the trade of children in haiti which existed already beforehand and
unfortunately many of these trade networks have links with the international
adoption market legrand said
the agency underlined that it had warned countries during the past week not to
step up adoptions from haiti in the aftermath of the quake
legrand said trafficking networks had sprung into action immediately after the
disaster to kidnap children and get them out of the country
world steel output melted in trade group
paris jan afp
world steel output fell by percent last year as the economic crisis pounded
major producing countries but emerging powers china and india bucked the trend
an industry group said friday
world crude steel production reached billion tonnes in with big drops
in output in north america south america the european union and the ex soviet
bloc the world steel association said in statement
china output soared to million tonnes percent rise which
represents record annual crude steel production figure for single country
the group said
the asian economic powerhouse increased its share of global steel production to
percent last year from percent in by far the largest in the world
india crude steel production rose by percent to million tonnes and
the middle east also showed positive growth the association said
the sector suffered in other parts of the world
output in japan the world second biggest producer sank by percent to
million tonnes
production sank by percent to million tonnes in the united states
percent to million tonnes in the european union and percent to
million tonnes in russia
finland says will boost forces in afghanistan
helsinki jan afp
finland said friday it would increase the number of its soldiers serving under
nato led peacekeeping operation in afghanistan and also aims to boost
development funding for the country
finland will strengthen its support to afghanistan using the means of
development cooperation and civilian and military crisis management the
government said in statement
the number of finnish peacekeepers would increase temporarily by over
soldiers it said by the beginning of its troop strength could rise to up
to soldiers from current
finland is not member of nato but finnish peacekeepers contribute to the
efforts of the international security assistance forces isaf under swedish
command in northern afghanistan
meeting of the president and the cabinet foreign and security policy committee
also decided to increase finland participation in european union eu police
mission and to allocate bigger chunk of its development cooperation funding to
afghanistan northern provinces
its involvement there will be assessed towards the end of next year taking
into consideration the success of shift of responsibilities to afghan
authorities and international crisis management developments it said
foreign minister alexander stubb will represent finland in london next week at
an international conference hosted by britain and aimed at thrashing out
conditions for achieving the international community goals in the country
head of yemen shiite rebels denies death report video
dubai jan afp
the website of the shiite rebels in northern yemen posted video on friday in
which their chief abdel malik al huthi denied having been killed as claimed by
government officials several times
all these allegations are fabricated and baseless the rebel leader said in
the video in response to reports that he was dead or had been wounded
these allegations are intended to justify the massacres of civilians committed
by the authorities he said referring to an intensified government military
campaign against the rebels since late last year
huthi appears in the video with his head uncovered and wearing dark jacket
over white robe and traditional yemeni curved dagger attached to his belt it
is unclear when the footage was taken
numerous reports about his death or serious injury often distributed by the
authorities in sanaa have circulated in recent weeks but they have been denied
by the rebels also known as zaidis or huthis
football campbell set to return as wenger holds fire on new buys
london jan afp
arsene wenger has admitted that he is an admirer of fulham defender chris
smalling but ruled out move to sign the england under international before
the transfer window closes at the end of the month
the arsenal manager has already re signed veteran sol campbell who is expected
to play in sunday fa cup tie at stoke and believes he has enough cover at
centreback
he is player we know yes but there is no truth in the transfer rumours at
the moment wenger said maybe in the future at the moment is at the moment
never rule anything out
the frenchman also voiced optimism that danish striker nicklas bendtner could be
back from injury in time for manchester united visit to the emirates on
january which will further increase his reluctance to make any new signings
this month
it is very difficult in january to find players who are available for the
champions league who are just good enough to play for arsenal and at the right
price wenger said you never know but at the moment it is unlikely
wenger meanwhile has claimed double standards have been applied to his squad in
the debate over william gallas tackle on bolton midfielder mark davies in
wednesday win at the emirates
bolton boss owen coyle had described the challenge which left davies writhing
in pain while arsenal continued move that was to lead to goal that levelled
the score at as more akin to an assault than tackle
but coyle backtracked from that stance on friday and said he now agrees with
