people in distress and never thought of killing an insect how can she be
accused as terrorist and member of al qaeda
ismat sits on spacious veranda overlooking the manicured lawn of the large
family home where her daughter spent some of her childhood before attending the
prestigious mit university in massachusetts
siddiqui elder sister fowzia doctor recalled her sibling childhood love
of animals and academic excellence
she was religious but not religious fanatic she was crazy about roses and
she had planted different varieties of roses in our little garden garden
where pakistani police now guard the family
she had four pet dogs one of them remember was called shaggy she was
brilliant in all respects she was an excellent student and brave mother
said fowzia
neighbour year old trader mohammad hashim described siddiqui as nice
girl decent and caring girl
however different picture emerged in the new york courtroom
according to us prosecutors siddiqui was arrested by afghan police on july
in the provincial city of ghazni with notes on her referring to mass
casualty attack and target lists including new york most famous landmarks
the next day while being held at the local police station she allegedly
grabbed an assault rifle belonging to one of several us servicemen and fbi
agents who had come to interrogate her
she opened fire missed and was shot by one of the us soldiers prosecutors
allege defence lawyers will argue that there is little direct physical evidence
that she shot at the americans
how siddiqui ended up in afghanistan that day is one of many mysteries
siddiqui was living in karachi with her family when she vanished along with her
three children in march year later she featured on us list of
people suspected of al qaeda links
she is also said to have married relative of plotter khalid sheikh
mohammed although her mother denies this
some human rights activists and lawyers have speculated that siddiqui was in
secret us custody all those years long incarceration that damaged her mental
health and led to hallucinations of her dead or missing children
the us military has denied this saying the allegation is unfounded and she
may have gone underground in the missing years judge ruled in july that
siddiqui was mentally fit to stand trial
while two of siddiqui children are missing one presumed dead her
year old son mohammad ahmed now lives with the family in karachi
he has yet to fully recover from the mental trauma of languishing in an afghan
jail ismat siddiqui said glancing fondly at the shy boy who sits nearby
holding placard it reads release my mom
tennis big guns fire in melbourne but ivanovic flops
melbourne jan afp
novak djokovic and nikolay davydenko stamped their authority on the australian
open thursday but former world number one ana ivanovic was sent packing
on hot day third seed djokovic overcame some early first set wobbles to ease
past swiss marco chiudinelli on rod laver arena and set up
third round clash with uzbekistan denis istomin
more impressive was russian sixth seed davydenko who is shaping as serious
title contender after extending his win streak to matches stretching back to
last year
the year old has yet to win grand slam and has never been in final but
his disposal of ukrainian qualifier illya marchenko served notice
that his time may have come
for ivanovic it looks like her time has past
the former finalist and world number one put in an error riddled performance to
crash out to experienced argentinian gisela dulko with her
groundstrokes deserting her after the first set
the disappointing exit came as she tries to rejuvenate her career after battling
indifferent form and injuries last year
she slipped down the rankings to be outside the top for the first time in
five years and thursday flop was the sixth time in her past seven tournaments
where she had failed to go beyond the second round
just need to keep my head up and improve said ivanovic who lost the
final to maria sharapova who is also out of this year tournament
there are things working on but just not consistent it might just take
some time
fellow serb djokovic was off his game in the opening set conceding two service
breaks and hitting double the number of unforced errors of chiudinelli
but he gradually assumed control of the match breaking the swiss twice in the
second four times in the third and in the eighth game of the final set to ease
through
davydenko stayed on track for quarter final meeting with roger federer who
plays later thursday with his comprehensive hammering of marchenko
having enjoyed low profile throughout his career he is getting more
attention
it interesting he said in his post match press conference
we re not talking about tennis we re talking about my life this is my first
experience like this in the press
the attention is there because he has boasted an improved all round game that he
used to beat both federer and rafael nadal in recent weeks but he is not
thinking about maiden grand slam title just yet
never think am favourite for any tournament he said
in other matches polish th seed agnieszka radwanska beat alla kudryavtseva of
russia to make the third round as did spain carla suarez navarro who
downed germany andrea petkovic
seventh seeded belarrusian victoria azarenka also battled on with win
over stefanie voegele
among the men th seeded nicolas almagro ousted german benjamin becker in
tough five sets while istomin booked his showdown with djokovic by overcoming
germany michael berrer
tennis li battles back to make third round
melbourne jan afp
china th seeded li na battled back from set down to beat hungary agnes
szavay and book place in the australian open third round on
thursday
at least dead in prison riot in mexico
