make this tragedy worse jean said the over two million people in port au
prince tonight face catastrophe alone we must act now
jean who is en route to his homeland called on the us military to spearhead
the relief effort and urged the wider international community to rise to the
occasion and help the haitian people in every way possible
the year old former fugees star urged people to donate to special fund set
up by his yele haiti foundation wwww yele org
jean who was born in haiti but moved to the new york area as youngster is
roving ambassador for his native country and has worked with the united nations
world food program to help tackle food shortages in the country
jean foundation has received high powered support from other celebrities in
recent years most notably hollywood power couple and humanitarian campaigners
brad pitt and angelina jolie
pitt and jolie who have previously visited haiti to help jean foundation
said in statement wednesday they were devastated news of the earthquake and
pledged their support for relief efforts
we are devastated by the news from haiti the duo said
we will work closely with our good friend wyclef jean to support the
humanitarian efforts on the island and help those who have been injured and left
without homes and shelter
elsewhere bevy of celebrities from the entertaintment world took to twitter to
call for support
people in haiti need our help and attention right now actor director ben
stiller wrote
husband and wife ashton kutcher and demi moore also tweeted vigorously on the
issue directing followers to unicef haiti relief effort website
former reality television star nicole richie followed suit writing in post
to donate to the ongoing emergency relief efforts in haiti amp caribbean
region please visit www unicefusa org haitiquake
other celebrities issuing appeals included hiphop mogul sean diddy combs
rapper and actor ll cool defjam records founder russell simmons and actress
jessica alba
meanwhile the artists for peace and justice apj group whose members include
oscar winning director oliver stone south african born actress charlize theron
and actors james franco and josh brolin joined the appeal
apj has long connection with haiti through its project haiti fund which has
helped fund the construction of several key facilities including hospital
which was destroyed in the quake
homes lie destroyed people are stranded away from their family and many
affected haitians are in desperate need of medical attention the group said in
statement
alert
nigeria mulls deploying air marshals on us bound flights minister
rallying al attiyah closes on sainz chicherit wins car stage
san juan argentina jan afp
qatar nasser al attiyah made large inroads on volkswagen team mate carlos
sainz overall lead in the dakar rally on wednesday following the th stage
the kilometres special from santiago in chile
al attiyah who was leading when disqualified last year gained over five
minutes on two time world rally champion sainz on day when frenchman guerlain
chicherit driving bmw took the stage itself
dutchman frans verhoeven had earlier won the motorcycling section
verhoeven edged out american jonah street by three seconds while frenchman cyril
despres seventh on the stage over four minutes in arrears remained comfortably
the overall leader with just three stages remaining
verhoeven said he was just happy to still be in the race having experienced an
unnerving first few days on bmw bike unfamiliar to him
very happy to be here at the end of the stage he confessed had lot
of difficulties during the first two to three days
we re here with brand new bike it bmw and we didn really know lot
about it so we sort of jumped into the deep end with it now everything is under
control
despres whose main pre race rival for the title spaniard marc coma saw his
chances disappear last weekend when he was penalised six hours for illegally
changing tyre has lead of hr min over norwegian pal ullevalseter
despres admitted that while he was happy with his day work not everything had
gone according to plan
it was strange at the beginning because after km there was banner stopping
us following track he said
went straight ahead for about metres before turning around after saw
marc coma coming back in the other direction followed by other riders
that said rather enjoyed myself it was quick km and went like flash
was being extremely careful no when climb on the bike just can hold
myself back just want to have fun
chile francisco lopez retains third place overall while the big loser of the
day in terms of podium finish was portugal helder rodrigues who held on to
fourth place but lost six minutes on ullevalseter
urgent inmates flee port au prince prison after quake collapse un
geneva jan afp
the united nations said wednesday that the main prison in haiti capital port
au prince collapsed during the devastating earthquake that struck the city
allowing some inmates to escape
alert
strong magnitude quake hits indonesia papua province seismologists
alert
inmates flee port au prince prison after quake collapse un
haiti quake death toll may top pm
washington jan afp
the death toll in the haiti quake could top dead prime minister jean
max bellerive told cnn wednesday
the final death toll could be well over the prime minister told the
us television channel after his caribbean nation was struck tuesday by
powerful quake which destroyed much of the capital port au prince
it hard to have fair assessment of the number of victims how many
construction how many building were collapsed typically with the inhabitants
inside believe we are well over bellerive said
hope that is not true because hope the people had the time to get out
because we have so much people on the streets right now we don know exactly
where they were living
but so many so many buildings so many neighborhoods totally destroyed and
some neighborhoods we don even see people so don know where those people
