will not accept any israeli presence either military or civilian on our land
abbas spokesman nabil abu rudeina told afp
abbas has refused to renew negotiations short of full israeli halt of
settlement activity in the west bank including annexed east jerusalem which the
palestinians consider their capital
this visit by mitchell is an attempt to save what remains of the peace
process which israel has paralysed abu rudeina said
this is because of israel refusal to completely halt settlements in all the
palestinian territories occupied in especially in jerusalem which we
consider red line in any negotiations he added
netanyahu has refused to limit construction in jerusalem which israel considers
its eternal indivisible capital but has said he is willing to meet abbas
face to face at any time
the palestinians are piling demand upon demand they should be told fair and
square get into the tent and start negotiating for peace the israeli prime
minister said on wednesday
talabani queries iraq ban on saddam candidates amid demos
baghdad jan afp
the row over ban on election candidates with alleged links to saddam hussein
escalated on thursday as iraq president questioned the ruling legality and
thousands of shiites held street protests
the blacklist of more than names has sparked pre election tensions between
the country shiite majority and its sunni arab former elite alarming the
white house and the united nations ahead of the march vote
those barred include people accused of membership of saddam outlawed baath
party as well as the executed dictator once deadly fedayeen men of sacrifice
militia and mukhabarat intelligence division
amid an increasingly tense political atmosphere president jalal talabani who
is kurd announced judicial probe into the scrutiny committee that compiled
the blacklist and handed it to election organisers last week
we asked in an official letter to judge madhat al mahmud president of the
iraqi supreme court that he rule on the legality of the integrity and
accountability committee talabani told reporters in baghdad
our question is is the organisation that took this decision legal
prominent sunni arab mps have argued that the committee has no legal basis as it
has not been approved by parliament
baath party membership was essential for obtaining job and promotion in iraq
omnipotent public sector during saddam regime
but process of de baathification was adopted by washington diplomat paul
bremer head of the coalition provisional authority following the us led
invasion of which saw thousands of saddam era employees lose their jobs
talabani urged iraqis to draw distinction between hardcore saddam loyalists
and the many more who had joined the baath party for pragmatic reasons
hundreds of thousands of people were forced to join the party because
membership was mandatory he said we should not be unjust with them
his comments however did not resonate in the mainly shiite cities of basra
karbala and najaf where thousands of shiites staged rallies to demand that the
ban be upheld
in the central shrine city of karbala around people took to the streets
in the shrine city of najaf farther south hundreds marched and some held
banners proclaiming baathists and nazis are two faces of the same coin and
the return of the baath is the return of attacks and prison
the office of the radical shiite and anti us cleric moqtada al sadr in najaf
said in statement he firmly opposed the participation of the baathists in
the elections as such move was unacceptable and illogical
the demonstrations in karbala and najaf were organised by associations devoted
to victims and prisoners of saddam sunni arab dominated regime
we ask the baghdad government and local authorities to punish the baath and its
representatives who continue to belong to the party demonstrator salah al
mussawi told afp in najaf
in the main southern city of basra there were around protesters
including some who held banners reading shame on baathists and the baathists
of yesterday are the mps of today
the integrity and accountability committee whose decision has inflamed the
political climate six weeks from polling day is headed by shiite politician
ahmed chalabi who was deputy prime minister after the invasion
chalabi was key us ally when he spearheaded the case for war against saddam
which was launched on the grounds that the dictator had stockpiled weapons of
mass destruction
however intelligence that chalabi provided in support of those claims in the
run up to the invasion later turned out to be flawed and he subsequently fell
out of favour with washington
obama to let dust settle on health care
washington jan afp
us president barack obama will let the dust settle after his health reform
plan fell into limbo in congress the white house said downplaying the chances
of swift action on the bill
obama top priority was thrown into uncertainty after republicans won special
election in massachusetts on tuesday stripping away the vote democratic
supermajority needed to get the measure through the senate
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 white house spokesman robert gibbs said
nancy pelosi speaker of the house of representatives earlier poured cold water
on one widely discussed way of reviving the push for health care reform saying
she did not have the votes to pass it
that idea would see rival senate bill be passed by the house and sent to
obama to be signed into law the problem though is that huge chunks of that
bill are opposed by many house lawmakers
in its present form without any changes don think it possible to pass
the senate bill in the house pelosi told reporters
that left the legislation to an uncertain fate obama appeared to suggest on
wednesday that he may be open to stripped down version of the reform package
to ensure at least part of his top domestic priority is enacted
rallying hirvonen stays in charge in monte carlo
monte carlo jan afp
