monday the un chief was to brief the un security council on his visit and was
expected to push for modest reinforcement of minustah troop and police
contingent to cope with any contingency
minustah which has helped stabilize haiti since mid fields some
troops and police
corrected german us musical brings obama to the stage
frankfurt jan afp
us president barack obama stage version thrilled frankfurt audience
sunday with song in musical that opened far from the trenches of washington
politics in land still charmed by his message of hope and change
fascinated by obama spectator cornelia hirschfeld told afp half way
through hope the obama musical story
obama underscored his trademark theme with chorus of yes we can and sang
lover duet with his wife michelle in show producers hope to take one day to
the united states
so proud to represent president barack obama proud to be an american
actor jimmie wilson said afterwards it an honor can say much more than
that
actors playing obama republican opponants john mccain and sarah palin got
numbers of their own the latter singing ich bin ein pitbull pitbull
in musical that was uneven but which gained steam in the second act
set in chicago where obama worked as community organizer the plot portrays
how his message helps reconcile residents of multi cultural neighbourhood and
propels the young politician to the white house in
we showed lot of social movement and this is what the musical is about that
we have to keep positive spirit about the world in the end producer and
director roberto emmanuele said
author and composer randall hutchins insisted the show was not politically
motivated but acknowledged obama campaign inspired me to get back into the
electoral process
obama us approval ratings have fallen since he took office year ago but he
is popular in germany where percent saw him as their political role model in
november poll almost twice the number of the closest german politician
the rising us political candidate drew people to berlin event in july
and wilson who has performed all over germany in other shows says
they re big fans of president obama
in us quinnipiac university poll released last week voters were split
on whether obama first year was success or failure compared with percent
approval just after his inauguration
in frankfurt the show drew relatively young crowd which clapped drummed on
specially designed seats and gave performers standing ovation at the end
preferring strong classic gospel based numbers most of all
plans are being laid to take it to other cities around germany
leading roles there are actors and extras in all were played by us
performers including several impressive vocalists including boysie white who
plays community pastor named reverend white
he had no hint however of the controversy sparked by chicago pastor jeremiah
wright whose remarks on jews forced obama to tackle questions of anti semitism
early in his campaign
the bi lingual show cost at least one million euros million dollars to
produce and if everything works fine we would like to plan tour in the
states as well patrick strese who acted as the show narrator told afp
emmanuele said funding had come from many sources explaining that our musical
is based on social politics and it was hard to find sponsors in the beginning so
we decided to do it on our own
the one off performance would benefit from longer run so actors could get into
their roles and parts of the script need work but one spectator roswitha
bauer said the show had done pretty good job of presenting obama story
hirschfeld brought her year old son david who said he will recommend the
performance to friends for the music and the dance but thought one scene in
which women head to spa to relieve the pressure of daily life was pretty
confusing
two other shows have already put the us president on stage obama on my mind
in london and obama the musical in nairobi
asked if the white house knew about this show director emmanuele said think
so but haven had message yet from them think will get one after
today hope so
four suicide bombers dead in kabul attack official
kabul jan afp
two suicide bombers blew themselves up monday and another two died in clashes in
central kabul between taliban militants and afghan security forces an interior
ministry spokesman said
the two attackers killed by security forces had holed themselves up in
building in central kabul zemarai bashary said
we can confirm that four suicide bombers have been killed he told al jazeera
television
he said some militants were still inside the ariana cinema shooting at security
forces who had surrounded the building
we suspect there are more bombers in the cinema building he said
gunfire and explosions have rung out across kabul since the morning rush hour
when an unknown number of taliban linked militant stormed buildings in the
centre of town and began firing
at least two shopping centres are on fire amid reports that militants have
blown themselves up
al jazeera television reported that the serena hotel kabul only five star
hotel is also on fire
four suicide bombers dead in kabul attack official
kabul jan afp
two suicide bombers blew themselves up monday and another two died in clashes in
central kabul between taliban militants and afghan security forces an interior
ministry spokesman said
the two attackers killed by security forces had holed themselves up in
building in central kabul zemarai bashary said
we can confirm that four suicide bombers have been killed he told al jazeera
television
he said some militants were still inside the ariana cinema shooting at security
forces who had surrounded the building
we suspect there are more bombers in the cinema building he said
gunfire and explosions have rung out across kabul since the morning rush hour
when an unknown number of taliban linked militant stormed buildings in the
centre of town and began firing
at least two shopping centres are on fire amid reports that militants have
blown themselves up
al jazeera television reported that the serena hotel kabul only five star
