united states
switzerland
world cup standings after seven of eight events
steven holcomb usa points
john napier usa
janis minins lta
thomas florschuetz ger
andre lange ger
kurd rebels kill turkish soldier army
ankara jan afp
turkish soldier was killed and another wounded sunday in clashes with kurdish
rebel in southeast turkey the military said
the fighting broke out in batman province where the army was conducting
security operation against the separatist kurdistan workers party pkk the
brief statement said
the pkk listed as terrorist group by turkey and much of the international
community took up arms against ankara in sparking conflict that has
claimed about lives
alpine skiing women world cup results
maribor slovenia jan afp
women world cup slalom results on sunday
kathrin zettel aut
tina maze slo
maria riesch ger
susanne riesch ger
sandrine aubert fra
maria pietilae holmner swe
sanni leinonen fin
fanny chmelar ger
sarka zahrobska cze
christina geiger ger
tanja poutiainen fin
manuela moelgg ita
denise karbon ita
kathrin hoelzl ger
veronika zuzulova svk
disqualified
leg eva maria brem aut
did not finish
st leg ana drev slo matea ferk cro jana gantnerova svk rabea grand
swi ula hafner slo moe hanaoka jpn michaela kirchgasser aut lene
loeseth nor nina loeseth nor julia mancuso usa megan mcjames usa
zana novakovic bih nina perner ger tii maria romar fin sarah schleper
usa johanna schnarf ita lotte smiseth sejersted nor maria belen simari
birkner arg anastasiya skryabina ukr barbara wirth ger tessa worley
fra
leg marlies schild aut
ukrainians brave snow cynicism to vote
kiev jan afp
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
despite the disenchantment opinion polls have predicted that turnout will be
relatively high at over percent and steady flow of voters was already
heading into polling stations in the first hours of voting
people lives are going from bad to worse here complained businessman
grigory as he cast his vote at kiev school
voted for yanukovich because it is impossible to vote for tymoshenko she has
nothing except empty slogans and lies
another businessman also called grigory and aged however hailed tymoshenko
as the saviour of ukraine
natalyia zozulia cleaner said she had exercised her option to vote
against all the candidates know it will change nothing disappointed
with the mess here
in the southern peninsula of crimea resort region on the black sea normally
known for its balmy weather the temperature was also unseasonably low and the
mood equally frigid
do not think that positive changes will come they haven appeared in the
last two decades since independence and they are not going to come now said
dmitry as he cast his vote in cinema in the city of sevastopol
leonid estekhin added have no more hope do not see the leaders in
this country who can rescue us from rock bottom
the disenchantment was even more pronounced in the eastern city of donetsk
yanukovich stronghold and hotbed of opposition to the pro western orange
revolution
at one polling station elderly pensioners were straining their eyes and
demanding help to locate yanukovich name on the ballot
anyone but tymoshenko whoever but please not her shouted marina
pensioner ve already told all the neighbours to come and vote and told
them to vote yanukovich only he can save us
but even here yanukovich who has served as prime minister as well as regional
governor was suffering from the widespread disillusionment with established
faces
do not believe in the promises of the politicians in power said irina
saleswoman
let have young and beautiful president and things will be better she said
after voting for the athletic businessman sergiy tigipko whose campaign has
experienced late surge in the last weeks
the frustration was even felt at the other end of the country in the western
city of lviv close to the polish border and the heartland of support for the
orange revolution and current pro western president viktor yushchenko
am satisfied with what has happened over the last five years no am not
said andriy kernilo teacher
voted for tymoshenko against yanukovich and yushchenko expect changes for
the better under her he added
miron avdeenko an engineer said he would be voting for yanukovich figure
who has traditionally enjoyed low support in western ukraine
do not believe in the others anymore maybe he has changed of course he
does not suit me but think he will bring order
iraq chemical ali sentenced to death for halabja attack
baghdad jan afp
saddam hussein notorious henchman 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 is to die by hanging having been found guilty of the
atrocity in the northeast of the country as the iran iraq war drew to close in
an iconic moment that symbolised the barbarity of saddam regime
the ruling shown on the state run al iraqiya television channel is the fourth
time that majid better known by his macabre nickname has received death
sentence
judge abud mustapha al hamani branded majid offences as deliberate murder
crime against humanity when the verdict was delivered amid muffled applause in
the courtroom
al hamdulillah al hamdulillah praise be to god said majid who stood
stone faced in the dock in traditional black and gold coloured arab robe and
black and white keffiyeh headdress before the broadcast ended abruptly
three quarters of the victims at halabja were women and children in what is
thought to be the deadliest ever gas attack carried out against civilians
am happy at the decision but am sad also as the court did not consider his
