people liberation movement ending two decade civil war which cost two
million lives
the report said the next months would see number of potential flashpoints
including the first multi party elections in years and referendum in which
southerners would vote on whether to remain united with the north or to secede
and become independent
the aid agencies urged the un security council to ensure that protecting
civilians becomes priority for the un peacekeeping force unmis at this
crucial juncture
growing frustration over the lack of development in southern sudan was hampering
the chances of peace they warned
less than half the population has access to clean water and maternal mortality
rates are among the worst in the world aid distribution is held back by the
lack of proper roads in southern sudan an area the size of france
one in seven children die before they are five and percent of adults are
illiterate
francisco roque of save the children in south sudan said the region remained
one of the poorest on earth
people hoped the peace would bring economic benefits and development but this
has happened far too slowly and in some areas not at all
paul valentin international director of christian aid said sustained
diplomatic efforts from the international community were desperately required
this helped achieve what many thought was impossible and secure the peace
agreement in the first place now engagement is needed again to ensure all that
effort does not go to waste
britain minister for africa glenys kinnock who will visit sudan from sunday
insisted there was still time to avert new conflict
certainly would not say that conflict is inevitable there is still time and
we do understand what needs to be done she told journalists
kinnock said she would put pressure on the leadership in khartoum and the south
of the country to engage urgently in dialogue backed by concerted
coordinated targets efforts from the international community
such has been the terrible suffering and misery of the people of sudan it is
actually time now that real pressure was put on to make sure that all sides come
together in the interests of peace and stability
britain announced million pound million euro million dollar aid
package for sudan on wednesday of which million pounds will go into an
international humanitarian fund
ski jumping kofler takes four hills title
bischofshofen austria jan afp
austrian olympic silver medalist andreas kofler won the four hills title on
wednesday despite finishing fifth in the final event
the year old also an olympic gold medalist in the team event won with
points ahead of finnish great janne ahonen pts while last year
champion wolfgang loitzl of austria was third pts
never dared think that would win the title once in my career said
kopfler
it is incredible still can quite believe it added kopfler who missed
out on olympic gold in by just of point
wednesday event was won by another austrian thomas morgenstern with
points ahead of ahonen pts and swiss jumper simon ammann was third
pts
there was disappointment for austrian prodigy gregor schlierenzauer who was the
strong favourite to take the title after victories in garmisch partenkirchen on
friday and innsbruck on sunday but ended up finishing fourth overall
second place overall for ahonen five time winner of the series but who only
came out of retirement recently spoilt austrian hopes of their first podium
cleansweep since
football yemen japan result
sanaa jan afp
asian cup qualifier result on wednesday
yemen al aqel karama japan hirayama
alpine skiing razzoli breaks duck in slalom
zagreb croatia jan afp
italian skier giuliano razzoli won his first ever world cup slalom race here on
wednesday
the year old who earned his first podium placing here last year when he
finished third beat home compatriot manfred molgg by hundreths of second
while frenchman julien lizeoux was hundreths of second adrift
football kuwait australia result
kuwait city jan afp
asian cup qualifier result on wednesday
kuwait hamad al enezi nasser australia wilkshire heffernan
ski jumping andreas kofler factfile
bischofshofen austria jan afp
factfile on andreas kofler after he won the four hills series on wednesday
andreas kofler
date of birth
birthplace innsbruck austria
nationality austrian
height
weight kg
world cup record
wins podium placings in events
overall th in and
four hills record st th th
world championships
small hill nd
teams st
olympics
individual big hill nd
team st
ski jumping previous four hills winners
bischofshofen austria jan afp
list of past winners of four hills ski jump series after andreas kofler won
on wednesday
andreas kofler aut
wolfgang loitzl aut
janne ahonen fin
anders jacobsen nor
janne ahonen fin and jakub janda cze
janne ahonen fin
sigurd pettersen nor
janne ahonen fin
sven hannawald ger
adam malysz pol
white house to release watch list review thursday
washington jan afp
the white house will on thursday release an unclassified version of report
into intelligence failures relating to terrorist watch lists following the
thwarted christmas day airliner attack
white house spokesman robert gibbs said he anticipated the public portion of the
report will be released tomorrow after president barack obama receives
classified version of the data from his top anti terror expert john brennan
