adoptions of children from haiti that had been underway before the earthquake
struck week ago
the us government will do all we can to expedite the travel of children who
were in the line for adoption who have legal permanent home guardianship
waiting for them clinton told reporters
we will not let red tape stand in the way of helping those in need but we will
ensure that international adoption procedures to protect children and families
are followed the chief us diplomat said
she said she shared the anxiety of the several hundred americans in the united
states who are worried about the fate of the children they had been in the
process of adopting
we are doing everything possible to locate these children and then expedite
their arrival in our country she said
she added that the state department is heading up joint task force with the
office of homeland security and the department of health and human services to
make sure the adoptions are carried out properly
on tuesday more than haitian orphans landed in the united states and were
immediately taken for medical check ups hospital officials said
their orphanage in port au prince was run by two us sisters from pennsylvania
ali and jaime mcmutrie who campaigned for days to get the group of some
desperate children out of the devastated caribbean nation
wait on healthcare obama tells lawmakers
washington jan afp
us president barack obama wednesday urged democratic senators not to jam
through an ambitious healthcare reform bill but to wait for new republican
lawmaker to take his seat
here one thing know and just want to make sure that this is off the
table the senate certainly shouldn try to jam anything through until scott
brown is seated obama told abc
the people of massachusetts spoke he got to be part of that process
he was speaking just hours after brown defeated democratic candidate martha
coakley in the race to replace the late edward kennedy in the seat us
senate costing obama party its thin vote super majority
the shock defeat in elections for seat held for almost five decades by the
liberal lion kennedy has left the white house reeling year to the day since
obama historic inauguration
israel to remain on eastern border of palestinian state pm
jerusalem jan afp
israel will maintain security presence along the eastern border of future
palestinian state in order to prevent weapons smuggling prime minister benjamin
netanyahu said on wednesday
the ability to proliferate into contiguous areas thousands of rockets and
missiles is something that creates monumental security problem he said at
news conference with foreign reporters in jerusalem
we must ensure that in that entry there is way to stop the infiltration of
weapons
in the case of the future settlement with the palestinians this will require
an israeli presence on the eastern side of the prospective palestinian state
he said refusing to elaborate on the nature of such presence
this was netanyahu first public comment since coming to power last year on the
issue of borders of future palestinian state and comes amid intensive us
efforts to restart the peace negotiations which were suspended year ago
israel has in recent years struggled to deal with the issue of thousands of
rockets fired from the hamas ruled gaza strip and from southern lebanon
and despite two massive military offensives both hamas and the lebanese
hezbollah militia continue to hold thousands of projectiles most of which have
been smuggled into the territories in recent years
based on recent experience we can afford to have that replicate third
time we have to have something to interdict the flow of weapons netanyahu
said
berlin film fest unveils star packed line up
berlin jan afp
new movies starring ben stiller julianne moore gerard depardieu jessica alba
and james franco will headline the th berlin film festival next month
organisers said wednesday
following the announcement of fresh releases by roman polanski and martin
scorsese at this year event the berlinale said in statement it had nearly
completed the selection of films for its main programme
the festival which will kick off february with chinese film maker wang
quan an apart together tuan yuan will also see the world premiere of
greenberg by us indie star noah baumbach the squid and the whale
in it stiller leads cast including jennifer jason leigh and rhys ifans and
plays new yorker who flees to los angeles to work through life crisis
moore and annette bening star in lisa cholodenko us french production the
kids are alright about two children born as result of artificial insemination
who seek out their biological father
provocative british director michael winterbottom favourite on the festival
circuit will screen the killer inside me with alba casey affleck and kate
hudson in the story of texas sheriff dark secret
winterbottom clinched berlin coveted golden bear top prize in for his
refugees drama in this world the killer inside me will screen out of
competition
depardieu is expected in the german capital for the world premiere of the
competition film mammuth by benoit delepine co starring isabelle adjani
rob epstein director of the acclaimed documentary the times of harvey
milk will present the competition entry howl starring franco as the beat
poet allen ginsberg
catherine keener amanda peet and rebecca hall lead the cast of please give by
us film maker nicole holofcener friends with money about real estate wars in
new york it will screen out of competition
the festival will throwing the spotlight on asian cinema this year with wang
apart together as the opener and about her brother otouto by japanese
master yoji yamada bringing down the curtain on the event
chinese veteran zhang yimou hero will present woman gun and noodle
shop while koji wakamatsu of japan will premiere caterpillar
another picture sure to attract crowds is german director oskar roehler jud
