steyn and morne morkel took the second new ball one over after lunch but could
not separate england last two specialist batsmen
collingwood though was given torrid time by steyn who had him playing and
missing at balls which swung away late earning wry acknowledgement from the
batsman and twice almost bowling him with deliveries which cut back
but at the end of six over spell steyn had had not taken wicket and
collingwood was still battling away as he did when england escaped with draw
in the first test in centurion
at centurion collingwood batted for minutes and faced balls in scoring
not out on thursday he had batted for minutes by tea facing balls
and making not out bell had been in for minutes and faced balls for
his
collingwood had the decision review system to thank for his survival however
as he was given out before he had scored caught at slip off left arm spinner
paul harris collingwood immediately asked for review of umpire tony hill
decision replays showed the ball had gone off his thigh pad
south africa claimed the wickets of nightwatchman james anderson and trott
during the morning as england batted cautiously making victory target of
unrealistic
with trott batting solidly and anderson defending with determination it took
south africa minutes to make breakthrough for which they required some
luck
anderson swept left arm spinner paul harris and the ball went onto his boot
before squirting out towards backward short leg where ashwell prince made
diving catch
trott had made watchful off balls when he fell victim to steyn during
the second of two three over bursts by the fast bowler fast full ball swung
in late and sent trott off stump flying
spyker makes last bid for saab ceo
the hague jan afp
dutch sportscar maker spyker will submit definitive updated bid for general
motors swedish unit saab on thursday its chief executive officer victor muller
said
the bid is being refined muller told afp declining to give details of the
revised offer
it is the same offer we made during the weekend of december last year but
it is being completely refined following discussions in recent weeks
the bid which muller said is definitive would be submitted to gm before
pm gmt this thursday evening
spyker renewed its initial offer on december two days after gm announced it
would close saab which employs people in sweden by year end
swedish press reports have said that gm agreed to re open negotiations after the
withdrawal of two of spyker russian investors gm was reportedly concerned
about the possible transfer of technical know how to russia
gm has set deadline of gmt thursday for final offers
muller said he did not know whether there were any other bidders
on wednesday gm chief executive officer ed whitacre said he was not confident
of last minute deal to save saab which has barely turned profit in two
decades under gm management
saab is one of four storied brands being shed by gm as part of massive
restructuring effort that began in and accelerated last year when the
largest us automaker went bankrupt
chile deflation data spurs peso fears
santiago jan afp
chilean consumer prices shrunk percent in the lowest rate in three
quarters of century according to government figures released thursday
lead by drop in food and fuel prices the national statistics institute said
inflation fell percent from percent in reaching its lowest level
since
the figures were in line with market expectations and prices are expected
to return to positive territory this year
but the figure is likely to fuel concerns about the appreciation of the peso
against the us dollar
the peso rose more than percent against the dollar in
on thursday chile central bank reported billion dollar trading surplus
up percent in
although exports from the country which is one of the world largest producers
of copper dipped by percent to billion dollars the value of imports fell
by more than percent
swiss to decide on polanski extradition in january or february
geneva jan afp
the swiss government will decide this month or in february whether to accept
us request to extradite child sex fugitive and film maker roman polanski the
swiss justice ministry said thursday
the french polish film director has been wanted by the united states ever since
he fled in after admitting having sex with year old girl
we are preparing our decision folco galli spokesman of the ministry told
afp it could be january it could also be in february am not going to be
more precise
los angeles court has scheduled hearing on january to consider whether to
allow polanski to be sentenced in absentia
but galli would not say if the swiss would await the us court decision before
deciding on the extradition request
the maker of rosemary baby chinatown and other classics was arrested on
september as he arrived in switzerland to collect an award for his career at
the zurich film festival
after spending over two months in jail he was transferred on december to his
chalet in the swiss alpine resort of gstaad where he is currently under house
arrest while he fights the extradition
us watchlist adds to nigeria many woes
lagos jan afp
an absent president row over the budget no promised reforms no electricity
for much of the time and now its appearance on us terror watchlist add up to
bad new year for african giant nigeria
washington placing of nigeria on nation travel watchlist after nigerian
tried to blow up us plane could hardly have come at worse time
the government in abuja is under intense criticism over perceived lack of
leadership given the continued absence of president umaru yar adua and
persistent rumours over his state of health
yar adua has been in hospital in the saudi arabian city of jeddah with heart
problems since late november citing lack of regular medical bulletins from
the government there have been strident opposition calls for him to be replaced
by vice president goodluck johathan
the ship of state has almost ground to halt says prominent rights activist
