down from friday close of dollars
figure skating european figure skating championship programme
tallinn jan afp
programme for the european figure skating championship here from january
all times gmt
tuesday january
ice dancing compulsory dance
pairs short programme
wednesday january
men short programme
pairs free programme
thursday january
ice dancing original dance
men free programme
friday january
ladies short programme
ice dancing free dance
saturday january
ladies free programme
figure skating plushenko looks to flex muscles at euros
tallinn jan afp
olympic champion yevgeny plushenko will be looking to flex his muscles ahead of
next month winter games by claiming sixth title at the european figure
skating championships starting tuesday
the year old russian retired after claiming gold four years ago in turin but
has returned in bid to defend his olympic title in vancouver
before knee problems forced his early retirement plushenko dominated the
continental championship winning the first of his five titles in
he arrives in tallinn with strong performances in the cup of russia and at
nationals but no international competition
but he can take heart that his leading rivals are also in the same boat
reigning european champion brian joubert is returning following foot injury
while two time world champion stephane lambiel is also back from an injury
enforced retirement
joubert has won the european title three times beating plushenko to the
gold in and like the russian has finished on the podium eight times
olympic silver medallist lambiel has however had less success at europeans
finishing twice runner up in and situation he would like to
rectify
ve never won gold at europeans it achieveable said the year old swiss
skater
the event will also allow me to measure my progress since the swiss
championships in december to see where am and make the necessary adjustments
for vancouver
also looking to step up onto the podium are european champion tomas verner
of the czech republic silver medallist samuel contesti of italy and two
time bronze medallist kevin van der perren of belgium
in the women event reigning european champion laura lepisto of finland faces
strong challenge with two time champion carolina kostner of italy who was
beaten into silver last year looking to reclaim her title
finland kiira korpi russia former world junior champion alena leonova
hungary former european champion julia sebestyen and two time silver medallist
sarah meier of switzerland are also bidding for podium place
in pairs two time world champions aliona savchenko and robin szolkowy of
germany are favourites for fourth european title
two russian couples will be looking to challenge them world bronze medallists
yuko kavaguit and alexander smirnov and teammates maria mukhortova and maxim
trankov
ice dancing looks set to be an all russian affair between reigning world
champions oksana domnina and maxim shabalin who are returning to international
competition after skipping the grand prix series and reigning european
champions jana khokhlova and sergei novitski
seven die in small china quake
beijing jan afp
seven people died and one was missing in landslides triggered by low grade
earthquake in southwestern china at the weekend the government said monday
the quake struck the guangling district of guizhou province at pm
gmt on sunday said report on the website of the guizhou earthquake
information bureau
seven people died in two landslides caused by the quake and another one is
still missing we are trying to get more information an official in guizhou
civil affairs department who gave only his surname zhao told afp by phone
xinhua news agency said the quake had measured on the richter scale the us
geological survey which tracks seismic activity worldwide made no mention of
the reported earthquake on its website
separate report by xinhua news agency said three had died in the quake
no other details were immediately available
hong kong shares open percent lower
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares opened percent lower on monday with the benchmark hang
seng index down points in early trading to
billionaire wins chile presidency
santiago jan afp
billionaire media magnate sebastian pinera is to become the next president
of chile after runoff election sunday that put an end to year hold on
power by the left wing coalition of outgoing head of state michelle bachelet
bachelet defeated candidate eduardo frei former president himself
conceded defeat after an official count of most ballots showed pinera had picked
up percent to his percent
bachelet was constitutionally barred from seeking another term
the victory by pinera marked the defeat of the concertacion coalition of
four left wing and centrist parties that had governed chile since the exit
of dictator general august pinochet
the billionaire who owns one of chile four television networks and big
stake in flagship airline lan among many other business interests is seen
likely to continue social policies that left bachelet with skyhigh popularity
ratings of around percent
but in victory speech before supporters he promised reforms to break
down the walls dividing us and build new bridges to bring us together
he told concertacion defeated rival frei that our country needs unity the
problems facing us today are big and challenging and require unity
when he cast his ballot he said the change he represented would be like
opening the window to let fresh air in
pinera easily won the first round of the presidential elections on december
but then saw his lead narrow to statistical dead heat with frei as bachelet
leveraged her popularity in defense of her candidate
in the end he squeaked through according to an official count from percent
