spokesman general carlos alberto barcellos said
several of the brazilian soldiers in the peacekeeping force were missing
following tuesday brutal magnitude earthquake that flattened much of
haiti capital barcellos said
the spokesman stressed that any additional brazilian fatalities would only be
made public once next of kin were notified
the surviving soldiers in the brazilian contingent were now carrying out
disaster relief operations though were hampered by debris blocked roads and
teetering buildings he said
brazil is in command of the strong un stabilization mission in haiti and
the biggest contributor of troops
the chief of the civilian side of the peacekeeping mission tunisian diplomat
hedi annabi and his deputy are unaccounted for un secretary general ban ki
moon said
french foreign minister bernard kouchner said they and other un officials were
believed dead after the peacekeeping headquarters in port au prince collapsed
brazilian president luiz inacio lula da silva issued statement saying he was
deeply concerned about the tragedy that struck haiti and expressing his
solidarity with the haitian people and the families of the brazilian civilian
and military victims
he made special mention an award winning champion of child rights in brazil
zilda arns who was fatally hit with debris when she was walking down the
street in port au prince to attend conference
may god give comfort to all them in this painful time lula said
the un peacekeeping mission in haiti counts total of soldiers and
police
the military contingent is drawn from argentina bolivia brazil canada chile
ecuador france guatemala jordan nepal paraguay peru the philippines
south korea the united states and uruguay
the peacekeeping mission was set up in haiti in june following an armed
insurrection that forced then president jean bertrand aristide to flee the
country
britain voices serious concerns on rights in china
london jan afp
britain voiced serious concerns over human rights in china wednesday over the
sentencing of leading dissidents two weeks after china execution of
mentally ill briton chilled relations
foreign office statement referred to dhondup wangchen tibetan filmmaker
jailed for six years according to his family and leading chinese dissident liu
xiaobo who was sentenced to years
the verdict on wangchen like that of prominent human rights defender liu
xiaobo raises serious concerns about the right to freedom of expression in
china said foreign office minister ivan lewis in the statement
urge the chinese government to meet its international human rights
obligations and respect constitutional guarantees on freedom of expression he
said
international fair trial standards were not met in these cases he added
last month britain called in china ambassador to london to vent its fury at
the unacceptable execution of akmal shaikh for drugs smuggling
cricket india sri lanka one day scoreboard
dhaka jan afp
complete scoreboard of the triangular one day series final between india and sri
lanka here on wednesday
india
sehwag sangakkara kulasekara
gambhir kulasekara
kohli sangakkara welegedara
yuvraj singh samaraweera welegedara
ms dhoni sangakkara kulasekara
raina welegedara
jadeja lbw dilshan
harbhajan singh lbw randiv
zaheer khan samaraweera kulasekara
nehra not out
sreesanth perera
extras lb
total for all out overs
fall of wickets gambhir kohli yuvraj dhoni
sehwag jadeja harbhajan zaheer raina
sreesanth
bowling kulasekara welegedara thushara
randiv perera dilshan
sri lanka
tharanga kohli nehra
dilshan dhoni yuvraj
sangakkara sehwag harbhajan
jayawardene not out
samaraweera jadeja
kandamby lbw harbhajan
randiv run out
perera not out
extras lb nb
total for six wickets overs
fall of wickets tharanga dilshan sangakkara
samaraweera kandamby randiv
bowling nehra nb sreesanth kohli zaheer
harbhajan yuvraj jadeja
result sri lanka win by four wickets
toss sri lanka
umpires enamul haque ban and ian gould eng
tv umpire sharfuddoula shahid ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
spanish court dismisses case against basque politicians
madrid jan afp
spain supreme court on wednesday dismissed case against two leading basque
politicians who were accused of flouting ban on political party linked to
the armed separatist group eta
the socialist head of the basque regional government patxi lopez and his
nationalist predecessor juan jos ibarretxe were accused over meetings with
officials from the batasuna party during peace talks in
meeting contacts is not crime the supreme court said in its ruling
the basque regional interior minister rodolfo ares and five batasuna officials
including its leader arnaldo otegi were also accused in the case
the defendants said they were engaged in legitimate efforts to bring an end to
political violence which has plagued the basque region of northern spain and
southwest france for decades
two groups opposed to negotiations with eta foro ermua ermua forum and
dignidad justicia dignity and justice brought the original case and took it
to the supreme court after court in the basque region dismissed proceedings in
january
batasuna has been outlawed in spain since because of its links with eta
the group held responsible for deaths in an armed independence struggle
lasting more than years
the socialist government in madrid has taken hard line on the extremist basque
independence movement since eta ended ceasefire called in spring
arresting dozens of eta and batasuna activists
bank of italy ex chief insists innocent in takeover scandal
milan jan afp
the former governor of the italian central bank antonio fazio denied breaking
the law on wednesday at trial over his alleged role in controversial bank
