afptv advisory
paris jan afp
we will file the following videos
hundreds feared dead as quake strikes haiti
port au prince
the strongest earthquake to hit haiti in over century rocked the impoverished
caribbean nation tuesday toppling buildings and triggering fears that hundreds
have been killed in widespread destruction
news
first still photos of the catastrophe published on twitter already
transmitted
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amateur video footage of the quake published on you tube already transmitted
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file footage of haiti capital port au prince before the quake transmitted
by gmt
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images and soundbites from an earthquake expert ex paris transmitted by
gmt
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images and soundbites from french foreign minister bernard kouchner about the
people missing after hotel popular with tourists in the haiti capital
collapsed transmitted by gmt
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graphic locating epicentre of the earthquake transmitted by gmt
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further images and soundbites as the situation evolves
transmission details on updated advisory
voiced report transmitted by gmt
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crops suffer amid europe deep freeze
caillou sur fontaine france
the arctic freeze gripping europe has proved costly for the continent economy
causing severe disruption to transport links and preventing many businesses from
operating normally europe farmers have also been feeling the bite of the
severe cold snap with some struggling to harvest already damaged crops afptv
visited one grower waiting for the thaw in the country frozen rhone region
economy
voiced report transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
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chile opens museum honouring dictatorship victims
santiago
chile this week opened its museum of memory and human rights honouring
victims who were tortured killed oppressed or disappeared during the year
old dictatorship of general augusto pinochet the museum in the capital city of
santiago was cherished project of socialist president michelle bachelet
who along with her mother was tortured by the regime and spent years in exile
while her father died in one of pinochet prisons bachelet father was
general and associate of socialist president salvador allende who was killed
during the coup
news culture amp lifestyle
images and soundbites transmitted by gmt
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rio swelters as northern hemisphere shivers
rio de janeiro
as much of europe and the united states shivers under one of the coldest winters
on record rio is basking in southern summer heatwave with brazilians flocking
to the beaches to cool off
news
images and soundbites transmitted by gmt
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toy makers brush off fears over safety at hong kong fair
hong kong
hong kong is staging asia biggest toy fair and chinese manufacturers are
trying to brush off concerns over safety standards the country has been rocked
by several scandals and more than million toys and kids products made in
china were recalled in three months in because they contained dangerous
levels of lead certain phthalates chemicals that make plastic malleable
have also been banned from toys and accessories that children are likely to put
in their mouths over percent of toys are now made in china
culture amp lifestyle
images and soundbites transmitted by gmt
raw vid
web mmv
myanmar former political prisoner remains defiant
yangon
myanmar has one of the most oppressive regimes in the world critics say
elections promised by the ruling generals in will be sham if opposition
leader aung san suu kyi is not freed from decades behind bars but former
political prisoner win remains optimistic and is doing what he can to bring
about change
special report
voiced report already transmitted
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as part of our african nations cup coverage we will file the following report
veteran champs cameroon seek fresh football glory
douala cameroon
cameroon meet gabon in their first test at the african nations cup the four
time champions are now coached by frenchman paul le guen and punters are
pegging them as potential repeat champions afptv visits with fans at home
sport
voiced report transmitted by gmt
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african priests to the rescue of french churches
ax les thermes massat france
with the number of french priests plummeting there are fewer each year in
france the church is now trying to attract clergymen from abroad essentially
africa afptv went to meet two african priests whose calling has brought them to
southwestern france refile of previously offered report
culture amp lifestyle
voiced report transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
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artist christian boltanski stages encounter with death
paris
the hand of god that gives and takes life this troubling and seemingly random
