vancouver
see separate advisory
master slug oly
food rations given out in haiti official
port au prince jan afp
around food rations and tents were distributed in quake ravaged
haiti monday by the world food program and humanitarian groups from neighboring
dominican republic haitian official said
we ve distributed tents and we have another we re putting up non
stop government minister carol joseph told afp
we re putting up shelters for people and are about to provide
water for all shelter sites he said
we re continuing to gather bodies as we clear rubble from collapsed buildings
joseph said without providing an estimate of the fatalities from tuesday
earthquake
joseph said on sunday that some bodies had been buried in mass graves
since the quake struck
the united nations estimates that three million people were affected by the
temblor including made homeless the international organization for
migration said one million people were in need of emergency shelter
the european union said the earthquake leveled about buildings in the
haitian capital
winter olympics advisory
paris jan afp
the winter olympics take place in vancouver from february and afp
sports is filing package of advancers
in the build up to the games we will file individual sports previews guides to
the ins and outs of winter sports as well as focus on the stars to watch on the
snow and ice of vancouver and whistler
we will also be filing series of colour stories focussing on national
prospects as well as the offbeat side to the olympics
questions queries etc can be directed to our olympic desk contact is
david james afp com
we are about to move
oly sskate preview
washington
world champion speedskater shani davis is set to try for five gold medals at the
vancouver winter olympics and set aside memories of bitter controversy that
enveloped him at the turin games
words by jim slater
oly sskate preview guide
vancouver
afp bluffer guide to speedskating at the winter olympics
oly curling preview
paris
curling giants canada and great britain face unexpected competition at the
vancouver olympics in the roly poly shape of tv doughnut chomping homer
simpson and his dysfunctional family from hell
words by dave james
oly curling preview guide
vancouver
afp bluffer guide to curling at the winter olympics
oly bobsleigh luge skeleton preview
paris
anglo influence is on the increase in olympic sliding events after decades of
domination by the german speaking nations
words by chris wright
oly bobsleigh luge skeleton preview
vancouver
afp bluffer guide to bobsleigh luge and skeleton at the winter
olympics
already moved
jan
oly ski jump preview
oly ski jump preview guide
oly biathlon preview
oly biathlon preview guide
oly nordic preview
oly nordic preview guide
jan
oly ski men preview
oly ski women preview
oly ski guide preview
oly ski races preview
oly fskate women preview
oly fskate men preview
oly fskate preview guide
oly ihockey men preview
oly ihockey women preview
oly ihockey guide
jan
oly advancer
oly programme
oly venues
oly history
oly greats
sports features advisory
paris jan afp
afp sports is about to file two sports features
cycling aus tour doping feature
adelaide
tough anti doping measures exciting new teams and growing support base of
amateur riders are helping cycling shed its drug spoiled image and enter more
promising era
words by talek harris picture
britain oly gbr feature
london
the stadiums that will play host to gold medal winning performances at the
olympic games are fast taking shape in once rundown area of east london
words by guy jackson picture video
britain rejects argentine claim to the falklands
london jan afp
britain has rejected argentina latest claim to the falkland islands more than
quarter of century after the nations went to war over the atlantic
archipelago
argentina passed law last month laying claim to the falklands and several
other overseas british territories
but foreign office minister chris bryant said monday the uk had no doubt about
its sovereignty over the islands where britain and argentina fought brief war
in which ended in the defeat of the south american nation
the uk firmly rejects the enactment and promulgation on december of
argentine law said bryant in written statement
the falklands along with south georgia the south sandwich islands and the
surrounding seas and the british antarctic territory were under uk sovereignty
said bryant
the foreign office delivered message to the argentine charge affaires in
london detailing britain rejection of the claim
as well as passing the law in december the argentine government restated on
january its claim of sovereignty over the falklands on the th anniversary
of the british occupation of the islands
argentina and britain fought over the falklands known in spanish as las
malvinas for days in conflict that left argentines and britons
dead
in first obama tweets visit to aid center for haiti
washington jan afp
us president barack obama tweeted his very first message on monday joining
the millions who have used the twitter micro blogging site as vital
information vehicle for the haiti disaster
the president and first lady michelle obama visited an unadorned office in the
american red cross headquarters serving as disaster operations center and
lent encouragement to staff and volunteers helping coordinate humanitarian aid
activity in earthquake devastated haiti
we re just here to say thank you for the great work you re doing obama said
as he entered the operations center with american red cross board chairwoman