of polling stations complete results were expected by the early hours of
monday
bachelet who had assured the electorate she would welcome whoever won
telephoned smiling pinera to congratulate him
frei also wished his rival luck
the majority of chileans gave him their trust to direct the fate of the country
for the next four years he said as he conceded the race
hope that what will prevail will be dialogue the search for consensus and
the retention of social conquests that were hard won and which have been
transformed into symbol of our relationship with the world he said
some million people were eligible to vote in chile one of latin america
most prosperous nations
interior minister edmundo perez yoma confirmed pinera victory by saying the
country today wanted change it has swung to the right and we wish the new
government all the best
some of the first issues pinera will have to address however are potential
conflicts of interest highlighted by bachelet in the run up to sunday
election
pinera who forbes magazine says has fortune of billion dollars has
investments in many activities in chile and the outgoing president suggested
strongly that maintaining them could raise serious questions
he has sought to dodge the tag his critics put upon him that he was the chilean
version of italian prime minister silvio berlusconi notably by setting up
blind trust to handle much of his fortune and promising to divest his percent
stake in lan before taking office march
he said however that he would hold on to his football club
australian media crews pull baby from rubble in haiti
sydney jan afp
rival australian news crews said monday that saving life came before doing
their jobs when they rescued an month old baby from underneath the rubble in
earthquake devastated haiti
the little girl was lying alongside the bodies of her dead parents who were
killed in the magnitude earthquake which hit port au prince on january
when the camera crews heard her moans and began to dig her out on friday
richard moran cameraman with the commercial nine network put down his camera
and lifted pieces of concrete out of the way while nine interpreter and fixer
deiby celestino climbed into the tangled mess to retrieve the child
and then out of the ruins came this little girl and will never forget it
she did not cry she looked astonished almost as if she was seeing the world
for the first time nine reporter robert penfold told the australian
the images of the child rescue were captured by nine major rival seven and
footage beamed around the world showed the network correspondent mike amor
holding the dusty little girl and giving her water
that moment it was beyond news amor said haven seen anything so
remarkable since the birth of my own child the emotion for all of us has been
incredible
amor said the news crews and the locals who had helped locate the girl were
concentrated on rescuing the child rather than news priorities
the focus of everybody on that hill was the little girl and as any of us will
tell you it was deiby who went into that hole and dug and dug until he got
that little girl out he the hero he told the australian
channel nine news director mark calvert said while disasters can sometimes
bring out the very worst in journalists they can also produce the best
proud of the nine news team who put the welfare of the little girl before
their own safety and placed their personal convictions before professional
pressures he said in statement to afp
yes they put down their camera to help but they also filed their story and
most importantly they helped save life
mfc aad
olympics ski jump events at the winter olympic games
vancouver canada jan afp
the winter olympic games in vancouver are between february with the
ski jump to be held at whistler olympic park
with no womens event the male ski jumpers will compete in three disciplines
the individual normal hill the individual large hill and the team event
the skiers launch themselves off ramp either or metres long at speeds
of up to kilometres per hour
once airborne they assume formation with their skis and are virtually
horizontal
competitors are judged on both distance and style but the skier with the
longest jump will often have the highest style points
while the take off is important the landing is the most crucial part of the
jump and can often lead to some spectacular crashes
switzerland simon ammann will be the man to watch as he is in great form this
season but he will be pushed all the way by crop of excellent austrians led
by gregor schlierenzauer who only turned on january
normal hill individual
the smaller of the two hills is still metres long and metres high
daunting sight when seen for the first time
there is qualification jump the day before competition from which the top
jumpers on the world cup circuit are excused there are two rounds of
competition jumps with starting the first round pre qualified and
qualified
only skiers contest the final round with the jump order reversed from the
first round leaving the best jumps for the end
large hill individual
the large hill individual event follows the same format as the smaller hill
except this time the competitors are on the neighbouring metre long and
metres high version
team
teams comprised of four jumpers take part in two competition rounds in the
first each of the four have jump but in the second round only the top eight
teams from the first round compete
similar to the individual events the less proficient jumpers go first and the
best jumpers go last the team with the highest total score over all eight jumps
wins
olympics ski jumping bluffer guide
vancouver canada jan afp
afp bluffer guide to ski jumping at the winter olympics
are these guys insane leaping at high speed from two daunting hills with just
pair of skis to save them
