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Obama pledges to continue Haiti aid, says situation 'remains dire' |
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:00 |
|  | | | (CNN) -- President Obama met Wednesday with Haitian President Rene Preval to discuss relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in Haiti. The two leaders pledged to continue working for a more coordinated, sustained global relief effort to help Haiti recover from a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck January 12. Much of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, was destroyed, and more than 217,000 people were killed, according to the latest figures from international relief organizations. The situation on the ground in Haiti "remains dire," Obama said at the White House. A continuing desperate need for food, medicine and shelter will be exacerbated by the onset of Haiti's spring rain season, he said. |
| | | "You will continue to have a steady and reliable partner in the United States of America," Obama promised Preval.
Preval extended his thanks "not only for the material aid" from the United States, but also for America's "psychological response," which made Haitians realize "we were not alone."
Washington has already provided $700 million in aid to Haiti. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday a donors conference is planned in New York for the end of March. More than half of all United States households have made private contributions to Haitian relief, Clinton said.
Preval said Tuesday his country is working to get its election timetable rescheduled, telling reporters after meeting with Clinton that political stability is "fundamental" for the development of a country. "I think that is what constitutes a guarantee for investors, for the population -- that there's some guarantees, that there's some security about their future," he said.
Parliamentary elections set for February were postponed, and it is unclear whether a presidential election scheduled for the fall can proceed.
Clinton said she assured Preval "that the United States would work with the international community to hold elections as soon as appropriate." | |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 March 2010 09:00 )
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Massive development with new harbours and airports: Unemployment to end by 2012- Media Minister |
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:00 |
(Daily News) - The unemployment issue of the youth would be solved by 2012 after addressing the problems of the kitchen, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane said.
He was speaking at a series of propaganda meetings in support of the UPFA in Aparekka and Thalalle areas in the South.
No President who sought re-election the second time in the history ever obtained more votes than the first time. However, our President achieved this thanks to the gratitude shown by the people for ending the three decade old war. We gained our Independence in 1948. However, we truly gained it only after ending the war last year.
Despite international pressure in all forms, the President stood firm against them and won the war.
In this context, we need to form a strong Government to solve the remaining problems and carry forward development programs.
Under the President's guidance, the South is undergoing massive development today with new harbours and airports.
Therefore, we seek your support to complete these development within the next term of office, Abeywardane said.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 March 2010 09:09 )
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Myanmar bars Suu Kyi's election participation |
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:00 |
| | | | (CNN) -- Myanmar's ruling junta announced Wednesday a new election law that disqualifies pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in upcoming national elections.
The Political Parties Registration Law, announced in state-run newspapers, excludes electoral participation by any member of a political party who has been convicted in court.
A Myanmar court convicted Suu Kyi, 64, in August for breaching the terms of her house arrest after American John Yettaw swam uninvited to her lakeside house in Yangon and briefly stayed there. Her ongoing detention was extended to November 2010, and in February a court rejected her appeal for release.
Suu Kyi's supporters have said the conviction was a way to remove
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| | | her from the election campaign. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest.
The new law forces Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, to choose between honoring her as its leader and risking the party being declared illegal or ejecting Suu Kyi from the party and contesting the election.
The party has 60 days to decide its course of action, but party spokesman Nyan Winn said Wednesday that the party would not comply with the new law.
Suu Kyi, the face of democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma, was placed under house arrest in 1989.
The next year, her party won more than 80 percent of the legislative seats in the first free elections in the country in nearly 30 years. But the military junta disqualified Suu Kyi from serving because of her house arrest and never recognized the election results.
The junta has promised to hold elections -- which would be the first since 1990 -- later this year, touting them as a step toward democracy. No polling date has been set.
At the United Nations, a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that the organization was studying the laws.
"The indications available so far suggest that they do not measure up to our expectations of what is needed for an inclusive political process," the statement said.
In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman said the law makes a mockery of the democratic process.
