earthquake hit haiti faces high risk of possibly damaging aftershocks for at
least days and is set to suffer further tremors for months or even years to
come the us geological survey said friday
the capital port au prince was hit by two fresh aftershocks on friday days
after the initial magnitude quake killed at least people and left
half million others homeless
the aftershock sequence of the magnitude earthquake that struck near port au
prince haiti on january will continue for months if not years the
usgs warned in bulletin on its website
the frequency of events will diminish with time but damaging earthquakes will
remain threat
there was only three percent chance of another magnitude quake in the next
days but there was percent chance of at least one magnitude tremor
and percent likelihood of at least one magnitude quake
any aftershock above magnitude will be widely felt and has the potential to
cause additional damage particularly to vulnerable already damaged
structures the usgs said
nearly aftershocks have rocked haiti since the initial earthquake the
strongest being magnitude tremor on wednesday
the strongest of friday new shocks was of magnitude the usgs said
the geological fault responsible for the january quake is part of seismic
zone located between the american and carribbean tectonic plates
qatari prince ends dispute on paris mansion
paris jan afp
qatari prince who owns landmark th century mansion in paris settled
dispute on friday with heritage activists who had feared he would destroy
cultural gem the french government said
french court had blocked plans by prince abdullah bin abdullah al thani
brother of qatar emir to modernise the hotel lambert unesco heritage site
perched on the ile saint louis island in the seine in central paris
the prince had been set to begin turning it into family residence restoring
historic rooms but also putting in elevators and an underground car park under
government permit
following complaint by residents judge put the work on hold because of
shortcomings in the architect plans saying it was unclear what their full
impact would be
the culture ministry said in statement that the prince signed an agreement on
friday with the heritage association historic paris which puts an end to the
dispute after weeks of delicate government supervised negotiations
under the agreement the association withdrew legal proceedings against the
prince described by the ministry as great friend of france who cares for
its heritage
the prince can now quickly being work to restore and renovate the hotel
labert it said
the hotel lambert is considered one of the finest examples of mid th century
french architecture complete with mural paintings by charles le brun and other
masters of the day
built in the at the eastern tip of the ile saint louis it was designed
for rich financier nicolas lambert by the architect louis vau who went on
to oversee an expansion of the chateau de versailles for louis xiv
rich with history the mansion uses over the years ranged from hideaway for
the th century philosopher voltaire and his lover to political headquarters
for polish exiles in the following century
the qatari prince acquired the hotel from the rothschild banking family for some
million euros million dollars in
who attend key european hearing on flu pandemic
geneva jan afp
the world health organisation leading flu expert will join council of europe
hearing next week to scrutinise if they had overreacted to the swine flu
pandemic an official said friday
there will be who delegation going to strasbourg to this open hearing on
tuesday said spokesman gregory haertl adding that it would be led by keiji
fukuda who special adviser on pandemic influenza
the france based council of europe announced on its website thursday that the
hearing entitled the handling of the pandemic more transparency needed
would be held in public
the health family and social affairs commission of the council assembly
invited the who and pharmaceutical firms after political storm erupted over
the alarm caused by the declaration of pandemic with influenza
council of europe parliamentarian wolfgang wodarg has accused national and
international authorities of declaring false pandemic claiming pressure
from pharmaceutical firms anxious to profit from vaccine and drug sales
the who responded week ago by announcing likely independent review of its
response to swine flu but only once the pandemic is over
haertl defended the un health agency response after the emergence of the new
flu virus with fast spreading illness and deaths in the united states and
mexico in april
the question is not really whether we had contact with the industry but whether
we had any undue influence exerted upon us by commercial interests and the
answer is no he told journalists on friday
he insisted that the who had maintained that the symptoms of the disease were
largely mild in sober and balanced assessment of the worldwide spread of
swine flu into more than countries
french health minister roselyne bachelot on friday described talks with drug
companies to cancel orders for millions of swine flu vaccines as tough
france spent million euros billion dollars on million vaccines for
the virus but like some other european countries it has witnessed less
demand than expected
gates vows to build trust with pakistan after us mistake
aboard us military aircraft jan afp
us defense secretary robert gates on friday said washington had let down
pakistan in the past and vowed to restore trust with the vital ally in the fight
against al qaeda
gates used two day visit to islamabad to take on critics of washington role
in the region offering reassurance to pakistanis sceptical of the us led war in
afghanistan and its targeting of islamist militants
pakistan has seen security drastically deteriorate since joining in washington
war on terror in and baulks at complaints from us lawmakers that it is
not doing enough to tackle militant groups
us drone strikes targeting islamist fighters in pakistan have also fuelled anger
