bolivian president evo morales was to be sworn in for second five year term
on friday in ceremony attended by fellow latin american leftist leaders
including his role model venezuelan president hugo chavez
morales was taking up the new mandate with almost unlimited power after
last year changing bolivia constitution to get rid of one term presidential
limit
on december he easily won re election against conservative former governor
manfred reyes villa who has since fled to the united states fearing morales
threats to jail him for alleged tax evasion
since coming to power in january as bolivia first indigenous head of
state morales former coca farmer and union leader has steadily increased
his control over his country
following in chavez footsteps and backed by bolivia indigenous majority he
has nationalized key industries and rolled out what he calls socialist
revolution
along the way he has sidelined fractured conservative opposition in bolivia
lowland east which had unsuccessfully sought to block his control of natural gas
reserves there and stall land reforms giving greater autonomy to indigenous
communities
like chavez he has also wielded fierce anti us rhetoric and has kicked out the
us ambassador and us anti narcotics officials
his investiture friday in bolvia legislative assembly was also to be attended
by presidents rafael correa of ecuador fernando lugo of paraguay and michele
bachelet of chile
chavez who flew into foggy la paz early friday said morales re election is
an example of latin america people waking up from what president rafael correa
called the long neo liberal night
morales was officially to assume his new term at midnight gmt saturday
on thursday he underwent mystical indigenous ceremony to also become the
spiritual leader of bolivia amerindians
scores more bodies recovered after nigerian clashes
kuru karama nigeria jan afp
volunteers recovered scores more bodies in nigeria troubled central plateau
state as the death toll from inter religious clashes rose and the army was
ordered to step up security
the bodies were picked up from streets houses and open water wells in kuru
karama village some kilometres miles south of state capital jos the
epicentre of four days of muslim christian clashes
many of the victims had been thrown into wells in the outlying village the
leader of muslim aid team said
so far we have retrieved bodies but many more are still in the wells and
afraid we may have to sand fill them because the bodies have decomposed so
bad that the flesh disintegrates when we try to bring them out ibrahim tanimu
told afp as his team piled the bodies into waiting vans late thursday
thousands of troops patrolled the streets of jos and surrounding towns on
friday manning checkpoints and stopping and searching vehicles
vice president goodluck jonathan pledged in an address late thursday that the
ringleaders responsible for the violence would be brought to justice
the federal government is determined to secure convictions of the perpetrators
of this crime no matter how highly placed he said
jonathan ordered the military to take over the security of the affected regions
as well as in neighbouring areas where reprisals were feared
have today ordered the army to lead the security forces to take over the
entire security of the affected areas including those areas that are considered
prone to risk he said
the state government has given no official death toll from the violence which
broke out on sunday but religious leaders and medical workers said they had
counted around bodies by wednesday
thousands of troops had deployed in the city and by late wednesday had relaxed
hour curfew to allow people to replenish depleted food and water supplies
collect bodies and bury the dead
ninety eight victims were buried in mass grave in the central city on
thursday
gangs wielding guns and machetes and stoked by religious zealots began fighting
in jos on sunday after christian landowner said muslim builder was
encroaching on his land
the violence later spread to small towns and villages on the outskirts of jos
the capital of plateau state
many people killed in the violence were hacked to death with machetes others
simply shot according to the international committee of the red cross
local rights body the civil rights congress crc said most of the weapons
used in the killings were primitive such as bows and arrows machetes and axes
we have observed that primitive weapons kept in houses after the last violence
in were used said the crc head shehu sani
use of guns was very minimal most likely by security agents in attempts to
enforce peace suggested sani
jos has been hotbed of religious violence in nigeria whose million people
are divided almost equally between followers of the two faiths an estimated
people were killed in religious clashes in the city in
jonathan in his first broadcast to the nation since he has begun filling in for
ailing president umaru yar adua said the miltary have the overwhelming mandate
to arrest the situation urgently
life on friday was slowly returning to normal in jos city with an increase in
human and vehicle traffic on the streets but banks remained shut
many more people are venturing out from where they are hiding said namadi
bello waiting in petrol queue
even as calm returned others were decided on getting out
