imminent lawsuit by the us penal authorities against the bank that threatened
the existence of ubs
tennis roddick serves his way past gasquet
brisbane australia jan afp
top seed andy roddick gave serving masterclass as he blasted his way past
frenchman richard gasquet in the quarter finals of the brisbane
international on friday
roddick will take on fourth seeded czech tomas berdych for place in sunday
final with the winner to face either berdych countryman radek stepanek or
france gael monfils
the american was on top form against tricky opponent who has troubled him in
the past and who beat him the last time they met at wimbledon in
thought hit the ball real well roddick said
knew would have to play more aggressively than have so far this
tournament because if you give him time didn want to get into match of
moving the ball around and bunch of field shots because he very good at
that
so wanted to come forward and play little bit more aggressively
the world number seven said the knee he injured in october last year was holding
up well despite playing full week of singles and doubles
gasquet had no answer to the power and placement of roddick serve with the
american losing only three points on service in the first set and five in the
second
by contrast the frenchman struggled in the first set and was broken in the sixth
game of the match to hand roddick the advantage
ironically once gasquet lost his serve he settled down and he wasn troubled
thereafter but by then the damage had been done
he served incredibly didn have break point against him gasquet said
in the first set served really bad that why lost my groundstrokes
weren really good
he played well returned well and put pressure on my serve
in the second set tried to play better to serve better but he played
better than me this match for sure
berdych reached the final thanks to hard fought win over rising brazilian star
thomaz bellucci
the fourth seeded berdych took two hours minutes to see off bellucci
bellucci year old left hander with huge swinging serve fought hard and
pushed the world number to third set tiebreak but berdych said he always
felt in control
in the second tiebreak was quite confident was playing much better than
in the first set and was making him run lot he said
us congressman discusses iraqi refugees in lebanon
beirut jan afp
visiting us congressman met with top lebanese officials on friday for talks on
range of issues including how to deal with the influx of iraqi refugees
democrat alcee hastings co chairman of the congressional commission on security
and cooperation in europe met president michel sleiman and foreign minister ali
shami as part of regional tour
the biggest issue for me as leader is dealing with the subject of iraq
refugees he told reporters
although that is not critical issue of major consequence for lebanon it is
for syria and jordan
millions of iraqis have fled their country since the us led invasion almost
seven years ago most of them seeking refuge in nearby syria and jordan
between and iraqi refugees now live in lebanon according to
danish refugee council survey commissioned by the un refugee agency unhcr
us republican senator and former presidential candidate john mccain was due in
lebanon later on friday
friday visit was hasting third to lebanon where he was also due to meet
prime minister saad hariri later friday
the congressman made brief stops in turkey and syria before his arrival in
beirut he is also due to visit egypt
china overtakes germany as top world exporter
frankfurt jan afp
china and its population of billion has overtaken germany population
million as the world top exporter trade figures from the german national
statistics office showed on friday
from january to november chinese exports were worth trillion dollars
while german data showed that exports from europe biggest economy amounted to
billion euros or trillion dollars
the widely expected crowning of new export champion should be confirmed when
germany releases full year trade figures on february
economic growth in both countries depend on exports which critics claim
contributes to overall global imbalances urging germans to consume more and
chinese authorities to let the yuan float freely against the dollar
in november the german trade surplus climbed to billion euros seasonally
corrected figures showed from billion in october largely thanks to strong
asian demand
german imports fell by percent to billion euros in part owing to fewer
purchases of foreign autos as car scrapping premium expired while exports
gained percent to billion euros
the german product specialisation with high share of capital goods and high
presence in asian markets make germany one of the main beneficiaries of an
investment led global recovery ing senior economist carsten brzeski said
he noted that german exports to china had increased by almost percent from
november and that germany unadjusted trade surplus of billion euros
was the biggest since june
global trade was crushed later that year after the collapse of us investment
bank lehman brothers
china meanwhile expects its share of global trade to exceed nine percent in
vice commerce minister zhong shan said late last month from percent
in despite forecast fall in exports of percent on the year
chinese wares shipped abroad include items such as electronic goods and clothing
while germany exports automobiles chemical products and specialised machine
tools
on december china and southeast asian nations established the world
biggest free trade area in terms of population and one which rivals the
european union and north america free trade area in terms of value
germany benefits greatly from eu trade which accounted for percent of its
exports in november providing billion euros in revenues
it is good to know that the german economy can at least rely on good old
friend its strong export sector brzeski said
europe biggest economy is recovering from its worst recession since world war