in the muslim nation while many pakistanis express bitterness over washington
neglect of the region once the soviet union withdrew from afghanistan in
was in government in the early when russia left the region and the
united states largely abandoned afghanistan and cut off defence ties with
pakistan grave strategic mistake driven by some well intentioned but short
sighted us legislative and policy decisions gates said
speaking at the national defense university in islamabad he said us ban in
the on military contacts with pakistan due to its nuclear programme had
undermined bond between the armed forces and created trust deficit that
lingered
he promised the united states was prepared to invest whatever time and energy
it takes to forge and sustain genuine lasting partnership with pakistan
rebuilding relationships with generation of pakistani officers who have had
little contact with the us military will take years gates said
after his speech gates took some tough questions from the audience of senior
military officers in very candid session that was closed to the media his
press secretary geoff morrell told reporters
one pointed question suggested the us led war in afghanistan was to blame for
pakistan problem with violent extremists on its western border morrell said
the thrust of the question was we re in this mess because of you to which he
took great exception he said
gates told the officers that afghanistan had been unstable long before the us
military moved in and that it was unrealistic to assume pakistan could be spared
growing islamist militancy
another officer asked if the united states was with us or against us turning
around the phrase employed by then us president george bush after the
september attacks
throughout his two day visit gates argued that al qaeda taliban factions and
associated extremists in pakistan and afghanistan colluded with one another and
represented single over arching threat
he told the military officers that trying to draw distinctions between them was
dangerous
only by pressuring all of these groups on both sides of the border will
afghanistan and pakistan be able to rid themselves of this scourge he said
but pakistani military spokesman major general athar abbas on thursday rejected
gates description and said it was not so black and white
while pakistan has launched multiple assaults on taliban strongholds in recent
months washington is also anxious for islamabad to target the afghan taliban
and al qaeda linked militants within its borders
gates had said he would ask pakistan leaders about plans to expand its
campaign to north waziristan bastion of al qaeda and the haqqani network
known for attacking us and nato troops fighting the taliban in afghanistan
but abbas told reporters no new operations would be launched until the current
push into south waziristan was complete which would take between six months to
year
gates who visited india on tuesday and wednesday before his trip to pakistan
held talks thursday with pakistani army chief general ashfaq kayani defence
minister ahmed mukhtar intelligence chief lieutenant general ahmed shuja pasha
and president asif ali zardari
the former cia director who flew out of islamabad friday was also seeking
pakistan cooperation on president barack obama new strategy to turn around
the war in afghanistan which involves sending more troops but drawing down
forces starting in july
football ghana upset at disgraceful angolan intimidation
luanda jan afp
ghana complained on friday of disgraceful intimidatory tactics deployed by
angolan security forces designed they claim to destabilise them ahead of
sunday africa cup of nations quarter final clash with hosts angola
the declaration by the ghana football association gfa followed what was
described as brutal attack on ghana journalist at the team hotel in
luanda
the reporter fiifi tackie working for private radio station radio gold was
set upon by police and security officials after being refused access to press
conference
one witness ghana journalist franck abdai told afp the reporter was denied
permission to attend the press conference and was surrounded by security
officers and police and beaten up
he was arrested but later released
ghana radio station peace fm reported on its website the journalist was
brutally attacked
before friday assault the gfa had already written to organisers caf to
complain after fan was attacked by police at tuesday game against burkina
faso
gfa spokesman randy abbey condemned both attacks and other incidents which have
injected distinct note of bad blood ahead of sunday last eight meeting with
angola
abbey confirmed an official complaint had been delivered to caf citing the
harassment and intimidation tactics that the angolans are deploying
we compiled all these and lodged formal complaint with caf then this
issue the attack on the journalist took place he told press conference
football has come of age these incidents shouldn occur in perhaps
in the it would be understandable
this is disgraceful we just hoping that things will improve
but if it because they angola are dreading the possibility of
elimination then they better come again because we intend to defeat them and
they can assault us however much they like
abbey listed other examples of what the gfa claim are heavy handed police
tactics since their arrival in the angolan cappital
we have issues with the angolan police they set up hour
surveillance unit transmitting live from our hotel with the use of an ob
outside broadcast van
when we protested they presented different story and even went to the extent
of accusing us of assaulting their policemen
we find that very unfortunate
the other issue has to do with obour the ghana suppporter
he was beaten up and his private organ allegedly pulled as speak to you
now his medical bill is about dollars
there have been couple of occasions where security personnel detailed to
provide us protection at training grounds are found to be either asleep or
loitering about whiles the team is on bus waiting for them sometimes for
more than mins
israel pays million dollars to un for gaza war
