several venezuelan cities it sells everything from food to home appliances
chavez week ago announced crackdown on price gouging day ahead of an
official devaluation of the bolivar which on monday began trading at to
the us dollar for non essential goods double the previous rate and at
for basic goods
by thursday he made good on his threat by temporarily shuttering more than
retail stores some of which he accused of hiking prices by percent
in addition to being shuttered the shops accused of speculation must also pay
fine
the bolivar devaluation was the first since and was designed in part to
bolster public finances that have withered amid dwindling oil revenues and
rapidly contracting economy
critics said the move would allow chavez to boost public spending ahead of
elections in september but could severely damage the health of the economy
alert
bodies buried in mass haiti graves minister
hysteria as haitian hip hop pioneer laid to rest
port au prince jan afp
woman fell into trance and collapsed onto the coffin as the burial of
haitian hip hop star was greeted with hysterical singing from his adoring
entourage
evenson francis known to fans on the streets of the haitian capital port au
prince as shacan lord never escaped his recording studio when tuesday
earthquake hit robbing haiti of bright young star
along with his group gasoline clan the year old performer was regarded as
pioneer of haitian hip hop explained his producer roosevelt francois
in an astonishing act of homage given the sheer scale of the destruction in
haiti his entourage held an extraordinary ceremony in delmas stadium where the
hip hop artist had enjoyed performing
we built him coffin with planks of wood said francois
song in french by his group and other close friends kicked off the saturday
night ceremony this is only last goodbye that we are singing to you
six men from his group then brought out the make shift coffin covered in flies
from white van
his little sister gina fell into trance and draped herself over the coffin
before being consoled by friends
the body was lain at the bottom of the hole before the or so people in
attendance used spades machetes or their bare hands to fill the vault with
earth
the remaining members of gasoline clan then sang final particularly
poignant rap before francis father broke down in tears as he prayed that
shacan lord would rise to heaven
two pieces of iron bound by fabric into an improvised cross marked the simple
grave along with piece of cardboard that read here lies evenson francis
we couldn bury him like the others said francois referring to the mass
graves where tens of thousands of dead haitians have ended up in the wake of
tuesday tragedy we wanted to do something special for him
football late cheyrou strike checks man bordeaux
paris jan afp
benoit cheyrou struck an st minute equaliser to earn marseille draw at
bordeaux on sunday that kept his side in the title race albeit points behind
the league leaders with game in hand
defending champions bordeaux led through contested steve mandanda own goal on
the cusp of half time but lost goalkeeper cedric carrasso to injury and then had
centre back marc planus sent off
the numerical advantage allowed marseille to boss the match for the first time
and they snatched point when cheyrou chested down knockdown before volleying
past substitute keeper ulrich rame after bordeaux defenders had been sucked
towards brandao at the defence of free kick
the visitors came close to victory in the closing stages but rame saved
superbly from lucho gonzalez instinctive toe poke and mathieu valbuena flashed
low right footed shot narrowly wide
bordeaux now lead the french top flight by seven points from lille while
marseille climb above lyon to fourth
despite the sending off and the injury to our goalkeeper we managed to
preserve our lead said bordeaux coach laurent blanc
we had fine first half and leading was the ideal scenario but then
things changed
cheyrou admitted the outcome of the match was frustrating
it disappointing we lost two points tonight and in the last minutes we
deserved to score second goal he said
the opening goal went down as mandanda own goal but it owed everything to
superb cross from advancing centre back mickael ciani and the single mindedness
of marouane chamakh whose strong aerial challenge forced the france
international goalkeeper to divert the ball into his own net
the away side protested fiercely about the legitimacy of chamakh leap but
referee laurent duhamel turned deaf ear
it was shortly before the hour mark that bordeaux lost carrasso to an injury
apparently sustained taking free kick deep inside his own half
rame took over between the sticks and quickly found himself exposed when mamadou
niang earned free kick right on the edge of the bordeaux area having been
felled by planus who was promptly dismissed
blanc had deployed chamakh as lone central focal point and bordeaux
attacking midfielders pressed high up the pitch pinning marseille deep inside
their own half and cutting off marseille own forward trident of niang brandao
and fabrice ariel
the tactic gave bordeaux control of proceedings in the first half but clear cut
chances were scarce
ciani had shot deflected over the crossbar following neat turn in the
marseille penalty box in the fifth minute while wendel and yoann gourcuff both
drew straightforward saves from mandanda
in saturday action in form lille stretched their winning run to eight matches
in all competitions and galvanised their grasp on second place by beating paris
saint germain
on the first weekend programme of fixtures after the winter break lyon got