ii and is estimated to have contracted by around percent in
the german central bank forecasts growth of percent in
china economy likely grew by percent in senior official has said
and could gain another percent this year
in the end most experts say increased trade benefits everyone but efforts to
boost global commerce remain deadlocked and the recent economic slowdown has
fuelled fears of increased protectionism
the doha round of trade liberalisation talks has dragged on since its launch in
dogged by string of missed deadlines and setbacks
for germany export demand is set to show more moderate growth rates than at
the beginning of the current recovery not least as fiscal stimulus is
increasingly phasing out and the global inventory cycle loses steam unicredit
economist alexander koch said
football vidic out for another ten days
manchester jan afp
manchester united will have to do without centreback nemanja vidic for another
ten days because of the injury he suffered while warming up before last
weekend shock fa cup defeat by leeds
united boss sir alex ferguson said after the match he did not know why vidic had
pulled out of the match comment which fuelled speculation of behind the
scenes rift and further encouraged rumours the serbia international is keen on
move to either barcelona or real madrid
ferguson however moved to clarify the situation on friday saying vidic had
damaged nerve he felt bit of problem with the right side of his leg and
didn feel confident about playing the game ferguson said
understand that because it was quite painful we sent him to specialist on
wednesday and the problem will be solved by some exercises we are going to have
to give him now he should be back in about days time
vidic will miss saturday premier league match at birmingham and next weekend
home clash with burnley
africa zuma popularity rises
johannesburg jan afp
south african president jacob zuma popularity edged upward in his first months
of office with his rating from minority white voters more than doubling
survey showed on friday
asked to rate him on scale from zero to zuma ranking jumped from to
in survey of south africans carried out between october and
november
although his rating among black people also increased the increases among
minority groups is the most notable said the pollster ipsos markinor
zuma took office amid fears of leftward swing amid pressure from socialist
allies and under cloud of controversy after the state dropped drawn out graft
charges against him ahead of the country fourth all race elections in april
the greatest shifts were among minority indian mixed race and white voters
with the latter rising from just to points
black south africans who make up some percent of the population but were
denied the vote until apartheid ended in scored zuma at
traditionalist and polygamist zuma is former freedom fighter who enjoys
widespread populist support among black south africans who form percent of
supporters of his african national congress anc
the anc marks its th anniversary on friday with zuma to address rally in
kimberley in central south africa on saturday
he is the fourth south african president since the fall of white minority
rule which has left deep divisions and inequalities among the country racial
groups
pakistan interior minister seeks acquittal in graft case
karachi jan afp
pakistan interior minister rehman malik on friday asked court to acquit him
in year old graft case that was revived after supreme court ruling
scrapped controversial amnesty his lawyer said
malik was one of raft of politicians including pakistan president asif ali
zardari protected by the amnesty which the supreme court in november
declared unconstitutional
courts have reopened dozens of cases including number against malik on
friday he was appearing over deal in which he was accused of using his
position as head of government agency to benefit relative
malik lawyer said the interior minister submitted evidence of bail he was
granted by the supreme court back when fighting the case in
we referred the judge to the supreme court ruling in the bail in which it
said there is not an iota of evidence to connect the accused with the crime
khawaja naveed malik lawyer told afp
the court issued summons to the government prosecutor and fixed the next
hearing for january
the us backed government is reeling from the fallout of the november decision
with four cabinet ministers and some advisers now facing charges
the amnesty called the national reconciliation ordinance nro was passed
in october by then president pervez musharraf who was under pressure to
hold elections and end about eight years of military rule
it quashed charges against number of politicians including zardari and his
wife and ex prime minister benazir bhutto who was assassinated two months
later to allow them to stand for office
zardari is immune from prosecution while in office but his eligibility for the
presidency could be challenged as graft cases were pending against him when the
nro was adopted raising questions about his suitability for the post
australia slams indian newspaper ku klux klan cartoon
sydney jan afp
australia on friday angrily condemned an indian newspaper cartoon likening its
police to the ku klux klan over their investigations into the murder of young
indian man
new delhi mail today ran the cartoon showing figure with an australian
police badge wearing pointed white hood following the murder of year old
indian national nitin garg in melbourne last weekend
any suggestion of that kind is deeply deeply offensive to the police officers
involved and would absolutely condemn the making of comment like that said
deputy prime minister julia gillard
the murder of year old accounting graduate garg has ignited tensions between
india and australia that have been simmering for the last months following
series of attacks in victoria state against indians
indian media have accused australian police of not doing enough to protect