durango mexico jan afp
rival gangs clashed inside notorious prison in the mexican state of durango on
wednesday leaving at least inmates dead officials said
army and federal troops as well as police were sent in to quell fighting between
gangs which broke out shortly after breakfast at the jail housing inmates
well over capacity outside the city of durango
it took minutes for the security officers to quell the clashes reportedly
between members of the rival gulf and sinaloa drug cartels using makeshift
weapons but no firearms
the prison was surrounded by army troops and police as dozens of relatives of
the prisoners gathered outside the facility anxiously waiting for news of their
loved ones
we have confirmed that people died in the fighting spokesman for the
prosecutor office told afp
twenty inmates were injured and most were treated at the prison the official
added
he refused to be drawn on what caused the brawl but the gulf and sinaloa cartels
have been waging months long turf war for control of the smuggling routes into
the united states
back in august when inmates were killed and injured in similar clashes at
the same penitentiary durango public security official jorge torres described
the prison as time bomb waiting to explode
durango and its neighboring states of sinaloa and chihuahua make up region of
mexico dubbed the golden triangle because of the amount of marijuana opium
and heroin production conducted there
in october inmates were killed in prison riot in northeastern
tamaulipas state one month earlier were killed including two americans in
prison uprising police put down with gunfire in the northern border state of
tijuana
china posts scorching growth but prices heat up
beijing jan afp
china red hot economy expanded by percent in but inflation surged
towards the end of the year according to government data released thursday that
laid bare the risks of overheating
gross domestic product in the world third largest economy returned to double
digit growth in the fourth quarter of at percent and surpassed the
government target of eight percent for the year
that target is seen as crucial to foster job creation and stave off social
unrest in china population of billion people analysts said china was on
track to overtake japan as the world number two economy
but china biggest rise in inflation in months underlined the broader
challenges of breakneck growth and came as the world bank and international
monetary fund warned anew that the country could face an economic bubble
the year was the most difficult time for china economic development in
the new century ma jiantang commissioner of the national bureau of
statistics told press conference
ma said government stimulus package worth four trillion yuan billion
dollars held back the economic decline and achieved the recovery and rebound
of the national economy as the global economy went into tailspin
we need to prevent the overly fast increases in prices and keep close eye on
the trend in prices the official added but said he believed inflation in
should be mild and controllable
china consumer price index the main gauge of inflation rose percent
year on year in december authorities are already clamping down on bank lending
and hiking borrowing costs to keep lid on price pressures
policymakers will need to move soon to stop the economy from overheating said
brian jackson hong kong based strategist at royal bank of canada
we have already seen some initial steps in the direction of tighter policy but
higher rates and stronger currency will also be part of the package
china urban fixed asset investment measure of government spending on
infrastructure and key driver of the economy rose percent in while
overall fixed asset investment rose percent thursday data showed
industrial output from china millions of factories and workshops rose
percent in the fourth quarter and percent for all of
retail sales jumped percent in
this week premier wen jiabao signalled that beijing was carefully monitoring
the risks associated with its hefty pump priming of last year
we must closely watch changes in supply and demand in the market form an
accurate judgement of the situation and increase the precision and effectiveness
of macroeconomic policies he told cabinet meeting
wen comments signalled break from the government oft stated goal of
maintaining stability in macroeconomic policy and could have broader
repercussions for world economy increasingly reliant on chinese growth
the percent growth in the final quarter of was the best result since
the second quarter of
it followed revised growth of percent in the third quarter percent in
the second quarter and revised percent in the first three months of last
year
the full year figure exceeded analyst expectations but was down from
percent in and was the slowest full year increase in eight years
ihs global insight economist ren xianfang said she expected china to grow by
percent in and soon overtake japan in the global economic rankings
think it will happen this year ren told afp japan releases its own gdp
data for the fourth quarter of on february
china inflation fears send asian markets lower
hong kong jan afp
news that china blistering economy continued to expand in was tempered by
looming inflationary risks raising fears of further tightening by beijing as
asian shares moved lower thursday
the biggest drop of the year overnight for us stocks also provided weak lead
for investors across the region
chinese data released thursday showed gross domestic product in the asian
powerhouse returned to double digit growth in the fourth quarter of at
percent while the full year figure of percent exceeded expectations
however the pace of growth was down from percent in and was the
