out those differences now before we go into combat
the major draw for the americans is the unique topography of the french training
ground sand and dust landings rugged mountains and snow
the french for their part get to learn about aerial refueling capability only
recently available to them with the addition of the caracal to their fleet
the americans brought along two mc hercules tanker aircraft and members of
the th special operations squadron which specialises in clandestine aerial
refueling
the us forces also have certain technique for disembarking commandos and
tactics for flying and low altitude penetration according to lieutenant
colonel fabrice albrecht second in command of the french squadron
the objective is to share that on the terrain
pilots and parachutists were keen for the joint training
when we work with the french we can see how the helicopters react how we
communicate as crew and how we do close flight approaches said pilot marisa
caitlin after her training flight
the americans also learned new tactic for emergency extractions technique
not previously used by us para rescuers
it involves feet of rope hanging from the helicopter and guys hooked in
at the bottom while the helicopter flies to safer spot to land said
distelzweig
both countries troops face tough fight against the taliban forces in
afghanistan undertaking extreme missions under fire
under celo command and with the participation of us forces the french
squadron distinguished itself during the rescue of ambushed french forces in
ouzbin in august
the fight left french soldiers dead and many wounded the squadron evacuated
people
training operations like red devil leave both forces better prepared to respond
to the harsh conditions awaiting them in afghanistan already both sides have
said they want to schedule more joint training sessions
conflicts have evolved yesterday we were in symmetrical conflicts two states
against one another today we are in asymmetrical conflicts counter
insurgency war explained albrecht
we have to change our tactics
mini drone and iphone take video games to real world
paris jan afp
drones have become synonymous with us military strikes in hotspots like
afghanistan but now french firm has built mini version piloted by an iphone
that brings video games to the streets
the flying saucer like ar drone ar stands for augmented reality caused
sensation when it was revealed to an unsuspecting world at trend setting
consumer electronics show in las vegas last week
this week its creators gave afp demonstration near their company offices on
the canal saint martin in paris where the quadricopter perplexed and
impressed passers by on cold winter afternoon
one of the engineers who spent four years developing the drone tapped
button on his iphone to lift it off the ground and make it hover near the dark
waters of the canal
then he tilted the phone forward or sideways to make it manoeuvre around nearby
trees and park benches
the machine four propellers whirred quietly as it moved through the air its
camera streaming live video from two cameras via wi fi to the pilot phone
the drone moves at kilometres miles per hour can stay airborne for
minutes after minute battery charge has maximum range of metres
yards and weighs just over grams or half pound
its automatic flight stabilization makes it far superior to any other flying
toys currently on the market the company boasts
we used very sophisticated technology to develop it technology that is used
in military and commercial drones said henry seydoux the founder of parrot
the company that makes the toy
the ar drone is fun to pilot and would probably be huge hit if it did nothing
else but fly around and astonish onlookers
but its creators have much bigger plans for it video gaming
they insist this is their only motivation and that they have no interest in
having their machine used for aerial photography spying or anything else
back inside their offices the parrot team proudly displayed their machine
capacities
an engineer sent the drone into the air and as soon as its cameras spotted
targets he had set up around the room these were transformed on the iphone
screen into virtual robots at which he could then fire missiles
placing beacon that serves as target on other drones permits two or more
players to engage in aerial combat indoors or outdoors
this is the augmented reality aspect merging the physical world with the
virtual world
this drone will let kids play games not only on their computers but in the
garden the country or on the beach said seydoux of parrot which employs
people and has previously specialized in hands free wireless systems
child can pilot it wanted to make something that is both very easy to use
and safe he said
the augmented reality gaming his engineers displayed was basic but they point
out the the ar drone is built on an open platform and the company is inviting
outside developers to create games for the device
the prospect of augmented reality robot battles is causing much excitement in
the gaming world gaming websites have been awash with comment since the
ar drone hovered over the heads of awed visitors to the las vegas tech show
the games blog of britain guardian newspaper said its prediction was coming
true that we ll all one day be indulging in real world death matches
commanding robotic slaves into battle on the streets of our towns and cities as
we control the carnage via our computers
augmented reality applications already exist in the fields of medicine defence
navigation education and in gaming
but many observers are touting the ar drone as heralding the next big thing in
the world of video games which in was worth more than billion dollars
billion euros worldwide according to industry figures
but gamers will have to be patient parrot says only that their drone will go on
sale some time this year and they refuse to confirm the price of dollars
that has been bandied about in the press
all eyes and ears on television for morocco berbers
rabat jan afp