foreign students who have fuelled lucrative overseas education industry and
of failing to acknowledge the racist motives of the attackers
the editor of the mail today popular tabloid that is partly owned by the
publisher of britain right wing daily mail defended the decision to publish
the cartoon
we perceive the melbourne police to be racist organisation simply because it
seems it is not acting fast enough or seriously enough on the attacks on
indian students editor bharat bhushan said in statement emailed to afp
the cartoon reflects the widespread feeling in india he added
but australian authorities have insisted there are no indications as yet that
garg who was stabbed in the abdomen as he walked to work at hamburger
restaurant late on december was the victim of race hate crime
the cartoon in which the hooded police figure is saying we are yet to
ascertain the nature of the crime was also condemned by victoria police
minister bob cameron
victoria police is very tolerant organisation and victoria is very tolerant
state and to suggest that victoria police is racist is just plain wrong
cameron said
the police union representing the state officers said the drawing was based on
nothing but slow news day in delhi
cartoons in australia are normally done by people who are either clever or
witty and this one neither the secretary of victoria police association
greg davies told reporters
davies said it was incredibly offensive and wrong to suggest police were not
investigating the murder and that it was too early to categorise garg death as
race hate crime
the indian cartoonist prasad said there was sense of injustice in india
and that the attitude of australian authorities amounted to acceptance of
racism or authorising similar future crimes as mere opportunistic violence
the cloak of the ku klux klan is globally known and recognised cultural
signifier that represents racism it also symbolises violence in the name of
race or colour he added in an emailed statement
garg killing has prompted india to issue travel warning to its students in
australia and threatens to damage diplomatic ties as well as australia
billion us dollar education export industry
the federation of indian students in australia said it was too early to rule in
or rule out any cause for the death of mr nitin garg
but spokesman gautam gupta urged police to provide statistics on the number of
crimes committed by and against indians and whether criminals have been caught
and trialled in previous cases of assaults against indians
the editor of the mail today claimed that australian police statistics showed
one in attacks in melbourne was against an indian student despite them
representing just one in every people in the city
silence on the facts and figures are not going to help the situation gupta
said adding that there was rising level of cynicism amongst the indian
diaspora
in june police said that people of indian origin were victims of crime
against the person such as robberies and assaults in victoria between june
and july an increase from the previous year
gupta said the australian government response to the latest murder was seen as
merely diplomatic and an exercise in public relations and image damage
control
indian students number in australia and make up percent of foreign
enrolments in universities and colleges which actively target the country
growing middle class
us intensifies diplomacy to restart mideast peace talks
washington jan afp
the obama administration on friday begins flurry of high level talks aimed at
reviving israeli palestinian peace negotiations after its middle east
diplomatic debut fell flat last year
accompanied by middle east envoy george mitchell secretary of state hillary
clinton will meet in washington with foreign ministers nasser judeh of jordan
and ahmed abul gheit of egypt the main arab peace brokers officials said
mitchell will then leave late sunday for paris and brussels for consultations
with allies including meeting of the quartet of the united states the
european union the united nations and russia they added
the meeting of the middle east quartet which launched roadmap for peace in
calling for the creation of palestinian state living alongside secure
israel will take place in brussels
mitchell will then return to the united states before heading to the middle east
by the end of the month state department spokesman pj crowley told reporters in
announcing the flurry of talks
days after entering the white house in january last year president barack obama
signaled that arab israeli peace was top priority but crowley acknowledged
that efforts hit rough patch late last year
the obama administration faced barrage of arab accusations that it failed to
follow through on its demand that hawkish israeli prime minister benjamin
netanyahu government completely freeze jewish settlement construction
crowley said the administration wanted to share ideas about how to get talks
started
clearly the first step in this process is to get the two sides back to formal
negotiations and also find variety of ways to address the very concrete
issues concerning both sides he said
the core issues are borders of future palestinian state the fate of
palestinian refugees and the status of the holy city of jerusalem the eastern
portion of which the palestinians want to turn into their capital
the united states is pushing for borders along the boundary lines where the
war ended but allowing for land swaps
in an interview with us television pbs on wednesday mitchell said we think
that the negotiation should last no more than two years once begun we think it
can be done within that period of time
we hope the parties agree personally think it can be done in shorter
period of time he said according to transcript of the interview
on monday israel maariv newspaper said washington was pushing plan to
restart peace talks that foresees reaching final deal in two years and
agreeing on permanent borders in nine months
under the plan the israelis and palestinians will immediately start final