and lawyer femi falana who has mounted one of three separate court challenges
calling for yar adua to be replaced
falana said the year old yar adua was incapacitated and the lawsuit was
aimed at ensuring there was no vacuum in the nigerian presidency
there is no state no authority observed one foreign diplomat
things have never been so bad for nigerians and democracy has never been so
threatened as it has in been in recent times said lai mohammed opposition
action congress spokesman
opposition parties are now challengeing the official version of events whereby
yar adua was sufficiently alert last week to sign supplementary budget law at
his hospital bed
the opposition say yar adua continued absence has further stalled badly needed
reform of the country corruption ridden oil and gas sector
and it fell to jonathan to admit in his new year message that the country had
failed to achieve even modest increase in the electricity supply which
remains at megawatts for its population of million
the vice president apologised to the millions of nigerians who continue to live
in darkness despite nigeria being one of the world largest oil producers
an amnesty for so called oil rebels in the southern niger delta has taken much
of the sting out of crippling war that slashed output
however islamist violence in the muslim dominated north where security
forces clashed with militants last month killing and the involvement of
year old nigerian in plot to blow up us plane has heightened us
suspicions that nigeria could become breeding ground for al qaeda
foreign minister ojo maduekwe summoned us ambassador robin sanders to protest
the move to place nigeria on washington watchlist but such indignation is
unlikely to sway washington
unusually the accumulation of crises has moved two former us ambassadors to
abuja to voice their concerns
john campbell ambassador from said that if the current crisis spins
out of control the nigerian army is likely to intervene possibly with
nominal civilian leader
it will justify itself saying it would prepare for elections and deal with
extremism in the niger delta and following the abdulmuttalab incident in
the north campbell added
one of campbell predecessors princeton lyman who was envoy from
said the crisis has the potential of undermining long standing and established
us nigeria bilateral ties and the goodwill the us enjoys in nigeria
clashes in egypt between coptic christians and muslims
cairo jan afp
tensions often run high between muslim and christian communities in egypt where
six coptic christians and muslim policeman were killed in drive by shooting
late on wednesday
copts who make up around percent of egypt population of some million
often complain about systematic discrimination and harrassment
here are the main clashes over the past three decades
june fourteen are killed and hurt during clashes between copts
and muslims that officials said were unleashed by simple row between two
neighbours witnesses said the conflict was about slice of land where church
was to be built and that muslims had occupied to build mosque
may thirteen christians and muslim are killed in clashes at
manshiyet nasser village in southern egypt unleashed by the death in march
of muslim following conflict over the purchase of house
february nine copts are killed in an attack by muslim militants on
worshippers in front of church at abu qurqas in southern egypt
january twenty copts die in clashes with muslims in the village of
kosheh in southern egypt in the worst sectarian violence in two decades
april muslim workman described by the authorities as unbalanced
attacks three churches in egypt second city of alexandria killing year
old copt one person is killed in the clashes between copts and muslims that
follow
may four copts are killed in botched jewellery heist in cairo
police later arrest an alleged cell of militant islamists they say were
responsible for the attack
may one muslim attacker is killed and four copts including two
monks are injured when land dispute involving the historic monastery of abu
fena turns violent three other monks are also abducted
the clashes broke out when the abu fana monastery began building wall around
neighbouring property after receiving approval earlier in the year
october two copts break into an apartment and kill muslim man
married to the gunmen relative court later sentences the two to death
january six copts and policeman are killed when gunmen open fire on
shoppers in nagaa hammadi in southern egypt on their christmas eve
two hurt as clashes mar algeria strike
algiers jan afp
striking workers from an algerian heavy goods vehicle plant clashed with riot
police thursday outside the capital injuring two employees trade union
official said
workers of the national industrial vehicles company snvi have been on strike
since sunday to push for higher pay tried for third straight day to march
from their factory into rouiba town an algiers suburb
but they were stopped by the police who were strongly deployed union
official mustapha zetoutou said
clashes took place this morning with the security forces two workers were
injured he added
the snvi which employs some people is the only algerian manufacturer of
heavy duty vehicles and buses in the country
the strike will go on until our demands are met concerning pay rise and
against the suppression of early retirement arrangements recently decided on by
the government zetoutou said
the government at the end of decided to cancel the possibility for snvi
workers to take early retirement which they had been able to since the end of
the snvi management has stated that the strikers demands are beyond its
prerogatives according to zetoutou for the moment there no dialogue
neither with the management of the company nor the government
zetoutou claimed that workers from several other companies in the rouiba
international zone joined the strike action on wednesday
there are nearly workers on strike at rouiba he said
