added
top interior ministry official michel pinauldt also told reporters that
contrary to what one might think the existing government is not absent from
managing the disaster
while he acknowledged the government was very disorganized in the aftermath of
the earthquake generally speaking cooperation with countries and
organizations working in haiti is good he said
it true we could improve however on coordinating the effort pinauldt
said
on the problem of getting the tons of the humanitarian aid out of the congested
main airport to his citizens preval acknowledged coordination is the most
pressing issue today and insisted that relief would get through
also responding to criticism on the lack of government visibility on the streets
of the destroyed capital the president maintained that working to organize the
rescue and aid operation was their most important mission
football jo joins neill at galatasaray
london jan afp
brazil striker jo has joined turkish club galatasaray on loan until the end of
this season it was announced thursday
jo was on season long loan from manchester city to their premier league rivals
everton where he scored seven goals in appearances during two spells at
goodison park but the merseysiders confirmed that deal had been cut short
he did not endear himself to manager david moyes by returning to brazil earlier
this month without the everton boss permission and club statement said
season long loan deal for the player had been agreed between everton and
manchester city in the summer but this has been cut short
earlier this month david moyes revealed that jo had been suspended by the club
for returning to brazil without permission that sanction proved temporary but
jo association with everton has now ended the statement added
jo joined australia defender lucas neill in leaving everton for galatasaray
neill only arrived at everton in the close season but left goodison park in
transfer reported to be worth pounds million dollars
jo came to city from russian side cska moscow in july for fee of around
million pounds million dollars
but the year old did not become regular at eastlands hence his loan spells
with everton
statement on galatasaray official website said our club have agreed to
sign brazilian joao alves de assis silva jo full name on loan until the end
of the season from english premier league team manchester city
he is welcome and we wish him success in the yellow and red jersey
nfl favre jets try to turn back time saints colts fancied
washington jan afp
brett favre tries to lift the minnesota vikings to their first super bowl since
on sunday by beating new orleans while the new york jets try to end
year hex and oust indianapolis
top seeded hosts new orleans and indianapolis are favored in the national
football league playoff semi final showdowns both to be staged in domed
stadiums the winners meet in super bowl on february in suburban miami
not since have the top seeds from each conference advanced to american
football championship spectacle opening the door for favre at to turn
back the clock once more or the upstart jets to shock the colts
favre the nfl all time passing leader is making his fifth conference finals
appearance in seasons having twice reached the super bowl with his lone
championship coming with green bay in
hope the little experience have in these games will help some favre said
that not to say don get nervous and stressed and all those things but
try to keep not only myself but the other guys calm and relaxed
it ok to be excited but especially in an environment like we re going to
face it important to be able to focus these games they re tough anyway
but they re really tough on the road because of the noise
the colts seek their second super bowl title in four years triumph over
chicago the only time the club has reached the big game since moving from
baltimore in
the jets reached their only super bowl appearance in upsetting the colts
the vikings whose super bowl record matches buffalo for the all time
futility mark are one victory from their first super bowl appearance in
years the goal favre set when he returned from second retirement to play
he looks like kid out there having fun but he has been very effective
saints quarterback drew brees said he one of the best of all time
favre retired from green bay but returned to join the jets last season then
retired only to change his mind again for another run with minnesota
guess ve played so long that kind of have to re justify that was
actually pretty good player at one time favre said
as you get older you appreciate it more since you ve been there you know how
difficult it is to get back
the saints who have never reached the super bowl have the nfl most potent
scoring attack sparked by brees and rusher reggie bush whose celebrity
girlfriend kim kardashian said they might get engaged if the saints win it all
the only ring thinking about is championship ring bush said
but minnesota led the nfl in quarterback sacks and defensive end jared allen
takes his motivation from violent bar bouncer in the film road house
he just goes in there and kicks the crap out of everybody allen said mean
if you can get inspired by patrick swayze you just better give it up
peyton manning guides the colts against the nfl top defense
he was among the starters benched in the third quarter against the jets last
month when the colts lost to new york dooming bid for perfect season after
start
everybody realizes the opportunity and what at stake manning said
everybody wants good week of preparation to put ourselves in the best
position on sunday
the colts won an nfl record seven games this season with comebacks in the fourth
quarter and led the league by converting on percent of third downs
testament to manning calm under pressure
compare him to conductor in an orchestra jets defensive tackle sione
pouha said he knows when to call for the trumpets the violins and the cymbals
and when to bring them all in one accord
but the jets plan to pressure manning who was sacked league low times this
season