on tuesday obama said that the review into the terrorist watch listing system
had revealed human and systemic failures that led to the attempted downing of
northwest jet carrying people on christmas day
cuba charges us sent secret agent in anti castro move
havana jan afp
cuba on wednesday charged that the united states dispatched secret
intelligence agent to back opposition forces seeking the end of the only
communist regime in the americas
ricardo alarcon one of the regime top figures and speaker of the national
assembly gave the most detailed and damning assessment yet of the case of the
american detained here in major blow to any hopes for closer bilateral ties
the us citizen was arrested december reportedly while distributing cell
phones laptops and other communications equipment
this was gentleman hired by company that hires people to work for us
intelligence we have already done an investigation and can assure you that he
is doing much mean much much better than the victims of us contractors
around the world alarcon told reporters
as president raul castro has said that was no contractor alarcon added
you know there is new institution in the united states featuring agents
torturers and spies which thanks to the privatization of war are hired on as
such
the new york times has said the detainee who has not been publicly identified
was us government contract worker employed by development alternatives inc
dai of bethesda maryland just outside washington
dai which is regularly contracted by the us agency for international
development usaid has confirmed one of its employees was arrested but
provided no additional details citing privacy concerns
in speech to the national assembly on december president castro accused
the obama administration of sending the man here to illegally supply cuban
opposition members with advanced communications equipment
he claimed washington has earmarked million dollars to support cuban
dissidents
ailing nigerian president phones officials from hospital bed
abuja jan afp
nigeria president hospitalised abroad for the past days spoke on the
phone with key officials government officials said wednesday after growing
concern over his health status
the only update have about the president health is that the vice president
told us at the cabinet meeting that he spoke with mr president briefly at about
pm gmt yesterday tuesday information minister dora akunyili told
reporters
president umaru yar adua was on november flown to faisal hospital in jeddah
saudi arabia for treatment of acute pericarditis an inflammation of the
membrane covering the heart
since he left yar adua has not spoken publicly but his aides have repeatedly
said he was reponding well to his treatment
earlier wednesday the president chief economic adviser taminu yakubu who has
said is in regular contact with yar adua told local media the head of state was
improving
the president health has substantially improved yakubu was quoted as
telling thisday newspaper
he said yar adua also spoke to the president of the senate and the speaker of
the house of representatives earlier this week
his prolonged absence and lack of official medical information have sparked
widespread speculation about his successor and triggered series of litigation
for him to delegate authority to vice president goodluck jonathan to avoid
power vacuum
one rights group wants him declared missing
the opposition has demanded video evidence of yar adua to quash rumours that his
health condition is worsening
but yakubu said when he spoke to yar adua this week he wanted the attorney
general to push for the passage of an anti terrorism bill currently at the
senate
he said he would like it to be the first bill he assents to on his return to
nigeria said yakubu to thisday and the guardian newspaper
he did not say when the year old was likely to return
lockheed martin to cut us jobs
washington jan afp
us global security giant lockheed martin said wednesday it will cut
approximately us jobs as part of restructuring within its electronics
systems business area
lockheed announced the job reductions as it unveiled the name and senior level
organizational structure for new business created in realignment of two
prior stand alone businesses
mission systems amp sensors abbreviated by the company as ms was launched
on january and combines the former maritime systems amp sensors supporting
maritime forces with systems integration owego
as result of the anticipated synergies and efficiencies the combination will
bring the company expects to eliminate approximately us positions from
the ms business the company said
lockheed said it would notify the affected employees by early april
urgent white house to release watch list review thursday
washington jan afp
the white house said it would release on thursday an unclassified version of
report into intelligence failures relating to terrorist watch lists following
the thwarted christmas airliner attack
rallying lopez wins motorcycling stage
antofagasta chile jan afp
chilean motorcyclist francesco lopez won the arduous kilometres fifth stage
from copiapo of the dakar rally here on wednesday
lopez beat overall leader cyril despres of france by minute seconds which
also saw one of the favourites for the title david casteu forced to retire after