their season back on track with win at nancy while montpellier beat nice
to hold onto third place in the table point shy of lille
football portuguese league table
lisbon jan afp
portuguese league table after sunday matches played won drawn lost goals
for goals against points
sporting braga
benfica
fc porto
sporting lisbon
nacional
uniao leiria
vitoria guimaraes
rio ave
mar timo funchal
pa os de ferreira
academica coimbra
naval
olhanense
leixoes
vitoria setubal
belenenses
football portuguese league results
lisbon jan afp
portuguese league results on sunday
belenenses yontcha leixoes morais pen pouga didi
rio ave uniao leiria cassio ronny
academica coimbra sporting braga meyong ze pen matheus
mar timo funchal benfica saviola maxi pereira cardozo pen
roberto og luisao
saturday
olhanense castro naval
vitoria guimaraes marquino targino vitoria setubal keita collin
fc porto falcao garcia pa os de ferreira maykon
sporting lisbon veloso liedson nacional micael edgar
danish un worker pulled alive from haiti rubble
port au prince jan afp
danish un worker was pulled alive from the ruins of the un mission
headquarters in haiti sunday just shortly after un chief ban ki moon visited
the ravaged compound
the official danish civil affairs expert serving with the un mission in haiti
minustah was conscious lifted his arms but did not speak said un official
nick birnback he did not confirm the man identity
but another member of the un forces who asked not to be named said the lucky
survivor was jen kristensen they just pulled him out without scratch he
said
ban who took helicopter tour to survey the destruction described the news as
small miracle
his tour of the devastated minustah headquarters was at the center of his
morale boosting visit to the devastated haitian capital
the un flag flying over mission headquarters was brought down and was handed to
ban who was to bring it back to un headquarters
ban also met with distraught un employee nieves alvarez who pleaded with him
to save her husband belgian working as an adviser to haiti president rene
preval
she said her husband was still buried under the rubble of the minustah
headquarters five days after the quake ban promised that everything was being
done to rescue as many people as possible
am here to say we are with you you are not alone this is tsunami like
disaster ban later told press conference as he vowed to speed up the aid
effort
haiti litmus test for global cooperation fidel castro
havana jan afp
veteran cuban leader fidel castro on sunday said haiti devastating earthquake
would be test of international cooperation as other leftist leaders lambasted
us occupation of the ravaged nation
haiti can become an example of what humanity can do for itself year old
castro still communist party chief after leaving the presidency in during
health crisis said in an article published sunday
in rare show of co operation between washington and havana cuba earlier this
week granted us military planes overflight rights allowing aid to be brought
from miami more quickly
in haiti we have been asked how long the spirit of cooperation can last before
egoism chauvinism mixed motives and contempt for other countries prevails
cuba has sent tonnes of medicine to its caribbean neighbor to the east along
with medics arriving at the airport in port au prince now controlled by
its cold war foe the united states
castro tone was markedly more restrained than other leftist in latin america
who balked at us aid efforts
venezuela populist president hugo chavez on sunday accused the united states
of using the tragedy of haiti earthquake to launch military occupation of
the country
why send armed soldiers unless it is for war said the firebrand leader
who has often defined his rule by attacking leaders in washington
it appears they are militarily occupying haiti taking advantage of the
tragedy he said during weekly television address
football dempsey hands us world cup injury worry
london jan afp
experienced american striker clint dempsey could face world cup heartbreak after
suffering serious knee injury in fulham premier league defeat at
blackburn on sunday
fulham boss roy hodgson said clint will be scanned tomorrow monday but we
feel it might be posterior cruciate knee ligament which would be very bad for
us and he would be out for while
dempsey is key player for the states who begin their world cup campaign in
south africa against england on june
ban says haiti worst disaster in decades
port au prince jan afp
un secretary general ban ki moon said sunday that haiti was the worst
humanitarian crisis in decades as he surveyed the devastated quake hit capital
and vowed to speed up aid efforts
am here to say we are with you you are not alone this is tsunami like
disaster ban told press conference after flying over the ruined city
he vowed to speed up the rescue operations and improve coordination and delivery
of the massive humanitarian aid pouring into the impoverished country which is
so far only trickling down to people in the street
the un chief also met with president rene preval and had an emotional reunion in
port au prince with michele montas haitian who until late last year was his
spokeswoman
later sunday ban was to fly back to new york bearing the bodies of some of the
un staffers killed when the un mission in port au prince collapsed in the
quake in what has become the global body worst tragedy ever
am going to haiti with very heavy heart to express solidarity and full
support of the un to the people of haiti ban told journalists at the start of
his day long trip
