sweden parliament in may voted in favour of the centre right government
plans to open up the country market for prescription and non prescription
drugs to competition
in november the swedish state sold of its estimated state owned
apoteket stores to four firms all of them swedish companies established for the
sole purpose of running the pharmacies the stockholm pharmacy inaugurated
sunday was the first of such pharmacies to operate under its own brand name
we want to increase accessibility and think that can be achieved through
competition in the pharmacy market haegglund said sunday of the new pharmacy
system
as of november swedes wanting to buy non prescription drugs could do so
at selected stores including some gas stations and grocery shops
the swedish government has previously argued that putting an end to the apoteket
monopoly would improve the availability of medicines for customers in the form
of more pharmacies and longer opening hours and create downward pressure on
prices as more providers entered the market
row over georgian observers inflames ukraine vote
donetsk ukraine jan afp
the presence of hundreds of georgians in ukraine purportedly to monitor
elections spiralled into major row sunday after party accused them of being
special forces sent to disrupt the polls
the regions party of presidential frontrunner viktor yanukovich has protested
vehemently over the sudden arrival of hundreds of georgian men built like
sportsmen in the eastern city of donetsk over the last days
tbilisi insists they are observers who ukraine refused to accredit but the
donetsk authorities have said there is evidence they were sent to carry out
fraud on behalf of yanukovich main rival prime minister yulia tymoshenko
all these people have corresponding training not in line with the duties of
international observers in elections regions party mp vladislav lukyanov said
in statement released by regions party headquarters
these are fighters specialised in carrying out special actions aimed at
destabilising elections
yanukovich himself meanwhile appealed to georgian president mikheil saakashvili
to withdraw the so called observers
it is unacceptable that foreign state interferes in the affairs of our
country he said
regional donetsk media have carried angry reports of the georgians hassling
women in the streets behaving in drunken manner and observing voting while
insisting they were tourists
the head of donetsk city council nikolai levchenko said they were all men aged
between and built like sportsmen
he said that almost georgians had arrived in the city mainly on charter
flights to its airport ahead of the vote and had not even described themselves
as observers on arrival
local media said some of the men had explained at the airport they had arrived
to meet donetsk women they had contacted on social networking sites over the new
year
but georgian foreign ministry spokeswoman ia makharashvili insisted that the
observers sent by georgia were exclusively representatives of civil
society ngos and civil servants
it is incomprehensible why such noise has been created around the georgian
observers including in mass media and by some political forces she added
georgian interior ministry spokesman shota utiashvili said there were no staff
members from the interior or defence ministries amongst the observers in
ukraine
the ukrainian central election commission said that georgia had been seeking to
accredit over observers but they had not been registered due to problems
with their documents
total of observers from around the world have been accredited for the
vote
election fraud in ukraine remains major issue after the supreme court ordered
re run of the last presidential elections in after discovering mass vote
rigging in favour of yanukovich
donetsk heavy industry and mining region is political stronghold of
yanukovich but analysts have said it will be crucial for tymoshenko to win votes
here if she is to make serious challenge for the presidency
pro western president viktor yushchenko vehemently backed georgia in its august
war against russia much to the annoyance of yanukovich who is more
sympathetic to the kremlin
tennis hingis has nose for 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 admitted in november she had tested positive for cocaine
and announced her retirement but after her two year ban expired in september
the five times grand slam winner admitted she misses the game
can not imagine life without tennis she said after playing the united
states former world number one lindsay davenport of the united states in an
exhibition game near berlin
it still so much fun for me
like to play more exhibition games 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
and the swiss miss said she was not suprised at the planned comebacks of belgium
veterans justine henin and kim clijsters at the australian open which starts on
monday
think the womens game is somewhat monotonous at the moment said hingis
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 full time return to
tennis
if play again it will only be to selected events and only then for fun said
the year old american
israel barak seeks to mend fences with turkey
ankara jan afp
turkey and israel pledged sunday to maintain military cooperation as the jewish
state defence minister visited ankara after serious diplomatic row eager to
mend fences with key muslim ally
ehud barak one day trip was the highest level bilateral visit since israel
offensive on the gaza strip last year prompted an unprecedented barrage of
criticism from the islamist rooted government in ankara marking sharp
downturn in relations
speaking after talks with turkish counterpart vecdi gonul barak said he was
more confident that certain ups and downs in our relationship could and should
be corrected and we can continue to follow the tradition of good and friendly
cooperation and understanding
gonul said turkey and israel remained allies but made it clear the partnership
should not be taken for granted
we are allies strategic allies as long as our interests force us to do so
he said
barak whose labour party is in favour of keeping close ties with turkey despite