you can let him sit back there and get his feet planted and throw with ease
said jets linebacker calvin pace
we need to get him off his spot little bit give him couple of different
looks that he hasn seen
golf heavy rains in desert wash out us pga play
la quinta california jan afp
heavy rains that have struck southern california for days washed out the second
round of the hole bob hope classic on thursday with officials pushing it
back to friday
more than an inch of rain fell upon the desert region making an unplayable mess
of the four courses used in the five day five million dollar tournament water
pooled upon greens and swamped fairways across the usually dry area
propsects are not much better on friday however with forecasters predicting
percent chance of showers
more than two inches of rain have fallen on the area this week to make this the
first time in years that bobe hope round was postponed or halted by rain
the final round was played day late in
american shane bertsch fired bogey free under par on wednesday to seize
two stroke lead after the opening round
immigration must be priority issue in eu turkey ties france
madrid jan afp
the fight against illegal immigration must become priority issue in the
european union ties with turkey an eu candidate country french immigration
minister eric besson said thursday
this topic clearly must become priority issue in the relations between the
european union and turkey he told news conference at an informal meeting of
interior ministers from the nation bloc
the situation in the aegean sea has become intolerable the greeks are under an
intolerable pressure turkey has clearly become transit country and we need it
to play the game he added
turkey is considered the main transit country for illegal immigrants from asia
they arrive on the turkish coast and from there make their way to the greek
islands the gateway to the european union
the eu has pushed turkey to crack down on the organised people smuggling rings
and agree to take back the illegal immigrants who departed from its territory
besson said the eu must make the issue priority in its eu entry talks with
turkey
eu officials will raise the topic with their turkish counterparts at meeting
on february in ankara the eu outgoing justice and security commissioner
jacques barrot said
it would be mistake to stigmatise turkey he told afp in an interview
turkey must be considered as an important partner it has role to play in the
region and we must let it decide what kind of relationship it has with the eu
he added
in any case we must open the possibility of very strong partnership with
turkey
football zambia cameroon complete angola last eight line up
luanda jan afp
zambia belied their lowly world ranking to emerge as surprise group winners
ahead of continental giants cameroon as the africa cup of nations first round
came to nerve jangling climax on thursday
with superb win over gabon zambia jumped from bottom to top of their
mini league to earn quarter final date with nigeria
world cup qualifiers cameroon had to come from behind to draw with tunisia
result that left them second in the table and facing defending champions egypt
in re run of the final in ghana
for tunisia and gabon who had shocked cameroon in the opening game it meant
the end of the road in angola
zambia who just sneak in to fifa top in th place burst out of the
blocks in benguela intent on bagging the three points that would see them
derail highrollers gabon
goals in either half from rainford kalaba and the chinese based james chamanga
earned herve renard men their first quarter final berth in years
but they had to survive nervous final eight minutes after gabon captain and
hull city striker daniel cousin floated the ball into substitute fabrice do
marcolino to shoot past keeper ebang ovono to give them hope
renard said when we came to angola we said we will qualify for the quarter
finals but people were laughing at us against nigeria our target is to reach
the semi final
zambia skipper chris katongo added it great moment for me as captain to
reach the knockout stage of the nations cup we have achieved something broken
the barrier which lot of people thought was impossible
cousin cut sad figure after the shock result saying we thought we had
qualified but after short while we received the news that we did not
we started well against cameroon in their first match but whatever happened
happened
in lubango cameroon required solitary point to ensure they didn become the
only one of the five world cup qualifiers here not to make it out of the first
round
saudi arabia based striker amine chermiti put tunisia into second lead
cameroon levelled in the opening minute of the second half via samuel eto but
tunisia regained the lead on minutes with aurelien chedjou own goal
in topsy turvy encounter cameroon equalised inside seconds with celtic
midfielder landy nguemo on target only for landry nguemo to earn tunisia an
ultimately meaningless point
there was confusion after the simultaneous games ended with angolan television
not alone in placing cameroon top of the table but competition organisers later
confirmed that honour went to zambia on complex calculation that would have
tested einstein
there is now two day break before sunday quarter finals pitting hosts angola
against ghana and algeria against pre tournament favourites ivory coast
mass relocation for haiti homeless
port au prince jan afp
haitian officials launched thursday huge operation to move hundreds of
thousands of homeless outside the ruined capital as medics worked feverishly to
treat the countless injured
in bid to house an estimated left destitute by the january quake
the haitian government said it was seeking to relocate them out of squalid
stinking tent cities into accommodation outside port au prince
the government has made available to people free transportation large
operation is taking place we re in the process of relocating homeless people
said interior minister paul antoine bien aime
the government was paying some buses to take quake victims to the south and
