would be concern
wfp spokeswoman emilia casella told afp in geneva earlier that brazilian sri
lankan and jordanian battalions in the un peacekeeping mission in haiti
volunteered to carry out distribution on monday alongside three non
governmental aid organisations
the wfp was also aiming to ship in gallons of fuel some litres
day from monday to keep its food convoys running casella said
sheeran said the private sector offers of money have broken all records
totalling some six million dollars four million euros for wfp relief efforts
since friday
it almost unique in the outpouring of immediate support at every level she
said
the united nations on friday appealed for million dollars from the world
community to assist the quake victims
corrected us paratroopers set up bases beyond haitian capital
port au prince haiti jan afp
paratroopers from the us army nd airborne deployed monday out of the main
haitian airport in waves of navy seahawk helicopters to set up bases from which
to begin humanitarian operations
lieutenant colonel pat hynes took the first battalion to walled compound north
of port au prince the abandoned site of planned power plant about one
kilometer mile from the us military hub in the capital airport
our mission is to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief hynes
told afp as another seahawk touched down behind him in thick cloud of dust
around the walls of the compound an advance party of hynes men stretched out
tarps to provide temporary shelter from the hot caribbean sun until the supplies
to construct more permanent base arrive
outside the compound thousands of young haitian men crowded about with
cheerful but determined air drawn by the sound of the choppers and keen to seek
jobs on any base
was driver for pepsi cola but it is broken it was shut before the
earthquake said year old john ely some people need meals and water we
need jobs the country was broken he said
hynes troops arrived armed with assault rifles and light machine guns but
there was no sign of aggression from the crowds
they ve been dignified and respectful especially after all they ve been
through hynes said
vital aid backed by us military personnel was bringing drip of hope to
despairing haitians who are still seeking basic supplies and security nearly
week after the magnitude earthquake slammed the impoverished nation
no takers for israel largest ever lottery prize
jerusalem jan afp
check your pockets and cupboards officials urged israelis on monday after
waiting three weeks for someone to step up and claim about million dollars
the jewish state largest ever lottery prize
there was one winning ticket for the december lottery with first prize of
million shekels million dollars million euros but so far no one
has come forward oved hazan of israel state run lottery told channel
television news
the message we want to get out is people check your tickets hazan said
they probably don know that they have won it person who just knows they
have not checked their ticket said hazan holding up large version of the
million shekel cheque
the longest israel lottery officials have waited for someone to claim
jackpot prize is three months in that case the lucky man ticket was found
lying at the back of cupboard
the winner of this prize has another five months to claim the millions before
they revert to the state coffers hazan said
us paratroopers set up bases beyond haitian capital
port au prince jan afp
paratroopers from the us army nd airborne deployed monday out of the main
haitian airport in waves of navy seahawk helicopters to set up bases from which
to begin humanitarian operations
lieutenant colonel pat hynes took the first battalion to walled compound north
of port au prince the abandoned site of planned power plant about one
kilometer mile from the us military hub in the capital airport
our mission is to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief haynes
told afp as another seahawk touched down behind him in thick cloud of dust
around the walls of the compound an advance party of hynes men stretched out
tarps to provide temporary shelter from the hot caribbean sun until the supplies
to construct more permanent base arrive
outside the compound thousands of young haitian men crowded about with
cheerful but determined air drawn by the sound of the choppers and keen to seek
jobs on any base
was driver for pepsi cola but it is broken it was shut before the
earthquake said year old john ely some people need meals and water we
need jobs the country was broken he said
hynes troops arrived armed with assault rifles and light machine guns but
there was no sign of aggression from the crowds
they ve been dignified and respectful especially after all they ve been
through hynes said
vital aid backed by us military personnel was bringing drip of hope to
despairing haitians who are still seeking basic supplies and security nearly
week after the magnitude earthquake slammed the impoverished nation
looters roam central port au prince unchallenged
port au prince jan afp
looters roamed the ruins of downtown port au prince virtually unchallenged
monday plucking anything of value from collapsed buildings and shrugging off
the occasional crack of gunfire
dozen masked men swarmed over rare prize quake smashed clothing store
still stuffed with goods and pulled out colorful bolts of cloth from openings
in the rubble
three private guards hired to protect the store looked on pointing pump action
shot guns in the direction of the thieves who went on working unfazed
an afp reporter saw no police or rescue workers and none of the american
soldiers based on the outskirts of the city visible in the city center the
heavily damaged heart of its business and government district
gunshot cracked the air one street over from the clothing store but the
looters merely quickened the pace of their work until calm returned