hotel is also on fire
tough haitians still clinging to life under rubble
port au prince jan afp
more than five days after an avalanche of rubble plunged her into painful and
solitary black hell and hours after international teams heard her determined
cries marie france was rescued
french and us firefighters and medics drilled away the concrete slabs that
buried her then ground their way through the steel door that protected but also
imprisoned her when port au prince was hit by catastrophic earthquake
five days after disaster that killed tens of thousands of people far
smaller number of victims who were lucky enough to have been trapped with an
open airway are still clinging to life but time is running out for them
it already remarkable that she alive and has so much energy said
emergency medic denis larger during the rescue sadly concrete beam has
crushed her right arm and we ll have to amputate it to get her out
medics and firefighters from french martinique and us rescue crew from fairfax
county urban search and rescue part of an international coalition of first
responders worked late into the night to save marie france
they broke dozen cutting disks as they sawed through the double reinforced
steel door that shielded the year old under collapsed row of shops
the team worked in hole they dug amid the still unstable buildings at one
point doctor was lowered in dangling by his feet under arc lights and the
protection of squad of brazilian un peacekeepers
she is someone who wants to live she survived thanks to her mental strength
her physical condition and coolness in the rocks where she was that protected
her from the intense heat said fire commander daniel vigee
the rescue began in the baking caribbean noon but as sunset infused the dust
choked streets of the ruined capital with pink glow the task became more
complicated
the rest of the city bereft of electricty was already pitch black when round
of tired applause greeted marie france anaesthetised form being carried to
delivery truck pressed into service as paramedic ambulance
from there armed french gendarmes loaded her onto pick up truck and rushed
her through the darkness to an israeli field hospital
the people of port au prince eager for the start of large scale food handouts
are often critical of the international aid operation that has shuddered
chaotically into action in the aftermath of tuesday quake
but the search and rescue effort has been impressive with brave and skilled
teams from more than dozen countries fanning out far ahead of the us military
forces still massing at the airport to save as many lives as possible
nevertheless in catastrophe of this scale there must be many more people
still trapped and facing slow death by starvation in the dark
hundred metres yards further down the street where the french and american
teams were working another us crew was talking to another survivor
voices had been heard on the wreckage of the upper storeys of commercial
building twisted at crazy angles and hanging over the street
local people believed that four people were trapped there and bertrande eveward
thought her year old son junior was among them
my son is there she declared watching the beefy firefighters of the los
angeles county search and rescue scale the rubble left by the total collapse of
neighbouring block to investigate the sounds
overcome with emotion she fluttered between french english and creole as she
tried to tell the story of her family achievements as if invoking their
successful history would stave off future sadness
her eldest son bertrand paul is serving with the us military in japan while
joey and his sister rebecca live with their father jean baptiste in boston
junior was in haiti when the block collapsed on tuesday at pm
bertrande tried to comfort junior wife slight girl with tightly braided
hair who appeared to be in shock she tried to explain what had happened but
couldn find words and as tears welled up she turned away
hauling equipment up to the search site fire captain miguel garcia had news
there was at least one person left alive but it was not junior
we ve confirmed that there one female she talking to us he said she
indicates that there more but we can hear them we ve seen hand but they
can get out from where they re at
the search continues but anyone still in the rubble will have to be strong to
survive
tennis del potro takes four sets to reach second round
melbourne jan afp
us open champion juan martin del potro of argentina the fourth seed overcame
american michael russell to reach the second round at the
australian open on monday
finance officials to meet in korea next month
seoul jan afp
senior financial officials from the group of economies will meet in south
korea next month to discuss spurring the global recovery officials said monday
vice finance ministers and deputy central bank governors will meet from february
in the city of incheon west of seoul the ministry of strategy and finance
said
it will be the first meeting of the major economies in south korea which
will host the group summit in november
how to accelerate the global economic rebound and how to manage the global
economic system after the crisis will be among the top agenda items to be
discussed at the february meeting ministry official told yonhap news agency
south korea will also host meeting of finance ministers on june just
before separate summit in canada
the international monetary fund and south korea said last week they would
jointly host in seoul another high level international conference on asia in
july
the july forum will be held to examine asia economic dynamism and
evolving role in international policy making they said in joint statement
the groups argentina australia brazil britain canada china france
germany india indonesia italy japan the united states south korea mexico
russia saudi arabia south africa turkey and the european union
football maradona arrives in south africa after end of suspension
johannesburg jan afp
