he said there was no detailed information about filipino casualties
military spokesman lieutenant colonel romeo brawner said the commander of the
country member military contingent in haiti had advised the filipino
mission in new york that that some filipino peacekeepers were trapped in the
collapsed headquarters of the un stabilisation force mission
however he could not say how many were trapped or what their condition was
right now our filipino contingent in haiti are helping in the recovery and
rescue of those who were trapped not only the filipinos but including the other
locals and the other nationals in the area he added
there are about filipinos in haiti many working with the united nations
large number of un staffers are unaccounted for after the earthquake senior
un official said while the french foreign minister said there has been no news
of the tunisian head of the peacekeepers in haiti
un restores contact with key relief agencies in haiti
geneva jan afp
the united nations on wednesday gradually restored contact with relief agencies
in haiti that were based in buildings outside the devastated main un
peacekeeping headquarters
as they mobilised an international relief effort following the massive
earthquake un aid officials said the peackeepers headquarters at the
christopher hotel in the capital port au prince had collapsed
the peacekeeping force building collapsed said elisabeth byrs
spokeswoman for the office of the coordination of humanitarian affairs
for the moment we have no news from the people in the building there were
to people we don know how many were still there at pm local time
when the quake occurred she said
the un had initially reported that it feared for unicef un children fund and
world food programme wfp buildings nearby but wfp official later said that
the food relief agency headquarters was standing
the wfp building is standing the others are damaged charles vincent head of
the wfp office in geneva told journalists while most of its staff were
accounted for
byrs said details of the extent of the overall damage in haiti and the human
toll were still sketchy
no news of un peacekeeper chief since haiti quake french fm
paris jan afp
there has been no news of the tunisian head of the un peacekeepers in haiti
since their headquarters was badly damaged by the huge earthquake there
france foreign minister said wednesday
hedi annabi the head of the united nations stabilisation mission in haiti
minustah was in the building in the capital port au prince when the deadly
quake struck on tuesday bernard kouchner told reporters
we have no news of the people who lived there including numerous french people
and the head of mission our friend annabi he said
kouchner also confirmed that haiti president rene preval had survived the
quake and had phoned the french ambassador in port au prince
one child killed in nw pakistan playground bomb police
pesawar pakistan jan afp
bomb blast killed at least one child and wounded five others on wednesday at
playground near northwest pakistan taliban stronghold of south waziristan
police said
the blast took place in the town of tank which sits about kilometres
miles east of the lawless tribal belt that runs along the afghan border and has
become sanctuary for taliban and al qaeda linked militants
some children were playing at playground and blast took place in nearby
garbage heap killing one child and wounding five others tank police chief
ejaz abid told afp confirming it was bomb
local police official mohammad ali khan confirmed the toll and said bomb
disposal experts were rushing to the scene
the child who died in the blast is nine years old and the wounded are between
five and twelve years old ali said
pakistan has in recent months seen wave of deadly bombings blamed on taliban
insurgents avenging multiple military offensives against them across the
northwest including an ambitious assault into south waziristan
on january suicide bomber killed people when he rammed car packed
with explosives into crowd of men women and children watching volleyball
match at village in lakki marwat district also close to south waziristan
blasts caused by mines and other unexploded ordnance have also been reported in
the past in tank district which unlike the semi autonomous tribal areas is part
of the north west frontier province and under direct government control
afp gmt economics news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor dario thuburn
tel
finance economy germany growth recession thlead
wiesbaden germany
germany suffered its worst recession since world war ii last year when europe
largest economy contracted by five percent provisional official figures show
words gmt by martin achter
greece imf eurozone economy finance ndlead
athens
the international monetary fund launches efforts to advise greece on how to
overcome its financial crisis after damning report from the european union
delivered another blow to the country economic credibility
words gmt by john hadoulis
stocks europe wrap
london
europe main stock markets hold steady after overnight losses on wall street
and earlier in asia after china moves to curb its credit boom and the us
earnings season gets off to weak start
words gmt
eu finance france britain barnier
brussels
france michel barnier nominated as the european commission new financial
services overlord despite stiff opposition from london faces tricky
confirmation hearing in front of european parliament lawmakers
words gmt picture
forex europe wrap
london
the dollar trades mixed after china moves to rein in the country credit boom
sparking concerns that the pace of recovery in the global economy could lose
steam dealers say
words gt
commodities energy oil price lead wrap
london
world oil prices fall dropping under dollars as traders await the
