when watson left australia on october controversy raged over whether she was
too young and inexperienced to undertake the challenge after she smashed into
massive coal freighter during test sail in september
injured as iran plane catches fire state media
tehran jan afp
an iranian passenger plane caught fire while landing on sunday in the
northeastern city of mashhad injuring at least people on board state
television reported
iranian officials told local news networks that the rear end of the russian
built tupolev plane owned by taban airline caught fire as the aircraft was
landing at mashhad airport
the plane caught fire while landing state television quoted javad erfanian
head of disaster management of khorasan razavi province of which mashhad is the
capital as saying
forty six people have been injured but most of them are not serious he said
adding that emergency services evacuated the passengers after which the rear end
of the aircraft broke up
the english language state owned press tv said the plane travelling from abadan
in southwest iran to mashhad had passengers on board erfanian said the
plane also had crew members on board
reza jafarzadeh spokesman for iranian civil aviation said the plane had left
abadan on saturday but bad weather in mashhad led to the aircraft landing in
the central city of isfahan for the night before it took off again for mashhad
early sunday
the captain had critical patient on board and so had to do an emergency
landing in mashhad which is why the aircraft met with an accident he was
quoted as saying on the website of state television
iran which has been under years of international sanctions has suffered
number of aviation disasters over the past decade
its civil and military fleet is made up of ancient aircraft in very poor
condition due to their age and lack of maintenance
in its worst air accident plane carrying members of iran elite
revolutionary guards crashed in february killing people on board
in july last year soviet designed tupolev had caught fire mid air and plunged
flaming into farmland northeast of tehran killing all people on board
in december total of people were killed when lockheed transport
plane crashed into foot of high rise housing block outside tehran
in november military plane crashed on takeoff at tehran mehrabad
airport killing all people on board including members of revolutionary
guards
taliban blow up girls school in nw pakistan police
peshawar pakistan jan afp
the taliban blew up girls school on sunday in northwest pakistan where
troops are battling militant insurgency police said
islamist militants opposed to co education have destroyed hundreds of schools
mostly for girls in the northwest of the country in recent years as they wage
fierce insurgency to enforce sharia law
the nine room private girls high school in the town of shabqadar some
kilometres miles north of peshawar was destroyed when two bombs planted by
militants exploded senior police official mohammad riaz khan said
the bombs were planted in two rooms and the blast has left the entire building
unusable khan told afp adding that there were no casualties as the bombing
occurred very early in the morning
pakistan military is engaged in offensives against islamist fighters across
much of the northwest including the tribal areas bordering afghanistan
region branded by washington as the most dangerous place on earth
about troops poured into south waziristan in mid october to try and
dismantle the strongholds of the taliban leadership enraging militants who have
responded with surge in bomb blasts and attacks
tennis hewitt determined to end federer losing streak
melbourne jan afp
roger federer and lleyton hewitt will reignite one of the most enduring
rivalries in tennis in their fourth round showdown at the australian open on
monday
the swiss world number one is lining up for his th encounter with the feisty
australian whose rivalry stems back to on the senior tour and even earlier
in the juniors
federer leads hewitt and has won their last encounters
the time grand slam champion tossed aside st seeded spaniard albert
montanes to advance to the round of while two time grand slam
champion hewitt got through after marcos baghdatis retired injured early
it an incredible run for me against him cannot believe ve beaten him
that many times in row said federer ahead of their marquee night match
but you ve got to respect the player he is and the champion he is player of
this calibre can have good day
mean have not every day had good day
hewitt is still one of the fittest guys on the tour and is still very strong in
the mind and that always makes it big challenge when you play against him
although hewitt has not beaten federer since australia davis cup tie with
switzerland here on rod laver arena in he is keenly looking forward to
finally getting over over the world number one
we ve played lot of big matches hewitt said
we ve played the final of the us open we played davis cup match here as
well nine times out of ve played him in most of the majors as well apart
from the french open
so lot of them have been pretty big occasion matches
hewitt who was world number one from to before federer phenomenal
rise has enormous respect for the swiss legend
he possibly the greatest player ever to play he said
but he is taking encouragement from his last encounter with federer when he took
set off him before losing in four sets in the third round at last year us
open
my knee was probably not in such good shape going into that match against
federer which lot more confident on now hewitt said
but was still able to take the first set off him and push him towards the end
