Corruption in sewage project exposed

JEDDAH: A Saudi businessman told the panel probing into the Jeddah flooding disaster that his company had received full payment for a project to overhaul part of the city’s sewerage system, but did not complete the job.

Sources told Arab News on Thursday the businessman had accused officials at the Ministry of Water of making it easier for the company to win the contract and ignored the fact it did not fulfill its commitments.

The sources added that the whistleblower admitted paying the officials part of the contract value.

In his testimony to the committee investigating the tragedy, the businessman said he took the initiative to expose the corruption because he wanted to clear his conscience.

He decided to contact Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, who is the chairman of the committee, after being moved by guilt following the floods that killed at least 122 people.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had ordered the establishment of the investigation committee after the disaster.

Sources said Prince Khaled has ordered authorities in Jeddah to begin questioning the businessman to verify the information he provided in his report. Once all evidence has been collated, authorities will detain and charge his partners and the accused ministry officials.

According to earlier reports from the Ministry of Finance, the government had earmarked about SR6.6 billion for implementing an integrated sewerage network in Jeddah.

“This is by far the largest amount of money to be dedicated for sewage projects in any city, including Riyadh,” the ministry said at the time.

According to municipal sources, only about a third of sewage projects in Jeddah were executed.

The ministry had approved the budget for the scheme in 2005.

The project should have been completed within three years but National Water Company officials said the deadline had been extended to 2011.

Arab News

More than 1,400 Canadians missing amid 'unbearable' images in Haiti

Jane Taber/Ottawa Notebook

There are 1,415 citizens missing in earthquake-ravaged Haiti as Canada continues its relief efforts and as concerns set in about health and sanitation issues in the country’s capital.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon provided a grim picture of the situation this morning in a briefing, confirming four Canadian deaths so far and 13 injuries. Over 550 Canadians have been located, he said.

“I understand the worrisome situation afflicting everyone impacted by the disaster. This is a very difficult period and some of the images we have seen and continue to see are unbearable for everyone,” Mr. Cannon said.

About 50 Canadians have taken refuge at the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince, he said. Another 50 citizens are being assisted elsewhere.

It is believed there are 6,000 Canadians in Haiti.

However, three Canadian Forces planes have so far been able to evacuate 272 Canadians.

The Globe and Mail

Prosecutors say ‘truck bomb’ intended for newspaper

Details of trucks filled with explosives and European terror networks emerge in JP terror plot case.

Terror plot accused planned to use truck bomb to blow up Jyllands-Posten newspaper, according to US Justice Department officials.

US citizen David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan, are already in police custody for their alleged roles in the plot against the newspaper in retribution for its printing of the Mohammed cartoons.

Additional conspiracy charges were recently filed against Ilyas Kashmiri, who has been identified as a leader of terrorist organisation Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) in Pakistan, which has connections to al Qaeda, and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, also known as Abdur Rehman, a retired major in the Pakistani military. Neither man is in police custody.

According to documents released by US authorities, Headley met Rehman and members of the Lashkar terrorist group in Pakistan. Rehman is said to have introduced Headley to Kashmiri who allegedly came up with the idea of the truck bomb.

Kashmiri is also reported to have put Headley in contact with various associates in a number of European countries ‘who could provide Headley with money, weapons and manpower for the newspaper attack’.

Since the initial details of the plot emerged in October with the arrests of Headley and Rana, the newspaper has tightened security at its Copenhagen and Århus locations.

The newspaper has also hired a head of security in the form of Torben Schiøtt, who has worked with the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) for the last 10 years.

He will be responsible for seeing through changes to security systems as well as training staff how to react in the case of a possible terrorist attack.

‘Hopefully the employees will get even more of a sense that we’re taking security seriously when there are people out there who say they want to threaten us. We’re taking action as if it could be a reality,’ said Jens Bruun, group managing director of Jyllands-Posten’s publisher.

The Copenhagen Post

Chinese President calls on whole nation to support Shanghai World Expo

SHANGHAI, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday called on the Chinese people to pool their strength and resources to make sure the Shanghai World Expo a success.

