murray bidding to become britain first grand slam winner since fred perry in
created some history of his own when he became the first briton since john
lloyd in to qualify for the australian open semis
he my favourite player to watch just because of what he brings to the court
with all his energy and gutted for him murray said of nadal
came through few tough moments at the start of the match trying to do
little bit too much and had to keep going with my shots and play the right
tactics to win it but played pretty well
the year old scot has yet to drop set after five matches
he will go into his semi final against the th seeded cilic after spending only
two and half hours on court against such physical player as nadal for
total of hours for the tournament
although he did not want to win the way he did murray impressed with his
shotmaking and strong serving which had given him the edge over nadal before the
premature end
murray served aces and won points to and he broke the spanish left
hander service four times and gave up his serve twice
both players exchanged service breaks early in the opening set before murray got
the vital second break in the sixth
the intense scot withstood three break points before he served out for the
opening set in minutes
it was compelling tennis as the two young lions again exchanged service breaks
in the second set only to be interrupted for time by an australia day holiday
fireworks display outside the complex
nadal fought off four break points in the th game during which he brought the
crowd to its feet with fantastic reflex volley to win point in an exciting
rally
but in the tiebreaker murray broke clear racing to five set points after two
smashes and then taking two sets to love lead when nadal backhand found the
net
nadal sought medical timeout after the opening game of the third set and
looked concerned as he had physio treatment to his right knee
the scot quickly capitalised with another service break for lead as the
momentum swung his way before nadal came to the net after the third game to
concede defeat
football english hooligans banned from travel to world cup
london jan afp
british authorities on tuesday outlined plans to prevent more than
individuals with record of hooliganism at football matches from travelling to
south africa for the world cup in june and july
under measures to be approved in parliament in the next few weeks
individuals who are currently banned from football matches in england will have
to surrender their passports for the duration of the month long tournament
spokesman for the home office interior ministry announced
he added the behaviour of english fans has improved dramatically in recent
years and there is nothing to suggest that people will travel with the intention
of causing problems however there is no complacency
police will monitor all england fans on departure and intercept any known to
pose risk of violence or disorder and we are working closely with south
african authorities to help minimise any safety and security risks associated
with hosting major football tournament
urgent afghanistan neighbours back plan to reconcile with taliban
istanbul jan afp
afghanistan neighbours and turkey tuesday backed president hamid karzai plan
to offer incentives to taliban fighters to make them lay down arms in joint
statement issued after talks here
china sentences four more to death in xinjiang
beijing jan afp
court in china xinjiang region sentenced four people to death over deadly
riots in july bringing to the number of those condemned to die for the
unrest government official said tuesday
the verdicts were handed down on monday by court in the regional capital
urumqi scene of the violence that pitted mainly muslim uighurs against china
han ethnic majority leaving nearly dead and over injured
they were sentenced yesterday by the urumqi intermediate court spokesman at
the xinjiang government who gave only his surname li told afp
four people were sentenced to death one was sentenced to death with two year
reprieve and eight others got prison terms of up to life
death sentence with reprieve is normally commuted to life in prison
monday sentences brought to the number of people who have been reported
executed or condemned to die over their roles in the unrest some of the worst
ethnic violence in china in decades
the xinjiang daily newspaper said verdicts came in five separate cases with the
defendants charged with the violent crimes of attacking smashing looting
and burning chinese term that means violent rioting
the defendants names provided by the xinjiang daily appeared to be uighur the
turkic speaking muslim minority group that has long complained of chinese
repression
during the initial eruption of violence on july uighurs attacked han chinese
but in subsequent days mobs of han roamed the streets seeking revenge
uighurs say the violence was sparked when police cracked down harshly on
peaceful demonstrations in urumqi that were held to protest the beating deaths
of two uighur migrant workers at factory in southern china
authorities quickly implemented clampdown on communications in and out of
xinjiang after the riots blocking internet access text messages and
international phone calls
these restrictions have only just been lifted although the internet is still
only partly accessible
china says it faces serious separatist threat in xinjiang and has vowed harsh
retribution for those found guilty of wrongdoing in the unrest
state media said earlier this month that funding for public security in xinjiang
would nearly double in
budget proposal placed before xinjiang legislature called for billion
yuan million dollars to be spent on public security up from billion
yuan in the official china daily reported
but exiled uighurs say beijing exaggerates the separatist threat to justify
harsh controls in the strategic western region which is rich in energy reserves
and borders on several central asian countries
earlier this year authorities also issued orders to step up identity checks and
