.Files containing reported sightings of missing British girl Madeleine McCann and held by Portuguese police should be handed to investigators still searching for her, a family spokesperson says.
Several British newspapers are reporting that thousands of previously unseen pages of information passed to police after the case was closed had been released to them after they applied to a Portuguese court.
“Kate and Gerry [McCann] have made it clear that they were shocked to see the lack of follow-up work done by the Portuguese police since the investigation was shelved,” he said.
Family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell says the girl’s parents are very disappointed.”
The Portuguese are no longer investigating the case, but other investigators acting on the couple’s behalf are still examining for the missing girl and appealing to the public for information.
“All the information in these files must go to the private investigators as they are the only people still examining for Madeleine.
Other reported sightings crop up in Portugal, Spain, France and the United States.
Fresh leads reported by the newspapers include security camera footage in New Zealand showing a girl resembling Madeleine being led into a supermarket by a man. .
Madeleine went missing from a holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, as her parents and their friends dined at a nearby restaurant.
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.Sweden’s top seed Robin Soderling progressed past the second round of the ATP event in Marseille with a three-set victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.
Stakhovsky won the opening set in a tiebreak (7-5) before Soderling stamped his authority to claim the remaining two sets 6-3, 6-4.
France’s third seed Gael Monfils also advanced but not without a struggle, after beating Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3). .
Meanwhile, Spain’s David Ferrer won his second round match at the Buenos Aires Open.
.The French government has passed a radical affirmative action plan that will force publicly-listed companies to hire more women in their boardrooms.
At the moment women hold fewer than 10 per cent of boardroom seats in publicly-listed companies, but the new laws will see that figure rise to 40 per cent.
Women hold a certain place in French society – they are famed writers, musicians and supermodels.
Avivah Wittenberg Cox, the CEO of 20-first, one of Europe’s leading gender consultancies, has welcomed the new legislation.
Men adore them in the bedroom, but not, it seems, in the boardroom.
“What we’ve had until now, I would suggest, is actually a pretty established millennium of affirmative action in favour of masculine leadership styles, networks and norms.
“I think this is the beginning of what we might actually consider true meritocracy,” she said. . It too recently introduced a similar, though voluntary, scheme.”
In Spain, women fill just 4 per cent of board seats.
According to the Norwegian government, the quota is not simply a strike for equality – it makes sound economic sense in a country that has weathered the economic storm better than most.
In 2003 Norway became the first country to pass a law requiring boards to have at least 40 per cent of seats occupied by women.
“From my perspective, in a country where 50 per cent of the population is women, where they have had 50 per cent of the students in higher education for decades, there was no reason to keep them out of the boards,” he said.
The minister of trade and industry in the Norwegian government at the time, Ansgar Gabrielsen, says the quota system ensures women are no longer disadvantaged.
“What is the reason that only 6 per cent of the members of the board are women? I have been in the business world, so I know how it works, how they elect people to the boards and how they elect friends, how they elect people from the same schools, from the same hunting or fishing club or golf club or whatever, there was no reason to go on with that.
“What is the reason that only 6 per cent of the members of the board are women? I have been in the business world, so I know how it works, how they elect people to the boards and how they elect friends, how they elect people from the same schools, from the same hunting or fishing club or golf club or whatever, there was no reason to go on with that.”
. It will change all over the world, I’m sure
.A major earthquake has hit impoverished Haiti, killing possibly thousands of people as it toppled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike and left the Caribbean nation appealing for international help.
Following are some of the efforts by foreign governments and aid agencies to help:
– United States – The US military is sending a ground assessment team and one of its P3 aircraft has been doing aerial reconnaissance, a Pentagon spokesperson said. US Navy ships at bases along the East Coast have been told to be prepared to leave for Haiti and the US could also begin using C-130 aircraft to fly supplies to Haiti later on Wednesday.75 million) from its central emergency response fund and mobilising an emergency response team, expected to be on the ground shortly, to help coordinate aid efforts.
– United Nations – is immediately releasing $US10 million ($10.
