called tending to the estimated thousands of unmarked nazi era mass graves of
eastern europe one of the great unfinished tasks of world war ii
the killings were largely carried out by ss einsatzgruppen but also by german
foot soldiers and police as well as local collaborators units
jews but also roma soviet communists polish partisans and other targets of the
nazi regime were herded together often in public in towns and villages shot en
masse and their corpses thrown in large pits
the coalition is seeking to establish pilot projects with the financial and
political support of berlin
what we would hope is that the german government could play leading role
here said the ajc director of international jewish affairs in washington
rabbi andrew baker
think the sense of mission here to complete something that should have been
done decades ago is obvious
the project would identify what are believed to be thousands of unidentified
mass graves of holocaust victims with the help of witnesses seal them with
concrete to prevent plundering and desecration and memorialise them
baker did not specify how much funding would be needed but the executive
director of the lo tishkach european jewish cemeteries initiative in brussels
philip carmel estimated the cost to seal each grave in the low tens of
thousands of dollars range
carmel said it was crucial to maintain physical reminder in every place that
there were jews so that nobody can deny the holocaust that is the message
father patrick desbois french roman catholic priest who has interviewed
elderly witnesses for four years to locate the lost mass graves of eastern
europe said his work would be futile without an effort to protect the sites
the war is over when we bury the last of the victims said desbois whose
group yahad in unum together in hebrew and latin receives about
euros dollars in funding each year from the german government
we are running against time
ab inbev starts temporary layoffs amid beer protest
brussels jan afp
brewing giant anheuser busch inbev began temporarily laying off staff wednesday
as worker blockade brought production to standstill hitting supplies of
some of belgium most popular beers
due to the current blockades we are unable to provide work for our employees in
the breweries which will have to resort to temporary lay offs linked to strike
action an ab inbev statement said
some of the sites producing jupiler and stella artois have been blocked by
employees concerned about job losses for almost two weeks while the centre
making hoegaarden has been at standstill for week
the management started using lock outs in louvain jupille and hoegaarden on
wednesday morning they kicked employees out into the streets and put chains on
the gates spokesman for the csc trade union told belga news agency
the protest action which includes blockades came after the group announced on
january that it planned to cut percent of its workforce in western europe
or around jobs
in belgium of the jobs at ab inbev will go
trade unions and employers met tuesday to try to resolve the standoff after
efforts to find compromise broke down on january those talks also failed
and meeting set for wednesday was cancelled
spokesman for the fgtb said talks were expected to resume early thursday
ab inbev produces around percent of the volume of beer consumed in belgium
bars and cafes according to the national hoteliers and restaurants federation
the group production woes have also hit neighbouring france and the
netherlands
reconstruction of haiti could take years diplomat
madrid jan afp
reconstruction of quake ravaged haiti could take years and the death toll
could exceed as help has yet to reach many villages the country
ambassador to spain said wednesday
we have to allow years yolette azor charles said
at the beginning said reconstruction would take years but when
realised the magnitude of the quake thought it better to say then
and now she told afp
asked about estimates of to deaths she said afraid it
will be more because in the small villages all the help hasn arrived yet
she was speaking to afp at the fitur international tourism trade fair that
opened in madrid on wednesday
delegation from the tourism ministry in port au prince was unable to attend
the fair to promote the country fledgling tourist industry and the small
haitian stand was manned by diplomats from the madrid embassy
spain king juan carlos opened the fair with minute silence for the victims
of the quake he later met with azor charles to offer his sympathies
imf chief calls for marshall plan for devastated haiti
washington jan afp
imf chief dominique strauss kahn on wednesday called for multilateral aid plan
for earthquake devastated haiti like the us marshall plan that rebuilt europe
after world war ii
my belief is that haiti which has been incredibly hit by different things
the food and fuel prices crisis then the hurricane then the earthquake
needs something that is big the managing director of the washington based
international monetary fund said
not only piecemeal approach but something which is much bigger to deal with
the reconstruction of the country some kind of marshall plan that we need
now to implement for haiti he said in statement
strauss kahn remarks came in cnn interview in hong kong where he had met
with officials and delivered speech to the asia financial forum gathering
of financial and business leaders
officials fear as many as people were killed in the massive
magnitude earthquake that reduced the haitian capital port au prince to
rubble on january
the haitian civil defense department said tuesday that were injured
the urgency today is to save the people the urgency in some weeks will be
the reconstruction strauss kahn said