suess about the making of the notorious nazi era anti semitic film of the same
name
the new film stars moritz bleibtreu as hitler propaganda chief joseph
goebbels
the berlinale ranks second after cannes among europe top film festivals its
golden and silver bear top prizes will be awarded at gala ceremony on february
before the event closes the next day
polanski who is awaiting possible extradition to the united states on charges
of unlawful sex with year old girl has been completing the berlin
competition entry the ghost writer while under house arrest in switzerland
the picture stars ewan mcgregor and pierce brosnan are awaited in berlin
alongside leonardo dicaprio with scorsese new thriller shutter island and
bollywood heartthrob shah rukh khan appearing in my name is khan
football nigeria lose yobo for two weeks
lubango angola jan afp
everton defender joseph yobo was ruled out for two weeks on wednesday after
suffering hamstring injury against benin in an africa cup of nations match at
the weekend
the result of the scan is that yobo will be out for two weeks he has rejoined
the team but he is very unlikely to take any further part in the nations cup
said nigeria football federation nff official taiwo ogunjobi
yobo tore his hamstring as he tackled benin striker razak omotoyossi early
in the second half of their group match in benguela
nice defender onyekachi apam replaced yobo in wednesday victory over
mozambique which qualified nigeria for the quarter finals of the tournament
bank of america morgan stanley results disappoint
washington jan afp
deeper than expected losses reported wednesday by bank of america and morgan
stanley dampened the mood for banking sector struggling to get out from
bailouts and the financial crisis
wells fargo topped expectations for profits although analysts said the overall
banking sector appeared to be still hampered by difficult economic conditions
bank of america the largest us bank by assets posted loss of million
dollars in the fourth quarter of but repayments of government aid boosted
the loss for shareholders to billion dollars
for all of the bank listed profit of billion dollars but for
shareholders the results were loss of billion dollar
bank of america results were affected by charge of billion dollars to
repay the us government for its capital aid under the troubled asset relief
program tarp massive effort to stabilize the banking system
while it disappointing to report loss for the fourth quarter there were
number of important accomplishments worth noting said bank of america chief
executive brian moynihan
first we repaid the american taxpayer with interest for the tarp investment
second we have taken steps to strengthen our balance sheet through successful
securities offerings and third all of our non credit businesses recorded
positive contributions to our results
moynihan added that the bank was encouraged by signs the economy is improving
but noted that conditions remain fragile and we expect high unemployment levels
to continue creating an ongoing drag on consumer spending and growth
analysts at deutsche bank called the bank of america results lumpy and cited
disappointments in areas such as fee income
morgan stanley meanwhile reported profit of million dollars in the fourth
quarter but little was left for shareholders of the investment giant that was
rescued by an infusion from japan mitsubishi ufj financial group
the profit applicable to common shareholders was million dollars in the
quarter
for all of the posted profit was billion dollars but shareholders
suffered loss of million dollars
morgan stanley chief executive and president james gorman said he was
confident that the bank would improve its position further as the economy
recovered from the worst recession in decades
while the environment remains extremely fluid we are confident the steps we
have taken this year will ensure that morgan stanley remains well positioned to
serve our clients seize new opportunities in the markets and deliver superior
returns to our shareholders in the years ahead he said
gorman along with chairman john mack agreed to forgo bonuses for due to
the sector woes
joe weisenthal analyst at the financial website clusterstock said the results
followed pattern set by jpmorgan chase and citigroup which reported losses
for their lending operations offset by gains in other areas such as trading and
investment banking
the losses are raising concerns about the impact of credit problems on the
economic recovery he said
another major bank wells fargo posted net income of billion dollars in
the fourth quarter on record revenue of billion dollars
for the full year wells fargo said it had net profit of billion dollars on
record revenue of billion dollars
the results partly reflected the california based bank takeover of wachovia in
december making wells fargo the fourth largest us bank by assets the bank
said it had trillion dollars in assets at the end of
most major banks have repaid the government tarp injections although
citigroup has converted some of that to common stock leaving the treasury with
major stake
bank of america which weathered the financial crisis with billion dollars in
government aid after it absorbed troubled brokerage merrill lynch and home
lender countrywide financial said results were hurt by high credit costs
offset in part by gains in investment banking and trading
the group repaid the entire tarp injection in december after raising fresh
capital in the markets
wells fargo repaid billion dollars in us capital in december
according to treasury officials about billion dollars was pumped into
banks under the rescue plans
curfew relaxed in nigeria violence wracked city official
lagos jan afp
authorities in nigeria central city of jos where muslim christian clashes left
nearly dead on wednesday relaxed curfew imposed on the city senior