breaking his leg in crash
lopez barely made dent in the gap between him and despres who had lead of
minutes over him going into the stage
despres also saw one of his other major rivals for the title have dreadful day
as spaniard marc coma suffered mechanical problems and finished minutes off
lopez and is over an hour behind the overall leader
euro firmer yen weaker after finance minister change
london jan afp
the euro rose against the dollar on wednesday as investors took on more risk
while the yen slipped after the naming of new japanese finance minister
dealers said
they said all eyes were on us employment data due friday with some hoping it
will show the first job creation after more than seven million positions were
lost in the past two years
strong jobs report would bolster the dollar as it would increase speculation
that the us federal reserve might hike interest rates sooner than expected from
their current record lows
news that japanese prime minister yukio hatoyama picked his deputy naoto kan as
finance minister replacing year old hirohisa fujii who is stepping down for
health reasons helped the dollar against the yen but had little apparent wider
impact dealers said
in late london deals the euro firmed to dollars from dollars on
tuesday
the dollar rose to yen from yen in new york late on tuesday
derek halpenny at bank of tokyo mitsubishi said the markets were looking closely
to see when the fed and other central banks may start draining some of the
massive amounts of liquidity made available to tame the recession
as regards japan change in personnel will have little impact on the yen but
evidence of internal disagreement on fiscal policy could well become yen
negative factor halpenny added
the euro recovered after falling as low as dollars earlier wednesday
after the european union indicated that it would not come to the rescue of
greece
greece struggling with double digit public deficit cannot expect the
european union to save it the european central bank chief economist said in
an interview published on wednesday
greece problems are decidedly greek as prime minister george papandreou has
himself admitted juergen stark told the italian financial daily il sole
ore
the markets are fooling themselves if they think that at some point the other
eu member states will put their hands in their pockets to save greece
he spoke as officials from the ecb and from the european commission began
mission in athens to examine with greek officials crisis programme to
stabilise national finances
in london late wednesday the euro was changing hands at dollars against
dollars late on tuesday at yen pounds
and swiss francs
the dollar stood at yen and swiss francs
the pound was at dollars
on the london bullion market the price of gold rose to dollars an ounce
from dollars on tuesday
ski jumping four hills results
bischofshofen austria jan afp
results of fourth and final leg of the four hills ski jumping tournament on
wednesday
thomas morgenstern aut points
janne ahonen fin
simon ammann sui
wolfgang loitzl aut
andreas kofler aut
gregor schlierenzauer aut
dimitry vassiliev rus
martin koch aut
pascal bodmer ger
anders jacobsen nor
final standings
andreas kofler aut points
janne ahonen fin
wolfgang loitzl aut
gregor schlierenzauer aut
simon ammann sui
world cup
overall standings after of events
simon ammann sui points
gregor schlierenzauer aut
andreas kofler aut
thomas morgenstern aut
wolfgang loitzl aut
selected
janne ahonen fin
alert
white house to release unclassified version of intelligence review thursday
us intelligence must do better mullen
washington jan afp
us intelligence agencies have made progress since but they still have to do
better after an attack on an airliner was narrowly averted the top us military
officer said on wednesday
since the september attacks of there has an been extraordinary change
in how intelligence agencies have tracked terror threats and collaborated
admiral mike mullen told conference at george washington university
information is shared among spy agencies more rapidly and transparently than
in the past said mullen chairman of the joint chiefs of staff
we ve made an awful lot of progress to focus on these terrorists and yet we
certainly had the incident on the th of december which has been front and
center said mullen referring to thwarted attempt to blow up northwest
airliner bound for detroit from amsterdam
nigerian suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab is accused of trying to bring
down the northwest jet with explosives sewn into his underwear
president barack obama issued sharp rebuke to us spy chiefs on tuesday
accusing them of an intelligence screw up that left the airliner vulnerable to
an al qaeda attack
it not perfect system mullen said
we endeavor and there are an awful lot of tremendous people who work to make
it perfect but there human factor here that in play in all these
systems he said
we know based on this incident and certainly the direction we ve all received
from the president we have to learn these lessons and make it better
mullen added that obama was not patient about this at all these changes have
to be made immediately
alert
white house to release unclassified version of intelligence review thursday
poland slams baltic gas pipeline
