to be followed by joint press conference
the talks were to focus on arms deals israeli public radio reported
turkish officials are currently in israel to test drone unmanned aircraft that
israeli companies have manufactured for turkey army under joint million
dollar project long delayed amid technical snags and political tensions
prime minister recep tayyip erdogan central figure in the bilateral tensions
and president abdullah gul were not available to meet the israeli minister
citing programmes outside ankara
barak whose labour party is in favour of maintaining close ties with turkey
insisted on making the visit despite row that brought ankara to the verge of
recalling its ambassador from tel aviv
the storm broke monday when danny ayalon the deputy of israel ultra
nationalist foreign minister avigdor lieberman gave turkey ambassador
public dressing down in meeting called to protest turkish television series
for depicting israel and jews as baby snatchers and war criminals
as the unexpecting ambassador smiled ayalon turned to reporters and told them
in hebrew to pay attention that the envoy was made to sit on low couch and
that the turkish flag was removed from their table
bowing to pressure from furious ankara ayalon sent letter of apology to
ambassador oguz celikkol on wednesday cooling row that had threatened to
plunge the two already estranged allies into serious crisis
once flourishing bilateral ties took sharp downturn last year amid israel
war on gaza and its persisting blockade of the impoverished palestinian enclave
in memorable outburst erdogan stormed out of debate at the world economic
forum accusing the jewish state of barbarian acts and telling israeli
president shimon peres sitting next to him that you know well how to kill
people
ankara has said relations will continue to suffer unless israel ends the
humanitarian tragedy in gaza and revives peace talks with the palestinians
in october it excluded israel from joint air exercises in central turkey that
have been held for years angering tel aviv and prompting rebuke from
washington
turkey booming ties with syria and close contacts with iran have made its
snubs even harder for israel to swallow and raised questions on whether
erdogan government is taking key muslim majority nato member away from the
west
in november israel trade minister benjamin ben eliezer visited ankara in an
effort to defuse tensions and gul and peres met at the sidelines of un
climate summit in denmark the following month
turkey became israel main regional ally when the two signed military
cooperation accord in marking the outset of what was called strategic
partnership
the pact eased israel isolation in hostile arab neighbourhood while turkey
gained an ally against syria then an arch foe for sheltering kurdish rebel
leader abdullah ocalan and access to israel advanced military technolodgy
bitter ukraine to punish orange leaders at polls
kiev jan afp
disappointed with the failures of the orange revolution ukraine sunday was
poised to hand the pro russia viktor yanukovich comeback in presidential polls
at the expense of his west leaning rivals
opinion polls show yanukovich with lead of around percent over his
nearest challenger the charismatic prime minister yulia tymoshenko but with
candidates the election appears certain to require second round
the orange revolution swept ukraine old order from power and raised hopes
of new era free of kremlin influence for the country of million that would
set precedent for other former soviet states
but president viktor yushchenko the pro eu figurehead of the revolution is set
to record dismal single digit rating and be eliminated in the first round
punished for failing to end corruption and implement urgent reforms
voted for yanukovich am sick of the orange leaders want stability
these last five years were madness said volodymyr efremenko manual
labourer as he cast his vote in kiev school
yanukovich an ex mechanic jailed twice for petty crime in the soviet union
was ingloriously beaten in after the orange revolution street protests
forced re run of presidential polls marred by mass vote rigging in his favour
tymoshenko famed for her peasant style blonde hair braid is seen as more in
favour of eu integration than yanukovich but has also played up her close ties
to russian strongman prime minister vladimir putin
today is not just the election of candidate but when ukraine determines its
future for the next decades tymoshenko declared as she voted in her home city
of dnipropetrovsk alongside her rarely seen businessman husband olexander
voting in kiev yanukovich confidently declared that the ukrainian people want
change and new stage in the history of our country will begin very soon
turnout after the first three hours of voting was percent the election
commission said but polls were to stay open until gmt the run off vote is
scheduled for february
the bitter campaign 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
increasingly voters have critical attitude to all politicians they want to
see new faces said volodymyr fesenko director of the penta centre for
political studies in kiev