government official said
the hour curfew has now been relaxed it will now run from gmt
to gmt the director general of the plateau state information
ministry ezekiel dalyop told afp by phone from jos
the government decided to relax the curfew due to the relative calm and peace
that have returned to jos and to enable people to move about to get food and
water he stated
another director in the same ministry philomena shilong also confirmed the
relaxation of the curfew
the government on tuesday imposed the hour curfew on jos and bukuru small
town on the fringes of jos following the resumption of violence in parts of the
city the state information commissioner gregory yenlong had told afp
dalyop said that government has imposed temporary ban on the operation of
motorcycle taxis popularly called okada in jos and its environs
the ban on okada is imposed to reduce the crime rate because of the
involvement of these motorcyclists in crime he added
fighting first erupted on sunday when christian youths protested the building of
mosque in christian majority area of jos nigeria th largest city which
has population of
houses churches mosques and vehicles were set ablaze in three days of
fighting
us troops on watch amid haiti looting
port au prince jan afp
us troops early wednesday patrolled streets in the business district of haiti
quake ravaged capital ignoring looters picking through the ruins for valuables
afp journalists witnessed
dozen heavily armed troops with the nd airborne division moved across the
area on foot
when they caught glipse of the us troops some haitians reacted with surprise
and stopped combing through the rubble of businesses for food or valuables to
sell
others were oblivious to the americans patrol and just kept looting
the soldiers did not react to the chaotic scenes and kept on marching through
the streets
tuesday us forces arrived in the downtown area of the capital flattened in
many areas by major earthquake january they took up positions at the quake
damaged national palace and the general hospital
us sending more troops to haiti official
washington jan afp
the united states is sending an extra troops to quake devastated haiti
diverting them from scheduled deployments to europe and the middle east
officials said wednesday
more than sailors and marines received orders jan to deploy to
haiti to conduct humanitarian assistance disaster response ha dr missions
statement from the us second fleet said
admiral michael mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff made the
decision to divert the troops based on continuing urgent needs in the haiti
relief effort it said
the move to redeploy thousands of troops from the nassau amphibious ready group
and the th marine expeditionary unit came as haitians scrambled for food
water and medical care eight days after devastating earthquake
the amphibious group left norfolk virginia on monday for its original
deployment but was ordered to proceed to haiti after taking on more marines in
north carolina
the move takes the total number of us troops due to be helping out in haiti in
coming days above
the arg meu will provide an array of helicopter and amphibious landing craft
assets significantly increasing the ability to quickly provide relief supplies
where they are most needed the second fleet said
in addition the marines assigned to meu will be able to provide an
additional force capable of providing secure environment for the ongoing
relief efforts ashore in haiti
violence is threatening to boil over in the capital port au prince as hundreds
of thousands of survivors grow increasingly desperate for aid
the magnitude quake which struck on january leveled the capital port
au prince and surrounding towns and villages in western haiti killing at least
people and perhaps as many as
the latest deployment was to be supported by the uss nassau multipurpose
amphibious assault ship the uss mesa verde amphibious transport dock and the
uss ashland amphibious dock landing ship
they will bring the total number of us navy and military sealift command vessels
participating in the relief effort to
eight days after the quake us military officials leading the relief effort say
they are shifting the focus from tracking down survivors buried in the rubble
towards recovering bodies and starting to rebuild the devastated nation
formula one spin king rossi happy with ferrari test
rome jan afp
moto gp world champion valentino rossi survived pair of early spins in the wet
to complete laps in ferrari at the circuit de catalunya in barcelona
on wednesday
the year old nine time world champion will continue testing for the italian
constructor on thursday
it was the sixth time rossi has tested for ferrari but the first since
he completed only two laps in the morning during wet weather spinning twice in
the process
but he then drove more than kilometres
happy it was good test although it was wet in the morning and without
grip had some problems he said
fortunately it dried off in the afternoon could use the slicks and improve
my lap times
rossi best lap was min sec the lap record is min set by kimi
raikkonen in in the same car
urgent wait on healthcare obama tells lawmakers
washington jan afp
us president barack obama wednesday urged democratic senators not to jam
through an ambitious healthcare reform bill but to wait for new republican
lawmaker to take his seat
athletics gebrselassie to race in new york half marathon
new york jan afp
ethiopia haile gebrselassie the marathon world record holder and two time
olympic meter champion will race in the new york half marathon in march
race organizers announced wednesday
the year old long distance legend last competed in us event in when
he won the new york half marathon in race record minutes seconds
gebrselassie will seek dollar top prize in the dollar event