watch more television may become the order of the day in morocco berber
households after the first tv channel in their ancient but marginalised tongue
amazigh was launched after decades long struggle
tamazight the name of the station broadcasts in the lingua franca of north
africa indigenous residents the berbers before the th century arab conquest
of the region today it is spoken mainly in rural pockets in morocco
we are relying lot on television said ahmed boukous director of ircam the
royal institute of amazigh berber culture one of the drivers in the fight to
have their language recognised alongside the official arabic
our language is threatened and the young generations master it less and less
the channel state funded and controlled went on air this month seventy
percent of its content will be in one of the three dialects of the amazigh
language which unesco has classified as endangered
when the launch date was set last month communication minister khalid naciri
upheld amazigh culture as an integral part of the identity of morocco
country united in its diversity
and when it went live he said some programs will be in arabic to avoid making
it an amazigh ghetto all telling comments pointing to change in morocco
berber vs arab identity has been touchy often taboo topic since time long
past with attempts to nudge amazigh back into the mainstream snubbed as
challenge to the supremacy of the arabic language and culture
this saw amazigh censored as threat to national unity and berber speakers
often feeling like an underclass squeezed between arabic and french the former
colonial language still widely used in business and government
amazigh culture has been victim of politics said rachid raha founding
member of the world amazigh congress an independent group created in to
defend berbers rights and director of the amazigh world magazine
morocco traditional parties want to impose the arabisation of education he
told afp when amazigh culture is richness proof of democracy
banned in schools the berber language was finally introduced in elementary
classes in the further progress came when king mohammed vi took over the
throne in
moderniser he has sought to put forth muslim morocco nato ally in the
us led war on terror with aspirations to join the european union as
tolerant stable nation in volatile region and distance it from the human
rights abuses during the rule of his father hassan ii
mohammed vi has pushed through program of economic and social reforms
including landmark change in family law that boosted women rights and in
created ircam to promote berber language and culture
with hassan ii we could do nothing said ircam researcher ahmed assid he
saw it as threat to the cohesion of the country berber words were taboo
with the new king things have changed he said but much time was lost
for some it wasn changing enough in several irate ircam council members
said amazigh had been given humiliating role in elementary education as
merely prop for teaching arabic
they also blasted the absence of amazigh from moroccan universities
situation that has since changed and television ircam director boukous
linguistics professor noted ironically at the time we readily teach turkish
persian japanese hebrew but not amazigh
court rulings bore out some of their anger as late as judge blocked
family from giving their adopted daughter berber first name
boukous whose ircam had an advisory role in tamazight programming called the
channel the culmination of social expectations and demands made by the
amazighs battle not confined to morocco
similar drive by berbers in neighboring algeria won recognition of amazigh as
national tongue in and the creation of an academy of the amazigh
language in
with an annual budget of million dirhams five million euros million
dollars tamazight broadcasts news documentaries variety shows plays and
films six hours each weekday and hours on weekend days
it aims at morocco million berber speakers or percent of the country
million residents according to the last census in number
disputed by boukous who criticised the census as badly done noting that
percent of moroccans were berber speaking at independence from france in
for some berbers however the small screen victory is just one step towards
another goal having amazigh now national language upgraded to full
official tongue alongside arabic
un security council to discuss haiti crisis mexico
mexico city jan afp
the un security council will meet monday to discuss the coordination of the huge
international aid operation for quake hit haiti the mexican foreign ministry
announced saturday
mexico non permanent member of the member body launched the initiative
and the decision to discuss the matter early monday was made in coordination
with security council president china it said
the mexican government believes it is of the utmost importance that the un
security council contributes to aid efforts and supports the haitian
government the ministry said in statement
president felipe calderon has suggested that the security council charged with
maintaining peace and international security plays more active role and lives
up to its responsibilities it said
the latest overall toll from the haitian government is at least people
dead and million homeless but those figures could soar once the full extent
of the tragedy is known early estimates had spoken of dead
the scale of the disaster made it necessary for an increased international
presence under the coordination of the united nations the mexican foreign
ministry said
mexico recognizes the range of actions carried out by all the agencies funds
and programs of the un network and welcomes the role of secretary general ban
ki moon who goes to haiti in the coming hours
ban was expected to participate in monday meeting after touring the
devastation and attempting to boost the shattered morale of the un mission in
haiti which suffered the world body worst ever loss of life in the tragedy