mikko hirvonen kept the overall lead in the th running of the monte carlo
rally on thursday opening gap of sec over finnish compatriot juho hanninen
hirvonen the runner up in the world rally championship in took one of the
day stages in his ford fiesta as did hanninen in skoda fabia
french peugeot driver sebastien ogier moved into third place overall min
sec off the pace after taking three stages in this opening round of the
intercontinental rally challenge slimmed down version of the world rally
championship
britain kris meeke the irc champion in and second overnight crashed out
of contention when his peugeot skidded on black ice
knew there was ice and knew from last year that nicolas vouilloz went off
there said meeke
came up to the corner and all my big braking done and then saw
everyone brake marks in front of me so thought everyone was going in way
deeper than me
so came off the brakes bit got to the corner and went off on the slushy
black ice was five miles per hour too fast and there was nothing could do
it was as if it happened in slow motion
china worries trigger dollar rally against euro
london jan afp
the euro hit six month low against the dollar on thursday as worries that
china will cool its booming economy curbed demand for risk sensitive currencies
analysts said
the european single currency was also dragged down by persistent investor fears
over the debt situation in some eurozone members while bond markets kept the
spotlight on greece fiscal woes
the euro was changing hands at dollars late in london compared to
dollars late in new york on wednesday but it hit dollars earlier in the
day its lowest level since july
the demise of the euro was triggered with the economic greek tragedy and has
since been hit with return to risk aversion said phil mchugh an analyst at
forex trader currencies direct
concerns are increasing on the maintainability of the ever expanding growth in
china and fears that china will act further to slow the rampant growth by
raising rates he added
china economy expanded by percent in new data out on thursday
showed while the business consultancy pricewaterhousecoopers pwc forecast
that china could overtake the united states as the world top economy by
but china biggest rise in inflation in months underlined the broader
challenges of breakneck growth and came as the world bank and international
monetary fund warned again that the country could face an economic bubble
yasuo nakayama manager at shinkin central bank told dow jones newswires that
the china growth figures put even more downward pressure on the euro
analyst jane foley at online trading site forex com warned that faster than
expected chinese growth has heightened fears that the people bank of china may
hike interest rates this quarter
this may not yet be consensus view but the rise in tightening fears was
sufficient to push most asian stock indices lower which led to flurry of
dollar buying she added
on the european front those doubts were aggravated by worries over the outlook
for the nation eurozone and fiscal crises in greece and portugal
the price of greek bonds was up slightly with the result that the yield they
generate inched down percent from on wednesday
but the yield remains high indicating lack of confidence in the markets of
the greek government ability to rein in mounting deficit
greece last week presented the european commission with plan for reducing its
deficit of some percent in to percent by but investors have
voiced caution over the ambitious cost cutting plan
there is also concern that fellow eurozone member portugal could also be dragged
into debt crisis after the international monetary fund warned the budget
situation in the country was critical
the euro also plunged against the japanese currency falling to yen by
late on thursday compared to yen late on wednesday
the dollar meanwhile dropped to yen from yen before
the european unit is seen as more vulnerable than the safe haven dollar to any
disappointment over the pace of the global economic recovery
in london on thursday the euro was changing hands at dollars against
dollars late on wednesday yen pounds
and swiss francs
the dollar stood at yen and swiss francs
the pound was at dollars
on the london bullion market the price of gold dipped to dollars an
ounce from dollars on wednesday
the injured haitian kids at center of adoption debate
port au prince jan afp
five year old mana morin perretto foot is smashed third of her playmates
are dead and the orphanage where she lived lies in ruins but she may be luckier
than other haitian kids
mana survived last week devastating earthquake which killed of the
youngsters at her port au prince children home and was this week due to fly
out to start new life with her adoptive family in southwest france
many governments have rushed to speed up adoption procedures in order to get
haitian orphans to safety after the catastrophic quake sparking warnings of
dangerous free for all from child protection charities
agencies like save the children and world vision fear that in the rush to save
kids like little mana from tragedy fast track adoptions could break up families
for ever and leave children growing up rootless and depressed
we wouldn stop any child from being saved said unicef child protection
volunteer mayi garneadia pierre at mana orphanage warning against rush to
post quake adoptions that could break remaining family ties
but when child grows to years old he has an enormous need of signposts of
his identity it not abuse in the sense of mistreatment but it abusive in
the sense of making permanent break you need to keep links
some western governments and prospective adoptive families argue that the
humanitarian disaster is such that any kids with hope of starting anew in
country with better prospects and medical care should be given that chance
it serious debate for serious people and at the center of it are little
girls like mana whose story illustrates the dilemmas and contradictions that