very excited about going back to new york gebrselassie said got
such warm welcome when ran the half marathon in sure it will be
wonderful event again and looking forward to it
gebrselassie who set the world marathon record of at the berlin
marathon will try to win his third consecutive dubai marathon title on friday
he has also won four times at berlin as well as in amsterdam in and
fukuoka japan in
over the mile half marathon distance gebrselassie has won nine of
career starts
rugbyu injury statistics worry players chief
london jan afp
rugby players association chief executive damian hopley said on wednesday that
statistics showing rising number of injuries in the english premiership had
raised alarm bells
figures in the england rugby injury and training audit released by the rugby
football union rfu found injuries were recorded by premiership clubs
during the season an increase of or percent on the
season
this is the first year the annual audit has reported an increase in the number
of injuries since it was established in
my worry is what happens to players long term hopley said
of course there concern about injuries any spike in statistics raises
alarm bells the former england back added
the survey found rise in the number of hamstring and knee ligament injuries
while concerns were expressed about the number of injury induced retirements
the findings reinforce the requirement for further research into acceptable
levels of workload and demands made of rugby players by the modern elite game
said hopley
meanwhile phil winstanley rugby director at premier rugby has urged the
international rugby board irb to get other nations to compile similar surveys
to discover if there are global injury trends
it absolutely essential that we work with the irb and other unions to create
and compile more data said winstanley
we saw in the early part of the summer with the number of injuries in wales
that this is not just an english problem it affects other parts of the world as
well
the problem at the moment is that we don have the data to make that
comparison he said
it essential that we understand the scale of injuries across the world
rugbyu injury statistics worry players chief
london jan afp
rugby players association chief executive damian hopley said on wednesday that
statistics showing rising number of injuries in the english premiership had
raised alarm bells
figures in the england rugby injury and training audit released by the rugby
football union rfu found injuries were recorded by premiership clubs
during the season an increase of or percent on the
season
this is the first year the annual audit has reported an increase in the number
of injuries since it was established in
my worry is what happens to players long term hopley said
of course there concern about injuries any spike in statistics raises
alarm bells the former england back added
the survey found rise in the number of hamstring and knee ligament injuries
while concerns were expressed about the number of injury induced retirements
the findings reinforce the requirement for further research into acceptable
levels of workload and demands made of rugby players by the modern elite game
said hopley
meanwhile phil winstanley rugby director at premier rugby has urged the
international rugby board irb to get other nations to compile similar surveys
to discover if there are global injury trends
it absolutely essential that we work with the irb and other unions to create
and compile more data said winstanley
we saw in the early part of the summer with the number of injuries in wales
that this is not just an english problem it affects other parts of the world as
well
the problem at the moment is that we don have the data to make that
comparison he said
it essential that we understand the scale of injuries across the world
imf chief urges marshall plan for ravaged haiti
washington jan afp
imf chief dominique strauss kahn on wednesday called for multilateral aid plan
for earthquake ravaged haiti like the us marshall plan that rebuilt europe
after world war ii
my belief is that haiti which has been incredibly hit by different things
the food and fuel prices crisis then the hurricane then the earthquake
needs something that is big the managing director of the washington based
international monetary fund said
not only piecemeal approach but something which is much bigger to deal with
the reconstruction of the country some kind of marshall plan that we need
now to implement for haiti he said referring to the us initiative launched in
to rebuild war ravaged western europe
the international community is gearing up for coordinated drive to help
rebuild the poorest country in the western hemisphere even as the primary focus
remains on rescue and relief efforts after the massive magnitude earthquake
on january
officials fear as many as people were killed in the quake that reduced
most of the haitian capital port au prince to rubble and impacted an estimated
three million people one third of the population
haitian officials said tuesday that people were injured and million
were left homeless
the urgency today is to save the people the urgency in some weeks will be
the reconstruction strauss kahn said
the imf last thursday promised an interest free loan of million dollars in
initial emergency funds to the haitian government to support essential
activities and finance urgent imports
the imf loan has drawn criticism for adding to the debt burden of haiti the
poorest country in the western hemisphere
the most important thing is that the imf is now working with all donors to try
to delete all the haitian debt including our new loan the former french
socialist finance minister said
strauss kahn recalled that the imf had no immediate way to make grant
if we succeed and sure we will succeed even this loan will turn out
to be finally grant because all the debt will have been deleted and that