slowest full year increase in eight years
china consumer price index the main gauge of inflation rose percent
year on year in december bringing into focus beijing recent efforts to curb
lending and contain price pressures
policymakers will need to move soon to stop the economy from overheating said
brian jackson hong kong based strategist at royal bank of canada
in shanghai chinese shares fell percent in morning trade over heightened
concerns of monetary tightening following comments wednesday from beijing top
regulator that china will rein in credit this year
hong kong was percent lower in the morning
also affecting sentiment in the region was steep percent plunge on wall
street overnight on china liquidity fears and mixed earnings from key american
banks
bank of america and morgan stanley missed analysts expectations while wells
fargo posted an unexpected profit
however japanese stocks shrugged off the weak lead to rise percent in
morning trade
shares in japan airlines were flat at two yen day after sinking to new
record low following the carrier bankruptcy filing and announcement it would
delist its shares next month wiping out shareholders investments
sydney fell percent while singapore drifted percent lower
the euro climbed to dollars from and was up yen from
oil was lower new york main contract light sweet crude for march delivery
dropped cents to dollars barrel
london brent north sea crude for delivery in march fell cents to
dollars barrel
hong kong gold opened lower thursday at us dollars an ounce
down from wednesday close of dollars
dow jones newswires contributed to this story
don leave me mama cries haiti girl alive eight days on
port au prince jan afp
mendji bahina sanon just years old lay emaciated her breathing labored
fighting nightmares as she gradually came back to life wednesday after spending
eight days buried under haiti rubble
at the foot of her bed in french run clinic in haiti ravaged capital ernst
clerge tried to comfort her anguished child who struggled against the terror of
her dreams crying out
mama is not in the hole don leave me mama the little girl said
her rescue is an amazing story of survival amid little but news of sorrow in
port au prince
it truly is miracle she came back to life bit by bit she is blessed by the
gods said dominique jean surgeon working at field hospital set up and
staffed by french aid groups virade de espoir and alima
on january sanon mother was on her way home from her job as cleaning
lady for the united nations mission here when the deadly earthquake began
had left my five children at home was panic stricken the two story
building had collapsed though they were all dead she said
my year old daughter appeared first and fell into her arms and then with
the neighbors we dug out two more children who had injuries to their feet
we recovered the lifeless body of my five year old son the next day she said
working with her neighbors she continued to search for her missing daughter
looking for two days in vain
then on wednesday she heard neighbor cry out heard your daughter she
called out
didn believe it but rushed the neighbors dug she was alive and they
dug her out the grateful mother said
she talked to me and asked me for milk and cornflakes and then she fainted
she told me that she had prayed lot and thanked jesus we must have faith
in jesus she said adding out of her daughter earshot haven told her
yet that her favorite little brother died she still very weak
mendji father who was abroad when the quake hit last week sat by his wife
side he said nothing but cried quietly
doctors at the clinic were hopeful but treating the little girl carefully
her kidneys are functioning we are hydrating her slowly with salt water and
gradually with more substantive food giving her richer food straight away would
be dangerous for her dominique jean the french doctor
in the field hospital the little girl has become symbol of victory over
death of the triumph of hope amid despair and medical workers file by her bed
to glimpse the little miracle
day earlier the hospital welcomed another survivor fedora year old
woman who survived seven days underneath rubble and is recovering quickly
nurses said
tennis azarenka overcomes heat and opponent
melbourne jan afp
seventh seeded belarusian victoria azarenka overcame the hot weather and swiss
opponent stefanie voegele in the second round of the australian open on
thursday
tennis jovial davydenko embraces new found attention
melbourne jan afp
russian nikolay davydenko is embracing increased attention after reinforcing his
status as the form player in men tennis by cruising into the third round of
the australian open on thursday
the year old has yet to win grand slam title and has never been in final
but the sixth seed is looming as one of the genuine contenders here after
disposing of ukrainian qualifier illya marchenko
in his two matches in the tournament he has dropped just games and he is
now enjoying an match winning streak stretching back to last year
having enjoyed low profile throughout his career he said after his first
round match that he was no paris hilton and enjoyed his relative anonymity
davydenko has faced unexpected media scrutiny this week
in wednesday post match press conference surprisingly jovial davydenko
canvassed subjects like drinking vodka his desire to have children life after
tennis his relationship with his wife and his love for money
it interesting he noted with laugh
we re not talking about tennis we re talking about my life
this is my first experience like this in the press
while he is proving quite the comedian in his press conferences his on court
form is no laughing matter for his rivals
davydenko has dropped just one set to rafael nadal in the qatar open final this