UN World Food Program head Josette Sheeran said the agency was already flying in additional food that would provide more than 500,000 emergency meals. UN aid officials expect to issue an international appeal for funds and other assistance in the next few days, once needs have been assessed. The children’s agency UNICEF is dispatching two planes and a ship laden with tents, as well as food and other supplies designed for women and children.7 million) of fast-track funding for the international effort and could pledge more in coming days, a spokeswoman said.
– European Union – The EU’s executive European Commission approved three million euros ($4.
– Japan – has pledged $US5 million in aid a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
Countries including Belgium, Sweden and Luxembourg had offered assistance via an EU emergency assistance coordination mechanism, with offers ranging from a water purification unit to tents.
– Netherlands – The Foreign Ministry said it would send an urban search and rescue team to Haiti, consisting of 60 people as well as sniffer dogs, to help find people hidden under the rubble.
– France – is sending two planes and a field hospital as well as rescue services, said Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. It said the team is part of a coordinated international rescue action led by the UN. It said the team is part of a coordinated international rescue action led by the UN. A 20-person reconnaissance team is going to see what aid is needed, and two rescue helicopters could be sent.2 million) to help provide emergency shelter, medical services, food, relief items, water and sanitation services.
– Iceland – sent a search and rescue team of 37 specialists.
– Germany – is sending one million euros in immediate aid, said Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.
– Inter-American Development Bank – The Inter-American Development Bank said it would provide $US200,000 in immediate aid.
– Britain – a four-person field assessment team is en route to Port-au-Prince to determine priorities for urgent assistance and Britain also sending a search and rescue team of 64 people with dogs and heavy rescue equipment.
– Aid agencies –
Many aid agencies were scrambling to provide help. The World Bank planned to send a team to help assess damage and plan a recovery.
– Telecoms Sans Frontieres, a humanitarian group that helps set up communications during disasters, deployed an emergency team from Managua to provide vital support in emergency telecommunications. .
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.Eric Rohmer, a pioneer of French New Wave cinema, has died aged 89.
In a career spanning half a century, Rohmer made some 50 films, first gaining international acclaim for Ma Nuit Chez Maud (My Night At Maud’s) which was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay in 1969.
Le Genou De Claire (Claire’s Knee) of 1970 won the San Sebastian Film Festival top honour, while L’Amour l’Apres-Midi (Love In The Afternoon) two years later secured Rohmer’s position as a master of the intense portrayal of the cerebral and the sensual.
Rohmer was born Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer in Nancy, eastern France, in 1920.
His work divided the film world – critics were quick to denounce his movies as desperately tedious, while his fans hailed him as an aesthete who laid bare the human soul.
He was later editor-in-chief of Cahiers Du Cinema – the bible of the New Wave movement, which shunned the constraints of classical cinema to create a more edgy, improvised style. .
Regarded by many as a conservative, Rohmer did not follow fashion.
“[He makes] films that deal with foibles and relationships of realistic if self-absorbed people.
“Rohmer’s films never contain any obvious attention-getting devices such as violence, unusual camera angles or even musical scores,” wrote biographer Terry Ballard.
Gene Hackman as a character in the 1975 film Night Moves says of Rohmer: “I saw one of his films once.”
His movies were not to all tastes.”
Rohmer made his first feature film, Le Signe Du Lion (The Sign Of Leo), in 1959. It was like watching paint dry.
He did not become famous for a further 10 years, but worked tirelessly during this period.
He did not become famous for a further 10 years, but worked tirelessly during this period.
“You can say that my work is closer to the novel – to a certain classic style of novel which the cinema is now taking over – than to other forms of entertainment, like the theatre.
“What I call a ‘conte moral’ is not a tale with a moral, but a story which deals less with what people do than with what is going on in their minds while they are doing it,” Rohmer wrote in 1971.
A man with a reputation for zealously guarding his privacy, Rohmer started his third series of films at the age of 70, naming them after the four seasons and beginning with Conte De Printemps (A Tale Of Springtime).”
In the 1980s, Rohmer began his second series of films under the banner Comedies And Proverbs which were supposed to be lighter in tone to the earlier “literary” movies.