wenger view that the challenge was simply mistimed
wenger said he could not understand why one misjudged tackle could have
triggered such furore while the rough treatment his side sometimes receives
leads to questions about their resilience
some people say before the games we know how to play arsenal we have to kick
them and nobody in the whole country is absolutely upset by that wenger
said
am always absolutely amazed that people get away with that
when we get kicked and lose the game the question get from the press is oh
you did not fancy that nobody is upset or shocked
they find when we are kicked it is absolutely all right
the win over bolton sent arsenal to the top of the table and with league
matches against aston villa manchester united chelsea and liverpool coming up
wenger may opt to rest number of players this weekend
abou diaby calf and bacary sagna shoulder are both carrying minor injuries
and either gallas or thomas vermaelen will make way for campbell
stoke are likely to be at full strength after abdoulaye faye and rory delap
shook off knocks that led to them being substituted in their draw with
liverpool last weekend
corrected wall street extends losses on banking china concerns
new york jan afp
wall street stocks extended losses friday on continued concerns over china
overheating economy and us president barack obama bold plans to revamp the
banking sector
the dow jones industrial average drifted lower by points percent to
in opening trades day after blue chip shares posted their worst
one day decline this year
the nasdaq composite dipped points percent to and the
standard amp poor index dropped points percent to
the president might be on the right warpath to soothe the american public yet
the market is telling him to be careful about using regulatory weapons of mass
destruction said patrick hare of briefing com
what we see in front of us is market that doesn like the idea of excessive
regulation since excessive regulation curtails earnings potential he said
beijing moves to clamp down on lending to cool an overheating chinese economy
also dragged down the market
frankly we see china tightening as the biggest factor at work this week its
actions are highlighting for market participants that the easy money that fueled
the rebound is going to be less easy to get in hare said
naturally this has to take some wind out of risk trades
the massive selloff this week on the back of losses for the third straight day
could be the beginning of the end of moderate correction or the end of the
beginning of larger correction wells fargo advisors chief market strategist
al goldman said
we now advise investors to get back on the buy side as we will drop our
cautious advice if momentum improves soon as we believe it will he said
biathlon women world cup biathlon results
anterselva italy jan afp
women world cup biathlon sprint results here on friday
sprint km two shoots penalty loop for every missed target
magdalena neuner ger min sec penalty
andrea henkel ger
sandrine bailly fra
ann kristin flatland nor
tina bachmann ger
valj semerenko ukr
simone hauswald ger
olga zaitseva rus
sylvie becaert fra
teja gregorin slo
world cup sprint standings after six of races
kati wilhelm ger points
anna carin olofsson zidek swe
helena jonsson swe
olga medvedtseva rus
simone hauswald ger
world cup overall standings after of races
helena jonsson swe points
anna carin olofsson zidek swe
kati wilhelm ger
simone hauswald ger
andrea henkel ger
venezuela scratches total statoil from oil bidding
caracas jan afp
france total and norway statoil have been dropped from bidding on
development of field in venezuela vast orinoco oil basin the government has
announced
we were in the process of studying bids by total and statoil for the junin
field but they did not meet our expectations energy minister rafael ramirez
told reporters thursday
we are going to assign it to pdvsa he said referring to state run petroleos
de venezuela
pdvsa had announced in september that total would invest about billion
dollars billion euros to jointly exploit the junin field
statoil for its part had assessed and certified the existing reserves in
junin field that according to pdvsa covers square kilomters
ramirez also announced that the government had approved the formation of least
two consortiums in bidding on seven blocks in the carabobo field which also
forms part of the orinoco oil basin
since venezuela has taken at least percent share in all oil projects
in the country via pdvsa
interested companies have until thursday to present bids on the carabobo
project and the seven blocs will be assigned next month
total and statoil are taking part in the carabobo bidding along with about
other foreign companies like britain bp us based chevron italy eni and
brazil petrobras
venezuela which has proven oil reserves of billion barrels hopes to
raise it by more than double with billion barrels in the orinoco heavy belt
bars and restaurants in macedonia shut doors in protest over smoking ban
skopje jan afp
hundreds of cafes bars and restaurants throughout macedonia shut their doors to
customers on friday in hour long protest against freshly imposed smoking
ban
along skopje the main pedestrian makedonija avenue patrons desperately trying
to find spot to have their morning coffee found even the most prestigious
cafes closed
macedonia began the new year with ban on smoking in bars clubs and cafes
introducing harsh fines both for owners of the facilities and the smokers
under the new regulations smoking is banned in all locations serving food and
drinks both indoors and outdoors
