the tokyo stock exchange benchmark nikkei index fell points or
percent to the broader topix index of all first section shares
meanwhile rose points or percent to
shares in cosmetics maker shiseido soared on news the company will spend
billion dollars to buy bare escentuals of the united states
obama thanks dominican leader for helping americans in haiti
washington jan afp
president barack obama thursday called his counterpart from the dominican
republic leonel fernandez to thank him for helping evacuate us citizens from
quake stricken haiti the white house said
at pm gmt friday the president spoke with president
fernandez and expressed his appreciation for the role the dominican
republic has played in facilitating the evacuation of us citizens and in the
flow of relief teams and supplies into haiti through the dominican republic
the white house statement said
president fernandez conveyed his assessment of the situation in haiti following
his visit today to port au prince it added
fernandez whose dominican republic makes up the richer two thirds of the island
of hispaniola it shares with haiti was the first foreign head of state to visit
the devastated haitian capital
part of the us relief effort in haiti is aimed at helping the estimated
americans in that country some of whom were injured in the disaster
over us citizens were evacuated thursday and more were to be rescued
later in the day the state department said
world scrambles rescue teams aid to quake hit haiti
washington jan afp
rescue teams doctors and soldiers rushed by land sea and air thursday to help
drag survivors of haiti devastating earthquake from the rubble and bring its
people life saving food and medicines
us president barack obama promised haitians they would not be forgotten
offering million dollars to buy life saving equipment food water and
medicine and every element of us power to help them
this investment will grow over the coming year as we embark on the long term
recovery from this unimaginable tragedy he pledged
but more than two days after disaster struck there was no sign of desperately
needed heavy lifting equipment as anger and despair mounted along with the
stench of decomposing bodies
haiti prime minister jean max bellerive said tuesday magnitude quake
which flattened much of port au prince may have killed more than
people while the red cross put the number at between and
giant us aircraft carrier was expected to drop anchor off the stricken
caribbean island nation on friday and serve as landing pad for fleet of
helicopters to bring emergency teams and vital supplies to quake victims
the uss carl vinson is outfitted with dozens of hospital beds three operating
rooms and water purifying equipment that can make gallons of urgently
needed drinking water day
an obama administration official said the president had spoken thursday with
french counterpart nicolas sarkozy about ongoing us and french relief efforts
and the need for coordination of immediate and long term international efforts
to assist the people of haiti
in paris the presidency said sarkozy and obama along with brazil canada and
other countries directly concerned would organize an international conference
on the reconstruction of the former french colony
nations from all corners of the globe joined the vast relief operation as
hundreds of thousands of homeless injured and traumatized people awaited help
on the corpse strewn streets of port au prince
planes began arriving at the capital airport bringing surgeons field
hospitals water and emergency medical supplies while search and rescue teams
with sniffer dogs started to pick through the debris
but little aid trickled down onto the streets and an afp video showed scuffles
breaking out as helicopter dropped food over part of the city
the us had to take over air traffic control at the overwhelmed port au prince
airport where authorities at one point asked for no more flights to be
authorized as the facility was saturated
governments and aid organizations unlocked millions of dollars and launched
appeals for more to help survivors and reconstruct ruined homes schools and
hospitals in one of the world poorest nations
us army spokesman said the first members of brigade of us troops had
begun arriving in haiti thursday while chinese aircraft also brought relief
workers
the us air force said it had flown five air missions so far delivering tons
of supplies carrying out seven rescues and transporting rescue and aid
workers
planeloads of rescue teams and relief supplies were also sent from countries
including belgium britain canada france germany italy the netherlands
poland portugal russia spain and switzerland
the red cross launched million dollar appeal for donations the world food
programme offered tons of food and the world bank pledged an extra
million dollars in aid the international monetary fund also offered million
dollars its head dominique strauss kahn announced
we are entering critical period there must be massive humanitarian aid
arriving this evening said olivier bernard president of the medical relief
organization medecins du monde
european development ministers will hold emergency talks in brussels on monday
to discuss how best to help haiti
the european commission has already pledged three million euros in aid with
other offers in cash or kind coming from individual member states
britain said it would donate close to million dollars as rescue team it
sent touched down to help the hunt for survivors prime minister gordon brown
described the disaster as tragedy beyond imagination
aid group medecins sans frontieres msf dispatched an inflatable field hospital
including two operating theaters beds and medical staff to haiti where it
should be up and running by the weekend
the international red cross said that it was sending tons of medical supplies
while the international organization for migration called for tents tents and
more tents to shelter the homeless
to make it easier to help the urgent aid effort in haiti several organizations
have launched sms campaigns enabling people to donate money by sending text
