most of his career at the education ministry before becoming the minister in
ali replaces luisa diogo the first woman to hold the post
speaking at ceremony in the capital maputo guebuza told his cabinet your
challenges have been identified first among them is to combat the obstacles to
our development with special emphasis on bureaucracy the spirit of
indifference and corruption
every one of you must identify these problems in your ministry and move
forward to combat them he said
guebuza who won percent of the vote in elections last october made few
changes to his first term cabinet aside from the prime minister office
he named eight new ministers shuffled two to new posts and kept in place
including on the key portfolios of finance foreign affairs planning and
development natural resources and energy
former prime minister diogo won seat in parliament but will not hold post in
the new administration
political analysts looked to the new cabinet for signs of who frelimo the party
that has ruled mozambique since independence in would nominate for
president at the end of guebuza second and final term
aires ali has been long time friend of guebuza so his nomination as prime
minister puts him in the leading position to replace guebuza as president
wrote joseph hanlon mozambique specialist at britain open university
new eu team at risk over bulgarian nominee
strasbourg jan afp
the incoming european commission could suffer major blow monday if the
european parliament decides to block bulgarian nominee accused of incompetence
and financial misreporting
rumiana jeleva bulgaria candidate for eu aid commissioner is due to take up
the job on february when the quake devastation in haiti will still be topping
the job agenda but could be blocked when lawmakers pronounce their verdict
while the parliament does not have the right to veto individual commissioners
it can oppose the whole line up when they give their formal opinion on the team
on january
jeleva came under fire at an eu parliamentary confirmation hearing last week
while the conservative bulgarian foreign minister has the support of the centre
right european people party epp the biggest political grouping the
socialists are calling for her head while the liberals and greens have also been
critical
european commission chief jose manuel barroso and bulgarian prime minister boyko
borisov have voiced relatively guarded support
if she accepted to become european commissioner it was her duty to get her
papers in order if this was not the case she will not have my support
borisov said on friday
he has also said that he has plan up his sleeve if required
barroso backed jeleva in letter to the president of the eu parliament
jeleva has the necessary general competence international experience and shows
the necessary levels of european commitment to exercise these functions he
wrote
assembly sources said on sunday that jeleva is set to be cleared of any
financial wrongdoing but that her ability to handle the portfolio of disaster
management and humanitarian aid was still in question
during her job interview at the european parliament jeleva answers sometimes
appeared imprecise if not ignorant leaving several meps to denounce her
incompetence
as battle lines were drawn the conservative epp vice chairman jozsef szajer
sniffed witch hunt denouncing unfounded allegations against her
the centre right meps began targeting slovak commission candidate maros
sefcovic over controversial comments on the roma people in tit for tat
response
representatives of the various political groups were due to meet in strasbourg
later monday to discuss the matter an unfavourable opinion would oblige barroso
to let jeleva go or at least to reassign her to another portfolio
other would be members of barroso new team also underperformed during their
parliamentary question and answer sessions last week
the euro deputies have also postponed their decision till this week on neelie
kroes heavyweight in the outgoing commission after an unimpressive audition
for the new technology portfolio
finland olli rehn like kroes an outgoing commissioner also failed to impress
some meps in his bid to secure the key economic and monetary affairs post
in when barroso first team of policy commissioners was being vetted the
parliament forced the withdrawal of italian candidate rocco buttiglione over his
views on gay rights
barroso member team of policy commissioners nominated by national
governments are due to assume their responsibilities next month
tennis nadal safina through as sharapova crashes out
melbourne jan afp
former champion maria sharapova was high profile casualty at the australian
open on monday but there were no dramas for rafael nadal and dinara safina who
led the charge into the second round
britain andy murray and american andy roddick also cruised through as did
comeback queens kim clijsters and justine henin on day plagued by persistent
rain delays with numerous matches unable to finish
sharapova was shadow of her former self in defeat to
maria kirilenko
it was disastrous start to the year for the underdone year old seeded
who opted to only play exhibitions in thailand and hong kong as warm up to the
opening grand slam of the season
playing with the roof closed on the rod laver arena she struggled to find
consistency against player ranked
certainly had my chances and just didn execute she said
there is no grey area it was just up and down in many areas and just finished
at the down level
the pin up won here in but was deprived of defending her title last year