    With just 106 days to go before the Expo opening on May 1, Hu visited the Expo site Friday during an inspection tour in Shanghai.

    "Hosting the World Expo is not only a significant event of Shanghai, but also of the whole nation," he said, noting it was both the responsibility of Shanghai and the whole country to hold a successful Expo.

    He urged Shanghai to make "all-out efforts" to efficiently complete the preparations and be a good host.

    He asked central government departments and local governments to take initiative and make concerted efforts in supporting the event.

The Expo's organizing committee should enhance its leading role and supervision to push forward relevant preparatory work orderly, he said.

    Hu put forward six requirements on the Expo's preparatory work:

    - To ensure the Expo site's infrastructure building and exhibition arrangements be completed on time;

    - To ensure sound service and logistics;

    - Security should be fully guaranteed;

    - Foreign affairs work, including receptions of international guests, must be well handled;

    - To ensure efficient and effective publicity work;

    - To create a civilized, happy and peaceful atmosphere.

    Hu said though the Expo was a big challenge, he believed it would be a "successful, brilliant and memorable" event with the support of the Chinese people, especially the contributions of Shanghai officials and residents.

    The Shanghai World Expo, which is expected to receive 70 million visitors, will last from May 1 to Oct. 31.

    So far, 35 of the 42 self-built foreign pavilions have started interior decoration and exhibition arrangement, and 11 joint pavilions have been completed. 

China View

Stricken Haitians need basic supplies

By Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (Jan. 15, 2010) -- A massive U.S.-international relief effort is under way to help Haitians stricken by a Jan. 12 earthquake that damaged much of the country's capital of Port-Au-Prince.

More than 300 U.S. Soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Haiti overnight, and the Navy's aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is now off-shore, dispatching aircraft to aid in relief efforts, Lt. Gen. P.K. "Ken" Keen told ABC News reporter Robin Roberts today at Haiti's main airport. 

"We've been here doing everything we can. ... Our efforts have been pushed forward as fast as we can get it here," said Keen, deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command based at Miami, who is heading the joint U.S. military task force charged with the Haitian earthquake relief effort. 

The top priorities now, Keen said, are providing health care and relief supplies to Haitians in need. 

"There's an immense need for medical relief, and we're anticipating, of course, need for basic items such as food," Keen said. "Water, particularly, is in need".

U.S. and international assets, the general said, also are conducting missions to locate and rescue survivors from the rubble. 

The Haitians, Keen said, "are in need of everything".

"Much more" U.S. support will be en route to Haiti in coming days, Keen said. The Navy's USNS Comfort hospital ship is being readied to deploy to Haiti to provide medical care. The priority, Keen said, is getting relief aid to Haiti "to mitigate the suffering that the Haitian people are experiencing right now".

Meanwhile, the Haitian government is firmly in control of its affairs as international aid arrives, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten told NBC "Today" show host Meredith Vieira today. The Haitian government "is in charge," Merten emphasized, noting it is holding regular meetings with U.S. and international aid agencies to coordinate relief activities. 

Viera asked Merten if Haiti's earthquake-damaged infrastructure, including Port-Au-Prince's airport and seaport, would hinder relief efforts. 

There "definitely are" logistical challenges, Merten acknowledged. However, he added, the USS Carl Vinson boasts significant helicopter lift capabilities that can be employed to transport needed supplies to key areas in and around Port-Au-Prince. 

Concurrently, search-and-rescue teams "have been out day and night," Merten said, looking to rescue and aid people. 

U.S. Army

Earthquake survivors build barricades out of bodies

Anger is growing in Haiti amongst survivors of the killer earthquake as international aid struggles to get through

And according to eyewitnesses, some people have even resorted to building barricades using the bodies of victims out of fury over the missing help following the devastating tremor.

Photographer Shaul Schwarz from ‘Time’ magazine told Reuters: “They are starting to block the roads with bodies".

In the capital city of Port-au-Prince, a minimum of two barricades made from dead bodies and rocks can be seen.