at the intersection of the rue de centre and the rue de miracles looters slid
through spaces between tilted slabs of concrete
one man reached pulled out large cardboard box then another then third
once back in the street the pillagers wrestled among themselves for the loot
new shoes wrapped in plastic sandals and nike sneakers one of them made off
with new stereo
kosovo picks us turkish consortium to build first highway
pristina jan afp
the kosovo government announced monday that it had picked us turkish joint
venture to construct multi million euro dollar infrastructure project to
build highway to albania
we have decided that the bechtel enka is the company with which we will begin
negotiations for concluding the contract transportation minister fatmir limaj
said
according to the government the highway should be finished in three years
it will cost from to million euros per kilometer putting the overall
cost for the over kilometer mile road to at least million euros
billion dollars
the transport minister stressed that the government considered construction of
the highway between morina in albania and merdare in serbia as the main
priority
the us turkish consortium beat seven competitors from austria turkey italy and
greece to land the project bechtel international inc is based in san
francisco and enka in istanbul
the road will be kosovo first highway and it the biggest ever infrastructure
project launched in the tiny country since it declared independence from serbia
in february
kosovo is recognised by countries but serbia opposes the move and considers
the territory as its southern province
palestinian rights groups urge internal gaza war probe
gaza city jan afp
eleven palestinian human rights groups on monday called on authorities in the
west bank and the gaza strip to investigate alleged war crimes committed by
palestinians during last year gaza war
the groups sent identical letters to the western backed president mahmud abbas
and hamas prime minister ismail haniya asking them to follow the recommendations
of un inquiry into alleged war crimes during the conflict
the so called goldstone report accused both israel and palestinian militants of
committing war crimes during the day war that ended exactly one year ago and
demanded both sides conduct independent probes
although large part of the report deals with violations committed by israel
it also touches on violations committed by armed palestinian groups and the
palestinian authorities in the west bank and gaza the letter says
as international and palestinian non governmental associations we call on
palestinian authorities in the west bank and the gaza strip to immediately
launch credible internal investigations
the letters were signed by several leading palestinian human rights groups
including the west bank based al haq and the gaza based al dameer and al mezan
organisations
in november the un general assembly overwhelmingly approved resolution
endorsing the report and calling on both sides to probe alleged war crimes
the report accused israel of using disproportionate force and deliberately
attacking civilians during its offensive which was aimed at halting palestinian
rocket fire from the hamas ruled territory
the report also accused palestinian groups of committing war crimes by
deliberately targeting civilians with the rockets
but israel vehemently rejected the goldstone report as biased and neither it
nor the palestinians have acted on its recommendations
the un resolution endorsing the report carried out by the respected former war
crimes prosecutor richard goldstone called on both sides to complete their
inquiries by early february
ban seeks reinforcements for un mission in haiti
united nations jan afp
un chief ban ki moon asked the security council monday to deploy an additional
police and soldiers to boost the strength of the un battered mission in
quake hit haiti
speaking to reporters after briefing the council on his six hour visit to the
devastated haitian capital sunday ban said he had recommended that the un
mission be beefed up with an extra and troops and police
recommend that the security council boost the number of troops by
nearly percent increase for six months and increase the number of un police
officers in the mission by up percent
the heartbreaking things saw yesterday compels us to ask swiftly and
generously ban ki moon said the haitian people to see than today is better
today
the un mission in haiti known in minustah currently has roughly troops
police and about civilian personnel
meanwhile ban spokesman martin nesirky said un personnel are now confirmed
dead in the haiti quake and more than are missing or unaccounted for
the death toll for the un as whole is nesirky told reporters adding
that more than are missing or unaccounted for
un officials make distinction between missing which refers to those who were
not found in offices where they were supposed to be and unaccounted for which
would include people who may be at home but cannot be reached
ban said he got clear message from his encounter with haitians who told him
we need the united nations we need jobs we need food and water
he listed two key priorities for the huge humanitarian effort under way to
assist hundreds of thousands of quake victims unclog the bottleneck to make
sure that help is getting to the people who need it as fast as possible and
improving coordination in the delivery of the vast amount of aid pouring in from
around the world
israeli pm holds historic joint cabinet meeting in berlin
berlin jan afp
israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and top ministers on monday paid
solemn visit to germany for historic joint cabinet meeting underlining their
bond forged in the wake of the holocaust
following visit to berlin holocaust memorial museum chancellor angela
merkel and netanyahu held talks which also addressed us led efforts to revive