the level of cynicism in ukraine is such 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
andrew wilson ukraine expert with the european council on foreign relations
said the size of the gap between yanukovich and tymoshenko would be crucial in
the first round
less than percent and tymoshenko is confident she can close it in the second
round percent and the election will be close more than percent is
difficult he said
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
cricket ordinary bangladesh dent india batting pride
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
shakib al hasan and shahadat hossain shared eight wickets to spark india
collapse in the first test against bangladesh here on sunday
left arm spinner shakib took and paceman shahadat as world number one
india struggled to reach when the opening day play was called off nearly
minutes before scheduled close due to bad light
double world record holder sachin tendulkar not out and stand in captain
virender sehwag were the only batsmen to give good account of themselves
in dismal batting performance
the others failed to cope with disciplined pace spin combination just day
after sehwag had described bangladesh as an ordinary side
bangladesh had chance to dismiss tendulkar on but imrul kayes dropped
catch at first slip off debutant paceman shaiful islam
tendulkar also became the first batsman to complete test runs during
his ball knock achieving the feat when he pulled off spinner mohammad
mahmudullah for four in the second session
he has so far made runs in tests he is also the world leading
scorer in one day internationals and holds the records for maximum
number of centuries in both tests and one dayers
in the current test tendulkar has so far hit one six and six fours
india were comfortably placed at for no loss before losing their way in the
second session which saw the visitors lose six wickets for runs
india batting woes began with the dismissal of sehwag who uppishly drove
shakib to tamim iqbal at short cover after hitting nine fours in brisk ball
knock for his th test half century
sehwag unbeaten on at lunch completed his half century immediately after
the interval when he hammered shahadat for three fours in an over
left handed gautam gambhir fell to loose shot at the same total of
chasing an away going delivery from shahadat to be caught behind
the bangladeshi paceman struck again when he removed rahul dravid four who
was bowled while attempting to work the ball on the on side
shakib got his second wicket when he had venkatsai laxman seven stumped by
mushfiqur rahim who broke the stumps when the batsman lost balance after
inside edging delivery on to his pads
yuvraj singh also did not last long hitting shakib full toss straight to
rubel hossain at mid on after contributing just
dinesh karthik fell for duck caught by diving raqibul hasan at gully off
shahadat
india lost two more wickets in the last session with shahadat removing amit
mishra and shakib accounting for zaheer khan
bangladesh skipper shakib put india in to bat in overcast conditions after the
match started minutes late due to fog but his fast bowlers failed to strike
in the opening hour
india earlier suffered double blow when regular captain mahendra singh dhoni
back spasms and off spinner harbhajan singh stiff neck were ruled out of the
match they were replaced by karthik and leg spinner mishra
under fire merkel holds political crisis meeting
berlin jan afp
german chancellor angela merkel was due sunday to hold what was being billed as
crisis meeting of her key coalition allies in bid to quell internal
squabbling that has seen her own popularity slide
the conservative merkel was set to hold talks with guido westerwelle
foreign minister and head of the free democrats fdp her new coalition
partners as well as horst seehofer from her bavarian sister party the csu
germany new look coalition formed after merkel convincing election win in
september has experienced torrid few months amid bickering over tax policy
afghanistan and turkey admission to the european union
the new coalition has got off to very poor start especially in tax
questions gerd langguth professor of political science at bonn university and
merkel biographer told afp
ordinary germans appear to agree with strong majority percent saying
the new coalition has had bad start according to recent poll by
independent opinion research institute forschungsgruppe wahlen
analysts said the main flashpoint at sunday talks would be over fiscal policy
with the fdp seen as business friendly party demanding the government
upholds pledge for deep tax breaks from next year
according to the bild am sonntag paper westerwelle has told merkel this is
absolutely the core priority for the fdp
however leading christian democrats as well as several state and local leaders
say tax giveaway now would be disastrous given the tattered state of germany
public finances
the recession in germany the worst since world war ii has blown huge
hole in the budget with the government estimating it will have to take on
record billion euros billion dollars of new debt in