“It’s getting ugly out there," Schwarz added. "People are fed up with getting no help."

The smell of decay is gradually spreading around the city as international aid to the victims is slow in the poorest country of the Western hemisphere.

People are still searching for survivors as they dig in the ruins, mostly with their bare hands.

For the third night in a row most of the residents slept in the open air out of fear of aftershocks or because their houses had been destroyed.

According to CNN reports, piles of earthquake victims' corpses are being gathered from the streets into a loader and tipped into big trucks.

It is hardly possible to identify the victims though a lack of time and manpower.

In the course of the day, the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson will arrive with 19 helicopters and thousands of soldiers. It is hoped its resources will be able to speed up the efforts of aid organisations.

The US wants to send six more ships including three with helicopters and 2,200 marines as well as a hospital ship.

According to the US military command in Miami, more than 6,000 members of the American armed forces will be in Haiti or off the coast by the weekend.

The damaged airport in Port-au-Prince has prevented a quick start to supplying emergency aid. United Nations humanitarian coordinator John Holmes in New York said that aid has been pouring in from around the world but the overwhelmed airport has delayed distribution.

He said: "The blockage is not so much in the distribution. The blockage is in the arrival. There are a lot of planes coming in. People are working very hard to fix that”.

Aid workers who have reached Port-au-Prince are being welcomed by a picture of chaos, death and devastation. There are thousands of injured, hungry and traumatised survivors between piles of dead bodies and ruins throughout the city. Looting is also being widely reported.

Aerial photographs reveal landscapes which look like the have undergone a bombardment. Rubble in the roads is making it extremely difficult for rescue teams to reach survivors.

The Haitian government fears that between 50,000 and 100,000 people have died in the catastrophe so far.

And according to the Red Cross, around a third of the country’s nine million inhabitants are in need of emergency aid.

The tremor also caused heavy damage in the south of the Caribbean state, which is where the German Welthungerhilfe (World Hunger Aid) agency wants to concentrate its resources.

Its representative in Haiti, Michael Kühn, told the DPA press agency that there were many cities and areas there which had suffered badly

He said there is an urgent need for help in places like Jacmal, Petit Goave and Leogane where the international community is not yet “particularly engaged”.

The situation is also difficult because the Haiti government and the United Nations presence in the country were themselves hit badly in the disaster.

“But the UNO is beginning to organise itself again and to distribute work, organise medical help and to take water supply into hand,” said Kühn, who has lived and worked in Haiti for many years.

The extent of the disaster is so far unclear, as is the fate of the 100 or so Germans in the country.

A spokesman from the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said that a group of six German citizens had flown back to Germany whilst others had travelled overland into the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

Spain, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is planning to hold a special meeting of European development ministers on Monday

Bild

Russian producers say ready for ban on U.S. poultry

Russian producers are ready for the potential ban on U.S. poultry imports, a spokeswoman for one of Russia's largest meat manufacturers said on Friday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned the United States on Thursday that Russia could find other poultry suppliers if U.S. companies fail to meet the country's sanitary requirements.

Tougher sanitary regulations regarding poultry processing that restrict the use of chlorine and moisture content came into force in Russia January 1. U.S. companies have traditionally used chlorine in poultry processing and will not be able to supply their products to Russia any longer.

"Russian [poultry] producers will increase output and they were ready for [the ban] on the back of earlier forecasts on lower import quotas," Irina Ostryakova from Cherkizovo Group said.

She said Petelinka, one of Russia's key poultry producers and a Cherkizovo subsidiary, had long used air chilling in poultry processing and refused to comment on substitutes for U.S. chlorine-treated chicken.

Ostryakova described the government motion as pro-Russian.

"We are just taking the path Europe has chosen to improve production," she said referring to the ban on chlorine-rinsed poultry that has been in place in Europe since 1997.

Galina Bobyleva, general director of the Russian Poultry Union, also welcomed Putin's proposal.

"This is certainly a cause for celebration, that quality requirements for imports are being raised," she said.