the very important thing for haiti now
the imf and the world bank classify haiti among heavily indebted poor
countries eligible for debt forgiveness the caribbean nation was granted
billion dollars in debt relief last june
more than billion dollars has been pledged in aid funding for haiti
according to united nations data and the idea of marshall plan appeared to
be gaining traction
denis brien head of irish telecommunications firm digicel and haiti biggest
foreign investor said recently that he was working alongside former us
president bill clinton on such plan to rebuild quake ravaged haiti
obviously we need foreign direct investment but on wider front we need
marshall plan brien said
canada will host donors conference monday in montreal to discuss haiti
reconstruction efforts and prepare for donors meeting in march
the donors summit to help the former french colony had been proposed by french
president nicolas sarkozy who will also deliver the opening address at the th
annual meeting of the world economic forum wef next week in davos
switzerland
organizers said the haitian crisis would be major theme at the five day
meeting opening wednesday expect to draw leaders from more than
countries including clinton
we want to use davos to solicit commitments of our partners members and
constituents in the form of practical help for relief of the continued pain of
haiti people and particularly for the reconstruction of haiti klaus schwab
wef founder and executive chairman said wednesday
we hope that we can present major common effort to the world community
showing true corporate global citizenship in davos he said
the rebuilding of haiti which already was in dire straits before the horrific
earthquake poses tough challenges not least notoriously weak rule of law
that could result in wasted aid dollars
the caribbean nation ranks among the top most corrupt countries in the world
according to transparency international
football egypt continue perfect cup campaign nigeria qualify
luanda jan afp
egypt maintained their faultless africa cup of nations title defence and world
cup qualifiers nigeria became the latest team to progress to the quarter finals
in angola on wednesday
egypt had already assured their last eight ticket but finished the first round
with win over benin in benguela to top group with maximum nine points
they are the only one of the cup contenders not to shed point in the
opening fortnight
egypt who missed out on ticket to south africa in last november stormy
play off with algeria continued their seemingly charmed path with goals from
ahmed al mohammadi and emad motaeb earning them last eight date against the
group runners up cameroon tunisia or gabon on monday
for all the pre competition hype promoting ivory coast as favourites it is the
six time champions who have put up faultless first round display
this latest win stretched their record unbeaten run in the africa cup of nations
to while the game was also personal milestone for skipper ahmed hassan who
won his th cap to tie the egyptian record for most international appearances
despite the scoreline egypt assistant coach shawki gharib insisted the winning
margin should have been more decisive
and he added we are here to defend our crown as champions of africa all the
games here are tough but we are here to fight and in the end succeed this is
feeling shared by the entire team
benin coach michel dessuyer said his team have learned lessons in angola
we were unlucky not to make the impact we had hoped for here we have taken
some lessons from this experience and we will continue to work hard for us to do
far better next time said the french coach
in lubango double either side of the break from russia based osaze odemwingie
and late contribution from substitute obafemi martins earned nigeria
comfortable win over mozambique
the super eagles now progress to quarter final tie against the winners of
group
they join ivory coast angola algeria ghana and the egyptians in the next
stage with the final two places to be decided on thursday with the final batch
of group games
odenwingie said happy for the team we had lot of pressure on us but
since the start of the competition we have made daily progress from the
goalkeepers to the strikers
under fire nigeria coach shuaibu amodu added my job is to do good can
can avoid the critics happy that the boys were able to deliver the goods
as for our next rivals let me enjoy this victory today before speaking about
cameroon or any other team
mozambique coach maart nooij commented can be disappointed my players
gave everything they had to give we arrived here with our heads held high and
we re leaving with our heads held high
on thursday draw against zambia will secure last eight appearance for gabon
while world cup bound cameroon will join them with win over champions
tunisia
all clear at munich airport after security alert police
berlin jan afp
german police gave the all clear at munich airport on wednesday after security
alert sparked by man running away from security check when his laptop tested
positive for possible explosives
police spokesman albert poerschke said that the passenger who has still not
been identified was most likely businessman in hurry to catch his flight
who was unaware that security personnel wanted to check inside his laptop bag
the man who took his computer with him was still at large
although the facts were not too clear it was decided to take strong measures
poerschke said
we wanted to rule out anyone being endangered
an explosives scanner at the german airport alerted personnel as the man went
through security at around pm gmt but instead of stopping he ran
into restricted area police said
the fourth floor of the airport terminal two used for flights within germany
and europe passport free schengen area was evacuated and all docked planes
were stopped