of the third set which could have gone either way
so the motivation is there it not going to be easy but ll be ready come
monday
figure skating plushenko boost as russian hopes soar for vancouver
tallinn jan afp
yevgeny plushenko has given much needed boost to russian figure skating ahead
of the winter olympics as they topped the medals table at the european figure
skating championship here this week
the year old reclaimed the coveted men title as his country landed three of
the four titles on offer at the continental championships
it was the most successful europeans for russia since just before the
winter games when they flexed their muscles by sweeping the podium as they had
also done before nagano in
before salt lake city in they also won three of the four titles
but the once powerful team has been in the doldrums since turin
they had not medalled in the men or women event at europeans since
also losing their pairs stranglehold
but two weeks before vancouver that has all changed as they showed they are
ready to challenge for three titles men pairs and ice dancing
the return of plushenko last year after retiring following turin has proved
major boost
and in his international debut he showed that he still has the jumps and the
programme to compete against younger rivals with crushing victory that gave
him sixth men gold
the three time world champion led both the short programme and free skate to
finish massive points ahead of olympic silver medallist stephane
lambiel also returning after more than year off with thigh injury
feel healthy right now warned plushenko
my speed and steps are much better today feel much better he said
won get too euphoric though the most important competition is still to
come the olympic games
france brian joubert failed to show he has recovered his form sufficiently
after foot injury as he struggled to third and lost his title putting his
ability to challenge for olympic gold in doubt
the russian women however failed to get their act together ahead of the games
suffering whitewash for the fourth straight year despite weak women
field their highest placed competitor alena leonova was seventh as national
champion ksenia makarova struggled to ninth
carolina kostner claimed her third european title despite fall warning her
asian and american rivals she is ready to challenge for italy first olympic
figure skating gold
in pairs yuko kavaguti and alexander smirnov proved they can challenge the
likes of china shen xue and zhao hongbo in vancouver shocking germany
three time winners aliona savchenko and robin szolkowy
maria mukhortova and maxim trankov gave russia the bronze
in ice dancing oksana domnina and maxim shabalin danced to the theme of passion
to claim their second ice dancing gold
the world champions who created controversy by their aboriginal original
dance reclaimed the title they won in with dramatic free dance
but italy federica faiella and massimo scali showed they are not far behind
leading both the original and free dance for silver with defending champions
jana khokhlova and sergei novitski of russia taking bronze
us base row focus of japan city vote
tokyo jan afp
japanese voters in city on okinawa island started casting ballots sunday in
mayoral vote that throws spotlight on row with the united states over where
to build controversial new us air base
the two candidates in nago city are squaring off over whether or not to give
local support to plan currently under review by the centre left national
government to build major new marine corps air base there
the issue has strained ties between tokyo and washington who marked the th
anniversary of their security pact last tuesday since japan new leaders took
power four months ago ending half century of conservative rule
prime minister yukio hatoyama has said he may scrap an agreement with washington
to relocate the base from its current site in crowded urban area of okinawa to
quieter coastal site in the nago area by
in sunday mayoral race which polls have said is too close to call the
incumbent yoshikazu shimabukuro supports building the replacement base in
nago while his rival susumu inamine opposes it
the southern island of okinawa which saw some of the bloodiest battles of world
war ii now hosts more than half of the us troops in japan
while some local businesses benefit from the heavy american military presence
many residents have long opposed it citing crimes committed by servicemen as
well as noise pollution and the threat of accidents
hatoyama whose coalition government includes pacifist groups and stern
opponents of the us military presence has said he will make decision by may
on where to move the controversial futenma air base
some analysts speculated that hatoyama would ultimately settle with the current
plan as there is no other realistic option for the replacement base in japan
with no other communities willing to host it
if the candidate against the base is elected the central government can
technically overrule local government decision to refuse the base but such
move could come with sharp criticism as hatoyama has vowed to consider pains
inflicted on okinawans and to respect local governments decisions
some observers have voiced frustration with the premier for making at times
contradictory statements on the issue leaving both okinawans and washington
officials confused about his intentions
what mr hatoyama has said so far is inconsistent and don know how he
wants to settle the base row said yoshinobu yamamoto professor of
international politics at aoyama gakuin university
yamamoto pointed out that as an opposition politician years ago hatoyama
advocated the withdrawal of all permanent us forces from japan
