the election row sparked flurry of contacts by biden in recent days aimed at
brokering compromise notably through talabani who is kurd
biden proposed that the disqualifications be deferred until after the election
and that those candidates who have been barred condemn and disavow the baath
party said statement from talabani office earlier this week
joost hiltermann washington based iraq specialist and middle east deputy
programme director for the international crisis group which studies conflict
hit nations said biden visit had not gone far enough
whatever the long term planning may have been his visit was clearly rescue
mission certainly in the public eye which is what counts hiltermann said
on paper out of deference to iraqi sovereignty and iraqis strong sense of
national pride he listened rather than proposing solutions
suggesting that the actual barring of candidates be postponed till after the
elections was good but insufficient it could lead to big crisis when the
election results come in especially if people allied to mutlak amass lot of
additional sympathy votes
reider visser who runs the iraq focused website www historiae org said us
leverage had always been limited because american forces are on their way out
anyway
at most then one can guess that biden may have asked iraqi leaders to make
sure the appeals mechanisms reinstate some of the barred politicians thereby
reducing the sense of marginalisation
elections chief faraj al haidari told afp on friday more candidates could yet be
barred from the ballot after the government published lists naming individuals
who have criminal records or false diplomas
biden also used the baghdad trip to announce an appeal against us court ruling
that dropped charges against the american private security firm formerly known
as blackwater whose guards are accused of killing iraqi civilians in
israeli minister warns of new war with hezbollah
jerusalem jan afp
israel is heading toward new war with lebanon shiite movement hezbollah
cabinet minister warned saturday in remarks carried by military radio and the
popular ynet news website
we are heading toward new confrontation in the north but don know when it
will happen just as we did not know when the second lebanon war would erupt
said yossi peled minister without portfolio and reserve army general
he was referring to the devastating war israel fought with hezbollah in
which killed more than lebanese most of them civilians and more than
israelis mostly soldiers
hezbollah is part of new coalition government formed in november by us and
saudi backed lebanese prime minister saad hariri the group is also the only
faction still armed after lebanon civil war
although hezbollah is part of the lebanese government the latter has no
influence on it peled said adding the jewish state will hold hezbollah and
its ally syria responsible for any attack on israel
unlike many others officials consider that peace is not goal in itself
but only means to guarantee our existence said peled
israeli officials have repeatedly warned in recent weeks that any attack by
hezbollah would be met with strong response
last week defence minister ehud barak warned lebanon and hezbollah against any
attempt to undermine the calm prevailing at the border between the two
countries
but in statement issued on saturday after peled made his comments prime
minister benjamin netanyahu stressed that israel does not wish at all to have
confrontation with lebanon
the jewish state seeks peace with lebanon and with all its neighbours the
statement added
sobbing haitians mourn archbishop killed in quake
port au prince jan afp
weeping and singing sad songs thousands of emotional haitians gathered near the
earthquake shattered roman catholic cathedral here saturday to mourn the death
of archbishop joseph serge miot
mourners including haitian president rene preval attended the emotional funeral
service for the archbishop and for the vicar of port au prince charles benoit
who was also among the people who died in the january disaster
the body of miot popular figure in this largely catholic country had
been laid out in an open casket since early morning for people to pay their
respects
he was wearing his ceremonial mitre with wounds visible on his face
the vicar closed casket was laid out next to him
monsignor miot was of fragile health he served his diocese with discreet
devotion he had deep concern for the poor and for the young said joseph
lafontant the auxiliary bishop who led the service
he praised miot work on behalf of haiti poor his launch of huge
reforestation project and the creation of school to train young christians for
politics
the crowd that gathered in the shadow of the ruins of the notre dame de
assomption cathedral took up rhythmic creole refrains prayed and sang
mourning songs accompanied by guitar
priests dressed in white represented all of haiti parishes while the crowd
was filled with women dressed in white robes and men in their best outfits many
of them carrying crosses on their chests
other dignitaries at the service included the vatican representative in haiti