traditional weekly snapshot of energy inventories in the united states analysts
say
words gmt
us china it company internet spy google thlead
san francisco
google vows to defy chinese internet censors and risk banishment from the
lucrative market in outrage at highly sophisticated cyberattacks aimed at
chinese human rights activists
words gmt by glenn chapman
we have also moved
us china it internet spy google yahoo microsoft cisco reax
google defies china risks banishment over cyber attacks
san francisco jan afp
google has vowed to defy chinese internet censors and risk banishment from the
lucrative market in outrage at highly sophisticated cyber attacks aimed at
chinese human rights activists
china based cyber spies struck the internet giant and at least other
unidentified firms in an apparent bid to hack into the email accounts of
activists around the world google said tuesday
us secretary of state hillary clinton called on beijing to explain the cyber
attacks
we look to the chinese government for an explanation the chief us diplomat
said in released statement
the ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in modern
society and economy
the online espionage has google reconsidering its business operations in china
and it said it will no longer filter internet search engine results in that
country
these attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered combined with the
attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web have led
us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations
in china google chief legal officer david drummond said in blog post
we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on google cn and so
over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the chinese government the
basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law if
at all he said
drummond said google realizes that defying chinese government demands regarding
filtering internet search engine results may mean having to shut down its
operations in china
human rights activists hailed google voicing hope it would lead western
companies to reconsider their compromises in doing business in china
through international pressure finally big business in the west has come to
realize its own conscience prominent chinese dissident wei jingsheng who
spent years in prison before entering exile in the united states told afp
kumar the washington based advocacy director of amnesty international urged
other internet companies to follow google lead
we re glad that at last international internet companies are waking up to the
reality that they cannot go along with oppressive nations like china kumar
said
the iconic tank man photo taken during the tiananmen crackdown and banned
in china was available on google cn wednesday
the picture of chinese man who boldly stood in front of line of tanks during
the crackdown on pro democracy protests made headlines around the world it is
banned in china where the event is still hugely sensitive
google said it detected in mid december highly sophisticated and targeted
attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from china that resulted in
the theft of intellectual property from google
the company said it was notifying at least other large companies of similar
attacks including finance internet media technology and chemical firms
we have no indication that any of our mail properties have been compromised
microsoft told afp declining to comment further
yahoo backed google decision
we stand aligned with google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing
and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as
internet pioneers must all oppose yahoo said in response to an afp inquiry
google said its investigation revealed that accounts of china human rights
activists who use gmail in europe china or the united states have been
routinely accessed using malware sneaked onto their computers
google believes the attack was mostly blocked and that only minor information
was stolen from two accounts
the decision to review our business operations in china has been incredibly
hard and we know that it will have potentially far reaching consequences said
drummond adding that the heart of the matter is freedom of speech on the global
internet
google stressed that the decision was made by the california company us based
executives and not by workers within easy reach of authorities in china
google was in no win situation silicon valley analyst rob enderle told afp
the choices they ve got are all bad but this one allows them to claim the high
ground at home by standing up to evil china
internet firms interested in access to china booming market have been
pressured to acquiesce to onerous government rules regarding online
censorship according to enderle
china is hard market to walk away from he said it took lot of guts
capitulating wasn working so taking harder stance might work better
google unofficial motto don be evil became topic of derision after the
company in began censoring search results in china
when google first launched filtered search engine in china eff was one of
the first to criticize it danny brien of the electronic freedom foundation
said in blog post
we now like to be one of the first to commend google for its brave and
forthright declaration to restore an uncensored chinese language version of its
search engine
tennis heineken open men singles nd round
auckland jan afp
results from the third day of the heineken open here on wednesday denotes
seeding
nd round
tommy robredo esp bt simon greul ger
michael lammer sui bt juan carlos ferrero esp retired hurt
marc gicquel fra bt nicolas almagro esp
philipp kohlschreiber ger bt thomaz bellucci bra
john isner usa bt juan monaco arg
