at press conference with fonseka leaders of his coalition allies lined up to
denounce what they said were plans to prevent the will of the people prevailing
adding that they were ready to face the challenge
in the face of inevitable defeat the rajapakse regime according to reliable
information seems to be conspiring to thwart the democratic process and go
against the will of the people said mangala samaraweera former foreign
minister and backer of fonseka
opposition leader ranil wickremesinghe added we have to be ready now to
protect our franchise we are making counter plans we will get on to the
streets if necessary
he said they had also appealed to police and security forces not to carry out
any illegal orders
campaigning for tuesday presidential election ended on saturday night with
both fonseka and rajapakse expressing confidence about winning amid personal
and bitter contest between the two sides
the two men were the architects of the government victory over tamil tiger
rebels whose year violent struggle for tamil homeland was crushed in may
last year
call for peace at australia india prayer service
melbourne jan afp
special prayer service for better relations between australia and india
following series of violent attacks on indian students drew hundreds of
churchgoers sunday
the service at st paul cathedral in melbourne was prompted by the unsolved
stabbing murder of year old accounting graduate nitin garg from punjab on
january in the city west
gautam gupta who heads the federation of indian students of australia said the
prayers led by anglican archbishop dr philip freier were an opportunity to
speak out against racism and violence
think the message was very powerful there were lots and lots of people who
were sharing common themes there were many of those who attended who came
and told us we will be here contributing to help with the situation he said
australian police have acknowledged that spate of attacks against indians are
problem but said that most of these crimes were opportunistic rather than
racially motivated
on saturday night police re enacted garg last movements before his death
leaving train station to walk through park on his way to fast food
restaurant in the hopes it will reveal clue to the killing
gupta said the police should have staged the re enactment earlier
it been three weeks now the longer we leave it the chances of catching the
criminal decreases he said
garg murder and subsequent spate of attacks on indian nationals have
inflamed diplomatic tensions between the countries with new delhi this week
warning that the violence could damage bilateral relations
prime minister kevin rudd on thursday urged india to keep the regrettable
violence in perspective saying it was not isolated to indian nationals and
should be viewed in the context of broader incidences of violence
cycling beijing world cup results
beijing jan afp
results from the third and final day of the track cycling world cup here on
sunday
men
madison
hong kong kwok ho ting choi ki ho
italy elia viviani angelo ciccone
new zealand myron simpson thomas scully
sprint
edward dawkins nzl
michael almeida fra
francois pervis fra
women
team pursuit
australia ashlee ankudinoff sarah kent josephine tomic
new zealand jaime nielson lauren ellis alison shanks
canada laura brown stephanie roorda tara whitten
keirin
guo shuang chn
miriam welte ger
lee wai sze hkg
overall standings after four legs germany pts australia
netherlands great britain china new zealand
tennis nadal sets up murray blockbuster as henin marches on
melbourne jan afp
defending champion rafael nadal set up blockbuster australian open quarter
final with andy murray on sunday while justine henin fairytale comeback stayed
on track
but the tournament ended for us open champion juan martin del potro and french
open champion svetlana kuznetsova
zheng jie meanwhile rewrote the history books by becoming the first chinese
player to reach the last eight in melbourne
spain second seeded nadal was put to the test by big serving croat ivo
karlovic who slammed down aces before he muted the challenge
it ensured an enticing last eight showdown with in form fifth seed murray after
the scot tamed another big server american john isner
murray is one of the more dangerous players on the tour he can play
aggressively and defensively said nadal who has not won tournament in eight
months after being hampered by injury
will have to play as well as can and use my forehand
murray will be competing in his first australian quarter final and is the first
briton since john lloyd in to get this far
he showcased his exciting strokeplay against isner and has yet to drop set in
his four victories at the year opening grand slam
playing well no question about that said murray who lost to nadal in
five sets in the fourth round of the australian open
just need to play like have been and maybe bit more if want to win the
tournament
the pair have played each other nine times with nadal winning seven
henin successful return to tennis after an month retirement continued full
steam when the seven time grand slam champion beat fellow belgian and world
number yanina wickmayer
it great feeling to be back everything is going so well said henin who
is playing her first grand slam since the australian open in after being
handed wildcard by organisers
physically it tough as didn play for two years but love being back on
court
her victory matched the best performance by wildcard here in the open era
martina hingis in and jelena dokic in also made the quarters and
earned her crack at russian nadia petrova for place in the semi finals
