facilitate movement of relief supplies necessary to take care of the victims
besides port au prince two other cities have been gravely affected by the
earthquake petit goave and jacmel the president plans to overfly them on
saturday
afghan parliament set to vote on second cabinet list
kabul jan afp
afghan lawmakers began voting saturday for president hamid karzai second list
of cabinet nominees after rejecting most of his first choices but are again
expected to veto high number
lawmakers voted against of karzai original choices earlier this month
delivering blow to his authority already undermined after he was declared
winner of an august election marred by massive fraud mostly in his favour
parliamentarians diplomats and analysts said they expected up to one third of
his second round of choices to be rejected in secret ballot
members of afghanistan wolesi jirga the lower house many wearing turbans and
traditional salwar kameez began casting their votes on the nominees at around
am gmt in process expected to last most of the day
the mps spent this week grilling the new nominees men and three women
on their suitability for the posts after being ordered by the president to
cancel their winter break to consider the list
there has been high degree of absenteeism during the questioning of the
nominees and expect large number of them perhaps one third will be
rejected said haroun mir director of afghanistan centre for research and
policy studies
lack of political parties means there is little cohesion among lawmakers or
consultation before they vote
mp shukria barakzai said line seemed to have been drawn between those
parliamentarians who do not like what they see and those who want to finalise
the government
barakzai said she believed more candidates would pass the second round of
voting despite divisions among lawmakers
but she added one thing is sure not all the nominees will be passed this
time either
parliament initial rejection of names was seen as huge blow to karzai
who is under enormous pressure to prove his commitment to clean and competent
government in return for ongoing western support to rebuild the country and
fight taliban insurgents
the rejection has left the country without functioning government dragging
out the political stasis that has prevailed since the august election
diplomats said karzai wants government in place ahead of an international
conference in london on january to discuss the country future
the london conference will provide an opportunity for afghanistan and its
western supporters who together have troops fighting the taliban led
insurgency under us and nato command to formalise development and security
plan in one european diplomat said
known for travelling with large entourages karzai is expected to be accompanied
by up to ministers diplomats and analysts said
karzai first list of nominees was clear attempt to appease his critics in
the international community many of whom have made continued support
conditional on concrete progress on eradicating corruption
the seven ministerial nominees who did win approval including interior
defence agriculture and education had largely been given the nod by his
western backers
we think the first names were broadly ok and it was government we could do
business with senior european diplomat said speaking anonymously
with the second lot our concern is that they are political virgins and that
there is lot of political patronage involved he said echoing concerns that
many have little experience but useful connections
analysts said the new nominees represent cross section of afghanistan ethnic
mix of pashtun uzbek tajik and hazara
the list includes three women after the sole female nominee was initially
rejected but analysts said political connections and not competence appeared to
be the main qualification for many in the new line up
other nominees have links to powerful warlords who helped karzai in the august
election analysts said
at least one is aligned with feared uzbek warlord general abdul rashid dostam
two are associated with former president and warlord burhanuddin rabbani and
several with haji mohammad mohaqiq an ethnic hazara former militia leader
also on the list is economy portfolio nominee abdul hadi arghandiwal former
member of hizb islami who now leads pro government wing of the moderate
islamist party
figure skating abbott takes early lead at us championships
spokane washington jan afp
jeremy abbott seized commanding lead after the men short programme on friday
at the united states figure skating championships
defending men singles champion abbott posted score of as he is
battling for one of three spots on team usa at the upcoming vancouver olympics
reigning world champion evan lysacek is well back in second with score of
while former us champion johnny weir finished third with
abbott skated flawlessly but has yet to attempt planned quad jump he finished
th at last year world for the second consecutive year which prompted him to
make coaching change heading into the olympics
there is big gap between those three and the rest of the field adam rippon
posted score of for fourth place and armin mahbanoozadeh scored