north of the caribbean nation to hastily set up villages designed to hold
people each and was working with local mayors to identify sites
us troops were also moving to clear the main port in the devastated capital
hoping to re open it on friday and start massive distribution of aid across
the country four airports were also being used to ferry in supplies
nine days after the magnitude quake rescue teams from around the world were
still combing the debris for survivors in and around port au prince after two
children were miraculously found alive on wednesday
but those pulled from the rubble still face desperate fight for life
tens of thousands remain seriously wounded in makeshift field hospitals set up
in tents on the ruins of the ravaged capital and gangrene has already begun to
eat its way through many wounds in the tropical heat
international doctors working in miserable conditions lacking supplies and
modern equipment have carried out scores of amputations to save victims with
serious crush wounds or repair internal injuries
but life also goes on it breech birth can do breech one aid
worker wailed on bbc television outside damaged hospital as staff rushed to
help haitian woman in agony as she went into labor
bed capacity us naval hospital ship is moored off haiti with about
medical personnel and has begun taking the worst of the injured
the international organization for migration estimated thursday that at least
half million people are now living outdoors in improvised camps and warned
the number was climbing as people flooded in from damaged villages
the spirits of exhausted rescue teams were raised on wednesday when five year
old boy was found in the wreckage of his home and neighbors dragged out an
year old girl in another part of the city
the girl mendji bahina sanon was taken to french run field hospital in the
capital clearly traumatized by her nightmarish ordeal crying out don leave
me mama
thousands of us troops have poured into haiti and as many as are
expected on the ground other nations have pledged security forces to help
distribute aid provide medical treatment and try to keep the streets secure
from looters and gangs
the world bank said it was waiving haiti debt payments for the next five years
due to the devastation and was studying efforts to cancel the nation remaining
debt of about million dollars
street in the capital was shut down thursday to allow hundreds of haitians to
make deposits and withdraw money from an impromptu teller set up by the central
bank of haiti brh
don have any more cash and can borrow money from my friends because
they are in the same situation said renee lafortune nurse
prices have soared on the streets amid general shortages anyone who managed to
stash extra food petrol or cigarettes can now get rich quick
had several cans of gasoline at home for factory on my property and have
been selling them little by little said ludovic it haitian gourdes no
haggling he said pricing can at twice what it fetched before
meanwhile meeting of government ministers was interrupted by magnitude
aftershock the latest in series of tremors in recent days that have tested
the shattered nerves of survivors
it is difficult to work as before but we re on course to regain control
president rene preval told reporters
world powers will discuss plans to rebuild the country at major donor
conference on monday in montreal and the un has unveiled program to provide
some jobs for haitians mainly in rubble clearing and reconstruction
countries around the world are also fast tracking adoption processes to allow
hundreds of haitian children to be settled abroad amid criticism that moving
too fast could split up haitian families for good
airbus needs extra billion euros report
paris jan afp
the airbus military aircraft programme needs an extra billion euros
billion dollars french news website reported on thursday ahead of
scheduled crucial talks on the troubled project
citing source close to the negotiations latribune fr said airbus parent group
eads european aeronautic defence and space company was ready to pay
million euros of the extra cost for the multi billion euro programme
at meeting in berlin with partners in the airbus management told them
according to source close to the talks that it was ready to pay million
euros out of the billion in extra costs the report said
contacted by afp eads declined to comment on the report
representatives from seven cash strapped nato powers were set to reconvene in
berlin on friday for second day of talks aimed at finding way forward for
the heavily delayed and over budget programme
previous reports said may need as much as billion euros more
airbus boeing arch rival owned by aerospace giant eads has threatened to
pull the plug unless the seven countries germany france spain britain
belgium luxembourg and turkey stump up more cash
ireland police launch probe into leader wife
belfast jan afp
police have started probe into allegations that the politician wife of
northern ireland first minister peter robinson accepted donation to fund her
lover business spokesman said thursday
bbc report alleged that iris robinson secured pounds dollars
euros from two developers to enable her year old lover to set up
restaurant
statement said police can confirm that criminal investigation has been
launched into allegations made in bbc spotlight programme broadcast on
january
the investigation will seek to establish whether any criminal offence has been
committed by iris robinson mp and by any other person referred to in the
programme
police in belfast said their organised crime branch which specialises in
financial investigations would establish whether any criminal offence had been
committed
statement said the investigation will be conducted in thorough and
professional manner as expeditiously as possible
iris robinson has resigned her seats in the belfast assembly and her seat
in the british parliament in the wake of the allegations
her affair and her alleged business dealings led to her husband stepping down as
the british province leader for six weeks to investigate the claims