after failing to recover from shoulder surgery which kept her out of action
until may
another of the russian contingent safina downed slovakia th ranked
magdalena rybarikova while third seed svetlana kuznetsova also
progressed
safina battled double faults and unforced errors in an emotional and spasmodic
performance and was happy to get the win
it was not an easy first round match she very good opponent said the
number two seed who was thrashed in the final last year by serena williams
had some good moments and bad moments but overall happy went through
clijsters who sensationally won the us open last year after coming out of
retirement was too good for canada valerie tetreault romping home
in under an hour
the powerful th seeded belgian along with henin lurk as dark horses to
bookmakers favourite williams who gets her title defence underway on tuesday
against poland urszula radwanska
the unseeded henin was equally impressive downing fellow belgian kirsten
flipkens in only her second tournament since making comeback from an
month retirement
she now faces fifth seed elena dementieva in blockbuster second round clash
after the consistent russian beat vera dushevina
on the men side defending champion nadal wore down australian peter luczak
thought it was going to be tough match first set was tough later was
easier said nadal
it was one of the more emotional victories of my career semi finals and
final he added on last year title here so always when you come back to
big event like this you remember the matches
scotland murray was another in imposing form as he breezed past south african
qualifier kevin anderson
murray fancied to become the first british man to win grand slam singles
title since will face either france marc gicquel or italy simone
bolelli in the second round
could have served better he said it was good start he tough
player he beat novak djokovic before in miami he won tour event so
wasn expecting it to be easy just got off to good start which helped
seventh seed roddick motored past dutchman thiemo de bakker to
stay on track for quarter final clash with us open champion juan martin del
potro who won his match against american michael russell in four sets
top seed roger federer opens his tournament on tuesday against russia igor
andreev with third seed djokovic and sixth seed nicolay davydenko posing the
main threat for him in his top half of the draw
vietnam begins one billion dollar bond roadshow
hanoi jan afp
vietnam on monday began roadshow to market one billion dollars worth of
international bonds for investment in the country first oil refinery and other
projects the state bank said
deputy finance minister tran xuan ha is leading the tour starting in hong kong
on monday followed by london on tuesday and boston and new york later in the
week the state bank of vietnam said in statement
the bonds will have year term it said
capital will be used by state corporations for investment in the dung quat
refinery which opened last year but which the state owned oil and gas group
petrovietnam said is too small
dung quat current capacity is million tonnes year or barrels per
day
the state bank said capital from the bond sale would also fund the purchase of
transport vessels and hydro power plants
vietnam economy grew percent last year but that expansion came at high
cost with budget deficit that reached seven percent of gross domestic
product
after burning through its official dollar reserves vietnam in november devalued
the dong in bid to bolster trade which has suffered during the global
financial crisis
tennis nadal leads big guns to opening wins at open
melbourne jan afp
spanish second seed rafael nadal successfully launched his australian open title
defence with straight sets victory over australian peter luczak on monday
andy murray and andy roddick also reeled off straight set wins on rain
interrupted opening day while us open champion juan martin del potro troubled
by wrist injury needed four sets to progress
nadal encountered early resistance before racing away to
victory over the th ranked luczak in the night match on rod laver arena
the six time grand slam champion who is working his way back to full fitness
after injuries blighted his last season will next play either argentina
leonardo mayer or slovakia lukas lacko
potential quarter final looms against scotland murray
nadal who beat roger federer in gripping five set final here last year has
not claimed title since winning on the barcelona clay last april
murray the fifth seed was in imperial form as he breezed through against
qualifier kevin anderson
fancied to become the first british man to win grand slam singles title since
fred perry in he destroyed the south african world number in just
minutes
he will face either france marc gicquel or italy simone bolelli in the
second round
could have served better he said it was good start he tough
player
it good to get the match out of the way because it long day for lot of
the players because of the weather outside he said
del potro playing with wrist injury needed three hours to subdue american
michael russell in four sets
the argentine fourth seed won under closed roof on the
hisense arena
del potro who beat federer in us open final for his breakthrough grand slam
title last september will now play either american james blake or frenchman
arnaud clement on wednesday
the argentine giant said he still feels some discomfort from the wrist injury
which forced him to withdraw from last week kooyong classic exhibition
tournament
don feel hundred percent but am feel better than yesterday and hope