status talks that were suspended during the gaza war year ago maariv
reported citing unnamed sources
after meeting in recent days with egyptian president hosni mubarak the us
backed palestinian leader mahmud abbas said that he was open to negotiations
with israel but talks could only resume when jewish settlement activity ends
under the us plan the two sides will first discuss the issue of permanent
borders with deadline of nine months for reaching an agreement maariv said
the idea is to have an agreement on borders before the expiry of an israeli
moratorium on new settlement construction in the occupied west bank so israel
will start to build again only in those settlements that will be inside its
borders under the final status agreement it said
underlying the discussions will be the principle of land swap that has figured
prominently in past peace negotiations israel will keep its major settlement
blocks in the occupied west bank and the palestinians will get land inside
israel in return
asked if the two sides were any closer to resuming negotiations crowley said
think there is still work to be done
football upbeat mali plan to ambush cup hosts angola
luanda jan afp
mali plan to become african nations cup party poopers second time when they
face hosts angola sunday in the opening match of the tournament
the eagles stunned over confident tunisia in the curtain raiser with
president ben ali so disgusted by the performance of the home team that he
stormed out of the stadium long before the final whistle
you only need to look at the calibre of players in this team the body
language attitude and spirit to know we mean business was the chilling
message for the host nation from mali coach stephen keshi
realise we are not among the favourites and large sections of the media do
not believe we will even qualify for the knockout stage but beg to differ
our preparations have gone according to plan and my team can go all the way to
the final said keshi nations cup winner as player with his native nigeria
years ago
keshi said malians should not be concerned about only one victory in four warm
up matches around the middle east as he was experimenting with various
combinations
mali defeated iran drew with qatar and lost to north korea in doha tournament
before jetting to dubai where they fell to nations cup title holders egypt
only egyptian hassan shehata of the nations cup coaches will be in
angola and keshi knows first round exit from group completed by world
cup qualifiers algeria and malawi could spell the end of his tenure
expected to push ghana hard for place at the world cup in south africa
mali flopped to finish only third in the mini league behind the black stars
and lightweights benin
mali boast big names in midfielders mahamadou diarra from real madrid and seydou
keita from barcelona plus african footballer of the year and sevilla
striker frederic kanoute
there was also room in the strong squad for couple of local stars
goalkeeper soumbeyla diakate and defender abdoulaye maiga from african
confederation cup holders stade malien
the eagles boast proud nations cup record finishing runners up to congo in
and the west africans have been among the top four in four of five
previous appearances
ghana two years ago was the exception with loss to ivory coast eliminating
mali after the first round and french coach jean francois jodar was dumped in
favour of keshi
don need favour of foreign powers afghanistan karzai
kabul jan afp
afghanistan president hamid karzai whose fragile government is propped up by
more than foreign troops said friday he does not need the favour of
the international community
the us and nato have troops fighting taliban insurgency trying to
topple karzai and destabilise the war torn impoverished and corrupt country
with more than international troop deaths in the war is becoming more
deadly for foreign and afghan troops alike as it drags into its ninth year since
the islamist regime was toppled in
diplomats in kabul say without the western military presence karzai
government would soon collapse as the taliban spreads its footprint across the
country and setting up shadow administrative and judicial systems
while being propped up by western forces set to rise this year to and
billions of dollars in annual aid karzai told al jazeera television his job is
to win the hearts and minds of the afghan people
have to win the hearts and minds of the afghan people have to be
legitimate and have the trust of the afghan people if am to be good
president karzai said
with the international community don have to have their favour they are
here for purpose which is the fight on terror and we are working with them
for purpose which is the stability and safety of afghanistan so we have
common purpose
karzai began second five year term in november after being declared winner of
an august president poll that descended into ballot stuffing farce with
investigators finding about million votes for karzai were fake
in the interview he said afghanistan is good model of democracy and has
done well in education and economy despite the fact that millions of
children do not go to school extremists intimidation limits girls education
and the economy is based principally on the illegal poppy trade
but he said in terms of security we have failed
as the us and nato prepare to send in almost more troops and adjust the
war strategy from concentration on the battlefield to development and
reconstruction karzai said they must also help build afghan security forces
if these forces are coming only to chase the taliban at the cost of afghan
civilians of course that not going to produce any good consequences for us
he said
we are also seeking that they must provide better training and equipment to
afghan forces and police so that we can soon start to take responsibility for
the security of our country
distinction must be drawn he said between what he called mainstream
taliban unemployed youths who fight for cash and terrorists