bonnie mcelveen hunter
as he moved about the room where large maps of port au prince were tacked to
the walls he stopped at media team desk and hit the send button on
message that had just been typed on twitter president obama and the first lady
are here visiting our disaster operation center right now
this was followed by president obama pushed the button on the last tweet it
was his first ever tweet
during his presidential bid in and obama team harnessed the power
of the internet to raise record funding for his campaign
his administration too has been praised for its tech savvy use of the web
it has included live streams of the president speeches onto social networking
sites like facebook and the white house has its own twitter account
but apparently obama himself had yet to personally embrace the phenomenon until
now
the internet especially twitter and social networking sites have been
instrumental in helping people locate relatives in haiti or plead for help to
find loved ones post pictures or links to video from the earthquake zone
the web has also been spectacular emergency fund raising tool
more than million dollars for haiti earthquake survivors has been collected
by text messaging red cross appeal in the united states the state department
said monday in its own twitter message
rsf condemns hacking of gmail accounts of beijing reporters
washington jan afp
reporters without borders rsf on monday condemned the alleged hacking of the
google email accounts of several foreign news bureaus in beijing
reporters without borders is deeply disturbed and outraged by cyberattacks on
the google email accounts of several beijing based foreign journalists the
press freedom group said
the rsf statement came after the foreign correspondents club of china said in
notice on its website that foreign correspondents in few bureaus in beijng
have recently discovered that their gmail accounts had been hijacked
their emails were being forwarded to stranger address the fccc said in an
advisory to its more than members on ensuring your gmail security
we remind all members that journalists in china have been particular targets of
hacker attacks in the last two years the fccc said please be very careful
about what links you click on what email attachments you open and do run virus
checks regularly
the fccc notice came less than week after google announced that the gmail
accounts of chinese human rights activists around the world had been targeted in
what it said were highly sophisticated attacks originating from china
the fccc advisory did not specifically link the gmail hacking of foreign
correspondents in beijing to the cyberattacks reported by google
google in revealing the cyberattacks on tuesday said it would no longer censor
search engine results in china even if that meant it would have to shut down its
operations in the world largest online market
rsf in its statement said the hackers who targeted foreign journalists based
in beijing were probably trying to get contact details and information about the
human rights activists who talk to the international press
compromising these reporters communication methods endangers and intimidates
their sources and constitutes serious violation of their privacy their
professional work and their freedom to provide news and information it said
we firmly condemn these attacks and we call on the ministry of industry and
information technology to provide an explanation rsf said
the paris based press freedom group also lashed out at microsoft for failing to
follow google lead over the cyberattacks
microsoft has minimized their importance and has firmly announced its intention
to stay in the chinese market rsf said adding that the us software giant had
let slip an opportunity to show united front towards the chinese and to try
together to roll back censorship
the united states has asked china for an explanation for the cyberattacks
reported by google and the state department said friday that formal request
would be made in the coming days
china has sought to tamp down the controversy saying it will not affect sino us
ties already frayed over number of issues from climate change to the value of
the chinese yuan and several trade disputes
tokyo stocks open almost flat
tokyo jan afp
japanese share prices opened almost flat tuesday with the benchmark nikkei
index gaining points or percent to in the first minute of
trading
is too much sitting as bad as too little exercise
paris jan afp
sitting all day may significantly boost the risk of lifestyle related disease
even if one adds regular dose of moderate or vigorous exercise scientists
said tuesday
the health benefits of pulse quickening physical activity are beyond dispute
it helps ward off cardiovascular disease diabetes and obesity among other
problems
but recent scientific findings also suggest that prolonged bouts of immobility
while resting on one rear end may be independently linked to these same
conditions
sedentary time should be defined as muscular inactivity rather than the absence
of exercise concluded team of swedish researchers
we need to consider that we are dealing with two distinct behaviours and their
effects they reported in the british journal of sports medicine
led by elin ekblom bak of the karolinska institute in stockholm the scientists
proposed new paradigm of inactivity physiology and urged fellow researchers
to rethink the definition of sedentary lifestyle
they point to recent study of australian adults showing that each daily one