takeover bid
fazio appearing in milan court denied accusations that he had acted as
secret strategist in scandal that rocked italy in and forced him to
step down from his powerful post in december that year
repeat that always acted within the law he told the court
fazio is accused of having used his influence to block dutch bank abn amro from
taking over italy banca antonveneta in order to favour rival bid by another
italian bank banca popolare italiana bpi
fazio insisted that the bank of italy had acted impartially and did not favour
bpi
former bpi chief gianpiero fiorani is also on trial in the case
fazio is facing separate trial scheduled to start in february in which he is
accused of having role in attempts to block spanish bank bbva from taking over
banca nazionale del lavoro bnl in order to favour insurer unipol
he is accused of having favoured bpi and unipol so as to preserve italian
ownership of bnl and banca antonveneta he quit his post at the end of
after tensions with the government of prime minister silvio berlusconi
china backs efforts for independent palestinian state
riyadh jan afp
china on wednesday endorsed efforts to create an independent palestinian state
as saudi arabia hardened its accusations that israel is preventing settlement
of the middle east conflict
china will continue its support for the palestinian effort to establish an
independent state foreign minister yang jiechi said on visit to riyadh
yang said at news conference with saudi foreign minister prince saud al faisal
that china supports the principles of two state solution under the saudi
driven arab peace initiative which calls for an independent palestinian state
based on borders and with jerusalem as its capital
saud meanwhile stepped up the rhetoric over israel refusal to freeze the
construction of jewish settlements in the occupied west bank and begin talks
with the palestinians
this is the longest conflict in modern times saud said
the reason why this conflict is long is the refusal by israel of all the
attempts to end this conflict arab countries have done their job with the arab
peace initiative which gives israel security and gives the arab countries the
restoration of their lands
but peace should be established by two sides not just one side if one side
does not want peace peace will not be achieved he said
the comments came as both the us and saudis have increased efforts to push the
palestinians and israelis into final status peace talks that would result in an
independent palestinian state
amid sharp increase in regional diplomacy white house national security
adviser james jones met saudi king abdullah late tuesday on the first stop of
regional tour that will take him to israel and the palestinian territories
us middle east special envoy george mitchell is also expected to visit soon
the two sides remained at odds over the key issue of israeli settlements
the palestinians and their arab backers with saudi arabia one of the most
important insist that peace talks cannot resume until israel freezes the
construction of jewish settlements in the west bank and east jerusalem
israel and the united states say talks should proceed with no preconditions
obama top lawmakers grapple with health care obstacles
washington jan afp
president barack obama and his top democratic congressional allies worked
wednesday to overcome obstacles to enacting historic overhaul of us health
care his top domestic goal
obama welcomed house speaker nancy pelosi and senate majority leader harry reid
to the white house as intra party feuds clouded efforts to forge compromise
bill from the two chambers rival versions
the president the leaders and heads of major congressional committees were to
meet after those talks as democrats strove to pass the measure before his annual
state of the union speech in late january or early february
disputes ranged from how to raise funds to pay for the expansion of coverage to
whether to create national or state by state exchanges where consumers could
assess competing health coverage offers before buying
some major labor unions staunch democratic allies with critical role to
play ahead of the november mid term elections have warned against the senate
bill call for an excise tax on generous health care packages provision that
would likely affect their members
democrats have virtually no margin for error their plan squeaked through the
senate with exactly the votes needed and cleared the house with votes
just two more than the bare minimum needed
work on bridging the final differences is still going on and there simply
isn anything final to discuss yet white house communications director dan
pfeiffer said late tuesday
obama was also to address democratic lawmakers on thursday at their annual
issues conference in bid to rally support for what would be the most
sweeping overhaul of its kind in four decades
republicans are united in their opposition to the plan and polls show the us
public is sharply divided over the democratic effort though sizeable chunk of
the opposition is from americans who say it does not go far enough
obama promised saturday that americans will see the effects of health reform
this year saying congress is on the verge of approving compromise bill to
overhaul the nation health care system
the house and senate measures aim to extend coverage to more than million out
of the million americans that lack it end abusive health insurance company
practices and curb soaring costs that take giant bites out of family and
government budgets
the united states is the world richest nation but the only industrialized