petrova the th seed made the last eight by beating third seed kuznetsova
continuing her giantkilling ways having already ousted kim clijsters
she won and kuznetsova admitted she deserved to lose
it very disappointing because thought played very well in preparation
she said
was struggling little bit was not good today think deserved to
lose
zheng achievement was impressive with the unseeded year old upsetting
ukrainian st seed alona bondarenko as she and li na who plays
her fourth round match on monday continue to fly the flag for china
the victory sets her up against either second seed dinara safina or fellow
russian maria kirilenko
zheng proved to be marginally steadier than the ukrainian in match where both
women struggled to hold their serves
think australia is lucky for me because won my first grand slam doubles
title in australia with yan zi zheng said
also so happy in the quarter finals
argentina del potro crashed out of contention in five set epic with th
seed marin cilic
the croatian outlasted an exhausted del potro to earn
himself quarter final against either american seventh seed andy roddick or
former finalist fernando gonzalez of chile
tennis australian open results day seven th update
melbourne jan afp
results from day seven of the australian open at melbourne park here sunday
denotes seeding
men singles
th round
andy murray gbr bt john isner usa
rafael nadal esp bt ivo karlovic cro
marin cilic cro bt juan martin del potro arg
women singles
th round
zheng jie chn bt alona bondarenko ukr
nadia petrova rus bt svetlana kuznetsova rus
justine henin bel bt yanina wickmayer bel
tear gas and shots fired at haiti aid delivery
port au prince jan afp
un troops have fired warning shots and sprayed tear gas on haitian quake
survivors after food delivery to hundreds of them spiraled out of control in
the capital
the distribution of food soybean oil water and radios at former military
airfield began calmly on saturday with two long lines of people waiting
patiently across the field an afp photographer saw
brazilian troops missed small early scuffles for aid by many who had seen no
help since the massive january earthquake reduced their homes to rubble and
were eventually forced to resort to tear gas and firing into the air
nevertheless as order broke down and crowds poured out of the lines the
peacekeepers finally abandoned pile of radios and other aid for people to
fight over as they stood by
it was unclear if the delivery by the world food programme and the united
nations stabilization mission in haiti minustah was finally completed
the un security council voted unanimously tuesday to send extra un troops
and police to quake hit haiti to help maintain order and protect humanitarian
convoys
the un mission in haiti deployed in the impoverished nation since mid
currently has roughly troops police and about civilian
personnel
spokeswoman for the un organisation for the coordination of humanitarian
affairs ocha at its operations centre in geneva said the incident appeared to
be isolated with little violence reported in haiti
it normal that there would be such isolated incidents due to exasperation and
despair the spokeswoman elisabeth byrs told afp
minustah still had the overall situation with aid deliveries under control
she added
such violence is not representative of the haitian people the population has
been calm and dignified in the wake of the quake byrs said
she appealed to haitians to remain calm and ensure that children the elderly
and infirm were not sidelined by scuffles during aid distribution
afghan president heads abroad
kabul jan afp
afghan president hamid karzai left for turkey and germany on sunday ahead of an
international conference in london on finding ways to help his country his
office said
the us backed leader will meet turkish leaders and his pakistani counterpart
asif ali zardari during tripartite meeting between ankara islamabad and
kabul his office said in statement
the president will meet asif ali zardari the pakistani president over
effective ways of fighting terrorism the statement said
on tuesday karzai will visit germany where he is scheduled to hold talks with
chancellor angela merkel on wednesday before heading to london for the
international conference on afghanistan the statement said
karzai foreign interior finance and education ministers as well as his spy
chief were accompanying him on the trips it added
britain is to host the international conference on afghanistan on january in
bid to thrash out conditions for achieving the international community goals
in the country
at the london gathering afghanistan will present its development programme
which includes newly initiated peace scheme with the taliban insurgents
tennis henin beats wickmayer to make open quarters
melbourne jan afp
justine henin continued her amazing comeback when she beat fellow belgian yanina
wickmayer to make the australian open quarter finals on
sunday
football juve problem is double trouble for lippi
rome jan afp
while juventus coach ciro ferrara troubles mounted with saturday home
loss against as roma it was perhaps twice as bad for italy coach marcello
lippi
for juve it was an eighth defeat in matches in all competitions and one of
their three victories came in the much maligned italian cup against napoli
reserve team
they have picked up just six points out of possible in their last eight
serie matches
it the sort of form that would see almost any coach at any serie club shown
the door let alone one at the biggest and most prestigious team in the country