messages
the us state department said the red cross alone had raised million dollars
in the first two days after the quake from people donating dollars time by
texting haiti to the number
japan orders end to naval refuelling mission for afghanistan
tokyo jan afp
japan defence minister on friday ordered the end of naval refuelling mission
in the indian ocean that has supported the us led war in afghanistan since
his ministry said
the defence minister issued an order at am gmt today to the fleet
commander to end refuelling activity in the indian ocean at pm on january
and to send the troops home the ministry said in statement
the move fulfils pledge by prime minister yukio hatoyama centre left
government which took office in september vowing less subservient
relationship with security partner the united states
shortly before issuing the order defence minister toshimi kitazawa told
reporters that the two ship mission would perform its last refuelling operation
later friday before heading back
japan has supplied oil and water to vessels from countries that have joined
international forces in afghanistan
with the end of the refuelling mission hatoyama pledged that japan would
instead step up aid to afghanistan offering five billion dollars over the next
five years to help rebuild the war torn nation
web browser vulnerability used in google attacks microsoft
washington jan afp
microsoft said thursday that security vulnerability in its internet explorer
browser was used in cyberattacks which prompted google to threaten to shut down
its operations in china
web security firm maafee inc said meanwhile that the attacks on google and
other companies showed level of sophistication beyond that of cyber criminals
and more typical of nation state
revealing the attacks on tuesday google said they originated from china and
targeted the email accounts of chinese human rights activists around the world
but did not explicitly accuse the chinese government of responsibility
dmitri alperovitch vice president of threat research for mcafee said that
while mcafee had no proof that the chinese are behind this particular attack
think there are indications though that nation state is behind it
google said more than other unidentified firms were targeted in the highly
sophisticated attacks while other reports have put the number of companies
attacked at more than
google said that following the attacks it had decided to no longer censor its
internet search engine in china and was prepared to close its operations there
entirely if it could not reach an agreement with the chinese authorities
only one other company adobe has come forward so far and acknowledged that it
was target of the attacks which exploited previously unknown security flaw
in internet explorer
internet explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated
attacks targeted against google and other corporate networks mike reavey the
director of microsoft security response center said in blog post thursday
reavey stressed that microsoft has not seen widespread customer impact rather
only targeted and limited attacks exploiting internet explorer
changing browser security settings to high would protect users from the
vulnerability he said
microsoft chief executive steve ballmer said meanwhile that the us software
giant takes cyberattacks seriously but has no plans to pull out of china
we ve been quite clear that we re going to operate in china ballmer told cnbc
television we re going to abide by the law
we need to take all cyberattacks seriously not just this one he said
mcafee alperovitch said the attacks on google and other companies which he
was not allowed to identify were unusual in their sophistication
we have seen attacks like this before but only in the government space in the
defense industrial space alperovitch said we have never seen that level of
sophistication level of planning and reconnaissance and attention to detail in
attacks on commercial entities
primarily the threat to commercial entities is from cybercrime individuals
after financial data he said they re typically sloppy
this exploit was highly sophisticated he said it used multiple levels of
obfuscation and encryption more so than in any other types of exploits that we
have seen previously
such sophistication is typically an attribute of nation state type of attack
and that exactly what we see here the mcafee researcher said
alperovitch said the attackers used email or some other lure to get employees of
targeted company to click on link and visit specially crafted website
using internet explorer
malware would then be downloaded that has the capability to essentially install
back door in the machine he said this allows the attacker to log into
the machine and essentially take it over as if they were sitting at the keyboard
manipulating that machine
what that does is it gives the attacker beachhead into the organization from
which point they can start exploring identifying valuable pieces of data and
other vulnerable services he said
aborigines to ask prince william for slain warrior head
sydney jan afp
australian aborigines said friday they will ask britain prince william for
help in finding and returning the head of an indigenous warrior when he visits
sydney next week
william will meet several indigenous leaders on tuesday on his first trip
to australia since visiting as baby with his parents prince charles and the
late princess diana in
elder michael mundine of the aboriginal housing company said he believed the
prince has his mother heart and would understand the request to recover the
remains of the warrior pemulwuy
he is from different generation and because he is young think he will
understand that pemulwuy needs to come home to his lands mundine who will
meet with the prince in disadvantaged inner city redfern told the australian
pemulwuy who was born around opposed the british settlement and was
described by sydney then governor philip king as terrible pest to the
colony but also brave and independent character
when the warrior was shot dead in his head was cut off and believed to