democracy that does not provide health care coverage to all of its citizens
as nation the united states spends more than double what britain france and
germany do per person on health care
but it lags behind other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality
according to the organization for economic cooperation and development oecd
relief agencies mobilise massive emergency aid for haiti
geneva jan afp
the red cross and united nations on wednesday mobilised massive aid
operation to help thousands of casualties in haiti amid scenes of huge
devastation and chaos following the earthquake there
the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies said it was
ready to help maximum of three million people based on the numbers who live
in the affected area
federation spokesman jean luc martinage said massive international aid
operation was needed
aid officials in geneva reported that access was hampered by rubble while
electricity water and phone services were cut and local medical facilties were
damaged or overwhelmed
elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the un office for the coordination of
humanitarian affairs said the priority was to find survivors
we are working against the clock she told journalists as some search and
rescue teams from global network were mobilised by the united nations
un maps placed the epicentre kilometres miles from the capital port au
prince and indicated that some people lived in areas exposed to the most
intense tremor with violent or extreme shaking
the red cross said the area most affected by the magnitude quake was port
au prince and its population of some four million and the west province with
population of million
aid officials reported large numbers of casualties especially in poorly built
homes and shantytowns while haiti president rene preval said thousands were
feared dead
people are trying to comfort each other what you are hearing in the streets
are the prayers of thanks of those who survived the international committee of
the red cross icrc chief in haiti ricardo conti said in statement
it is extremely difficult to move around the city to assess needs what is
certain is that the quake has had massive impact on population already
reeling from other recent disasters
doctors without borders msf said it had treated about casualties
suffering from trauma fractures as well as burns caused by exploding domestic
gas canisters sometimes in tents set up to replace damaged clinics
the situation is chaotic visited five medical centres including major
hospital and most of them were not functioning said msf doctor stefano
zannini
many are damaged and saw distressing number of dead bodies he added in
statement
the world health organisation deployed specialists to help handle mass
casualties and corpses
control of communicable diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory
infections will be another major concern in coming days it warned in
statement
the red cross said the most urgent needs at this time are search and rescue
field hospitals emergency health water purification emergency shelter
logistics and telecommunications
relief agencies drew on emergency stocks in haiti which is often hit by severe
floods and hurricanes and prepared to fly in more help from regional base in
panama through the airport at port au prince or the neighbouring dominican
republic
the un world food programme said it could respond swiftly with some
tonnes of food supplies in haiti
we have already launched an emergency operation said wfp official charles
vincent
more international relief experts were flying to haiti on wednesday to support
local aid workers and help coordinate international relief and carry out
crucial assessment of the damage in haiti that will allow them to gauge aid
needs
everything that infrastructure isn working said icrc spokesman simon
schorno
us faces grim future without action to curb debt study
washington jan afp
the us economy is heading down path of lower living standards and diminished
confidence without action to stem the massive budget deficit group of
prominent researchers said wednesday
national research council panel said the country faces 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 the report said
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
the us government closed its fiscal year with record trillion
dollar budget deficit and the white house forecasts an even bigger gap of
trillion dollars in fiscal said the committee from the national research
council and the national academy of public administration
the federal government fiscal ship is headed toward dangerous waters said
john palmer dean emeritus of the syracuse university maxwell school and co
chair of the panel
our committee members have varying political backgrounds and views but we all
agree that future economic prosperity is at grave risk if our nation does not
change its fiscal course
delaying action for even five or years will make addressing the problem more
painful and costly the report notes delay also raises the risk that the
nation creditors especially foreign governments will conclude that the us
has no plan to restore fiscal stability and will demand higher interest rates
to keep buying us debt
the researchers pointed out that the budget problems which were already in
grave difficulty ahead of the financial crisis will worsen as the baby boom
generation enters retirement pressuring government health and retirement funds
the report noted that the us government debt now totals more than trillion
dollars of which trillion dollars is publicly held about half of this by
investors abroad
