when asked what the scientologists are doing here another doctor said don
know
do you care not really she said wheeling an unconscious patient out of the
operating room to join hundreds of others in the hospital sunny courtyard
wall street dogged by economic political woes
new york jan afp
wall street is struggling with renewed fears about the economic outlook and at
the same time feeling chill from tougher stand from the white house on banks
and financial market regulation
the market was hammered over the past week by worries about the us outlook and
trouble in china where an overheating economy may prompt credit squeeze that
hurts the rest of the global economy
also hurting the mood was tough proposal from president barack obama to curb
the size and scope of banks and growing opposition to federal reserve chairman
ben bernanke renomination
in the coming week markets will deal with the outcome of federal reserve
policy meeting as well as the drama surrounding the bernanke confirmation
slew of earnings reports are also expected
on the economic front data is expected to show strong gain in us economic
activity in the fourth quarter but analysts say the figures will likely be
skewed by bounce in inventory activity
over the holiday shortened week the dow jones industrial average tumbled
percent to in sharp pullback from month highs
the tech rich nasdaq composite sank percent to the broad standard
amp poor index slumped percent to
the recent volatility is reflection of how much uncertainty that continues to
swirl with respect to the economic landscape and the shape that financial market
regulation will take said diana petramala economist at td bank financial
group
petramala said the markets were roiled by the proposals by obama to cap the size
and scope of bank activity plan unveiled after the white house called for
new tax on big financial institutions
there is still question mark around what the future holds for the us banking
sector she said
adding to investor angst this week was the notion that global recovery could
be slower than expected especially with china appearing to be moving to cool
activity she added
petramala said data thursday on us gross domestic product could show strong
growth rate in the economy of percent but cautioned that over half of the
bounce in economic activity looks to have been due to large inventory swing
and not to sustainable economic drivers
despite the renewed skittishness some analysts said wall street is seeing an
overdue correction which could take some of the speculative froth out of the
market and set the stage for more gains
the market seems to want to take breather so it found negative spin this
week said linda duessel at federated investors
at moment when most everyone is looking for correction there probably
shouldn be serious one
bob dickey at rbc wealth management said traders have been using the current
corporate earnings season to lock in profits after having pushed up the market
in anticipation of positive profit reports
the market continues to trade in its backward fashion of pulling back on the
good news of so many companies beating their fourth quarter earnings
expectations dickey said
this phenomenon can help to explain why the market has rallied so strongly over
the past nine months and is now giving some back in the face of apparent good
news dickey added
we are confident that this is dip within an ongoing bull trend and it will
be sharp but short as is often the case we expect trading low sometime in
the next few weeks followed by renewed uptrend into the summer months
the coming week is likely to be packed with potentially market moving events
monday will see data on us existing home sales followed by reports tuesday on
consumer confidence and new home sales wednesday earnings are due from key
firms apple yahoo boeing caterpillar and others
the fed concludes two day meeting widely expected to leave its stimulative
policies unchanged but that could be overshadowed by questions on the
confirmation of bernanke
analysts said tossing out bernanke could trigger new turmoil in financial
markets
the bulk of the investment community feels he has done good job as chairman
and the impact on credit markets would be adverse said cary leahey senior
economist at the research firm decision economics
bonds found favor amidst the stock turmoil the yield on the year treasury
bond dropped to percent from percent from percent week
earlier and that on the year bond dropped to percent from
percent bond yields and prices move in opposite directions
stars urge haiti donations across us networks
new york jan afp
hollywood heartthrob george clooney led galaxy of stars friday in telethon
fundraiser for haiti earthquake victims
the telethon one of the biggest such events since the aftermath of the
september terrorist attacks was broadcast across every major us
television network
featuring some celebrities and presented by music channel mtv the telethon
hope for haiti now came as the caribbean nation struggled to recover from the
deadly january disaster
haiti is tragedy that reaches across all borders all boundaries clooney
said and at the core of every religion is the belief that we take care of one
another
the haitian people need our help they need to know they are not alone he
told the national audience
star acts lined up for the telethon included madonna beyonce jay bono
bruce springsteen coldplay and jennifer hudson who will unveil song you
never heard her sing before clooney said
we re gonna have some amazing performances and think that gonna make it
last little longer than just telethon clooney said