some un workers are still missing in the rubble of the un mission
but in what ban called small miracle danish un worker was pulled from the
ruins just after the un chief had toured the site struck by tuesday
magnitude quake
we have to prepare for the worst ban said as he flew out of newark referring
to un employees still missing after the disaster that flattened much of port au
prince and nearby towns in western haiti
ban said the three top priorities were to save as many people as possible to
bring emergency humanitarian aid in the form of water food and medication and
to coordinate the massive aid effort
the un has noted that at least local government structures remained after the
tsunami hit indonesia aceh province but in the haiti town of leogane
for example all public services were lost in the earthquake
between and people are thought to have died in that town alone an
indication of the horrific scale of the catastrophe beyond port au prince
ban came face to face with the human toll when he toured makeshift tent city
of people which has sprung up on the open air champs de mars square next
to the collapsed presidential palace
we need food we need shelter we need work angry and frustrated haitians
shouted out
ban urged them to be patient saying help was coming and warned against
rioting
the fact finding mission was aimed at assessing the caribbean nation needs and
attempting to boost the shattered morale of the brazilian led united nations
stabilization mission in haiti minustah
among the dead being mourned by the un is the head of the mission civilian chief
hedi annabi his brazilian deputy luiz carlos da costa and acting police
commissioner doug coates of the royal canadian mounted police
ban has sent edmond mulet top un peacekeeping official and annabi
predecessor to port au prince to take charge of minustah in an interim
capacity
in sad symbolic move he was handed the flag from the un headquarters to take
back to new york with him
the united nations on friday appealed for million dollars from the world
community to help three million quake victims in the western hemisphere
poorest country for the next six months
the money is to be used for urgently needed food water and sanitation medical
supplies tents and blankets logistics and education
ban last toured haiti with former us president bill clinton in march to
urge the international community to aid the island nation after it was battered
by hurricanes the previous year
nfl bears defender adams dead at after heart attack
chicago jan afp
gaines adams year old defensive end for the national football league
chicago bears died on sunday morning in south carolina hospital after going
into cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart
adams was selected fourth overall in the nfl draft by the tampa bay
buccaneers who traded him to the bears last october
the former college star at clemson was pronounced dead at self regional hospital
in greenwood south carolina
marcia kelley clark deputy coroner for greenwood county said an autopsy showed
adams had an enlarged heart which can often lead to heart attack and that
family members were unaware he had the medical condition
remember him at the draft as fine young man nfl commissioner roger
goodell said in statement our condolences to gaines family his teammates
on the bears and buccaneers and their organizations on their loss
adams made tackles including sacks in nfl games he had one sack in
games with the bucs and bears in the just completed nfl season
he was true team player and positive influence to everyone he met
buccaneers coach raheem morris said
danish un worker pulled alive from haiti rubble
port au prince jan afp
danish un worker was pulled alive from the ruins of the un mission
headquarters in haiti sunday just shortly after un chief ban ki moon visited
the ravaged compound
the official danish civil affairs expert serving with the un mission in haiti
minustah was conscious lifted his arms but did not speak said un official
nick birnback he did not confirm the man identity
but another member of the un forces who asked not to be named said the lucky
survivor was jen kristensen they just pulled him out without scratch he
said
ban who took helicopter tour to survey the destruction described the news as
small miracle
his tour of the devastated inustah headquarters was the high point of his
morale boosting visit to the devastated haitian capital the un flag flying over
the headquarters was brought down and was handed to ban who was to bring it back
to un headquarters
ban also met with distraught un employee nieves alvarez who pleaded with him
to save her husband belgian working as an adviser to president rene preval
she said her husband was still buried under the rubble of the minustah
headquarters five days after the quake ban promised that everything was being
done to rescue as many people as possible
billionaire wins chile presidency
santiago jan afp
billionaire media magnate sebastian pinera is to become the next president
of chile after runoff election sunday that put an end to year hold on
power by the leftwing coalition of outgoing head of state michelle bachelet
bachelet defeated candidate eduardo frei former president himself
conceded defeat after an official count of most ballots showed pinera had picked
up percent to his percent
bachelet was constitutionally barred from seeking another term
the victory by pinera marked the defeat of the concertacion coalition of
four leftwing and centrist parties that had governed chile since the exit
of dictator general august pinochet
the billionaire who owns one of chile four television networks and big