to be better for wednesday in my next match he said
seventh seed roddick took heavy tumble on his way to straight sets win
the american who missed the end of last season after injuring his left knee at
the shanghai masters in october collided with line judge during his
victory over dutchman thiemo de bakker
he fell over the leg of the linesman deep at the back of the court as he
scurried to make volley in the sixth game of the opening set
for moment he feared another injury mishap after just fighting his way back to
full fitness
kind of pinched it knee little bit roddick said promise you that
first step afterwards was relief definitely don want to go doing that
whole lot
he will play either teimuraz gabashvili of russia or brazilian thomaz bellucci
in the next round
elsewhere former finalist fernando gonzalez of chile seeded downed belgian
olivier rochus
croatia th seed ivan ljubicic went through in straight sets at the expense
of year old australian wildcard jason kubler
tennis australian open schedule
melbourne jan afp
tuesday schedule of play on show courts for the australian open tennis at
melbourne park denotes seeding all sessions start at am gmt
unless stated
rod laver arena
han xinyun chn samantha stosur aus
serena williams usa urszula radwanska pol
roger federer sui igor andreev rus
not before pm gmt
lleyton hewitt aus ricardo hocevar bra
julie coin fra alicia molik aus
hisense arena
fernando verdasco esp carsten ball aus
caroline wozniaki den aleksandra wozniak can
lucie safarova cze venus williams usa
novak djokovic srb daniel gimeno traver esp
margaret court arena
jelena jankovic srb monica niculescu rom
anastasiya yakimova blr casey dellacqua aus
jo wilfied tsonga fra sergiy stakhovski ukr
stephanie cohen aloro fra victoria azarenka blr
not before pm gmt
mikhail youzhny rus richard gasquet fra
show court
shenay perry usa ana ivanovic srb
dieter kindlmann ger nicolay davydenko rus
jarmila groth aus sofia ardvidsson swe
marcel granollers esp robin soderling swe
agnieszka radwanska pol tatian malek ger
show court
rossana de los rios par marion bartoli fra
daniela hantuchova svk viktoriya kutozova ukr
paolo lorenzi ita marcos baghdatis cyp
marina erkovic nzl li na chn
marinko matosevic aus marco chiudinelli sui
tennis nadal leads big guns to opening wins at open
melbourne jan afp
spanish second seed rafael nadal successfully launched his australian open title
defence with straight sets victory over australian peter luczak on monday
andy murray and andy roddick also reeled off straight set wins on rain
interrupted opening day while us open champion juan martin del potro troubled
by wrist injury needed four sets to progress
nadal encountered early resistance before racing away to
victory over the th ranked luczak in the night match on rod laver arena
the six time grand slam champion who is working his way back to full fitness
after injuries blighted his last season will next play either argentina
leonardo mayer or slovakia lukas lacko
potential quarter final looms against scotland murray
nadal who beat roger federer in gripping five set final here last year has
not claimed title since winning on the barcelona clay last april
murray the fifth seed was in imperial form as he breezed through against
qualifier kevin anderson
fancied to become the first british man to win grand slam singles title since
fred perry in he destroyed the south african world number in just
minutes
he will face either france marc gicquel or italy simone bolelli in the
second round
could have served better he said it was good start he tough
player
it good to get the match out of the way because it long day for lot of
the players because of the weather outside he said
del potro playing with wrist injury needed three hours to subdue american
michael russell in four sets
the argentine fourth seed won under closed roof on the
hisense arena
del potro who beat federer in us open final for his breakthrough grand slam
title last september will now play either american james blake or frenchman
arnaud clement on wednesday
the argentine giant said he still feels some discomfort from the wrist injury
which forced him to withdraw from last week kooyong classic exhibition
tournament
don feel hundred percent but am feel better than yesterday and hope
to be better for wednesday in my next match he said
seventh seed roddick took heavy tumble on his way to straight sets win
the american who missed the end of last season after injuring his left knee at
the shanghai masters in october collided with line judge during his
victory over dutchman thiemo de bakker
he fell over the leg of the linesman deep at the back of the court as he
scurried to make volley in the sixth game of the opening set
for moment he feared another injury mishap after just fighting his way back to
full fitness
kind of pinched it knee little bit roddick said promise you that
first step afterwards was relief definitely don want to go doing that
whole lot
he will play either teimuraz gabashvili of russia or brazilian thomaz bellucci
in the next round
elsewhere former finalist fernando gonzalez of chile seeded downed belgian
olivier rochus
croatia th seed ivan ljubicic went through in straight sets at the expense
of year old australian wildcard jason kubler
record ransom paid to pirates for greek supertanker
mogadishu jan afp
somali pirates on monday freed the greek supertanker maran centaurus one of the
largest ships ever hijacked after plane dropped record ransom on the deck
the ransom sparked deadly feud within the group of pirates delaying the
release of the ship and its crew of who were taken in the indian ocean on