archbishop bernadito auza the archbishop of new york timothy dolan members of
the diplomatic corps and several ministers
rescuers found miot day after the quake his body crushed by rubble in the
ruins of his office
after the service hearse transporting miot body wove through the streets of
the capital led by haitian police brass band
he will be buried temporarily in lillavois province but will then be laid to
rest permanently in port au prince once the cathedral is rebuilt
the haitian government said friday that more than people were killed in
the magnitude quake
bishop lafontant used his funeral speech to encourage the mourners to look to
the future however
the creator wants us to take part in the creation of new country new
haiti new world he said
jag shn dk sah
fskate georgian president dons skates to support gedevanishvili
tallinn jan afp
elene gedevanishvili revealed how she had support at the highest level as she
claimed georgia first senior international medal at the european figure
skating championships here on saturday
georgian president mikheil saakashvili travelled in person to support the
country only international figure skater as she competed in the women event
in the estonian capital
and he was not to be disappointed as the diminutive skater claimed bronze after
her free skate to bizet carmen
before the short programme the georgian president called me and we skated on
the outdoor ice rink in the old town explained the year old from tbilisi
he very good skater
she has already received the order of honour from president saakashvili for her
achievements as an athlete
gedevanishvili revealed how she had always wanted to skate to carmen since
watching german legend katarina witt perform it although she admitted it was
not as clean as she would have liked
this music really fits my personality explained gedevanishvili who had been
fourth after the short programme
happy with my performance but it pity didn do the salchow and
combination
but she added this is totally unexpected it means lot to me
have won my first gold at junior grand event here in tallinn so this is
lucky place for me
she achieved the highest technical scores giving her for the free skate
and overall putting her third behind italy carolina kostner who
claimed her third european title with
coached by robin wagner who lead sarah hughes to the olympic title she
has high hopes for the vancouver games after placing tenth in turin four years
ago
was very well prepared and will carry this feeling to the olympic games
very proud now said the new jersey based skater
biden says us to appeal blackwater court decision
baghdad jan afp
vice president joe biden on saturday announced an appeal into us court
decision to drop charges against an american firm whose security guards are
accused of killing iraqi civilians in
dismissal is not an acquittal biden told reporters during visit to
baghdad referring to the case involving the five guards employed by the private
company formerly known as blackwater
today am announcing that the united states government will appeal this
decision our justice department will file that appeal next week he said
iraq welcomed biden remarks with foreign minister hoshyar zebari saying it was
good news
this is very important issue for the iraqi people and the us government
responded positively to request from the foreign ministry to appeal against
the court ruling which is very good news zebari said
the five guards who had been part of convoy of armoured vehicles had been
charged with killing the civilians and wounding others in an attack using
guns and grenades at baghdad busy nisur square in september
charges against the blackwater employees were dismissed last year when judge
ruled us prosecutors violated their rights by using incriminating statements
they had made under immunity during state department probe
the ruling outraged the baghdad government which maintains that people were
killed
the united states is determined to hold to account anyone who commits crimes
against iraqi people biden added
while we fully respect the independence and the integrity of the us judicial
system we were disappointed with the judge decision to dismiss the indictment
which was based on the way some evidence had been acquired
the iraqi government said this week it was considering lodging its own complaint
against blackwater which has since been renamed xe to seek compensation for
the families of the victims
in his ruling on december us federal judge ricardo urbina found prosecutors
violated the guards rights by using incriminating statements they had made
under immunity during the us state department probe
the decision was welcomed by the us company but several senators including
republican presidential candidate john mccain have since voiced regret at the
ruling and called for us government appeal
but the admissibility of the iraqi government complaint is uncertain because all
of the families except one agreed damages from xe according to lawyer injured
in the incident
the lawyer hassan jabbar salman said the families of those killed were offered