united nations jan afp
israel has paid the united nations some million dollars in damages after
its assault on the gaza strip last year un officials said friday
the government of israel has made payment of million us dollars to the
united nations in respect to the losses sustained un spokesman martin nesirky
told reporters
with this payment the united nations has agreed that the financial issues
are concluded
just after the december to january conflict un chief ban ki moon
indicated the world body was claiming some million dollars in compensation
for the damage to its buildings warehouses schools and vehicles
israel has always denied deliberately firing on un property during the three
week conflict launched after relentless militant palestinian rocket fire from
gaza on the jewish state
some palestinians and israelis were killed during the conflict
according to un figures
the middle east peace process has stalled since the conflict and the gaza
strip run by hamas militants remains under crippling israeli blockade
dutchmen get tougher sentences for hiv attacks
the hague jan afp
two dutchmen convicted of drugging raping and injecting men with hiv
contaminated blood at gay sex parties had their sentences increased by three and
four years on appeal friday court said
they are responsible for four relatively young men having to go through life
suffering from chronic disease for which there is treatment but also still
reasonable chance of death the ruling by the appeals court said
peter mulder and hans jurgens were sentenced to nine and five years
imprisonment in november after men of them hiv positive pressed
charges against them and third man wim dekker who got an month jail term
mulder sentence was increased friday to years and jurgens to nine years
while dekker sentence was reduced to eight months imprisonment dekker has
already been freed having served his time while awaiting trial
the prosecution alleged the victims were lured to sex parties sedated with
combination of ecstasy alcohol and the so called date rape drug gamma
hydroxybutyric acid ghb before being raped or injected with hiv positive
blood
the trial court said there was no proof that mulder and jurgens actions had
caused the hiv infection of their accusers but the appeals court disagreed
they intentionally and with premeditation infected four men with hiv and tried
to do so with fifth said statement
the convicted men and the prosecution had lodged simultaneous appeals against
the sentences
the victims have said they will launch civil action against their assailants for
compensation
obama vows to fight on for health care reform
elyria ohio jan afp
us president barack obama vowed on friday to keep on fighting for health care
reform admitting he always knew it would be hard battle
had no illusions when took on health care it was always going to be hard
obama said after voters dealt his plans blow by electing republican to the
us senate and robbing democrats of their vote supermajority
and going to keep up the fight for real meaningful health insurance
reforms he pledged during visit to ohio
ex pentagon official sentenced to years in china spy case
washington jan afp
the united states friday sentenced former pentagon official who had top
secret security clearance to three years in prison on charges of spying for
china the justice department said
the month sentence for retired air force lieutenant colonel james wilbur
fondren will be followed by two years of supervised release the department
said
according to prosecutors fondren provided certain classified defense
department documents and other information to naturalized us citizen from
taiwan tai shen kuo from around november to february
fondren was aware that kuo had maintained close relationship with an official
of the people republic of china prc officials said
upon investigation fondren was found to have provided classified information
through kuo under the guise of consulting services
he was introduced by kuo to the official during trip the two took to the prc
in march the department said
fondren who had been deputy director of the us pacific command
washington liaison office was arrested in mid may and charged with conspiracy
to pass classified information to an agent of china
in september fondren was convicted of unlawful communication of classified
information by government employee and two counts of making false statements
fondren and the prc official exchanged more than email messages between
march and november officials said
when federal bureau of investigations agents interviewed fondren according to
the original indictment the retired colonel falsely represented that the
opinion papers he provided as part of the consulting firm were based on media
report and from his experience
fondren also falsely said he had never taken any classified information home and
denied that he had given kuo draft copy of an unclassified document on
military strategy officials said
the us government accuses china of mounting an aggressive operation to prise
open its secrets and president barack obama is weighing an overhaul of cyber
security after several reports of computer hacking originating in china
fondren continued meeting with kuo even after becoming civilian employee of
the pacific command in august where he held top secret clearance with
classified computer in his cubicle
the fbi said that no matter where fondren thought the information was ending up
after he handed it to kao it was clear that he broke us law by knowingly
handing secrets to an agent or representative of foreign government
the original page affidavit against him said that in just over three years
fondren included classified information in eight analytical reports that he sold
to kuo for between and dollars apiece
the documents included state department cable details about chinese
military official us visit information about joint sino us naval exercise
and information on us china military meetings
kuo was arrested in february along with another pentagon contact gregg