monitor religious activities in xinjiang in renewed bid to quash terrorism
separatism and extremism state media reported
khamenei says iran will not be blackmailed
tehran jan afp
supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei said on tuesday that iran will not succumb
to blackmail by world powers just days ahead of deadline given by tehran
over nuclear fuel deal
khamenei the all powerful leader of the islamic republic and commander in
chief also insisted that iranians will continue to stand for their rights
we will not be blackmailed khamenei said in speech broadcast by state
television
our people are standing firm for their rights and will not back down he said
as crowds of supporters raising their hands shouted death to america death
to israel death to britain
khamenei remarks come days before an end january deadline given by tehran to
world powers to accept its counter proposal to un brokered nuclear fuel deal
world powers have backed the un brokered deal which envisages tehran shipping
the bulk of its low enriched uranium to russia and france for higher processing
before being returned as fuel for tehran research reactor
iranian officials have rejected this plan and offered counter proposal which
talks of phased exchange of uranium stocks
world powers want to take out tehran low enriched uranium as they fear the
islamic republic could process it to higher purity levels on its own and use it
to make atomic weapons
tehran denies its uranium enrichment programme has military aims
enriched uranium lies at the heart of the iranian nuclear controversy as the
material can be used to power nuclear reactors or in higher grades to make the
fissile core of an atom bomb
khamenei remarks came as china on tuesday said there was still time to reach
diplomatic resolution to the standoff over iran nuclear programme
negotiations and dialogue are the best way to resolve the iranian nuclear
issue chinese foreign ministry spokesman ma zhaoxu told reporters
at present relevant parties are still engaged in diplomatic efforts and there
is still room for diplomatic efforts
china close ally of iran and permanent member of the un security council
has always favoured diplomacy over sanctions
the current priority is that all parties concerned should proceed from the
larger interest step up diplomatic efforts and adopt more flexibility and
pragmatism to push forward the negotiations ma said
on monday france one of the six world powers with china britain russia the
united states and germany engaged in talks on iran urged its european partners
to ready new sanctions against tehran
france european affairs minister pierre lellouche urged european union nations
to prepare new sanctions against tehran saying they were needed because of
iran refusal of all offers of solution made by the west
meanwhile iran chief chief nuclear negotiator saeed jalili visit to russia
which was to start on tuesday has been postponed isna news agency reported
saying the three day trip has been delayed so that it can be better coordinated
jalili was to hold talks with russian president dmitry medvedev and prime
minister vladimir putin during the visit isna had reported on sunday
moscow has long been nuclear partner of tehran and built iran first nuclear
power plant in the southern port city of bushehr which is not yet operational
in recent months medvedev has indicated that moscow could back fresh sanctions
against iran over its controversial nuclear enrichment programme and last week
russian foreign minister lavrov said moscow does regret iran refusal to
accept the un brokered fuel plan
nato and russia relaunch military cooperation
brussels jan afp
nato and russia were to relaunch military ties tuesday with senior officers
meeting for the first time since such high level talks were frozen over moscow
war with georgia in
russian chief of staff nikolai makarov was due to join the alliance military
committee in brussels for so called nato russia council the highest level
forum for relations between the two
afghanistan will be one of the most important items on the agenda given that
these discussions will take place on the eve of the international conference in
london military committee spokeswoman said
the london meeting on afghanistan takes place on thursday
on december nato and russian foreign ministers announced their intention to
relaunch relations including military ties which have also been strained over
missile defence arms pacts and the recognition of kosovo
ahead of the nato russia council the member military alliance was to hold
talks with ukraine whose outgoing government aspires to join nato but whose
public is opposed
despite not being member ukraine major contributor to nato military
missions
sri lanka votes in tense post war election
colombo jan afp
sri lankans voted under tight security in their first post war presidential
election on tuesday amid claims of violence and voter intimidation after
bitter and highly personal campaign
both sides said they expected to emerge victorious when results are announced
wednesday and blamed each other for series of election day attacks which one
monitoring group said might number in total
we will have great victory president mahinda rajapakse told reporters after
casting his ballot in his southern home constituency of mulkirigala
we must be ready to face the challenges of reaching new heights after this
vote added the year old who called the election only four years into his
six year term to seize on the government victory over tamil rebels last year
polls closed at pm gmt with early results expected later tuesday in
the contest between rajapakse and his former army chief sarath fonseka
in last minute quirk fonseka suffered the embarrassment of not being able to
vote himself problem he blamed on his name being omitted from the
electoral register which was used for the poll
ruling party lawmakers appeared on television saying he might be disqualified
but he received the full backing from the independent elections commissioner who
said he was still eligible for the presidency