hour increase in sitting time while watching television upped the rate of
metabolic syndrome in women by percent regardless of the amount of
moderate to intensive exercise performed
thirty minutes of daily physical exercise decreased the risk by about the same
percentage suggesting that being couch potato can cancel out the benefits of
hitting treadmill or biking for example
metabolic syndrome is defined as the presence of three or more factors including
high blood pressure abdominal obesity high cholesterol or insulin resistance
new research is required to see if there is causal link between being
sedentary and these conditions and if so how it works the researchers said
one candidate is lipoprotein lipase or lpl an enzyme that plays crucial role
in breaking down fat within the body into useable forms
recent research has shown that lpl activity was significantly lower in rats with
restrained muscle activity as low as one tenth of the levels of rats allowed
to walk about
the lpl level during such activity was not significantly different from that of
rats exposed to higher levels of exercise the scientists reported
this stresses the importance of local muscle contraction per se rather than
the intensity of the contraction
these studies suggest that people should not only exercise frequently but avoid
sitting in one place for too long they said
climbing stairs rather than using an elevator taking five minute breaks from
desk job and walking when possible to do errands rather than driving were all
recommended
australians prefer prince william as next king poll
london jan afp
the majority of australians would prefer britain prince william to be their
next king instead of his father prince charles according to poll published
tuesday
the year old royal who arrives in sydney on tuesday after visiting new
zealand also proved popular with the country women
the survey for british television channel itv news found percent of those
interviewed thought william should be the next monarch compared with percent
who favoured charles william is second in line to the throne after his father
sixty three percent of australian women said they would like to see william
ascend to the throne after queen elizabeth ii with just percent preferring
charles
william who is on his first official trip overseas on behalf of his grandmother
the queen was praised for his performance in british newspapers monday with the
daily telegraph dubbing him prince charming
it marks significant milestone for the prince for he is representing his
year old grandmother overseas for the first time commented the paper in an
editorial
but some also chose to highlight painful incident during rugby event when
the british prince appeared to take ball to the groin
the daily express carried the headline william low blow down under and
showed picture of him doubling over
the survey also showed close result for the question of whether the queen
should remain australia head of state with percent voting in favour and
percent against
but when asked whether the queen should stand down and hand over to new
monarch percent agreed with the question and only percent thought she
should stay on the throne
newspoll carried out the survey for itv news and quizzed australian adults
over the weekend
is too much sitting as bad as too little exercise
paris jan afp
sitting all day may significantly boost the risk of lifestyle related disease
even if one adds regular dose of moderate or vigorous exercise scientists
said tuesday
the health benefits of pulse quickening physical activity are beyond dispute
it helps ward off cardiovascular disease diabetes and obesity among other
problems
but recent scientific findings also suggest that prolonged bouts of immobility
while resting on one rear end may be independently linked to these same
conditions
sedentary time should be defined as muscular inactivity rather than the absence
of exercise concluded team of swedish researchers
we need to consider that we are dealing with two distinct behaviours and their
effects they reported in the british journal of sports medicine
led by elin ekblom bak of the karolinska institute in stockholm the scientists
proposed new paradigm of inactivity physiology and urged fellow researchers
to rethink the definition of sedentary lifestyle
they point to recent study of australian adults showing that each daily one
hour increase in sitting time while watching television upped the rate of
metabolic syndrome in women by percent regardless of the amount of
moderate to intensive exercise performed
thirty minutes of daily physical exercise decreased the risk by about the same
percentage suggesting that being couch potato can cancel out the benefits of
hitting treadmill or biking for example
metabolic syndrome is defined as the presence of three or more factors including
high blood pressure abdominal obesity high cholesterol or insulin resistance
new research is required to see if there is causal link between being
sedentary and these conditions and if so how it works the researchers said
one candidate is lipoprotein lipase or lpl an enzyme that plays crucial role
in breaking down fat within the body into useable forms
recent research has shown that lpl activity was significantly lower in rats with
restrained muscle activity as low as one tenth of the levels of rats allowed
to walk about
the lpl level during such activity was not significantly different from that of
rats exposed to higher levels of exercise the scientists reported
this stresses the importance of local muscle contraction per se rather than