She dismissed speculation that the ban would cause a poultry deficit on the domestic market or any price hike.

"We currently have huge reserves of unsold products," Bobyleva said.

MOSCOW, January 15 

RIA Novosti

Despair as bottlenecks hamper aid

By Catherine Bremer and Andrew Cawthorne, Reuters

Thousands of people injured in Haiti's massive earthquake spent a third night twisted in pain, lying on sidewalks and waiting for help as their despair turned to anger.

"We've been out here waiting for three days and three nights but nothing has been done for us, not even a word of encouragement from the president," said Pierre Jackson, nursing his mother and sister who lay whimpering with crushed legs.

"What should we do?"

Desperate Haitians blocked streets with corpses in one part of Port-au-Prince to demand quicker relief efforts following Tuesday's catastrophic quake, which flattened buildings and killed tens of thousands, leaving countless others homeless.

Bodies lay all around the hilly city, and people covered their noses with cloth to block the stench of death. Corpses were piled on pickup trucks and delivered to the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, where hospital director Guy LaRoche estimated the bodies piled outside the morgue numbered 1,500.

More than 48 hours after disaster struck, masses of people clamored for food and water, as well as help in digging out relatives still missing under the rubble.

Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.

"They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help," he told Reuters.

Angry survivors staged the protest as international aid committed by 30 countries began arriving in Port-au-Prince in dozens of planes that clogged the city's small airport.

The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more - one third of Haiti's population - were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.

"We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave," President Rene Preval said.

The Haitian Red Cross said it had run out of body bags.

Doctors in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, were ill-equipped to treat the injured. Relief workers warned that many more people will die if the injured, many with broken bones and serious loss of blood, do not get first aid in the next day or so.

"The next 24 hours will be critical," said US Coast Guard officer Paul Cormier, 54, a qualified emergency worker who has triaged 300 people since Tuesday.

Planes full of supplies and search and rescue equipment began to arrive at Port-au-Prince airport yesterday faster than ground crews could unload them, jamming the limited ramp space and forcing arriving aircraft to circle for up to two hours before landing.

Barack Obama pledged an initial $100 million for Haiti quake relief on Thursday and enlisted former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to help raise more, vowing to the Haitian people: "You will not be forsaken".

The United States was sending 3,500 soldiers, 300 medical personnel, several ships and 2,200 Marines to Haiti.

The US Navy said its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson will arrive on Friday to serve as a "floating airport" for relief operations by its 19 helicopters.

The United States pledged long-term help for the crippled Haitian government. The presidential palace, the parliament, the cathedral and many government buildings collapsed. The main prison also fell, allowing dangerous criminals to escape.

Nations around the world pitched in to send rescue teams with search dogs and heavy equipment, helicopters, tents, water purification units, food, doctors and telecoms teams. But aid distribution was hampered because roads were blocked by rubble and smashed cars and normal communications were cut off.

Relief agencies' offices were damaged and their staff dead or missing. The port was too badly damaged to handle cargo.

Many hospitals were too battered to use, and doctors struggled to treat crushed limbs, head wounds and broken bones at makeshift facilities where medical supplies were scarce.

Makeshift tents were strung everywhere and Haitians at one informal camp approached journalists shouting "water, water".

"Please do anything you can. These people have no water, no food, no medicine, nobody is helping us," said Valery Louis, who organized one of the camps.

Haitians clawed at chunks of concrete with bare hands and hammers, trying to free those buried alive. From time to time, aftershocks shook the city, sending panicked people running away from buildings.

A 35-year-old Estonian, Tarmo Joveer, was freed from the rubble of the United Nations' five-story headquarters yesterday, and told journalists he was fine.

The UN said at least 36 members of its 9,000-strong peacekeeping mission had been killed and scores remained missing. Brazil said 14 of its soldiers were among the dead.

Fourteen people were pulled alive yesterday from the landmark Montana Hotel, which was largely flattened. Chilean Army Major Rodrigo Vazquez, who was directing the rescue, said: "We estimate 70 more inside. This is devastating".

The Independent