month in seven matches in
boasting an improved all round game in recent times he won the atp world tour
finals in november and then opened with the title in doha
however davydenko said he was not thinking about maiden grand slam title just
yet
never think am favourite for any tournament he said
doesn matter which one because know can also lose not only to top
guys but can lose also to number or it depends how you feel
know very good player and if feel good for sure can beat everyone
it only four days here
the year old marchenko making his grand slam debut here and ranked th in
the world was never in the contest with the russian getting early service
breaks in each set
davydenko three times quarter finalist at the australian open hit
winners while marchenko could manage just in his first encounter with
top player
the russian was all over marchenko shaky serve breaking the ukrainian seven
times
davydenko is on track to face ninth seed fernando verdasco in the fourth round
and world number one roger federer in the quarters
tennis djokovic takes four sets to down swiss
melbourne jan afp
former champion novak djokovic needed four sets and almost three hours to
overcome dogged swiss marco chiudinelli and reach the third round of the
australian open on wednesday
the serbian third seed dropped the opening set but eventually dominated the
world number in two hours minutes on rod laver arena
he will now play uzbekistan denis istomin in the third round
djokovic was off his game in the opening set conceding two service breaks and
hitting double the number of unforced errors of chiudinelli
but he gradually assumed control of the match breaking the swiss twice in the
second four times in the third and in the eighth game of the final set
yet it was an erratic performance from the australian open champion
offering break point opportunities on his servce and committing unforced
errors
chiudinelli making only his fourth grand slam appearance dropped serve in six
consecutive games during the second and third sets and needed constant repairs
on troublesome right ankle during the course of the match
djokovic looked affected by the heat on rod laver arena and resorted to an ice
pack draped around his neck during changeovers late in the match
last year as defending champion he retired during his quarter final when
trailling andy roddick due to cramping and heat fatigue
djokovic quarter of the draw has opened up following the first round
elimination of french open finalist and eighth seed robin soderling and the
highest ranked seed left in his section is frenchman jo wilfried tsonga
he beat tsonga in the australian open final for his first career grand slam
title
chavez morales claim us using relief effort to invade haiti
caracas jan afp
the presidents of venezuela and bolivia ramped up their anti us invective
wednesday claiming washington was using relief operation in haiti to mask
military takeover of the impoverished country
the empire said chavez using his favorite epithet for the united states is
taking haiti over the bodies and tears of its people
they started with the airport he said referring to port au prince single
runway airfield which us forces have operated since last week assisting
hundreds of aid planes in landing
if you want to go inside the destroyed presidential palace you ll find us
marines standing in your way chavez added
on tuesday us military helicopters landed at haiti presidential palace which
was largely destroyed in the quake that struck on january
the united states on wednesday said it would send more troops to help
quake devastated haiti bringing the total number of us military either on the
ground or on offshore ships to in coming days
they brazenly occupied haiti without consulting the un or the oas organization
of american states said chavez who on sunday made similar accusations about
the us relief effort in haiti
meanwhile bolivian president evo morales one of chavez closest allies in the
region said wednesday he would request an emergency un meeting to repudiate
and reject this military occupation of the united states in haiti
it not right the united states should use this natural disaster to invade and
militarily occupy haiti he told press conference
if you have all these problems with the injured and the dead from the
earthquake you have to go there to save lives and you don do that from
military standpoint he added
nba mavs win another close one
washington jan afp
shawn marion blocked caron butler shot with sec to play wednesday to make
sure the dallas mavericks came out on the right side of yet another one point
nba decision
dallas downed washington avenging loss to the wizards on the opening
day of the season
the mavericks stretched their streak of victories in one point games to nine
that stretches back to january and matches the second longest such streak
in nba history
the sacramento kings won nine one point games in row from while the
then st louis hawks won straight from
dirk nowitzki scored points jason terry added and jason kidd had
assists for dallas who were coming off big victory against boston
terry started in place of josh howard who missed the game with stomach
ailment
the mavericks led with to play after erick dampier dunk
washington scored the last six points of the game with three pointers from randy
foye and mike miller
with the mavericks up and holding the ball nowitzki worked the clock then
drove to the basket where he charged into brendan haywood
washington called time out but when play resumed butler wasn able to get his
jump shot over marion
foye finished with season high points butler added and haywood had
points with rebounds
washington beat dallas to open the season in which the wizards had