middle east peace talks and efforts to halt iran nuclear drive
merkel took tough stance on iran threatening international sanctions if it
did not drop its defiant line
we have always made iran the offer of sensible cooperation transparent
cooperation unfortunately up until now iran has not expressed any willingness
to cooperate meaning that we increasingly need to consider the necessity of
sanctions she told news conference
netanyahu again called for crippling sanctions against its archfoe bid
which israel and the west say is aimed at developing an atomic bomb claim
denied by tehran
israeli and german ministers earlier signed series of bilateral agreements on
economic environmental humanitarian and military cooperation in what
netanyahu crowned an extremely productive session
the one day visit to berlin where the bid to wipe out european jewry was
planned comes nearly two years after merkel and her cabinet held similar
round of talks in israel
german government spokesman said the meeting was rare occurrence
germany only has these joint cabinet meetings with very few international
partners for example france and poland christoph steegmans told reporters
but the trip symbolic significance was underscored when netanyahu and merkel
flanked by more than dozens ministers and officials toured the holocaust
memorial museum in the heart of berlin
to come back here years after the holocaust as the prime minister of israel
at the head of ministerial delegation of an independent jewish state is
historic moment netanyahu said
meanwhile top israeli told afp that netanyahu was to visit the auschwitz death
camp in poland to mark the international holocaust remembrance day on january
israeli science minister daniel hershkowitz whose parents survived nazi death
camps during world war ii joined the delegation as it toured the holocaust
memorial
we don forget the past this is past that cannot be forgotten but today
germany is great friend of israel he said at the snow covered labyrinth of
more than concrete slabs that make up the memorial which opened in
hershkowitz said the visit is the answer to those who years ago wanted to
eliminate us
the prime minister presented merkel with an abstract inscription of the jewish
prayer of mourning kadish made by holocaust survivor fishel rabinowicz
from the prayer of the dead comes prayer for life netanyahu said
during visit to berlin in august netanyahu accepted gift of rare blueprints
of the auschwitz death camp
defence minister ehud barak and foreign minister avigdor lieberman were among
members of israel centre right cabinet touring with him
according to defence official barak has ordered sixth dolphin class diesel
submarine from germany israel currently has three dolphins and has confirmed it
ordered two more
the submarines are believed to have range of kilometres miles
and the capacity to launch nuclear capable cruise missiles
merkel and several of her ministers made similar visit to jerusalem in march
in which the chancellor addressed the israeli parliament and expressed her
shame for the nazis systematic slaughter of six million jews
germany is israel third biggest trade partner after the united states and
china with trade volume of billion euros billion dollars in and
is widely considered its strongest ally in europe
berlin is playing leading role in efforts to broker prisoner exchange
between israel and the islamist hamas movement for an israeli soldier held by
palestinian militants in the gaza strip since
reilly tells opel vauxhall workers to become winners
frankfurt jan afp
the new head of opel vauxhall nick reilly told staff monday to adopt
winner mentality as he tries to turn the company around and to stop seeing
parent general motors as the source of all its ills
it is time for opel vauxhall to be clear winners again and to be recognized as
clear winners the british executive who is also head of gm europe wrote in
letter to the workers
we need to take bold decisions and be held accountable for those decisions
reilly said as staff await the details of restructuring plan expected to
include the elimination of jobs from total of almost in europe
opel needs billion euros billion dollars to finance its plan and
hopes to get billion of it from countries where opel and its british sister
brand vauxhall have operations
reilly was named head of the two carmakers on friday and warned the company had
to turn itself around in abnormal conditions
we must deal with very difficult market environment he said because
sales are tipped to be tough in western europe
while defending the idea of greater autonomy for opel vauxhall within the gm
group reilly said disagree that we can blame our difficulties on this
relationship
this is just an excuse to take the responsibility away from ourselves it
displays weak victim mentality
gm had initially decided to sell opel vauxhall but changed its mind after its
own rescue by the us government and has decided to turn the european unit
around itself
that decision provoked anger among german leaders and union officials who had
backed opel sale to the canadian parts company magna and its russian partner
the state owned sberbank
eurostar to pay compensation over pre christmas breakdown
london jan afp
eurostar on monday said it would pay out some million pounds million
dollars million euros in compensation to passengers hit by disastrous
breakdown last month blamed on severe weather
over people were trapped for hours overnight in the channel tunnel between
france and britain on december while tens of thousands more had to re
arrange travel as the service remained out of action for couple of days
the breakdown and disruption were pr disaster for eurostar both because
people trapped in the tunnel blasted the company response to the crisis and
because it affected traffic in the hugely busy pre christmas period
there were over hundred thousand people actually affected by the disruptions