am leaving for enugu because of the crisis said jude chedeber medical
student at jos university
leaders of both faiths claim the fighting had little to do with religion but
reflected the failure of the political leadership to address ethnic differences
the red cross said people had been forced to flee many of them taking
refuge in military barracks churches and mosques around the city
football problems aplenty for milanese ahead of derby
rome jan afp
the personnel problems afflicting the preparations of both milan teams ahead of
sunday derby took new twist on friday as wesley sneijder was the latest
player to be deemed at risk
the dutch playmaker missed training due to fever which further threatens to
diminish inter milan coach jose mourinho midfield options
however brazilian thiago motta returned to training and should be fit although
doubts persisting over the availability of dejan stankovic and muntari sulley
neither of whom have trained with the first team this week
inter are already without cameroon striker samuel eto away on african nations
cup duty
things are not much better for ac milan who will be without striker pato and
full back gianluca zambrotta
alessandro nesta also missed training again on friday and is unlikely to be
ready although coach leonardo does have dutch veteran clarence seedorf fit
again
inter lead milan by six points at the top of serie although the rossoneri have
game in hand
alert
us chocolate firm hershey says won bid for cadbury
media ordered from haiti airport for security officials
port au prince jan afp
journalists have been ordered out of quake hit haiti airport because it is
returning to regular security measures officials said friday after media groups
condemned moves to evict them
the inter american press association earlier called on the us military to
rescind what it said was an order turfing reporters out of an area that has
become the focal point for the arrival of aid to the country
media workers had for the last days had regular access to port au prince
airport but must now vacate these areas so that normal airport regulations can
be established said the haiti joint information center which presents news
from haitian and us authorities
the haitian ministry of transportation has also asked the us military providing
security at the airport to make sure media groups remove camps and equipment
from the terminal and tarmac
for access to press conferences journalists and other media representatives
must enter through security screening like any other airport it said
since haiti was struck by massive earthquake on january some reporters
have favored the airport which is now run by the us military as camp
because of its reliable power supply
alejandro aguirre president of the inter american press association called on
the military in statement thursday to allow reporters to do their job without
interruption
eu ministers set to approve plan to train somali troops
brussels jan afp
eu foreign ministers will on monday give the green light for european
instructors to train up some somali soldiers to reinforce the embryonic
governmental army diplomatic sources said
the plan is to train members of the somali security forces in uganda one
diplomat said friday
the operation in which around european military personnel will take part
could begin in may another diplomat said adding that it had not yet been
determined which eu nations would contribute on voluntary basis
we are in the process of discussing the national contributions he said
somalia has been gripped by civil wars and insurgencies and bereft of stable
government since the overthrow of president mohamed siad barre in
uganda was chosen because its troops constitute the lion share of the african
union mission in somalia amisom
off the coast of somalia the eu is running an anti piracy mission in the waters
of the gulf of aden but senior officials say the real way to combat the problem
is on somali territory
the eu has given substantial political support to the interim government as
well as funding the amisom mission
the idea was discussed by eu defence ministers in november with france and spain
in particular strongly in favour
the european foreign ministers on monday will also discuss what equipment and
pay the somali troops will need diplomat said
ivory coast court unfreezes trafigura compensation
abidjan jan afp
an ivory coast court on friday ordered the unfreezing of million euros
million dollars compensation owed to victims of toxic waste dumped from cargo
ship according to judicial source
oil trading firm trafigura agreed to pay the money to people affected by
the dumping of caustic soda and petroleum residues in abidjan in while
denying responsibility
dispute between victims group and their british lawyers leigh day and
company over who should distribute the money has delayed payment since
september
the ivorian national coordination of toxic waste victims obtained court order
freezing the money in october
on friday the appeal court in abidjan ruled the money should be paid to the
victims group and not distributed via leigh day and company
the court also ordered the law firm to hand over details of the out of court
compensation settlement reached in london with trafigura or pay penalty of
some euros day for any delay
leigh day lawyer kouame klemet condemned the order and said there would be an
appeal