claudio ranieri the roma coach who masterminded juve latest downfall was
fired two games before the end of last season after suffering six defeats in
league matches ferrara has eight in this season
and although ranieri team had drawn lot of games his win percentage last
season was ferrara this season is
even ferrara admits his time might be up
was player for juve then part of the staff and now the coach if there is
one thing in my heart it juve he said
want to solve the problem but whatever happens it won be drama ll
accept whatever decisions the club takes
quite how ferrara has got to this set of results and yet remains the club
coach is mystery to most people but maybe the answer lies in lippi the man
most likely to suffer the consequences of ferrara troubles
first and foremost this is world cup year and sizeable portion of lippi
first choice players ply their trade at juve
four of italy back five play in turin while nicola legrottaglie is third
choice centre back both for club and country
midfielders mauro camoranesi and claudio marchisio often start for italy as
does forward vincenzo iaquinta while even new midfield recruit antonio candreva
made his international debut earlier this season while playing for siena
and then there is always the evergreen alessandro del piero long out in the
international wilderness but stallwart of the national team over the last
years and still harbouring hopes of call up for south africa
just what effect juve problems will have on italy confidence and mentality
remains to be seen but unless they improve quickly half lippi team will head
for the world cup on the back of season of complete failure
what more even though four of the back five play together week in week out
they actually seem to be getting worse rather than developing telepathic
understanding and are at times hopelessly vulnerable
and that is despite goalkeeper gianluigi buffon often actually playing pretty
well
the second problem facing lippi if widespread rumours are to be believed is
that this will also be his team next season
rumours that he would come back for third stint at the club he guided to five
league titles champions league crown and three more champions league finals
have been steadily growing over time
the general thinking is that he will take over from ferrara after the world cup
if that is to be the case it could explain why ferrara is still in his job if
juve have already taken the decision to hire lippi for next season then it
stands to reason that it would be both costly and possiby even counter
productive to replace coaches mid season
ferrara would require healthy pay off and only big name coach would satisfy
juve already irrate fans which would be difficult to secure on six month
deal and anything longer would require another pay off in june
not to mention the damaging effect that four different coaches in just over
season could have on continuity within the team
but if indeed lippi has been slated to take over he may well be starting to have
second thoughts
juve is sick animal that shows no sign of recovering any time soon
tennis shattered del potro out for the count
melbourne jan afp
shattered us open champion juan martin del potro was dumped out of the
australian open after losing titanic five setter to croatian th seed marin
cilic in the fourth round on sunday
the argentine fourth seed battled for four hours minutes before going down
on hisense arena
cilic will play in his first australian quarter final on tuesday against either
american seventh seed andy roddick or former finalist fernando gonzalez of
chile
it was sweet revenge for cilic who lost to del potro at the same stage in last
year tournament and in the quarter finals at the us open
del potro who savoured the euphoria of nation after his us open final triumph
over roger federer was exhausted as he reflected on his loss
we played hard match five sets again he said marin is playing great
tennis think he did better than me and he won
he said far from being burdened with expectations he revelled in the pressure
of being grand slam champion
no really enjoyed that pressure he said the crowd has been unbelievable
with me they supported me in every match every point
was down in every match and they helped me to keep fighting like today
really like it that pressure
it ended draining week for the argentine he spent almost hours on court
and played total of sets in his four matches at the year opening grand
slam
he was troubled during the tournament by wrist injury which forced him out of
the kooyong classic lead up exhibition tournament in melbourne
will go home and will see the doctors there need little rest to recover
and be in good shape for my next tournaments
del potro was bidding to match his best result at the australian open when he
reached the quarter finals last year before going down in straight set to
federer
the victory stretched cilic winning streak to this season after
successfully defending his title at chennai on the way to australia
cilic broke del potro service four times in the marathon match in the th
game of the second set the th and th games in the third set and in the
fourth game of the final set
the croat hit winners and made unforced errors as the match ebbed and flow
and edged out del potro with aces to
chronology of bin laden tapes
dubai jan afp
al qaeda chief osama bin laden claimed the botched christmas day bombing of us
airliner and threatened further strikes on us targets in an audio statement
broadcast sunday on al jazeera television
here is chronology of past bin laden tapes
oct america has been hit by allah at its most vulnerable point
