the powerful magnitude quake which struck on tuesday
frustration and anger is mounting among the millions left destitute by the
earthquake although badly needed aid is beginning to trickle into the capital
city of port au prince and the regions beyond
glancing over at his ruined church where one of the priests still lies buried
and is believed to be dead landasse raised his hands to the heavens and said
without faith such things are difficult to understand
wearing masks over their faces to ward off the stench from bodies still lying in
the street the faithful gathered many clutching rosaries to sing hymns and
give thanks despite the lack of food water and basic supplies
some were overcome with emotion after witnessing so much pain and suffering and
tears flowed
we ve lost lot some have lost everything but god is still with us said
one survivor aida paul
in this deeply religious country where christianity is at times mixed with
pagan beliefs tuesday quake has been accepted by many with weary
resignation as sign from god
as dusk has fallen every night people have sought comfort in songs and prayers
the tuneful sounds rising up from the dark from the thousands now living on the
streets
have not lost hope or my faith because thanks to god am alive said an
elderly woman ismela francois who lives opposite the cathedral
and have come to give thanks because the hand of god saved my family
the priest bright white robes stand in stark contrast to the destruction all
around him and his voice is at times drowned out by the aid helicopters flying
over the city ferrying in aid and supplies
thanks be to god for our salvation and grant mercy to the victims he said at
the solemn start to the mass
just meters away in the rubble lay one of the cathedral priests killed in the
quake after rescue teams confirmed they could find no signs of life
we have still not been able to recover him said landasse
between the prayers the crowd quietly swap the latest news on who has died or
who has been reunited with their families as well as where humanitarian aid is
being distributed
everyone has story to tell everyone has lost friends everything they had
said pauline mother wearing mask and frightened that having survived the
quake she and her children could fall prey to disease
we have been living in the streets since tuesday we are desperate and came
to beg jesus christ to return for we have not forsaken him said computer
technician jean andre noel
but as the helicopters whirred overhead there was anger at the slow aid
operation
they say the airport is full of doctors food and water but we have not seen
any of it why is no aid coming to the city asked survivor simeon toussaint
angrily
football rovers revival thwarts fulham
blackburn england jan afp
blackburn rovers won for the first time in premier league matches with
victory over fulham at ewood park here on sunday
the win secured by goals at set pieces from defenders chris samba and team
captain ryan nelsen moved rovers up into th place in the table while defeat
saw fulham remain in ninth spot
the loss was compounded for fulham after the londoners saw united states
international clint dempsey knee and paul konchesky ankle leave the field
through injury
south africa benni mccarthy who was involved in both goals troubled fulham
goalkeeper mark schwarzer in the th minute with yard shot that the
australia international palmed away
mccarthy scuffed the ensuing corner but rovers old boy damien duff on the near
post miscued his clearance and from six yards out samba scored by poking the
ball past schwarzer
fulham however responded with some positive play and dempsey was unlucky not
to equalise when spectacular overhead kick crashed against the crossbar before
forcing paul robinson into save with low shot from yards out
rovers however doubled their lead nine minutes after half time when mccarthy
whipped free kick proved too much for the fulham defence to handle and new
zealand international nelsen headed past schwarzer
mccarthy might have had goal of his own when long range free kick just
skimmed over the crossbar but by then league cup semi finalists rovers were well
on the way to their first league win since november
football toni sends out reminder to lippi
rome jan afp
italy forgotten man luca toni scored brace in as roma defeat of genoa
to send out timely reminder to national team boss marcello lippi
toni has hardly featured since lippi returned to the italy helm months ago
after roberto donadoni was fired as his team crashed out in the quarter finals
of the european championships
this season has been particularly poor for toni who failed to impress bayern
munich coach luis van gaal and found himself out of favour
but loan move to the italian capital has transformed him
and two goals from mirko vucinic crosses will surely have made lippi sit up and
take notice
lippi knows what can do for the national team ve already had lot of
satisfaction from wearing that shirt said the world cup winner from under
lippi
know that the better do with roma the more chance ll have of returning to
the national team
for me right now it important to score many goals to keep roma heading
upwards
his new coach claudio ranieri who wasted no time in starting him despite his
lack of recent match time paid tribute to the forward strength in the air
he was player we needed he good with his head said ranieri
brazilian midfielder rodrigo taddei has also been impressed with the team new
acquisition
he great centre forward who scores important goals he target up front
for everyone on the team
he wins all the high balls and earns many free kicks
football rovers revival thwarts fulham
blackburn england jan afp
blackburn rovers won for the first time in premier league matches with
victory over fulham at ewood park here on sunday
the win secured by goals at set pieces from defenders chris samba and team
captain ryan nelsen moved rovers up into th place in the table while defeat