for fifth place
in pairs two time defending champions keauna mclaughlin and rockne brubaker got
off to poor start by placing seventh after the short programme friday
caydee denney and jeremy barrett who beat mclaughlin and brubaker in the short
programme at last year nationals took the early lead once again with
score
there are two spots available in the pairs for the winter games which begins
february with the opening ceremonies
caitlin yankowskas and john coughlin are second with points while amanda
evora and mark ladwig finished third at
pre event favourites mclaughlin and brubaker are more than points back of the
leaders with points
for just the second time since america will send only two women figure
skaters to the games thanks to the rise of asian women including reigning world
champion and early olympic front runner kim yu na of south korea
american sasha cohen the silver medallist at the turin olympics who has
since battled injury said this month she will be ready when women competition
gets underway on thursday
afp gmt news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor sarah shard
tel
top stories
haitians desperate for aid as us troops arrive
afghan parliament to vote on karzai cabinet
french academic back in tehran court
haiti quake newseries wrap
rt au prince
traumatised and fearful residents of the devastated haitian capital wait
desperately for aid as us troops pour into the quake ravaged nation to try to
distribute logjam of massive international supplies
words gmt by stephane jourdain graphic picture video
afghanistan politics cabinet lead
kabul
afghan lawmakers vote for president hamid karzai second list of cabinet
nominees after rejecting most of his first choices but are again expected to
veto high number
words gmt by lynne donnell picture
iran france protest trial lead
tehran
an iranian court is expected to give its verdict in the case of french academic
clotilde reiss arrested during anti government protests in tehran after paris
says it expects an acquittal
words gmt by farhad pouladi file picture
haiti
haiti quake aid crime violence lead scene
port au prince
the crippled port of the haitian capital receives its first supply ship since
tuesday killer earthquake boat carrying bananas and coal that was greeted
with jubilation by desparate residents of the davastated city
words gmt by stephane jourdain picture
haiti quake government
port au prince
working from police station close to the airport the haitian government tries
to provide some governance to the country whose main symbols of power have been
torn down by tuesday devastating earthquake
words gmt by clarens renois picture
haiti quake aid us military
aboard the uss carl vinson
helicopters sit ready to go from this us aircraft carrier off haiti but there
problem after day of frantic aid runs there is simply nothing left to
deliver
words gmt by daphne benoit
we have also moved haiti quake missing newseries
haiti quake aid lead wrap
haiti quake telecom internet technology
haiti quake science geology focus
haiti quake aid un newseries
europe
ukraine vote
kiev
viktor yanukovich the ukrainian politician accused of rigging the elections
that sparked the orange revolution is on course to sweep presidential polls as
pro western president viktor yushchenko appears destined for defeat
words gmt by stuart williams picture
turkey vatican agca prison release advancer
ankara
mehmet ali agca the turk who attempted to kill pope john paul ii in will
walk free monday after almost three decades behind bars planning to cash in on
his turbulent past with million dollar media projects and to marry
words gmt by burak akinci picture
cyprus politics crime focus
nicosia
more than month after the embalmed body of cyprus former president tassos
papadopoulos was snatched from his grave the east mediterranean holiday island
remains at loss as to who stole it and why
words gmt by jacques clement file picture
middle east
attacks yemen qaeda strategy focus
sanaa
yemen wants to demonstrate to the world that it can crush al qaeda militants on
its own ahead of london conference that many fear could lead to push for
unwelcome foreign intervention analysts say
words gmt by michel moutot
americas
chile vote advancer
santiago
flamboyant rightwing billionaire and an uncharismatic ex president are neck
and neck rivals in knockout weekend election for chile presidency which is
putting the leftwing year hold on power in the balance
words moved by jose luis varela picture
iran un nuclear diplomacy
new york
six major powers meet here saturday to mull how to respond to iran nuclear
defiance but china is sending lower level diplomat in signal of its
reluctance to back tougher sanctions pushed by the west
words moved by gerard aziakou
asia
skorea nkorea relations analysis
seoul
rare statement by north korea top decision making body may herald deep
freeze in inter korean ties and further delay in resuming nuclear disarmament
talks analysts say
words moved by park chan kyong
tennis isner clinches first atp title in auckland
auckland jan afp
towering american john isner clinched his first atp title saturday firing