november
maran tankers management inc report that the vessel was released by those
holding her at local time today gmt the operators and managers of
the greek juggernaut said in statement
the tanker with all crew on board is now under naval escort on route to
suitable safe port
the european union anti piracy naval mission said the fs salamis warship had
sent helicopter for medical assistance and added that the metre
foot freed vessel was headed for durban in south africa
ecoterra international an environmental group that monitors illegal maritime
activity in the region said the last pirates left the built supertanker
early monday
the stash of the record breaking ransom over seven million dollars is
reportedly now held in heavily guarded house in harardhere the group said in
statement
at least seven million dollars are believed to have been dropped from small
plane directly onto the deck of the oil laden juggernaut and another two million
dollars paid in cash transfer
ecoterra added that pirates reportedly bragged about generously giving
dollars to each crew member filipinos nine greeks two ukrainians and
romanian for good cooperation
the total of around nine million dollars exceeds the eight million believed to
have been paid for the release year ago of the sirius star saudi owned
supertanker of roughly the same size
clashes broke out over the sharing of the bounty which resulted in two deaths
according to pirate sources in harardhere
ransom payments routinely trigger deadly struggles between the pirates
fractious clans
the hijacking of the sirius star in sent shockwaves through the shipping
world as pirates showed their power in one of the world busiest maritime trade
routes
the incident also raised fears that pirates might one day use hijacked ship as
weapon to carry out an attack and cause unprecedented human and environmental
damage
foreign naval missions have largely secured the gulf of aden but are powerless
to effectively patrol the wider indian ocean and shipowners are increasingly
turning to private security to fend off the pirates
the maran centaurus which had no private guards to secure its two million
barrels of crude oil was headed from saudi arabia to the united states
the tonne deadweight supertanker hijacked by nine pirates was easy
prey for pirates equipped with fast skiffs and grapnels as it moves slowly
could not outmanoeuvre the sea bandits and has low freeboard
supertankers such as these with less than crew on ship third of
kilometre long cruise on auto pilot most of the time and would rarely have
anybody keeping watch on deck at night
since foreign navies deployed to protect the crucial maritime choking point of
the gulf of aden somalia pirates have ventured deeper into the indian ocean
seizing ships as far east as the seychelles and beyond
always paid in cash to avoid modern transaction monitoring large ransoms have
often been parachuted from small planes directly onto the deck of the hijacked
ship
in the maran centaurus case such an operation was facilitated by the fact that
its deck can hold three football pitches
according to ecoterra the pirates still hold at least ships and around
seamen hostage
tennis belgians sail through but sharapova bundled out
melbourne jan afp
belgian comeback queens kim clijsters and justine henin looked like they had
never been away as they sailed into the second round of the australian open on
monday
but it was different story for champion maria sharapova who crashed out
to fellow russian maria kirilenko in the tournament first
major upset
clijsters demolished canadian qualifier valerie tetreault while henin
accounted for fellow belgian kirsten flipkens as both players sent out
reminders that although they have been away they still pose potent threats
the year old clijsters beat henin in thrilling three set final of the
brisbane international nine days ago and took that form into her clash with the
unheralded tetreault
obviously my matches in brisbane have definitely helped me to try to keep
everything going clijsters said
think in brisbane was little bit inconsistent once in while during my
matches that something that really trying to focus on is trying to make
sure stay consistent
or even when feel like my level is dropping little bit that jump on it
straight away or that notice it that what working on
great rival henin will play fifth seeded russian elena dementieva in
fascinating second round match following the russian demolition of
countrywoman vera dushevina
henin seven time grand slam winner who is playing just her second tournament
since coming out of an month retirement said she relished the challenge of
facing player like dementieva so early in the tournament
in the second round ll have to play very good tennis she number five in
the world so it going to be great challenge for me to play that kind of
match very early in the tournament henin said
of course it tough draw but in grand slam every match is difficult
downcast sharapova offered no excuses after her loss to good friend former
junior rival and fellow pin up kirilenko in three and half hour epic
certainly had my chances and just didn execute sharapova said
you know felt like was when she was up and then get back there
back in the game just didn take advantage of that and let her control the
situation again
last year runner up dinara safina and third seed svetlana kuznetsova both
progressed safina beating slovakia magdalena rybarikova and reigning
french open champion kuznetsova overpowering russian born australian anastasia
rodionova