Rohmer received a coveted Golden Lion for his life achievements at the Venice Film Festival in 2001.
In 1999, his Conte D’Automne (Autumn Tale) won him strong critical success at the age of 79.
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His last movie as director, Les Amours D’Astree Et De Celadon (Romance Of Astree And Celadon), came out in 2007
.Eric Rohmer, a pioneer of French New Wave cinema, has died aged 89.
In a career spanning half a century, Rohmer made some 50 films, first gaining international acclaim for Ma Nuit Chez Maud (My Night At Maud’s) which was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay in 1969.
Le Genou De Claire (Claire’s Knee) of 1970 won the San Sebastian Film Festival top honour, while L’Amour l’Apres-Midi (Love In The Afternoon) two years later secured Rohmer’s position as a master of the intense portrayal of the cerebral and the sensual.
Rohmer was born Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer in Nancy, eastern France, in 1920.
His work divided the film world – critics were quick to denounce his movies as desperately tedious, while his fans hailed him as an aesthete who laid bare the human soul.
He was later editor-in-chief of Cahiers Du Cinema – the bible of the New Wave movement, which shunned the constraints of classical cinema to create a more edgy, improvised style. .
Regarded by many as a conservative, Rohmer did not follow fashion.
“[He makes] films that deal with foibles and relationships of realistic if self-absorbed people.
“Rohmer’s films never contain any obvious attention-getting devices such as violence, unusual camera angles or even musical scores,” wrote biographer Terry Ballard.
Gene Hackman as a character in the 1975 film Night Moves says of Rohmer: “I saw one of his films once.”
His movies were not to all tastes.”
Rohmer made his first feature film, Le Signe Du Lion (The Sign Of Leo), in 1959. It was like watching paint dry.
He did not become famous for a further 10 years, but worked tirelessly during this period.
He did not become famous for a further 10 years, but worked tirelessly during this period.
“You can say that my work is closer to the novel – to a certain classic style of novel which the cinema is now taking over – than to other forms of entertainment, like the theatre.
“What I call a ‘conte moral’ is not a tale with a moral, but a story which deals less with what people do than with what is going on in their minds while they are doing it,” Rohmer wrote in 1971.
A man with a reputation for zealously guarding his privacy, Rohmer started his third series of films at the age of 70, naming them after the four seasons and beginning with Conte De Printemps (A Tale Of Springtime).”
In the 1980s, Rohmer began his second series of films under the banner Comedies And Proverbs which were supposed to be lighter in tone to the earlier “literary” movies.
Rohmer received a coveted Golden Lion for his life achievements at the Venice Film Festival in 2001.
In 1999, his Conte D’Automne (Autumn Tale) won him strong critical success at the age of 79.
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His last movie as director, Les Amours D’Astree Et De Celadon (Romance Of Astree And Celadon), came out in 2007
.A cattle disease that has been a curse for millennia is likely to be declared eradicated next year thanks to a global vaccination campaign, the world’s paramount veterinary agency said on Thursday. .
“We are very close to wiping out rinderpest around the world,” the OIE’s director-general, Bernard Vallat, said, comparing the achievement in veterinary terms to the eradication of smallpox among humans.
But an arduous effort to vaccinate animals against the virus that causes the disease is bearing fruit, the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health, known by its French acronym of OIE, said in Paris. It has been around since the dawn of time,” Mr Vallat said.
“This disease has been a historic curse for humanity.
Assessments are underway for these remaining countries, of which Somalia is the most problematic, but hopes are high that the OIE will be able to declare the disease eradicated at a meeting in 2011, he said.
In 2000, close toly half of the OIE’s rollcall of 175 countries still had rinderpest, a tally that has fallen in 2010 to 17.
“Two or three” high-security reference laboratories are being considered, he said.
Vallat said a key question was where virus samples would be stored, to be used for research purposes and as a source for vaccines if the disease ever rebounded.
“Hopefully, it won’t be the same for rinderpest,” said Mr Vallat.
Samples of smallpox virus continue to be held in US and Russian labs, raising fears in some quarters that they could be stolen or used to make a bioterror weapon.