dollars and those wounded received between and dollars
from the us security firm
blackwater worldwide changed its name in february following what the
company said was change of business focus
critics however suggested that the rebranding was an effort to polish an image
tarnished by an alleged culture of lawlessness and lack of accountability among
blackwater workers as they carried out their duties in iraq
biden president barack obama pointman on iraq arrived in baghdad late on
friday
the main thrust of his visit was to defuse row over the banning of hundreds of
candidates from march general election over their alleged links to executed
dictator saddam hussein
caucasus extremists vanquished putin
moscow jan afp
russian prime minister vladimir putin said saturday that extremists in the
restive north caucasus region had been vanquished and the fight now was
against corruption and poverty
the state must prove it is capable of guaranteeing security and must make
breakthrough in the economic and social development in north caucasus he said
at meeting with leaders from the region
corruption poverty unemployment negligence these are the things that
hinder normal life in the caucasus he said
the former president and key player in the second chechen war
slammed regional authorities who distance themselves from local problems fuel
corruption and incompetence create administrative barriers and take part in
feuds between clans
he also warned that local officials could lose their jobs if the new
administrator of the north caucasus thought them inefficient
on tuesday russian president dmitry medvedev appointed powerful new envoy to
the north caucasus tasked with boosting development in new district that
groups the country most violent regions
the shake up reorganised the kremlin management of its southern region
separating out seven mostly muslim regions including chechnya where moscow is
battling low level islamist insurgency from more stable parts
medvedev named alexander khloponin the current governor of the siberia region
of krasnoyarsk as his new envoy to north caucasus federal district post that
also comes with the rank of deputy prime minister
the new federal district includes chechnya dagestan ingushetia where
insurgency violence has picked up in recent months as well as the neighbouring
territories of kabardino balkaria karachayevo cherkessia north ossetia and the
stavropol region
football in form birmingham end everton hopes of wembley return
liverpool england jan afp
christian benitez and barry ferguson fired in form birmingham into the fa cup
fifth round as the blues defeated everton at goodison park on saturday
alex mcleish side are now unbeaten in matches in all competitions after
their first away victory over everton since
everton who were last season fa cup runners up against chelsea were well
below their best and never recovered from benitez early goal
ferguson added second for birmingham before half time and leon osman second
half strike for everton wasn enough to keep their wembley dreams alive
it was ecuador striker benitez who set the tempo in the seventh minute
after free kick broke down for the home side ferguson ran clear and superbly
switched play to the right wing with fine ball to keith fahey
fahey then delivered wonderful cross into the box and benitez headed past
everton goalkeeper tim howard
everton were unbeaten in six matches going into this encounter including draw
against arsenal and fine win last weekend against manchester city
however for most of the first half they played like team devoid of ideas and
inspiration
birmingham discipline and work ethic has seen them rise to eighth in the
premier league and mcleish team again demonstrated their capacity for hard
work as they crammed into midfield and starved everton of space
the likes of phil neville steven pienaar and marouane fellaini grew
increasingly frustrated at the lack of attacking opportunities and the home
side day got worse after minutes when birmingham scored contender for
goal of the season
fahey brought sebastian larsson into play on the right wing and although his
cross looked poor ferguson created something from nothing when he dummied and
stepped over the ball in move which completely threw the everton defence
james mcfadden beautifully clipped the ball back to ferguson who then curled
past howard as the everton defence stood and watched
everton announced before the match that they had signed arsenal defender
philippe senderos on loan until the end of the season and he may be getting his
chance sooner rather than later after their failings here
mikel arteta had been named in everton squad for the first time since he
ruptured his cruciate ligament playing against newcastle last february yet
moyes resisted the crowd urgings to bring him on at half time to try and improve
everton attacking composure
but it became clear after the break that everton were not going to exit this
season fa cup without some resistance and they dragged themselves back into
the contest with superbly worked finish from osman after minutes