have been placed in jar and sent to england its location is now unknown
the return of aboriginal remains is an important issue for indigenous
australians who are lobbying british museums for their repatriation
rob welsh who chairs the metropolitan local aboriginal land council said he
was concerned about the remains of all our ancestors
top korean groups to boost investment hiring
seoul jan afp
south korea biggest business groups plan to raise investment and create
tens of thousands of jobs this year to cater for rising demand at home and
abroad the biggest business lobby said friday
the federation of korean industries said the plans were disclosed at meeting
with president lee myung bak
the groups plan to spend total of trillion won billion dollars
percent increase compared with trillion won last year yonhap news
agency reported
they intend to hire total of workers this year up percent from
the nation biggest conglomerate samsung announced it will invest trillion
won this year and hire about workers
the size of investment will probably rise depending on economic conditions
lee soo bin chairman of samsung life insurance told reporters on the sidelines
of the meeting
lg group chairman koo bon moo said the group will raise its investment by
percent to trillion won and plans to hire about workers this year
compared with last year
the government says job creation is top priority amid fears of jobless
recovery
the economy grew percent quarter on quarter in july september the fastest
such increase in more than seven years and the finance ministry tips five
percent growth next year
but the unemployment rate rose in december to percent and the number of
people with jobs fell from year earlier
like every other nation in the world the south korean government most
important goal is to create jobs president lee told the meeting urging the
groups to boost investment and employment
obama allies seek imminent health deal
washington jan afp
the white house and labor unions unveiled breakthrough deal thursday to clear
major obstacle blocking president barack obama all out campaign to remake us
health care his top domestic goal
the announcement gave much needed boost to obama and his democratic allies as
they strove in intense marathon talks to meld rival senate and house of
representatives versions of legislation to enact the historic overhaul
we are on the doorstep of historic achievement the president told democrats
in the house of representatives as they held their annual retreat to map the way
to november mid term elections
democrats eager for what would be major victory said they hoped to overcome
the last hurdles to craft final compromise by the weekend and pass it before
the president state of the union speech just weeks away
the party top leaders in congress were expected to the white house well after
nightfall to continue their intense marathon talks an obama aide said
obama used his rare visit to the us congress to try to steel the resolve of
house democrats worried about paying price in november mid term elections for
backing the legislation
if republicans want to campaign against what we ve done by standing up for the
status quo and for insurance companies over american families and businesses
that is fight want to have said the president
democrats working on the final compromise had next to no margin for error the
senate passed its bill on christmas eve by exactly the votes needed and the
house got just two more than the needed seven weeks earlier
but they took critical step forward when labor unions announced deal in
which they accepted watered down version of the senate bill new taxes on
generous health plans like those their members have to fund the overhaul
union leaders told reporters on conference call to unveil the accord that they
would have preferred to go another route but that they would fight for the final
bill and that the house and senate had endorsed their approach
we think that everybody is on board with this said richard trumka president
of the largest us labor federation the afl cio gerry mcentee who heads the
largest union of government workers said they and their democratic allies were
ready to fight for the bill
republicans seemingly united in opposition to the plan have said they plan to
harness public doubts about the legislation ahead of the mid term elections in
which sitting us president party typically loses seats
several other disputes stood in the way of crafting compromise that could be
sent to the non partisan congressional budget office for formal assessment of
its likely impact cost and effect on the soaring us deficit
previous cbo score showed the legislation would have cut roughly billion
dollars off the deficit over the first years
the legislation which would usher in the most sweeping overhaul of its kind in
four decades aims to extend coverage to more than million of the million
americans who lack health insurance and curb abusive practices by private
insurers who provide most americans coverage
recent public opinion polls have found deep skepticism about the bill with
large segment disappointed that the sweeping legislation does not go far enough
the white house and democrats were also looking to resolve another dispute
centered on whether health care exchanges marketplaces where consumers
could comparison shop for coverage would be national or state by state
we are very very close to agreeing on final plan said obama spokesman
robert gibbs
the united states is the world richest nation but the only industrialized
democracy that does not provide health care coverage to all of its citizens
the united states spends more than double what britain france and germany do
per person on health care
but it lags behind other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality
according to the organization for economic cooperation and development oecd
tennis heineken open men singles semi finals
auckland jan afp
results from the semi finals of the heineken open here on friday denotes
seeding
semi finals
john isner usa bt albert montanes esp
arnaud clement fra bt philipp kohlschreiber ger