make this emotive issue so difficult to resolve
on thursday morning she was sleeping on camp bed in field hospital set up by
french civil defense officers in the leafy grounds of port au prince french
high school in the once plush suburb of petionville
her head lay in the lap of year old carer fabiola brutus who gently caressed
her scars recent stitches lined forehead wound and wicked gash down through
the little braids on the back of her tiny skull
she is small for her five years and her feet are bound in gauze both are
fractured and one is all but crushed doctors say she will be marked for life
and might never walk normally again
she stretched and woke unsmiling and silent she has been told about the
collapse of her orphanage but she hasn talked about it she didn say word
nor emit more than whimper during an afp reporter visit
at first she stares ahead impassively as visitors fuss around her
but when the doctors do their rounds and she finds herself surrounded by large
crowd of journalists and medics her face twists into an image of grief and pain
as she struggles to cry no tears nor sound will come
she is gathered up in photographer arms and clings on tight later she
agrees to take water from feeding bottle held gently by french medic but
refuses food and instead feeds her biscuit to the journalist
mana adoption was under way before the earthquake broke and france is one of
several countries that have agreed to speed procedures she didn know it yet
but she was due to leave later that day on flight to guadeloupe
her playground comrades back at the orphanage of our lady of the nativity in
port au prince western suburbs don yet have that chance
one of them fellow five year old reubens charles had been accepted by family
in angers central france but was among the children crushed when the three
storey concrete building collapsed its owner said
here the story of mana and reubens life becomes more complicated
eveline louis jacques has run the our lady orphanage for eight years but in
reality virtually none of the children there has lost their parents poor
families pay fee for their kids to be paid for
call them economic orphans all of them are going to be adopted in france
she told afp as the survivors including four babes in arms under six
months played in grove of mango trees and coconut palms
they had received first delivery of clean water which they sipped and shared
in giant polysterene mugs almost as big as their heads and unicef was planning
to drop off food emergency supplies and more water later in the day
now the world community will have to decide what happens next
clinton calls for chinese probe into google cyberattacks
washington jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton urged china on thursday to investigate
cyberattacks on google and other us companies and called on us technology firms
not to support internet censorship
clinton without specifically mentioning china also said in speech at the
newseum here that countries and individuals who engage in cyberattacks should be
punished
china meanwhile sought to play down the row with the united states over
internet freedom insisting thursday that google threat to quit the country
over censorship and cyberattacks should not be linked to sino us ties
in another development microsoft on thursday released patch for an internet
explorer software hole through which china based cyber spies allegedly probed
the computer systems of google and other companies
clinton cited china north korea tunisia and uzbekistan as countries
restricting the free flow of information or censoring the internet and said
access to social networking sites in vietnam has suddenly disappeared
she said bloggers and activists had been detained in egypt and pointed to
china saudi arabia and vietnam as nations which have co opted the internet as
tool to target and silence people of faith
on their own new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom
and progress she said but the united states does we stand for single
internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas
but she said some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent
their people from accessing portions of the world networks
they have expunged words names and phrases from search engine results she
said they have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in non violent
political speech
clinton said the united states was supporting the development of new tools which
will enable citizens to exercise their right of free expression by
circumventing censorship and called on us technology firms to play role
hope that refusal to support politically motivated censorship will become
trademark characteristic of american technology companies she said it should
be part of our national brand
the private sector has shared responsibility to help safeguard free
expression clinton said and when their business dealings threaten to
undermine this freedom they need to consider what right not simply the
prospect of quick profits
she said the state department would hold high level meeting next month with
companies that provide network services for talks on internet freedom
google microsoft yahoo and cisco are among the us technology giants that have
been accused by members of the us congress and others of helping to build what
has been dubbed the great firewall of china
google however following wave of cyberattacks on chinese human rights
activists that originated in china said last week it would no longer censor its
chinese search engine even if it means the internet giant has to shut down its
business operations there
clinton called on china to conduct thorough investigation of the cyber
intrusions revealed by google and for its results to be transparent
the internet has already been source of tremendous progress in china and
it great that so many people there are now online she said
but countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic
rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the
next century
clinton said cyberattackers should face punishment those who disrupt the free
flow of information in our society or any other pose threat to our economy
our government and our civil society she said
countries or individuals that engage in cyberattacks should face consequences
and international condemnation she said in an interconnected world an
attack on one nation networks can be an attack on all
clinton remarks came after china said google threat to quit the country over
censorship and cyberattacks should not be linked to sino us ties
if google has any problems in its business in china these must be resolved
according to chinese law and the chinese government is willing to help resolve
these problems chinese vice foreign minister he yafei said
the google case should not be linked with relations between the two governments
and countries otherwise it an over interpretation state media quoted him
as saying
china has defended its right to filter information available on the web and
repeatedly told foreign firms they must obey its laws
ex foreign minister admits reluctance over iraq war
london jan afp
britain foreign secretary at the time of the iraq war said thursday he had
never wanted to take military action and only reluctantly came around to
support the us led invasion
jack straw said that while he came to believe it was the only option faced with
iraq continued defiance of the united nations over its weapons programme it
was the most difficult decision have ever faced in my life
straw who is currently justice secretary in prime minister gordon brown
government gave evidence week before former premier tony blair makes his
long awaited appearance on january
blair made no secret of his personal dislike of saddam and there have been
severe doubts about the intelligence used to justify the claim that iraq
possessed weapons of mass destruction wmd which violated the un resolutions
last month blair said britain would have backed the iraq war even if he knew it
did not have weapons of mass destruction
but in an evidence session in which he often distanced himself from the former
premier straw said war simply to remove saddam would have been improper and
self evidently unlawful
it would not have got my support he added without the foreign secretary
backing blair could not have gone to war
in page memorandum he submitted to the inquiry straw said that from early
there was no secret whatever that us military action against iraq backed
by britain was possibility
but he wrote our foreign policy objective was the disarmament of iraq and its
compliance with un security council resolution not military action
against iraq nor regime change
had never wanted war but the strategy we had adopted to secure iraq
disarmament was diplomacy backed by the threat of force
reluctantly but firmly came to the view that to enforce iraq disarmament
obligations we had no option but to proceed with military action if saddam
hussein did not respond to final ultimatum
if saddam had complied with the weapons inspections regime provided for under
resolution which was passed in november that would have been the
end of it from our point of view straw said
wmd were never found in iraq and witnesses to the inquiry have acknowledged the
intelligence pointing to them was patchy
straw admitted the government had made an error in september
intelligence dossier on iraq which claimed saddam had wmd that could be
launched within minutes
plainly that reference should have been much more precise because it only ever
referred in the intelligence to battlefield weapons that was an error and it is
an error that has haunted us ever since he said
but straw said the intelligence was only complementary to what was known
anyway about saddam aggressive behaviour towards neighbouring states his use
of chemical weapons on his own people and previous attempts to conceal wmd
straw insisted most other countries agreed with britain assessment of the
threat even though he was unable to get second resolution explicitly
authorising the invasion through the un security council
he laid some of the blame on hans blix then chief un weapons inspector for
failing to present his draft report detailing iraq non compliance to the
council meeting on march just days before the invasion
on personal note straw wrote in his memorandum that backing military action
was the most difficult decision have ever faced in my life
made my choice he wrote have never backed away from it and do not
intend to do so and fully accept the responsibilities which flow from that
believed at the time and still believe that we made the best judgements
we could have done in the circumstances
haiti accepts dominican troop offer
united nations jan afp
the haitian government has accepted an offer of dominican troops to help
secure an aid corridor for haitian quake victims being set up between the two
countries un spokesman said thursday
martin nesirky said the dominican troops would be deployed at the haitian
dominican border alongside peruvian contingent of the un mission in haiti
minustah and would be under un command
last week un peacekeeping supremo alain le roy said santo domingo had offered
an strong battalion to help provide security in neighboring haiti where
powerful earthquake on january killed at least people according to
preliminary figures
diplomats here subsequently said haiti which has had troubled ties with its
eastern neighbor turned down the troop offer
there was formal proposal in writing and that formal proposal was for
nesirky said quoting the acting un mission chief in haiti edmond mulet
the spokesman added that the dominican troops would be tasked with protecting
the start of the humanitarian corridor being set up between quake hit port au
prince and the dominican republic