over the three days so as result the compensation we expect to pay is around
million pounds said eurostar spokesman
the company blamed the wrong kind of snow for causing problems with its trains
electrics an independent report into the breakdowns is due to be completed by
the end of this month
in letter apologising to passengers eurostar boss richard brown said am
acutely aware that we have to win back the trust of our customers following the
disruption to our services before christmas
we failed to deliver the standard of service you expect and apologise
unreservedly for the problems that occurred
going forward we need to demonstrate to you that we are doing everything
possible to provide the most robust reliable service during periods of severe
weather we are also very aware of the need for better information
new study sheds light on quake peril for istanbul
paris jan afp
an investigation into perilous fault that runs south of istanbul suggests it
could unleash two or three big quakes in series rather than an extremely large
one off event as some studies have feared
until now seismologists have estimated an earthquake as powerful as or
magnitude could erupt in fault under the sea of marmara lying to the south of
the great turkish metropolis
the fault is one of three fingers of the notorious north anatolian fault which
runs along turkey northern rim and is popping open from east to west rather
like shirt buttons that are ripped off one after another
the magnitude calculation is based on estimated slippage an indicator of
the amount of energy placed on the fault and the fault response to it
but new study by pair of german geophysicists says the slippage figure may
have been over estimated given the challenge of getting an accurate picture of
stress in this sub sea segment
their model of the fault seismic mechanics points to annual slippage of
between and millimetres inches per year or as much as
percent less than estimated before in addition the movement rates vary by
percent along the main fault
as result builtup energy could be released along the segment in progressive
string of ruptures at stress points as opposed to massive quake that would
tear the section open in one go
one of the authors university of karlsruhe geophysicist tobias hergert said
these quakes could be around magnitude which on the logarithmic scale is
many times smaller than event
in terms of energy the difference between seven and is big even so even
earthquake might cause serious damage in the region it would depend on
where exactly the earthquake would nucleate and propagate he told afp
the paper was published on sunday in the journal nature geoscience
the fault zone is less than kilometres miles from istanbul boundary
which means the seismic hazard is tremendously high the paper adds
hergert said he had carried out other research which suggested the series of
relatively smaller quakes could occur in principle at any time although this
could also mean as long as years from now
istanbul is home to million people and hosts some of the world
architectural gems dating back to the roman and byzantine empires and the
golden age of islamic building
urgent americans hurt in haiti in mass casualty event us officials
port au prince jan afp
about americans were hurt monday during massive relief operation in the
haitian capital in what was described as mass casualty event us officials
said
football pompey threaten action against epl over embargo
london jan afp
portsmouth have threatened to start arbitration proceedings against the english
premier league epl unless officials lift the cash strapped club day
transfer embargo
the south coast side bottom of the english top flight also want two million
pounds worth million dollars million euros of television money to be
paid to them directly
portsmouth executive director mark jacob accused the epl of treating pompey as
poor relations and the black sheep of the family
but the club have ruled out suing the epl instead they handed in letter to
the league london headquarters on monday asking for the embargo to be scrapped
and direct payment of television money
pompey said that unless the epl met with them on tuesday they would trigger an
independent examination of their dispute with the league
the premier league are withholding the balance of monies they owe us because
they believe that we still owe other football clubs money said jacob
we have now paid off the three uk clubs we have agreed with french teams
rennes and lens to accept certain payments now and then defer schedule of
payments going forward we are finalising the agreement with italian side
udinese
the total amount that we directed the premier league to discharge and pay these
clubs is approximately five million pounds
so there is net balance due to the club approaching two million pounds we
cannot see how they can keep the money and also continue with the embargo
we believe the embargo should be lifted immediately and that we should be
receiving money from the premier league
today monday we have delivered letter to the premier league asking to pay
back the money
we have called for meeting tomorrow tuesday and if this fails or we don
get our money back then we shall exercise the powers of arbitration
once again we are being treated as the poor relations and the black sheep of
the family we would like them the epl to use their discretionary powers in
positive fashion rather than negative fashion against the club
meanwhile pompey were awaiting the verdict of their high court appeal over
million pounds tax bill the case was heard on friday and the verdict was
expected to be announced later on monday
portsmouth have been unable to sign new players during the january transfer
window because of an embargo placed upon them by the league
they are trying to force the premier league to relax the restrictions so they
can bring in loan players to fratton park