ukraine president decorates controversial wartime rebel
kiev jan afp
president viktor yushchenko friday posthumously bestowed ukraine highest
national honour on world war ii nationalist leader accused by some historians
of ties with the nazis
stepan bandera leader of the organization of ukrainian nationalists oun was
made hero of ukraine for heroism and self sacrifice and fighting for an
independent ukrainian state presidential decree said
the award was the latest recognition of ukrainian nationalist by yushchenko
and came despite his elimination in the first round of ukraine presidential
election last week
bandera was assassinated in by the soviet secret police in germany the
award was received from yushchenko by bandera grandson also called stepan
the interfax ukraine news agency reported
bandera remains hugely controversial figure and his popularity in the
nationalist west of ukraine is not matched in the more pro russia east
in world war ii bandera led one of the factions struggling in nazi occupied
western ukraine for ukrainian independence and then waging guerrilla fight
against its new soviet masters
some western historians accuse bandera of being nazi collaborator and carrying
out vicious campaign of ethnic cleaning against poles but this is vehemently
rejected by ukrainian nationalists
he also spent part of the war detained in nazi concentration camp
the honouring of nationalist ukrainian figures of world war ii has been
central tenet of yushchenko presidency since he came to power after the orange
revolution and severely irritated russia
in he bestowed the same award on the roman shukhevych the equally
controversial commander of the wartime ukrainian insurgent army upa
however he has often been accused of concentrating on history at the expense of
concrete reform
think that the president of ukraine should be the president of all ukraine
and not just one part said frontrunning presidential candidate and yushchenko
rival viktor yanukovich commenting on the decision
ebrd raises growth forecast for ex soviet bloc
london jan afp
the european bank for reconstruction and development on friday raised its
forecast for growth in the ex soviet bloc one of the areas worst hit by the
global economic crisis to percent
the ebrd has revised upwards its growth forecasts for the region
reflecting slightly faster economic recovery than anticipated last october
but with stark variation across the region the bank said in statement
the ebrd had previously forecast that the region would grow by percent
the upward revision is driven by stronger than expected performance in four
large economies in the region poland turkey russia and kazakhstan on the
back of stronger commodity prices and resumption of capital flows to large
emerging market countries the bank said
the ebrd economic zone which shrank by six percent last year will grow by an
average of percent in the london based bank also predicted
the group also warned that some member countries of the ebrd region would
continue to suffer economic contraction this year because they did not have
large commodity sector
obama to feel economic pain in ohio
washington jan afp
president barack obama friday heads for the decaying ohio rust belt seeking to
show empathy with the heartland economic woes after republican election win
sent shockwaves through us politics
obama will spend day in campaign style swing through the hard hit midwestern
state often bellwether in us elections which is again looming large ahead of
key mid term congressional polls in november
the president who frankly admitted this week that his connection with everyday
americans had frayed will hold town hall style meeting tour local businesses
and talk about political anger brewing across the united states
obama is adopting more populist tone following the shock of the republican
victory in the massachusetts special election which saw democrats lose their
crucial supermajority in the senate
on thursday he unveiled new bid to restrict the size and scope of banks and
finance firms blamed for triggering the financial crisis with risky bets in the
latest stage of crackdown on wall street
and aides say obama hopes to shift the political spotlight onto jobs speeding
up the economic recovery and cutting the budget deficit in the run up to the
mid term elections which traditionally damage first term presidents
republicans boosted by the victory of insurgent candidate scott brown in liberal
massachusetts are cranking up their own populist rhetoric
democrats aren listening to the people said john boehner the top
republican in the house of representatives on thursday
right now the american people are asking here are the jobs
five days before his annual state of the union address obama will also seek to
inject new political momentum into his health care reform plan now in limbo
amid serious doubts about whether he can move it through the senate
with of the seats in the senate democrats have comfortable majority
but are one short of the number needed to thwart republican delaying tactics
which can prevent key measures from being put to final vote
obama will head to elyria ohio outside cleveland an area once dominated by
the steel industry but which must now reinvent its economic future after the
retreat of heavy manufacturing
during his visit he will tour wind turbine plant to stress the job creating