football six week lay off for trezegol
rome jan afp
juventus announced thursday that david trezeguet will be sidelined for six weeks
after christian panucci tackle left the french striker with sprained right
ankle in juventus win over parma
the news has come as blow for juventus who after wednesday away win
remained third in italy serie nine points behind leaders inter milan and
one behind ac milan
trezeguet has scored club best seven league goals this season
briton germans kidnapped in yemen still alive official
sanaa jan afp
five germans including three children and british national who have been
held by kidnappers in yemen for the past six months are still alive top
official said on thursday
we have confirmed information that they are still alive they are five germans
and british national deputy prime minister for defence and security affairs
rashad al aleemi told press conference
the three possible places they could be in are the provinces of maarib al
jouf and saada he said
available information confirm that there is coordination between the northern
shiite rebels huthis and the al qaeda in this matter he said
it is believed that the three children who were shown in recent video are
alive in maarib while the elders are being used by the huthis to provide
medical treatment aleemi said
the three children had resurfaced in new video two weeks ago but the tape
featured no sign of their parents all were kidnapped in june
at the time germany said it had no evidence that al qaeda was behind the
kidnapping
german officials who requested anonymity had confirmed report in the daily
bild saying the images apparently recorded recently by the abductors indicated
at least that the three children aged one three and five were still alive
the german government now has copy of the video bild said in december
the children seemed exhausted high ranking german official was quoted by
the newspaper as saying
the crisis squad in the ministry is doing all it can to bring the kidnapping
to happy end as quickly as possible foreign ministry statement in berlin
said on thursday
the family of five and the briton were abducted in northern yemen along with two
german bible students and south korean who were shot dead soon after
the announcement comes as government forces chase al qaeda cells after the
network franchise in the impoverished country claimed responsibility for the
botched christmas day attack on us airliner
the yemeni government had repeatedly accused the huthi rebels of being behind
the kidnappings charge they denied saying that the government was behind the
abduction to use it as an excuse to attack the rebels
since august the army has been engaged in an all out offensive against the
zaidi shiite rebels in the saada northern province and its surroundings in
bid to end their five year rebellion
abductions of foreigners are frequent occurrence in yemen as tribesmen often
use them to twist the government arm in local disputes more than
foreigners have been abducted over the past years
all have been freed unharmed except for three britons and an australian seized
by islamist militants in december who were killed when security forces
stormed the kidnappers hideout
in april dutch couple were held for two weeks by tribesmen to pressure the
government to pay compensation for an incident involving tribal chief and
security forces
yemen ancestral homeland of al qaeda chief osama bin laden has also seen
spate of attacks on foreign and government targets in march four south korean
tourists were killed by bomb attack in the historic city of shibam
afghan suicide bomber kills eight in day of violence
kabul jan afp
suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded others in an eastern afghan
town on thursday an official said hours after provincial governor survived
blast in nearby taliban hotspot
bomber on foot detonated his explosives filled jacket in front of branch of
the kabul bank in downtown gardez the capital of paktia province at pm
gmt said rohullah samon spokesman for the paktia governor
this was suicide attack so far we know that eight people are dead but that
figure could change he said adding that the target appeared to be private
security convoy passing at the time
the head of security company was moving with his convoy of vehicles when
he was attacked by suicide bomber wearing suicide vest samon said
the dead included the security company manager two of his guards butcher
two young girls and two other civilians
all were killed on the spot other civilians were wounded he added
suicide attacks are hallmark of the taliban who are waging an increasingly
virulent insurgency aimed at toppling the afghan government in kabul and
destabilising the rest of the impoverished country
nato and the united states have troops deployed to help the government
fight the militants who are concentrated in the south and east of afghanistan
but are spreading their footprint further north and west
another troops are due to arrive in the country this year and the
taliban have vowed to match the international surge with one of their own
in recent weeks attacks have escalated with civilians bearing the greatest
burden of taliban tactics which also include remote controlled bombs
the militant group claimed responsibility for the gardez attack and also an
incident earlier thursday when bomb planted in rubbish bin wounded the
acting governor of eastern khost province and six other officials
the explosives were placed in dustbin behind the compound wall outside the
governor house the interior ministry said in statement
shards of glass injured seven people including acting governor tahir khan
sabari the statement added
purported taliban spokesman calling himself zabuhulla mujahid and speaking by
telephone from an undisclosed location told afp the militants were responsible
for both the gardez and khost attacks
we detonated the bomb that hit the meeting hall of the governor house in
