order to be able to act effectively
his remarks came the day after yossi peled minister without portfolio said
israel was heading toward new confrontation with the group
prime minister benjamin netanyahu sought to dispel tensions following peled
remarks by issuing statement stressing that israel does not wish at all to
have confrontation with lebanon
the jewish state seeks peace with lebanon and with all its neighbours the
statement added
eizenkot said that despite the calm the lebanese shiite militia had doubled its
arsenal of rockets since the war and warned that the israeli response to any
attack would be disproportionate
hezbollah is part of new coalition government formed in november by us and
saudi backed lebanese prime minister saad hariri the group is also the only
faction still armed after lebanon civil war
nordic skiing schonach team combined results
schonach germany jan afp
nordic combined team results four jumps and km relay on sunday
germany
georg hettich eric frenzel bjoern kircheisen tino edelmann
france at
sebastien lacroix maxime laheurte jonathan felisaz jason lamy chappuis
austria
lukas klapfer wilhelm denifl marco pichlmayer tobias kammerlander
switzerland
italy
british minister hints at may election date
london jan afp
british government minister dropped the clearest hint yet sunday that this
year general election will be held on may
defence secretary bob ainsworth told sky news television that voters will wake
up and rue the day if they wind up with conservative government in charge of
this country after may
although his spokesman later said he was merely speculating the comments
added fuel to intense speculation at westminster that struggling prime minister
gordon brown will call the national poll for may
the election must be held by june bookmakers coral suspended betting on the
date following ainsworth comment
sunday mirror comres poll this week gave david cameron main opposition
conservatives percent support compared to percent for brown labour
comres interviewed people by telephone for poll on wednesday and
thursday
europeans split over turkey eu membership poll
istanbul jan afp
europeans are divided over the question of turkey possible membership of the
european union according to survey published on sunday
the poll carried out in five eu countries showed percent of people said
they were in favour of turkey joining the nation bloc percent opposed it
and six percent had no opinion
but when the question was asked in the context of referendum opinion swung
away from turkey with percent opposing its membership bid and only
percent backing it with seven percent giving no answer
the study organised by istanbul bogazici university granada university in
southern spain and the autonomous university of madrid questioned people
in britain france germany poland and spain during august and september
opposition to turkey membership was strongest in france with percent
saying they would oppose it in referendum in germany with percent and in
britain with percent
there was more support for turkey in poland with percent saying yes in
referendum and spain with percent
asked about arguments against turkey joining the eu percent said turkey was
muslim country not compatible with the common christian roots of europe
the eu began membership talks with turkey in but the process has made slow
progress due in part to opposition from some countries particularly france and
germany which are concerned about predominantly muslim country of million
people joining the bloc
nordic skiing germans win team combined at schonach
schonach germany jan afp
germany won sunday world cup team combined event on home snow at schonach as
their quartet of georg hettich eric frenzel bjoern kircheisen and tino
edelmann saw off their french and austrian rivals
the germans who led after the jump section saw off the french by sec
following the km cross country relay they also trounced an austrian team
missing felix gottwald by min sec despite sending out what was essentially
team ahead of the winter games
with the olympics fast approaching norway and finland gave sunday event
miss
next weekend sees further race at seefeld in austria before the games in
vancouver
rugbyu european cup results
paris jan afp
results of european cup pool matches on sunday
pool
biarritz fra glasgow sco
dragons wal gloucester eng
playing later
pool gmt
harlequins eng cardiff wal
sale eng toulouse fra
saturday
pool
viadana ita clermont fra
ospreys wal leicester eng
pool
bath eng ulster irl
edinburgh sco stade francais fra
pool
brive fra scarlets wal
london irish eng leinster irl
played friday
pool
munster irl northampton eng
perpignan fra treviso ita
ahmadinejad unveils wider iran budget
tehran jan afp
iran president mahmoud ahmadinejad on sunday presented parliament an annual
budget which puts expenditure percent higher than in the current financial
year mehr news agency reported
the budget for the year to march was valued at billion dollars based
on an oil price of dollars barrel compared with billion dollars for