the crisis in haiti goes far beyond the dimension of other humanitarian
emergencies the mexican foreign ministry said
saturday saw criticism of the massive relief effort especially related to
lack of coordination at the us controlled port au prince airport the main
destination for aid flights
french secretary of state for cooperation alain joyandet said he had lodged an
official complaint with the united states after french plane carrying field
hospital was turned away france foreign ministry later denied protest had
been made
afp features
paris jan afp
we will shortly move the following stories
highlights
all eyes and ears on television for morocco berbers
mini drone and iphone take video games to real world
morocco television minority language feature
rabat
watch more television may become the order of the day in morocco berber
households after the first tv channel in their ancient but marginalised tongue
amazigh was launched after decades long struggle
words by herve guilbaud picture
lifestyle france it toy military apple
paris
drones have become synonymous with us military strikes in hotspots like
afghanistan but now french firm has built mini version piloted by an iphone
that brings video games to the streets
words by rory mulholland picture
france us military feature
la teste de buch france
under the steady thumping of rotors the french caracal and american pave hawk
helicopters race off towards the snow covered french pyrenees the location is
well chosen the southern french mountains resemble the rough landscape troops
will face in afghanistan
words by suzanne mustacich picture video
lifestyle india economy wedding feature
mumbai
preeti punamiya is young and excited bride to be preparing to get married in
traditional indian wedding which usually features days of lavish
celebrations
words by salil panchal file picture
entertainment china belgium tintin feature
beijing
beloved belgian cartoon reporter tintin is getting makeover in china thanks to
new more faithful mandarin translation of his adventures
words by francois bougon picture video
for questions email nancy shields afp com or call
sri lanka tamils wary of election spotlight
jaffna sri lanka jan afp
scarred by decades of war and official indifference sri lanka minority tamils
are now being courted as political kingmakers shift that many of them view
with bitter scepticism
with presidential election just two weeks away the two main candidates have
been desperately wooing tamil voters offering them the same social economic
and political opportunities enjoyed by the sinhalese majority
the incumbent president mahinda rajapakse and his main challenger former army
chief sarath fonseka are both sinhalese
if they split the sinhalese vote then the support of the tamil electorate could
prove decisive hence their overtures to community that for the most part
views both men with deep suspicion
having bombed and shelled us and restricted the tamil community movements
for years they are now asking us to vote for them said social worker
radhakrishnan as he bought some flowers outside temple in the northern tamil
heartland of jaffna
both rajapakse and fonseka played pivotal roles in the military victory last
year over tamil tiger rebels that ended bloody decades old separatist
insurgency for an independent tamil state
the conflict took heavy toll on the tamil civilian population people
are estimated by the un to have died in the final months and for many in
jaffna there is bitter irony in their new found significance
all of sudden we seem to be important to sinhalese politicians said
retired postmaster sinnathurai who was shopping on the streets of jaffna
rajapakse and fonseka have promised better livelihoods greater freedom of
movement and pipeline of infrastructure projects to rebuild the war torn
jaffna region
but subash who runs local grocery store says he has heard little to get
excited about
if you listen to them closely neither candidate has promised us power
sharing agreement voting for the general fonseka or the president will be
like changing pillow to cure headache subash said
christian missionary bastian who has been working in jaffna for nearly two
decades said the main dilemma facing northern tamils was that they had
suffered under the hands of both main candidates
the choice between them is the only realistic choice despite full field of
candidates no other contender has hope of winning
so for the moment the tamil community seems to be veering albeit with some
reluctance towards fonseka who is very much seen as the opposition
candidate
last week consortium of ethnic tamil parties known as the tamil national
alliance tna announced in parliament that they were asking their community to
vote for the retired general
in what amounted to an underwhelming endorsement the tna which was once viewed
as the political puppet of the tamil tigers and boycotted the presidential
election said it felt fonseka had appeared more receptive to tamil
grievances
despite the lack of candidate tamils can genuinely rally behind the
influential roman catholic bishop of jaffna thomas savundranayagam said it was
important for the community to make their mark at the ballot box
they must go out and vote said savundranayagam whose opinions hold sway
beyond the minority christian population
fonseka who is backed by loose coalition of political parties has promised
the military will return private land and houses it occupied during the conflict
with the tigers and compensate owners for any damage
rajapakse meanwhile has undertaken to re settle war displaced civilians in
areas which were earlier declared high security zones he has also lifted
night time curfew in the peninsula
obama first year marked by diplomacy but few results
washington jan afp
year after coming to office president barack obama has reopened diplomatic
lines of communication but still has little to show for his efforts on the
toughest us foreign policy questions
while former president george bush foreign policy was driven by the