the imf last thursday promised an interest free loan of million dollars in
initial emergency funds to the haitian government to support essential
activities and finance urgent imports
the imf loan has drawn criticism for adding to the debt burden of haiti the
poorest country in the western hemisphere
the most important thing is that the imf is now working with all donors to try
to delete all the haitian debt including our new loan strauss kahn said
if we succeed and sure we will succeed even this loan will turn out
to be finally grant because all the debt will have been deleted and that
the very important thing for haiti now
the imf and the world bank classify haiti among heavily indebted poor
countries that are eligible for debt forgiveness haiti was granted billion
dollars in debt relief last june
figure skating european championship results
tallinn jan afp
results from the second day of the european figure skating championships here on
wednesday
men short programme
yevgeny plushenko rus brian joubert fra yannick
ponsero fra michal brezina cze stephane lambiel sui
alban preaubert fra samuel contesti ita tomas
verner cze stefan lindemann ger kristoffer berntsson
swe
israel to push ahead with settlement university
jerusalem jan afp
defence minister ehud barak decided wednesday to push ahead with plans to
transform college in the west bank settlement of ariel into university
israeli officials said
the decision sparked outrage among many who viewed it as provocative at time
when israel is pushing to enter talks with the palestinians over the fate of the
west bank which israel captured in the six day war
decision to transform the college into university was taken five years ago
but frozen on wednesday barak decided to grant the institution an intermediate
status of university centre senior defence ministry official told afp
full recognition as university planned for an unscheduled date would
entitle it to significant additional funding and the ability to grant advanced
degrees
opponents said the move would also hurt the international standing of israel
which has faced several academic boycotts over the continued occupation of the
west bank
it is decision that will harm all the universities in israel
it not right that in place where you have occupation and military rule
they want to establish an institution of higher education that teaches knowledge
and values said yariv oppenheimer of the anti settlement peace now group
the announcement came several hours ahead of the expected arrival of us middle
east envoy george mitchell in israel
the united states has for months been pressing israel and the palestinians to
relaunch peace negotiations suspended during the gaza war in december
january
the palestinians have been refusing to talk until israel completely freezes
construction in the west bank settlements and annexed east jerusalem
after months of us pressure israel hawkish prime minister benjamin netanyahu
in november ordered partial month moratorium on new construction in the
west bank but excluded public buildings and projects already under way
the university decision was seen by some as an attempt to mollify jewish
settlers angry over the construction slowdown
the government today injected some encouragement to the settlers of judaea and
samaria and to higher education in israel lawmaker alex miller of the ultra
nationalist yisrael beitenu party told the ynet news website
three killed dozens wounded in iraq violence
baghdad jan afp
three people were killed and dozens were wounded on wednesday in an attempted
robbery and ensuing gun battle in baghdad and suicide car bombing in the
northern city of mosul security officials said
two jewellers died when their stores were attacked in the bunuk district of
northern baghdad with one assailant killed and another wounded in subsequent
shoot out with police an interior ministry official said
four other people were wounded but no goods were stolen
in mosul meanwhile suicide car bomber targeted an iraqi army base wounding
at least people including members of the security forces military
official said
the attack occurred around am gmt in the east of the city
kilometres miles north of baghdad
the military official said soldiers and five policemen were among the
wounded
wandering montenegrin hippo returns after ten day freedom romp
plavnica montenegro jan afp
two tonne hippo named nikica who escaped her pen during floods in montenegro
has returned home to private zoo after tasting days of freedom the zoo
owner said wednesday
nikica returned to her home last night and she is now resting in her pen
dragan pejovic the owner of the zoo in plavnica told afp
nikica escaped from her enclosure when it was flooded during heavy rains in
montenegro two weeks ago she trotted off to nearby homes scaring some villagers
but the zoo owner said she was extremely tame
on wednesday the two tonne beast came out of her pen and patiently posed for
throng of photographers
she has tried to get back to her pen in the past days but she could not as
everything was still flooded so she was wandering around neighbouring farms
pejovic said
during her escape nikica often came back to sleep near pool at the zoo complex
while zookeepers fed her and covered her with hay to protect her from cold
the year old animal has been living in the zoo for nine years and became
mascot of the nearby tourist complex in plavnica
hippos are natives to africa and considered the third largest land animals they
can be extremely dangerous due to their body mass and mature animal can weigh
more than three tonnes
str an sb cw
haiti facts and figures after the quake
port au prince jan afp
rescuers kept up the search wednesday for survivors who defied the deadly odds
after the january earthquake which devastated haiti with officials still