hatoyama last month said that his views had changed but added that there is an
argument about whether it is appropriate to have foreign troops stationed in
japan if you think about the future or years from now
yamamoto said if he truly believes in an alliance without the permanent
presence of us troops in japan there may be fundamental differences in the
perception of the alliance between him and the united states
it could be disaster for the future of the alliance
group of liberal academics last week supported hatoyama review of the base
agreement called for review of the japan us alliance and said we should
also make efforts to remove other us bases in the future
cycling tour down under stage six results
adelaide australia jan afp
results on sunday from the tour down under sixth and final stage over
kilometres miles around central adelaide
stage
christopher sutton aus team sky hr min sec greg henderson nzl
sky graeme brown aus rabobank robbie mcewen aus katusha andre
greipel ger htc columbia allan davis aus astana matthew goss aus
htc columbia yauheni hutarovich blr francaise des jeux gert steegmans
bel radioshack jose rojas esp caisse epargne all same time
selected cadel evans aus bmc alejandro valverde esp caisse
epargne luis leon sanchez esp caisse epargne lance
armstrong usa radioshack at sec
overall
andre greipel ger htc columbia hr min sec luis leon sanchez esp
caisse epargne at sec greg henderson nzl sky robbie mcewen
aus katusha luke roberts aus milram cadel evans aus bmc
eduard vorganov rus katusha jurgen roelandts bel omega pharma
lotto robbie hunter rsa garmin transitions markus fothen
ger milram
selected alejandro valverde esp caisse epargne lance armstrong
usa radioshack
japan opposition pledges to pursue funds scandal
tokyo jan afp
japan main opposition party pledged sunday to pursue funding scandal
involving political heavyweight ichiro ozawa day after he was questioned over
probe into the financial irregularities
prosecutors are investigating whether ozawa secretary general of prime
minister yukio hatoyama democratic party of japan dpj took millions of
dollars in bribes from construction firms and invested the money in property
they are also looking at alleged financial irregularities within his political
funding group and have raided his offices and arrested three of his former or
current aides
after weeks of refusals ozawa often dubbed the government shadow shogun
on saturday submitted to voluntary questioning by prosecutors at tokyo hotel
but said he had nothing to hide
have never received illegal money and am sure neither have my office
staffers he said in statement released shortly after the questioning
but sadakazu tanigaki leader of the opposition liberal democratic party ldp
told his annual party convention that encouraging ozawa to battle the
allegations was mistake by hatoyama
we will keep asking questions as to whether the leaders who run the government
are qualified tanigaki said vowing to win july upper house elections
ozawa was credited with engineering the devastating poll defeat inflicted last
summer on the conservative ldp which had ruled japan with only one interruption
for more than five decades
kenji yamaoka the dpj parliamentary affairs chief on sunday brushed aside
the ldp demand for ozawa to be questioned in parliament
this is an issue that should be left to the court to discuss discussing it in
the parliament would only generate confusion yamaoka told public broadcaster
nhk
the scandal has dealt serious blow to hatoyama who has seen his public
support slide rapidly ahead of the july elections
six tv stations forced off air in venezuela
caracas jan afp
the opposition rctv channel and five other cable tv stations were forced off the
air in venezuela early sunday after cable operators complied with government
order and refused to carry their signals
we have just been taken off the air said gladys zapiain the communications
director for rctv there was no prior notification
she said all venezuelan cable operators had dropped rctv and the other channels
arguing that they had failed to comply with recent change in government
regulations that obliges them to carry speeches by president hugo chavez other
officials as well as official government announcements
these materials are considered government propaganda by chavez critics and
opponents
it was not immediately clear if the timing of the move by cable operators had
been directly influenced by the government
on saturday rctv refused to comply with new regulation for second time
that day president chavez addressed thousands of followers in western caracas
demanding absolute loyalty and telling them he embodied the heart and soul of
the venezuelan people
venezuela will hold crucial legislative elections in september in which chavez
hopes to secure at least two thirds of seats to maintain his current legislative
majority
according to opinion polls the president popularity which approached
percent approval at the beginning of stands now at less than percent
chavez vocal critic of us influence in the region has held onto power since
mario seijas president of the venezuelan chamber of cable television told afp
that in addition to rctv the dropped channels include ritmo son momentum
america tv american network and tv chile
figure skating flatt wins us title cohen falters
spokane washington jan afp
rachael flatt won the ladies title at the us figure skating championships on
saturday surging to victory with solid free skate as sasha cohen comeback
hit the skids
flatt who was lying third after the short programme behind mirai nagasu and
olympic silver medallist cohen turned in clean free skate to