"Given the tenor of the election laws that they've put forward, there's no hope that this election will be credible," P.J. Crowley told reporters.
"We are deeply disappointed with the political party law which excludes all of Burma's more than 2,000 political prisoners from political participation," he said. "We are also troubled the law appears to bar National League of Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running. It may also prohibit her from membership in her own party. This is a step in the wrong direction."
Still, he said, "We will continue our outreach and our dialogue, not because we expect it to solve this instantly. Burma has to figure out how it wants to advance. It's obviously struggling to do that."
If Myanmar wants to build its credibility with the rest of the world, "it has to find a way to have a process where it has meaningful dialogue with ethnic groups and other political movements," he said.
Amnesty International urged Myanmar to overturn the new law.
"There are at least 2,200 political prisoners in Myanmar, most of whom are in prison simply because they tried to exercise their rights peacefully," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher. "Instead of passing laws that strip away more of their rights, the Myanmar authorities should immediately release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and remove restrictions on their political activity."
The new government stipulation is the latest political hurdle for Suu Kyi.
She was already banned from becoming president by Myanmar's recently amended constitution, which prohibits presidents and their parents, spouses and children from owing allegiance to another country.
Suu Kyi was married to British academic Michael Aris, who died in 1999, and had two sons with him.
The United States considers Myanmar's military regime repressive for cracking down on political opponents, the most prominent of whom is Suu Kyi. However, after years of refusing direct talks with the reclusive nation, Washington has recently indicated a possible re-engagement. | |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 March 2010 09:01 )
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FORMULA 1: The fight to be fit - Force India’s Balbir Singh on driver trainingve |
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:00 |
| | | | Since the start of February, the drivers have been hard at work at the test track, honing their cars ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. But although this was the first public glimpse of their 2010 preparations, the drivers have actually been hard at work ever since the curtain closed on the ’09 season.
Indeed, like all topflight sportsmen, today’s Formula One heroes never really step off the treadmill, and the winter off-season provides them with the perfect opportunity to improve their fitness. So whilst the engineers are slogging it out perfecting their 2010 cars back at the factory, the drivers are busy ensuring they’ll be fit enough to drive them.
And boy, do they need to be fit. Unlike the old days when they’d enjoy a fry-up before the race and a beer after, Formula One drivers nowadays are amongst the most conditioned athletes on earth. |
| | | During a race their hearts will register 170 beats per minute (bpm) and peak at 190 bpm. To put that into context, that’s three times the 60 bpm of an average man.
If that wasn’t enough, they also need to be strong enough to withstand forces as high as 5Gs in high-speed corners and under braking, and have enough stamina to cope with such extreme heat that they can sweat off anything up to 3kg of their body weight during a race. It’s like being trapped on a rollercoaster, without respite, for up to two hours.
It’s no wonder then that teams call in specialists to ensure their drivers are at the very peak of fitness. Amongst the best in the business is Force India’s Balbir Singh, who started his Formula One career after being poached from the sports clinic where he was working by none other than Michael Schumacher. Although he had no previous Formula One experience, Singh believes Schumacher hired him, ahead of his debut with Ferrari in 1996, because he liked the Punjab-born physiotherapist’s unique methodology.
“I have been a physiotherapist for a long time now,” explains Singh. “I was working in a sports clinic and had the fortune to treat Michael Schumacher. He liked my approach and some time later I received a phone call from him asking if I wanted to be his full time physio at races. He’s a very driven person and the opportunity was a good one so I went for it.”
To aid mental relaxation, Singh is an avid proponent of a variety of holistic therapies. Although unusual, it’s an approach that has been gaining ground in recent years up and down the pit lane, and Singh remains convinced that looking beyond just the physical fitness is essential.
“For me, it’s crucial,” he says. “You have to have a complete package - mind, body and soul working as one. I teach relaxation techniques such as tai chi and yoga and rebalancing techniques for the mind. This will help them unwind and in doing so sharpens the mind when they come to the track as they are more relaxed.