are
he said he had tried to go from area to area late tuesday to assess the damage
in the capital port au prince and especially the densely populated slums among
the worst hit by the quake
last night was trying to go to every place they told me there was large
number of people victims bellerive told cnn
and didn see any houses we don see people leaving those places so
come from the different places that visit
euro gives back gains on dollar
london jan afp
the euro wilted in late day trading wednesday giving back gains against the
dollar as investors sold off the single currency ahead of an interest rate
decision thursday by the european central bank
the euro was trading at dollars against dollars late tuesday in
new york after having at one point risen to dollars its best showing
since december
the dollar was meanwhile at yen up from yen on tuesday
analysts said traders were cautious ahead of the ecb meeting and press
conference from governor jean claude trichet
but the fate of greece also weighed on sentiment
greece debt and deficit crisis has rung alarm bells throughout the eurozone
where officials have been forced to ponder whether they can and should bail out
fellow member of the nation bloc
greek authorities have insisted they are capable of restoring order to the
country public finances and have no intention of dropping the euro single
currency or turning to the international monetary fund for financial help
there is no way we will leave the euro or seek recourse to the imf we do not
need to prime minister george papandreou told nationally televised news
conference wednesday
just hours earlier team of imf experts began week long mission at greece
invitation to mentor the government on how to plug multi billion euro hole in
its public finances
the government which must present its crisis plans to the european commission
by late january has said it will cut the public deficit from to
percent in by slashing spending and fighting tax fraud
serious fiscal problems in greece and in portugal and spain as well are
expected to push interest rate issues to the background at the ecb meeting
thursday with markets awaiting trichet comments on athens in particular
traders were in addition focusing on the us federal reserve beige book
survey of the us economy to be released later in the day
there is no doubt that the us economy is recovering said analysts at
commerzbank markets are however questioning whether the recovery is
sufficiently strong to convince the fed to raise rates
group of prominent us researchers meanwhile warned wednesday that the united
states was heading toward lower living standards and diminished confidence
without action to stem massive budget deficit
the panel said the country faced difficult choices on tax increases and spending
cuts to achieve more sustainable fiscal balance
the federal government is currently spending far more than it collects in
revenues and if current policies are continued will do so for the foreseeable
future said the report from the national research council and national academy
of public administration
no reasonably foreseeable rate of economic growth would overcome this
structural deficit thus any efforts to rein in future deficits must entail
either large increases in taxes to support these programs or major restraints on
their growth or some combination of the two
in london on 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 fell to dollars an
ounce at the fixing from dollars on tuesday
oil prices tumble as us energy inventories climb
london jan afp
world oil prices plunged on wednesday in reaction to rising crude stockpiles in
the united states which indicated weak demand in the world biggest energy
consuming nation traders said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in february
sank dollars to dollars per barrel after plumbing low of
brent north sea crude for february dived dollars to dollars in late
afternoon london trading having earlier touched
large speculators who tried to run this market up to month highs got caught
here with fundamentals of supply and demand not justifying those prices
said optionsxpress analyst mike zarembski cited by dow jones newswires
new york crude had briefly surged on monday to month high near dollars
on the back of robust chinese economic data
however the us government department of energy doe announced wednesday that
crude oil reserves surged by million barrels in the week ending january
that was far more than expectations for gain of million barrels according
to analysts polled by dow jones newswires
the total impression is very bearish said dnbnor oil market analyst torbjorn
kjus indicating that the report would send prices lower
the doe added that distillates including heating fuel and diesel rose by
million barrels confounding forecasts of million barrel drop
distillates are under the market focus amid an ongoing cold snap in the united
states
distillates stocks grew in spite of freezing cold temperatures noted
calyon analyst christophe barret
oil prices had slumped tuesday on prospects of easing heating fuel demand in the
united states due to milder weather and new moves by china to cool off its
economy
the news stoked the oil markets because china is the world second biggest
crude consumer after the united states
oil fell for the second consecutive day on tuesday and is now trading below
the dollar level said odl markets analyst marius paun
analysts are expecting milder weather than previously anticipated thus denting
consumption but it was moves by the chinese government to ease their own
expansion that sent jitters through the oil markets
following the impressive trade data on monday the people bank of china
lifted their interbank rate for the second time in week paun added
signs of weaker energy demand emerged tuesday after the american petroleum