ahead of the meeting fdp economic policy expert hermann otto solms said
postponement of the tax cuts until year before the next legislative
election would be acceptable
if the relief comes into force in that would correspond with the original
demands of the fdp solms told the tagesspiegel am sonntag
one thing however is non negotiable for the fdp the tax reform of billion
euros in this legislative period must be implemented in full he added
survey for bild am sonntag showed that percent of voters expected the
coalition to push through their tax cutting plans despite the parlous state of
the public coffers
the new partners are also at loggerheads over the country mission in
afghanistan turkey eu accession and new museum about the fate of ethnic
germans expelled from eastern europe after
the squabbling has taken its toll in the opinion polls
recent forsa institute survey showed that opposition parties enjoyed more
public support than the ruling coalition for the first time since the election
support softened especially for the fdp which lost two points
backing for the usually popular merkel the most powerful woman in the world for
four consecutive years according to forbes magazine has also dropped sharply
amid sniping from within her own ranks
dimap survey on january showed satisfaction with merkel performance had
slumped to percent drop of points from the last time the poll was taken
in december
and the forschungsgruppe wahlen survey indicated that percent of voters
thought merkel was doing little to set the course for the government compared
to percent who approved of her management of the coalition
national hockey league results
washington jan afp
national hockey league results and standings after saturday games
saturday january th results
chicago columbus
dallas detroit so
colorado new jersey
los angeles boston so
san jose edmonton
ottawa montreal
ny islanders buffalo so
florida tampa bay
atlanta carolina
st louis ny rangers
phoenix minnesota
vancouver pittsburgh
eastern conference
atlantic division
new jersey
pittsburgh
ny rangers
ny islanders
philadelphia
northeast division
buffalo
boston
ottawa
montreal
toronto
southeast division
washington
atlanta
florida
tampa bay
carolina
western conference
central division
chicago
nashville
detroit
st louis
columbus
northwest division
colorado
vancouver
calgary
minnesota
edmonton
pacific division
san jose
phoenix
los angeles
dallas
anaheim
note overtime losses ot are worth one point in the standings and are not
included in the loss column
sunday january th schedule
chicago at detroit pm
philadelphia at washington pm
calgary at anaheim pm
montreal at ny rangers pm
all times are eastern
afp
nepal police arrest tibetans for illegal entry
kathmandu jan afp
nepalese police said on sunday they have arrested group of tibetans for
crossing the border into the himalayan nation illegally
eight tibetan men and two women were arrested at lamabagar village near the
border on saturday night police officer surya narayan shrestha told afp from
dolakha district kilometres miles northeast of kathmandu
they did not have any valid travel documents and they could not communicate
with us the police officer said adding that all of them were handed over to
the immigration department for further investigation
some tibetans used to make the dangerous trip from chinese controlled
tibet to nepal every year on their way to india to meet their exiled spiritual
leader the dalai lama
but activists say the number has fallen sharply since china mobilised its
military in tibet in march and that the nepalese government has responded
to pressure from beijing by adopting harder line on the exiles
nepal is home to around exiled tibetans who began arriving in large
numbers in when the dalai lama fled the region after failed uprising
sandwiched between india and china nepal has upheld beijing one china
policy that views tibet as an integral part of china
the government has repeatedly said it will not tolerate anti china activity as
it seeks to preserve friendly ties with its northern neighbour
basketball nba results and standings
washington jan afp
results and standings after saturday national basketball association games
saturday january th results
new orleans indiana
charlotte phoenix
washington sacramento
detroit new york
memphis san antonio
oklahoma city miami
utah milwaukee
cleveland la clippers
eastern conference
atlantic div pct gb
boston
toronto
new york
philadelphia
new jersey
central div pct gb
cleveland
chicago
milwaukee
detroit
indiana
southeast div pct gb
atlanta
orlando
miami
charlotte
washington
western conference
northwest div pct gb
denver
portland
utah
oklahoma city
minnesota
pacific div pct gb
la lakers
phoenix
la clippers
sacramento
golden state
southwest div pct gb
dallas
san antonio
houston
memphis
new orleans
sunday january th schedule
dallas at toronto pm
utah at denver pm
all times are eastern
afp
football cska sofia name romanian andone as new coach
sofia jan afp
romanian ioan andone was on sunday named new coach of bulgarian club cska sofia
which last week sacked lyuboslav penev
the year old andone who has previously coached range of romanian teams as