leighton baines brilliantly beat stephen carr lunge and laid off to pienaar
and after his simple pass along the edge of the box found osman the midfielder
placed past hart to make it
it ignited the goodison park crowd and everton side poured forward saha missed
two close opportunities as he firstly steered shot over the bar before hitting
the post shortly afterwards
as city counted down the minutes until the end fellaini shot straight at joe
hart when he should have scored and an injury time effort from the belgian
somehow shaded wide when it had looked certain to sneak in
medvedev absent from auschwitz liberation ceremonies
warsaw jan afp
russian president dmitry medvedev will miss next week commemorations marking
the th anniversary of the liberation of the nazi german death camp of
auschwitz polish official said saturday
pavel wypych an aide to polish president lech kaczynski said medvedev had
pleaded long standing prior engagements as the reason for his absence
the russian leader had thanked his polish counterpart for inviting him to the
ceremonies on january wypych told the pap news agency
the nazis set up the camp in year after invading poland it operated
until the eve of its liberation by soviet russian troops in
israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and leading polish officials will be
among those attending the commemorations
football minnows colmar stun lille in french cup
paris jan afp
high flying lille crashed out of the french cup in the round of on saturday
after losing an epic penalty shootout to man colmar of the championnat
de france amateurs fourth tier
the game finished after minutes and colmar who play in the same division
as lille reserves were forced to play extra time with men after midfielder
cedric faivre was shown second yellow card for attempting to score with his
hand
the extra minutes also failed to yield goal and after each side scored four
penalties in the shootout sudden death ensued
lille captain stephane dumont who scored his first penalty drilled his side
th spotkick against the post enabling salim mezriche to put his team into the
next round and dump ligue third placed side out of the competition
it was colmar second consecutive penalty shootout success in the tournament
after their victory over second tier metz in the previous round
they will play ligue strugglers boulogne sur mer in the next round
the top flight bottom club grenoble turned the tables on the season surprise
package montpellier beating them after extra time to join colmar in the
last
the sides were drawing at half time and at full time but nassim akrour
struck just before the extra time interval to prolong grenoble cup adventure
this qualification is little ray of sunshine for us said grenoble coach
mecha bazdarevic whose side are points from safety in the league
it was real cup tie in every sense
earlier beauvais of the championnat national third tier booked their place in
the last by beating nine man agen
rennes last season beaten finalists were the first side to qualify for the
round of when they won at fifth division saumur on friday evening
defending french champions and current league leaders bordeaux take on corsican
ligue outfit ajaccio later on saturday
new eu farming chief rejects french influence
bucharest jan afp
europe incoming farming commissioner romanian national dacian ciolos
dismissed in an interview broadcast on saturday reported concerns that his
politics is influenced by france
these are unjustified concerns and think they will remain unjustified in the
future ciolos said on romanian public television tvr
top european civil servant has said the british government has concerns
about ciolos designation as he is friend of france country that fiercely
defends generous subsidies enjoyed by europe farmers
britain is seen as favouring tighter curbs on farm subsidies when the common
agricultural policy is renegotiated in
the former agriculture minister said he had shown that am open to points of
view from all the horizons of the european union by choosing british
spokesman and austrian chief of cabinet
he said that he did not only have good relationships with french politicians
but with those from many other countries
ciolos also stated that organic agriculture could gain niche market in europe
as it was able to answer consumers expectations
he said classic agriculture should learn from organic agriculture
environment friendly production techniques
biden confident iraq election row will be resolved
baghdad jan afp
us vice president joe biden said on saturday he was confident iraq leaders
would find just solution to the bitter row that has seen hundreds of
candidates banned from march general election
biden landed in baghdad late on friday and used meetings with the war torn
country leaders to assure them that washington would not interfere in the
dispute which has seen both sunni arabs and shiites excluded from the poll
analysts however told afp the vice president words had failed to conceal the
reality that it was rescue mission aimed at navigating serious political