“If your body is fit but your mind is untrained then you will not succeed; you need both to work in harmony. So I make sure the mind is focused and also able to relax as much as I make sure the body is fit. F1 drivers are subject to constant pressures inside and outside the car. There is the media attention, the demands from sponsors, the fans and then the commitments to the team. Other sportspeople have this, but perhaps not in such short, intense bursts. So I make sure that the drivers can relax away from the track, that their breathing is in tune with the body and there is a sense of calm.”
Over the years, Singh and Schumacher became very close, even sharing accommodation at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track, and the trainer believes that establishing a strong personal relationship with a driver is an essential element to the success of his work. Anyone looking at Schumacher’s achievements at Ferrari would be hard pressed to disagree.
“It’s very important to have a mutual trust and respect for each other,” he explained. “I don’t try and make them open up, but I try to create an environment where they can unwind and can talk if they want to. That’s what makes you closer as you will get to understand each other. Equally I need to know they are committed to the training and how much they want to improve.”
He stayed with Schumacher for over a decade, working alongside the German as he picked up countless wins and five drivers’ title for Ferrari. He eventually retired from the sport in 2005, moving to a new position that saw him work with several Dakar Rally teams, and also set up his own clinic in Germany. Singh, however, couldn’t resist the pull of F1 racing.
He eventually returned to the paddock in 2008 to ply his trade with Force India and is currently working with the team’s line-up of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi as they prepare for the season ahead. Although both drivers are seeking the same end results, Singh believes it’s best to vary his methods and create a distinct programme designed to fit each individual’s specific needs.
“Every programme will be tailored to that person as everybody has a different body, different strengths, different weaknesses and a very different mental approach,” he explains. “How I treat them will be dependant on their whole body and mind, so therefore Adrian and Tonio are quite different.”
Over the winter he has focused his attentions on Liuzzi in particular. The 29 year-old was promoted to a race seat for the last five rounds of the 2009 season, after Giancarlo Fisichella moved to Ferrari. He had previously been the team’s third driver. With the Italian set to contest his first full Formula One season since 2007, it’s been a busy few months as he gets into race shape.
“I’ve been working really closely with Tonio,” said Singh. “He’s been coming to Germany to train with me, or I’ve been going to Italy - he’s been working very hard. It’s been keeping his stamina and overall fitness level high while he’s not driving, so lots of cardio work like cycling but also doing relaxation techniques such as yoga and tai chi. He’s very motivated.”
During pre-season testing, Singh’s methods changed as the drivers returned to the cockpit. He was regularly in attendance at the test circuits, ensuring the drivers are fit and ready to get behind the wheel.
“As the drivers go into the testing programmes we work on the muscles more,” he said. “Even though they will be very fit and relaxed, they have not driven the cars for a few months, so the muscles will have to get used to the pressures of driving again. So it will be massages and treating areas of discomfort.”
Once the season starts, the programme will shift again. Although there’ll still be just as much training between races, over a Grand Prix weekend just being in the car is exercise enough; so rather than working intensively on fitness, Singh’s philosophy is that sleep and plenty of relaxation will get the best out of his drivers at races
“It’s not as intense as in the week before, as the driving keeps the drivers fit, but it is also very tiring,” he explains. “On the Wednesday we will be in the gym and also a little on Thursday but during running days there will be a massage, some relaxation and then plenty of sleep!”
It’ll be interesting once the season is underway to watch how the Singh’s regime helps the Force India line-up achieve their dreams. With the team’s chief operating officer, Otmar Szafnauer, reportedly targeting fifth in the standings, the pressure will certainly be on the drivers - and trainer. In the meantime Singh himself wanted to sign off with a few words to any Formula One hopefuls out there.
“You need to have dedication,” he concludes. “Not just to the car and your team but to your own fitness and well-being. Every single part of your body is important and you need to optimise this to get the most out of yourself and, therefore, the car. | |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:56 )
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