crime to be genocide as we did said omeed hamaa ali halabja resident
who lost his mother three brothers and three sisters in the attack
ali was among dozens of people who gathered at cemetery in the town following
the verdict where they played music and cheered in celebration
this judgment is victory for all iraqis humanity and the kurds because
halabja is the biggest crime of modern times said majid hamad amin minister
of the martyrs and displaced in the kurdish regional government
majid was given an additional year sentence for false displacement and
disappearing of civilians
three other men were also convicted for their role in the halabja attacks
sultan hashem ahmed former defence minister and saber abdul aziz hussein al
duri former intelligence chief were sentenced to years in jail
farhan mutlak al juburi former iraqi army chief was ordered to serve
years
close cousin of saddam majid earned his ghastly moniker for ordering
poisonous gas attacks in brutal scorched earth campaign of bombings and mass
deportations that left an estimated kurds dead in the
he had already been sentenced to hang for genocide over the kurdish offensives
when in december he received second death sentence for war crimes
committed during the ill fated shiite uprising in southern iraq
in march last year the iraqi high tribunal handed down third death sentence
over the the murders of dozens of shiites in the sadr city district of
baghdad and in the central shrine city of najaf
majid was the king of spades in the pack of cards of most wanted iraqis issued
by the us military in and was arrested in august of that year
however he is probably best known for the halabja attack when in march
iraqi jets swooped over the small town and for five hours sprayed it with
deadly cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents tabun sarin and vx
like saddam majid hails from the northern town of tikrit where he was born in
according to court documents although he told tribunal last year that
he was born in
considered saddam right hand man and bearing strong resemblance to the
former dictator he was member of the decision making revolutionary command
council and regularly called upon to wipe out rebellion
in march the ruling baath party put him in charge of state agencies in the
kurdish area including the police army and militias
as iraq eight year war with iran drew to close the following year fighters
from the rebel patriotic union of kurdistan with backing from tehran took over
the farming community of halabja near the border
as saddam enforcer he then ordered the gas attack to crush the uprising
majid said he ordered the attacks against the kurds who had sided with iran in
the war for the sake of iraqi security he has refused to express remorse for
the killings
rescuers cling to survivor hopes amid rising haiti toll
port au prince jan afp
rescue teams clawed through the rubble of port au prince for the fifth straight
day sunday still dragging out earthquake survivors even as bodies piled up and
the united nations said it had never confronted such huge disaster
amid new anger over the relief operations some haitians fought for the rations
that are getting through while others carried the injured on their backs or on
carts to emergency hospitals
another people were rescued on saturday un officials said but the true
scale of the disaster is slowly beginning to emerge
between and people died in the town of leogane west of the
capital and the epicentre of the magnitude quake which struck on tuesday
according to un officials the haitian government has estimated about
dead so far and this has been backed by the un
street after street of the town kilometers miles west of port au
prince was flattened
the medecins sans frontiers doctors without borders aid group opened an
emergency hospital at carrefour poor district near leogane msf emergency
coordinator hans van dillen said crowds arrived almost immediately
patients arrived on handcarts or on men backs there are other hospitals in
the area but they are already unable to cope with the number of injured and
have limited resources of personnel and medicines and equipment he said
msf said their doctors and surgeons had been working around the clock
amputating limbs and performing caesarian sections on pregnant women
most bodies are now being pushed into mass graves outside the capital to prevent
the spread of disease but intensive efforts are being pursued to find
survivors
un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs spokeswoman elisabeth
byrs told afp that more people were pulled out alive from debris on saturday
taking the total to more than since the teams started working
we don give up hope to find more survivors stressed byrs the morale of
the rescue team is very high despite the hardship
some international teams comprising of rescue workers and dogs have
already scoured percent of the worst affected areas hit by the quake about
american troops are being sent to assist and secure the stricken areas
byrs said the way buildings had collapsed left sufficient void spaces that
allow for trapped victims to remain alive
there is still hope the conditions are very favourable it exceptional and
thank god for that she said
but rami peltz rescuer with an israeli team said today is the last day
that think we will be able to find survivors mainly because of dehydration
and the united nations also warned over the scope of the work ahead we have
never been confronted with such disaster in the un memory it is like no
other byrs said on saturday