saw fulham remain in ninth spot
the loss was compounded for fulham after the londoners saw united states
international clint dempsey knee and paul konchesky ankle leave the field
through injury
south africa benni mccarthy who was involved in both goals troubled fulham
goalkeeper mark schwarzer in the th minute with yard shot that the
australia international palmed away
mccarthy scuffed the ensuing corner but rovers old boy damien duff on the near
post miscued his clearance and from six yards out samba scored by poking the
ball past schwarzer
fulham however responded with some positive play and dempsey was unlucky not
to equalise when spectacular overhead kick crashed against the crossbar before
forcing paul robinson into save with low shot from yards out
rovers however doubled their lead nine minutes after half time when mccarthy
whipped free kick proved too much for the fulham defence to handle and new
zealand international nelsen headed past schwarzer
mccarthy might have had goal of his own when long range free kick just
skimmed over the crossbar but by then league cup semi finalists rovers were well
on the way to their first league win since november
death of italian pm craxi marked in tunisia
hammamet tunisia jan afp
italian and tunisian ministers gathered in tunisia resort town of hammamet
sunday to commemorate the th anniversary of the death of former italian prime
minister bettino craxi
italian foreign minister franco frattini was among the officials who joined
craxi family at his grave in hammamet where he lived from his self imposed
exile in until his death from diabetes on january
tunisian foreign minister kamel morjane laid wreath of flowers in the tunisian
colours of white and red and the gathering held minute of silence to remember
the corruption dogged politician
craxi was controversial in his own country where he was leader of the italian
socialist party from to and italian prime minister from to
but considered good friend of tunisia
he often spent his holidays at his luxurious villa in hammamet about
kilometres miles south of tunis and took refuge there in to escape
year prison term for corruption and the illegal financing of his party
fb bsh br cjo
football ferrara defiant despite juve tailspin
rome jan afp
juventus coach ciro ferrara brushed off questions about his future despite his
team slumping to seventh defeat in matches following sunday reverse
at chievo
gennaro sardo scored the only goal as juve suffered fourth defeat in five
league matches
since defeating serie leaders inter milan in turin in december they have
lost to catania bari and ac milan as well as chievo and slumped to points
off top
in fact the title is no longer realistic objective for juve who dropped to
fourth and could drop another place if napoli avoid defeat in sunday late
match
it leaves juve desperately fighting for top four finish and champions league
football next season
this season they have already been dumped out of the champions league following
successive defeats to bordeaux and bayern munich
the management are evaluating the team the coach and the staff if the problem
is the coach the club will tell me said ferrara defiantly
nothing has been said to me directly in this sense the team has ability but
they re not expressing it at the moment we need to understand why
ferrara described himself as rocky earlier this week for his ability to keep
taking punches without going down but many commentators will be stunned that
this latest defeat has not delivered the final knockout blow
juve were missing three forwards david trezeguet vincenzo iaquinta and
amauri as well as italy winger mauro camoranesi and defensive midfielders
momamed sissoko on african nations cup duty and christian poulsen who
suffered broken leg last week
but they welcomed back italy goalkeeper gianluigi buffon meaning they started
team including internationals amongst them four of italy back five
it negative period and don want to make excuses we had important
players missing but those who did play gave their all said ferrara before
blaming the pitch
we conceded the goal and then there was no great comeback in the seocnd half
we tried to close down chievo
at the end we gave it everything putting on an extra forward but there were
other difficulties
the pitch in verona of course is not up to serie standards but it was the
same for chievo
still have lot of belief in myself even if didn expect to face such
problems we have players who aren in great shape who need rest but we can
afford to give them that
from morale perspective the lads are paying for their results
juve general director roberto bettega insisted they would come through these
dark times much as ac milan managed to do after poor start to their season
the team has lot of talent but they re finding it difficult to adapt to the
way their opponents are playing and then there are the injuries he said
if milan managed to recover from their presumed crisis by keeping faith with
their players and coach then we too will do the same
milan had disastrous start to their campaign winning just three and scoring
paltry six goals in their opening nine games of the season
but now they are breathing down inter necks and are through to the champions
league knock out rounds
things won be getting easier for juve either as next up they have as roma and
former coach claudio ranieri to contend with
roma have just moved above juve into third as they put together run of seven
wins and three draws in their last league games
ranieri was fired by juve two matches before the end of last season to be
replaced by ferrara but said he is not looking for revenge
our paths divided but now happily the coach of roma have no revenge to
take know didn do well there did very well in turin and now in my
home city with the team of my heart he said before suggesting he would not be
surprised if ferrara bit the dust