the event aired across mtv abc cbs nbc fox cnn hbo and other major
networks
joining in hosting the program were cnn star reporter anderson cooper in haiti
and rapper wyclef jean in new york
facebook and myspace were helping to drum up aid while donors could also go
online at hopeforhaitinow org or give over the phone by dialing haiti
or by just texting the word give to
clooney says he will donate one million dollars of his own money
hollywood megastar leonardo dicaprio announced thursday that he was also giving
one million dollars to the clinton bush haiti fund while brad pitt and angelina
jolie donated one million dollars earlier to help aid group msf operations in
haiti
the magnitude quake killed at least people and left half million
homeless
friday telethon had few parallels over the last decade said charity
navigator an organization monitoring charities across the united states
telethon was held in the wake of the september terrorist attacks
against new york and the pentagon also hosted by clooney the event was
simulcast across network and cable channels raising about million
dollars
another big telethon took place after hurricane katrina struck new orleans in
but that was broadcast only on abc cbs nbc fox and less major channels
about million dollars was raised
nbc and its affiliated networks broadcast telethon in aid of victims of the
asian tsunami in raising million dollars
tennis youzhny pulls out of open with wrist injury
melbourne jan afp
russian th seed mikhail youzhny withdrew from the australian open saturday
with wrist injury handing poland lukasz kubot free ride into the fourth
round
youzhny played one of the matches of the tournament in the first round when he
beat frenchman richard gasquet in the fifth set but said the win took its
toll with his wrist beginning to hurt late in that epic
the next day it was worse and didn think was going to play second round
match against jan hajek he said
hajek gave me chance to win and didn practise yesterday just tried to
warm up today and now feel cannot play
youzhny said he had treatment each day and had some anti inflammatory pills
did everything could do for the last few days but it doesn help
youzhnyadde dthat he had been advised against playing and was unsure when he
would return to the court
the th ranked kubot is now in the fourth round for the first time at grand
slam after beating unseeded players mischa zverev and santiago giraldo
he will take on either third seed novak djokovic unseeded uzbek denis istomin
for place in the quarter finals
it very good to go through especially in tournament like this but it must
be hard for youzhny said kubot
have no stress though have nothing to lose
haiti port reopens as vital aid link
port au prince jan afp
the ruined haitian capital damaged port started receiving ships friday
days after devastating earthquake as international rescuers scrambled to
secure routes for the supply of lifesaving aid
strong us coast guard team landed amid the rusting and partly collapsed
cranes and jetties to provide basic security as shipments resumed
we are here for humanitarian efforts for the haitian people to make sure
there is no looting or things like that said petty officer third class william
arocho who arrived overnight from miami
we are going to be standing by the port we are going to set up our camp here
he said adding that if ships need to unload supplies for the beleaguered city
we will help to do it
the coast guard deployment is part of much larger us military operation that
has seen paratroopers from the nd airborne division secure the airport and
part of downtown port au prince and marines deploy to coastal towns
they will work alongside smaller but more established united nations
peacekeeping force and coalition on un agencies and aid groups responding to
the chaos left behind by quake that killed more than people and left
at least homeless
the port already run down before the quake is key part in this plan being
the only facility capable of bringing in large scale food and water shipments
aside from the already overstretched airport
the port is open today for business said us colonel charles heatherly
spokesman for the military joint task force haiti
according to another american official containers have already been
offloaded at the port in the past two days
pair of aid ships from france and the netherlands have also unloaded supplies
on the unsteady pier while around more are anchored offshore
but gaping cracks still slice through the pier where ships dock and it wobbled
during each of the terrifying aftershocks that on thursday and friday succeeded
the original catastrophic magnitude tremor
us military divers were due to start repairing the pier friday work that was
expected to last at least several weeks while us coast guard and haitian
officials will ensure it is not overused
us boat under contract from the us agency for international development
unloaded containers of aid on nearby improvised sand gravel and rock pier
friday to see if it would take the weight said wilhelm lemke whose crowley
shipping company owns the boat
conservatively with one ship we can bring in containers day working round
the clock lemke told afp adding that by wednesday boats should be able to
unload containers in hour period
now the big challenge is going to be distribution on shore he said
rallying polished finish sees hirvonen to monte carlo rally victory
monte carlo jan afp
finland two time world rally championship runner up mikko hirvonen won the
monte carlo rally after leading from start to finish in the irc opener
the year old fiesta ford driver winner of rallys on the superior level