warsaw jan afp
polish foreign minister radoslaw sikorski on wednesday blasted as waste of
money gas pipeline that russo german consortium led by russian giant gazprom
plans to build under the baltic sea
the nord stream project is waste of european consumers money sikorski was
quoted as telling polish lawmakers by the news agency pap
he said it had been pushed through over our heads and did not make economic
sense warsaw has repeatedly insisted that the consortium has failed to
explain why sea route is better than cheaper land option
sikorski has long been vocal opponent of the pipeline he caused stir in
when he said it echoed the molotov ribbentrop pact under which nazi
germany and the stalinist soviet union carved up poland at the start of world
war ii
the billion euro billion dollar nord stream project is led by russian
state run energy giant gazprom in partnership with germany on ruhrgas and
basf wintershall
the kilometre mile project would link the russian city of vyborg and
greifswald in germany running through russian finnish swedish danish and
german waters the consortium has said it aims to begin pumping gas by
poland and other ex communist baltic sea states such as estonia and lithuania
whose relations with moscow are rocky have warned that the pipeline will
increase europe direct dependence on russia for natural gas critics claim the
kremlin uses its energy clout as political tool
they have also criticised fellow european union member germany for allegedly
sidelining their concerns over the plan and forging ahead
moscow counters that the pipeline will help prevent repeat of the russia
ukraine gas crisis which severely disrupted supplies to europe in january
since it would by pass such transit countries
russia has also claimed poland opposition is rooted in anger that it will not
get transit fees from the sea based pipeline
fish out of water when did animals move to land
paris jan afp
fossilised footprints found in polish quarry of an enigmatic long extinct
creature have prompted palaeontologists to reopen the file of how life in the
sea moved to the land
key theory in evolutionary biology is that tetrapods four limbed land
loving vertebrates emerged from fishes with pairs of lobed fins
the intermediate stage in the process was fishes called elpistostegids whose
head and body had tetrapod like shape but still retained fins instead of hands
and feet according to this idea
the star of these missing link creatures is tiktaalik large shallow water
fish whose fossilised remains were found in just kilometres
miles short of the north pole unearthed from river sediments on canada
ellesmere island
tiktaalik lived around million years ago although even older
elpistostegids dating back to million years have been found
but trackways found at disused quarry at zachelmie in the holy cross mountains
of southeastern poland have thrown the timeline and the elpistostegids role
into question
in paper released by the british weekly journal nature team led by tetrapod
sleuth per ahlberg of uppsala university sweden report the finding of dozen
distinctive hand and foot prints from creature that lived around
million years ago
that makes them million years older than the earliest tetrapod fossils found
so far and whopping million years earlier than the first known
elpistostegids
the imprints made in what at the time was the mud of shallow marine lagoon
are up to centimetres inches wide which suggest the tetrapod was
around metres feet long
there is no sign of body drag which suggests that the tetrapod must have been
floating on the water while walking on the muddy bottom say the authors
the find is radical for it implies that tetrapods showed up much earlier than
thought
instead of living in river deltas and lakes before sliding on to land they
thrived in shallow seas trampling the mud of balmy coral reef lagoons
just as important the new theory suggests that the once coveted elpistostegids
or at least the ones unearthed so far were just failed branch rather
than part of the stem from which all land vertebrates including us evolved
the prints force radical reassessment of the timing ecology and
environmental setting of the fish tetrapod transition as well as the
completeness of the body fossil record says the study
viral phenomenon ancient microbe invaded human dna
paris jan afp
humans carry in their genome the relics of an animal virus that infected their
forerunners at least million years ago according to research published
wednesday by the british science journal nature
the invader is called bornavirus brain infecting pathogen that was first
identified in
scientists led by keizo tomonaga of japan osaka university compared the dna of
range of mammals including humans apes elephants marsupials and rodents
to look for tell tale signatures of bornavirus code
in the human genome the team found several bornavirus fragments but also in the
form of two genes that may be functional although what they do is unclear
until now the only viruses known to have been handed on in vertebrates were
retroviruses which work by hijacking cellular machinery in order to reproduce
retroviruses are effective in infiltrating the germline the dna of
reproductive cells which means their sequence or part of it is handed on to
ensuing generations