figured to be top team in the eastern conference
however the wizards have struggled and recently were rocked by the suspension
of gilbert arenas for bringing guns to the team locker room
only two of washington opening night starters haywood and butler started
on wednesday
oil prices down in asian trade ahead of us energy report
singapore jan afp
oil prices were down thursday ahead of the release of widely monitored us
energy reserves report analysts said
new york main contract light sweet crude for march delivery dropped cents
to dollars barrel
london brent north sea crude for delivery in march fell cents to
dollars barrel
analysts polled by dow jones newswires said they expect us crude reserves to
show rise of million barrels last week when the department of energy doe
releases its report later thursday rise in stocks is seen as an indication of
weak demand
gasoline stocks are seen increasing by million barrels the poll said the
doe is releasing its report one day later than normal owing to us bank holiday
on monday
if the report is showing build in stockpiles like everybody else expected
prices could keep going down said clarence chu an oil trader with hudson
capital energy in singapore
crude prices have been under pressure after comments wednesday by top beijing
regulator lim mingkang that china would rein in credit after explosive growth
last year as the world most populous nation moves to cool its red hot economy
the chairman of the china banking regulatory commission told forum in hong
kong wednesday that new bank loans in the country this year would fall to about
trillion yuan trillion us dollars from about trillion yuan in
analysts have said the policy was likely response to concerns about asset
bubbles bad loans and an overheating economy
data released thursday by china showed the economy grew percent well
exceeding the government target of percent
str bh hg
tennis australian open results day four st update
melbourne jan afp
results from day four of the australian open at melbourne park here thursday
denotes seeding
men singles
nd round
nikolay davydenko rus bt illya marchenko ukr
novak djokovic srb bt marco chiudinelli sui
nicolas almagro esp bt benjamin becker ger
denis istomin uzb bt michael berrer ger
women singles
nd round
agnieszka radwanska pol bt alla kudryavtseva rus
gisela dulko arg bt ana ivanovic srb
carla suarez navarro esp bt andrea petkovic ger
baidu lawsuit without merit us web firm
beijing jan afp
us web company on thursday rejected as baseless lawsuit filed by china top
internet search engine baidu which is seeking damages over hacker attack
the lawsuit filed by baidu com is completely without merit register com
spokeswoman alice mcgillion said in statement
register com takes cyberterrorism very seriously and we are working closely
with federal law enforcement officials who are investigating this crime as well
as the recent similar attacks on twitter and google she said
baidu said wednesday it was suing register com in new york for negligence over
an attack last week in the latest salvo in sino us spat that began with
google threat to leave china because of cyberattacks
the us firm is leading domain registration service that manages more than
million domain names including baidu according to its website
nasdaq listed baidu said its site was down for hours after the january attack
by group calling itself the iranian cyber army the name used by hackers who
briefly shut down the twitter microblogging site last month
baidu spokesman victor tseng said at the time of the attack that service had
been interrupted due to external manipulation of its dns domain name server
in the united states
on wednesday baidu said the software behind its domain name was unlawfully and
maliciously altered as result of the gross negligence of register com
the us company said thursday it continuously works to enhance its security
processes and to safeguard customers from these increasingly sophisticated
attacks
google which trails baidu in market share in china said last week it may leave
the country altogether over what it called highly sophisticated attack by
china based hackers and state censorship
tennis djokovic through to third round
melbourne jan afp
serbian third seed novak djokovic progressed to the third round after
win over swiss marco chiudinelli at the australian open on
wednesday
moderate quake off philippines seismologists
manila jan afp
moderate quake struck at sea off the main philippine island of luzon on
thursday seismologists said but there were no immediate reports of casualties
or damage
the us geological survey said the quake with magnitude of hit at
am gmt just two kilometres miles below the surface of the
philippine sea and kilometres southeast of catanduanes island
the philippine institute of volcanology and seismology put the magnitude at
the institute said it expected no damage but that aftershocks were expected
cgm kma hg
tennis ivanovic flops out of open
melbourne jan afp
former finalist and world number one ana ivanovic flopped out of the australian
open on thursday losing to experienced argentinian gisela dulko in the second
round
the error riddled performance by frustrated ivanovic was far cry from the
glamour girl form in when she lost the australian open final to maria
sharapova and won the french open
the th seed recovered from down to take the first set against the th
ranked dulko but struggled with her serve and eventually succumbed
the serb had all sorts of problems on the serve countless times aborting her
service action after an errant ball toss and faced break points nine of
which dulko converted
her groundstrokes also deserted her after the first set hitting just three