this is the destiny of coach did well in turin and so did carlo
ancelotti and didier deschamps but they too left
adoptive families fear for haitian children
paris jan afp
us and dutch authorities sped up moves sunday to fly adopted children away from
the quake wreckage of haiti while in france the biggest adopter anxious
families urged the government to act quicker
the dutch justice ministry said in statement that six haitian children adopted
by dutch families arrived in the netherlands on sunday and it was speeding up
the adoption process and paperwork for about hundred others
some members of adoptive families meanwhile protested at the french foreign
ministry in paris placing empty plastic bottles at its gate to represent the
haitian children desperately in need of water and food
the ministry said on saturday that its priority was emergency aid for victims on
the ground and it did not plan to immediately bring to france all the adoptive
haitian children for whom the adoption process was pending
in the united states there are several hundred children who have gone through
the process who are waiting final clearance to actually be adopted and
transported to the united states secretary of state hillary clinton said
am personally directing that we do everything we can to try to find and
identify those children who are already adoptable they have parents waiting for
them and to try to expedite all the paperwork that has to be done to get them
to their new home she told cnn news
us officials cited legal complications in sending child away from haiti part
way through the adoption process
we obviously want to be able to bring these children to safety us state
department spokesman crowley said friday
but there are issues there are complexities in terms of what their status is
in haiti and there legal process that we have to work through
the french adoption agency afa estimated that between and french
families were in the process of adopting child from haiti
they have to act quickly before these children die said corinne jusserand
who was all set to welcome her adoptive son three year old jean from haiti
to her home near paris before the quake struck
the directors of the creche have told us there isn much food left for the
children jusserand said outside the foreign ministry adding she was annoyed
at the delay in france while other countries appeared to be speeding up the
process
he is three but he weighs the same as two year old she told afp looking
at photo of her and jean taken when she visited him in november afraid
he won survive he so weak already
tennis hingis hints at another comeback
berlin jan afp
swiss tennis legend martina hingis hinted on sunday at return to the women
professional circuit having served her two year ban for drug abuse
the year old tested positive for cocaine at wimbledon in although she
denied using the drug and later announced her retirement but after her two
year ban expired in september the five time grand slam winner admitted she
misses the game
cannot imagine life without tennis she said after playing former world
number one lindsay davenport of the united states in an exhibition match near
berlin
it still so much fun for me like to play more exhibition matches and see
what happens past that just don know at the moment
hingis showed good fitness in the win over davenport which came after
two hours
kim clijsters returned to the sport last year after prolonged absence and won
the us open while her fellow belgian justine henin has cut short her retirement
in time for the australian open which starts on monday
hingis said she was not surprised to see the veterans returning
think the women game is somewhat monotonous at the moment she said
the young girls all play the same way whereas justine and kim are successful
because they vary their game
but her opponent davenport said there is no hope of her returning full time to
tennis
if play again it will only be to selected events and only then for fun said
the year old american
alert
injured guinea junta chief backs new interim leader
south africa tutu calls for haiti donations
johannesburg jan afp
south african nobel peace prize winner archbishop desmond tutu appealed sunday
for donations for disaster relief funds for haiti after last week earthquake
that killed thousands of people
the physical and emotional effects of the earthquake the destruction loss of
life and desperation of the survivors is felt by us all tutu said in
statement that called on people to donate
the strong earthquake that struck the caribbean nation on tuesday may have
killed between people and people according to various estimates
south african rescue team arrived in the country on sunday after being held up
for several days in the dominican republic because they could not land at
haiti damaged airport the south african government said
tutu won the nobel peace prize in for his battle for non violent end to
south africa apartheid system of racial segregation
islamic games called off in rift over persian gulf tag
riyadh jan afp
the riyadh based islamic solidarity sports federation on sunday called off the
athletic games planned for tehran in april because of iran use of the term
persian gulf on winners medals
the issf headed by saudi olympic federation president prince sultan bin fahd
said after an emergency board meeting that iran local organising committee
unilaterally took some decisions without asking the federation by writing some
slogans on the medals and pamphlets of the games
iran did not abide by the rules of the islamic solidarity sports federation
and did not follow the decisions taken by the general assembly of the
federation at previous meeting in riyadh it said in statement
the games were being called off because of the dispute the issf said
iran committee for the games criticised the decision through its website
in spite of convincing arguments made to the issf executive committee by