the intensity of the contraction
these studies suggest that people should not only exercise frequently but avoid
sitting in one place for too long they said
climbing stairs rather than using an elevator taking five minute breaks from
desk job and walking when possible to do errands rather than driving were all
recommended
chinese children sickened by school pressure study
paris jan afp
third of primary schoolchildren in china are suffering from psychological ill
health as result of classroom stress and parental pressure according to
study published on tuesday
the problem is so bad that urgent measures are needed warns the study led by
british and chinese researchers
the investigation surveyed pupils aged nine to in nine schools in urban
and rural zhejiang relatively prosperous coastal province in eastern china
eighty one percent of the youngsters said they worried lot about exams
percent feared being punished by their teacher percent had been physically
bullied at least sometimes with boys likelier to be victims than girls and
percent had been physically punished by their parents
most of the children complained they struggled to cope with the amount of
homework they were assigned
over one third reported headaches or abdominal pains psychosomatic symptoms
of stress at least once week the most stressed children reported incidence
of aches or pains of four times week
the investigation led by therese hesketh professor at university college
london ucl centre for international health and development pointed the finger
at extreme competitiveness in china education system from the onset of
primary school
the competitive and punitive educational environment leads to high levels of
stress and psychosomatic symptoms the authors say
measures to reduce unnecessary stress on children in schools should be
introduced urgently
the paper appears in archives of disease in childhood peer reviewed journal
of the british medical association bma
the urban setting for the study was hangzhou the provincial capital of
zhejiang while the rural setting was poor county in quzhou prefecture in
the west of the province
the study highlights some of the complexities that it says explain the demands
for academic excellence and intolerance of failure
one factor is the country dramatic rise in prosperity which has created
previously unheard off possibilities for upward mobility and in turn stoked
pressures on children to do well at school
other reasons are china one child policy and the confucian traditions of
respect for parents and elders filial piety obedience and discipline
the aspirations of many parents who had limited educational opportunities
themselves are now invested in their only children it says
previous studies on school related stress and its impact on health are few and
generally come from scandinavia
assessment among to year old in sweden found that percent of
boys of percent of girls experienced headache and percent of boys and
percent of girls experienced abdominal pain at least once per week
afp
afp world news service no unauthorized reproduction
herpes drug fails to cut hiv risk study
washington jan afp
widely used treatment for the herpes virus does not reduce the risk of
transmission of hiv aids according to medical study published wednesday after
five year trial
the study showed that people who had both hiv and the virus responsible for the
most common form of herpes hsv did not cut the chance of passing it on by
taking twice daily doses of acyclovir
the research published in the new england journal of medicine online looked at
more than african couples one of each who had hiv and one of whom did
not
there were infections amongst those who took acyclovir and amongst those
given placebo which was not significant difference the study said
five earlier studies had demonstrated it was possible to reduce hiv levels in
the blood and genital tract through treatment for the herpes virus but did not
show if this translated into reduction in hiv transmission it said
up to percent of people with hiv also have an hsv infection but most
people who are infected with the herpes virus are unaware because symptoms can
be mild or absent the study said
several studies showed that frequent herpes recurrences increase the amount of
hiv in the blood and genital tract said the study led by the university of
washington in seattle and funded by the bill and melinda gates foundation
the herpes virus also attracts immune cells called cd cells to the genital
region which hiv uses to establish or pass infection said the study
thirty three americans died in haiti quake us
washington jan afp
the us state department said at least american citizens died in last week
earthquake in haiti in the latest update on us casualties
we have total of confirmed american fatalities so far state department
spokesman philip crowley told reporters
one of those was us government official he added that three us government
officials remain unaccounted for
the state department reported tuesday that at least americans died in the
earthquake most of them dual haitian us nationals
crowley added that the us consular services have files on at least
americans who were on the island at the time of the january quake and have
accounted for roughly of them
that means that we have not yet been able to account for americans for
whom we have information that they were in haiti at the time of the earthquake
he said
but crowley urged reporters not to jump to conclusions adding it is possible