objections from hardline coalition partners insisted on the visit amid row
that brought ankara to the verge of recalling its ambassador from tel aviv
he met also with foreign minister ahmet davutoglu but prime minister recep
tayyip erdogan central figure in bilateral tensions and president abdullah
gul were not available to meet him citing programmes outside ankara
turkey is very important country pillar in the region and dialogue and
cooperation with it are very important barak said
gonul voiced hope that cooperation in arms projects which has been at the heart
of the once flourishing ties would continue
turkish officials are currently in israel to test unmanned aircraft manufactured
for turkey army under long delayed joint project worth million dollars
gonul said the delivery of six drones was expected by march and the remaining
four by june
the latest diplomatic storm between the two countries broke monday when danny
ayalon the deputy of israel ultra nationalist foreign minister avigdor
lieberman gave turkey ambassador public dressing down in meeting called
to protest turkish television series for showing israel in bad light
as the surprised ambassador smiled ayalon told reporters in hebrew to pay
attention that the envoy was made to sit on low couch and that the turkish
flag was removed from their table
bowing to pressure from furious ankara ayalon sent letter of apology to the
ambassador wednesday cooling row that had threatened to plunge the two
estranged allies into serious crisis
ties were already poisoned due to turkish outbursts over israel war on gaza
and its blockade of the impoverished palestinian enclave
erdogan stormed out of debate at the world economic forum last year accusing
israel of barbarian acts and telling its president shimon peres sitting next
to him that you know well how to kill people
ankara has said relations will continue to suffer unless israel ends the
humanitarian tragedy in gaza and revives peace talks with the palestinians
in october it excluded israel from traditional joint air exercises in central
turkey angering tel aviv and prompting rebuke from washington
turkey ties with syria and close contacts with iran have made its snubs even
harder for israel to swallow and raised questions on whether key muslim
majority nato member is sliding away from the west
turkey became israel main regional ally when the two signed military
cooperation accord in
the pact eased israel isolation in hostile arab neighbourhood while turkey
gained an ally against syria then an arch foe for sheltering kurdish rebel
leader abdullah ocalan and access to israel advanced military technology
tennis hingis has nose for 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 admitted in november she had tested positive for cocaine
and announced her retirement but after her two year ban expired in september
the five times grand slam winner admitted she misses the game
can not imagine life without tennis she said after playing the united
states former world number one lindsay davenport of the united states in an
exhibition game near berlin
it still so much fun for me
like to play more exhibition games 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
and the swiss miss said she was not suprised at the planned comebacks of belgium
veterans justine henin and kim clijsters at the australian open which starts on
monday
think the womens game is somewhat monotonous at the moment said hingis
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 full time return to
tennis
if play again it will only be to selected events and only then for fun said
the year old american
taliban kidnap two chinese engineers four afghans
kunduz afghanistan jan afp
the taliban have kidnapped two chinese engineers and four afghans accompanying
them in the north of the country local official and the taliban said on
sunday
unknown people kidnapped yesterday saturday two chinese engineers along with
their two local drivers and two guards in qaysar district faryab province
said local government spokesman jawaed bidar
bidar said the engineers were helping to build road
taliban spokesman yusuf ahmadi said that our mujahedeen have taken two chinese
engineers their two drivers and their two guards
ahmadi said the taliban islamic court or shura would decide on their fate
criminal gangs and taliban insurgents have kidnapped several dozen foreigners
many of them journalists since the us led operation to topple the taliban
the taliban two weeks ago denied that they were holding two journalists from
france public television who were snatched with three afghan assistants in the
eastern province of kapisa on december
in october public works employees were kidnapped in eastern afghanistan as
part of what the authorities called private dispute
eurozone head seeks better supervision of national economies
brussels jan afp
the head of the euro countries wants to boost surveillance over national
economies including by allowing the eu executive arm to warn those not up to
scratch according to letter seen by afp sunday
eurogroup chairman jean claude juncker in letter to finance ministers on the
eve of meeting in brussels late monday also said he wants to boost the
nation area influence among international institutions
the eurogroup should pursue broader economic surveillance both to identify
individual priority issues for each of our member states and to establish
coherent framework for action to enhance the performance of the entire eurozone
economy wrote juncker who is also premier of luxembourg
the european commission should not hesitate to address warning to the
member state not respecting criteria and commitments he said
following the issuance of warning by the european commission the eurogroup
should have frank discussion with the member state concerned with view to
ensuring that effective action is taken
juncker europe longest serving leader is widely expected to win new
month mandate monday to lead the single currency bloc
but several countries among them france have said they want more from juncker
than in the past notably to promote better coordination of economic policy
among the members