by some estimates retroviruses account for as much as eight percent of the
human code for life
bornavirus has different stealth tactic replicating in the nucleus of
infected cells
the disease owes its name to the german town of borna where regiment of
cavalry horses was wiped out in by mysterious heated head disease
later research also found the disease among sheep llamas ostriches cats and
cattle although how it spreads is poorly understood
the impact of bornavirus on the human genetic odyssey is likely to trigger
fierce debate
the big questions are whether it provided potential cause of genetic mutation
or innovation in our species or whether it provided source for inherited
illness or conversely protection
bornavirus has not been clearly linked to diseases in humans although some
researchers speculate there could be link with schizophrenia and other mental
disorders
gene sleuths widen net for causes of kidney cancer
paris jan afp
new probe into the inherited causes of the commonest form of kidney cancer has
confirmed the culprit role of single gene but also shed light on more complex
disease causing machinery scientists said on wednesday
trawl through the dna of people diagnosed with clear cell renal carcinoma
found more than half of the cases were linked to mutations in gene called vhl
they said
clear cell renal carcinoma accounts for about new cases and
deaths worldwide each year according to figures cited in the study released by
the british science journal nature
the vhl gene had already been widely fingered in previous research as its
mutations appear to be exclusive to cancers of the kidney and not of other
organs
investigators also found flaws in two other genes called jarid and setd
that are part of the molecular switching system that turns kidney genes on and
off
even so mutations in these two genes account for little more than five percent
of cases highlighting the complexity of kidney cancer and the need to catalogue
all the mutations that play part in it
even in tumour type dominated by prevalent signature even in this
clearest of cases we see evidence for substantial heterogeneity said andy
futreal of britain wellcome trust sanger institute who led the research
to search comprehensively to build the full picture we need of cancer
genetics we will need many hundred samples sequenced through the entire
genome and all genes
genetic screening entails unravelling the dna of patients with disease and
comparing them against the genome of otherwise healthy people
the goal is to look for mutations sometimes minute in the code that can alter
the functioning of genes
the technique has many potential benefits starting with diagnostic tools to
spot people with the inherited profile that puts them at risk of the disease
it also throws up potential avenues for drug engineers to block or reverse the
effects of malfunctioning gene
royal air maroc freezes pay perks for top brass
rabat jan afp
royal air maroc is freezing the pay and perks of its senior executives in
solidarity with the rest of its employees the moroccan flag carrier said
wednesday
in statement it said orders for new vehicles for its top brass were also
being suspended until further notice as the airline one of the biggest in
africa weathers the global economic downturn
royal air maroc was hit by number of walkouts last year with its pilots
union demanding that more moroccans be promoted as captains
urgent lockheed martin to cut us jobs
washington jan afp
us global security giant lockheed martin said wednesday it will cut
approximately us jobs as part of restructuring within its electronics
systems business area
football chivu fractures skull
rome jan afp
inter milan romanian international defender cristian chivu fractured skull and
was taken to hospital on wednesday during his side victory over chievo
chivu suffered the injury just after half time in clash of heads with chievo
player sergio pellissier
he was later operated on for just over an hour after receiving visit from his
team mates and the surgeon said he was optimistic he would make full recovery
we are pretty confident that the patient will recover without problem said
professor sergio turazzi
it is premature to say when he can leave hospital but there is every hope that
everything will be resolved in the best possible way
inter coach jose mourinho had said earlier that he believed chivu would be fine
but unable to play for long time
he has fractured his skull and we hope he will be able to recover very quickly
even though fear he will be on the sidelines for while
israel succesfuly tests anti rocket system
jerusalem jan afp
israel has completed tests on its iron dome anti missile system designed to
provide response to the thousands of rockets fired at israel by hamas and
hezbollah the defence ministry said
the system which can intercept short range rockets and artillery shells
underwent its final tests in the past hours statement said
for the first time iron dome faced multiple threats simultaneously all the
threats were intercepted with complete success the statement said
the next phase in the development of the system was to integrate it into the
army the statement said
israel hopes the system will provide it with means to dealing with rocket fire
from the hamas ruled gaza strip and from lebanon