daredevil competitors at whistler olympic park will launch themselves down the
in run slope of the large hill and normal hill reaching speeds
of up to kmh miles per hour
definitely sport for speed freaks and you don even have to be sufferer of
vertigo to get queasy stomach at the view from the top of the large hill
is it all in the distance do they get points for style even survival
once airborne jumpers must adjust their bodies into shape to gain as much
height as they can restricting drag to minimum as they strain for the longest
leap perfectly timed take off is crucial and you get points for style as well
as distance
classic telemark landing wins style brownie points but that position is hard
to perfect if you have gone for maximum distance
no points for surviving landing safely is given
what the history and how can impress my friends with ski jumping
buzzwords
the sport has been around for years norewgian soldier olaf rye first
tried out the idea in and by the mid there were international
competitions
the style came in as recently as years ago patented by swede jan boklov
prior to that jumpers had held their skis parallel
the scientifically inclined soon cottoned on to the boklov version after
calculating that his style gave around percent more lift
if you hear the term point that the distance from the takeoff which equals
the height of the hill and the point from which judges calculate the distance
points to be awarded
it men only event that hardly in line with the international olympic
committee desire for equality and inclusiveness
women had hoped to compete this time round but canadian court last year
while noting discrimination referred the games issue to the ioc which had ruled
out female event in turin in the court ruled that the canadian charter
of rights and freedoms did not apply
however us world champion lindsey van can at least boast the longest recorded
jump at the whistler venue
australian media crews pull baby from rubble in haiti
sydney jan afp
rival australian news crews said monday that saving life came before doing
their jobs when they rescued an month old baby from underneath the rubble in
earthquake devastated haiti
the little girl was lying alongside the bodies of her dead parents who were
killed in the magnitude earthquake which hit port au prince on january
when the camera crews heard her moans and began to dig her out on friday
richard moran cameraman with the commercial nine network put down his camera
and lifted pieces of concrete out of the way while nine interpreter and fixer
deiby celestino climbed into the tangled mess to retrieve the child
and then out of the ruins came this little girl and will never forget it
she did not cry she looked astonished almost as if she was seeing the world
for the first time nine reporter robert penfold told the australian
the images of the child rescue were captured by nine major rival seven and
footage beamed around the world showed the network correspondent mike amor
holding the dusty little girl and giving her water
that moment it was beyond news amor said haven seen anything so
remarkable since the birth of my own child the emotion for all of us has been
incredible
amor said the news crews and the locals who had helped locate the girl were
concentrated on rescuing the child rather than news priorities
the focus of everybody on that hill was the little girl and as any of us will
tell you it was deiby who went into that hole and dug and dug until he got
that little girl out he the hero he told the australian
channel nine news director mark calvert said while disasters can sometimes
bring out the very worst in journalists they can also produce the best
proud of the nine news team who put the welfare of the little girl before
their own safety and placed their personal convictions before professional
pressures he said in statement to afp
yes they put down their camera to help but they also filed their story and
most importantly they helped save life
mfc aad
olympics no women no eagles as ski jumpers target gold
paris jan afp
four hills champion andreas kofler and fellow austrians gregor schlierenzauer
and world champ wolfgang loitzl will be among the favourites for olympic ski
jumping gold
but the world record holder at the whistler olympic park venue won be there
and neither will would be successors to the likes of eddie the eagle the
british no hoper who charmed calgary in the last times the games came to
canada
it years since norwegian soldier olaf rye introduced the concept and it
will be at least another four until us world champion lindsey van gets her
chance to prove her olympic mettle
van has been among those lobbying the olympic movement to include jumping but
the plea has fallen on deaf ears at the ioc who rejected the idea in while
canadian court last year backed the view that for now there are not enough
female competitors for an olympic tournament
nobody has jumped as far as van who produced the pre games record for the normal
hill at whistler of metres
hope it holds until the olympics and then they ll realize who holds it and
realize who should actually be there as well she said
post calgary rule changes also mean that colourful no hopers such as british
competitor eddie the eagle real name michael edwards have also been taken out
of the olympic equation
today athletes have to rank among the top competitors in international
events or in the top percent of participants globally
it was bit ironic edwards recently reflected became so popular in
calgary because was exemplifying that olympic spirit and then got banned
because of it
ioc president jacques rogge has backed the move to keep the jumps to the men and
the professionals though games historian david wallechinsky has noted with