us military helicopters crews unloaded boxes of vital supplies as massive queues
formed at distribution points where the un world food programme handed out high
energy food
an afp journalist saw one us helicopter dropping half dozen small cartons into
stadium of starving haitians some brandishing machetes as they fought over
the items
two dominicans were shot and seriously wounded as they handed out aid dominican
media reported carlos gatas and milton matos struggled back to the dominican
republic embassy with gunshot wounds after the apparent attack
the un said increasing numbers of haitians were trying to cross the border into
the dominican republic on the eastern side of hispaniola island and reported
surge of quake survivors fleeing to northern cities
secretary of state hillary clinton became the highest ranking us official to
visit haiti since the quake and highlighted the urgent need to clear logistical
hurdles
you have been severely tested but believe that haiti can come back even
stronger and better in the future she told haitians
former us presidents bill clinton and george bush named by the white house
as special coordinators of aid to haiti launched an appeal to raise tens of
millions of dollars for the stricken country
un secretary general ban ki moon was to visit haiti on sunday the un security
council will discuss coordination of the aid operation on monday
the president of senegal called on africa to give haitian quake victims land to
restart their lives on the continent where their ancestors were snatched as
slaves
the repeated calamities that befall haiti prompt me to propose radical
solution to take measures to create somewhere in africa the conditions for
haitians to return president abdoulaye wade told france info radio
it is our duty to recognise their right to come back to the land of their
ancestors he added
alpine skiing austrian zettel doubles up with slalom victory
maribor slovenia jan afp
austrian kathrin zettel notched up memorable double here on sunday when she
added the world cup slalom title to her giant slalom success on the same slope
hours earlier
zettel clocked combined total over two runs of min sec sec ahead of
slovenian tina maze with maria riesch of germany at sec
zettel team mate marlies schild had looked good for at least spot on the
podium after blazing the first run but straddled gate as she forced the pace
on the second
it an amazing day beamed zettel it was really bumpy second run with
flat light making it tough for racing
so happy with this victory on cloud nine and will take that to the
olympics
the slalom was the last race in the shortest of alpine skiing disciplines
before that during the winter olympics at whistler on february
the weekend was not success for speed queen lindsey vonn of the united states
crashing out of the giant slalom and then failing to make the top of the
first run of the slalom who go on to compete in the second run
riesch third place coupled with second spot in saturday giant allowed
her to leapfrog close friend vonn in the world cup overall standings
the german slalom specialist has now amassed points with vonn on and
zettel in third on
the closest rival to that trio is sweden anja paerson on
the women world cup continues next weekend at the italian resort of cortina
ampezzo with super downhill and giant slalom to be raced
voting starts in cliffhanger chilean presidential poll
santiago jan afp
voting started sunday in chilean presidential election that promised to be an
extremely tight contest between conservative billionaire sebastian pinera
and former leftist president eduardo frei
voter intention surveys ahead of sunday knockout second round between the two
candidates suggested technical dead heat with results too close to predict
outgoing president michelle bachelet who cannot stand for another term under
chile constitution has thrown her full weight behind frei bid turning his
fortunes around to pinera chagrin
in the first round of the election held december pinera emerged with
percentage point lead over frei
that margin was now seen to have shrunk to just percentage points less
than the survey margin for error
polls were to close at pm gmt with first official results expected
three hours later
some million people are eligible to vote in chile one of latin america
most prosperous nations
if victory goes to pinera it would signal an end to the leftwing rule enjoyed
over the past two decades by bachelet four party concertacion coalition which
has been in power since the end of general augusto pinochet dictatorship in
pinera media magnate and big stakeholder in chile flagship lan airline had
been confident of beating frei an uncharismatic politician who was head of
state from to until bachelet managed to turn the tide
the current president enjoys skyhigh popularity ratings after rolling out
well received social welfare program and successfully guiding chile recovery
through last year global financial crisis
she has been leveraging that support squaring it behind frei member of the
christian democratic party whose father eduardo frei montalva was also
president of chile between and
the fruit of her efforts was seen in survey wednesday which showed pinera with
percent of intended ballots and frei with percent
pinera was bitter that is margin for victory had been so dramatically reduced
it abusive what the government has done to use and abuse public money
public institutions and even public employees the interfering campaign it
done is not fair and is not clean pinera complained in radio interview on