half of the two million population in the former yugoslav republic are estimated
to be smokers
restaurant and bar owners complain that they have seen their incomes drop by
between and percent since january and many say they have been forced to
sack employees
they are calling on state authorities to reconsider some of the rules
cycling caisse epargne to pull funding in
paris jan afp
the bank that sponsors and lends its name to the caisse epargne cycling team
which has spaniard alejandro valverde on its books will pull its funding at the
end of
there will be caisse epargne team on the tour de france but it
contract that stops in it will not be renewed francois perol president
of banking group banque populaire caisses epargne bpce told radio
classique
we became the french banking sponsor of the olympic games so we will accompany
the french national teams to vancouver to london in and we will support
annecy candicacy for the winter olympics in perol said
it business management decision and because the values of the olympics seem
to correspond closely to the values of bpce
caisse epargne has sponsored the spanish cycling team run first by jose miguel
echavarri and latterly eusebio unzue since
apart from valverde who is serving two year suspension in italy for alleged
links to the notorious operation puerto doping scandal the team also figures
spain paris nice winner luis leon sanchez colombian climbers mauricio soler
and rigoberto uran and up and coming portuguese rider rui da costa
nordic skiing morilov heads russian sprint treble
rybinsk russia jan afp
nikolay morilov headed up russian on friday in winning the men world
cup freestyle sprint on home snow at rybinsk with alexei petukhov second and
nikita kriukov third
morilov took advantage of the absence owing to olympic preparations of the
likes of norway ola vigen hattestad and swede emil joensson participating in
weekend national championships to score his first win on the circuit
hattestad retains his place atop the sprint standings and compatriot petter
northug hot tip for olympic glory remains overall world cup leader
rybinsk on saturday hosts pursuit and then team sprint on sunday
british woman told to stop noisy sex or face jail
london jan afp
british woman whose noisy sex sessions were officially branded anti social
behaviour was warned friday she would face jail if she fails to stop the
excessively loud lovemaking
caroline cartwright was given an eight week prison term suspended for months
meaning if she engages in over noisy coupling again in the next year she will
immediately be put behind bars
ve heard very short extract of the noise you make and can well see that
your neighbours would be upset and distressed by this said judge beatrice
bolton at newcastle crown court
cartwright was served with civil order over marathon romps with husband steve
described in court as unnatural and like they are both in considerable pain
neighbours at their home in washington south of newcastle in northeast england
had complained about the noise as did passers by and the postman
cartwright was served with an anti social behaviour order asbo but admitted
at previous hearing to having violated it almost immediately and repeatedly
last april
an anti social behaviour order is civil order made against people deemed to be
public nuisance and is more typically issued for young delinquents using
threatening behaviour or disrupting the peace
at an earlier hearing the court was told that the local council set up special
equipment in neighbour flat and recorded noise levels of decibels
peaking at as loud as conversation in the same room
cartwright told the court she had tried to restrain herself
did not understand why people asked me to be quiet because to me it is
normal she said adding have tried to minimise the situation by having sex
in the morning not at night so the noise was not waking anybody
may be sympathetic to it but it is not something am doing on purpose
on friday the judge said an anti social behaviour order was made against you
in rather unusual terms adding the difficulty here is that the first
occurrence was the day following the order
then three days later you breached it again in addition it quite clear from
the small extract heard that you made no attempt to silence yourself added
bolton
passing the suspended sentence the judge said it needs to be prison
sentence because you need to be deterred if you commit further offences of
this nature that sentence will be passed and you will made to serve it
figure skating european championship results
tallinn jan afp
results from the fourth day of the european figure skating championships here on
friday
women
short programme
carolina kostner ita kiira korpi fin laura lepisto
fin elene gedevanishvili geo alena leonova rus
julia sebestyen hun valentina marchei ita
sarah meier sui ksenia makarova rus tugba karademir
tur
jenna mccorkell gbr viktoria helgesson swe elena
glebova est oksana gozeva rus ivana reitmayerova svk
sarah hecken ger sonia lafuente esp susanna
poykio fin teodora postic slo natalia popova ukr
tamar katz isr katsiarina pakhamovich blr karly
robertson gbr shira willner ger miriam ziegler aut
mirna libric cro martina bocek cze manouk
gijsman ned erle harstad nor birce atabey tur
katherine hadford hun karina johnson den isabelle
pieman bel fleur maxwell lux beatrice rozinskaite
ltu clara peters irl sabina paquier rom
marina seeh srb zanna pugaca lat sonia radeva bul
maria papasotiriou gre
withdraw joelle forte aze
football campbell set to return as wenger holds fire on new buys
london jan afp
arsene wenger has admitted that he is an admirer of fulham defender chris