the current year it said
ahmadinejad presentation of the new fiscal plan was broadcast live on state
television but he did not reveal any income or expenditure figures
rahim mombini government official involving in planning the budget said that
the details of the fiscal plan will be revealed on tuesday mehr reported
without quoting sources mehr and isna news agencies reported the overall budget
was billion dollars percent of which would be allocated to
construction projects
mehr said the budget had taken into account an oil price of dollars barrel
for the said period compared with an average of dollars in the year to
march
iran earns percent of its total revenues from oil exports
economists have strongly criticised ahmadinejad for policies they say have
created highly inflationary economy since his first term began in
next year budget is also marked by the start of major plan to scrap costly
subsidies on energy and goods in turn reducing government expenditure
iranian lawmakers have approved ahmadinejad plan to scrap the subsidies which
directly and indirectly cost the government as much as billion dollars
year
removing the subsidies will happen gradually with the process due to conclude
by the end of the country fifth five year development plan in march
tennis nadal takes on murray in dream quarter final
melbourne jan afp
defending champion rafael nadal faces an eagerly awaited showdown with andy
murray at the australian open while us open champion juan martin del potro was
knocked out of contention on sunday
the spanish second seed blunted the serving power of giant croatian ivo karlovic
to set up an compelling quarter final against the fifth seeded scot on tuesday
murray became the first briton in years to reach the australian open quarters
after he defused towering rd seeded american john isner
elsewhere del potro was dumped out in titanic five setter to croatian th
seed marin cilic who will play american seventh seed andy roddick
roddick staged magnificent comeback to overhaul chile former finalist and
th seed fernando gonzalez in five sets
nadal tamed the ft ins karlovic despite the croat thumping down
aces eventually winning
nadal six time grand slam winner now faces murray and has won seven of their
nine previous matches
he is one of the more difficult players to play against nadal said
he can play aggressively and he can play defensively he can do lot of
different things during match
have to play better next match if really want to have chances to win
murray is shouldering mounting expectations as he bids to become the first
british man to win grand slam singles title since
the scot who became the only briton into the last eight here since john lloyd
in has yet to drop set in his four victories at the year opening grand
slam
murray believes he has the game plan to overcome nadal
played him some really good matches against him on hard courts he said
think ve got some tactics that work well against him
murray who lost to nadal in five sets in the fourth round of the
australian open said he was now benefiting from experience
shattered fourth seeded del potro battled for four hours minutes before going
down to cilic on hisense arena
it was sweet revenge for the croat who lost to del potro at the same stage in
last year tournament and in the quarter finals at the us open
think since the us open ve started to play much better and win against
better guys more often cilic said
ve had some tough matches here in the first few rounds but today felt
really good physically and that in the end was the main difference
it ended draining week for the argentine del potro 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 he said
roddick looked in trouble when he fell behind two sets to one but clawed back to
beat gonzalez in three hours minutes
was lucky to get out of that one roddick said was behind for much of
the four sets and was trying to stick at it to give myself shot
alpine skiing finland poutiainen wins world cup giant slalom
cortina ampezzo italy jan afp
finland tanja poutiainen won the women world cup giant slalom here on sunday
ahead of germans viktoria rebensburg and kathrin hoelzl
poutiainen clocked combined time of min sec over the two legs sec
ahead of rebensberg with hoelzl at for her second world cup victory of the
season
victory is always victory and am extremely happy beamed poutiainen
had great start to the season with my win in soelden and podium in levi
but then had some back problems which forced me to miss some races in
december
in january was hoping to get back to the level where was at soelden and
levi but it was not so easy but back
in giant ve got new skis which are very fast
austrian kathrin zettel who notched up slalom double at the slovenian resort
of maribor last week was fastest down the first leg but mistimed turn on the
second run and crashed out
american lindsey vonn fresh from winning friday super and saturday
downhill finished th but retained her lead of the world cup overall