necessities of the war on terror obama secretary of state hillary clinton
declared the new administration would begin new era of engagement
whether dealing with the global economic crisis or the climate change summit in
copenhagen obama has demonstrated his conviction that the united states cannot
solve international problems alone
he has also worked to repair relations with russia engage in strategic
dialogue with china and pledged the united states will no longer engage in
torture and will respect the united nations
obama personal popularity has bolstered the impact of key international
speeches including his address to the muslim world delivered in cairo and his
nobel peace prize acceptance speech in oslo
but the us president has also risked the wrath of critics by extending hand to
us adversaries including cuba venezuela and iran
he has put washington back in the international negotiating business wrote
leslie gelb the former president of the council on foreign relations in the
american interest magazine
obama has also cleared the international air of lot of anti americanism he
added
his words have prepared the ground for the subsequent application of real
american power the problem is that the power shoe still hasn dropped
three foreign policy issues have dominated obama agenda the israeli
palestinian peace process iran nuclear program and the war in afghanistan and
pakistan
the first of the three remains deadlocked as result of israeli government
intransigence and palestinian divisions after long year of futile efforts
washington has reportedly offered its own peace plan for consideration
but it has failed to convince israel to halt settlement construction and has
seen little progress towards creating strong or unified palestinian side able
to pursue negotiations
on the issue of iran nuclear program obama made good on promise to pursue
dialogue with tehran only to see his overture rebuffed
iran intransigence in the face of us engagement has ultimately strengthened
international support for new sanctions against iran experts said
tehran has not only refused to negotiate but even announced it would build more
nuclear sites
in dealing with the war in afghanistan obama eventually announced he would
boost the number of us troops in the country and has also sought to strengthen
relations with pakistan even as he ordered an increase in the number of us
airstrikes against militants in the country
he faces rising us casualties in the war and the difficult task of dealing with
an afghan government that came to power after fraud tainted elections
on all three policy questions obama has weakened the impact of his new approach
by maintaining more or less similar tactics to his predecessor george bush
said amjad atallah policy expert at the new america foundation
even in afghanistan where you see the most difference because the neo cons
never cared about afghanistan the policy is very similar to the bush
administration strategy for iraq surge and withdraw he told afp
writing in foreign affairs magazine former president jimmy carter diplomacy
guru zbigniew brzezinski praised obama for having completely reconceptualized
us foreign policy with respect to several centrally important geopolitical
issues
he cited obama commitment to nuclear disarmament his decision to treat china
as geopolitical partner and his desire to be fair minded and assertive
mediator in the middle east peace process
but he noted that obama efforts have so far generated more expectations than
strategic breakthroughs
ultimately he added how obama handles these three urgent and interrelated
issues the israeli palestinian peace process the iranian dilemma and the
afghan pakistani conflict will determine the united states global role for
the foreseeable future
football mowbray looks on bright side despite losing more ground
glasgow jan afp
tony mowbray says his celtic side are in decent shape despite watching them fall
further behind in the race for the scottish premier league after they were held
to draw by bottom club falkirk
celtic find themselves nine points adrift of rangers who struggled to narrow
win over hamilton although they have game in hand over their old firm
rivals
falkirk took th minute lead when some poor defending allowed carl finnigan
to rifle shot past artur boruc
celtic drew level through georgios samaras just before the break and despite
piling on the pressure in the second half falkirk held on for their first point
at celtic park since
mowbray men have won just once in the last four league games and were held to
draw by rangers at celtic park two weeks ago despite dominating both
games celtic have failed to kill off teams and turn their chances into goals
but mowbray who replaced gordon strachan last summer believes it is only
matter of time before his team come good and has confidence they can close the
gap on rangers
the team was fine today we didn win the match like we didn couple of
weeks ago when the team was fine as well mowbray said
if thought there were major things to do would be sitting here more
concerned
we are in decent shape know you can talk about being nine points behind but
let judge when the season finishes and have every confidence that with this
group of players we will be fine
we will just keep chipping away at rangers week in week out we ve got game
in hand and we ll see how it goes
think our job is to go and win the next game in the cup at morton there is
enough positives in my mind to have the confidence that the team can erode away
that gap and make it very interesting
mowbray has used the january transfer window to ship several players out of
parkhead while bringing in dutch defender jos hooiveld and south korean
midfielder ki sung yeung
and the celtic boss says there may be more comings and goings as he tries to put
his own mark on the team
continue to try and go along the process am doing at the moment in trying
to build team mowbray said
think at the moment this transfer window is an opportunity for us to add to