cries grow faint under haiti rubble
port au prince jan afp
almost hours after the shattered concrete ceiling of her cousin dress store
crashed down upon her maryse faltering cries galvanised crowd of rescuers
digging through the rubble
young men bystanders and volunteers began to scrabble ineffectually at the
twisted but still massive net of concrete chunks and steel reinforcement rods
trapping maryse and the corpses of her friends and neighbors
international aid flights had begun to arrive at port au prince airport but
on thursday two days after haiti most disastrous earthquake the citizens of
its devastated capital could rely on no one but themselves
signs of life from maryse and at least one more young woman spurred one group of
volunteers to action in one city center street but without heavy lifting gear
and trained rescue teams they had little hope of success
they re going to die they re going to die spat year old accountancy
student jean rald rocher fiddling with the paper face mask that was his only
protective gear as he dug for rotting corpses under reinforced concrete
rocher cousin ruth esperance was killed in the quake and now he works with
the disorganized gangs of young men hunting through the rubble
he and others howled with impotent rage as four by four trucks with diplomats
and aid workers rode past without stopping neither to help free maryse nor to
gather up the rotting body of her friend line louis pierre
according to the owner of the house that plunged into the store year old
teacher domeck mathurin at least three more women and girls lay dead in the
wreckage and afp reporters at the scene heard faint cries
it the tragedy of one street in city where every street now has its own row
of fly blown corpses and crowds of wandering refugees seeking place to lie
down for the night with their few remaining possessions
haiti is often cited as the western hemisphere poorest country but even amid
such misery there were pockets of relative wealth these neighborhoods with
their multi story concrete blocks were hit hard
nursing training school few blocks from international embassies now
resembles truncated pyramid of concrete slabs twisted steel rods and the
bloated bodies of at least dozen student nurses
some of the terrified students had time to huddle in each other arms for
protection as the five story block pancaked on top of them
most of their bodies now lie obscenely twisted and exposed but on the roadside
carefully manicured hand pokes out from under flyblown sheet flash of red
nail varnish among the grey dust and blackened decaying flesh
one of the nurses continued to cry under the rubble for day after the
earthquake witnesses said but none survived and their bodies lay unclaimed
amid family photos and meticulously annotated lecture notes
perhaps the manicured hand belongs to floride beauchamp whose peasants birth
certificate lies nearby recording how she was brought into the world by her
mother suzela beauchamp farmer on march
dozens more certificates and diplomas litter the stinking debris
we ve lost our identity don exist raged antoine rene year old
accountant whose entire life and official documents were lost in his ruined
home and who was leading his wife away to seek shelter with relatives
many haitians are angry at their own government slow response we have no
authorities snorted rene wife and when they see foreign reporters they
demand to know when the international community will come to their aid
but the state has not been entirely absent single immaculate bright red fire
engine lumbered around the central district north of the presidential palace
doing what it could to help the volunteer rescuers
summoned by local police they intervened to put out blaze in an abandoned
general store that had threatened to spread to the modest home of year old
ludovic jean who cannot remember any disaster to compare to the quake
one of the firefighters had to face tragedy of his own however his engine was
called to his own house where the dust coated feet of his daughter nadeje and
her friend maxo were found limply entwined under ton of rubble
staring at her solemn face on her identity card he blinked back tears and
brushed away reporter don you worry about it he said before heading
back out to the next ruined home
three streets away maryse started to cry out faintly
shiseido to buy bare escentuals for billion dollars
tokyo jan afp
japan top cosmetics maker shiseido co said friday it had agreed to buy bare
escentuals of the united states for billion dollars in friendly takeover
the management of the two companies have struck definitive agreement on an
all cash tender offer of dollars per share for bare escentuals maker of
mineral based cosmetics shiseido said in statement
shiseido japan largest cosmetics company has enjoyed fast growing profits in
recent years helped by booming demand for beauty products in china and other
asian markets
with the takeover offer which must be accepted by majority of bare escentuals
shareholders shiseido aims to expand its brand into mineral based products and
widen its customer base
this acquisition further enables shiseido to move towards our goal of becoming
global player representing asia with its origins in japan shiseido chief
executive shinzo maeda said in statement
the operational fit and future growth prospects make this an excellent
transaction for our customers employees and shareholders
bare escentuals aims to benefit from shiseido distribution channels in japan
and asia particularly its strong foothold in china
football preki dooley named to us hall of fame
philadelphia pennsylvania jan afp
two time major league soccer most valuable player preki and thomas dooley were
elected thursday to the america football hall of fame
dooley and preki were both on the us world cup team and the two started
back to back mls all star games in
dooley the us footballer of the year is just one of five players in the
modern era to start every game in consecutive world cups for the usa in
and
the german born star began his professional career in his home country and