destroying thank god its most prestigious buildings al jazeera audiotape
in reference to september attacks on united states
dec we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy who
would be killed based on the position of the tower video said by washington
to have been found by us troops in afghanistan
dec terrorism against america deserves to be praised because it was
response to injustice aimed at forcing america to stop its support for israel
which kills our people al jazeera video
jan the battle has moved to inside america we will work to continue this
battle god permitting until victory or until we meet god al jazeera
interview
sept when we evoke the raids on new york and washington we speak of the
men who changed the course of history and cleansed the filth of treacherous
rulers and their subordinates al jazeera audiotape
nov hails terror attacks in tunisia and bali and moscow hostage taking
al jazeera audiotape
feb all those who cooperate with the americans against iraq are hostile
to islam we stress the importance of martyrdom operations against the enemy
al jazeera audiotape
sept he who wants to learn loyalty sincerity magnanimity and courage in
support of religion should follow in the footsteps of the september
attackers al jazeera videotape
oct we will go on fighting you and we will carry on martyrdom operations
we reserve the right to retaliate against all countries that take part in
this unjust iraqi war namely britain spain australia poland japan and
italy al jazeera audiotape
jan the occupation of iraq is only link in the chain of evil of the
zionists and crusaders al jazeera audiotape
april present reconciliation initiative to stop operations against
all european countries if they promise not to be aggressive towards muslims
al arabiya audiotape
oct tells americans that us president george bush is still misleading
you al jazeera videotape
jan threatens fresh attacks against the united states but offers american
people conditional long term truce al jazeera audiotape
april call upon the mujahedeen holy warriors and their supporters in
sudan and its surroundings to prepare to lead prolonged war against the
crusader robbers in western sudan al jazeera audiotape
may says he masterminded the september attacks and that convicted
frenchman zacarias moussaoui had no part in them internet audiotape
sept al jazeera broadcasts previously unseen footage it says shows bin
laden and al qaeda suicide hijackers preparing for september attacks
sept threatens to escalate war in iraq videotape
sept praises hijacker walid al shehri audiotape
sept urges muslims to overthrow pakistani president pervez musharraf
audiotape
oct calls on iraq insurgency leaders to unite against us led coalition
al jazeera audiotape
nov urges europeans to end intervention in afghanistan al jazeera
audiotape
dec warns muslims against supporting us backed government in iraq
internet audiotape
march warns europe of reckoning after controversial cartoons of
prophet mohammed published internet audiotape
may urges muslims to help lift israel gaza blockade internet
audiotape
jan warns us president elect barack obama of new fronts in his war against
western interests and calls for jihad to end israel onslaught on gaza
internet audiotape
march accuses some arab leaders of being complicit with israel during gaza
offensive al jazeera audiotape
march urges radical islamists in somalia to overthrow new president sharif
sheikh ahmed internet audiotape
june scorns obama middle east charm offensive and accuses him of
antagonising muslims internet audiotape
sept urges americans to pressure white house to end iraq afghanistan wars
internet video audiotape
sept calls on european countries to end alliance with the united states and
withdraw from afghanistan internet audiotape
jan claims botched christmas day bombing of us airliner and threatens more
strikes on us targets al jazeera audiotape
ahmadinejad hints iran resolved to make pct nuclear fuel
tehran jan afp
president mahmoud ahmadinejad hinted on sunday that iran was determined to
enrich uranium to percent level if western powers fail to accept tehran
counter proposal concerning un brokered nuclear fuel deal
ahmadinejad said iran will make an announcement regarding the enrichment of
uranium to percent purity when the nation marks next month the st
anniversary of the islamic revolution which toppled the us backed shah
iran has given chance to western countries ahmadinejad was quoted as saying
by fars news agency when asked by reporters about iran deadline to world
powers over the nuclear fuel deal and when tehran will produce percent
enriched uranium
therefore during the days of dawn february to we will announce good
news regarding the production of percent enriched fuel in our country he
said referring to the period marking the islamic revolution
this news is so sweet that it will make any iranian and any freedom loving
person in the world happy this news is about iran scientific advancement
fars quoted the president as saying
the un atomic watchdog has offered proposal which sees the bulk of iran low
enriched uranium being sent to russia and france in one shot for further
enrichment to percent level and then returned as fuel for tehran research
reactor
iranian officials however have offered counter proposal of phased fuel
swap and foreign minister manouchehr mottaki gave the west two month
ultimatum to accept the iranian plan
iranian officials have threatened that tehran will enrich uranium on its own to
the percent level if the west fails to meet its end january deadline on the