Sheep and goats are susceptible to the virus but are much less affected by it compared to cattle.
The pathogen that causes rinderpest is a member of the paramyxoviridae family of virus. There is no risk for humans.
The symptoms among animals are fever, diarrhoea and dehydration, often leading to death within 10 to 15 days.
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.Eurostar cancelled four trains on Wednesday due to bad weather and expects more problems just three weeks after powdery snow turned its rail link between Britain and France into a pre-Christmas undersea travel trap.
Snowstorms sweeping across southern England and northern France brought road and rail chaos, with Eurostar warning travellers of the same problems that left thousands stranded in the Channel Tunnel last month.
Management decided on Tuesday night to cancel two trains linking Paris and London and two between London and Brussels, a spokeswoman said, adding that snow prevented many passengers reaching the stations.
“Due to bad weather, certain services could be delayed or cancelled at the last minute,” Eurostar said in a statement.
A similar big chill gripped northern France in December and brought Eurostar trains to a three-day standstill, with the first breakdown leaving passengers stuck on the trains overnight for up to 16 hours.
Travellers were encouraged to swap their Wednesday bookings for another date.
It reported that the failure was caused as trains moved from cold air outside into the warmer tunnel.
Eurostar, operated by French rail company SNCF, its Belgian counterpart SNCB and British government-owned LCR, then said it was modifying its fleet to cope with powdery snow.
France’s government has said it doubted cold was the sole reason and ordered an investigation. .
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.Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore had his life ban from Formula One overturned overnight when a French court ruled that the punishment was illegally imposed by the sport’s governing body.
The flamboyant Italian was banned in September by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) for a plot to rig the outcome of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix by staging a deliberate crash.
“The court ruled the sanction was illegal,” said a judge at the Tribunal de Grande Instance.58 million) as well as demanding the sentence be lifted, was awarded 15,000 euros in compensation.
Briatore, a multi-millionaire businessman who had also sought damages of 1 million euros ($1.
He did not know whether Briatore, who did not attend the hearing, would try to come back to the sport where he won championships with both Benetton and Renault in a career spanning more than two decades.
“It is almost exactly what we had asked for, this is obviously an exceptional outcome for Mr Briatore,” his lawyer Philippe Ouakrat told reporters.
“Mr Briatore wanted to be free to do what he wants and he did not want to be imposed an outrageous sanction taken in his absence and without being able to defend himself,” said Ouakrat. He declined to make any further comment.
FIA appeal
The FIA’s lawyer Jean-Francois Prat told the FIA would “very likely” appeal the decision.
He said he had done so to bring out the safety car and help his Spanish team-mate Fernando Alonso, the double world champion who has now joined Ferrari, win the race.
Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet triggered one of Formula One’s biggest scandals when he was dropped by Renault in July and then told the FIA that he had been ordered to crash deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Former champions Renault were handed a suspended permanent ban while engineering head Pat Symonds, who left the team at the same time as Briatore, was banned for five years. Alonso has been cleared of any knowledge of the plan.
The court overturned Symonds’s sentence and awarded the Briton 5,000 euros in compensation. .
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.Eurostar is suspending train services for a third day to look into a weekend break-down of trains that trapped about 2,500 passengers in the Anglo-French Channel Tunnel, while France will order a public investigation.
Eurostar, owned by the French and Belgian state railway firms and the UK, blamed bad weather for the problem that disrupted Christmas travel for thousands more passengers. .
Eurostar announced in a statement that it was launching “an independent review into the problems it has experienced over recent days”.
“We can’t believe that Eurostar trains can’t run for three days because of snow, so there must be a technical problem,” French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said during a visit to China with Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
Christopher Garnett, who has served as chief executive of GNER railways and commercial director of Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel, will lead the review.
It has said that moving from the cold into the warmer tunnel caused condensation that affected electrical systems.
Shares in Eurotunnel at one stage dropped 3 per cent early on Monday, making the stock among the top losers on France’s SBF120 index.
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“These events might bring one-time charges, but more importantly, the real problem here is Eurotunnel’s image,” one Paris-based trader said