trying to estimate the scale of the death and destruction as severe aftershock
rattled the area
figures are constantly being modified and updated but here are some of the
latest provided by various organizations and officials
death and destruction
the haitian government said at least died in the quake while
were injured and million left homeless some officials have spoken of final
death toll as high as
rescue teams were still pulling people from the rubble on wednesday and few
miracles are keeping hopes alive
hoteline losana was found in the wreckage of supermarket late tuesday
only hours after anna zizi who is about sang as she was carried out of the
ruins of port au prince cathedral three week old baby girl was dug out of
rubble in the city of jacmel on wednesday
the united nations said people had so far been saved
the international organization of migration has estimated that some
people affected by the quake are living in more than makeshift shelters
throughout haitian capital port au prince
some to percent of buildings in the town of leogane just outside the
capital port au prince near the epicenter of the january quake were
destroyed and to percent of buildings in jacmel to the south were
leveled
an initial eu assessment found that more than physical structures were
destroyed or damaged in port au prince
thirty countries said they had nationals dead or missing with un workers
still unaccounted for
rescue teams and deployments
some international search and rescue teams with rescue workers and
dogs were at work
the state department said civilian doctors were working in haiti
on the ground some us troops were deployed with another stationed
on vessels offshore including marines the us military said marine teams
went ashore in port au prince to protect the us embassy and leogane southwest
of port au prince
the un announced on wednesday it would send extra un troops and police to
haiti which would increase the size of the force to
aid
more than billion dollars have been pledged in aid un data said
canada raised to million us dollars its pledges of aid european union
nations earmarked million euros million dollars in emergency aid and
reconstruction funds france said its aid effort had reached million euros
the united states has put up million dollars
telethon in germany raised more than million euros million dollars
adding to the million euros million dollars from the government as well
as funds raised by national football teams and businesses
mexico will send at the weekend boat carrying over tonnes of water
kilograms supplies and medical material as well as some twenty
doctors
thirty us military and coast guard helicopters were delivering aid to haiti
the us military said that it had delivered over bottles of water and
food rations since the quake and us naval ships were producing some
gallons liters of water per day
us military aircraft air dropped some meals and liters of water
to site just outside port au prince on monday the pentagon said
another pounds kilograms of food and water have also delivered by
air to the coastal city of jacmel the military said
three water purification units also were producing water in haiti and four
additional units were due to arrive tuesday
three more emergency field hospitals have been set up and four more are in the
pipeline backing up the five local hospitals that withstood the tremor the
united nations has said
the us hospital ship comfort was on the way and expected to arrive on
wednesday with medical personnel on board
the world food programme launched million euro million dollar relief
effort to reach two million haitians and provide logistical and
telecommunications support to the overall international relief effort in the
impoverished country
the food agency is setting up distribution hubs in the capital and another
to elsewhere in the country
the international organization for migration said it was planning with haitian
authorities to resettle people possibly in an area about kilometers
eight miles northeast of port au prince
us officials said that up to haitians living in the united states may be
eligible to obtain temporary asylum
french foreign minister bernard kouchner said haitian children in the
process of being adopted by french families would be returned to france as soon
as possible
logistics
the port au prince airfield was open for operations and was handling
flights day the us military said up from flights on saturday
us defense secretary robert gates said haiti main port could be back in
operation within week or two he ordered port clearance ships with cranes to
deploy to port au prince in bid to re open the port as soon as possible
the us military said it was to start using two other airports one near jacmel
and one in the dominican republic to fly in supplies
afp
biathlon world cup results
anterselva italy jan afp
biathlon world cup results here on wednesday
women kms
magdalena neuner ger penalties
kati wilhelm ger at
andrea henkel ger
olga zaitseva rus
selina gasparin sui
michela ponza ita
martina beck ger
sylvie becaert fra
simone hauswald ger
oksana khvostenko ukr
overall world cup standings after out of races
helena jonsson swe points
anna carin olofsson zidek swe
kati wilhelm ger
simone hauswald ger
svetlana sleptsova rus
madagascar mammals came by sea not land study
paris jan afp
madagascar magnificent menagerie of mammals arrived tens of millions of years
ago on natural rafts carried by storms and currents and not across land bridges
as some scientists contend according to study released wednesday
evolutionary biologists agree based on evidence from molecular dna that the
island major fauna made their way from continental africa in four stages