stake in flagship airline lan among many other business interests is seen
likely to continue social policies that left bachelet with skyhigh popularity
ratings of around percent
he promised though that the change represented by his victory would be like
opening the window to let fresh air in
pinera easily won the first round of the presidential elections on december
but then saw his lead narrow to statistical dead heat with frei as bachelet
leveraged her popularity in defense of her candidate
in the end he squeaked through according to an official count from percent
of polling stations complete results were expected by the early hours of
monday
bachelet said as she voted that she would fulfill her duties whoever emerged
victorious
at the appropriate time will call the president elect and tomorrow all the
powers of the state will salute the president she said
some million people were eligible to vote in chile one of latin america
most prosperous nations
frei widely portrayed as uncharismatic wished his rival luck
want to congratulate sebastian pinera the majority of chileans gave him
their trust to direct the fate of the country for the next four years he said
hope that what will prevail will be dialogue the search for consensus and
the retention of social conquests that were hard won and which have been
transformed into symbol of our relationship with the world he said
frei spoke just after interior minister edmundo perez yoma confirmed pinera
victory
the country today wanted change it has swung to the right and we wish the
new government all the best perez yoma told reporters
pinera spokesman hailed the result saying we are very happy very
satisfied
he vowed that pinera administration would work for more just and happier
chile
the triumph was being savored by pinera who four years ago lost in his first
presidential bid to bachelet
one of the principal preoccupations he will have to address however are
potential conflicts of interest highlighted by bachelet
pinera who forbes magazine says has fortune of billion dollars has
interests in many activities in chile including strategic sectors such as the
media and aeronautics as well as football club and the outgoing president
suggested strongly that maintaining such businesses could raise conflict of
interest questions
football leading english premier league scorers
london jan afp
leading english premier league scorers on sunday
rooney manchester united
bent sunderland defoe tottenham drogba chelsea
tevez manchester city torres liverpool
saha everton
fabregas arsenal
agbonlahor aston villa lampard chelsea
anelka chelsea berbatov manchester united cole west ham rodallega
wigan van persie arsenal
adebayor manchester city arshavin arsenal bellamy manchester city
dempsey fulham jones sunderland keane tottenham klasnic bolton
zamora fulham
alexander burnley benayoun liverpool bowyer birmingham diaby
arsenal diamanti west ham doyle wolverhampton duff fulham dunn
blackburn fletcher burnley gerrard liverpool hunt hull city
jerome birmingham kuyt liverpool valencia manchester united
british airport scanners may breach rights watchdog
london jan afp
britain equality watchdog warned on sunday that plans to introduce body
scanners at airports after the failed christmas day bombing of us plane could
breach human rights
the equality and human rights commission ehrc has written to the government
expressing concerns about the proposed installation of the scanners saying they
may violate the right to privacy outlined in the human rights act
the right to life is the ultimate human right and we support the government
reviewing security in the light of recent alleged terrorist activity said john
wadham group director legal at the commission
however the government needs to ensure that measures to protect this right
also take into account the need to be proportionate in its counter terrorism
proposals and ensure that they are justified by evidence and effectiveness
in the letter to home secretary alan johnson the commission asked the
government to give detailed justification of bringing in the new security
measure
the scanners are capable of peering through clothes to create three dimensional
images of passengers and reveal any concealed weapons or explosives but privacy
advocates argue the image produced is too intimate
britain plans to install the scanners at london heathrow airport by the end of
the month after nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab was charged with trying to
down us bound passenger jet from amsterdam
the scanners will be rolled out to other airports over time
abdulmutallab accused of trying to blow up the jet with explosive sewn into his
underwear pleaded not guilty to the foiled attack on the northwest airlines
flight in detroit court on january
the ehrc said the plans were likely to have negative impact on privacy and
asked for clarification on what safeguards would be provided
in particular the commission expressed concerns for certain groups such as
disabled people the elderly and children
the ehrc further said it had serious concerns over the methods that would be
used to pick out travellers to be scanned
the netherlands has also decided to install the scanners but other countries
such as spain have sounded less enthusiastic
chavez accuses us of military occupation of haiti
caracas jan afp
venezuela populist president hugo chavez on sunday accused the united states
of using the tragedy of haiti earthquake to launch military occupation of
the country
why send armed soldiers unless it is for war said the firebrand leader