already in charge of the grouping in its semi informal guise since
years after juncker took power in luxembourg the eurogroup has acquired
formal recognition under the lisbon treaty that entered force in december
but it faces some of the most difficult economic and political challenges since
the euro came to be decade ago amid greek debt crisis and fears over wider
foreign exchange fluctuations driven by washington and beijing
the crisis has served to highlight some of the weak points that were masked by
the relatively benign economic environment of the last few years issues that
need to be addressed by each of us if we are to improve our economies
resilience and increase potential growth juncker wrote
we need candid discussion both about the overall goals of our economic
policy and about the individual needs and priorities of our member states he
said
apart from promoting peer pressure juncker said it was time to boost the
profile and influence of the single currency group
think it is essential at this juncture to ensure that the euro area
interests are fully reflected in international discussions he wrote to the
ministers
firmly believe that the euro area dimension should permeate all of the work
of the international financial institutions and conferences the eurogroup
will need to work hard to make sure that it does so
un chief arrives in haiti to tour ruined mission
port au prince jan afp
un chief ban ki moon arrived in haiti sunday and was to tour the ruins of the un
mission in the capital and meet president rene preval
the un chief flew in on brief morale boosting visit and to express solidarity
with haitian quake victims and distraught un staff after the worst ever disaster
to strike the united nations
am going to haiti with very heavy heart to express solidarity and full
support of the un to the people of haiti ban told journalists before he
arrived on his day long trip to the disaster zone
tuesday magnitude quake killed tens of thousands of people among them
un staffers nearly other un workers are still unaccounted for many killed
in the collapse of the un headquarters
rugbyu european cup tables
paris jan afp
european cup tables following sunday matches played won drawn lost points
for against bonus points points
pool
munster
northampton
perpignan
treviso
pool
biarritz qualified
gloucester
glasgow
dragons
pool
leicester
clermont
ospreys
viadana
pool
stade francais
ulster
edinburgh
bath
pool
toulouse qualified
cardiff
sale
harlequins
pool
leinster
london irish
scarlets
brive
note six pool winners and two best runners up qualify for the quarter finals
rugbyu toulouse progress saints go marching on
paris jan afp
three time european cup winners toulouse joined fellow french side biarritz in
the last eight of this season tournament when they beat english side
harlequins on sunday in their pool five match
maxime medard got their all important fourth try which gave them bonus point
and means they will top the pool whatever the results next weekend against
opponents that briefly threatened an upset in the first half before wilting
against remorseless toulouse side
elsewhere champions northampton also secured what could be crucial bonus
point in their crushing victory over ailing french champions perpignan
whose desperate campaign has included defeat to italian minnows treviso
however the saints left it late scoring the fourth try in the st minute
through wonderful metre move which saw jon clarke go over and setting up
mouthwatering clash at two time champions munster the team they beat in the
final next friday
saints captain dylan hartley said that his team would be able to look after
themselves against munster
yes definitely we can take them on said hartley whose side are on
match winning run we can put up good challenge against munster it our
quarter final
saints director of rugby jim mallinder conceded that his team had not been at
their best but had improved in the second half and was eager to emulate
leicester as the only english side to have beaten munster in limerick
we are on good run and playing well you mustn be intimidated by munster
what we have to do is go there and stand head to head and toe to toe with them
he said
earlier two tries in four minutes from flanker rob mccusker allowed welsh side
scarlets to stage stunning comeback and beat pool six rivals london irish
the result did little however for either side hopes of reaching the last
eight as reigning champions leinster who travel to twickenham to play london
irish next week lead the table by five points with one match remaining
london irish coach toby booth said that his side had not really played well all
through the match
thought when we led that it was bit flattering said booth whose
side experienced only their second defeat in their last european pool matches
both defeats coming at the hands of the scarlets
we made the same mistakes early on as we did later in the match
it is simple game but we didn treat it like that and we neither found
penetration nor were we able to get it out wide we are bitterly disappointed
with this performance
irish had looked to be cruising when they led in the second half but
mccusker showed electric pace in the rd minute to touch down in the corner
after visiting fly half ryan lamb had made poor clearance
few minutes later mccusker was on hand again taking the ball and despite
desperate tackle by former england scrum half peter richards he turned and
twisted his way over the line for try which was confirmed by the video
referee
scarlets rubbed it in when impressive young centre jonathan davies went over for
his second try to give the welsh side deserved if surprising bonus point and
left irish requiring the minor miracle of bonus point victory over leinster if
they are to progress as pool winners
however booth believes that such challenges always bring the best out of his
side
the good thing about this team is that it likes challenges and being
threatened he said
updated afptv news advisory for sunday
paris jan afp
we will file the following videos
haiti coverage
first aid is small mercy at haiti quake epicentre already transmitted
leogane haiti