world rally championship wrc circuit won by nearly two minutes over
compatriot juho hanninen driving skoda while frenchman nicolas vouilloz was
third in another skoda
hirvonen victory was virtually assured barring catastrophe when another
frenchman and last year winner sebastien ogier had to retire just before the
penultimate special stage of the event
the peugeot driver had earlier on friday looked to have the momentum to repeat
his victory after he moved to within seconds of hirvonen after winning the
opening stage on the third and final day
wasn sure was going to win till heard that ogier had retired
confessed hirvonen
because knew that he would continue to attack till the end and that monte
carlo rally is never over
british birthday boy guy wilks on friday had climbed from seventh to fifth
place overall after recording the second fastest time of the race th special
but ended up in sixth overall
as he did last year ogier recorded the quickest time in stage that took place
between montauban and ouveze eygalayes in his home region of hautes alpes
ogier retirement made him the th driver to pull out of the race of the
that started out the experienced toni gardemeister fiat abarth had quit the
race earlier on friday after his car refused to start at the beginning of the
th special
it was hirvonen first victory in the monte carlo rally and was maiden win
for the fiesta on its debut competitive appearance
hirvonen joins such greats as france multi time world champion sebastien loeb
who won the rally five times and another finnish pilot marcus gronholm winner
in though both of them won when the rally was part of the wrc circuit and
was the traditional curtain raiser
however even if the irc version is more lightly regarded victory it didn
matter jot to hirvonen
even if it is the irc it is still the monte carlo therefore am very happy
to have won it beamed hirvonen
barclays staff to defer bonuses ft
london jan afp
top staff at barclays will defer payment of up to percent of their bonuses
for up to three years as they seek to respond to public anger about banking pay
the financial times reported saturday
the business daily said this would apply to members of the british bank
member executive committee led by chief executive john varley while the
next or so staff could defer upwards of percent for three years
citing people familiar with the plan which is expected to be signed off ahead
of the banking group full year results next month the ft said lower ranking
staff would have about half their bonuses deferred
this would do nothing to mitigate the bank liability under the british
government new tax on bonuses it added
there is widespread public anger about the banking sector bonus culture which
some observers blame for encouraging excessive risk taking and helping to tip
the world economy into recession
however barclays managed to avoid the massive bailouts by the british
government needed by rivals royal bank of scotland and lloyds banking group
britain queen to address un in july
united nations jan afp
britain queen elizabeth ii will address the un general assembly for the first
time in more than years during july visit to new york the british mission
to the world body said friday
the year old monarch and her husband prince philip will arrive in new york
on july after making nine day state visit to canada and leave later the same
day it said in statement
the queen has addressed the united nations general assembly on only one previous
occasion in
she is addressing the body in her capacity as the head of state of the united
kingdom and other un member states antigua and barbuda australia the
bahamas barbados belize canada grenada jamaica new zealand papua new
guinea saint kitts and nevis saint lucia saint vincent and the grenadines
the solomon islands and tuvalu
she is also head of the commonwealth an association of countries mostly
former british colonies
us government releases reams of free data
washington jan afp
the us government released reams of free data on friday on subjects as varied as
child car seats and burro populations in an effort to make the workings of
government more transparent
as part of president barack obama open government directive the major
departments and agencies that make up the federal government had until friday to
release at least three high value data sets
the raw data released by the various departments and agencies is online and
viewable at data gov
it includes for example ratings from the department of transportation on the
ease of use of child safety seats and wild horse and burro populations on land
controlled by the department of the interior
even the department of defense is taking part releasing data on absentee voting
by members of the military and list of requests to the pentagon under the
freedom of information act
the white house said total of nearly new sets of data are now online
these steps underscore my administration commitment to creating an
unprecedented level of transparency and public participation in government
obama said in statement through our open government efforts we are bringing
down the walls between the government and the american people
the data can spur innovation said aneesh chopra obama chief technology
officer entrepreneurs corporations and ordinary americans can build value on
top of this raw material into applications that will improve our quality of
life
interim guinea leader wants to organise elections quickly
conakry jan afp
guinea interim junta leader general sekouba konate said friday that he wants
to organise quickly free elections in the beleaguered west african state