first wave of lemur like animals appeared between and million years ago
followed by tenrecs some to million years ago carnivores just after that
and then rodents
tenrecs are insect eating relatives of hedgehogs shrews and opossums
but just how these fauna many of them today threatened with extinction got
there has been sharply debated
the so called sweepstakes hypothesis first laid out some years ago
speculated that the forebear of today madagascar mammals came via driftwood
rafts across the kilometre mile wide mozambique channel
the theory is consistent with relatively small number of mammalian families
suggesting rare opportunities for migration
all of the species that landed during the million year period in question
were also semi aquatic in other words being able to swim at least little bit
might have been required skill for the perilous voyage
but there has always been problem with this notion the currents swirling in
the channel and the surrounding indian ocean would make it virtually impossible
for floating noah ark of vegetation to reach madagascar shores
competing theory of land bridges argues that portions of the davie ridge
running on the sea floor along the channel separating madagascar and africa may
have been partially exposed
this would have creating causeway linking the two bodies of land
but the bridge hypothesis in turn raises questions
if animals could simply walk to madagascar why did so few species do so
in addition given the plate tectonics of the region it seems unlikely that if
some peaks broke the waterline they could have created contiguous pathway to
the island
in the new study matthew huber of purdue university in west lafayette indiana
and jason ali of the university of hong kong say land bridges were improbable
and argue they have an explanation which revives the raft theory
what if they speculated the ocean currents in the area were radically
different tens of millions of years ago
after all over the last million years australia and india have respectively
shifted kilometers miles and kilometers miles
northward and six major ocean gateways have opened or closed changing the
pattern of ocean currents
critically africa and madagascar have both moved north some degrees or
around kilometers miles over the same period
the researchers ran computer simulations based on what is known about the
position of continents at the time
in all our simulations the large scale ocean current systems in the eocene
epoch to million years ago were robustly different from modern observed
and modelled circulations they report in the british journal nature
their findings point to an occasional eastward flow from what is today
mozambique and tanzania
tropical storms generating large floating tree islands could also contribute
to making an ocean passage possible the study said
successful rafting may have involved the fortuitous coincidence of transient
storms and ocean current activity the researchers conclude
world economy could see double dip recession un
geneva jan afp
the world economy is set to bounce back in with growth of percent but
could slump back into recession if state stimulus spending is wound up too
early the united nations said wednesday
the un preliminary report on the world economic situation and prospects
cautioned that premature removal of state support could trigger the second
part of double dip recession after last year contraction
world gross product fell by an estimated percent in un economic bodies
estimated in preliminary report
premised on continued supportive policy stance worldwide mild growth of
percent is forecast for the report added
the un warned that the recovery was uneven and conditions for sustained growth
were fragile with consumer demand and investment remaining weak as unemployment
continued to rise
it cautioned against any early move by governments to unwind total of about
trillion dollars of economic stimulus measures for in the wake of
the financial and economic crises
the rebound in domestic demand remains tentative at best in many economies and
is far from self sustaining the report said
much of the rebound in the real economy is due to the strong fiscal stimulus
provided by governments in large number of developed and developing
countries
industry was also restocking inventories it had run down during the crisis
reviving production the report added
an additional trillion dollars of taxpayers money was set aside to rescue
the financial sector after the credit crunch toppled major banks the un also
underlined
it also tempered optimism about the resurgence in stock markets
the stronger than expected rebound in equity prices worldwide may belie the
fact that there are still problems remaining in financial sectors in major
economies which continue to constrain credit availability and could lead to more
failures of financial institutions in the near future the report said
france fast tracks haiti adoptions
paris jan afp
france will immediately take in children from quake hit haiti who had been
matched with french parents for adoption foreign minister bernard kouchner said
wednesday
hundreds of french families have been asking the government to speed up
procedures and help them bring home children who were in the process of being
adopted
we will repatriate them to france as quickly as possible that is to say
immediately kouchner told parliament
belgium and spain followed the united states and the netherlands this week in
deciding to fast track repatriation of children adopted in haiti where there
are shortages of water and food after last week devastating quake
france however had taken more cautious approach with kouchner warning that the
government did not want to be accused by haitian authorities of kidnapping