the epl board have held talks with portsmouth who on several occasions this
season have failed to pay their players on time
and the fa cup winners have been unable to convince the league they have
the money to cover reported million pounds of debts to other clubs hence
the decision to divert their share of the television cash to other teams
eu presidency throws weight behind farm payouts
brussels jan afp
the european union spanish presidency threw its weight on monday behind
fight to ensure that farming subsidies remain central to bloc politics amid
budgetary concerns
spanish agriculture minister elena espinosa said madrid wants to retain
strong common agricultural policy on the grounds that longstanding agreements
to subsidise farm output represent undeniable added value for the eu
the cap accounts for percent of the eu annual budget some billion euros
billion dollars whereas the european commission wants to shrink the
payouts when the policy is renegotiated in
europe faces pressure in world trade negotiations to reduce subsidies for the
sake of poor farmers in the developing world but incoming farm commissioner
romania dacian ciolos has also vowed to militate in defence of high
subsidies
britain leads small rump of nations opposed to the costly spending propping up
the sector
espinosa said another priority was to strengthen the role of women in the rural
world for fear of an ageing increasingly make profile in farming industries as
women leave the land for urban life
she said feeble participation in the decision making process had to be
addressed
on fishing espinosa said durability of stocks had to be married to level of
income worthy of the job and that madrid would adopt new policy outlook
taking into account social economic environmental and ecosystemic
considerations
alert
americans hurt in haiti in mass casualty event us officials
football angola and algeria tied at at half time
luanda jan afp
hosts angola were drawing with algeria at half time of their africa cup of
nations group match here on monday
slug amendment
jan afp
india environment glaciers warming un lead ex paris will move as un climate
warming glaciers india at around gmt
haiti violence below pre quake levels us general
port au prince jan afp
despite the desperate situation in quake ravaged haiti violence in the country
is actually below pre earthquake levels the general overseeing us military
operations here said monday
the level of violence we see now is below pre earthquake levels general ken
keen us commander of joint task force in haiti told reporters at the
country main airport
keen remarks contradicted reports of growing restiveness in the devastated
haitian capital nearly one week after the city was leveled by the massive
magnitude earthquake
keen said the united states hopes to soon pass security oversight in haiti to un
forces but nevertheless planned to ramp up the us forces from current levels of
around troops to around in the next few weeks
we need as many troops on the ground as we can he said
pillaging throughout the city had led haitian police to open fire on looters
killing at least one of them caught ransacking supermarket on sunday
the violence flared amid delays in delivery of food and other relief supplies to
hundreds of thousands of haitians many of whom have been without steady
source of food or water since the quake struck last tuesday
keen said however that the overall transportation and infrastructure situation
was improving
the first day obviously it was very chaotic one of the first things we knew we
had to do was to get this airport operational the general said
it was logistical challenge we are working hard to open the ports to take
the pressure off the airports
he said the arrival of additional us troops in coming days should speed up
efforts to deliver food and aid to needy haitians
afp europe news summary
paris jan afp
top european news stories on monday
turkey vatican agca
ankara the turkish man who attempted to kill pope john paul ii in mehmet
ali agca was freed from prison after almost three decades behind bars keeping
his motive shrouded in mystery
ukraine vote
kiev voters in ukraine forced two old rivals who both favour close ties with
russia into tense presidential election run off after rejecting the pro
western leader of the orange revolution
mideast germany israel diplomacy
berlin israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu arrived in germany with top
ministers for historic joint cabinet meeting underlining the strong ties
forged in the wake of the holocaust
spain argentina crime history netherlands
madrid court in spain agreed to extradite an argentine pilot suspected of
flying death flights under the former dictatorship in buenos aires
somalia piracy shipping greece
mogadishu somali pirates on monday freed the greek supertanker maran centaurus
one of the largest ships ever hijacked after plane dropped record ransom on
the deck
britain iraq military politics inquiry
london former prime minister tony blair will give long awaited testimony to
britain iraq war inquiry next week officials said as one of his former aides
robustly defended his conduct
nireland britain attacks lithuania court
vilnius the trial of an irishman charged with attempting to illegally procure
firearms in lithuania for the real ira resumed in vilnius with british
intelligence agent due to testify judicial sources said
britain attacks twitter
london british man was arrested by anti terrorism police and suspended from
his job after he sent twitter message joking that he was going to blow up an
airport report said
bosnia warcrimes srebrenica court
sarajevo bosnia state court has charged three bosnian serb former police
officers with genocide for their alleged role in the srebrenica massacre of
some muslims the court said
ukraine blast
lugansk ukraine gas canisters exploded in ukrainian hospital causing the