act is at the heart of artist christian boltanski latest work an installation
opening at paris grand palais on wednesday afptv visits the installation and
speaks with boltanski about his oeuvre
culture amp lifestyle
voiced report transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
sarkozy becomes grandfather
paris
french president nicolas sarkozy became grandfather at age on wednesday
when the wife of his son jean gave birth to baby boy sarkozy year old
son jean married jessica sebaoun heiress to the big electronics company darty
in september and the couple announced last year that they were expecting
their first child
news
file footage of jean sarkozy transmitted by gmt
raw vid
contact
jacqueline pietsch
michelle hoffman
afp animated graphics advisory
paris jan afp
we will move the following animated graphic
haiti earthquake
interactive graphic on haiti as the strongest earthquake to hit
the impoverished caribbean nation in over century triggers
fears that hundreds may have been killed in widespread destruction
format adobe flash cs player px haitiquakeen gmt
slug haiti quake
afp animated graphics
peter shard tel
france sends aid planes to haiti
paris jan afp
president nicolas sarkozy expressed his deep emotion wednesday after huge
quake rocked haiti as france said it was sending two planes with rescuers and
humanitarian aid to the stricken state
the president said in statement that he also expressed his solidarity with the
people of the caribbean island and with the un personnel who were seriously
affected by the earthquake
cooperation minister alain joyandet said france was sending plane from the
french caribbean island of martinique with police and rescuers and hospital
staff and another from marseille in the south of france with people on
board
the french humanitarian group medecins sans frontieres msf said that people
affected by the quake were flocking to its facilities in haiti but that its
operations had been badly damaged by the tremor
patients and team members were injured and msf medical structures have
suffered serious damage it said on its internet site
it said its bed trauma centre in the capital port au prince had been badly
damaged but was continuing to treat patients
msf evacuated patients from its bed maternity hospital for security reasons
after the centre was damaged it said adding that it would send additional
staff to haiti to back up the workers based there
the strongest earthquake to hit haiti in over century rocked the impoverished
caribbean nation tuesday toppling buildings and triggering fears that hundreds
have been killed in widespread destruction
oil prices drop before us energy report
london jan afp
world oil prices fell wednesday dropping under dollars in new york as
traders awaited the traditional weekly snapshot of energy inventories in the
united states analysts said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in february
fell cents to dollars per barrel
brent north sea crude for february was down cents at dollars in late
morning london trading
prices had fallen sharply on 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
oil futures came off in choppy trading on tuesday ahead of the weekly us fuel
inventories report expected later today said vtb capital commodities analyst
andrey kryuchenkov
just like in the week before the cold snap should take its toll on distillate
inventories with potentially hefty draw he added
the us government department of energy doe will publish its report on
american oil stockpiles for the week ending january
distillates including heating fuel and diesel are expected to drop due to
recent freezing weather in the united states which is the world biggest
energy consuming nation
market expectations are also for one million barrel increase in crude reserves
and similar gain in gasoline or petrol inventories according to analysts
polled by dow jones newswires
meanwhile 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
gasoline reserves increased by more than six million barrels it said with
distillate stocks including heating oil up million barrels
it has been extremely cold in the united states but the api is reporting that
even stocks of heating oil have been building said petromatrix analyst olivier
jakob
red cross mobilises massive emergency aid for haiti
geneva jan afp
the international red cross said wednesday that it had unlocked emergency funds
and was mobilising supplies for massive aid operation in haiti amid fears of
huge devastation following the earthquake there
united nations maps placed the epicentre barely 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
international federation of the red cross and red crescent societies spokesman
jean luc martinage said massive international aid operation was needed
emergency stocks are prepositioned in haiti and will allow us to bring aid to
families for three to four days martinage told afp
but we ll have to swiftly bring relief supplies from our regional disaster
response centre based in panama
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
supplies in haiti included kitchen kits personal hygiene kits blankets and
containers for storing drinking water
six federation relief experts were due to fly into haiti from panama on
wednesday to support the haitian red cross and help coordinate international