smalling but ruled out move to sign the england under international before
the transfer window closes at the end of the month
the arsenal manager has already re signed veteran sol campbell who is expected
to play in sunday fa cup tie at stoke and believes he has enough cover at
centreback
he is player we know yes but there is no truth in the transfer rumours at
the moment wenger said maybe in the future at the moment is at the moment
never rule anything out
the frenchman also voiced optimism that danish striker nicklas bendtner could be
back from injury in time for manchester united visit to the emirates on
january which will further increase his reluctance to make any new signings
this month
it is very difficult in january to find players who are available for the
champions league who are just good enough to play for arsenal and at the right
price wenger said you never know but at the moment it is unlikely
wenger meanwhile has claimed double standards have been applied to his squad in
the debate over william gallas tackle on bolton midfielder mark davies in
wednesday win at the emirates
bolton boss owen coyle had described the challenge which left davies writhing
in pain while arsenal continued move that was to lead to goal that levelled
the score at
but coyle backtracked from that stance on friday and said he now agrees with
wenger view that the challenge was simply mistimed
wenger said he could not understand why one misjudged tackle could have
triggered such furore while the rough treatment his side sometimes receives
leads to questions about their resilience
some people say before the games we know how to play arsenal we have to kick
them and nobody in the whole country is absolutely upset by that wenger
said
am always absolutely amazed that people get away with that
when we get kicked and lose the game the question get from the press is oh
you did not fancy that nobody is upset or shocked
they find when we are kicked it is absolutely all right
the win over bolton sent arsenal to the top of the table and with league
matches against aston villa manchester united chelsea and liverpool coming up
wenger may opt to rest number of players this weekend
abou diaby calf and bacary sagna shoulder are both carrying minor injuries
and either gallas or thomas vermaelen will make way for campbell
stoke are likely to be at full strength after abdoulaye faye and rory delap
shook off knocks that led to them being substituted in their draw with
liverpool last weekend
wall street extends losses on banking china concerns
new york jan afp
wall street stocks extended losses thursday on continued concerns over china
overheating economy and us president barack obama bold plans to revamp the
banking sector
the dow jones industrial average drifted lower by points percent to
in opening trades day after blue chip shares posted their worst
one day decline this year
the nasdaq composite dipped points percent to and the
standard amp poor index dropped points percent to
the president might be on the right warpath to soothe the american public yet
the market is telling him to be careful about using regulatory weapons of mass
destruction said patrick hare of briefing com
what we see in front of us is market that doesn like the idea of excessive
regulation since excessive regulation curtails earnings potential he said
beijing moves to clamp down on lending to cool an overheating chinese economy
also dragged down the market
frankly we see china tightening as the biggest factor at work this week its
actions are highlighting for market participants that the easy money that fueled
the rebound is going to be less easy to get in hare said
naturally this has to take some wind out of risk trades
the massive selloff this week on the back of losses for the third straight day
could be the beginning of the end of moderate correction or the end of the
beginning of larger correction wells fargo advisors chief market strategist
al goldman said
we now advise investors to get back on the buy side as we will drop our
cautious advice if momentum improves soon as we believe it will he said
golf abu dhabi golf championship nd rd scores
abu dhabi jan afp
collated second round scores on friday in the million euro abu dhabi golf
championship counting towards the european pga tour race to dubai
abu dhabi golf club par
rick kulacz aus
sergio garcia esp shane lowry ire peter hanson swe
chris wood eng rhys davies wal martin kaymer ger
ian poulter eng richard green aus edoardo molinari
ita ariel canete arg rory mcilroy nir
francesco molinari ita paul lawrie sco alvaro quiros
esp daniel vancsik arg
otto hennie rsa steve webster eng keith horne rsa
richard finch eng jeppe huldahl den thomas aiken rsa
mikko ilonen fin louis oosthuizen rsa paul warring eng
mark foster eng marc warren sco
wall street extends losses on banking china concerns
new york jan afp
wall street stocks extended losses thursday on continued concerns over china
overheating economy and us president barack obama bold plans to revamp the
banking sector
the dow jones industrial average drifted lower by points percent to
in opening trades day after blue chip shares posted their worst
one day decline this year under
the nasdaq composite dipped points percent to and the
standard amp poor index dropped points percent to
the president might be on the right warpath to soothe the american public yet
the market is telling him to be careful about using regulatory weapons of mass
destruction said patrick hare of briefing com
what we see in front of us is market that doesn like the idea of excessive