barrage of aces to clinch nail biting victory over frenchman arnaud clement in
the final of the heineken open
the year old hit aces but his high unforced error rate kept the ice cool
french veteran in contention with isner having to save third set match point
in the th game before winning
would rather win that game like did than if had won it to love said
isner
it gave me lot of confidence to play pretty much flawless tie break isner
said afterwards
this is the start of my third full year on the tour and going to be in the
top
with weapon like my serve as long as improve other areas of my game can
see myself getting in the top and maybe even better than that
winning the title in only his second atp world tour final capped year when the
centimetre six foot nine inch american climbed more than places in the
world rankings to at the start of the tournament
clement struggled against isner booming serve and powerful if sometimes
erratic ground strokes which in earlier rounds accounted for seventh seed juan
monaco and top seed tommy robredo
like isner the year old french veteran was unseeded in the auckland event
with world ranking of but the australian open finalist found his best
form to defeat second seed david ferrer and sixth seed jurgen melzer on his way
to the final
in his first atp final since clement had plenty of reason to feel
optimistic following his auckland performance
overall very happy with my game if play like this all year long think
have chance to be back in the top he told reporters
isner broke clement serve in the eighth game and easily held his own service
games to take the first set
but clement came back strongly in the second using the serve and volley and
targeting isner backhand to unsettle his bigger opponent
unforced errors in isner final service match of the second saw the steadier
clement take the final into three sets
both dropped their first service games of the third but settled back into their
rhythm to hold their remaining service games and force the tie break
isner raced to lead and clinched the title with booming forehand
yemen rebels say they downed saudi chopper
dubai jan afp
yemeni shiite rebels engaged in on off border clashes with saudi forces said
on saturday they had downed saudi apache helicopter amid saudi air raids they
said had killed at least villagers
the helicopter was shot down on friday during saudi advance towards jebel al
doud rebel spokesman mohammed abdul salam told afp by telephone
he said the rebels fired special machine guns at the aircraft which was seen
on fire in the air before it crashed near al khouba on the border
saudi military officials could not immediately be reached for comment
the advance lasted for an hour and stopped following the downing of the
helicopter abdul salam said adding that shelling continued over night
targeting the surrounding border areas
he said that air raids striking as far as kilometres miles or more
inside yemeni territory killed at least civilians in the razeh shaza and
haydan areas
saudi arabia said on tuesday that it had regained control of the small saudi
village of al jabiri which was occupied by the rebels after fighting broke out
on the border in november
but the rebels whose stronghold is just across the border from saudi arabia in
the northern yemeni province of saada denied the saudi claim saying that their
fighters were still in control of the village
saudi arabia launched operations against the rebels already locked in battle
with yemen military after accusing them of killing saudi border guard and
occupying two border villages on november
cycling armstrong drops personal dope tests
adelaide australia jan afp
lance armstrong saturday said he had abandoned the rigorous personal doping
tests he adopted to silence critics who suspect him of using drugs
armstrong said he had proved he was clean by undergoing the tests alongside
routine checks by anti doping authorities and posting results online
did controls last year and most of them included blood and urine
armstrong said there would be no way to get around that unless you ve got some
stuff or voodoo something but that not an option
the seven time tour de france winner embarked on the tests to quell
doubters as he came out of three and half year retirement to return to
racing last year
but he said cycling biological passport which logs riders test results
over time to check for variations was sophisticated enough to make independent
testing pointless
the biological passport has got to point that it controls all those
things that an independent programme would do which is good news he said
not sure it the perfect solution but it the next level when it comes
to fighting doping in sport
armstrong has long battled doping allegations including french sports paper
equipe claim that urine samples from contained banned blood
booster epo
in he sued british newspaper over an article based on la confidential
the secrets of lance armstrong book which contained doping allegations
the case was settled out of court
armstrong expressed frustration that some scientists had questioned his personal
test results even though he had gone to the trouble of making them freely
available on the internet