but he has said he could be back in full charge by early february as his
protestant democratic unionist party try to thrash out deal on the tense issue
of policing with their roman catholic power sharing partners sinn fein
robinson has said his wife is receiving psychiatric treatment
turkish court scraps law curbing military courts
ankara jan afp
turkey constitutional court said thursday it had annulled law aimed at
curbing the powers of military courts that had fanned tensions between the army
and the islamist rooted government
the statement posted on the court website did not detail on what grounds the
ruling was made
but legal experts had slammed the law for being technically flawed and
contradicting constitutional provisions after the governing justice and
development party akp the moderate offshoot of now banned islamist
movement rushed it through parliament in june without prior public debate
the party argued that limiting the powers of military courts was requirement
in turkey bid to join the european union
the bill would have allowed civilian courts to try military personnel in peace
time for attempts to topple the government and offences related to national
security and organised crime
the legislation came atop simmering tensions over allegations of military plots
to orchestrate political unrest and unseat the akp which turkey army backed
secularists accuse of seeking to undermine the country secular system
the main opposition party which asked the court to scrap the law charged that
the akp covert objective in adopting the law was to sideline military justice
and influence already controversial probes targeting retired and acting
officers
major case expected to be thwarted by the ruling is related to an
unprecedented search by judicial authorities of the headquarters of the army
special forces where documents classified as state secrets are stored
the search last month came after two soldiers were detained in deputy prime
minister bulent arinc neighbourhood in what pro government media have
described as preparations for an assassination attempt
the opposition however saw the incident as plot to discredit the army
the turkish military seen as the guardian of turkey secular system has
ousted four government since and often clashed with the akp
last month the chief of staff decried psychological campaign to smear the
army and voiced concern over possible confrontation between institutions
following series of allegations of military plots against the akp carried
mostly by pro government media
olympics cash crisis could stop brits going to vancouver
london jan afp
british olympic chiefs are involved in race against time to prevent the
national ski and snowboard federation going bust before next month winter
games in vancouver
the british ski and snowboard federation which trades as snowsport gb needs
pounds dollars cash injection to keep operating
their financial problems have led to fears that snowboarder zoe gillings and
skier chemmy alcott two of britain leading medal hopes in country that has
had rarely enjoyed sporting success on the slopes won be able to compete in
canada if the federation were to enter administration
however british olympic association boa chief executive andy hunt said
thursday we are fully aware of the situation and have been briefed on the
steps being taken by snowsport gb to remedy the financial shortfall
the boa absolute priority is to do everything possible to ensure that the
athletes are able to compete in the vancouver games as members of team gb
we have developed contingency plan and should it become necessary to do so
will submit it to our board for consideration
we are in communication with the relevant team leaders and officials to
reassure them that we are monitoring the situation closely and are doing
everything we can to support them
federation chairman oliver jones told thursday edition of the times that the
global economic crisis had hit his organisation hard
administration is only one of number of outcomes which may come out of this
he said the federation has had particularly difficult year made worse by
the economic background
as winter sports federation we have seen our funding substantially curtailed
in recent years and we have become increasingly dependent on more private
funding
he added know we are living through extremely tough times but find it
extraordinary that we have not been able to raise the pounds we need it
is not too late for someone in the british government to think again
but the goverrnment said it was not their job to bail out the sport
sports governing bodies are independent of government and with that
independence comes responsibility for managing their own finances said
spokesman for the department of culture media and sport
it would send out entirely the wrong message about the need for good governance
across sport if government intervened with public money every time governing
body was in financial difficulties
we hope that snowsport gb can resolve its current problems and we and funding
agency uk sport are working with the british olympic association and the sport
to do everything we can to ensure our elite skiers and snowboarders can compete
in vancouver
orthodox jew headgear sparked plane bomb scare source
new york jan afp
an orthodox jew prayer rituals including strapping small sacred box to his
head triggered bomb scare thursday aboard us passenger plane
the seat chautauqua airlines jet bound from new york to louisville kentucky
diverted to philadelphia international airport after what authorities described
as security incident caused by disruptive passenger
the passenger sparked alarm when he strapped on phylactery or teffilin box
containing bible verses that orthodox jews strap around their head and arm when
praying
it appears that it was misunderstanding with religious passenger wearing
religious item and praying loudly an air transport security official told afp
the flight crew deemed guess his actions and his item he was using to be
suspicious and diverted the airplane the security official said asking not to