my name is not on the register and therefore cannot vote at this
election fonseka told afp the government is trying to use this to mislead
the public at the last minute
the opposition figurehead insisted he had sent in his voter registration papers
not having one name on the electoral list is not disqualification
independent elections commissioner dayananda dissanayake said
last may rajapakse and fonseka wiped out the tamil tiger separatists who had
fought for tamil homeland since in military campaign since dogged by
allegations of war crimes
but from close allies on the battlefield they have turned into irreconcilable
enemies after fonseka year old political novice decided to challenge his
former boss at the ballot box on an anti corruption platform
there are no reliable opinion polls in the country and political observers said
the election was too close to call between the men who were the only realistic
contenders in field of
the centre for monitoring election violence cmev an independent monitoring
body confirmed nearly violent incidents during the day mostly in northern
and eastern areas and said the figure could rise to
pre dawn bomb blasts in the northern tamil heartland of jaffna gave violent
start to the contest which threatens to bring new instability to the indian
ocean island nation
we can say it was free and fair election because there were number of
incidents all over the country said cmev national coordinator
dissanayake
ahead of the election fonseka had alleged the government would intimidate
voters and was preparing coup if it lost he was accused in turn of working
with militia of army deserters to disrupt the ballot
in the tamil dominated town of vavuniya where cmev said grenades were let off
near polling station streams of people caught up in the war made their way to
makeshift voting booths in schools
fonseka supporter kandaswamy wellarayanam walked six kilometres four
miles from one of the nearby state internment camps where thousands of
displaced tamils were locked up after the fighting ended in may
now able to move freely after repeated condemnation of the camps by the united
nations he said he and his family were eager to take part even though buses
that were meant to transport them never turned up
we walked to vote because we felt it was important after the war he told afp
was keen to have say in who should be our next president
the opposition has said it will not accept the result if the police and
soldiers on duty failed to prevent violence or if there was evidence of
vote rigging
the technicolour alliance behind fonseka of marxists muslims tamils and right
wingers has threatened to stage street protests if it feels the result has been
stolen
alert
afghanistan neighbours back plan to reconcile with taliban
germany wants afghan withdrawal from foreign minister
berlin jan afp
germany wants to start bringing its soldiers home from afghanistan in
foreign minister guido westerwelle said on tuesday ahead of an international
conference in london
in we want to begin reducing our own contingent and by we want to
have handed over responsibility for security to afghanistan westerwelle told
reporters
he noted however that the plans did not include setting fixed date for the
complete withdrawal of germany troops in the country
british envoy named nato civil rep for afghanistan diplomats
brussels jan afp
britain ambassador in kabul mark sedwill will be nato new civilian
representative in afghanistan alliance diplomats said tuesday ahead of major
international conference on the country
nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen will publicly present sedwill who
will coordinate civilian efforts in afghanistan with the military alliance at
press conference at gmt thursday the diplomats confirmed
football ferguson backs stay at home rooney to get goals
manchester jan afp
sir alex ferguson has backed wayne rooney to finish the season with goals
after the england striker moved to dismiss speculation he could be lured away
from manchester united
rooney who scored four goals in match for the first time in his career
against hull on saturday is set to be pitched into action again on wednesday as
united seek to overturn deficit in potentially explosive second leg of
their league cup semi final with manchester city
saturday display took rooney tally for the season to of them in the
premier league and ferguson believes his prize asset can reach the mark in
season for the first time
his record in all competitions is the goals he scored in and ferguson
feels the forward is going from strength to strength playing as an out and out
striker
think he become more aware of the penalty box ferguson said playing him
in that direct role has given him the appetite to be in the box all the time
there are moments when he goes into other areas of the pitch but he choosing
those moments more maturely
the main reason he scoring the goals is because he in the right place at
the right time and that what goal scorers do
he got and think the crucial part of the season is coming up and he
could easily get to above the ratio at the moment suggests that
only with experience can young players get that maturity and authority in their
game it the same for every player
when got to or started to understand myself more and every player
like that not just wayne rooney
recent revelations that united debts have reached almost million pounds
have fuelled speculation that real madrid or barcelona could succeed with
massive bid for rooney
but ferguson has been reassured by the striker assertion that there is nowhere
he would rather be
there always speculation and when other big teams are talking about you it
nice rooney said but as ve said many times before am united player
and am very happy at old trafford
rooney added we ve won the league for the last three years and nobody has ever
won four in row we want to create history the title race is much tighter
this year and it probably more exciting for the neutrals or fans around the
country
but we re hoping that now we are top we can go on and remain there for the rest