regulation since excessive regulation curtails earnings potential he said
beijing moves to clamp down on lending to cool an overheating chinese economy
also dragged down the market
frankly we see china tightening as the biggest factor at work this week its
actions are highlighting for market participants that the easy money that fueled
the rebound is going to be less easy to get in hare said
naturally this has to take some wind out of risk trades
the massive selloff this week on the back of losses for the third straight day
could be the beginning of the end of moderate correction or the end of the
beginning of larger correction wells fargo advisors chief market strategist
al goldman said
we now advise investors to get back on the buy side as we will drop our
cautious advice if momentum improves soon as we believe it will he said
religious clashes bring horror to nigerian village
kuru karama jan afp
scores of residents of this central nigerian village were hacked to death and
their bodies stuffed into wells in wave of inter religious violence survivors
said friday
mud and wattle houses were still smouldering from the muslim christian violence
which spilled over into this farming village on tuesday from its epicentre in
the state capital jos kilometres miles away
survivors in the predominantly muslim enclave blamed the massacres on their
christian neighbours and the police
muslim aid workers backed by military escort combed the village for corpses on
friday after pulling dozens of decomposing bodies from drinking water wells
not single building in the village had escaped being torched in the violence
including the mosque handwritten signpost declares the blackened remains of
one building to be the police station
except for the cackle of hens and bleating of goats kuru karama was eerily
quiet friday as the aid team picked their way through the blood spattered dusty
streets and their litter of mangled cooking pots charred mattresses clothing
and corn grains most of its people had fled but many were dead
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 the leader of
the aid team ibrahim tanimu told afp behind him his men piled bodies into
waiting vans
the corpses bore gunshot wounds and deep slashes an afp reporter with the
convoy witnessed
we are taking them back to jos for burial tanimu said as he ducked to examine
mangled pair of loudspeakers outside the mosque with its blown off zinc roof
and soot darkened yellow walls
lost members of my family including my father and brother mohammed who
arrived week ago from ukraine where he worked with the nigerian embassy said
adamu musa who broke down when the body of his year old father was pulled
from the water well of his house
was in abuja when my late brother phoned me telling me that the village was
under attack and at one point the line went dead believe it was at that
moment that he was killed said musa bus driver his chest heaving with
sobs
the number of people killed here is still being established religious leaders
and paramedics put the death toll in jos alone at around
we can say for now how many people were killed village chief umar baza
told afp as he led the aid team around he said some people escape the attackers
only to be later ambushed and killed
armed christian youths were backed by local police when they attacked the
village on tuesday hours after meeting of faith leaders which was aimed at
defusing tensions as the violence spread south from jos said baza
he said when news of the fighting in jos reached the village he summoned
meeting of both christian and muslim leaders which was also attended by police
we resolved to work together to fend off any external attack on our village
he said adding but hours later surprisingly we came under attack by
christian youths armed with guns and machetes we tried to repel them but they
overpowered us with guns and this is the result baza said blinking back
tears
he turned towards his christian neighbours who stood in clusters outside their
homes metres yards away watching the aid volunteers piling bodies into
vans
the police in the village that were supposed to protect everybody who took part
in the killing the same police officer who mediated in the peace meeting was
the one leading the attackers he alleged
vice president goodluck johathan has since tasked the army with the region
security in order to prevent repeat of the violence
escorted by tank the vehicle convoy had only begun rolling back towards
jos when it ground to halt volunteers jumping down to haul five more bodies
out of an irrigation canal
mcdonald rings up stronger profits on rising sales
new york jan afp
fast food giant mcdonald said friday its profit jumped percent in the
fourth quarter last year amid stronger global sales and an increase in
customers
mcdonald reported net profit of billion dollars for the final quarter of
up from million dollars year earlier
earnings per share of dollars topped the consensus analyst forecast of
dollars
the home of the golden arches said revenue totaled billion dollars up
seven percent from year earlier but slightly less than expected by most
analysts
for all of net profit rose six percent to billion dollars or
dollars in earnings per share topping the dollars expected
full year revenue fell three percent to billion dollars while the
company served million customers per day up two million per day from the
prior year
mcdonald results reflect the broad based strength of our global
business said jim skinner mcdonald chief executive
mcdonald profitability increased as we marked our sixth consecutive year of