standings
she currently sits atop the rankings on points ahead of germany
maria riesch who was eighth in the giant slalom
competition for the giant slalom cristal globe will come down to face off at
the season ending garmish partenkirchen event between current leader hoelzl
points zettel and slovenian tina maze
tennis roddick digs deep to overhaul gonzalez
melbourne jan afp
andy roddick staged one of his great recoveries to come from behind and claim
five set victory over chile fernando gonzalez and reach the australian open
quarter finals early monday
the american seventh seed looked in trouble when he fell behind two sets to one
but clawed back for win over the th seeded gonzalez
former finalist here in three hours minutes
roddick will now play croatian th seed marin cilic who earlier knocked us
open champion juan martin del potro out of the tournament in five sets
was lucky to get out of that one roddick said was behind for much of
the four sets and was trying to stick at it to give myself shot
when fernando gets hot you know that lot of the match is out of your control
was playing really good tennis in the second and third sets but what helped
me was being able to serve through
roddick is four time semi finalist in melbourne and is looking for his second
grand slam title to add to his us open win
he stretched his winning streak to this season after his victory in the
lead up brisbane international tournament
it was roddick ninth victory over gonzalez in their meetings and he has now
won seven of their last eight match ups
roddick now remains the only american left in the men singles after the
elimination earlier in the day of john isner by andy murray
roddick got quickly out of the blocks and claimed the opening set in minutes
after breaking the chilean in the sixth game
but gonzalez hit his straps and began to get his potent forehand more into play
to put roddick under pressure
he broke roddick in the sixth game and levelled the match
gonzalez was under early pressure in the third set surviving break point in his
opening service game before breaking roddick serve in the ninth when the
american smashed out
gonzalez survived four set points in the th game of the fourth set but could
not withstand the fifth set point in his next service game when the hawk eye
video review ruled in roddick favour to level the set scores
roddick got service break in the second game of the fifth set which prompted
the chilean to smash his racquet into the court and get code warning from the
umpire
it was plain sailing from there for roddick who quickly wrapped up the match on
his third match point when gonzalez double faulted
us envoy in peace shuttle between israelis palestinians
amman jan afp
us middle east envoy george mitchell on sunday shuttled between jerusalem and
amman in his second attempt this week to persuade israeli and palestinian
leaders to relaunch peace talks
mitchell met israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem before
heading to amman where he held productive talks with palestinian president
mahmud abbas as part of tour aimed at reviving talks suspended during the gaza
war
president barack obama secretary of state hillary clinton and the united
states are fully committed to comprehensive peace in the middle east
mitchell said after meeting abbas in joint remarks to reporters with chief
palestinian negotiator saeb erakat
the two state solution to the israeli palestinian conflict which includes the
creation of an independent and viable palestinian state we believe it the
only realistic solution to the conflict
he said that such solution also includes agreements between israel and syria
israel and lebanon and full normalisation of relations among all countries in
the region
mitchell said washington was fully committed to this objective and would
pursue our efforts until that objective is achieved
erakat said the palestinians have not set preconditions for resumption of
talks with israel
we don have any conditions to resume negotiations it time for israel to
drop its conditions he said if israel thinks that by finger pointing at us
and blaming us the conflict can be solved it won be solved
earlier in jerusalem netanyahu said after meeting mitchell that the envoy had
presented new ideas about how to relaunch the peace process without
elaborating
expressed my hope that these new ideas will lead to the renewal of the peace
process if the palestinians themselves show similar interest he added
the united states has been trying for months to convince both sides to return to
the negotiating table but the palestinians have refused to do so unless israel
halts all settlement growth in the west bank and east jerusalem territories it
occupied in
washington initially backed that demand but has more recently pressed both sides
to return to the talks immediately and praised limited month settlement
slowdown enacted by netanyahu in november
the palestinians have rejected the moratorium on building starts because it