relief it added
red cross team was also due to lead crucial assessment of the damage in
haiti along with european union experts that will allow relief agencies to gauge
aid needs
the federation said the area most affected by the magnitude quake was port
au prince and the west province with population of million
the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs indicated that areas
immediately to the west of the capital suffered the full force of the quake late
tuesday
the international committee of the red cross icrc which has staff in the
country said medical needs and clean water supplies would be considerable in
the short term
everything that infrastructure isn working said icrc spokesman simon
schorno
singapore press holdings net profit nearly doubles
singapore jan afp
media giant singapore press holdings sph said wednesday its net profit nearly
doubled year on year in the financial first quarter boosted by investment
gains
the company which publishes the city state leading english language daily
straits times said net profit totalled million singapore dollars
million us up percent from million dollars the year before
sph which also has property interests said it booked an investment income of
million dollars for the period to november reversing loss of
million dollars year earlier
operating revenue totalled million dollars up percent from the previous
year it said in filing with the singapore stock exchange
the singapore economy is expected to grow at modest pace in our
advertisement revenue has improved in recent months and is expected to move in
tandem with the economy said sph chief executive alan chan
the directors are pleased with the group results for the first quarter and
barring unforeseen circumstances expect overall performance for financial year
to be satisfactory
singapore economy is expected to grow between and percent this year
after contracting percent in having been battered by the global
economic crisis
alert
argentina death flights pilot accepts extradition from spain
football winless panthrakikos fire cartier
komotini greece jan afp
greek club panthrakikos komotini have appointed pavos dermitzakis as their new
coach replacing frenchman albert cartier who was sacked on wednesday
dermitzakis will be the club third coach this season as they have managed just
two draws from games
cartier joined panthrakikos after the first match of the season when romanian
ilie dumitruescu was fired but he failed to secure single victory resulting
in his sacking
france official payments deficit in line with data
paris jan afp
the french balance of current payments showed deficit for the first months
of broadly unchanged from the trend in year marked by contraction
of exports and imports official data showed on wednesday
the french monthly deficit in november was billion euros billion
dollars compared with deficit of billion euros in october the data from
the bank of france showed
in the months to november the overall payments balance showed cumulative
deficit of billion euros
in the whole of from january to december the balance had shown deficit
of billion euros
the balance of payments on current account is key measures of all current
payments into and out of country including payments for trade
over the medium term it can be an indicator of positive or negative pressures
building up for the economy as whole and is closely followed by analysts for
this reason
prime suspect led philippine massacre witness
manila jan afp
the chief suspect in the philippines worst political massacre personally led
the cold blooded ambush and murder of people including pregnant women the
star prosecution witness said wednesday
andal ampatuan jnr has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder over the
november attack on political rival convoy in the southern province of
maguindanao where the victims were abducted shot and buried in mass graves
but in the first graphic evidence since the trial began last week the deputy
mayor of town in the province said he witnessed first hand the scenes of
carnage and said ampatuan himself pulled the trigger against three victims
rasul sangki the deputy mayor of the town of ampatuan told the court he saw
relatives and supporters of ampatuan jnr political rival esmael mangudadatu
being hauled away at gunpoint after their convoy was ambushed on november
the people were afraid there were people pleading with them they were pushed
struck dragged by the people of datu unsay sangki said referring to ampatuan
jnr by his nickname
saw datu unsay shoot journalist jimmy palak and two women before they were
shot they were pleading the women were screaming he said
he shot them even the ones who were already dead he added
ampatuan jnr town mayor and scion of one of the country most powerful
muslim clans was in the dock for the second hearing in the trial after being
taken in handcuffs to special courtroom at national police headquarters
sangki said ampatuan had even informed him four days before the massacre of
plan to block the convoy as mangudadatu supporters travelled to register him
as candidate to run against ampatuan in the race to become maguindanao
governor in may elections
did not know what was going to happen insisted sangki who said he was