who has often defined his rule by attacking leaders in washington
it appears they are militarily occupying haiti taking advantage of the
tragedy he said during weekly television address
his comments echo those of fellow leftist nicaragua president daniel ortega
who called on the united states to withdraw from haiti
the pentagon has announced the deployment of troops to haiti which the
united states has occupied in the past
obama steps in to save struggling democratic candidate
boston massachusetts jan afp
president barack obama stumped sunday for the democratic candidate in
massachusetts knife edge senate election saying that his legislative agenda
depended on her winning
the seat which was occupied by edward kennedy for almost five decades before
his death in august was considered democratic stronghold but candidate
martha coakley finds herself struggling ahead of tuesday vote against
republican opponent scott brown
win by brown would strip the democrats of their th senate seat meaning
their majority was no longer big enough to easily override republican opposition
to obama bitterly fought health care reforms and other major projects
lot of these measures are going to rest on one vote in the united states
senate obama told noisy coakley rally in boston
that why the opponents of change and progress have been pouring money in he
said they want to keep things as they are
heckler interrupted obama provoking loud boos from the crowd at northeastern
university before the president was able to continue
the incident reflected the passionate and sometimes ugly nature of the partisan
divide year after obama took office
obama said the country was in tough times and acknowledged that people are
frustrated and they re angry and they have every right to be
then he attacked those including brown who he said are eager to exploit
that pain and anger
there are always folks who think that the best way to solve these problems are
to demonize others and unfortunately we are seeing some of that politics in
massachusetts today
one poll put coakley well ahead but suffolk university poll released late
thursday had brown ahead with
pollsters say the result may well depend on turnout with low participation
favoring brown
obama spent just two hours in boston and analysts were not convinced that his
intervention would be enough to turn the tide
republicans tout their massachusetts surge as evidence of dissatisfaction with
obama agenda particularly health care and sign of heavy gains likely to be
scored in nationwide mid term elections to congress this november
this is in effect referendum on the national health care bill which the
democrats in secret are trying to work out now said us senate republican
leader mitch mcconnell
the health care debate electrified the country he told fox news television
all of sudden they realize there is an election somewhere in the country
where you can have an impact on it
leading pollster scott rasmussen called brown victory long shot low
turnout scenario adding that the dynamics of the race still make it likely
that massachusetts voters on january will send another democrat to
washington
but even if the democrats win the fact obama felt he had to campaign at the
last hour reflects serious worries in the party
obama advisor david axelrod denies that there is any panic obama is going
because he was asked
don think that the president makes decisions out of fear he makes
decisions based on what he thinks is right he thinks that martha coakley would
be much better representative for everyday people in massachusetts axelrod
said friday
that an important election in massachusetts it obviously competitive
one
but politico website said obama may face humiliating failure on tuesday
with the political winds at the back of republican scott brown pollsters
tracking the massachusetts senate race are skeptical that president obama
boston rally on sunday will be enough to put democrat martha coakley over the
top the website said
haiti dead missing include two dozen nationalities
washington jan afp
the tens of thousands of people dead and missing after haiti devastating
earthquake five days ago includes nationals from around two dozen countries
according to compilation of various figures
following is breakdown of foreign nationals confirmed killed or reported
missing after tuesday disaster
the overall death toll has been difficult to estimate the red cross has spoken
of to dead but lieutenant general ken keen the us general running
the relief effort said the final number could be as high as
argentina policeman serving with the united nations was killed
australia the foreign ministry said small number of australians remained
unaccounted for but that there was no evidence of australian deaths
austria year old austrian woman working for german aid development
organization died in hospital from injuries suffered when wall collapsed the
foreign ministry said
belgium the foreign ministry has said that belgians were still to be
accounted for in haiti three were officially listed as missing
brazil at least brazilian peacekeepers were killed according to the
country military an award winning champion of child rights zilda arns
was also killed by falling debris as she walked down street in port au prince
to attend conference
britain britain on sunday confirmed its first death as year old un worker
another briton was still unaccounted for
burkina faso government says burkinabe nationals missing but no figures or
details available
canada foreign minister lawrence cannon said sunday that eight canadians died
in the quake and another have yet to be located