of the season
united derby clash with city is sure to be played in febrile atmosphere with
the stakes having been raised by the public spat between gary neville and former
united striker carlos tevez that erupted during the first leg
there was also trouble off the field and the football association and greater
manchester police have contacted both clubs in an attempt to ensure there are no
repeats on wednesday night
but ferguson was adamant that he has no concern about his players allowing the
intense atmosphere to go to their heads
he said it always key factor when we have had feisty games in terms of the
competitive level in manchester united against liverpool and leeds united
manchester united games since been here and the players behaviour has
always been good
we ve got great players who play to the right rules of the game and we ve never
had any issues in big games look at the record
ferguson admits he has been impressed with the work done by roberto mancini who
replaced mark hughes as city manager last month
think there no doubt he got his own way of planning things and we saw
that last week with the changes he made in the game he brought his own ideas
and that what managers do
ferguson also hinted that rio ferdinand who returned for the win over hull
after three months out with back injury would face city rather than being
rested ahead of sunday vital premier league game against arsenal
corrected apple record profits set stage for latest creation
san francisco jan afp
surging iphone sales worldwide have earned apple record high profits for the
fourth quarter as it prepares for its first major product launch in three years
doubling of iphone sales helped apple on monday post record high quarterly net
profit of billion dollars in the fiscal quarter ending december
we re thrilled to report our best quarter ever apple chief financial officer
peter oppenheimer said in conference call with analysts
apple said revenue in the first quarter rose to billion dollars from
billion in the corresponding quarter year ago
if you annualize our quarterly revenue it surprising that apple is now
billion dollar plus company said the iconic california firm chief executive
steve jobs
the new products we are planning to release this year are very strong starting
this week with major new product that we re really excited about jobs said
in statement
apple has maintained trademark secrecy regarding wednesday event at which it
is expected to debut tablet computer along the lines of an iphone on
steroids according to analysts
apple executives refused to comment on the event during the conference call
telling analysts to stay tuned
wouldn want to take away your joy of surprise when you see our latest
creation apple chief operating officer tim cook said on the call when pressed
for comment
the technology rumor mill is busy grinding speculation that the culture changing
firm has made notepad shaped tablet computer with color touchscreen that
lets people browse the web listen to music watch movies or television shows
and also read electronic books and newspapers
tablet would be apple first major product release since it came out with its
winning iphone three years ago
apple credited iphone sales with catapulting profit in the freshly ended quarter
to dollars per share beating apple previous record high by nearly
million dollars
apple said it sold million macintosh computers during the quarter
percent more than year ago and million iphones up percent from
year ago
however sales of ipods slid eight percent to million units in year over
year comparison
apple executives noted that while sales of traditional ipod models declined
those of top end ipod touch models rose percent resulting in slight
increase in revenue in that product category
apple said its share of the mp music player market remains at more than
percent and ipods are gaining ground internationally apple online itunes
store also logged record breaking quarter
apple has expanded iphone sales to countries including china
we have really just started to get going in china cook said like what
see so far
apple has activated more than iphones in china since it began selling
them in that country at the end of october according to cook
we would prefer to move slow because we are focused on building the brand for
the long term cook said we are very happy working with china unicom they
are an excellent partner for us
apple said percent of its revenue in the quarter came from outside the united
states
apple reported that revenues in taiwan hong kong and mainland china tripled
while sales also surged in western europe
it is clear our growth rates are much higher outside the us cook said
we realize we must do well in these markets to continue to grow
apple is pushing to get more iphones into businesses
oppenheimer said apple expects revenue in the current fiscal quarter to range
from to billion dollars and for diluted earnings to tally between
and dollars per share
apple stock price rose nearly two percent to dollars per share in trading
that followed release of the earnings results
experts hope dna can unlock chinese warlord secrets
shanghai jan afp
scientists said tuesday they hope to collect dna from hundreds of men surnamed
cao so they can prove recently excavated tomb in central china belongs to the
legendary warlord cao cao
historians told briefing that modern science may be the key to unlocking
nearly year old mystery of what happened to the clever yet cruel tyrant
who is one of chinese history most enduring and colourful characters
we are currently collecting dna samples of cao cao descendants across the
country li hui an associate professor of anthropology at shanghai fudan
university told reporters
multidisciplinary university team is hoping they can match the dna of living
chinese to remains found last month at tomb in central henan province
the tomb is located near the yellow river and the city of anyang where cao cao
ruled the kingdom of wei from until when he died aged
if we can conduct dna test on the unearthed skull and it matches the dna of