taken by ampatuan to the site of the ambush but that he himself had no part in
the shootings
total of people were killed including pregnant women and at least
journalists in the attack that stunned the nation and raised questions about the
influence of the ampatuan clan in president gloria arroyo government
during the car ride to the massacre site sangki said the defendant spoke by
radio to person he recognised as ampatuan father and clan leader andal
ampatuan snr who is the current maguindanao governor
ampatuan jnr who was being groomed to succeed his father said father they
are here already to which ampatuan snr replied you know what to do already
sangki said
sangki said the defendant uncle as well as other gunmen fired repeatedly on
the victims bodies even after they had fallen to the ground to make sure there
were no survivors
ampatuan jnr lawyer sought to discredit sangki by demanding why he had failed
to report the killings to the authorities
have no faith in the law the pnp philippine national police and the
military belong to them the ampatuans sangki said
he said ampatuan jnr also warned him after the massacre to tell your people
they did not see or hear anything
sangki was brought in to testify by the prosecution which is trying to block
ampatuan jnr bail application the trial continues next week
ampatuan snr and several other clan members were also arrested after martial law
was briefly imposed in maguindanao and charged with rebellion no date for their
court appearance has been set
critics say arroyo cultivated ties with the ampatuan clan and provided them
firepower to contain muslim separatist rebels in the southern philippines
yemeni jetfighter crashes in south yemen official
sanaa jan afp
yemeni jetfighter crashed wednesday in south yemen due to technical problem
while the pilot survived security official said
the aircraft crashed in the area of salah al din west of the port city of aden
the official said requesting anonymity
the pilot has survived he said adding that it crashed due to technical
problem
witness told afp that jetfighters flew wednesday at low altitude over the city
of zinjibar in the southern region of abyan
mou ak bpz
time approaching to boost sanctions against iran us envoy
brussels jan afp
iran must expect more sanctions to be imposed on it unless it makes satisfactory
moves to address the problem of its controversial nuclear programme the us
ambassador to the eu warned wednesday
you ll hear over the next six months lot more about our efforts on sanctions
against iran ambassador william kennard told conference organised by the
european policy centre think tank in brussels
us president barack obama promised after coming to power year ago that he was
ready for constructive ties with tehran speaking of new era of
engagement
however kennard said wednesday we also realize that having put some serious
offers on the table in order to have pathway to diplomatic solution those
offers can be available for ever
we can afford to let the situation fester he stressed
iran has ignored repeated un security council ultimatums to suspend uranium
enrichment the sensitive process which makes nuclear fuel but in highly
extended form can also produce the fissile core of an atomic bomb
it is already under three sets of un sanctions major powers including the
united states are to meet in new york on saturday to discuss proposals for
fourth
tehran maintains that its nuclear programmes is for strictly civil uses
sarkozy becomes grandfather
paris jan afp
french president nicolas sarkozy became grandfather on wednesday when the wife
of his son jean gave birth to baby boy presidential aide said
yes he had grandson this morning said the aide who could not provide
details except to say that he had been given very unusual name
sarkozy year old son jean married jessica sebaoun heiress to the big
electronics company darty in september and the couple announced last year
that they were expecting their first child
the french president who turns next thursday has two sons from his first
marriage jean and pierre and third year old louis from his second
sarkozy married ex supermodel turned singer carla bruni sarkozy two years ago
and she has son eight year old aurelien from previous relationship
google case lays bare china challenge analysts
beijing jan afp
google threat to pull out of china could force broader rethink by foreign
internet firms that made uncomfortable compromises to operate in the world
largest online market analysts say
the announcement that the us internet giant might abandon china after spate of
cyber attacks might also just be good business as it has never matched up to
its local rivals they say
this is very politically charged environment duncan clark an analyst at
beijing based high tech consultancy bda told afp
multinationals have been complaining about buy china policies unfair
restrictions and hacking and this is going to be very damaging if there isn
solution
the online espionage against human rights activists has led google to reconsider
its business operations in china and it said it would no longer filter internet
search results in the asian country
the announcement was applauded by campaigners who had accused google of trashing