argentine coach diego maradona arrived in south africa on monday just days
after the end of his two month suspension from all football activities for his
sexually explicit rant at journalists
the foul mouthed former great waved and blew kisses at reporters who waited for
him at the airport saying only gracias gracias from behind his large
sunglasses
he left the airport under police escort later monday he was due to inspect the
facilities at the university of pretoria where argentina will set up base camp
during the world cup less than five months away
during his five day trip maradona is also expected to visit several south
african schools as well as johannesburg soccer city stadium which will host
the opening and the final matches of the world cup
world cup organisers insist that the sporting icon who skippered the world
cup winning team will not speak to media during his trip
maradona lost his cool with journalists following argentina qualifying win
over uruguay in october telling them to suck it and keep sucking it
fifa in november suspended him from all football activities for two months
preventing maradona from attending the draw in cape town last month
iran state tv cracks open door to opposition
tehran jan afp
seven months after presidential poll that plunged iran into cycle of street
protests and arrests state television is opening the door crack and giving
the opposition precious air time before nationwide audience
iranians last week witnessed former and incumbent lawmakers speak out against
violent crackdown on demonstrators opposed to president mahmoud ahmadinejad
they went head to head on tv against leading supporter of the hardline
president who was re elected in the june election which opponents charge was
massively rigged
outspoken reformist mp mostafa kavakebian took on prominent hardliner and
newspaper editor hossein shariatmadari in heated prime time debate possibly
watched by millions across iran
shariatmadari hardline kayhan daily has often accused the opposition
including former presidents of conspiring against the islamic regime and
playing into the hands of the united states the hardliners major foe
if we accuse all former presidents of having ties with the united states or
leading sedition nobody will remain to support iran islamic establishment
kavakebian said
mir hossein mousavi former prime minister and ahmadinejad main election
opponent former presidents akbar hashemi rafsanjani and mohammad khatami and
ex parliament speaker mehdi karroubi have been the main targets of
shariatmadari newspaper
mousavi and karroubi ran against ahmadinejad and charged the poll was massively
rigged to keep the hardliner in power
they have rejected his government as illegitimate and backed street protests in
which dozens have been killed in government crackdowns
in another debate aired last thursday former mp javad ettaat condemned
december crackdown on opposition protesters during ashura when iran plunges
into frenzy of grief to mark the historical martyrdom of one of shiite islam
most prominent saints
eight people were killed
if it is wrong to whistle and clap hands on ashura beating people is worse and
killing them much bigger wrong ettaat said
this is the first time since the election that such criticism has been aired on
state television which until now had written off opposition protesters as
foreign agents
the television has promised to continue the debates which have been welcomed by
many in iran
it was interesting to watch these debates and am looking forward to more
which will be sure to watch said manijeh an office worker in her who
did not want to give her full name
the opposition has long criticised the state broadcaster over what it deems to
be biased coverage that favours ahmadinejad and hardliners especially after the
election
private television and radio stations are banned in iran
several opposition figures including rafsanjani and mousavi had called for
such debates saying they could defuse growing tensions within the nation
such debates will calm the opposition and sideline anti islamic elements who
seek to exploit the situation said ali motahari prominent conservative mp
and fierce ahmadinejad critic
if we want to resolve certain problems in society we need to have such
debates he added
an important aspect of these televised debates is that they will end the
business of iranians watching persian language satellite channels such as the
bbc and the voice of america lawmaker kavakebian told the mehr news agency
iranian authorities accuse the bbc and voa which have large audience inside
iran of inciting post election protests and have banned iranians from speaking
to the broadcasters
opposition candidates mousavi and karroubi can be invited on tv to say what
they have to say and this will pave the way to national reconciliation
motahari said
avatar wins top honors at golden globes
beverly hills california jan afp
science fiction blockbuster avatar took top honors at the th golden globes
here late sunday winning best picture and best director to cement its status as
an oscars front runner
the ground breaking epic from titanic director james cameron on course to
become the highest grossing film in history was the big winner on night
when honors were largely spread across several films
the movie has been hailed as cinematic milestone for its use of state of the
art cameras and motion capture technology which cameron was instrumental in
helping to develop
this is the best job in the world cameron told star studded audience at the
beverly hilton hotel after accepting the best motion picture drama award
since its release in december avatar has earned an astonishing billion
dollars worldwide and is rapidly closing in on the billion dollar record of
cameron oscar winner titanic
accepting the best director award earlier delighted cameron said he had been
expecting to lose out to ex wife kathryn bigelow who had been nominated for her
powerful iraq war drama the hurt locker
unprepared frankly thought kathryn was going to get this cameron said
but make no mistake very grateful