albert montanes esp bt rubin statham nzl
jurgen melzer aut bt sebastien grosjean fra
arnaud clement fra bt david ferrer esp
afp graphics advisory
paris jan afp
wednesday graphics
haiti quake
map locating the epicentre of magnitude quake that hit haiti tuesday
text slug haiti quake
mm
available now
haiti quake port au prince
detailed map of the haiti capital port au prince locating the principal
buildings damaged or destroyed by the earthquake
text slug haiti quake
mm wide
available by gmt
haiti facts
fact file on haiti
text slug haiti quake
mm
available now
other graphics
philippines massacre
fact file on the philippine political massacre suspect andal ampatuan jnr
appearing in court to seek bail wednesday
text slug philippines politics massacre
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available now
japan airlines
chart showing daily closing values for japan airlines for the past month
text slug japan airline company distress jal
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available now
japan us bases
graphic on futenma us air base in japan okinawa province focus of an
ongoing row in japan on the relocation of us military facilities
text slug us diplomacy asia
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available now
png facts
fact file on papua new guinea us secretary of state hillary clinton will travel
wednesday to papua new guinea for talks on climate change and economic
development
text slug us diplomacy asia
available now
solar eclipse
graphic fact file and illustration of the solar eclipse on january
stand alone graphic
mm
available now
solar eclipse
graphic illustrating the path of solar eclipse in asia on january
stand alone graphic
mm
available now
afghanistan attack
map of afghanistan locating garmsir district where at least nine people were
killed in shooting during large protest on tuesday
text slug afghanistan unrest nato us protest
mm
available now
tennis australia open
graphic showing the venue of the australian open in melbourne january
text slug tennis open aus
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available now
tennis australia open women
graphic showing previous winners of the australian open women singles titles
text slug tennis open aus
mm
available now
tennis australia open men
graphic showing previous winners of the australian open men singles titles
text slug tennis open aus
mm
available now
tennis hawkeye
graphic on the hawkeye technology used at major tennis tournaments in advance
of the australian open
text slug tennis open aus
mm
available now
asia pacific markets
closings for key asia pacific markets
text slug stocks
mm
available by gmt
still available
clinton pacific tour map
map showing the pacific countries to be visited by us secretary of state hillary
clinton this week
text slug us diplomacy asia
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moved earlier
nigeria port harcourt map mm
ukraine factfile mm
afghanistan opinion poll mm
arctic tern migration mm
malaysia church attacks map mm
india haridwar rishikesh map mm
indonesia army business factfile mm
airbus boeing mm
airbus factfile mm
us trade deficit mm
us auto market mm
angola cabinda factfile mm
angola cabinda map mm
israel air strike map mm
mali hostages map mm
uae torture case factfile mm
us drones factfile mm
croatia vote result mm
football africa cup of nations presentation mm
paris hong kong
tel
olympics barcelona to bid for winter games
barcelona jan afp
barcelona will bid to host the winter olympics the mayor of spain
second largest city jordi hereu said wednesday
the city hosted the summer games one of the most successful olympics ever
and if its bid for the winter games were successful it would become the
first city to host both the summer and winter olympics
barcelona wants to relive the olympic dream the city is ready and it has
experience in hosting the games hereu told news conference held at the
city olympic museum
the international olympic committee will decide which city will host the
winter olympics in
the spanish cities of zaragoza huesca and jaca have already announced they will
make joint bid to host the winter olympics with other bids expected from
canada new zealand and romania
the winter games will be held in vancouver canada while the winter
games will be staged in sochi russia
afp gmt news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor chris otton
tel
top stories
quake devastates haiti thousands feared dead
google in china quit threat over cyberattacks
imf launches mission for debt stricken greece
iran speaker accuses obama of state terrorism
haiti quake lead wrap
port au prince
bodies litter the streets of haiti devastated capital after powerful
earthquake that may have killed thousands from shantytowns to luxury hotels and
even the presidential palace
words gmt by clarens renois graphic picture video
us china it company internet spy google thlead
san francisco
google vows to defy chinese internet censors and risk banishment from the
lucrative market in outrage at highly sophisticated cyberattacks aimed at
chinese human rights activists
words gmt by glenn chapman
greece imf eurozone economy finance ndlead
athens
the international monetary fund launches efforts to advise greece on how to
overcome its financial crisis after damning report from the european union
delivered another blow to the country economic credibility
words gmt by john hadoulis
iran unrest nuclear rdlead wrap
tehran
parliament speaker ali larijani iran former chief nuclear negotiator accuses
us president barack obama of state terrorism over the killing in tehran of
leading atomic scientist
words gmt by aresu eqbali
haiti quake
haiti quake world aid ndlead reax
washington
world governments and aid agencies mobilize emergency rescue teams and supplies