william bergersen and chinese accomplice in new orleans yu xin kang when he
was arrested kuo was staying in fondren virginia home
in may kuo pled guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to more than
years in jail bergersen and kang are also serving prison time
urgent obama vows to fight on for health care reform
elyria ohio jan afp
us president barack obama vowed on friday to keep on fighting for health care
reform admitting he always knew it would be hard battle
vice president joe biden arrives in iraq us official
baghdad jan afp
us vice president joe biden arrived in iraq on friday on mission aimed at
defusing political crisis after hundreds of candidates allegedly linked to
saddam hussein were barred from an election
vice president joe biden arrived in iraq us diplomatic official philip frayne
told afp refusing to immediately provide any more details about the visit
which was not announced in advance for security reasons
the white house said that biden president barack obama pointman on the war
torn country would meet with iraqi leaders receive updates from us military
and civilian leaders and visit us troops
biden would also meet with iraqi president jalal talabani prime minister nuri
al maliki parliament speaker iyad al samarrai and other political leaders it
said in statement
he will also meet the un secretary general special representative for iraq
ad melkert to discuss us and international effort to support iraq with focus
on the national election scheduled for march
blacklist of more than election candidates said to have links with saddam
hussein regime has stoked tensions between the shiite majority now leading the
government and the sunni arab former elite
iraqi foreign minister hoshyar zebari described biden visit as mission to
salvage the electoral process ahead of the march general election
if there are delays in publishing the final candidates list it will affect the
us withdrawal process also zebari told afp
we need to get the final list of candidates for the election from ihec and if
we don it will have an impact on the timing of the election zebari added of
the country independent high electoral commission
the election row sparked flurry of contacts in recent days by biden aimed at
brokering compromise notably through president talabani who is kurd
football ronaldinho says concentration will be the key
rome jan afp
ac milan forward ronaldinho said his team will need to concentrate for
minutes against inter milan on sunday to avoid repeat of the thrashing
they suffered earlier this season
milan looked destined for long hard season when they crumbled at home to the
champions in only rookie coach leonardo second game in charge
that defeat put such dent in the team confidence that they managed only
three wins and paltry six goals in their first nine matches in all
competitions
but since then milan and ronaldinho in particular have rebounded in
spectacular fashion leading to one of the most eagerly anticipated milan derbies
in recent years seen as genuine title clash
if we don arrive at this derby in good condition we could risk losing by the
same result as in august ronaldinho told sky sport
we must concentrate for minutes so that what happened in the first derby
does not happen again we need to win and go home with the three points
ronaldinho has been pivotal in milan rise after an inglorious first season in
italy
having lost his way in his last season at barcelona during which he fell out of
favour with coach frank rijkaard he came to milan citing the need for change
of scenery and new stimuli
but despite beginning well in the first half of the season he fell out of favour
during the second half of the campaign and hardly played
but now he is back and five goals in his last two matches are testament to just
how much ronaldinho has improved since his darkest days
what the reason for the comeback in my form not playing alone we re
talking about great moment for the team from goalkeeper dida to targetman
marco borriello said the year old
everyone is playing well and so it easier for everyone my job is simple
create goals and score some as well if it possible
if everyone pulling their weight things go well for me
ronaldinho improved form has sparked talk of recall to dunga brazil team
but the former barca man doesn want to think about that
not thinking about that at the moment my head is percent on doing well
for milan helping the team and letting things happen naturally
british stock market awaits key recession data
london jan afp
official data due tuesday and expected to show britain recession at an end
will dominate the attention of london stock market traders next week along with
further developments on the wider economy
london benchmark ftse index ended the week on friday at points
slide of percent from week earlier
the ftse had begun in strong fashion last week hitting its highest level
since september when the collapse of us investment bank lehman brothers
signalled the start of the global economic crisis
britain office for national statistics will on tuesday publish data widely
expected to reveal that britain returned to growth in the fourth quarter
we are hopeful that these figures will officially record the emergence of the
economy from recession said investec economist david page
we certainly forecast that to be the case based on the ongoing improvement in
the labour market and on swathe of anecdotal evidence
economists are predicting growth of about percent during the october
december period after six quarters of negative output
world stock markets meanwhile slumped this week after us president barack
obama vow to crack down on reckless big banks and on jitters over an
overheating chinese economy and soaring european debt analysts said
investors grew increasingly nervous about global economic recovery also as the
imf and the united nations this week each warned of possible double dip
recession in
british stock market awaits key recession data
london jan afp
official data due tuesday and expected to show britain recession at an end