clear regret that they the ioc were not as entertained as the rest of us
were
peering through his trademark thick spectacles edwards set british record
of for one of his jumps
but now it strictly for the male elite
that elite includes swiss double olympic champion simon ammann battling
schierenzauer in the world cup standings and champions thomas
morgenstern of austria and lars bystol of norway
kofler and morgenstern were also in the austrian team crowned olympic champions
at turin four years ago
kazuyoshi funaki gave japan gold on home snow at nagano years ago but since
then the land of the rising sun has had dry spell and the german speakers and
the scandinavians have been back at the forefront
the pressure is always on at the olympics says morgenstern but know what
it takes
german hope martin schmitt has struggled to find his form recently but the
year old team gold winner insists that ll be ready once the olympics
come around
golden globes shine with wins for precious up
beverly hills california jan afp
hollywood awards season got under way at the th golden globes here sunday
with early wins for animated feature up and gritty drama precious
late afternoon thunderstorm rained on the show red carpet parade but it did
not deter galaxy of stars from descending on the beverly hilton hotel for the
first major awards show of
australian screen icon nicole kidman opened the proceedings with an appeal for
donations to the haiti earthquake relief effort
just want to say on serious note lot of people are wearing ribbons
tonight in support of the people of haiti and you can go to nbc com to make
your personal contribution kidman said
kidman handed out the first statuette of the night presenting the best
supporting actress prize to mo nique for her performance as an abusive parent in
the searing drama precious
thank you god for this amazing ride that you re allowing me to go on an
emotional mo nique told the audience tell all shaking in the
midst of my dream
other nominees included penelope cruz for nine julianne moore for single
man and up in the air duo vera farmiga and anna kendrick
among the other early award winners was pixar heartwarming up which took
the best animated picture honors
the latest film from the phenomenally successful animation studio beat out
competition from coraline fantastic mr fox cloudy with chance of
meatballs and the princess and the frog
one of the best reviewed movies of up tells the story of grumpy
widower who floats to south america by tying balloons to his house
later sunday all eyes will be on james cameron avatar to see if its
remarkable box office performance billion dollars worldwide since
december translates into awards season honors
however the film faces stiff competition from recession era drama comedy up in
the air as well as the gripping iraq war drama the hurt locker which has
three nominations
in the acting stakes george clooney will be up against jeff bridges crazy
heart colin firth single man morgan freeman invictus and tobey
maguire brothers for best drama actor
the women acting awards could unfold as duel between sandra bullock and
meryl streep who both have two nominations each
bullock is nominated as best actress in both drama and comedy categories for her
respective roles in the blind side and the proposal while streep hoping
to win her seventh globe is double nominee in the comedy category for her
performances in julie amp julia and it complicated
unlike the oscars the golden globes splits its best picture prizes between
genres honoring best drama and best comedy musical
the globes are often viewed as key barometer of which films may go on to
challenge for honors at the oscars
although percent of films which won best picture at the academy awards also
won golden globe in recent years the awards have proved an unreliable guide
for likely oscar winners
rags to riches drama slumdog millionaire is the only film in the past five
years to have followed up best picture statuette at the golden globes with
victory at the oscars
olympics cross country skiing bluffer guide
vancouver canada jan afp
afp bluffer guide to cross country skiing at the winter olympics
cross country skiing isn that like alpine skiing but on the flat
yes there are two techniques with different equipment classic where the
skis move through machine groomed tracks and free technique where skiers glide
on shorter skis and is slightly faster the athletes wear skin tight all in one
suits to make them stream lined
isn it dominated by the scandinavians
certainly sweden norway and finland are strong as the sport originated there
but switzerland dario cologna and lukas bauer of the czech republic are two
men to watch while justyna kowalczyk of poland and slovenia petra majdic are
tipped for big things in women world
so the race begins and everyone just skis like crazy to get to the finish
no there are six different disciplines and events where medals will be won
individual mass start pursuit individual sprint team sprint and relay
team sprint and relay
in nutshell the team sprint sees teams of two athletes race against each
other three times each for total of six laps over the sprint course after the
semi finals the best teams make the final in the relay teams of four ski
the first two legs using the classic technique and the last two legs using free
technique the races begin in massed start
sounds like recipe for pile up
no in the massed start races the skiers go off simultaneously lined up in
an arrow format with the best ranked skiers at the arrow point
so what do the different race categories mean
basically for the individual start an athlete starts every seconds and
the winner is the skier with the lowest time for the massed start the skiers
start simultaneously in the arrow formation and the first across the line wins