rachmaninoff that included seven triple jumps
it was great programme flatt said was very excited with how things
went finally competed with how ve been training and built throughout
the year old won with total of points while nagasu was second with
the two punching their tickets to the vancouver olympics next month
nagasu had claimed the hearts of the crowd with her stylish carmen
programme
but she was downgraded for technical flaws to the spurprise of many including
the skater herself
was downgraded on three elements she asked
but nagasu will have chance to fix those faults in vancouver where the us
women will have their work cut out in competition headlined by south korean
kim yu na
the olympics were always in the back of my mind nagasu said we don have
michelle kwan or kristi yamaguchi to lead us on even though we re young we
still have our big dreams to lead us on
ashley wagner the only us woman to reach the grand prix final this season
jumped from fourth to third with total of not enough to punch her
olympic ticket
cohen the charismatic skater who hadn competed since taking bronze at the
world championships settled for fourth after free skate marred by one
fall and assorted errors
earlier saturday meryl davis and charlie white won their second straight us ice
dancing title this one coming with the extra satisfaction of victory over
tanith belbin and ben agosto
davis and white won their first national title last year with belbin and agosto
the five time national titlists and olympic silver medallists sidelined by
injury
but with the vancouver olympics beckoning davis and white showed they had what
it took against their illustrious compatriots winning all three phases of the
ice dance competition and capping their win with dramatic free dance to music
from phantom of the opera
they garnered points for the free dance for total of
there nothing quite like skating your best davis said after so many days
and weeks and years training so hard to put in performance like that in front
of home crowd is just amazing
belbin and agosto were second earning for their free dance for total
of emily samuelson and evan bates were third with an overall total of
points
the united states will send three ice dance teams to the vancouver olympics next
month
the men and pairs olympic contenders were decided here last weekend with
jeremy abbott world champion evan lysacek and johnny weir booking their
tickets to vancouver along with pairs caydee denney jeremy barrett and amanda
evora mark ladwig
six wounded in ambush near us mine in indonesia police
timika indonesia jan afp
at least six people were wounded sunday in shooting ambush near us company
freeport mcmoran massive gold and copper mine in indonesia eastern papua
region police said
three policemen and three mine workers were hurt in the ambush on convoy of
buses and land cruisers heading to the coastal city of timika from the grasberg
mine senior police officer mada aksanta told reporters
we re combing the area of the incident to gather evidence we re still
investigating who the perpetrators are aksanta said
one of the employees was foreigner who received wound near his left eye from
flying glass he added
papua province police spokesman agus riyanto told reporters the foreigner is
us national and the man was being flown along with two injured policemen to
hospital in jakarta for treatment
the national police and the military are still chasing the shooters he
added
freeport spokesman mindo pangaribuan said nine people were injured in the
shooting but declined to say how many were freeport employees
three required hospitalisation for treatment of injuries that are not life
threatening and the other six were released after treatment of minor injuries
he said in an email
production at the grasberg mine was not affected he added
the attack is the latest in string of mysterious ambushes on the road linking
the mine with timika
australian mine technician drew grant was killed in an attack on july last
year while freeport security guard and policeman were killed the following
day
the freeport mine sits on some of the world richest gold reserves and the us
company local subsidiary is the largest single taxpayer to the indonesian
government
papua resource rich region on the western end of new guinea island has been
the site of low level separatist insurgency since its incorporation into
indonesia in the
tennis murray ends britain year melbourne wait
melbourne jan afp
fifth seed andy murray became the first briton in years to reach the
australian open quarter finals on sunday putting his breakthrough down to
experience
murray who will now face defending champion rafael nadal tamed towering rd
seed john isner to become the only briton into the last
eight here since john lloyd in
the young scot showcased his exciting strokeplay on rod laver arena against the
big serving american and has yet to drop set in his four victories at the
year opening grand slam
murray the us open finalist believes he has the game plan to overcome
nadal who progressed with four set win over unseeded croat ivo karlovic
played him some really good matches against him on hard courts he said
think ve got some tactics that work well against him
murray who lost to nadal in five sets in the fourth round of the
australian open said he was now benefiting from experience
lot of that comes with experience knowing what to do on the important
points he said
today when was down hit lot of winners served smart was just thinking
the whole time
sometimes in the past might have been getting worked up or not thinking about
what should be doing on the next point now it just focus on each point