for haiti after massive earthquake that flattened buildings with hundreds
feared dead
words gmt pictures video
haiti quake horror lead scene
port au prince
streets in the haitian capital port au prince are lined with bodies of the dead
injured and those seeking refuge from crippled buildings in the wake of
massive earthquake
words moved by clarens renois picture video
europe
finance economy germany growth recession thlead
wiesbaden germany
germany suffered its worst recession since world war ii last year when europe
largest economy contracted by five percent provisional official figures show
words gmt by martin achter
europe weather rdlead
london
fresh snowfalls heap further misery on parts of beleaguered europe with
motorists trapped in cars and airports closed as authorities in france ban
lorries from driving through paris
words gmt picturesn
eu finance france britain barnier
brussels
france michel barnier nominated as the european commission new financial
services overlord despite stiff opposition from london faces tricky
confirmation hearing in front of european parliament lawmakers
words gmt picture
russia turkey diplomacy energy lead
moscow
turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan whose country is involved in two
competing gas pipeline projects holds talks with russian leaders on the bitter
rivalry between energy transit routes
words gmt by alissa de carbonnel
middle east
attacks yemen qaeda rdlead
sanaa
yemeni security forces have killed an al qaeda kingpin in shabwa province in
intensive operations against the group believed behind the botched bombing of
us airliner an official says
words gmt by hammoud mounassar
mideast israel turkey diplomacy lead
jerusalem
israel apologises for what media termed hazing of the turkish ambassador but
maintains its complaint against turkish television drama it said portrayed
jews as baby snatchers
words gmt
africa
guinea unrest morocco burkinafaso wrap
ouagadougou
guinea junta chief moussa dadis camara badly wounded in an assassination
attempt in early december has been flown from morocco to burkina faso which is
mediating the standoff between the military rulers and the opposition
words gmt
nigeria politics president analysis
lagos
an interview from his sickbed given by president umaru yar adua designed to
reassure nigerians about his state of health does little to break political
deadlock in africa second biggest oil exporter analysts say
words gmt
asia
afghanistan unrest nato protest ndlead
kandahar afghanistan
nine people were killed when shooting erupted during mass protest in
afghanistan over the alleged burning of koran by foreign troops police say
but nato said it did not yet know about any civilian deaths
words gmt sardar ahmad graphic
afghanistan unrest lead wrap
kabul
two us soldiers and five afghans are killed in bomb blasts in afghanistan as
the un reported the deadliest year yet for war weary civilians caught in
spiralling taliban led insurgency
words gmt sardar ahmad
americas
spain argentina crime history netherlands rdlead
madrid
an argentine pilot suspected of having flown death flights under the latin
american country former dictatorship agrees to be extradited from spain to
stand trial
words gmt
israel fm calls on turkey to show respect
nicosia jan afp
israeli foreign minister avigdor lieberman said on wednesday that his government
had no desire to fall out with traditional ally turkey but called on ankara to
show reciprocal respect
you know regarding turkey maybe it time to clarify our position we are not
interested in confronting or arguing with turkey lieberman told reporters
we have had good relations with turkey for many years and we respect the
turkish state and people
but that is exactly what we expect in return from them to treat us with
dignity and respect
israel and turkey have been bound by defence agreement for more than decade
but an escalating row over television series that the lieberman office said
depicted israel and jews as baby snatchers and war criminals has brought
relations to new low
lieberman was speaking on visit to the mediterranean island of cyprus which
is the sole european union nation to have no diplomatic ties with turkey
six people die in china cold snap state media
beijing jan afp
six people have died in the fierce cold snap that has gripped china since the
start of the new year and millions of others have been affected state media
reported wednesday
police in the northern inner mongolia region said two people died from the cold
weather one of them student died from exposure when he got lost in windy
weather after school the official xinhua news agency said
in the far western region of xinjiang three people were killed in avalanches
and another froze to death the report said
china has endured an unusually early and cold winter reaching its height since
january with heavy snow across vast parts of the north rare snowfalls further
south and persistent sub freezing temperatures
the situation has caused several provinces and regions to ration electricity or
take other power saving moves to reduce strain on electric grids as residents
turn up the heat to stay warm
in xinjiang the snow flattened and damaged at least homes and around
people have been evacuated across northwestern china xinhua said
the nation east coast has also been affected and waters in the northern bohai
and yellow seas were frozen
xinhua quoted china central meteorological station as saying that more snow
was forecast for northern and western parts of the nation
devastating haiti quake feared to have killed thousands
port au prince jan afp
bodies littered the streets of haiti devastated capital wednesday after
powerful earthquake that may have killed thousands from shantytowns to luxury