friday
pinera was especially nettled by comment made by bachelet on thursday that she
would vote for frei because he was honest
the message bachelet was pushing was clear that pinera multiple business
interests made him less than ideal candidate to run chile vibrant economy
pinera camp has tried to counter by portraying the tycoon as somebody who
knows how to generate wealth not just for himself but for the nation
nevertheless it was clear whatever advantage he had has evaporated and sunday
contest could go either way
we are seeing very content frei and an insecure pinera who for the first
time is realizing that he can lose the presidential vote runoff political
scientist bernardo navarrete at the university of santiago told afp
frei has gone forth in technocrat fashion focusing his campaign on promising
voters that social development programs established by bachelet would be
maintained
and he counts on high turnout among his supporters
each vote counts each vote in each polling station will make the difference in
this election he said friday urging vigilance by ballot box observers
football angola coach rejects draw option against algeria
luanda jan afp
angola coach manuel jose made promise here sunday that his africa cup of
nations hosts were out to beat algeria in monday decisive group game
angola top the table and need only draw against the world cup qualifiers from
north africa to secure place in the quarter finals
but jose is intent on finishing the first round as group leaders to ensure they
stay in luanda rather than having to travel to cabinda where the runners up
will play their quarter final
we must win to be able to stay here the portuguese told press conference at
the black antelope swish seaside hotel the calor tropical
we may only need one point from monday game but it going to be hard point
to earn not an easy one against team that need victory and want to prove
themselves against us
algeria have qualified for the world cup and it was big surprise when they
lost to malawi but they then came out and beat mali team full of stars
algeria want this qualification badly they want to show that their performance
against malawi was not their true level
he added if we have to go to cabinda sure all the people up there will
come out and support us and after all we will still be playing at home in
angola
jose refused to be drawn on the state of fitness of several of his key players
like three time goalscorer flavio gilberto and zuela
we still have hours we ll assess their condition and have to wait and see
the former al ahly manager in response to an algerian journalist who suggested
that despite the odds stacked up against her country she wanted to dream that
algeria could beat angola replied don want you to dream want my dream
to come true
turning to algeria reputation as physically tough technically solid team
adept at set pieces he said yes they are good on set pieces but we are
prepared for that
they are aggressive too and have good ball control but we know how we can stop
them we are not big team in terms of star players like them but we know how
to play good football and we are also good at set pieces
what we plan to do is impose our style on the game we are going to do
everything possible to achieve victory and qualify
jose who picked out champions egypt as the team that had most impressed him in
the first week of competition then gave way to kali the team captain who
confirmed the mood in the home camp was high
we are top of our group we are concentrated and we are prepared
if any player can make it because of injury we have other players who can
fill their places
both angola and algeria were due to hold private training sessiions later in
luanda ahead of the game at the november stadium where partisan
crowd will gather to spur on the hosts
algeria will be without strasbourg midfielder yassine bezzaz who has knee
problem and there are question marks over the fitness of rafik saifi ankle
and blackpool strike hamer bouazza back
mali meet malawi in group other gamme in cabinda with both games kicking off
at the same time the group is wide open with any two of the quartet still in
with chance of making it into the last eight
up to killed in haiti earthquake who
geneva jan afp
the world health organisation has estimated that between to people
have been killed in the earthquake in haiti the united nations said sunday
who paho pan american health organization estimates that the number of dead
ranges between and people said situation report issued by the
un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs
the haitian government estimated on friday that more than people were
killed and injured by the magnitude quake that struck on tuesday
when contacted the who said the estimate in the un document was based on
haitian red cross figure
paul garwood spokesman of the un health agency said who is aware of the
haitian red cross estimate that to people may have died
alpine skiing austrian zettel doubles up with slalom victory
maribor slovenia jan afp
austrian kathrin zettel won the women world cup slalom here on sunday ahead of
slovenian tina maze and maria riesch of germany
zettel who won the giant slalom here on saturday clocked combined total of
min sec sec ahead of maze with riesch at sec
greece ready for more action on economic crisis minister
athens jan afp
the greek government will take any new measures needed to tackle the debt ridden
economy after submitting crisis plan to the european union the finance
minister said in an interview published sunday