you ve got scientists looking at it one of them says this is
suspicious of course you re going to have someone say that he said
and that the story that gets printed obviously that frustrating for us
armstrong is in adelaide for next week tour down under the southern
hemisphere biggest race and curtain raiser for the season
australia police say indian driver attack opportunistic
sydney jan afp
australian police on saturday dismissed as opportunistic the gang beating of
an indian taxi driver the second attack targeting an indian driver in as many
days
the year old suffered bruising to his upper body and swelling to his face
after being assaulted by four passengers in the town of ballarat kilometres
miles west of melbourne just before midnight on friday police said
while he was driving the four became abusive towards the taxi driver and
started assaulting him and one on the rear seat spat at the driver police
said in statement
the males attempted to pull on the handbrake and tried to remove the driver
hands from the steering wheel
he tried to chase two of the men who fled after he pulled over and third
punched him to the ground as he ran from the cab police believe the group were
aged between and
we have some ideas who the offenders may be and we believe they are known to us
and they re just opportunistic said detective senior constable jeff highthorn
denying the incident was racially motivated
it was the second time in as many days an indian taxi driver had been targeted
in the town
local man aged was jailed for three months and fined dollars late
friday just hours after threatening to kill year old driver and assaulting
him
the death threats allegedly made reference to the driver race local media
reported
attacks against indian nationals including the fatal stabbing this month of
punjab born student and alleged arson attempt against another man have inflamed
diplomatic tensions with australia
new delhi has expressed absolute displeasure and concern over the violence
prompting australia foreign minister to call his indian counterpart to offer
assurances
the issue has prompted strong reaction in the indian press with one newspaper
likening australian police to the ku klux klan
japan kingmaker vows to stay on as scandal widens
tokyo jan afp
ichiro ozawa the kingmaker of japan ruling coalition said saturday he had no
plans to quit over his alleged involvement in growing political funding
scandal and vowed to clear his name
prosecutors arrested ruling party lawmaker and two others all close to
ozawa on friday and saturday over alleged financial irregularities within his
political funding group which has already been raided by investigators
but ozawa secretary general of prime minister yukio hatoyama democratic party
of japan told its annual convention that he has never used any illegal funds
at all
am going to fulfil my given job with full force ozawa said as the audience
including state ministers and the party coalition partners applauded loudly
at conference hall in central tokyo
determined to fight decisively by standing in my belief said ozawa
adding that he planned to accuse prosecutors of abuse of power over the case
hatoyama backed ozawa telling the convention secretary general ozawa said he
has never done anything to violate regulations as president of the dpj
believe in ozawa
but analysts and local media said the scandal is dealing serious blow to
hatoyama whose support continued sliding following separate money scandal
involving the premier himself
on friday prosecutors arrested tomohiro ishikawa lower house member of
the dpj and former aide to ozawa over accounting irregularities at ozawa
political funding group rikuzankai
prosecutors also arrested mitsutomo ikeda who once served as an aide to ozawa
the men face charges over land purchase by rikuzankai using an unregistered
million yen million dollars
increasing pressure further on ozawa investigators arrested another of his
aides takanori okubo on saturday in connection with the scandal local media
reported
okubo is currently on trial over separate illegal donation allegation
involving the political funding group which collects and manages contributions
from individual supporters for ozawa
ozawa veteran backroom fixer nicknamed the shadow shogun stepped down as
the head of the dpj in may after okubo was indicted over the illegal donation
charge
but ozawa was credited with engineering the devastating poll defeat inflicted
last summer on the conservative liberal democratic party which had ruled japan
with only one interruption for more than five decades
speed skating world sprint speed skating championships
obihiro japan jan afp
results from the isu world sprint speed skating championships here on saturday
men
keiichiro nagashima jpn sec
lee kang seok kor
lee kyou hyuk kor
ronald mulder ned
mika poutala fin
tadashi obara jpn
dmitry lobkov rus
zhang zhongqi chn
parker vance usa
nico ihle ger
beorn nijenhuis ned
lee kyou hyuk kor
beorn nijenhuis ned
samuel schwarz ger
dmitry lobkov rus
ronald mulder ned
christoffer fagerli rukke nor
lars elgersma ned
lee kang seok kor
keiichiro nagashima jpn
ryohei haga jpn
women
lee sang hwa kor