potential of his plan to create new green alternative energy economy
unemployment in ohio is percent even higher than the brutal national
average of percent
obama is likely to tout his billion dollar economic stimulus plan which the
white house said has created jobs in ohio
rugby union england to face tri nations sides samoa
london jan afp
england will face all three tri nations sides and samoa on consecutive weekends
in november and december of this year the rugby football union rfu announced
on friday
england will kick off the series against australia on november and samoa will
make their first appearance at twickenham since the following week
world champions south africa are third in line and the series will conclude with
match against the all blacks on december
fixtures
nov england australia gmt
nov england samoa gmt
nov england south africa gmt
dec england new zealand gmt
alpine skiing men super results
kitzbuehel austria jan afp
men world cup super results here on friday
didier cuche swi
michael walchhofer aut
georg streitberger aut
andrej jerman slo
erik guay can
tobias gruenenfelder swi
aksel lund svindal nor
mario scheiber aut
hannes reichelt aut
adrien theaux fra
andrew weibrecht usa
marco sullivan usa
didier defago swi
marco buechel lie
stephan keppler ger
ivica kostelic cro
bode miller usa
klaus kroell aut
carlo janka swi
hans grugger aut
patrick kueng swi
werner heel ita
kjetil jansrud nor
ted ligety usa
andrej sporn slo
christof innerhofer ita
benjamin raich aut
ales gorza slo
patrik jaerbyn swe
rok perko slo
natko zrncic dim cro
joachim puchner aut
steven nyman usa
aronne pieruz ita
cornel zueger swi
romed baumann aut
ralf kreuzer swi
stefan thanei ita
petr zahrobsky cze
sebastien pichot fra
hans olsson swe
edward drake gbr
dominik paris ita
timo bruederl ger
alexandr horoshilov rus
frederik van buynder bel
world cup overall standings after events
carlo janka sui pts
benjamin raich aut
didier cuche sui
aksel lund svindal nor
michael walchhofer aut
didier fago sui
ted ligety usa
ivica kostelic cro
marcel hirscher aut
manuel osborne paradis can
world cup super standings after events
michael walchhofer aut pts
aksel lund svindal nor
benjamin raich aut
didier cuche sui
carlo janka sui
alpine skiing vonn snaps up cortina super
cortina ampezzo italy jan afp
favourite lindsey vonn raced home in friday super race at cortina ampezzo
to pocket her th world cup win
vonn and streaking towards third consecutive overall world cup title won
in min sec to see off swiss fabienne suter and swede anja paerson by
and sec respectively and make it seven wins this season
the double speed events champion who will be out to flatten the competition at
next month winter games in vancouver moved back to the head of the overall
world cup standings ahead of maria riesch whom she left trailing
the german could only manage th fully sec behind her rival
vonn tally for the season now stands at four downhill wins two super
successes and super combined triumph two weeks ago she joined select band
of racers who have won three races in weekend in bagging two downhills and
super at haus im ennstal austria
today was my first super win here in cortina so it special day for me
said vonn
feel good things are going well right now but lot can change in couple
of weeks
hopefully can deal with the pressure in vancouver and hopefully get at least
one medal said the american who in this form seems set to reach that modest
goal with something to spare
she added she would look to improve her slalom relative weak point
but right now my main goal is just to stay focused on the downhill and the
super speed keeps me happy she chuckled
with vancouver fast approaching the games start on february vonn is now
starting to fine tune her mental visualisation of the form she will have to be
in to finish top of the heap
feel know what to do right now feel like able to generate power from
turn to turn she said
but there definitely pressure on me in the olympics maybe even more so
the bottom line is have to be able to ski well have to fight my way down in
the olympics nothing is ever guaranteed in life you have to work hard if you
wanna succeed
vonn has been almost unstoppable since her late december fall in giant slalom
at lienz austria which left her with badly bruised left arm
and rivals such as suter are aware they have to keep on improving as the
american continues to raise the bar
lindsay is at really high level right now said the swiss
but she can make mistakes and we can profit from those
paerson said she felt she was trying almost too hard to keep pace
have all the elements in hand but perhaps am trying to do too much today
was angry with myself as knew had made some mistakes and couldn win
was confident and expecting lot of myself hence my frustration but am
happy with third despite everything
ebrd raises growth forecast for ex soviet bloc
london jan afp
the european bank for reconstruction and development on friday raised its
forecast for growth in the ex soviet bloc one of the areas worst hit by the
global economic crisis to percent
the ebrd has revised upwards its growth forecasts for the region
reflecting slightly faster economic recovery than anticipated last october
but with stark variation across the region the bank said in statement
the ebrd had previously forecast that the region would grow by percent