in sensitive case for france six members of french aid charity were
convicted in of trying to traffic to france chadian children whom they
said were refugees from the war in darfur
christine vigneresse french woman in the process of adopting three year old
girl from haiti said tuesday that about children chosen by french families
were stranded in port au prince orphanage
we are not abductors of children but people who have already taken steps with
the haitian authorities to carry out these adoptions said vigneresse who
called on paris to remove bureaucratic hurdles
belgian authorities on tuesday moved to speed up the adoption of haitian
children and the netherlands sent plane on monday to fetch around children
being adopted by dutch families
spain also said it had sped up the paperwork for those have completed the
adoption process
kouchner said there were french families adopting children from haiti and
that the who will come to france were in the final stages of the process
russia rights severely deteriorate in watchdog
moscow jan afp
russia suffered severe deterioration in human rights in despite pledges
of reform from president dmitry medvedev human rights watch said in an annual
report released on wednesday
murders of activists had chilling effect on the work of rights advocates
while atrocities continued in chechnya despite the official end of moscow
decade long antiterror operation there the new york based group said
the grim conclusions came despite liberal rhetoric and few modest reforms
under medvedev who became president in but is still widely seen as less
powerful than his predecessor president turned premier vladimir putin
the brazen murders of at least five civic rights activists and violence and
harassment toward several others marked severe deterioration in the human
rights climate in russia human rights watch said
these shocking developments contrasted sharply with some positive rhetoric by
president dmitry medvedev recognising the importance of civil society
the report singled out the murders of lawyer stanislav markelov and reporter
anastasia baburova shot dead in moscow in january and the abduction and
killing of prominent rights activist natalya estemirova in chechnya in july
two nationalists were arrested in november for the markelov and baburova
killings estemirova murder remains unsolved though rights activists have
blamed the moscow backed chechen authorities
human rights watch published its report one day after moscow police arrested
more than activists holding demonstration to mark the one year anniversary
of the markelov baburova murders
the group said that grave abuses continued in war torn chechnya and other
predominantly muslim regions of the north caucasus as authorities battled an
intensifying islamist insurgency
counterterrorism operations continue to involve grave human rights violations
such as torture enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions impunity
for these abuses is rampant it said
though the kremlin in april ended decade long federal antiterror operation in
chechnya the announcement had no bearing on the authorities use of torture
and illegal detention
the watchdog accused chechen authorities of adopting policy of collective
punishment by burning down the houses of suspected rebels saying at least
such cases had been documented in and
medvedev had raised hopes among some russian liberals by stressing the need to
improve democracy and human rights
he also made symbolic gestures that burnished his liberal reputation such as
granting an interview in april to novaya gazeta an opposition newspaper that
had been highly critical of putin
human rights watch noted that medvedev had eased some restrictions on civil
society groups but it added that ngos were still subject to excessive
unwarranted government scrutiny and interference
rights conditions also deteriorated in number of ex soviet republics the
group concluded
azerbaijan cracked down on dissidents as it pushed through constitutional
changes allowing president for life while kyrgyzstan pressured journalists
and activists as it held widely condemned election the report said
belarus saw progress reversed in after freeing all of its political
prisoners the previous year it said
kazakhstan meanwhile failed to implement promised reforms even as it prepared
to take over the rotating chairmanship of the organization for cooperation and
security in europe the report said
human rights watch was sharply critical of uzbekistan calling its rights record
atrocious and turkmenistan where authorities tightened repression in this
already extremely repressive and authoritarian country
formula one neck injury is no issue says schumacher
berlin jan afp
seven times world champion michael schumacher said wednesday the neck injury
which hampered his return to formula one last august is no longer factor as he
prepares for the season
despite retiring from formula one in schumacher signed three year
contract with mercedes gp last december and has been testing with mercedes in
jerez spain but says last year neck injury has long since healed
schumacher insists any concerns over the injury he sustained in motorbike
accident nearly year ago and forced him to abort return to ferrari last year
are no longer an issue and it feels like he has never been away
the after effects of that accident are long gone that why was sure that
the neck would not cause any problems he said on his website
this was one year ago that over
have been practising since december physically very carefully and feel
extremely fresh and fit
that was one of the reasons why felt so good in the car in jerez
but then formula one is another thing the forces are higher that not
really comparable
that is why look forward so much to testing in february