if policies do not change large and increasing debt will expand the portion
of the budget required to pay interest on the debt especially if interest rates
rise and thereby reduce the resources available for all other government
activities the report said
increasing debt also may contribute to loss of international and domestic
investor confidence in the nation economy which would in turn lead to
even higher interest rates lower domestic investment and falling dollar
the report called for target of stabilizing the ratio of the nation debt to
its gross domestic product gdp of no more than percent
while there is no magic number for this ratio the committee judged that
ratio of percent is an achievable target within decade and can be useful
guide to policymakers it said any higher ratio would create an unacceptable
risk of higher interest rates and financial crisis
the study funded by the macarthur foundation in an effort to create better
public awareness of the implications of the fiscal problems suggested variety
of ways to address the shortfall
panel co chair rudolph penner fellow at the urban institute said that
although these are difficult decisions everyone will benefit in the long term
if we accept some short term pain
relief agencies mobilise massive emergency aid for haiti
geneva jan afp
the red cross and united nations on wednesday mobilised massive aid
operation to help thousands of casualties in haiti amid scenes of huge
devastation and chaos following the earthquake there
the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies said it was
ready to help maximum of three million people based on the numbers who live
in the affected area
federation spokesman jean luc martinage said massive international aid
operation was needed
aid officials in geneva reported that access was hampered by rubble while
electricity water and phone services were cut and local medical facilties were
damaged or overwhelmed
elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the un office for the coordination of
humanitarian affairs said the priority was to find survivors
we are working against the clock she told journalists as some search and
rescue teams from global network were mobilised by the united nations
un maps placed the epicentre kilometres miles from the capital port au
prince and indicated that some people lived in areas exposed to the most
intense tremor with violent or extreme shaking
the red cross said the area most affected by the magnitude quake was port
au prince and its population of some four million and the west province with
population of million
aid officials reported large numbers of casualties especially in poorly built
homes and shantytowns while haiti president rene preval said thousands were
feared dead
people are trying to comfort each other what you are hearing in the streets
are the prayers of thanks of those who survived the international committee of
the red cross icrc chief in haiti ricardo conti said in statement
it is extremely difficult to move around the city to assess needs what is
certain is that the quake has had massive impact on population already
reeling from other recent disasters
doctors without borders msf said it had treated about casualties
suffering from trauma fractures as well as burns caused by exploding domestic
gas canisters sometimes in tents set up to replace damaged clinics
the situation is chaotic visited five medical centres including major
hospital and most of them were not functioning said msf doctor stefano
zannini
many are damaged and saw distressing number of dead bodies he added in
statement
the world health organisation deployed specialists to help handle mass
casualties and corpses
control of communicable diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory
infections will be another major concern in coming days it warned in
statement
the red cross said the most urgent needs at this time are search and rescue
field hospitals emergency health water purification emergency shelter
logistics and telecommunications
relief agencies drew on emergency stocks in haiti which is often hit by severe
floods and hurricanes and prepared to fly in more help from regional base in
panama through the airport at port au prince or the neighbouring dominican
republic
the un world food programme said it could respond swiftly with some
tonnes of food supplies in haiti
we have already launched an emergency operation said wfp official charles
vincent
more international relief experts were flying to haiti on wednesday to support
local aid workers and help coordinate international relief and carry out
crucial assessment of the damage in haiti that will allow them to gauge aid
needs
everything that infrastructure isn working said icrc spokesman simon
schorno
haiti quake is devastating blow to un
united nations jan afp
the powerful earthquake that hit haiti dealt devastating blow to the united
nations which may have lost dozens of staff in impoverished country it was
trying to stabilize un officials said wednesday
un chief ban ki moon said tuesday magnitude quake which raised fears that
thousands may have been killed was tragedy for haiti and for the united
nations
the un mission in haiti minustah was hit particularly hard with its main
headquarters building in port au prince flattened and dozens of staff missing
including the civilian head of the mission hedi annabi of tunisia and his
deputy
ban said annabi was in the building along with to members of his staff
when the quake haiti worst in more than years struck after pm tuesday
the respected tunisian official who served as deputy head of un peacekeeping