institute api reported that us crude stocks rose million barrels in the
past week
snooker world champion higgins crashes out of masters
london jan afp
world champion john higgins crashed out of the masters here on wednesday after
one of the most error strewn performances in the scot career
higgins was beaten by northern ireland mark allen who advances to
quarter final meeting with mark selby conqueror of chinese star ding junhui
higgins was bidding for hat trick of masters titles following his previous
triumphs in and but he never looked in contention at wembley
arguably the turning point in the match came in the fourth frame which higgins
looked set to win before he touched red with his cue as he was lining up
black
the uncharacteristic lapse enabled allen to open up two frame lead at the
interval and despite string of errors the world number was able to keep
the even more erratic world number one at bay to complete win
allen admitted he had not been at his best and recognised higgins had been very
off form
it wasn very good he said missed too many balls and it was an unusual
john higgins out there today everyone has their off days it just
unexpected
iran blasts norway paper for reproducing mohammed cartoons
tehran jan afp
iran on wednesday condemned norwegian newspaper publication of reproductions
of cartoons depicting prophet mohammed one of which is thought to have led to
an attack on its danish author kurt westergaard
iran strongly condemns the publication of these cartoons by the aftenposten
newspaper foreign ministry spokesman ramin mehmanparast said quoted by
official news agency irna
you cannot use the excuse of freedom of expression to justify insulting the
beliefs of billion muslims he added that will do nothing to promote
mutual understanding and world peace
in an article on westergaard and the january attempt on his life by
somalian the norwegian daily printed small versions of six out of the
drawings that outraged muslims around the world when they were first published
by danish newspaper in
several of the drawings were seen as linking islam and its revered prophet to
terrorism and suicide bombings with westergaard cartoon showing him wearing
turban in the shape of bomb
referring to the attack on the danish cartoonist aftenposten editor hilde
haugsgjerd said it seemed natural and justified to republish the artistic and
journalistic body of work that is likely the cause of this violence
aftenposten first published copies of the cartoons in but did not join
newspapers in many other countries when they reprinted in some or all of
them
angry crowds had demonstrated across the muslim world leaving dozens of people
dead and causing major damage to danish embassies and other facilities
us military mobilizes to help haiti after quake
washington jan afp
the us military on wednesday mobilized ships aircraft and expert teams to help
with relief efforts in haiti after devastating earthquake the us southern
command said
us navy maritime patrol aircraft flew to haiti to assess the scale of the
disaster from the air and an aircraft carrier the uss carl vinson was on the
way and due to arrive thursday the command said in statement
member team of engineers communications specialists and other experts was
due to arrive later on wednesday aboard hercules plane to assist us and
international officials organize emergency aid it said
members of the us air force st special operations wing also were scheduled to
land in haiti to help provide air traffic control and other assistance at the
international airport at port au prince
earlier us coast guard cutter arrived off port au prince after daylight the
first american ship on the scene after the earthquake
the ship with helicopter flight deck and satellite communications equipment
is equipped to coordinate military aircraft in the area the department of
homeland security said in statement
second cutter the mohawk was due to arrive wednesday afternoon and two coast
guard transport planes were flying along the western haiti coast carrying
out damage assessments and searching for people in need of assistance the
department said
coast guard helicopter also had evacuated four critically injured members of
the american embassy staff to the us naval base in nearby guantanamo bay cuba
the defense department was looking at any number of assets ground naval air
assets that are available and could be used to render some emergency response
but also humanitarian assistance spokesman bryan whitman told reporters
kosovo expels serbian minister
pristina jan afp
kosovo police on wednesday expelled serbia minister for kosovo goran
bogdanovic who was visiting southern area without the government
permission police official said
he entered kosovo without permission it was discovered when he was stopped and
asked for it in strpce southern kosovo police spokesman brahim sadriu told
afp
he and his escort are now being followed towards the border with serbia
bogdanovic who is in charge of kosovo in the serbian government was visiting
the southern strpce municipality inhabited by serb majority
the dispute over the right of serbian officials to visit kosovo erupted in may
when bogdanovic and presidential adviser mladan djordjevic were banned from
entering the newly declared state
the kosovo government said then that serbian officials would have to ask for
permission if they wanted to make official visits
the procedure for obtaining permissions goes through the eu offices in
pristina and belgrade and in this case the procedures were not followed
spokeswoman of the eu special representative to kosovo julia rueter said
under these circumstances there were concerns for public order
there is of course freedom of movement throughout kosovo for citizens and
visitors in their private capacity and for official visitors respecting the
agreed procedures
in belgrade serbian prime minister mirko cvetkovic urgently summoned