its unofficial motto don be evil when it began censoring search results in
china in to appease the authorities
beijing tightly polices cyberspace employing tens of thousands of people to
monitor online postings chatrooms and blogs
it also requires companies including google and yahoo to block web users from
accessing information about subjects deemed politically sensitive such as tibet
and the banned falungong sect
when such searches are carried out some web pages are filtered out by the
companies themselves other content listed in the search results may be blocked
by government censors and cannot be opened
there feeling that china is emboldened and that they don need to have the
same sort of dialogue as before clark said noting google decision to go
public could suggest the authorities were not open to further talks
this is the mismatch people here think no one can do without china and
think now some companies are thinking no one can deal with china
beijing based political analyst russell leigh moses said the closer google got
to what the chinese government demanded the weaker google looked
it is surprising that it took the corporate leadership at google so long to
recognise that their company was no different than any other venture in market
where politics still dominates he told afp in an email
officials at microsoft and yahoo did not immediately respond to requests for
comment on for their own plans in china in light of google announcement
the chinese government said it was seeking more information about google
intentions state news agency xinhua reported
to get around the so called great firewall of china erected by government
censors savvy web users use proxy servers or vpns virtual private networks to
access blocked websites
on wednesday searches for sensitive subjects like the dalai lama and tiananmen
revealed photos and results that are often blocked on google cn indicating
google may have already stopped filtering
elinor leung an analyst with credit lyonnais securities asia in hong kong said
the departure of google china president kai fu lee in september may have
contributed to the deterioration in the firm relations with beijing
she said lee had been able to smooth ties with the government after beijing
accused google of illegally spreading pornographic content
on the commercial side google has struggled to take market share from its
chinese rival baidu holding more than percent of the search engine market in
china compared with percent for baidu
its market dominance has reportedly not risen as fast as expected which may
prompt google to have second thoughts on its initial compromise made to the
chinese government on internet censorship said ren xianfang beijing based
analyst with ihs global insight
shaun rein managing director of china market research group in shanghai said
google might be using the cyber attacks as an excuse to exit china
think google is looking for face saving way to move out of china rein
said
it hasn done well in china google in china has been complete disaster
compared with baidu
cricket indian hindu party targets australian stars
new delhi jan afp
an influential right wing hindu party in mumbai warned wednesday that it would
try and stop australian cricketers playing in parts of india because of attacks
on indians living down under
bal thackeray who heads the radical shiv sena party said activists planned to
disrupt matches involving australians like they did ahead of test match
against pakistan in when they dug up the pitch
we will not allow kangaroo cricketers to play in mumbai and maharashtra till
the attacks on indians are stopped the ageing thackeray wrote in shiv sena
mouthpiece saamna
our boys are being stabbed burnt and shot at in that country and still our
cricketers have no qualms in playing with them do they have any national
pride
the murder of nitin garg in melbourne earlier this month caused anger among
indians in australia and overseas and prompted india foreign minister
krishna to suggest it would hurt ties
the murder followed spate of violence against indian students in melbourne
over the past months that has included beatings robberies and stabbings and
has threatened australia education industry
top australian stars such as captain ricky ponting andrew symonds matthew
hayden and shane watson are star attractions in the third edition of the
lucrative indian premier league in march april
two major cities in maharashtra mumbai and nagpur are due to host ipl matches
and shiv sena is particularly influential in the state
the party north indian chapter also threatened to disrupt matches involving
australians in new delhi another ipl venue
we will do our best to ensure the matches in new delhi are also cancelled the
chapter head sandeep kulkarni told afp we have very strong units across this
region
shiv sena has in the past prevented pakistan national team from playing in
maharashtra for what it says is islamabad backing of militant activities in
india
party activists dug up the wicket at the ferozeshah kotla ground in new delhi
few weeks ahead of test match against pakistan in the pitch was repaired
in time for the match to go ahead
thackeray praised movie legend amitabh bachchan for refusing an award from
queensland university in protest at the attack on students in australia