they are sitting in their living rooms
he also said total of americans have departed haiti
crowley said there were an estimated americans living in the caribbean
island nation before the magnitude quake struck
the spokesman said even though washington has files on only little more than
americans on the island it is possible there are tens of thousands more
in haiti
the composition of the american community in haiti includes substantial
number of people who have dual citizenship he said since they have chosen in
many cases to live in haiti they may not have seen need to contact us
football ten goal thriller gets villa to wembley
birmingham england jan afp
aston villa booked their first wembley final appearance in decade after
victory over blackburn rovers in the second leg of their league cup semi final
here on wednesday
victory at villa park saw martin neill men win the tie on aggregate and
they will now face either manchester city or manchester united in the final
but his pre match claim that this was the best villa team their supporters had
seen in years looked hollow as double from nikola kalinic put fellow
premier league side rovers up
but the way in which villa fought back and then just about held their nerve at
the end of this extraordinary match left neill proud of the character his
youthful side had shown
just really pleased for the team which know is cliched old phrase but
really delighted for them neill said
they ve had to fight back whilst the crowd were obviously getting very anxious
and frustrated and they grew up tonight
meanwhile blackburn boss sam allardyce bemoaned what he said was referee martin
atkinson failure to spot shove from gabriel agbonlahor on captain ryan
nelsen that allowed rovers old boy stephen warnock to make it
it bit difficult to take scoring four goals and not getting through to the
final allardyce said
we were in complete control of the game and if anybody is going to score to
make it it us
but then the referee allows blatant foul on ryan nelsen to go unpunished and
at this level you have to make sure the referee gets those decisions right
we are out of cup final because of that decision perhaps
villa endured dreadful opening minutes as they squandered the first leg
advantage james milner had given them in win at ewood park before the tie
swung in their favour with the sending off of rovers christopher samba five
minutes before half time
milner converted the penalty which resulted from samba foul in bringing down
agbonlahor who later diverted in his team mate shot for villa fourth goal
of the game
but blackburn continued to push villa all the way even man down
after kalinic double stephen warnock converted at the far post following
ashley young cross to put villa back into the tie and make amends for his
earlier error that gave rovers such an emphatic start
warnock was at fault at the far post failing to challenge croatia kalinic for
david dunn corner under the crossbar and the rovers striker header struck
warnock on the head before beating american goalkeeper brad guzan
villa were two down before the half hour mark when kalinic started the move
which resulted in him tapping home the rebound after martin olsson header from
morten gamst pedersen cross had been half saved by guzan
villa simply could not get to grips with rovers five man midfield but that all
changed when samba was shown straight red card for his trip on agbonlahor as
the pair chased emile heskey through ball
milner beat paul robinson from the spot before an own goal from steven nzonzi
and further goals from agbonlahor and heskey left villa with seemingly
comfortable lead
at that point they could be forgiven for turning their thoughts to whether they
played manchester united or manchester city but at least rovers demonstrated
some character of their own to push villa close
olsson produced stunning volley from gael givet cross to reduce the deficit
and when brett emerton volley from the edge of the area forced its way through
crowded penalty area there were some nervous moments for villa to endure
but ashley young rounded off the evening with wonderful solo effort running
from half way to beat robinson with curling shot
muslim anger over us military jesus scopes
washington jan afp
muslim groups reacted angrily wednesday after it emerged that the us military in
iraq and afghanistan were using rifle sights inscribed with coded biblical
references
the muslim public affairs council mpac called on us defense secretary robert
gates to immediately withdraw from combat use equipment found to have
inscriptions of biblical references
it followed report from abc television which revealed that michigan based
contractor trijicon had sold up to of the sights to the us military
which were being used in combat
the report said the religious codes referencing passages from the new
testament appeared to be violation of us military rules prohibiting
proselytizing of any religion in iraq or afghanistan
statement posted on the trijicon website said as part of our faith and our
belief in service to our country trijicon has put scripture references on our
products for more than two decades
as long as we have men and women in danger we will continue to do everything
we can to provide them with both state of the art technology and the never
ending support and prayers of grateful nation
the company told abc there was nothing illegal in putting the references on the
gun sights but the mpac protested the moves
having biblical references on military equipment violates the basic ideals and