safina playing in just her seventh match since september due to lingering
back problem appeared rusty
she made unforced errors and served nine double faults almost one per game
but she also showed off the qualities that enabled her to get to number one in
the world last year hitting winners in the two sets
it was not an easy first round match she very good opponent safina said
had some good moments and bad moments but overall happy went through
and pretty satisfied with everything
other winners on rain affected first day included italian flavia penneta
englishwoman elena baltacha and china zheng jie
britain condemns indiscriminate afghan attack
london jan afp
britain condemned the attack by taliban gunmen and suicide bombers in kabul on
monday as indiscriminate saying it showed total disregard for ordinary
afghans
we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms said prime minister
gordon brown spokesman after the attack which killed at least five people
including child
it is an indiscriminate attack on public areas of kabul which shows
deliberate disregard for the lives of ordinary afghans he added
and he added we and the rest of the international community stand united
with the government of afghanistan and this incident strengthens our resolve to
build safer more secure afghanistan
the attack triggered fierce gun battles with security forces while fires
erupted after two shopping centres cinema and the only five star hotel in the
afghan capital were targeted by heavily armed militants
international forces are regularly targeted notably in southern afghanistan but
monday attack is the most spectacular on kabul since taliban militants
besieged government buildings last february killing at least people
more than food rations handed out in haiti wfp
geneva jan afp
more than food rations have been distributed to victims of haiti
devastating earthquake since the emergency relief operation began last week the
un food relief agency said monday
by the end of today we are expecting to have distributed more than
rations in and around port au prince world food programme spokeswoman emilia
casella told afp
we are aiming to reach people in eight locations in and around the
capital today she added each individual ration is meant to last one week
brazilian sri lankan and jordanian battalions in the un peacekeeping mission in
haiti volunteered to carry out the distribution on monday alongside three non
governmental aid organisations casella said
forty three tonnes of food were due to be flown in on monday as food
distribution gained pace on the ground some six days after the southern area
around the capital was partly destroyed by the magnitude quake
tens of thousands of people were killed and many more homeless without food or
water
the wfp was also aiming to ship in gallons of fuel some litres
day from monday to keep its food convoys running
tennis nadal launches open title defence with luczak win
melbourne jan afp
defending champion and second seed rafael nadal wore down australian peter
luczak to begin his australian open campaign with straight sets victory on
monday
the spanish world number two bidding for his seventh grand slam title overcame
the th ranked ranked luczak in two hours minutes
nadal who is working his way back to full fitness after injuries disrupted his
last season will next play either argentina leonardo mayer or slovakia
lukas lacko with potential quarter final looming against andy murray
never thought it was going to be an easy match nadal said
when you play the first round of grand slam you know always the first round
is little bit more nervous and you have to start
thought it was going to be tough match first set was tough later was
easier
nadal who beat roger federer in gripping five set final here last year has
not claimed title since winning on the barcelona clay last april
want to play good tournament when walk around and see my picture it
always very nice memories he said
it was one of the more emotional victories of my career semi finals and final
so always when you come back to big event like this you remember the
matches
he encountered spirited opening from luczak cheered on by his home crowd in
rod laver arena and lost his service in the eighth game before breaking
straight back in the next game
the opening set went to tiebreaker but nadal stormed through without dropping
point to seize the initiative
late in the tiebreak he made three mistakes so he helped me nadal said
was serving well so won the tiebreak
after that started to play longer started to play more aggressive so
started to play more my tennis
luczak appeared to lose steam after dropping the first set and nadal broke him
twice to wrap up the second set in minutes and broke him again in the opening
game of the third to control the match
nadal dominated the points hitting winners to luczak and broke the
australian service total of four times to dropping his own serve just once
in the first set
injuries last year raised fears over his long term future
he was forced to withdraw from last year wimbledon where he was defending
champion with tendinitis in both knees after his match winning streak at the
french open was ended by swede robin soderling in the fourth round
nadal was sidelined for nine weeks and after resuming suffered an abdominal
injury and played with it at the us open where he reached the semi finals
rsm mp
fight for life as haiti survivors beg for aid
port au prince jan afp
rescuers pulled dazed survivors from the ruins of haiti flattened capital as
thousands of us troops headed in monday to shore up the beleaguered