khost he said later adding about gardez we killed four people and wounded
three including the head of the security company
khost is on afghanistan southeastern border with pakistan and sees high rate
of taliban activity
seven cia agents were killed there in suicide blast on us military base at
the end of december in an attack al qaeda has hailed as revenge for the
deaths of top militants in us drone strikes in pakistan
afghan government officials are regular targets of attacks by the taliban who
are trying to overthrow the fragile government of president hamid karzai
in eastern nangahar province meanwhile students took to the streets to protest
against civilian deaths after an explosion there wednesday killed four children
and injured dozens of civilians and nine foreign soldiers
witnesses in nangahar told afp that hundreds of students from nangahar
university held one hour protest during which they chanted death to obama
death to america and no more christian invasion in afghanistan
the provincial governor spokesman ahmad zia abdulzai has said the explosion
was caused by roadside bomb planted by taliban militants
nato international security assistance force isaf said it was aware of the
protests but insisted it was not responsible for the explosion
we continue to believe these casualties were not caused by isaf operations
said major general michael regner
niger talks put off again opposition
niamey jan afp
political crisis talks between niger government and the opposition due to
resume in niamey thursday have been postponed again in the absence of the
mediator an opposition delegate said
the mediator wrote to inform us that he would not be in niamey before
sauturday but he did not give reason for the delay marou amadou member
of the opposition team told afp
the two sides began negotiations on december to try to end the turmoil
sparked by president mamadou tandja refusal to stand down at the end of his
second term
talks broke off on december for christmas and were due to resume on december
but the meeting was later postponed till january to enable the mediator
appointed by the economic community of west african states ecowas abdulsalami
abubakar to attend the burial of nigerian former first lady
maryam babangida wife of nigeria one time military ruler ibrahim babangida
died in us hospital after suffering from cancer
at the end of the last closed door session of talks on december abubakar
former nigerian military head of state said he had requested the two camps to
make written proposals on how to get out of the crisis
mohamed ben omar member of the presidential delegation and mohamed bazoum of
the opposition told private media they have forwarded their proposals
niger crisis began when president mamadou tandja who has ruled for decade
extended his mandate by three years in referendum in august last year which
was boycotted by the opposition and criticised by ecowas
his second five year term expired last month
he had dissolved the parliament and the constitutional court opposed to his
plan
following controversial legislative poll of october ecowas suspended niger
from its fold while the european union and us government also suspended millions
of dollars in aid to niger
washington also banned niger officials from visiting the united states
embattled argentine bank chief stands firm against sacking
buenos aires jan afp
argentina central bank chief on thursday again rejected government pressure
for him to resign as row over the legacy of the country economic bust
in deepened
martin redrado brushed aside demands from president cristina kirchner for him to
step down vowing for second day he would not leave until his mandate ends in
september
the clash began when redrado refused to hand over billion dollars from
argentina foreign currency reserves to pay off national debt after the
president ordered him to do so
kirchner called for the money to guarantee debt payments part of an effort to
end argentina isolation from global credit markets in the wake of its
default she demanded his resignation on wednesday
redrado on thursday vowed to stay in his post to guarantee as we have done in
the last five years monetary and financial stability
the spat has unsettled markets and prompted sales of the argentine peso and
credit
according to the bank charter the government would have to turn to congress
to decide to remove sitting central bank president
british pm dismisses new plot as storm in teacup
london jan afp
embattled british prime minister gordon brown dismissed as storm in teacup
thursday new plot questioning his leadership few months before general
elections
in deeply embarrassing challenge to his already weakened authority ex
ministers geoff hoon and patricia hewitt called wednesday for ballot of
governing labour party lawmakers on whether brown should remain their leader
but brown in his first comments on the plot said it not going to take up
much of my time and hasn certainly taken up much of my time
this is bit of storm in teacup we are actually dealing with real storms
at the moment he told bbc radio referring to bitterly cold temperatures and
record snowfalls gripping the country
in their letter to all labour lawmakers hoon defence secretary when britain
joined the invasion of iraq in and former health secretary hewitt said
the party was deeply divided over whether brown should be leader
many colleagues have expressed their frustration at the way in which this
question is affecting our political performance they wrote
the letter gained early support from handful of persistent brown critics but
no major labour figure backed the move and hoon admitted late wednesday that it
had failed
brown who succeeded tony blair as premier in has to call general
election by june his labour party has long been more than points behind in
polls against the main opposition conservatives
explosion kills two at china chemical plant xinhua
beijing jan afp