cao descendants that we collected and studied we can determine that the tomb
belongs to cao li said
scientists will need hundreds of samples before they start looking at the
genetic code in the chromosome which is passed from father to son to
establish paternal ancestry li said
the team is also seeking dna samples from men surnamed xiahou as cao cao
father was believed to have been adopted from family with that name
the discovery of the tomb has been surrounded by controversy and many scholars
have questioned the authenticity of the relics
cao himself may have conspired against them han sheng historian at the
university said according to one story cao created decoy tombs to prevent
people from discovering his final resting place
the unverified myths about cao cao are many which casts doubts over the
authenticity of the tomb han said
cao exploits were immortalised in the th century historical novel romance
of the three kingdoms regarded as one of china greatest literary works
cao remains mainstay in chinese culture and appears often in works ranging
from peking opera to video games he most recently stepped into the spotlight as
the villain in john woo blockbuster red cliff
cao reputation however may make people reluctant to offer their dna
cao mingxu year old student at the shanghai institute of foreign trade
told the shanghai daily he thought the project was ridiculous
are the researchers suggesting that am actually one of the descendants of cao
cao simply because my surname happens to be cao he said
killed in nigeria inter religious clashes police
kano nigeria jan afp
nigerian police said tuesday that at least people died in muslim christian
clashes last week in the central plateau state
police gave the first official death toll from authorities from days of
bloodshed which broke out on january in jos the capital of plateau and
later spread to nearby villages and towns
from the figures available to the police people were killed in the
recent violence police spokesman mohammed lerama told afp
however other estimates from medical and aid workers and religious and
community leaders put the toll at more than
christian resistance to the building of mosque in predominantly christian
neighborhood sparked the violence other reports suggest muslim landowner was
building house that encroached onto property owned by christian
the clashes had no religious basis but were rather an affray hijacked in the
name of religion by demons with human face said lerama
leaders of both faiths have said the unrest owed more to the failure of
political leaders to address ethnic differences than any religious rivalries
the military deployed to quell the violence as it became apparent the killings
were spiralling out of control for the local security forces
police said people have so far been rounded up for suspected roles in the
jos killings
following the clashes in which some people in full military gear were reportedly
arrested for suspected involvement troop movements have been restricted the
army chief said on monday
the move was taken to avoid soldiers being dragged into the clashes or national
politics amid tensions arising from president umaru yar adua protracted
absence from nigeria for medical reasons
we are aware of the fact that there is tension in the country the army chief
of staff lieutenant general abdulrahman danbazzau told reporters in abuja
we also got intelligence information that some people are trying to infiltrate
our ranks danbazzau said
troops have been ordered to remain at their postings and only travel with
permission to avoid attempts to pull the army into the violence
nigeria africa most populous country has history of military take overs
the chief of defence staff air marshal paul dike warned members of the armed
forces to steer clear of politics
yar adua has been undergoing treatment for serious heart ailment in saudi
arabia for more than two months his absence has stalled governance across the
board
adding to the uncertainty in the world eighth largest oil exporter former
militants in the oil rich niger delta warned monday of signs of restiveness in
the volatile region because of perceived let downs by government
thousands of militants from the delta in southern nigeria laid down arms last
year under government amnesty scheme proposed by yar adua with promises of re
training and re integration into society
in statement top militant leaders ateke tom and government ekpemupolo warned
that niger delta youths see the lull in the implementation of the promises as
betrayal by government feeling that could further escalate the situation
fitch ecb sound alarm on european national debts
london jan afp
the fitch credit rating agency and the european central bank issued strong
warnings on tuesday about the weight of european government debt threatening
financial markets and economic recovery this year
fitch said that on average nearly one fifth of national output would be absorbed
by debt costs but in some countries such as italy france and ireland it would
be about one quarter
but the biggest and best borrowers should attract lenders without undue problems
but at higher interest rates fitch said
an associate director for sovereign debt at fitch douglas renwick said the
increase in the stock of short term debt is source of concern to fitch as it
increases market risk faced by governments notably exposure to interest rate
shocks
and at the ecb in frankfurt which is responsible for eurozone monetary policy
and interest rates chief economist juergen stark said we are seriously
concerned about forecasts of strong rises in government deficits and the
indebtedness of countries in the eurozone
he warned in speech that this trend could lead ratings agencies to further
downgrade government debt bonds and to further negative reaction in financial
markets
two weeks ago another leading ratings agency moody warned that would
be difficult year for european government debt ratings
in november it had warned that global goverment debts had risen by nearly
