US worker survives 47-storey fall

A New York window cleaner who survived a 47-storey fall from a skyscraper last month is making a gradual recovery - in what doctors say is a "miracle".

Alcides Moreno, 37, tumbled some 500ft (150m) to the ground in a scaffolding accident that killed his brother.

Mr Moreno suffered severe brain, spine and abdomen injuries and both his legs, his right arm and ribs were broken.

But after undergoing a series of surgeries he is now awake, able to talk and is expected to walk again.

"If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one," Dr Philip Barie, a surgeon at New York's Presbyterian Hospital where Mr Moreno is being treated, was quoted as saying by the New York Times newspaper.

"Above 10 floors, most of the time we never see the patients because they usually go to the morgue... this is right up there with those anecdotes of people falling out of airplanes and surviving," Dr Barie said.

'What did I do?'

Mr Moreno, an immigrant from Ecuador, plummeted from the Manhattan skyscraper on 7 December, when a platform on which he was working came loose. His younger brother died instantly in the fall.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.

Immediately after the accident Mr Moreno received 24 units of blood and several units of blood plasma. Nine operations followed to stitch together his broken body.

But now doctors say that now Mr Moreno has movement in all his limbs and is able to talk.

His wife, Rosario, said that one day he even reached out and stroked the face of one of the nurses.

"I looked at him and said, 'You're not supposed to do that. I'm your wife, you touch your wife'," Mrs Moreno was quoted by the New York Times as saying.

She said his answer was: "What did I do?"

Dr Barie said that "although there is more work to be done, we are very optimistic for his prospects for survival".

Mr Moreno still has to undergo several surgeries in the coming weeks.

The medical team, however, warns that there is still a chance he could develop serious complications.

SOURCE FROM : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7172647.stm?lsm

Kenya's humanitarian crisis grows

At least 180,000 people have been displaced by unrest as the humanitarian crisis grows after last week's disputed election in Kenya, say UN officials.

Some have been housed in makeshift camps while others have sought refuge in police stations or churches, fleeing violence that has claimed 350 lives.

In badly-affected western Kenya nearly all the refugees are hungry, and several children have died of exposure.

A top UN official in Nairobi says about 500,000 Kenyans need urgent help.

The latest developments came as anti-government protests fizzled out and the president said he might accept opposition demands for a fresh election, but only if ordered by a court.

The UN World Food Programme said it was struggling to get food to 100,000 hungry people forced to flee their homes in the Rift Valley area.

The International Committee of the Red Cross issued an urgent appeal for more than £7m of aid.

The BBC's Karen Allen in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, where at least 30 people were burned to death in a church this week, says 30,000 local people have been displaced.

Some 10,000 people there are seeking refuge in the compound of the cathedral of the Catholic Church, which is now spearheading local relief efforts.

A statement by a group of independent UN rights experts on Friday said: "We are profoundly alarmed by the reports of incitement to racial hatred and the growing frictions between the different ethnic groups in Kenya."

The officially-declared results of the 27 December presidential poll - giving victory to incumbent President Mwai Kibaki over opposition rival Raila Odinga - unleashed a wave of violence.

'Blackmail'

Protesters furious at alleged electoral fraud went on the rampage, killing scores of people and torching churches, businesses and homes.

The opposition Orange Democratic Movement party has laid down four conditions to resolve the political deadlock.

Kenya has been dogged by ethnic tensions since independence

They want Mr Kibaki to stand down as president; an international body appointed to adjudicate in the dispute; and in the meantime, a transitional authority established to oversee steps to condition four: a new presidential election in three months' time.

A Kenyan government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said the opposition's three-month deadline smacked of "blackmail".

He told the BBC: "What we are clearly saying is that Kenya is not a banana republic, Kenya is not a war-torn country.

"We have court systems and laws and orders and what we are saying is that let things follow the procedures like they do in other countries with constitutions."

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu met Mr Kibaki on Friday and said the president was not averse to the idea of a coalition.

In other developments:

• Top US diplomat Jendayi Frazer arrived in Kenya for talks aimed at bringing the two sides together

The unrest hits Kenya's tourism as visitors cut short holidays

 

• UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged calm in separate telephone conversations with Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga

 

• French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he believed the Kenyan elections had been rigged.

A massive security force presence on Friday prevented opposition demonstrators from holding a mass rally in central Nairobi but there were clashes in the eastern port of Mombasa and the western city of Kisumu.

Kenyan politics has been dogged by ethnic tensions since independence in 1963.