iraq government says barred candidates must denounce saddam
baghdad jan afp
the iraqi government said on friday that more than candidates disqualified
from march general election for alleged links to saddam hussein must denounce
his ousted regime and its crimes
government spokesman ali dabbagh said in statement that such disavowal of
the executed dictator and his now outlawed baath party would enable the
candidates reintegration into iraqi society but he did not specifically offer
reinstatement on the ballot papers
the baathists whose names figure on the list drawn up by the integrity and
accountability committee must declare their innocence and condemn the crimes and
failings of saddam hussein regime and the baath party dabbagh said
it will provide them with the opportunity to live normally and integrate back
into iraqi society
the blacklist of more than names has stoked tensions between the shiite
majority that leads the government and the sunni arab former elite alarming the
white house and the united nations ahead of the march vote
the row sparked flurry of contacts in recent days by us vice president joe
biden aimed at brokering compromise notably through president jalal talabani
who is kurd
biden proposed that the disqualifications be deferred until after the election
and that those candidates who have been barred condemn and disavow the baath
party and undertake to act through democratic means talabani said
electoral commission chief faraj al haidari meanwhile told afp more candidates
could be barred from contesting the election with the defence and interior
ministries publishing lists naming numerous candidates who have criminal
records or false diplomas
haidari said the list of former baathists barred from running in the election
includes an equal proportion of sunnis and shiites as well as kurds and all
the components of iraqi society
but he said the government has no authority to reintegrate the baathists
since only the supreme court has the power to declare that the candidates
disqualifications lacked legal basis and to reinstate their names
talabani called on thursday for just such referral to the supreme court
questioning the legality of the integrity and accountability committee which
drew up the blacklist
our question is is the organisation that took this decision legal the
president said
prominent sunni arab mps have advanced similar argument pointing out that the
committee was never approved by parliament
the blacklist includes members of saddam once deadly fedayeen men of
sacrifice militia and mukhabarat intelligence division
baath party membership was essential for obtaining job and promotion in iraq
omnipotent public sector during saddam regime
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 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
but to reverse the candidates disqualification would risk alienating the
majority community in the run up to the election the second since saddam
regime was toppled in in which for the first time leading shiite
politicians are standing on opposing lists
on thursday thousands of shiites took to the streets of the central shrine
cities of karbala and najaf as well as the main southern city of basra in
support of the blacklist
aid community did not fail in haiti says un
geneva jan afp
aid workers have not failed in haiti the united nations said on friday in
response to criticism of the speed and coordination of the un led international
aid effort to haiti huge earthquake
it true that some people couldn get assistance on time it takes time
because the un is huge and international efforts need huge coordination to set
up said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the un organisation for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha
but think no one failed on this and the un the humanitarian community in
general and the haitian people did their best to save as many lives as
possible she told journalists
the red cross said that the haiti quake had triggered one of their biggest
responses ever mobilising more emergency units some staff than the
tsunami in
this is now the largest ever deployment of emergency response units in the
history of the red cross and red crescent have been deployed which is more
than the in total for the tsunami said matthew cochrane spokesman for
the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies
emergency reponse units were first set up in the
haiti president rene preval who had highlighted problems with coordination
last week said thursday that the government was regaining control in the wake
of the devastating january earthquake
byrs underlined that the un was working very closely with the government
ministers and officials in coordination meetings
the government is step by step and more and more in charge she added
some former humanitarian workers believe the relief effort took too long to
reach victims on the ground after it struggled for days to overcome local
obstacles in the wake of the magnitude quake
byrs said no professional in the humanitarian business can say it not
complex emergency
can assure you that all the humanitarian community is really hurt by those
criticisms because no one has failed and they are really struggling and working
around the clock she added
russian police whistleblower arrested investigators
moscow jan afp