iran committee regrettably and without presenting any logical reasons the
issf committee decided not to hold the games with iran as the host it said
swine flu worries and the dispute over tehran insistence on using persian
gulf for the waters between iran and the arabian peninsula had already caused
the games to be postponed since an initial planned date of last october
the arab countries of the oil rich region insist on the term arabian gulf or
simply the gulf
it would have been the second time the games were held after first tournament
was held in the saudi red sea city of jeddah in
the cancellation comes amid rise in tensions between riyadh and tehran as
saudi arabia has been seeking to unite arab countries and isolate its regional
rival
both have traded accusations of interfering in the conflict in yemen between
government forces and shiite rebels
and an iranian official confirmed on sunday that tehran has suspended muslim
pilgrimages to the holy cities of mecca and medina in saudi arabia because of
alleged mistreatment of iranian pilgrims by saudi religious police
muslim leaders response to gaza suffering pitiful turkish pm
istanbul jan afp
turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan on sunday decried what he called
muslim leaders inadequate response to palestinian suffering in the gaza strip
as pitiful
he made the remarks when asked to compare the attitude of other muslim countries
to turkey vehement outbursts against israel over its devastating war on gaza
last year and its ongoing blockade of the impoverished enclave
the governments have failed to display the reactions that the world muslims
expected from them and this has been pitiful aspect of the matter erdogan
told reporters
he spoke shortly before flying to the united arab emirates and then on to saudi
arabia
israeli defence minister ehud barak met with turkish officials in ankara on
sunday eager to defuse tensions between the two nations
once flourishing turkish israeli ties took sharp downturn last year when
erdogan islamist rooted government launched an unprecedented barrage of
criticism of israel war on gaza
in memorable outburst erdogan stormed out of debate at the world economic
forum accusing the jewish state of barbarian acts and telling its president
shimon peres sitting next to him that you know well how to kill people
deadly sectarian clashes in nigeria prompt curfew
kano jan afp
sectarian violence that killed at least nine people led authorities in central
nigeria on sunday to impose dusk to dawn curfew on the city of jos officials
and residents said
the government has placed hour curfew from pm to am on the city
following some violence in nassarawa gwom district of the city information
commissioner for plateau state gregory yenlong told afp
residents said nine people had been killed while six people were injured in
clashes between christians and muslims in the city
was at the jos university hospital where saw nine dead bodies and six
people injured with machete cuts on admission resident and local journalist
musa habibu told afp
he said several houses and vehicles were also burnt
can see billows of dark smoke from burning houses in nassarawa gwom he
added
yenlong could not confirm the death toll
can give any casualty details because we are still awaiting comprehensive
report on the violence he said
plateau police spokesman mohammed lerema said the situation had been brought
under control
jos has been hotbed of religious violence in central nigeria
in november hundreds of people were killed following two days of violence
triggered by rumour that the majority muslim all nigerian peoples party anpp
had lost in local election to the mainly christian peoples democratic party
pdp
soldiers and policemen were brought in to restore order following the violence
state officials put the death toll in the violence at about but other
sources gave toll twice that figure
religious violence has also erupted recently in nearby northern nigeria
last month at least people were killed in violent clashes between security
forces and members of radical islamist sect in northern nigeria bauchi
state
the kala kato sect also known as maitatsine has been present in several
muslim dominated states in northern nigeria for decades
it led religious uprisings in and which claimed thousands of lives in
the northern cities of kano and yola
the number of its followers is not known but has been estimated at several
thousand
sect leader badamasi saleh alkaleri was among those killed by security forces
the police said
the kala kato sect abhors modernity including western style education and
medicine it bans television and radio in its members homes and rejects any
literature except the koran
sect with similar inclinations known as boko haram led an insurrection in
july
at least people were killed then when security forces crushed the uprising
in nearby borno state its name means western education is sin in the local
hausa language
nigeria africa most populous country of some million people is evenly
divided by mainy muslim dominated north and mainly christian south
saddam ban threatens sunni stake in iraq elections
baghdad jan afp
the decision to ban candidates accused of links to saddam hussein baath party
from running in iraq general election could exclude sunnis from the political
arena and spark new sectarian tensions
the move also threatens to damage the march ballot by creating campaign
battleground where past quarrels will be exposed rather than healed under much
vaunted but stumbling national reconciliation process analysts told afp
an official blacklist released by the independent high electoral commission on
thursday barred candidates
however members of an integrity and accountability committee whose job is to
vet applicants and purge unsuitable contenders are themselves facing charges of
illegitimacy as they have not been approved by parliament
the ban proves that the reconciliation process almost seven years after