if there is something lacking we will take additional measures george
papaconstantinou told the to vima newspaper
greece on friday submitted growth and stability programme to the european
commission detailing measures to bring the country out of its major financial
crisis
greece has public spending deficit that rose to percent of output last
year far above the percent ceiling for countries using the euro currency
it is also saddled with debt constituting percent of gross domestic
product which last month prompted the leading rating agencies to downgrade
greece credit standing
the socialist government which came to power in october on thursday unveiled
three year crisis blueprint to cut back public deficit of over billion
euros billion dollars and rein in government debt estimated to exceed
billion euros this year
the plan aims to save more than billion euros in with improved tax
collection cost cuts and reduced arms spending to bring the public deficit to
percent of output by
greece has suffered credibility problem over unreliable economic figures and
european finance ministers on tuesday are expected to tell athens to clean up
its accounting and improve the administration of key institutions according to
draft statement seen by afp
the markets are cautious and the climate is not positive papaconstantinou
told the newspaper adding that many countries have similar problems with their
public finances but none has suffered this huge lack of credibility like
greece
as new government our priority of re establishing reliability in our
statistics and outlining our growth and stability programme has helped create
new climate of hope but there is still work to do he said
the european commission is respond by late january on greece crisis plan
which the greek finance ministry said it drafted with assistance from eu and
european central bank officials who visited athens this month
un hopeful that more haiti quake survivors could be found
geneva jan afp
the united nations said sunday that survivors could still be found five days
after the deadly earthquake struck in haiti and that rescue teams working round
the clock were reporting very high morale
the morale of the rescue team is very high despite the hardship and the
conditions they remain steadfast since lives have been rescued out of the
rubble elisabeth byrs the spokeswoman for the un office for the coordination
of humanitarian affairs told afp
by saturday more than people had been pulled out alive from the debris of
collapsed buildings by the teams around dozen more from day ago when the
number of people rescued by the international teams stood at she said
we don give up hope to find more survivors stressed byrs
some international teams comprising rescue workers and dogs have
already scoured percent of the worst affected areas hit by the earthquake
with tonnes of heavy rescue equipment to cut through thick reinforced concrete
and other search devices the rescue workers are racing to combed through other
areas
byrs explained that the way buildings had collapsed in the earthquake had added
sufficient void spaces that allow for trapped victims to remain alive
there is still hope the conditions are very favourable it exceptional and
thank god for that she said
however logistical challenges remain with vital emergency equipment such as
ambulances missing
the roads are mostly impassable and there is lack of available transport
and fuel shortages
we need ambulances to transport the people to the hospitals she added
meanwhile picture of the earthquake impact outside of the haitian capital
is slowly emerging
un assessment team which travelled to petit goave town with
inhabitants west of the capital found one in five buildings destroyed in some
areas
the destruction was relatively less compared to other towns west of port au
prince such as leogane where percent of buildings were damaged or
destroyed and gressier where percent of buildings were destroyed
however fears still grip the population in petit goave
people are reluctant to return to their homes due to concern for aftershocks
said byrs
in the capital droves of people are leaving to seek shelter with family or
friends in other parts of the country this means that relief efforts will soon
also have to be taken beyond the earthquake zone
support and coordination may soon be needed in other cities according to the
latest ocha situation report
the haitian government has estimated that at least people were killed and
million left homeless by the quake but those figures could soar once the
full extent of the tragedy is known early estimates had spoken of dead
luge world cup results
oberhof germany jan afp
luge world cup results here on sunday
men
andi langenhan ger
johannes ludwig ger at
jan armin eichhorn ger
albert demtschenko rus
david moeller ger
overall world cup standings after seven of eight events
armin zoeggeler ita points
albert demtschenko rus
david moeller ger
felix loch ger
andi langenhan ger
israel barak seeks to mend fences with turkey
ankara jan afp
israeli defence minister ehud barak held talks with turkish leaders sunday in
the wake of severe diplomatic row between the two countries eager to mend
fences with muslim ally slipping away
barak one day trip to turkey 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
he met behind closed doors with foreign minister ahmet davutoglu after visit
to the tomb of turkey secularist founder mustafa kemal ataturk
he was scheduled to have talks also with defence minister vecdi gonul expected