ambassadors of germany great britain france italy and the united states to
protest on behalf of the government his office said in statement
cvetkovic pointed out that it was inadmissible to violate freedom of
movement in that way and asked them to condemn the incident the statement
said
kosovo ethnic albanian dominated parliament unilaterally declared independence
from serbia on february
belgrade opposes the move and still considers kosovo as its southern province
they encourage the serb minority to boycott the government in pristina
so far countries including the united states and most european union
members have recognised the newly proclaimed state
karadzic can appeal against court imposed lawyer tribunal
the hague jan afp
the court trying bosnian serb wartime leader radovan karadzic granted him leave
wednesday to challenge its appointment of british defence lawyer to represent
him
the chamber will grant the accused certification to appeal the international
criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia icty said in decision made
available to the media
the tribunal appointed lawyer richard harvey in november after karadzic who
insists on representing himself in court boycotted the first three days of his
trial that opened on october demanding more time to prepare his defence
the court ruled that harvey would take over if karadzic continued his boycott
when his trial resumes on march
karadzic sought to challenge the imposition of harvey as his counsel but lost
prompting the latest appeal bid
as there is possibility that richard harvey may be required to represent the
interests of the accused at trial it is clearly desirable for the matter of the
propriety of his appointment by the registrar to be resolved immediately said
wednesday ruling
karadzic is charged with counts of genocide war crimes and crimes
against humanity for his role in the bosnian war in which around
people died and million were forced to flee their homes
arrested on belgrade bus in july last year after years on the run he risks
life imprisonment if convicted of crimes that include the srebrenica massacre of
muslims and the month siege of sarajevo
obama vows swift aggressive effort to save lives in haiti
washington jan afp
us president barack obama on wednesday vowed swift and aggressive effort to
save lives in haiti and said search and rescue teams would arrive within hours
after heartwrenching earthquake
us coast guard cutter arrived off the coast of haiti wednesday the first us
government aid to reach earthquake ravaged port au prince as haitian leaders
expressed fears that tens of thousands of people may been killed
have directed my administration to respond with swift coordinated and
aggressive effort to save lives obama said in televised statement at the
white house
search and rescue teams from florida virginia and california will arrive
throughout today and tomorrow
prime minister jean max bellerive told cnn wednesday the final toll could be
well over dead and large parts of the capital were said to be
destroyed including the presidential palace and the un headquarters
obama said that images of devastation and human misery following tuesday
earthquake were truly heartwrenching even for nation as scarred by poverty
as haiti
this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible he said
our thoughts and prayers are also with the many haitian americans around our
country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back
home he said
while noting that the full extent of the devastation was still unknown obama
said the us defense and state departments would coordinate relief efforts in
conjunction with the us agency for international development
the people of haiti will have the full support of the united states in the
urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the
humanitarian relief food water and medicine that haitians will need he said
officials said aircraft were landing at the port au prince international airport
but the airport tower lacked communications capability
state department spokesman said that three us relief and rescue teams would
depart wednesday for haiti from costa rica washington and los angeles arriving
at intervals during the day
the state department was in contact with most members of the us embassy staff
he said
we re greatly concerned for our haitian colleagues at the embassy they have
lost family members he said
between and us citizens live in haiti but it was not yet clear
how they had fared
right now we have no confirmed deaths we know of dozen injured that we are
helping at the embassy clearly that number is going to go up during the course
of the day he said
us department of homeland security secretary janet napolitano said in
statement wednesday that the coast guard cutter forward had arrived off haiti
equipped with helicopter flight deck satellite communications equipment and
the ability to provide coordination to military aircraft in the area
another coast guard cutter mohawk was due to arrive in haiti later wednesday
napolitano said
she said two coast guard airplanes were en route to the haiti western
coast to aid in damage assessment and in the search for survivors while two
coast guard helicopters have been dispatched to help in the rescue
italy fm defends country in racism row
addis ababa jan afp
italian foreign minister franco frattini on wednesday defended his country
measures in tackling illigal immigration following last week attacks on
african farm workers in italy impoverished south
un human rights experts in geneva have sharply rebuked rome for its actions and
have called the violence extremely worrying and deep rooted problems of
racism
these were events caused by illegality committed by italian entrepreneurs
employing illegal migrants he said in response to question after giving
lecture at addis ababa univesity
on the other side of the coin they migrants burnt cars and houses two