will dominate the attention of london stock market traders next week along with
further developments on the wider economy
london benchmark ftse index ended the week on friday at points
slide of percent from week earlier
the ftse had begun in strong fashion last week hitting its highest level
since september when the collapse of us investment bank lehman brothers
signalled the start of the global economic crisis
britain office for national statistics will on tuesday publish data widely
expected to reveal that britain returned to growth in the fourth quarter
we are hopeful that these figures will officially record the emergence of the
economy from recession said investec economist david page
we certainly forecast that to be the case based on the ongoing improvement in
the labour market and on swathe of anecdotal evidence
economists are predicting growth of about percent during the october
december period after six quarters of negative output
world stock markets meanwhile slumped this week after us president barack
obama vow to crack down on reckless big banks and on jitters over an
overheating chinese economy and soaring european debt analysts said
investors grew increasingly nervous about global economic recovery also as the
imf and the united nations this week each warned of possible double dip
recession in
alert
obama vows to keep up fight for health care reform
greek bonds hit record worst level
athens jan afp
the yield on greek sovereign bonds on friday hit its worst level since greece
joined the eurozone underscoring the country low credibility on international
financial markets
the yields on greek bonds which move opposite to prices peaked at
percent before falling back to percent by gmt after the government
said it would sell up to five billion euros of bonds through group of banks
it was the highest peak since before greece adopted the euro in
the interest rate spread between greek and german year bonds also widened to
percentage points returning to levels unseen since early
this spread means that greece has to spend more than three times as much as
germany to attract lenders to finance its overspending
the market remains of the view that the greek government faces something of
credibility gap as regards their ability to close the enormous fiscal
imbalance analysts at dutch lender rabobank said in note
greece has been hit by three credit downgrades in reaction to concerns over the
country huge debt and public deficit which reached percent of output
last year far above the percent ceiling for eurozone members
the socialist government which was elected in october has since proposed
three year crisis plan to slash the deficit to percent of output in
scores more bodies recovered after nigerian clashes
kuru karama nigeria jan afp
volunteers recovered scores more bodies in nigeria troubled central plateau
state friday as the death toll from inter religious clashes rose and the army
was ordered to step up security
christian and muslim leaders said the four days of fighting which left hundreds
dead had reopened festering wounds and unresolved grievances and posed
challenge to the country dominant faiths
this tragic event certainly challenges us all to address the deep hurts
festering wounds and unresolved grievances from earlier episodes said
catholic archbishop john onaiyekan and abubakar saad the sultan of sokoto in
joint statement
our problems are self inflicted and are well within our control they said
christian and muslim leaders in plateau state said previously the unrest owed
more to the failure of political leaders to address ethnic differences than to
inter faith rivalries
the bodies recovered friday were picked up from streets houses and water wells
in kuru karama village some kilometres miles south of state capital
jos the epicentre of the clashes
many of the victims had been thrown into wells in the outlying village the
leader of muslim aid team said
so far we have retrieved bodies but many more are still in the wells and
afraid we may have to sand fill them because the bodies have decomposed so
bad that the flesh disintegrates when we try to bring them out ibrahim tanimu
told afp as his team piled the bodies into waiting vans
life was slowly returning to normal in jos on friday with an increase in human
and vehicle traffic on the streets but banks remained shut
many more people are venturing out from where they are hiding said namadi
bello waiting in petrol queue
as thousands of troops patrolled the streets of jos and surrounding towns to
ensure there is no resumption of hostilities some locals like medical student
jude chedeber were trying to leave the city
am leaving for enugu because of the crisis she said
some people have already taken refuge in military barracks churches and
mosques around the city after fleeing the fighting the red cross said
vice president goodluck jonathan pledged that the ringleaders responsible for
the violence would be brought to justice and ordered the army to take over
security of the affected regions and sensitive neighbouring areas
the federal government is determined to secure convictions of the perpetrators
of this crime no matter how highly placed he said
that order came as survivors in the predominantly muslim enclave of kuru karama
blamed the massacres on their christian neighbours and the police
the state government has given no official death toll from the violence which
broke out on sunday but religious leaders and medical workers said they had
counted around bodies by wednesday
thousands of troops had deployed in the city and curfew relaxed to allow
people to replenish depleted food and water supplies collect bodies and bury
the dead
ninety eight victims were buried in mass grave in jos on thursday
many people killed in the violence were hacked to death with machetes according
to the international committee of the red cross
local rights body the civil rights congress crc said most of the weapons
used in the killings were primitive such as bows and arrows machetes and axes
we have observed that primitive weapons kept in houses after the last violence
