for the
world cup us coach bob bradley said
ten players from similar camp in made the final us world cup roster while
from the january camp were on the us side that made the final eight in
the americans preparing for sixth consecutive world cup appearance will face
england on june in their opener in south africa and also face slovenia and
algeria in first round matches
honduras which qualified for the first time since will open june
against chile and also face spain and switzerland
urgent wall street slumps on obama bank limit plans
washington jan afp
the blue chip dow jones industrial average index tumbled more than two percent
after us president barack obama unveiled plans to limit the size and scope of us
banks and finance firms
football spanish cup results
madrid jan afp
spanish cup results on thursday
quarter finals
st leg
thursday
racing santander colsa diop osasuna pandiani
atletico madrid celta vigo late result
wednesday
real mallorca castro getafe del moral miku
deportivo la coruna fc sevilla negredo renato navas
brazil sees pct gdp growth in hike in investment
brasilia jan afp
brazil is forecasting economic growth of percent this year and percent
increase in investment the finance ministry said thursday
the projections confirmed official optimism that brazil latin america
biggest economy was back on track to becoming one of the world leading
emerging nations
the expansion of gross domestic product comes after short and shallow downturn
brought on by last year global financial crisis that reduced brazilian growth
to an anemic percent
according to cabinet report submitted by finance minister guido mantega
average annual growth between and will be percent
consumers were expected to spend an additional percent this year boosting
gross domestic product
the growth is sustainable because it relies on solid bases and inflation is
under control there is fiscal responsibility and low external vulnerability
mantega said
alert
dow index falls more than two percent down on obama bank limit plans
haitians rush for cash as bank re opens
port au prince jan afp
hundreds of haitians rushed thursday to make deposits and withdraw cash as
main bank re opened almost nine days after massive earthquake left the capital
city in ruins
under extremely tight security including individual screenings of customers and
their documents and shut down of the surrounding street patrons of the
central bank of haiti brh stood in single file to await visit to teller
because the main brh offices were damaged in the quake the bank was forced to
open for business at the nearby offices of construction company
these are temporary counters which can offer limited number of operations
such as depositing checks and money or taking out money but cannot carry out
more complicated transactions like currency exchanges the bank security
chief yves willy riviere told afp
renee lafortune nurse came to the temporary bank along with hundreds of
other hospital employees and said she simply could not wait
don have any more cash and can borrow money from my friends because
they are in the same situation she said
haiti devastating january earthquake has sent prices soaring as the
population competed for basic supplies amid general shortages and an influx of
foreigners with dollars
traders have been making huge profits selling water oil and phone cards
milliliter bag of water that once cost gourde now costs three the soda
that cost gourde now costs
phone cards despite having the price labeled on them also cost double so too
do cigarettes and alcohol especially for luxuries like single cooked meal
prices in the capital of the poorest country in the region are now comparable to
those in madrid or rome
one bank customer truck driver fenelon rolso pledged to take all the money he
could get from the wad of checks in his hand to get as far away from here as
quickly as possible
rolso said he feared the whole city might soon be evacuated due to the rising
risk of diseases in the squalid open air refugee camps where most inhabitants
are now forced to live
there are other small signs of normal life slowly returning on the streets of
the capital
going back to work is the only thing can do to help my family said young
danache metelus bas he snipped at man hair at the imposing champs du mars
square where thousands are squatting in the open
and amid the chaos colin shiller the logistics chief of haiti telecoms waited
in front of his company devastated headquarters
waiting for an engineer to see how we can clear all this don know how
long it will take said shiller dressed in striped shirt
meanwhile another aftershock measuring shook the city thursday
interrupting government meeting although there were no immediate reports of
damage
two french military officers engineering specialists were also inspecting
nearby bank building the facade of which was mostly made from glass
from the outside the building seems sound but we must check inside to see if
the structure can withstand further shocks said one of the officers who asked
not to be named
we will then advise the bank chief of our decision
world will not back down on iran clinton
washington jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton said thursday the international community