part of cameron speech was also made in na vi the language spoken by the
blue skinned peace loving alien heroes of avatar which was invented for the
film by university of southern california linguistics expert
the golden globes are seen as key staging post in the sprint towards the
ultimate prize of the oscars which take place on march this year and often
help shape the field of likely best picture contenders
however hollywood awards shows rarely honor fantasy films and avatar was
expected to face stiff competition from bigelow the hurt locker quentin
tarantino inglourious basterds precious and up in the air
avatar stellar showing at the globes may now see it elevated to favorite for
the oscars whose nominees are revealed on february
up in the air had started sunday as one of the hot favorites with six
nominations but in the event had to settle for one best screenplay
another big loser on the night was musical nine which started the night with
five nominations but finished empty handed nine was pipped for best musical
or comedy by the raucous the hangover
the acting awards saw popular honors going to veterans jeff bridges and sandra
bullock
bridges won the best drama actor prize for his portrayal of washed up
country singer in crazy heart
bridges who had been nominated for golden globe on three previous occasions
but never won received standing ovation as he walked to the stage before
thanking his late father lloyd bridges in his acceptance speech
gotta thank my dad bridges said you know he loved show biz so damned
much he encouraged all his kids to go into showbiz
me being young kid you know you don want to do what your parents want you
to do so glad listened to you dad finally paid attention
bullock took best drama actress prize for her portrayal of southern housewife
leigh anne tuohy in the blind side the true story of how tuohy took in
homeless black teen michael oher who went on to become an american football
star with the baltimore ravens
thank you for putting me in this extraordinary category with these amazing
women get to share this night with bullock said
if may steal from michael oher he said might not be the most talented
but ve been given opportunity and ve been given so much opportunity
the year old veteran beat out fellow nominees emily blunt the young
victoria helen mirren the last station carey mulligan an education
and gabourey sidibe precious
elsewhere hollywood icon meryl streep snared record seventh golden globe win
for her portrayal of television chef julia child in julie amp julia
the year old won in the best comedy actress category where she was also
nominated for it complicated
the best comedy actor prize was taken by robert downey jr for his performance in
sherlock holmes as the legendary victorian super sleuth
the supporting acting awards went to austria christoph waltz for inglourious
basterds and mo nique for precious
food aid reaches camp for haitian displaced
port au prince jan afp
food rations provided by the united nations and humanitarian organizations
reached challe camp for displaced haitian people for the first time
sunday as relief supplies began to trickle in to those in need
but one father said it was not enough to feed so many hungry people
the camp located between the haitian capital and its airport is home to
thousands of people who lost their home in tuesday magnitude earthquake
using pieces of wood carton and other materials they have built temporary
shelters right in the middle of nowhere
the supplies were brought in by the world food program wfp on truck
accompanied by argentine soldiers that form part of un forces deployed here
un troops took positions at the entrance to the camp and their guns slung
behind their backs began to unload boxes containing small packets of dry
biscuits
hundreds of haitians standing in long line jostled and elbowed each other in
hopes of receiving the supplies before they run out
this is the first time food is being distributed in this camp that houses
people explained josephine florent who sported white shirt
emblazoned with wfp logo as she distributed the biscuits
laughter erupted in the crowd after several uniformed blue helmets with guns
and bulletproof vests rushed after several children who jumped protective
barrier and tried to approach the supplies
but the boys appeared to be more interested in empty boxes that can be used for
building shelters rather than in the food itself
amid intense heat everybody is thirsty and clamoring for water but martin
diaz representative of the blue helmets says it is not available at this
time
the wfp has lot of food and water in warehouse close to the airport he
points out but there are not enough trucks to distribute these goods
diaz explains that he and other us soldiers had come here to protect un
humanitarian workers who quickly finish distributing the biscuits
the situation in the camp can deteriorate very quickly he notes
as quickly as they appeared the un troops and humanitarian workers are gone
and camp dwellers have trouble hiding their disappointment
is that all there is vanel louis paul father of three children throws up
his hands brandishing an empty biscuit package we have been waiting since
tuesday and that is all that has arrived
two women look equally disappointed saying they have not been able to get any
of the relief supplies
it would have been much more important for us to receive water and medicine
argues alex bien aime one of the coordinators in the displaced people camp we
have children and senior people here and nothing to address their needs
his co worker adds with sad note in his voice these biscuits just exacerbate
the thirst
tennis imposing murray coasts into open second round
melbourne jan afp
scotland andy murray was in imposing form as he breezed into the second round
of the australian open with straight sets win over qualifier kevin anderson on
monday
murray fancied to become the first british man to win grand slam singles
title since could scarcely have been more impressive as he destroyed the