Mr Kibaki depends for support on the largest ethnic group, the Kikuyus, while the western Luo and Kalenjin groups - who seek greater autonomy - back Mr Odinga.

KENYA'S ETHNIC GROUPS Population 34.5m, comprising more than 40 ethnic groups Kikuyu are the largest tribe, mostly concentrated around Nairobi Most of Eastern/ North-eastern regions sparsely populated with ethnic Somalis Main ethnic groups are: Kikuyu: 22% Luhya: 14% Luo: 13% Kalenjin: 12% Kamba: 11% Kisii: 6% Meru: 6% Other African: 15%

Amy Fisher to promote sex tape with husband

NEW YORK (CNN) -- More than a decade after gaining notoriety as New York's "Long Island Lolita," Amy Fisher has settled with a Los Angeles, California, production company regarding the release and distribution of a sex tape featuring her and her husband.

Amy Fisher says her husband sold the tape during a rocky period in their relationship.

"It does exist, people are looking at it, so I agreed to -- not endorse it -- but [I] will discuss it," Fisher said at a news conference Friday.

Under the terms of the settlement with the Red Light District production company, Fisher agreed to an undisclosed sum of money and a promotional appearance at a New York City nightclub.

She described how her husband, Louis Bellera, sold the sex tape during an acrimonious divorce, and she denied being involved in its initial release.

The couple has since reconciled.

"I love my husband and I've done a lot of things, too," Fisher said. "I know he's very sorry." 

Fisher, 33, drew mass media attention as a teenager in 1992 when an affair with Joey Buttafuocco ended with her shooting his wife, leaving her paralyzed.

Fisher received a five- to 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to first degree assault for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuocco. She served seven years in a western New York prison.

SOURCE FROM : http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/04/fisher.tape/index.html 

Clinton, Romney top early CNN delegate survey

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has taken an early lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, even before voters make their voices heard in the first-in-the-nation presidential contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Hillary Clinton, left, leads Barack Obama in an early survey of national nomination delegates.

According to a CNN survey, Clinton leads the race in endorsements from so-called "superdelegates," a group of party officials and insiders who have a guaranteed vote at the presidential nominating convention in Denver later this summer.

On the Republican side, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has the most support of the few delegates surveyed who said they have made up their mind on who they'll vote for. Watch party chiefs on Iowa caucuses »

Clinton of New York leads the delegate race as of Thursday, with support from 154 superdelegates, more than three times the number supporting her nearest rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Obama has the support of 50 superdelegates, followed by former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who has the backing of 33 superdelegates. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd have won the support of 19 and 17 superdelegates, respectively, while Delaware Sen. Joe Biden has eight superdelegates in his column.

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Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich has the support of one superdelegate -- himself. All sitting Democratic governors, U.S. senators and U.S. representatives are all automatic superdelegates, which means that Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Kucinich, Obama and Richardson each began the race for delegates with at least one vote -- if they cast it for themselves.

Democratic superdelegates make up about 800 votes of the just more than 2,000 delegate votes needed to clinch the presidential nomination at their convention.

While there are no superdelegates in the Republican race for president, there are a number of Republican National Committee officials who essentially have similar voting privileges at the nominating convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in September.

A total of 123 RNC members -- state party chairs and RNC committeemen and committeewomen -- from 35 states, D.C., and the territories are "unpledged," meaning they are free to support any candidate at the convention.

Initial results from a CNN survey of these delegates show that Romney has a small three-vote lead in the GOP delegate race with endorsements from six of these GOP insiders.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has endorsements from three RNC-member delegates -- all from his home state -- while former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has one RNC-member delegate in his corner.

An overwhelming majority of the RNC-member delegates CNN contacted were either undecided or are remaining neutral. Although the 123 unpledged RNC-member delegates make up a small fraction of the roughly 1,200 delegate votes needed to win the GOP presidential nod, support from these RNC-member delegates could play a decisive role in a close race for the nomination.

Almost all RNC members and state party chairs are guaranteed votes at the convention, but not all are free to support any candidate.

RNC-member delegates in 10 states are bound to support candidates based on their states' primary or caucus results. An additional five states were stripped of their RNC-member delegates, because their states violated RNC rules by holding early nominating contests.

CNN has reached out almost every Democratic superdelegate and unpledged RNC member to determine their preferences for president, and will continue to survey them in the coming weeks and months. 

CNN's Megan Zingarelli contributed to this report.

 SOURCE FROM : http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/03/superdelegates/index.html