finished with seven goals in international appearances for america
preki was the only player to start the first eight mls all star games and was
the league all time points leader when he retired
the yugoslavian born star had four goals in appearances on the us national
team
the vote was conducted among panel of media coaches administrators and hall
of fame members
us hopes guinea coup leader will stay in burkina faso
washington jan afp
the united states is hoping burkina faso president blaise compaore will
persuade the leader of military coup in guinea against returning home
senior state department official told afp thursday
moussa dadis camara left guinea after an aide tried to assassinate him on
december forcing him to travel first to morocco for medical treatment and
then on to burkina faso to convalesce
william fitzgerald deputy assistant secretary of state for african affairs
told afp that camara continued absence could provide an opening for interim
leader general sekouba konate
we would hope that blaise compaore holds on to dadis allows him to convalesce
there because don think he fully recovered and konate be given the
opportunity to return and continue transition with civilians he said
fitzgerald comments came as konate met with camara in ouagadougou for talks on
whether the junta leader should remain abroad or return home
guinea has been mired in political crisis sparked by military coup on
december and worsened by massacre that killed more than people
according to un figures on september
recent un report on the massacre in guinea capital conakry named camara as
suspect and accused the army of crimes against humanity
it very important for the united states that he camara remains out of
guinea while this very fragile transition is going on fitzgerald said
he warned that camara has basically private army and said the united states
fears the spread of violence throughout the region including in sierra leone
liberia and cote ivoire
we spent ten or fifteen years seeing barbaric acts tremendous bloodshed there
we can return there he said
if someone like dadis comes and runs state like guinea rogue state
think it only matter of time before it reinfects the region
fitzgerald said compaore is very well aware that it would be very dangerous
were dadis to return to guinea
but he said the burkinabe leader also fears the idea that dadis would not
return and how the ethnic group the forestiers would react to that
the us diplomat said he hoped compaore would realize his stake in keeping the
region stable
he added that reports of junta members demanding camara return were nothing
new
they re afraid that if dadis does not return they may be brought to answer for
the crimes that were committed on september he said
many foreigners missing in haiti quake
paris jan afp
foreign countries continued friday to try to obtain news of their nationals
reported missing in haiti devastating earthquake
following is breakdown of foreigners feared or known to be casualties of
tuesday disaster which is thought to have killed some people many
others had not reported in to their respective embassies because of poor
communications
australia the foreign ministry says small number of australians remain
unaccounted for following the haiti quake but that there is no evidence of
australian deaths
the good news is that we have been able to confirm the safety of australians
in haiti department of foreign affairs and trade spokesperson said
brazil at least brazilian peacekeepers were killed in the haiti earthquake
according to the country military
canada one canadian un staffer found dead another missing police say in
ottawa
france six french nationals were killed by the earthquake the french foreign
ministry says
mauritius the foreign ministry said it had no news of two mauritian citizens
one serving with the united nations and the other in the tourist sector
netherlands the dutch foreign ministry said it is seriously concerned about
nine dutch people thought to have been in hotels that collapsed
new zealand according to new zealand family members two new zealand born
children and their french haitian father were believed killed in collapsed
port au prince hotel third child was injured and taken to the dominican
republic by their uninjured new zealand mother
new zealand foreign minister murray mccully said there were no other new
zealanders known to be affected by the quake
philippines three philippine peacekeepers including two female sergeants are
missing although fourth who had been declared missing was rescued on thursday
from collapsed building
poland one student missing according to foreign ministry spokesman
portugal two citizens are so far uncontactable according to the department for
portuguese communities
senegal two policemen serving with the un mission are missing the senegalese
gendarmerie said
spain spanish worker with the european commission delegation in haiti is
missing spokesman said
thailand the foreign ministry said one thai missionary is missing
united nations some un staffers are still missing after the quake which
killed at least un spokesman said
united states diplomat was the first us citizen confirmed killed in the
earthquake the state department said
athletics croatia vlasic to make us debut at millrose
new york jan afp
two time world champion and olympic high jump silver medallist blanka
vlasic of croatia will compete for the first time on us soil at the millrose
games indoor athletics meeting on january
the meeting at new york madison square garden is the first stop of usa track
and field visa championship series
vlasic is the reigning world indoor champion and set personal best of
meters in august in zagreb
it was the highest clearance in years and she trails only world record
holder stefka kostadinova of bulgaria on the all time list
through the seasons vlasic had an unbeaten string of victories
that ended with her silver medal performance at the beijing olympics
tennis henin may face clijsters in australian open quarters
melbourne jan afp
belgium unseeded former world number one justine henin was friday drawn in the