excludes mostly arab east jerusalem which they demand as their capital as
well as public buildings and projects already under way
after meeting mitchell netanyahu attended symbolic tree planting ceremony at
gush etzion major west bank settlement bloc that israel plans to keep in any
future peace deal
our message is clear we are planting trees here we will remain here we will
build here this place will remain part of israel for ever there is national
consensus on this issue his office quoted him as saying
israel has insisted it will not give any more ground and has blamed the
palestinians for the impasse
vice prime minister silvan shalom said on sunday it was time to say clearly and
unequivocally that there will be no further concessions from israel for the
launching of negotiations
the method of the palestinians is to refuse to resume negotiations to force the
united states to exert pressure on israel he told public radio the ball is
in the palestinian court
mitchell held first round of talks with netanyahu on thursday and met abbas on
friday last week he also visited lebanon and syria
the us envoy also met jordan king abdullah in amman on sunday ahead of the
talks with abbas
tennis nadal sets up murray blockbuster as safina pulls out
melbourne jan afp
rafael nadal set up blockbuster australian open quarter final with andy murray
on sunday and justine henin comeback stayed on track but there was misery for
dinara safina who pulled out injured
on day of upsets the tournament ended for us open champion juan martin del
potro french open champion svetlana kuznetsova and chilean th seed fernando
gonzalez
second seed safina limped out with back problem during her fourth round clash
with unseeded countrywoman maria kirilenko
the year old russian the runner up last year battled the injury in late
and withdrew from the brisbane international this month
she was trailing and when she walked towards the umpire and indicated
her night was over
my back again it suddenly hit me it was getting worse and worse said
safina clearly in pain
have no idea really how it could happen it really really terrible
zheng jie meanwhile rewrote the history books by becoming the first chinese
player to reach the last eight in melbourne and will now play kirilenko
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
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 at 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
was struggling little bit was not good today think deserved to
lose he said
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
zheng proved to be marginally steadier than the ukrainian in match where both
women struggled to hold their serves
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 american seventh seed andy roddick who battled
back to beat gonzalez
tennis australian open results day seven collated
melbourne jan afp
collated 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
andy roddick usa bt fernando gonzalez chi
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
maria kirilenko rus bt dinara safina rus retired back injury
nepal maoists hopeful of political breakthrough
kathmandu jan afp
the leader of nepal maoists said sunday he was hopeful of achieving
political breakthrough in the country fragile three year old peace process
talks with ruling coalition parties are heading towards positive direction
maoist chief prachanda told mass meeting in sindhuli district kilometres
miles east of kathmandu
am hopeful that the negotiations will be able to end the current political
deadlock soon prachanda said
last week the ultra leftists who fought year insurgency against the state
until called off an indefinite strike that was due to start monday after
holding talks with the two main parties in the coalition government
the maoists won general election in but quit the government last may
after the president overruled their decision to sack the head of the army
move they said was unconstitutional
they remain the largest party in parliament and have rejected repeated
invitations to join the coalition government as junior partner
tennis roddick ousts gonzalez to make quarters
melbourne jan afp
american seventh seed andy roddick fought back to down chile former finalist
and th seed fernando gonzalez and reach the quarter
finals at the australian open early monday
roddick four time semi finalist will play croatian th seed marin cilic for
place in the semis
alpine skiing neureuther slaloms to maiden world cup triumph
kitzbuehel austria jan afp
germany felix neureuther notched up timely maiden world cup victory ahead of
next month winter olympics when he won the men slalom race here on sunday
neureuther six time world cup podium finisher who had clocked the third
fastest time in the first leg timed combined min sec over the two runs
the german finished sec ahead of frenchman julien lizeroux with italian
giuliano razzoli at sec
the year old completed his victory under the watchful eyes of father
christian neureuther himself winner of the slalom here in and mother