the squad and we are working hard to do that to try and create the competition
that will give us that extra edge to turn tight games into ultimate victories
but there is no guarantee that you can get the players in that you are looking
at
despite the out going transfers leaving mowbray squad little thin on the
ground the manager says he had no regrets about letting gary caldwell leave
decisions had to be made this week and they were made ve got no regrets
about that at all he said
you can foresee an illness overnight or an injury in training yesterday
friday they are part and parcel of the job
there are no excuses about injuries from us think the team that were out
today gave good account of themselves and yet we didn get the result and we
have to accept that and move on to the next game
south korean youngster ki made his debut against falkirk and came close to
marking it with goal when his superb free kick from yards was just turned
round the post mowbray singled out the midfielder for praise after the game
great credit to ki who stepped in for his debut he said
he is quality football player if we can get him further up the pitch when we
can get some players back would suggest that is the option we would choose
with his ball striking he would threaten the opposition goal he can shoot as
we saw from one free kick and look forward to getting the balance of our team
right in the future when we get some players back available
at age us japan bond hits growing pains
washington jan afp
fifty years after signing landmark security pact the united states and japan
are renewing their vows but also confronting some of the biggest questions yet
on how to shape their alliance
the world war ii adversaries on january inked treaty in washington in
which the united states pledged to defend japan which was stripped of its
right to military with permanent troop presence
the treaty has shaped asia political landscape first supporting peaceful
course for japan and more recently serving as visible us backed bulwark
against rapidly growing china
but the treaty is also witnessing growing pains prime minister yukio hatoyama
whose left leaning coalition ended half century of nearly uninterrupted
conservative rule in august elections has called for more equal alliance
with the united states
tensions have centered on the us military base of futenma on the southern island
of okinawa which some of hatoyama allies want removed despite us insistence
that it is needed to defend japan
just days before the treaty anniversary japan ended naval mission providing
fuel to us led forces in afghanistan part of the new government passion for
post world war ii pacifism at which the long ruling liberal democratic party
ldp had chipped away
paradoxically policymakers in both the united states and japan have sought
more equal alliance but they are divided on what that would mean
we thought more equal relationship might mean japan did little more heavy
lifting in the international arena maybe spend little more on defense said
richard armitage deputy secretary of state under former president george
bush
they think it means more equal voice as if the ldp were the puppy of the
united states he said
the two nations are set to issue joint statement on the anniversary which is
widely expected to be general in tone
secretary of state hillary clinton met last week with foreign minister katsuya
okada in hawaii where they did not make headway on hot button issues such as the
futenma base
but few expect substantive drift from the security treaty virtually no
lawmakers in washington and only some on the far left and right in tokyo
envision withdrawal of us troops from japan
the japan us alliance is the cornerstone of japan diplomacy hatoyama wrote
on twitter ahead of the clinton okada meeting
ralph cossa president of the hawaii based pacific forum of the center for
strategic and international studies noted that japan had disputes with
virtually all of its neighbors
for japan the one thing that doesn change is geography he said
cossa said japan had far more to lose than nation like new zealand which
under prime minister david lange refused entry to us nuclear forces leading
washington to suspend treaty obligations in
he not david lange who going to walk away from the security treaty
because for new zealand it didn really matter for japan it matters he
said
japan which has been reducing its military budget to tame ballooning debt
has longstanding tensions with north korea and worries about china which is
ramping up its defense spending
yukio okamoto former senior adviser to two prime ministers said china rise
could give new momentum to an alliance after ldp leaders looked at greater
role in global security such as assisting us missions in iraq and afghanistan
it is ironic that after the first decade of the st century the rapid rise of
china is bringing back the focal point of our alliance to its conventional role
of preserving the peace and security of the far east he said
yushchenko orange hero who lost his shine
kiev jan afp
his face pock marked from poisoning ukraine new president five years ago
stood in front of tens of thousands of supporters in central kiev as the
embodiment of their hopes for better future
just inaugurated as ukraine third president after the orange revolution
reversed the results of rigged presidential polls viktor yushchenko promised
ukrainians eu membership and economic prosperity
but yushchenko now enters sunday presidential elections seemingly without
hope his poll ratings in the low single digits and destined for humiliating
elimination before the second round run off
what went wrong for man hailed as the hero of the orange revolution
rather than concentrating on ukrainians desires for improving day to day
government efficiency and ending corruption yushchenko saw his presidency as
grandiose historical mission to place the country at the heart of europe
as he set out goal for the ex soviet state to join nato relations with russia