two people were killed in an explosion at chemical plant in china northwest
province of gansu belonging to energy giant cnpc on thursday the state run
xinhua news agency reported
the incident occurred at plant operated by the lanzhou chemical company which
is owned by china national petroleum corporation xinhua reported from the
provincial capital lanzhou citing local officials
nearby residential area was not affected the officials said
an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the blast at the
factory located on the yellow river and the producer of kind of petroleum
resin used in industry
tennis atp chennai open results st update
chennai india jan afp
results from the fourth day of the dollar atp chennai open tennis
tournament here on thursday denotes seeding
nd round
lukas lacko svk bt robby ginepri usa
dudi sela isr bt kevin kim usa
michael berrer ger bt stephane robert fra
tennis monfils sees off blake in thrilling quarter final
brisbane australia jan afp
gael monfils produced tennis of the highest quality to see off an equally
impressive james blake in the quarter finals of the brisbane international on
thursday
playing with his right shoulder heavily strapped the mercurial frenchman broke
blake at crucial stage of the third set to clinch thrilling match
the two men duelled for one and three quarter hours serving powerfully and
producing some crunching groundstrokes and for long time it was hard to see
who would finish on top
but at in the final set the year old blake faltered slightly and with the
game poised at monfils struck beautiful backhand passing shot to leave
the american stranded
blake refused to concede and he had chance to break back immediately but
monfils clung on and eventually wrapped up the quarter final on his fourth match
point celebrating by beating his chest with his fist in sheer delight
he had good start and was hitting the ball well monfils said
started with the wrong tactic was hitting the ball to his forehand and
james just didn miss
but think james began to spray it more and he gave me chance to get more
aggressive and try few more shots and think that was the key to the match
he also said there was no problem with his shoulder despite the heavy
strapping
today was bit better than in the second round because found good way to
tape it tomorrow will be lot better for sure
monfils will now play radek stepanek of the czech republic in the semi finals
after the second seed kept alive his hopes of defending his title with
win over wayne odesnik of the us
odesnik broke stepanek in the first game of the match and held the advantage
until he was serving for the set at when the czech world number piled on
the pressure and the american cracked
stepanek then outplayed odesnik in the tiebreak before running away with the
second set
to break him at was very important for me stepanek said
also the tiebreak that changed everything played good tiebreak just
served two double faults but all the rallies we played won
it was tough first set but was feeling better and better every minute had
on court
china warns switzerland over accepting uighur detainees
geneva jan afp
china has warned switzerland that accepting two uighurs held at guantanamo bay
prison could affect relations the chinese embassy and swiss authorities said on
thursday
we are obliged to reiterate the chinese position that the terrorists assumed to
have chinese nationality should be repatriated to china regardless of their
ethnicity said the embassy in letter to swiss authorities
we absolutely do not want this affair to affect china swiss relations added
the embassy in extracts of the letter seen by afp
we hope that switzerland can understand this and take chinese concerns very
seriously by refusing the reception of these people in clear cut manner said
the letter
spokesman from the swiss foreign ministry confirmed reception of the letter
but said the government had not taken decision on the uighurs
the two were part of uighurs living in self contained camp in afghanistan
when the us led coalition bombing campaign began in october
they fled to the mountains but were turned over to pakistani authorities who
then handed them to the united states which held them in guantanamo prison
five have since been resettled in albania in while four were taken in by
the bermudas last june and another six by palau island in october
us president barack obama has vowed to close the controversial guantanamo
prison where inmates are still held
boxing boxing champ khan wants sports back in pakistan
karachi jan afp
world boxing champion amir khan on thursday promised to help bring international
sports back to pakistan saying he would try to convince english cricketers to
tour the insurgency hit nation
am pleased to be back in the country of my forefathers and when people see me
touring pakistan it will put in their minds that it safe place to play
khan briton of pakistani descent told press conference
khan who became world boxing association wba light welterweight champion last
year is in karachi as guest for the nation benazir bhutto international
boxing championship named after the slain former prime minister
the tournament is the first major international sporting event in pakistan since
militant attack on the visiting sri lankan cricket team in march left
eight people dead and injured seven players and coach
even before the attacks foreign teams had refused to play in major cricket
hockey and football events in the country where security has deteriorated since
the pakistan became partner in the us led war on terror in
khan said he would try to convince england cricketers to tour pakistan
starting with his cousin england player sajid mahmood
know lot of english players like andrew flintoff and current captain
andrew strauss who can tell that playing in pakistan is safe he said
the world must support pakistan as it great sporting nation and it should
not be left alone because if the world leaves them alone then the talent in