operations from to was having talks with visiting chinese
delegation he added
in paris french foreign minister bernard kouchner said annabi personal
friend and all those around him were believed dead
the tragedy is the worst disaster to hit the world body since the august
suicide attack on un offices in baghdad in which people including un
special envoy sergio vieira de mello were killed
in december two suicide blasts targeting un offices in algiers killed at
least people including un staffers three of them foreign nationals
information on the full extent of the damage is still scanty ban told press
conference we are facing major humanitarian emergency and major relief
effort will be required
basic services such as water electricity have collapsed almost entirely we
have yet to establish number of dead or injured which we feel may well be in
the hundreds he added
he said he was sending edmond mulet the deputy head of the un department of
peacekeeping operations dpko and annabi predecessor to haiti to run the un
mission
and the un boss added that he was committed to visiting the impoverished
caribbean island himself as soon as practically possible
ban said the un system was mobilizing an emergency response team to coordinate
relief aid which was expected to arrive in port au prince soon
dpko head alain leroy said port au prince airport is operational
he added that at least five people were confirmed dead in the collapsed minustah
headquarters five story concrete building known as the christopher hotel and
located on the road to petionville
as we speak there are still over people unaccounted for under the rubble
we don know about their fate leroy said some people have been extracted
but only less than for the time being some dead some alive
we are extremely extremely concerned he added
at least brazilian minustah peacekeepers were killed and many others were
missing according to brazilian military official
brazil which is in charge of minustah military component and the biggest
contributor with soldiers sent its defense minister nelson jobin and army
chief general enzo martins peri to haiti to get first hand information
brazilian troops ringing the minustah building worked throughout the night to
extract as many people as possible from the building un officials said
in beijing the state council meanwhile said eight chinese peacekeepers were
buried under the collapsed building
and the jordanian army said three of its peacekeepers were killed and wounded
in the quake
john holmes the head of the un office for the coordination of humanitarian
affairs ocha meanwhile said his office would soon launch major flash appeal
for funds and had already released ten million dollars in emergency aid
washington said the first three us rescue teams would leave wednesday for haiti
between and us citizens live in haiti but it was not yet clear
how they had fared
un officials meanwhile said minustah other headquarters building located near
the airport and which serves as logistical base was also damaged but not
seriously
nearby argentinian hospital also escaped without severe damage and was
operating and receiving casualties
minustah which comprises troops and police has been deployed since
mid to help stabilize the impoverished caribbean island nation of eight
million people
russia claims turkish backing for pipeline
moscow jan afp
prime minister vladimir putin on wednesday said russia had won turkey backing
for moscow to build key section of new gas pipeline seen as rival of an
eu backed project in turkish waters
putin comments came after talks with his turkish counterpart recep tayyip
erdogan that were the latest example of the expanding strategic relationship
between moscow and ankara
we have agreed that by november the turkish government will carry out an
audit and will give us the permission for the construction of the south stream
pipeline putin said
the turkish prime minister has confirmed this intention today he added
russia wants to build section of the south stream pipeline through turkey
portion of the black sea to create new route for russian gas to europe that
will by pass ukraine
but turkey is also key player in the rival eu backed nabucco pipeline which
aims to carry gas from the caspian sea region to europe and is seen as way of
reducing european reliance on russian gas
turkey in august agreed to allow moscow to start surveys in its territorial
waters in the black sea for south stream
putin said the ecological surveys had already been completed while the
seismological and geological surveys were percent complete
the energy sphere has very important significance in this we share very
developed cooperation erdogan told russian president dimitry medvedev in
earlier talks at his country residence outside moscow
not only in the sphere of natural gas but in crude products there exist whole
series of opportunities he added
nato member turkey which has long pursued eu membership has sought to downplay
rivalry between the two competing pipelines
it was unclear whether gas supplies were sufficient to fill two pipelines and
moscow has been keen to complete south stream ahead of its rival with plans to
go online with the pipeline section in turkish waters as early as
south stream is being jointly developed by russian gas giant gazprom and italy
eni
turkey in turn is seeking russian support for planned turkish oil pipeline to
be built from the black sea port of samsun to ceyhan on the mediterranean
russia will play an active role in the project and the two sides are in talks
over moscow taking stake russian deputy prime minister igor sechin told
reporters on the sidelines of the meetings