rosi mittermaier who won olympic golds in the slalom and downhill as well
as giant slalom silver
reinfried herbst took sec lead into the second leg but the austrian who
had earlier seen team mate manfred pranger crash out on the first run missed
gate and finished well down the field
italian manfred moelgg another early pace setter also crashed out
it was however good day for austrian veteran benjamin raich whose fourth
placed finish was enough to see him leapfrog switzerland carlo janka to the
top of the world cup overall standings
raich was also awarded the cristal globe for winner of the super combined
discipline judged here on the combined times of saturday downhill and the
two leg slalom
it was raich fifth minor globe of his career he won the overall globe in
and has also had four second bests and one third best
finish
football redknapp eyes palermo defender kjaer
london jan afp
tottenham manager harry redknapp has revealed he is watching denmark defender
simon kjaer as he weighs up possible bid for the palermo star
kjaer has been in outstanding form for the serie club this season and
redknapp is keeping close tabs on the youngster as he looks to increase his
defensive options
tottenham captain ledley king struggles to play more than once week due to
long term knee injury while jonathan woodgate has been unable to completely
shake off groin injury
redknapp said we looked at him kjaer but we have not made bid have been
to italy the last couple of weeks we go there to look at people who have been
recommended
we follow up leads but not sure yet which game ll go to this weekend
that the fun out of it for me go somewhere every sunday go to watch
games in holland or italy love watching games
iraq to probe bomb detection unit banned by britain mps
baghdad jan afp
an iraqi parliamentary committee will investigate the ongoing use of device
used to detect bombs at checkpoints in the country despite ban by britain its
members said sunday
we will start to gather evidence to find out how this piece of equipment was
sold to iraq hadi al ameri chair of the parliament defence and security
committee told afp
if the british company was responsible we will seek compensation via the
ministry of foreign affairs
ameri was referring to the ade hand held pistol shaped device which uses
series of interchangeable credit card size paper cards said to be able to
detect explosives such as and tnt as well as weapons
it is manufactured by british based company atsc was reputedly sold for between
and dollars per unit and has become ubiquitous in iraq having
been bought in large numbers by local security forces
britain banned export of the device last week after tests showed it was not
suitable for bomb detection police also arrested atsc director jim mccormick
on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation he was bailed pending further
investigation
ammar touma an mp who sits on the defence and security committee echoed
ameri concerns and said an investigation was imminent
the inquiry will start very soon and be led by government authorities like the
ministry of the interior he said
also want to know if corruption was involved
the ade was being used on sunday in baghdad the restive northern city of
mosul and the sprawling southern city of basra afp correspondents said
the defence and security committee investigation must be approved by parliament
before it is formally allowed to come into force
haitian man rescued from rubble after days
port au prince jan afp
rescuers have pulled man alive from the rubble days after haiti
devastating earthquake raising hopes more survivors could be found even search
efforts have been officially called off
wismond exantus said after his rescue on saturday that he survived his
ordeal in the ruins of the grocer shop where he worked by drinking coca cola
and eating snacks rare tale of hope from disaster that has claimed more
than lives
his rescue came as thousands of survivors wept outside the capital shattered
cathedral for the funeral of the archbishop of port au prince in ceremony that
symbolized the deep mourning of the caribbean nation
feel good exantus told afp in creole from his hospital bed after french
american and greek search and rescue teams removed him from the debris on
stretcher
survived by drinking coca cola drank coca cola every day and ate some
little tiny things
exantus brother said he had been unable to approach the shop in dangerous
area plagued by looters because of the police his family eventually alerted
greek rescue team to his cries deep under the remains of the shop
we can say it really miracle and we can hope that it not the last said
french rescue team commander lieutenant colonel christophe renou
the united nations announced just hours earlier that haiti government had on
friday declared an end to search and rescue efforts so aid workers could focus
on getting supplies to the estimated people left homeless by the quake
but more than international rescue teams continued to search for signs of