we don want to undermine the taliban we want them to come and live
peaceful life in their own country we want to undermine the terrorists
us president barack obama has said he wants to begin withdrawal of troops in
mid conditional on the ability of the afghans to the job themselves
as billions of dollars are poured into training afghan security forces with the
aim of boosting the army to obama announcement is an incentive
karzai said
afghanistan must very soon begin to provide for its own security so we
should speed up efforts to have our own forces security and means to defend our
country hope our international partners will support us to that end
he said recent militant attack on us base near the pakistan border which
killed eight people including seven cia agents was condemnable but used
the interview to criticise foreign troops for civilian casualties
it is touchstone issue for karzai who in recent weeks has used it to bolster
his own popularity with populace weary of war and quick to blame western
forces though most civilian deaths are caused by the taliban
want the nato countries to understand that the war on terror is not in the
afghan villages it not in the pursuit of every man that wearing turban
and has beard and is wearing the national dress of afghanistan
these are the citizens of this country and they must be respected and then
we will have peace and success he said
egypt police arrest three suspects in christmas eve shooting
cairo jan afp
egyptian police on friday arrested three suspects in christmas eve shooting
that killed six copts and sent shock waves through the country christian
minority the interior ministry said
police had scoured sugarcane fields for the three suspects in the shooting which
struck the southern egyptian town nagaa hammadi on wednesday the night before
coptic christmas
as result of the security services efforts to arrest the criminals behind
the killing of seven citizens in nagaa hammadi on friday morning mohammed al
kawmi kurshi abul haggag and hindawi hassan surrendered the statement said
the three men who were arrested close to nagaa hammadi are alleged to be the
gunmen who opened fire on copts as they emerged from midnight mass
the gunmen raked pedestrians along stretch of road that houses two churches
and shopping mall leaving pools of blood on the roadside
muslim policeman was also killed in the attack
the suspects all have previous convictions the interior ministry said
police believe the attack was related to the alleged rape of muslim girl by
coptic man in the nearby village of farshut in november
muslim villagers responded to that incident by burning coptic owned stores in
farshut and surrounded police station where the coptic suspect was held
nagaa hammadi bishop kirilos told afp that for the past week some of his
parishioners had received threatening phone calls
the callers said muslims will avenge the rape of the girl during the christmas
celebrations kirilos said
coptic mourners clashed with police on thursday as they buried their dead the
shooting raised tensions in southern egypt where there have been repeated
sectarian clashes in the past
wednesday attack which also wounded six people was the deadliest since
copts were killed in sectarian clashes in also in southern egypt
copts who account for up to percent of egypt population of million are
the middle east largest christian community but complain of routine
discrimination and harassment
they have two ministers in government and several members of parliament but
face restrictions on building churches which must be approved by presidential
decree and have get security and provincial clearance to refurbish existing
churches
tennis brisbane international results roundup
brisbane australia jan afp
results from the sixth day of the brisbane international tennis tournament on
friday denotes seed
quarter finals
men
tomas berdych cze bt thomaz bellucci bra
andy roddick usa bt richard gasquet fra
semi finals
women
justine henin bel bt ana ivanovic srb
kim clijsters bel bt andrea petkovic ger
royal trophy four ball pairings
bangkok jan afp
pairings for the four ball matches saturday in the royal trophy team competition
between asia and europe at amata spring country club asian names first
jeev milkha singh gaganjeet bhullar ind ind colin montgomerie simon dyson
sco eng
charlie wi liang wen chong kor chn peter hanson soren kjeldsen swe den
ryo ishikawa koumei oda jpn jpn robert karlsson alexander noren swe swe
prayad marksaeng thongchai jaidee tha tha henrik stenson pablo martin
swe esp
golf japanese teen upstages montgomerie in royal trophy
bangkok jan afp
japanese teen phenomenon ryo ishikawa took the scalp of matchplay legend and
ryder cup captain colin montgomerie as holders asia took lead over
europe in the royal trophy on friday
player captain montgomerie pitted himself against year old ishikawa widely
tipped as future number one in the opening alternate shot foursomes match and
the gamble misfired spectacularly
europe were trailing in three games and up in just one before great comeback
by peter hanson and soren kjeldsen earned them half point against the indian
duo of jeev milkha singh and gaganjeet bhullar
asia stunned europe with victory last year and montgomerie is looking to
avenge that defeat as confidence booster ahead of the ryder cup against the
united states in october
am delighted with the way we escaped at one stage we were three to one down
and it is big difference to be behind two and half to one and half said
montgomerie
all credit to the players from coming back especially peter hanson and soren
kjeldsen for getting half point from their game
we need to fight back and win the four ball series tomorrow to get on equal
terms going into the singles
asian captain naomichi joe ozaki who led the team to victory last year after
losses in the first two editions was pleased to be ahead by point
would have been happy with so am delighted to be leading by one point