is unified in its resolve to put pressure on iran over its disputed nuclear
program and will not back down
however the chief us diplomat stopped short of renewing the us threat of
sanctions following weekend six power meeting in new york when china which is
reluctant to use such measures sent lower level envoy
let me be clear we will not be waited out and we will not back down clinton
told reporters as she stood with european union foreign affairs chief catherine
ashton
iran has for three months balked at an offer from the vienna based un
international atomic energy agency iaea to ship abroad low grade nuclear fuel
so it can be further enriched and returned to refuel tehran medical research
reactor
in vienna diplomats said wednesday the islamic republic had effectively
rejected the deal because it refused to accept some of the conditions called for
by the west and insisted on simultaneous exchange of fuel
western countries have ruled out such an exchange as unacceptable
but iran foreign minister manouchehr mottaki was quoted by the mehr news
agency as saying tehran had not rejected the principle of the exchange of
nuclear fuel
ministry spokesman ramin mehmanparast spoke of gradual exchange of fuel
clinton said the united states will continue our close consultations on the
next steps with its partners the four other un security council permanent
members russia china britain and france plus germany
the negotiating group is known as the plus
we are focused we are unified in our resolve to work toward pressure on iran
in the face of their continuing rejection of the overtures by the international
community the chief us diplomat said
we re going at this in very concerted and unified manner because we think
it important to send that message to the iranian leadership that the world
will act and the world will act together she added
ashton on her first visit to washington as the eu foreign policy chief echoed
clinton point speaking about determined and concerted steps
but clinton gave no idea when the plus would next meet after weekend
meeting in new york at the political directors level yielded no apparent results
and was attended by lower level chinese official
clinton described the meeting an another productive step along the way toward
accomplishing unified international action
speaking later with british foreign secretary david miliband clinton said she
was aware that china and other countries an apparent allusion to russia
had questions about how effective sanctions would be
but we are unified in the position that we have to influence the iranian
government behavior concerning its nuclear program she said when queried on
how unified the world community is given china apparent reluctance
clinton indirectly urged china to consider the global consequences if iran
acquired nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one
it would be so intensely destabilizing there is not country in the world
that is in the neighborhood the region or relies on the oil markets that
would not be directly affected clinton warned
the iaea proposal is designed to buy breathing room as the big powers try to
halt iran uranium enrichment which the west fears masks drive to build
nuclear bomb
denying the charge iran says it seeks peaceful uses of nuclear energy
nfl cowboys sign phillips to two year extension
dallas texas jan afp
wade phillips will remain coach of the dallas cowboys for another two years
after signing contract extension with the national football league club team
owner jerry jones said thursday
the cowboys won the nfc east division title for the second time in phillips
three year tenure and won their first playoff game since but lost to
new orleans in second round playoff game last week
we want to build on the foundation we have put in place over the last three
years jones said want to take advantage of the continuity
only three teams have better record over the past three seasons than the
combined mark registered by the cowboys under phillips
excited about being the coach here whether it one year or years
phillips said the money is not the most important thing can tell you that
feel very comfortable think we can go further and we will go further
phillips had been among the lowest paid coaches in the nfl at about three
million dollars season
is he being underpaid probably for what think he is jones said the
bottom line is we have something that works he has great incentive to doing
what he wants to do anyway
the cowboys have gone team record seasons without reaching the super bowl
which next year will be played at the cowboys new billion dollar home
stadium
afp world news agenda
hong kong jan afp
what coming up around the world
haiti struggles to cope after huge quake
obama to speak on economy unemployment
us envoy meets palestinian leader abbas
port au prince haitians struggle to cope amid the chaos left by the january
quake haiti quake
elyria ohio president barack obama goes to ohio to talk about the economy and
jobs at time of painfully high unemployment us politics economy obama
ramallah west bank us middle east envoy george mitchell meets palestinian
president mahmoud abbas on regional trip to further efforts to restart the
peace process mideast us diplomacy
