Former US President Bill Clinton has suggested that the ballots in November’s disputed election in Haiti be recounted under international supervision in order to break the deadlocked political process. The call came during meetings on international reconstruction efforts for Haiti with Haitian Premier Jean-Max Bellerive in neighbouring Dominican Republic 14 December.
The vote results published 7 December are widely disbelieved, and demonstrators went on a three-day rampage in the capital Port-au-Prince last week. Two of the three front-runners from November’s election say they will not participate in the run-off, and one, popular singer Michel Martelly, has called for an “open” second round, in effect a new election.
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US former President Clinton to plead US case in Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, who played for French side Pontivy, before he was injured in an armed attack in January 2010, is to received $100,000 from Fifa, the international football federation. The 25-year-old football player was gravely injured when his team’s bus was attacked in Angola before the start of the CAF African Cup of Nations 8 January. The ambush took the lives of assistant coach Amelete Abalo and press officer Stanislas O’cloo, while Obilale himself is still continuing his rehabilitation, Fifa says. The federation announced earlier this year that Obilale would receive $25,000 but it has increased the sum. AP background story with photos
In other Fifa news, former US President Bill Clinton will visit Zurich 1 December as part of the group that makes a final presentation to the federation’s executive committee for the 2022 World Cup bids. Clinton is an honorary chairman for the US bid group.
Fifa will announce, 2 December, the cities that have been awarded bids for the 2018 and 2022 games.
Former US President Bill Clinton is back at work after a lightning intervention to insert two stents into an artery 11 February. He complained of chest pains after his visit to Haiti last week, but doctors say he did not have a heart attack. Clinton, 63, underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2004.
He has since improved his diet and exercises regularly, but friends say he still sometimes indulges in unhealthful food, and leads a hectic lifestyle. The incident was likely triggered by stress, doctors say.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked former US President Bill Clinton to coordinate relief and reconstruction efforts for Haiti, battered by a 12 January earthquake. Ban asked Clinton “to assume a leadership role in coordinating international aid efforts, from emergency response to new construction of Haiti”, reports CNN. Clinton told Ban he would do the best he could. By some calculations, over $1 billion worldwide has been raised for the relief effort and money is still being collected.
The official death toll from the earthquake has reached 200,000 people, according to Haiti’s Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, who added that another 300,000 are in hospitals and health care centres. He said that over one million people were made homeless and estimated that 250,000 homes and 30,000 businesses had been destroyed.
Links to other sites: Economist, CNN, Press TV, Washington Post
Handicapped people are incapable of work, without totally committing themselves to their company © 2009 Office fédéral des assurances sociales (OFAS)
St. Gallen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Former US President Bill Clinton gave the keynote speech at the inauguration of a new centre at St. Gallen’s university to study the integration into the workforce of people with disabilities , 5 November.
The Centre for Disability and Integration (CDI-HSG) opened in March 2009, made possible through the help of MyHandicap.com, an organization founded by Joachim Schoss and supported by Clinton.
Two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were freed from prison in North Korea and flew home to Los Angeles with former US President Bill Clinton late 4 August. The two women were jailed in March for illegally entering the country. They were released on orders from Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s leader, to show the country’s “humanitarian and peace-loving policy” after Clinton went to North Korea on an unannounced visit 3 August. The families told US media they were “overjoyed.” North Korean sources said Clinton and Kim had wide-ranging talks and that Clinton brought a personal message from US President Barack Obama. The White House denied this and repeated that Clinton’s visit was purely a personal one. Nevertheless, the chartered plane carrying them home landed at a military base in Japan with no comment from the military about how long they would be there. BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal
Former US President Bill Clinton arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea to broker the release of two US journalists imprisoned there since March. He was met at the airport by Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and by the vice-foreign minister, Kim Kwe Gwan, who is also North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator. The two women journalists were sentenced in June to 12 years’ hard labour for illegally entering North Korea from China. Their employer, Current TV, was launched by Clinton’s former vice-president, Al Gore. BBC, CNN, NZZ (Ger)
Former US President George W Bush embarks on a 10-a-year speaking tour in March with his first stop at a convention hall in Calgary, Canada. According to Britain’s Times, he will be well paid, but may find it difficult to match the $40 million made by the end of 2007 by another former president, Bill Clinton. Times
After 10 years of resisting pressure to name its donors, the William Clinton Foundation started by the former US president, has published the list: about 10% of the funding comes from foreign governments, with Saudi Arabia a major contributor. But the two largest single donations come from two philanthropic groups, according to NPR (National Public Radio) in the US: “The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, a London-based philanthropic organization founded by hedge fund manager Chris Hohn and his wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn, and dedicated to helping children, primarily in Africa and India [and] UNITAID, an international drug purchase organization formed by Brazil, France, Chile, Norway and Britain to help provide care for HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis patients in countries with high disease rates.” The foundation has raised nearly $500 million since 1996, when it was established.