crisis which remains unsolved
the candidates banned from taking part are accused of membership or other
links to executed dictator saddam hussein outlawed baath party feared
fedayeen men of sacrifice militia or mukhabarat intelligence agency
the dispute has stoked tension between the shiite majority now leading the
government and the sunni arab former elite and has also exposed the failings of
much vaunted but apparently stumbling national reconciliation process
want to make it clear am not here to resolve that issue said biden at
joint press conference with iraqi president jalal talabani
this is for iraqis to do not for me after today discussions though am
confident that iraq leaders are seized with the problem and are working for
final just solution
biden said the united states supported the exclusion of candidates linked to
saddam regime but urged legitimate procedures
the issue is not the goal of holding individuals accountable for their past
actions but the process of disqualification itself biden said
iraqis under their leaders understand that if the people see the process as
fair and transparent it will enhance the credibility of the election
as well as talabani biden met prime minister nuri al maliki parliament speaker
iyad al samarrai the un secretary general special representative for iraq ad
melkert and cross section of other political leaders
saleh al mutlak leading sunni mp and persistent critic of maliki shiite
dominated government is among those who have been barred from the election
maliki has denied that sunnis have been targeted ahead of the vote
the election row sparked flurry of contacts by biden in recent days aimed at
brokering compromise notably through talabani who is kurd
biden proposed that the disqualifications be deferred until after the election
and that those candidates who have been barred condemn and disavow the baath
party said statement from talabani office earlier this week
joost hiltermann washington based iraq specialist and middle east deputy
programme director for the international crisis group which studies conflict
hit nations said biden visit had not gone far enough
whatever the long term planning may have been his visit was clearly rescue
mission certainly in the public eye which is what counts hiltermann said
on paper out of deference to iraqi sovereignty and iraqis strong sense of
national pride he listened rather than proposing solutions
suggesting that the actual barring of candidates be postponed till after the
elections was good but insufficient it could lead to big crisis when the
election results come in especially if people allied to mutlak amass lot of
additional sympathy votes
reider visser who runs the iraq focused website www historiae org said biden
had always faced difficult task
us leverage is limited because american forces are on their way out anyway he
said
at most then one can guess that biden may have asked iraqi leaders to make
sure the appeals mechanisms reinstate some of the barred politicians thereby
reducing the sense of marginalisation
elections chief faraj al haidari told afp on friday that more candidates could
yet be barred from the ballot after the government published lists naming
individuals who have criminal records or false diplomas
football four star rooney sends united top
manchester jan afp
wayne rooney four goal performance helped ensure manchester united focus
returned to on field affairs as the defending premier league champions moved to
the top of the table for the first time in more than three months with
victory over hull
manager sir alex ferguson has spoken of the need to give rooney rest but the
england forward form and importance to his team make such move unlikely any
time soon
it took rooney just seven minutes against strugging hull to illustrate the point
perfectly to his manager and also to ease the pressure and growing
dissatisfaction around old trafford in the wake of recent developments off the
field surrounding american owners the glazer family
the announcement this week that united debts stand at million pounds did
not impress many of the club supporters even though successful million
bond issue will allow the glazers to re structure that debt
ferguson felt moved in his pre match programme notes to call upon supporters
to show unity behind their club and cease their anti glazer agitating
however as long as rooney remains fit and in the sort of goal scoring form he
showed against hull united future does not look quite so precarious
united first goal came after park ji sung played the ball into the path of
paul scholes who drilled in vicious shot which hull goal keeper boaz myhill
could only parry
rooney responded more quickly than anyone else on the field gathering the loose
ball and steadying himself before burying his th goal of the season into the
gaping goal
goal number came in the nd minute after myhill had made poor job of
dealing with long range nani free kick rooney himself kept the loose ball in
play and nani found the forward who finished clinically from yards
the hat trick was just three minutes away as the irrepressible forward ran in to