be identified
the false alert reflected jitters through the us travel network since an alleged
attempt by nigerian man to set off bomb on december on northwest
airlines plane bound from amsterdam to detroit
newark international airport was paralyzed earlier this month when man made an
unauthorized entry into secure zone just to give departing passenger
last kiss it turned out
another security scare occurred at california airport when transportation
security administration tsa agents found suspicious liquids on passenger
the substance was later found to be honey
greg soule spokesman for the tsa said the passenger in thursday incident was
questioned by law enforcement officers on the ground and that the plane was
searched with negative findings
an fbi spokesman in philadelphia said security team was dispatched to the
airport however after questioning the young passenger was released without
charge us media said
initial reports on cbs television referred to male passenger who strapped
wire from his fingers to his head wearing teffilin requires strapping the
small black boxes to the body
the misunderstanding echoed string of embarrassing incidents involving muslims
or people of middle eastern appearance over recent years
in an architect was prevented by security staff from boarding jetblue
flight from new york to california while wearing shirt with arabic writing
on the front
raed jarrar who is of iraqi descent said he was told by one official that
going to an airport with shirt in arabic script is like going to bank and
wearing shirt that says robber
the shirt actually said in arabic we will not be silent an anti war slogan
in the middle east
us airways was initially reported to be the airline involved in thursday
scare chautauqua airlines operates in partnership with us airways as well as
other major brands
miami catholic diocese offers to house haitian orphans
miami jan afp
miami catholic church and the haitian community here have offered to house
thousands of haitian orphans with families throughout the florida city which is
home to haiti large diaspora population
the effort would be modeled after era program in which cuban children
who arrived to this country without their parents were housed with families in
florida after the island communist revolution
miami archdiocese has submitted proposal to us government officials to take
charge of placement and temporary lodging for an unspecified number of haitian
children orphaned following last week magnitude quake with relatives or in
foster homes
we continue to plan coordinate and anticipate the arrival of children the
number is unknown and the date of arrival is unknown said mary ross agosta
director of communication for the archdiocese
the original program for cuban children years ago was called operation pedro
pan spanish for operation peter pan
in shortly after the communist takeover of the havana government
operation pedro pan brought some unaccompanied children from cuba to the
united states
leaders of the haitian community have expressed support for an operation pierre
pan to bring children from quake ravaged haiti to south florida
we need urgently pedro pan like program for the haitian orphans said
haitian priest jean marie reginald
agosta said the catholic church already has been in contact with prospective
families in the miami area who might be interested in receiving orphans
the archdiocese would house haitian children orphaned by the disaster and set
up temporary custody arrangements with relatives they might have in the united
states she said
haitian groups place the size of its community in miami at around
making it one of the biggest foreign communities in the city after the cuban
population
officials in miami said two plans for pierre pan program were under
consideration one that could be run by the catholic church and another that
would be managed by us authorities
it the federal government that has the responsibility to make the decision
about how best to serve the orphaned children said hiran ruiz director of
florida office for refugee affairs
if the haitian government agrees to the plan us officials first would have to
issue special humanitarian visa to allow the children to enter the country
officials said that even before the disastrous january earthquake in haiti
there were an estimated orphans in the impoverished caribbean country
they said the number now is certain to be great deal larger with the quake
death toll that officials fear could top
obama foes seek to block guantanamo transfers overseas
washington jan afp
president barack obama republican foes unveiled legislation thursday aiming to
restrict his ability to transfer guantanamo bay detainees overseas notably to
places like yemen
the measure unveiled on the eve of what was once obama target date for
closing the notorious facility was unlikely to attract enough support from the
president democratic allies to become law
the detainee transfer and release security act of aimed to require obama to
certify that detainee country of destination is not state sponsor of
terrorism has control over its territory and does not tolerate safe havens for
extremists like al qaeda
the measure also called for the president to certify that there has been no
confirmed case of guantanmo bay detainee engaging in extremist activities
after being released to proposed destination
house minority leader john boehner the number two house republican eric
cantor and the top republicans on the house armed services homeland
security intelligence judiciary and foreign affairs committees backed the
bill
they cited the failed christmas day bombing of us bound passenger jet saying
the leader of the al qaeda offshoot in yemen that planned and coordinated the
attack was former guantanamo bay prisoner
republicans who largely kept quiet when obama predecessor george bush
released guantanamo bay detainees have made no secret that they plan to use the
issue against democrats in the november elections
pakistan army does not share operation plans us official
islamabad jan afp