illegalities we want to punish added frattini who is on week long african
tour that will also take him to kenya uganda egypt and tunisia
two days of unrest prompted more than africans to flee the calabrian town
last week after clashes left people injured of them migrants police
officers and locals
italy took sharp turn to the right in when conservative leader silvio
berlusconi swept to power for third time in coalition with the anti
immigration northern league
their campaign emphasised pledges to fight clandestine immigration and crime
often closely linking the two
but aid groups accuse italy of hypocrisy over the plight of the african
migrants
frattini however pointed at successesful measures that his country had made
in respecting the rights of migrants
in italy saved the biggest number human beings in the sea regardless of
illegality those people were hosted at italian centres he said
we didn make distinctions whether they are italians or not but when they try
to enter illegally we can allow that frattini added
the italian official had earlier told the ansa news agency that he was prepared
to talk to anyone and that no one can accuse us of racism
in saving human lives at sea we are number one and we grant health care to
those living legally he said in ethiopia
row over bulgarian eu commissioner threatens barroso team
brussels jan afp
row over bulgaria eu commission pick split the european parliament along
political lines wednesday casting cloud over the endorsement of commission
chief jose manuel barroso entire new team
at the centre of the row stands former bulgarian foreign minister rumiana jeleva
who has had to fend off accusations that her list of financial interests was
incomplete and that her husband has mafia links
she endured stormy session in the eu parliament on tuesday as meps grilled her
on her suitability to become the next humanitarian aid commissioner with
particular focus on her involvement in bulgarian outfit global consult notably
by its absence from her list
the socialists in the european parliament announced that they could not yet
support the controversial candidate while the centre right european people
party epp the biggest bloc in the chamber came out in support of her
the angry conservatives even threatened to block the socialist candidate for
another commission portfolio as tit for tat response
jeleva also received support from the conservative government in sofia
however members of the socialist group the second largest in the eu parliament
said they had written to barroso to explain their serious doubts over jeleva
competence for the job as well as her financial interests
their head german mep martin schulz has written to barroso to inform him of
the very serious doubts the group has regarding the bulgarian candidate said
his spokesman armin machmer
calls for clarification over her financial interests were also addressed to the
parliament juridical service
the eu parliament is this week questioning all would be members of barroso
new team at the eu executive
while the meps cannot veto any individual commissioner they can refuse to
endorse the team as whole they will announce their decision next week with
vote on the new commission set for january
as battle lines were drawn the conservative epp rushed to jeleva defence
denouncing the unfounded allegations against her
it was witch hunt against her and the parliamentary committee on development
did not find anything to go against her and she was given humiliating
treatment by the left complained vice chairman jozsef szajer
he went on to the attack slovak eu commissioner in waiting maros sefcovic over
questionable views he expressed in against the roma minority in his
country
barroso spokeswoman said has confidence in all the commissioners
designate
all the commissioners designate declarations have been looked at very carefully
for compliance with the code of conduct spokeswoman pia ahrenkilde hansen told
reporters
however she added that the commission had no body to police the declarations of
financial interests
barroso has of course made entirely clear that the code of conduct must be
fully and entirely respected and the declarations must be made in full she
cautioned
european stocks close mostly firmer
london jan afp
european stock markets closed mostly firmer on wednesday trading in narrow
ranges as nervous investors waited for positive corporate earnings news to give
sentiment lift dealers said
they said news that china driving force for the global recovery had started
to tighten monetary policy dented confidence that the markets would simply
extend the large gains from last year
investors know that governments at some point have to start withdrawing some of
the stimulus measures taken to support their economies but are concerned that
they may do it to soon or do too much jeopardising any upturn they said
us fourth quarter corporate results coming through have tended to
disappoint when the markets need strong fresh lead while profit warning
from french banking giant societe generale did not help they added
in london the ftse index of leading shares fell percent to
points in paris the cac was virtually unchanged at points while in
frankfurt the dax gained percent to points
dealers said china move hit asian markets especially hard while disappointing
results from aluminium giant alcoa and oil major chevron earlier in the week
undercut confidence in further gains
news that the german economy shrank percent in its worst performance
since the early was largely expected but the percent growth forecast
for this year was short of market forecasts
in new york shares were firmer in early trade but investors remained anxious
about which way the trend will set as more company results come in
the blue chip dow jones industrial average was up percent at around
gmt with the tech heavy nasdaq composite index adding percent