saddam ouster is in trouble said joost hiltermann an iraq specialist and
conflict studies analyst with the international crisis group think tank
it might well torpedo iraq hopes to have relatively free fair and inclusive
elections he said
it shows that political groups are far from accommodating one another let
alone reconciling if this decision is not reversed we might well be facing
new and dangerous escalation of violence he added
the general election is the second such vote since the us led invasion that
toppled the dictator saddam but provoked an insurgency that saw tens of
thousands die in sectarian bloodshed in and
defence minister abdel qader jassem al obeidi and prominent sunni lawmaker saleh
al mutlak persistent critic of the government are among those who have been
stopped from taking part
the decision to exclude mutlak and others means iraq is getting dangerously
close to repeat of the heated sectarian political atmosphere seen in the
december elections said reidar visser noted iraq analyst
much needed debate on how best to improve the war torn country prospects
such as repairing its crumbling infrastructure and making best use of likely
surge in oil revenues is also being overshadowed
it means iraqis will be looking to the past focusing on settling scores
instead of facing the future and the many specific issues that need to be
solved added visser who runs the iraq focused website www historiae org
the committee itself on sunday criticised the un senior representative in iraq
urging him to stop interfering saying it disapproved of his request that the
blacklist be shredded
un spokesman in baghdad declined to confirm or deny whether any such request
had been made
sunnis largely boycotted iraq inaugural post saddam parliamentary election in
that decision cleared the way for dominant shiite government to take power
which exacerbated sunni disenfranchisement and deepened the insurgency that
later took the country to the brink of civil war
baath party membership was key condition for obtaining job and gaining
promotion in public sector employment during saddam regime
controversial process of de baathification was adopted by washington diplomat
paul bremer head of the coalition provisional authority following the invasion
which saw thousands of saddam era employees lose their jobs
according to organisers around candidates from parties comprising
coalitions as well as independents have registered to compete in the march
election
the vote is seen as crucial to consolidating iraq democracy and smoothing the
path for complete us military exit by the end of as planned
michael hanlon national security and defence policy expert and senior
author of the iraq afghanistan and pakistan index projects at the brookings
institute in washington said the ban was setback
very very worried about this the lack of transparency the quality of the
decisions the huge number of people affected all bode quite badly he said
khalaf al alayan sunni mp meanwhile insisted the blacklist was illegal
because the committee has not been approved by parliament those decisions will
affect the national reconciliation process he said
football fifa panel to examine henry handball
paris jan afp
france captain thierry henry infamous handball in the world cup play off win
over ireland will go under the microscope on monday when fifa disciplinary
commission assess the incident
two months to the day since the barcelona man controversial intervention
secured the draw that took france to south africa and ended ireland world
cup dream in the second leg of their play off tie in paris henry will face up
to the possibility of fine or even ban
the meeting of the man disciplinary panel an independent body chaired by the
swiss marcel mathier was announced by fifa president sepp blatter in cape town
on december following an extraordinary executive committee meeting
had phone conversation with thierry henry said blatter
we didn talk about guilty or not guilty it was conversation between
sportsmen didn say that he would be punished said he be the subject of
an investigation
blatter diplomacy can be explained by the lack of precedent regarding
retrospective punishments meted out to players
the disciplinary commission is likely to issue symbolic penalty as fifa
rules do not explicitly address incidents of such nature and heavy
punishment would create an unwelcome precedent for world football governing
body
despite the media storm that followed the match with the goal dubbed the hand
of frog in the irish press and irish prime minister brian cowen calling for
replay henry is likely to escape lightly
article of fifa disciplinary code concerns anyone who insults someone in
any way especially by using offensive gestures or language or who violates the
principles of fair play or whose behaviour is unsporting in any other way and
refers to punishments ranging from warnings to the return of awards
blatter meanwhile has raised the possibilty of awarding moral compensation
to the irish team
that could be special trophy or prize we ll have to see he said
france were losing to ireland at the stade de france on november having
won the first leg when henry teed up william gallas for what proved to be
the decisive goal after illegally controlling the ball with his hand
first private pharmacy since opened in sweden
stockholm jan afp
swedish health and social affairs minister goeran haegglund inaugurated the
country first private pharmacy since in front of reporters and small
crowd in stockholm on sunday
after hard work for long time we are now ready to open the first pharmacy in
sweden which is privately owned since he said
the state owned apoteket chain of pharmacies was until sunday the sole provider
of prescription medication in sweden and was until november also the only
provider of non prescription drugs such as headache tablets or other over the
counter products