we should move quickly quickly to organise these free and transparent
elections general sekouba konate said in comments broadcast on national
television and radio
konate met friday with the economic community of west african states ecowas
president mohamed ibn chambas african union representative ibrahima fall and
said djinnit the special representative of un chief ban ki moon
he said guinea would need assistance to organise the elections which should
held within six months under an accord reached last week to guide the military
ruled country out of month political and human rights crisis
we are counting on you and you can count on us said konate
under the political transition deal an opposition politician jean marie dore
was appointed as caretaker prime minister
djinnit said the junta was bound by the deal signed in the burkina faso capital
ouagadougou not to put up candidates in the elections
the general confirmed his determination to honour the ouagadougou commitment to
hand over power to democratically elected authorities at the end of the
transition he said
military coup was launched within hours of the death of long time dictator
general lansana conte on december
massacre of more than opposition demonstrators during rally in conakry
stadium on september plunged guinea further into crisis
captain moussa dadis camara who launched the coup has agreed to stay out of
the country after being wounded in december attack by an aide that forced him
to seek medical treatment abroad
afp sports schedule for saturday january
paris jan afp
afp sports schedule for saturday january
tennis
sixth day of the australian open in melbourne with top seeds in men and
women draw roger federer and serena williams in third round action against
spanish pair albert montanes and carla suarez navarro respectively
coverage by martin parry robert smith andrew dent and scott coughlan
master slug tennis open aus
football
build up to the africa cup of nations quarter finals
coverage by nick reeves david legge and samm audu
action in england scotland spain italy germany and france
slugs fbl afr fbl eng facup fbl eng pr fbl esp fbl sco pr fbl fra cup
fbl ger fbl ita
rugby union
european cup sixth and final round of group matches
master slug rugbyu eur cup
cycling
tour down under in australia continues with the fifth stage over km from
snapper point to willunga with germany andre greipel in front
coverage by talek harris
slug cycling aus tour
golf
epga at the abu dhabi championship with australian rick kulacz the surprise
halfway pacesetter coverage by josh charles uspga bob hope classic in la
quinta california
slugs golf epga uae golf uspga
figure skating
european championships in tallinn
coverage by emmeline moore
us championships in spokane
slugs fskate eur fskate oly usa
alpine skiing
men world cup downhill at kitzbuhel and women world cup downhill at cortina
in italy
slugs ski world men ski world women
ski jumping
world cup at zakopane poland
slug ski jump
golf bob hope classic scores
la quinta california jan afp
leading scores here on friday in the rain delayed second round of the bob hope
classic usa unless noted
bubba watson
alex prugh
shane bertsch joe ogilvie martin flores chad collins
jp hayes
tim clark rsa vaughn taylor
garrett willis tom gillis steve elkington aus mike
weir can bill haas
briny baird kevin na
matt jones aus
john senden aus jesper parnevik swe fredrik jacobson
swe rod pampling aus justin rose gbr
ryuji imada jpn henrik bjornstad nor richard johnson
swe brenden pappas rsa
carl pettersson swe greg chalmers aus greg owen gbr
michael sim aus graham delaet can brendon de jonge zim
cameron percy aus james nitties aus
brian davis gbr
alex cejka ger daniel chopra swe
garth mulroy rsa martin laird gbr david lutterus aus
mathew goggin aus
chris baryla can
tennis youzhny pulls out of open with wrist injury
melbourne jan afp
russian th seed mikhail youzhny withdrew from the australian open saturday
with wrist injury handing poland lukasz kubot free ride into the fourth
round
youzhny played one of the matches of the tournament in the first round when he
beat frenchman richard gasquet in the fifth set but he said the win took
its toll with his wrist beginning to hurt late in that epic
two haitians saved from quake rubble after days
port au prince jan afp
an elderly woman and young man were rescued friday after spending days
buried in the rubble of haiti quake hit capital as the death toll from the
disaster soared to more than
the miracle rescues of year old marie carida roman and the unnamed year
old man came despite aid workers saying they were winding down efforts to find
people trapped in the worst disaster on record to hit the americas
thousands of people meanwhile braved new aftershocks to queue for the first
major food handouts in central port au prince since the magnitude quake as
others scrambled for place on free buses out of the squalid city
un spokesman elisabeth byrs said some exhausted international rescue teams were
heading home and others were concentrating more and more on humanitarian aid
for those who need it
but hours later friends and family dug frail carida roman from the ruins of her
home with their bare hands almost day after hearing her faint cries she was
later fighting for life in hospital
trying to find out how can help her survive she has crushed chest and
had lots of maggots all over her body said ernest benjamin an emergency
volunteer from mount sinai medical center in new york city
her shell shocked son year old telephone technician who refused to give
his name said heard her calling yesterday at around or in the
morning friends in the neighborhood helped dig her out with our bare hands