often with photo finish the pursuit combines free and classic techniques and
the skiers change equipment halfway through
bit like triathlon
yes at the halfway mark the athletes change skis and poles as quickly as
possible and the first across the line wins the individual sprint is knock
out competition where six skiers eventually contest the final
like football cup competition
yes the skiers have to survive three rounds to contest the final as you can
probably imagine it is physically demanding sport
ah yes doesn have drug free reputation does it
like all endurance sports it is prone to doping as the gap between success
and failure can be less than second the sport requires huge amounts of
aerobic training especially for endurance events like the men kilometre
mass start high performance athletes train twice day six days week and up
to hours yearly
what is nordic combined all about
it where ski jumping meets cross country skiing after jumping
competition the athletes rest and then contest free technique cross country
race the break between can be as little as minutes or as long as few
hours
how can they work out winner with distance and times involved
known as gundersen or pursuit start the jumping results decide the starting
seed for the cross country race that follows with the winner going off first and
the other athletes following seconds or even minutes afterwards depending on
their jump performance
olympics kowalcyzk bauer face tough nordic tests in whistler
berlin jan afp
the current king and queen of cross country skiing lukas bauer of the czech
republic and poland justyna kowalcyzk will be looking to add olympic gold to
this winter success in vancouver
the pair triumphed at the tour de ski in val di fiemme italy earlier this
month but will both face fierce competition when olympic medals are up for
grabs in canada next month
the year old kowalkcyzk is the current overall world cup leader and has been
battling slovenia petra majdic all the winter with the pair are set to resume
their struggle in whistler high above vancouver
but veteran aino kaisa saarinen who won three gold medals at the world
championships last year will be looking to add olympic gold to her km
individual team sprint and km relay global success with the finland team
likewise in the men events bauer has silver medals in the km classical from
both the olympics and the world championships in liberec but will
face petter northug on his path to gold in vancouver
with three gold medals to his credit from liberec norway northug will be
amongst the favourites
the year old keen poker player will be contesting his first winter games
and will be looking to add olympic glory to his world crowns over the pursuit
km individual and km relay
while the scandinavian countries of sweden norway and finland are traditionally
strong in the region where the sport originated switzerland dario cologna and
france jean marc gaillard are names to watch
reigning olympic sprint champion chandra crawford could be set to give the
canadians something to cheer about as she looks to defend her gold on home soil
having switched from biathlon aged in her first year on the canadian senior
team she collected five international medals in one month
considered an underdog in turin in chandra surprised herself and the
experts by coming through with gold medal performance in the women sprint
in total medals will be contested in six different disciplines at the
olympics which include the individual mass start pursuit individual sprint
team sprint and relay
hundreds of emergency centers to be set up in haiti
port au prince jan afp
some emergency centers will be set up from monday in haiti to distribute aid
to earthquake victims and provide shelter for the homeless haitian government
source said
these centers will have an average welcome capacity of around places and
will be installed in public buildings like schools and churches in the capital
port au prince and six surrounding towns the source said
the running of the centers and the distribution of vital supplies will be
coordinated by the un world food programme
olympics biathlon bluffer guide
vancouver canada jan afp
afp bluffer guide to biathlon at the winter olympics
biathlon is shooting and skiing combined right
yes it is cross country skiing and rifle shooting the word comes from the
greek for two tests it originated in the scandinavian countries who equipped
their armies with skies and guns biathlon consists of separate events and
the aim is to complete the course in the least amount of time hitting as many
targets on range as possible to avoid time penalties
sounds demanding it must be tough to focus on the shooting after skiing
exactly it requires fast cross country racing while the shooting needs
accuracy each target has five plates in row missing target can mean either
one minute penalty or skiing an extra metre loop
how far away are the targets and how big are they
they are away and the size depends on whether the athlete is shooting
lying down called the prone position or standing in the prone position the
target is the size of golf ball mm while standing it the size of an
apple mm
how much time do competitors have to shoot and how far do they ski
there is no limit but time is crucial it takes around to seconds to
aim and shoot five bullets but missing can prove costly to medal ambitions
each event has around distances of between km to km
what weapons are used there must be lot of equipment
the biathletes wear skin tight suits while skiing they carry calibre
rifle in special harness on their back the rifles has muzzle cover to keep
the snow out and magazine of five cartridges
how many events are there
there will be ten medals up for grabs in five disciplines the individual