well as saudi arabian side al ettifaq and dubai al ahli signed an month
contract with cska
cska sacked penev in teh wake of series of squabbles over his players poor
discipline and performance in the recent months
according to days sport newspaper penev had refused to have his salary
significantly cut and receive the rest of his money if cska manages to win the
bulgarian league title
cska entered the winter break in second spot in the league four points behind
leaders litex lovech
am aware of the goals of the team am aware of the responsibility and am
ready to fulfil these goals andone was cited by state bta news agency as
saying sunday
in turn cska president dimitar borisov told bta that the club offered andone
monthly salary of euros
the club which had moved to sign serbian coach miodrag jesic who had been at
cska helm between to was forced to hunt for another substitute
after jesic failed to break his current contract with libyan club al ittihad
gdf suez in takeover approach to international power report
london jan afp
french energy giant gdf suez has made takeover approach to london listed
energy group international power according to newspaper report on sunday
the sunday times which did not cite its source said takeover talks had
intensified in the run up to christmas with phonecalls between gdf suez boss
gerard mestrallet and international power chief executive philip cox
both companies refused to comment on the report when questioned by afp on
sunday
international power has stock market capitalization of about billion
pounds billion euros billion dollars it has interests in power
stations around the world and owns half dozen power plants in britain
the sunday times added that state controlled gdf suez had appointed bnp paribas
goldman sachs and rothschild to help work on possible cash and shares bid
the share price of international power has soared by around percent since bid
speculation first emerged last november
resettle haitians in africa says senegal
paris jan afp
senegal president on sunday called for africa to make room for victims of
haiti earthquake to restart their lives on the continent from where their
ancestors were snatched as slaves
the repeated calamities that befall haiti prompt me to propose radical
solution to take measures to create somewhere in africa the conditions for
haitians to return president abdoulaye wade told france info radio
they did not choose to go to that island he added referring to the mass
deportation of african slaves to haiti then french colony from the th
century
it is our duty to recognise their right to come back to the land of their
ancestors
his spokesman mamadou bamba ndiaye gave further details of the proposals
if it is just few people we will offer them roof and patch of land he
told the radio station if they come in large numbers we will give them
whole region
massive earthquake struck haiti on tuesday killing tens of thousands of
people and leaving more than million others homeless according to the haitian
government the island is also often hit by deadly hurricanes and floods
it wouldn be the first time that former slaves or their descendants were
brought back to africa said wade citing similar measures taken in liberia
now the problem is to know how and who will bear the cost
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 hopes fade of finding
more survivors after haiti devastating earthquake
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 quake 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
the world health organisation estimates between to people in haiti
have been killed by the earthquake
the bodies are being shipped by truck through the port au prince suburb of cite
soleil to the town of titayen the site of many common graves
the only trucks see here are those carrying dead bodies said rose
delismond resident of cite soleil
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
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
meanwhile off the haitian coast haitian woman gave birth to boy on board
of us coast guard cutter as she prepared to take us navy helicopter bound
for the aircraft carrier carl vinson the baby and mother are in good condition
the carrier is currently off the coast of haiti providing humanitarian aid to
victims of the quake
cricket honours even as south africa square series
johannesburg jan afp
morne morkel took three wickets in seven balls as south africa swept to
series levelling victory on the fourth day of the fourth and final test at the
wanderers stadium on sunday
south africa won by an innings and runs when england were bowled out for
in their second innings in the last over before lunch
only paul collingwood stood firm for england scoring on morning during
which seven wickets fell for runs
morkel finished with four for he and dale steyn shared wickets in match
dominated by the fast bowlers they also shared the man of the match award
england captain andrew strauss admitted graeme smith and his team didn
give us sniff in this test match
england went into the match up in the series after winning by an innings and