south african world number in just minutes
murray will face either france marc gicquel or italy simone bolelli in the
second round
monday match wasn quite as one sided as the score suggested with anderson
genuinely testing the scot at times
but the fifth seed showcased an array of winners that backed his unwavering
personal belief that he can take out the year first grand slam
murray reeled off winners in his brief time on court and also highlighted
his improved volleying game by losing just two points from the times he
ventured to the net
however one area of concern was his first serve percentage which was just
percent for the match
murray admitted his serve was worry but was generally happy to get the first
round out of the way easily against dangerous opponent
could have served better he said it was good start he tough
player
he beat novak djokovic before in miami he won tour event so wasn
expecting it to be easy just got off to good start which helped
broke him straight away that always makes big difference
murray was thankful to be able to play in perfect conditions indoors while rain
and wind played havoc on the outside courts
it good to get the match out of the way because it long day for lot of
the players because of the weather outside he said
it obviously good to get finished quickly
you know indoors once you get on the court you re going to finish you re not
getting stopped
also ve watched some points of some of the matches on the outside courts and
it pretty windy out there too pretty tough conditions to play in
murray said he had made number of changes to his australian open preparation
this year including playing at the mixed teams hopman cup rather than in doha
new clothes new racquet weight and smaller entourage
the tall anderson tried to serve and volley his way out of trouble against the
year old but each time he seemed in dominant position at the net murray
would come up with crisp passing shot
down in the second game of the second set murray reeled off string of
winners to hold serve and then immediately broke the anderson serve in period
of play that reflected the tone of the whole match
when anderson finally broke the murray serve in the third set the scot simply
broke back as he reeled off the next three games to take the match
jawbone makes talk pretty and smart
san francisco jan afp
aliph is adding brains to beauty in new line of jawbone icon wireless
earpieces designed to be internet smart and techno chic
while bluetooth headsets have historically been dumb devices that handle audio
to and from mobile phones based on control buttons icons can be customized with
mini applications to do tasks with personality
we are calling it the first intelligent headset aliph co founder and chief
executive hosain rahman told afp
you ve got to curate that experience at the ear because it is pretty precious
real estate
san francisco based aliph is staying true to its credo that bluetooth headsets
should combine top technology with the fact that if you wear something on your
face you want it to look good
icons come in six styles including faux gold nugget and pearl looks as well as
brushed metal and deep burgundy rogue model
like characters in film each captures different fun to wear persona said
renowned industrial designer yves behar aliph chief creative officer
the materials textures colors and surfaces of the jawbone icon line produce
rich and distinct watch like or jewelry like results
engineering in the headsets cuts background noise and automatically adjusts the
audio so all speakers even on conference calls are heard at consistent volumes
dictated by users
aliph is testing mytalk website where icons can be personalized with voice
notifications and mini applications such as voice text messaging
icons can be programmed to tell users phone numbers of an incoming calls or how
much battery life is left voice options include an intellectual manly hero
and female bombshell when it come to who is whispering in one ear
language choices are english french german and spanish
mytalk is just hint of the exciting ways people will be able to breathe life
into their jawbones over time said rahman
aliph envisions adding richer applications to mytalk perhaps podcasts or
letting people customize earpieces with voices of their children
mytalk is the first step toward allowing headsets to do more things said
analyst tim bajarin of creative strategies in silicon valley
it very clear these could be used for command and control lot of things if
the headsets are tied to cloud service
cloud services are internet applications hosted online where simple devices can
tap into the power of data centers hosting the programs
the real problem with headsets in general is they are too geeky bajarin said
the goal has got to be to make them so you don feel like nerd and are
functional and to some degree fashionable
aliph headsets will be available for purchase online at jawbone com beginning
monday and be priced at dollars
in an environmentally sensitive move icon packaging is made of recycled paper
and plastic
billionaire wins chile presidency
santiago jan afp
chilean billionaire media magnate sebastian pinera celebrated victory monday
after winning runoff presidential election that put an end to year hold
on power by the left wing coalition of outgoing head of state michelle bachelet
bachelet defeated candidate eduardo frei former president himself
conceded defeat after an official count of most ballots sunday showed pinera had
picked up percent to his percent
bachelet was constitutionally barred from seeking another term
the victory by pinera marked the defeat of the concertacion coalition of
four left wing and centrist parties that had governed chile since the exit
of dictator general august pinochet
it the first time that my family and celebrate political victory said
pinera follower costanza espinoza who at belongs to generation of chileans
born in the closing years of the pinochet regime
some people celebrated pinera triumph outside his campaign headquarters