counter proposal
world powers led by washington are against iran enriching uranium the core of
the controversy concerning tehran nuclear programme
they suspect iran is enriching uranium despite three sets of un sanctions
to make atomic weapons tehran denies the charge saying its nuclear programme is
solely aimed at generating electricity
western powers have indicated that iran had effectively rejected the un brokered
proposal put forward in talks in vienna hosted by the international atomic
energy agency the un nuclear watchdog
but mottaki insists iran has not rejected the principle of the nuclear fuel
deal
us secretary of state hillary clinton amid increasing international frustration
with tehran has vowed washington will not be waited out and not back down
in the face of iran defiance
iran chief nuclear negotiator saeed jalili meanwhile will travel to moscow
on tuesday for high level talks with russian president dmitry medvedev and prime
minister vladimir putin according to isna news agency
the report said jalili will hold talks involving regional and international
issues during his three day visit
moscow has long been nuclear partner of tehran and has built iran first
nuclear power plant in the southern port city of bushehr but it is still to be
operational
in recent months medvedev has indicated that moscow could back fresh sanctions
against iran over its controversial nuclear programme
earlier this week russian foreign minister lavrov said moscow does regret
iran refusal to accept the un brokered fuel plan
he noted that the un security council had the capacity to study further
measures on iran but did not come out explicitly in support of further
sanctions against tehran
acting with logic of punishing iran is not sober approach he said
hirsi ali criticises western appeasement of islam
jaipur india jan afp
ayaan hirsi ali the somali born former dutch lawmaker threatened with death for
her outspoken criticism of islam on sunday accused the world liberal
democracies of appeasing radical muslims
hirsi ali who since has lived under constant guard against death threats
from islamic extremists made her accusation during an unannounced appearance at
the jaipur literary festival in india
speaking to packed audience hirsi ali said fear of offending muslims and the
wider islamic world meant islam had been largely exempted in europe and the
united states from the critical scrutiny applied to other religions
in the west people are frigidly stuck in an attitude of self doubt fearful
of muslim radicals but also worried of being seen as anti muslim and thus
betraying their own liberal traditions hirsi ali said
this appeasement has made the public space in these countries lot less safe
she added
born into somali muslim family hirsi ali now sought and obtained
political asylum in the netherlands in
in the netherlands hirsi ali wrote screenplay for short film by theo van
gogh about women treatment under islam
just over two months after it aired in van gogh was assassinated letter
pinned to his body with knife contained death threat to hirsi ali and marked
her entry into life under constant protection
genuine debate about islam ali argued was all too often shut down by those
who have stake in keeping any criticism of islam away theo murder just made
me realise how incredibly dangerous this theology is
hirsi ali who now lives in the united states warned that the reticence of
mainstream politicians in europe to confront the threats that elements of islam
pose was partly responsible for the rise of racist right wing parties
it extraordinary to see the energy we spend on protecting individual muslims
from questioning their moral framework she said
we should make islam go through the same enlightenment process other religions
have gone through by using that questioning process
in hirsi ali was elected member of the dutch parliament but resigned her
seat over political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her dutch
citizenship
three us soldiers killed in afghan violence nato
kabul afghanistan jan afp
nato announced the death of another us soldier taking to three the number of us
troops killed in afghanistan on sunday
nato international security assistance force isaf said us soldier died in
an improvised bomb explosion in southern afghanistan hours after announcing the
death of two other us troopers in similar incident in the region
urgent three us soldiers killed in afghan violence nato
kabul jan afp
nato announced the death of another us soldier taking to three the number of us
troops killed in afghanistan on sunday
bin laden claims christmas bombing warns of further attacks
dubai jan afp
al qaeda chief osama bin laden claimed the botched christmas day bombing of us
airliner and threatened further strikes on us targets in an audio statement
broadcast sunday on al jazeera television
the message that was conveyed through the attacked plane of the hero umar
farouk abdulmutallab is to stress earlier messages delivered to you by the
heroes of the september attack on the united states he said
that message is that america should not dream of security until we enjoy it
as reality in palestine he added
abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up northwest airline flight over detroit
on christmas day but he was thwarted by fellow passengers who pounced on him
it is not fair that you america enjoy good life while our brothers in gaza
endure the worst standard of living bin laden said
therefore god willing our attacks against you will continue as long as you
maintain your support to israel he warned