first shipment of un food aid has arrived in the ruined haitian town of
leogane where street after street of homes and businesses was torn apart by
this week devastating earthquake thousands of people no one yet knows how
many were killed but with the international rescue effort concentrated in
haiti capital leogane people have so far been left to fend for themselves
in ad hoc squatter camps
news
voiced report
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
un images
raw vid
web mmv
desperate haitians contemplate mass exodus already transmitted
port au prince
relief workers in haiti struggled for the fifth day sunday to assist desperate
earthquake survivors amid anger over the chaotic aid effort as aftershocks
continued to shake the island with fears growing of epidemics and other heath
problems many inhabitants have now decided to try to flee the disaster
altogether
news
voiced report
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
haiti holds first mass since quake in damaged churches
port au prince
haiti is holding its first catholic mass on sunday since violent earthquake
devastated much of the country many of the services in the devout country are
being held in cathedrals and churches severely damaged by the tremors
news
images to be transmitted by gmt
raw vid
web mmv
other offers
pope to visit rome synagogue amid jewish anger
rome
pope benedict xvi was headed sunday for rome main synagogue for much
anticipated visit after angering many jews by moving his wartime predecessor
pius xii further on the road to sainthood strong press corps will record
benedict third visit to jewish house of worship which comes barely four
weeks after he revived controversy over pius xii whom many jews accuse of
inaction over the holocaust
news
images and soundbites already tramsitted
raw vid
web mmv
images from italian television new offer
raw vid
cliffhanger runoff presidential vote in chile
santiago
chileans choose sunday whether flamboyant billionaire or lacklustre ex
president will be their country next leader with polls ahead of the vote
showing neither candidate with clear majority voter intention surveys put
sebastian pinera media magnate and big stakeholder in chile flagship lan
airline and eduardo frei an uncharismatic politician who was head of state
from to in technical dead heat pinera and frei are the only
candidates left standing after december first round vote knocked out other
presidential hopefuls
news
images and soundbites to be transmitted by gmt
raw vid
web mmv
avatar eyes awards season gold at golden globes
los angeles
science fiction blockbuster avatar will be aiming to convert box office riches
into movie industry accolades sunday as hollywood awards season gets underway
in earnest at the th golden globes the horrors of the haiti earthquake are
likely to give somber tone to proceedings with many celebrities including
best actor nominee george clooney expected to encourage donations to help the
relief effort
culture amp lifestyle
voiced report to be transmitted by gmt
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
we have already filed the following videos
new police make the grade in gaza ceremony new offer
gaza
over new policemen went on the streets today in northern gaza as this
year batch of military trainees were feted with graduation ceremony attended
by the minister of the interior trainees completed the course watched over
by six instructors
news
images
raw vid
web mmv
iraq chemical ali sentenced to death for halabja attack
baghdad
saddam hussein notorious enforcer chemical ali was sentenced to death on
sunday for ordering the gassing of kurds in the iraqi town of halabja brutal
attack that killed an estimated people ali hassan al majid will die by
hanging the state run al iraqiya television channel said having been found
guilty of the attack in the northeast of the country as the iran iraq war drew
to close in the ruling is the fourth time that majid better known by
his macabre nickname has received death sentence
news
archive images
raw vid
web mmv
images from al iraqiya television new offer
raw vid
web mmv
disillusioned ukraine votes for new president
kiev
braving widespread cynicism with the political elite as much as freezing
temperatures ukrainians voted for new president sunday despite often failing
to muster much enthusiasm for any candidate with snowflakes falling in kiev and
the pavements treacherous with black ice the winter weather reflected the bleak
mood of voters five years after the orange revolution briefly raised hopes of
new era in ukraine the main contenders in the first round of the vote pro
russia politician viktor yanukovich and prime minister yulia tymoshenko are the
same faces who have been at the centre of ukraine politics for much of the
decade
news
images and soundbites
raw vid
web mmv
istanbul launches year as european cultural capital
istanbul
istanbul on saturday launched year of art events as it became one of three
cultural capitals of europe for feting the occasion with concerts street
shows and firework displays the accolade bestowed by the european union is
seen by turkey as an opportunity to reaffirm its bid to join the bloc and
showcase diverse heritage shaped by both western and eastern cultures
festivities including light shows were organised at seven locations across the
city of million symbolising the seven hills on which ancient istanbul was
built
culture amp lifestyle
images
raw vid
web mmv
nile rises as global warming kicks in
nile delta egypt
global warming has reached the banks of the nile with experts warning it will
have major impact on the river that has nurtured civilisations for millennia
rising water levels are expected to submerge entire villages within half
century while farmers are already complaining that increasingly salinity is
wasting their crops
special report
voiced report
nsv vid
broadcast ready vid
web mmv
as part of our africa cup of nations coverage we have filed the following
video
chelsea chances as african players score at home
london
chelsea may well be top of the english premier league but they re currently
coping with serious disadvantage four of their best players have left the