jenny wolf ger
sayuri yoshii jpn
nao kodaira jpn
yu jing chn
tomomi okazaki jpn
shihomi shinya jpn
yekaterina malysheva rus
yuliya nemaya rus
jin peiyu chn
sayuri yoshii jpn
monique angermuller ger
nao kodaira jpn
lee sang hwa kor
lotte van beek ned
sophie nijman ned
yekaterina malysheva rus
jenny wolf ger
jin peiyu chn
olga fatkulina rus
french academic back in court in tehran as judgement nears
tehran jan afp
an iranian court was expected to give its verdict saturday in the case of french
academic clotilde reiss arrested during anti government protests in june after
paris said it expects an acquittal
the year old appeared in court for the third hearing in her long running case
which has tested relations with france
tehran prosecutor abbas jafari dolatabadi said on tuesday that the court was
poised to deliver its judgement
her trial session is due on saturday and the court will make final decision
he told the official irna news agency
on monday reiss lawyer mahdavi sabet told afp he hoped it would be his
client last appearance in the dock
the third court session has been set for january in branch of the
revolutionary court mohammad ali mahdavi sabet said
it is supposed to be the last session last hearing and last defence we will
plead not guilty and hope it will be over and the court will give its
verdict he said
mahdavi sabet said reiss is charged with acting against iran national security
and refused to speculate on whether the court would acquit
you never know he said adding that she is in good spirits and hopes her
problem is resolved and she can leave iran
reiss was arrested on july shortly before she was due to fly home after six
month study and teaching visit to the iranian city of isfahan
she was accused of supporting opposition protests that erupted after the
controversial re election of president mahmoud ahmadinejad in june
she was one of scores of people paraded before cameras at televised trial
before being remanded in custody in tehran notorious evin jail
she was granted bail in august and has been staying at the french embassy
awaiting the outcome of her case
iran opposition which charges the election was massively rigged to keep
hardline ahmadinejad in power has dismissed the court proceedings as show
trials
france has furiously protested reiss innocence on all charges and accused
tehran of trying to blackmail paris into releasing an iranian agent jailed in
france for the murder of an exiled former prime minister
ahmadinejad suggested in december that iran might pardon reiss if ali valiki
rad who is serving life sentence is freed but his french counterpart
nicolas sarkozy has rejected the idea
iran has arrested thousands of protesters and put about people on trial on
charges of inciting or participating in the protests
iranian leaders have repeatedly accused western powers and most notably the
united states and britain of seeking to overthrow the islamic regime by
fomenting mass protests in the aftermath of the election
several prominent reformist politicians and journalists backing the opposition
have been sentenced to years in prison over their alleged roles in the unrest
figure skating us championships results
spokane washington jan afp
results here on friday in the united states figure skating championships
qualifier for the vancouver winter olympics
pairs
short programme
caydee denney jeremy barrett pts caitlin yankowskas john coughlin
amanda evora mark ladwig rena inoue john baldwin
brooke castile benjamin okolski amanda dobbs joseph jacobsen
keauna mclaughlin rockne brubaker
men
short programme
jeremy abbott evan lysacek johnny weir adam
rippon armin mahbanoozadeh ryan bradley
suicide attack wounds two in pakistan kashmir police
muzaffarabad pakistan jan afp
suicide attack wounded two security personnel in pakistani administered
kashmir on saturday police said
the attacker detonated his explosives near an army vehicle in dothan town
kilometres miles south of muzaffarabad the region capital police said
it was suicide blast the target was an army vehicle senior police official
sardar khurshid told afp by telephone
two security personnel have been injured the injured were immediately shifted
to the nearby hospital chaudry raqeeb senior administrative official told
afp by telephone
it was the fifth suicide bombing in pakistani kashmir since the first such
attack in the zone last june on december suicide bomber killed seven
people outside shiite muslim mosque in muzaffarabad
attacks blamed mostly on the taliban have killed more than people across
pakistan since july concentrated in the northwest and major cities rather
than the northern mountains and eastern border with india
kashmir was split in two in the bloody aftermath of independence from british
rule over the subcontinent in nuclear rivals india and pakistan each
control part of the mountainous land but both claim the region in full
tens of thousands of people have been killed in nearly year revolt in
indian kashmir where muslim militants have fought against new delhi rule but
bomb attacks are rare in the pakistani administered zone
flooding rains bring rare waterfalls to australia uluru
sydney jan afp