ve played it through to the fourth round few times here without dropping
set not whole lot in my game changed guess it maturity thing
murray is in good frame of mind as he enters the second week at the slam
playing well no question about that he said just need to play like
have been and maybe bit more if want to win the tournament
ve been moving pretty well and played some great shots out there so
haven got much to complain about so far
murray neutralised the ft in metre isner weapon serve which he rated
one of the best in men tennis
always get my coach to serve at me in the practice from the service line he
said
even if he acing you you just to get used to how the ball bouncing up and
adjust to where you re standing
it was murray greater variety of strokes including drop shots and volleys to
the feet of isner which proved decisive
he reeled off two wonderful backhands for the winning service break in the fifth
game of the final set which drew roars from the crowd
he drilled low volley to isner feet off smash and then rifled an exquisite
backhand down the line for the break
murray earned three service breaks and only conceded four break points in not
dropping his serve in the two hour minute contest
while the imposing isner this season after winning the auckland tournament
produced the greater number of winners murray was immaculate and only
made eight unforced errors in the games
isner who was bidding to reach the quarter finals of grand slam for the first
time finished the tournament with aces
cycling greipel clinches emphatic win down under
adelaide australia jan afp
germany andre greipel clinched an emphatic second tour down under victory on
sunday as britain team sky rounded off their debut race in impressive style
the champion crossed fifth to preserve his second overall lead marking
spectacular return after he crashed out of last year race and missed four
months with shoulder surgery
american cycling legend lance armstrong who is targeting an eighth tour de
france win at the record age of started the day seconds back and finished
in the main group of riders
really happy and for the team as well greipel said the team did
really good job the last week just really happy
team sky took over in the final section of sunday stage in central adelaide
with chris sutton and greg henderson claiming the rich new outfit second one
two finish of the week
henderson placed third overall putting sky on the podium in their very first
race as they bid to produce britain first ever tour de france champion
spain luis leon sanchez took second overall
greipel bombed out of last year race when as defending champion he
ploughed into parked police motorbike and was sidelined for the early part of
the season
he has dominated this week claiming the first two stages with trademark sprints
and then eclipsing an armstrong attack with another powerful finish on day four
on sunday australia wesley sulzberger threatened sensational upset when he
opened up second lead in three man break with four laps of the central
adelaide circuit to go
but the runaways were caught with kilometres to go and the blue and black
clad sky riders controlled the last section adding to their first and second
places in last sunday pre tour street race
the six stage tour down under raced over kilometres miles of road
around adelaide has grown into one of australia biggest sporting events
attracting hundreds of thousands of fans
cricket indian pacemen rock bangladesh in second test
dhaka jan afp
fast bowlers ishant sharma and zaheer khan ran through bangladesh top order as
india gained an early advantage on the opening day of the second and final test
here on sunday
sharma took and zaheer to leave the hosts reeling at in the first
innings at lunch mushfiqur rahim was unbeaten on at the break with skipper
shakib al hasan on
former captain mohammad ashraful offered brief resistance with while tamim
iqbal imrul kayes junaid siddique and raqibul hasan all failed to reach double
figures
bangladesh batting woes began immediately after winning the toss when sharma
had kayes caught by wicket keeper mahendra singh dhoni down the leg side with
his first delivery of the match
left arm seamer zaheer bowled opener iqbal with delivery that came in sharply
and then had siddique caught behind to reduce the hosts to
sharma second victim was raqibul hasan caught by rahul dravid at second slip
after making only four
ashraful played some attacking strokes during his ball knock before being
stumped in left arm spinner pragyan ojha first over
india made four changes from the side that won the first test in chittagong on
thursday
skipper dhoni and key spinner harbhajan singh who both missed the previous test
due to injuries returned in place of dinesh karthik and the injured
shanthakumaran sreesanth
murali vijay came in for another injured batsman venkatsai laxman while ojha
was preferred to leg spinner amit mishra
the hosts made one change replacing shahriar nafees with siddique
football cameroon africa cup of nations factfile
benguela cameroon jan afp
factfile for cameroon ahead of africa cup of nations quarter final against
defending champions egypt here on monday gmt
results
group
all lubango
jan
gabon
jan
zambia
jan
tunisia
scorers
samuel eto
mohamadou idrissou landry nguemo geremi njitap
squad figure indicates shirt number
idriss kameni espanyol esp gk
augustin binya neuchatel xamax sui df
nicolas nkoulou monaco fra df
rigobert song trabzonspor tur df
aurelien chedjou lille fra df
alexandre song arsenal eng md
landry nguemo celtic sco md
geremi njitap newcastle eng df
samuel eto inter milan ita st
achille emana real betis esp md