the un has said it is establishing two aid corridors linking port au prince with
both the dominican republic and the northern haitian port of cap haitien to
supplement the international aid pouring into the congested airport of the
haitian capital
last week the un security council approved request from un chief ban ki moon
for extra troops and police for minustah to help it maintain order and
protect humanitarian convoys
meanwhile nesirky said million dollars in international aid had been
received so far and more is rolling in all the time in response to un flash
appeal for million dollars made last week he added that another million
dollars had been pledged
korean consortium invests in ontario wind solar energy
ottawa jan afp
samsung and korea electric power led consortium will invest billion
canadian dollars billion us on wind and solar energy in central canada
the ontario government announced thursday
this is the single largest investment in renewable energy in provincial
history officials said in statement with some jobs expected to be
created by the venture
the south korean consortium aims to generate megawatts of wind and solar
power by building and operating wind and solar clusters throughout ontario
tripling the province output from renewable energy sources
these will eventually include wind turbines that will generate up to mw as
well as solar power facilities that will generate up to mw by
producing up to four percent of ontario total electricity consumption or
enough power for more than households
the consortium will also construct production facilities in ontario to provide
key components such as blades wind towers solar modules and inverters
and under the terms of the deal it is expected to encourage component suppliers
to build manufacturing facilities in the province
ontario canada economic hub and most populous province has pledged to shut
down all of its polluting coal fired power plants by and boost its
renewable power generation
critics of the deal however say electricity ratepayers will end up subsidizing
the consortium with billions of dollars in government incentives paid for green
energy generation
anti mafia map shows where to shop in sicilian capital
rome jan afp
german tourists can now obtain map of sicily capital palermo flagging the
shops that refuse to pay extortion money to the mafia the german embassy in
rome said in statement thursday
the addiopizzo tourist map signals all the shops in palermo that have
pledged not to pay racketeering fees the statement said
the sicilian mafia the cosa nostra extorts money from many businesses on the
island notably in palermo
ambassador michael steiner decided to finance the german language map because
germans are the largest tourist contingent in sicily both in terms of numbers
and spending the embassy said
the map is geared towards two groups who have common interests the people of
palermo who love their city and german tourists who love palermo and do not
want to support racketeering the statement said
the map was inspired by the addiopizzo goodbye extortion organisation which
calls itself an open movement made up of shopkeepers and consumers who
recognise themselves in the phrase people who pay extortion money are people
without dignity
the phrase first appeared in june on stickers in the streets of central
palermo and is credited with launching the addiopizzo movement which today
counts among its supporters hundreds of enterpreneurs and shopkeepers who have
publicly come out against racketeering
the first print run of the map which will be available through german tour
operators in italy totalled copies the embassy told afp
football africa cup of nations cameroon tunisia
lubango angola jan afp
full result of africa cup of nations group match at tundavala stadium
thursday
cameroon eto nguemo tunisia chermiti chedjou og
teams
cameroon carlos kameni georges mandjeck aurelien chedjou nicolas nkoulou
augustin binya rigobert song alexandre song landry nguemo andre bikey
jean makoun achille webo enoh eyong samuel eto capt mohamadou
idrissou
coach paul le guen fra
tunisia aymen mathlouthi khaled souissi karim haggui capt ammar jemal
yassin mikari khaled korbi hocine ragued haithem mrabet mohamed ali
nafkha chaouki ben saada zouhaier dhaouadi amine chermiti ahmed akaichi
issam jemaa
coach faouzi benzarti
referee noumandiez desire doue civ
red card jemal after second yellow
yellow cards jemaa nafkha mathlouthi binya korbi eto
jemal
attendance
afp gmt news advisory
washington jan afp
duty editor michael mathes
tel
top stories
mass relocation of haiti homeless
obama moves to rein in banks
clinton urges china google probe
britain ex fm says he never wanted iraq war
haiti quake rdlead wrap
port au prince
haitian officials unveils huge operation to move hundreds of thousands of
homeless outside the ruined capital as medics work feverishly to treat
countless injured
words gmt by jacques guillon and sophie nicholson picture video
us economy politics banking regulate lead wrap
washington
president barack obama unveils plans to limit the size and scope of us banks and
finance firms in new assault on the wall street excesses laid bare by the
financial crisis
words gmt by stephen collinson picture
china us it internet google lead wrap
washington
us secretary of state hillary clinton urges china to investigate cyberattacks on
google and other us companies and calls on us technology firms to refuse to
support internet censorship
words gmt by chris lefkow picture
britain iraq military politics inquiry ndlead
london
britain foreign secretary at the time of the iraq war says he never wanted
to take military action and only reluctantly came around to support the us led
invasion in
words gmt by alice ritchie picture
haiti quake
haiti quake adoption focus
port au prince
five year old mana morin perretto foot is smashed third of her playmates
are dead and the orphanage where she lived lies in ruins but she may be luckier