we pulled her out at around this morning
israeli rescuers separately pulled the year old man from the ruins of
three story building near the presidential palace on friday an israeli military
statement said adding he was in stable condition in hospital
us and french doctors called for assistance to rescue the man from tunnel and
within half an hour the israeli team was able to release him whole and
healthy rescue team member major zohar moshe was quoted as saying
they were the first people found alive since two children on wednesday
haiti interior ministry said friday the confirmed death toll from the quake
now stood at it said more than people were wounded and more
than were living in temporary camps
the us geological survey said the haiti disaster has already gone down in
history as the most destructive on record in this region
that probably accurate that this is the most deadly quake to occur in this
part of the world usgs geophysicist dale grant told afp
the international aid effort gathered pace elsewhere with thousands of people
queuing for hours around the destroyed presidential palace as brazilian un
peacekeepers handed out tonnes of ration packs and litres of water
elsewhere the un world food program said it staged massive aid distributions at
football stadium and in the downtown delmas district designed to feed
people
un relief spokesman vincenzo pugliese said the situation was improving with
security largely calm supermarkets set to reopen next week and nearly third
of all gas stations open
but in downtown port au prince residents burned at least six bodies because no
one had collected them since the disaster three charred skeletons could be seen
on pile of garbage and three others were in nearby ruins an afp reporter
said
tens of thousands of seriously injured haitians also remain in primitive
conditions in makeshift field hospitals
the haitian government pushed ahead with plans to move around people out
of the filthy conditions in port au prince to hastily set up villages in the
south and north of the country designed to hold people each
families gathered in downtown port au prince to catch the initial buses
leaving the city on friday
the chaos has left the youngest victims of the quake vulnerable with the un
children fund unicef saying it believed around children had gone missing
from hospitals raising fears of trafficking for adoption abroad
us forces meanwhile said haiti main port had officially reopened friday with
army engineers and navy divers set to start rebuilding the heavily damaged pier
televised benefit hosted by george clooney and featuring performances from
wyclef jean bruce springsteen madonna and others was set to raise money for
haiti quake victims later friday
the two hour hope for haiti now telethon sponsored by mtv networks was to be
shown on all of the major us television networks and streamed on youtube
myspace and other websites
corrected painting in leonardo da vinci row to auction in new york
new york jan afp
painting that once triggered major art world row after being mistakenly
identified as the work of leonardo da vinci will go on auction in new york this
week
no one really knows who painted la belle ferronniere and it will go on the
block at sotheby on thursday listed as by follower of leonardo da vinci
the oil painting depicting richly dressed woman looking out over her left
side is estimated to sell for to dollars an absolute bargain
compared to an authentic da vinci
it clearly not by leonardo although there was huge amount of controversy
said george wachter co chairman of sotheby old master paintings department
if it was an authentic leonardo it would be worth more than million
dollars
experts haven always been that confident
in la belle ferronniere provoked one of the art world most heated
debates and almost brought foremost international expert to his knees
french american couple had arranged to sell the painting said by french
expert to be da vinci for the then princely sum of dollars to
kansas museum
however renowned specialist sir joseph duveen immediately declared the picture
no more than skillful copy and the sale to the museum fell through
he was sued by the owners and although the jury was unable to reach verdict
duveen was required to pay compensation
in da vinci specialist ruled that the painting was executed in the mid
th century more than century after the italian genius had died
anjelica huston honored on hollywood walk of fame
los angeles jan afp
oscar winning actress anjelica huston was immortalized on the streets of
hollywood on friday as she became the latest celebrity to have star laid in
her honor on the district walk of fame
the veteran actress whose films include prizzi honor and the royal
tenenbaums follows in the footsteps of her father john huston the legendary
director who also has star inset on hollywood boulevard
crowd of family friends and celebrity wellwishers joined huston friday for
the presentation of her star the th on the walk of fame
the beauty of this award is that it as permanent as anything in life these
days huston said it can be misplaced or left in the ladies room by
accident and always get the same billing
from here on ll always know where to find myself and so will other people
now don have to join facebook because when someone wants to find me this
is where ll be and ll always be here
huston became the third generation of her family to win an academy award
earning the prize for her performance in prizzi honor
her father directed classic films such as the african queen and the maltese
falcon while her grandfather walter huston won an oscar winner for his