meet nani hanging cross and head into the goal from six yards
for good measure the th goal of rooney increasingly remarkable season
followed in injury time as he collected dimitar berbatov neat flick saw three
defenders back off and converted his shot from yards
rooney partnered by michael owen who was making just his fifth league start of
the campaign was comfortably his team greatest threat from early in the
contest and midway through the first half almost had hand in two more
goals
first he met nani cross with devastating shot on the turn which looped off
defender and behind for corner then seconds later rooney produced an
audacious back heel which played in owen but the former england striker was slow
to respond and andy dawson made the recovering tackle
rooney was again the threat just after the half hour when george boateng
brought down park on the edge of the area and rooney curled free kick beyond
the hull wall and inches past myhill right hand post
while united only led by goal there was still anxiety not aided when jonny
evans weak back header almost allowed nick barmby to equalize his shot being
saved well by edwin van der sar
the other side of rooney football personality was on display just before the
half time whistle when he was booked for hacking at stephen hunt out of
frustration having just lost the ball badly to ricardo garcia
also before the interval owen was on the end of the move of the match
flowing passing sequence which ended with nani neat through ball and weak
tap straight at myhill from the out of sorts striker
it was similar story after the re start with united creating enough chances to
win the game comfortably before rooney put the outcome beyond all doubt with
devastating spell of three more goals in the final eight minutes str am cw
football birthday boy robben sends bayern top
berlin jan afp
dutch star arjen robben hit second half wonder goal on saturday as bayern
munich came from behind to win at werder bremen as the german giants went
top of the league
robben stunning direct free kick gave louis van gaal coached bayern their
sixth straight league win while the holland star hit his fifth league goal of
the season on his th birthday
am very happy coach beamed van gaal
werder bremen took few risks and we exploited them this time
liked that we played with so much aggression but we didn take all the
chances we created
flying dutch winger robben who signed for million euros million us
dollars from real madrid last summer hit curling free kick which gave
bremen germany goalkeeper tim wiese no chance of saving on minutes
van gaal slipped over on the sidelines in his joy at the winning goal just
before his compatriot robben leapt on top of him to celebrate taking first place
in the league
it must have looked bit bizarre the way we celebrated but we were both
pretty happy grinned robben
the win is important it shows we are on the right path we are playing good
football
it was bitter blow for the home side who had opened the scoring after
midfielder aaron hunt slotted home from close range after minutes
bayern hit back when rising star thomas mueller scored after good work by
germany midfielder bastian schweinsteiger on minutes before croatia striker
ivica olic netted from philipp lahm cross ten minutes later
it left bayern up at the break as they welcomed back french midfielder
franck ribery who came on for olic in the second half to make his first
appearance for munich since suffering knee injury on october
bremen equalised when portugal striker hugo almeida slotted home top class
goal on minutes before robben stunning winner
an injury time goal from bochum slovakia striker stanislav sestak robbed
schalke of the chance to go top as the royal blues were held
schalke took the lead when uruguay striker vicente sanchez converted pass from
jefferson farfan in the fifth minute before ex germany striker kevin kuranyi
made it to the hosts just before the half time whistle
the result left felix magath coached schalke third in the table but second
placed leverkusen have the chance to regain the lead on sunday providing they
win at hoffenheim
and defending champions wolfsburg host struggling cologne also on sunday while
fourth placed hamburg have the opportunity to get back into the league race if
they win at fifth placed dortmund on saturday night
having picked up only their second win of the season last weekend bottom side
hertha berlin were held at home by borussia moenchengladbach
hertha czech republic goalkeeper jaroslav drobny kept his side in the game
when he saved first half penalty from gladbach venezuelan midfielder juan
arango while nuremberg drew at eintracht frankfurt
having taken over from andreas bergmann as coach last week new hanover boss
mirko slomka got off to losing start when his side were beaten at mid
table mainz their eighth game without win
football south africa opens cape town wc stadium
cape town jan afp
south africa venue for one of this year world cup semi finals staged it
first test match on saturday after it was completed last month
