the overall standings
hannu manninen of finland was unable to reproduce the form which saw him land
his th career win on saturday as he came in th
football zambia african nations cup squad
lusaka jan afp
zambia squad for african nations cup from january to in angola
goalkeepers jacob banda zesco utd kalililo kakonje amazulu rsa kennedy
mweene free state stars rsa
defenders dennis banda green buffaloes hichani homoonde tout puissant
mazembe cod chintu kampamba free state stars rsa joseph musonda golden
arrows rsa emmanuel mbola pyunik yerevan arm thomas nyirenda zanaco
midfielders isaac chansa helsingborg swe noah chivuta maritzburg utd rsa
rainford kalaba uniao leiria por francis kasonde al suwaiq oma felix
katongo mamelodi sundown rsa clifford mulenga mpumalanga black aces rsa
william njobvu hapoel kiryat shmone isr stopilla sunzu zanaco
strikers james chamanga dalian shide chn christopher katongo arminia
bielefeld ger emmanuel mayuka maccabi tel aviv isr collins mbesuma moroka
swallows rsa jacob mulenga utrecht ned given singuluma mazembe cod
czech budget gap soars to billion euros pm
prague jan afp
the czech state budget deficit for outdid the worst expectations when it
soared to preliminary billion koruna billion euros billion
dollars prime minister jan fischer said in televised debate on sunday
this is the figure we have as of december he said on the private tv prima
station
the finance ministry is due to announce the official figure on monday
the preliminary figure far exceeds the billion euro deficit approved by
lawmakers who raised the estimated gap from an original billion euros in
november because of the economic crisis that had battered state revenues
but the finance ministry already warned at the time that the final figure could
be much higher
the initial budget was drawn up before the ex communist economy fell into
recession at the end of and was based on forecast growth of percent
compared with
the central bank now expects percent economic contraction for
followed by percent growth this year
in december statisticians announced the czech economy contracted at month
pace of percent but grew by percent on quarterly basis in the third
quarter of the year
last month lawmakers also approved this year state budget with deficit
equal to some billion euros but they are likely to raise the gap later this
month as left wingers in parliament are proposing higher spending on benefits
and welfare
the approved deficit is equal to percent of gross domestic product but the
changes are likely to raise it to percent of gdp way above the percent
lid set down in the criteria for euro adoption expected in the czech republic
in at the earliest
body of fifth british hostage to be handed over soon iraq
baghdad jan afp
the body of the sole remaining briton of five kidnapped in baghdad in may
by shiite militants will be handed over in the coming days iraq said on sunday
the transfer of alan mcmenemy corpse to britain will bring to an end two
and half year ordeal that has seen several hundred insurgents including the
leader of the group behind the kidnap released in an apparent deal
we expect them to deliver the body within the next few days in order to close
the file iraqi government spokesman ali al dabbagh told afp referring to the
year old bodyguard
foreign office spokeswoman in london told afp our position is unchanged we
have believed for some time that alan been killed and his immediate family
have been told our views
we continue to urge those holding alan to return his body immediately she
said we re in close contact with the iraqi authorities and we re doing
everything we can to try and secure swift return to the uk
mcmenemy was one of four security guards for peter moore computer
consultant who was released unharmed on wednesday by the league of the righteous
group months after the kidnapping
all four of his bodyguards also britons have since been killed
the bodies of three alec maclachlan jason swindlehurst and jason
creswell were handed over to british officials last year
moore returned to britain on friday and said in statement released by the
foreign office that he was delighted to have returned to the uk and to have
been reunited with my family
am looking forward to spending the coming days and weeks catching up on all
the things ve missed over the past two and half years he added
would therefore be grateful if we could be given the space and time we need
to start to get to know one another again
the five were kidnapped from the finance ministry in baghdad in may by
some gunmen from the league of the righteous breakaway shiite militia
us regional military commander general david petraeus said on friday that moore
spent at least part of his time in captivity in iran citing an american
intelligence assessment
our intelligence assessment is that he moore certainly has spent part of the
time at the very least in iran part of the time that he was hostage he
told reporters in baghdad while on visit to the iraqi capital
that is based on an intelligence assessment and obviously ve not had
chance to hear it certainly not to talk to him but nor to hear anything that
he has said
british prime minister gordon brown has said however that there was no direct
evidence moore was held inside iran
britain guardian newspaper has reported that iran revolutionary guards corps
led the kidnap operation and took the five to iran within day of their
abduction
ve talked to peter and we didn talk about that brown told bbc television
we don have direct evidence from the foreign office of that if evidence
becomes available obviously we ll share it with the people
what happened to peter and the trouble that he had over two years and more
are something that are great problem for us because of the others who didn
survive and the other one who we still don have information about
football schalke snap up bayern reject
munich germany jan afp
highflying bundesliga outfit schalke continued their recruiting on sunday as
they signed german midfielder alexander baumjohann from bayern munich after he
spent just six months at the german giants
the year old who only arrived from borussia monchengladbach in the summer
of and played just three times for bayern signed for an unspecified
length of time and no fee was revealed
baumjohann rejoins the club who lie second in the championship point off
leaders bayer leverkusen where he came through the youth system
baumjohann is schalke second signing of the weekend having acquired brazilian
striker edu from korean side suwon blue wings
bayern by contrast have now offloaded four players during the traditional winter
break as dutch coach louis van gaal looks to trim his squad
the others to leave were italian world cup winning striker luca toni who was
loaned out to as roma while brazilian breno and german andreas ottl were also
loaned out in their case to relegation threatened nuremberg
pakistan backlash after volleyball bombing kills
peshawar pakistan jan afp
pakistan faced furious backlash on sunday after suicide bomber struck
volleyball match killing people as the latest violence left former
provincial minister and seven others dead
authorities rounded up dozens of suspects after the volleyball attack and opened
an investigation into poor medical care as doctors in the remote northwest
struggled to treat casualties on the floor without enough medicine
the attacker rammed car bomb into crowd of men women and children watching
the tournament in shah hasan khan village pro government area in the district
of lakki marwat reducing the sporting event to carnage on friday
police said people were killed making it the third most deadly attack in
nearly three year extremist campaign in the nuclear armed muslim country
survivors searched for body parts under the rubble of around collapsed homes
as mourners visited the cemetery and wept over the freshly dug graves and the
village plunged into mourning
there was nowhere in the whole district to treat the injured the provincial
health department is responsible for all this mannawar khan member of
parliament from the district told afp
the health minister for north west frontier province conceded that only one
doctor out of at the hospital in lakki marwat had been on duty conceding
limited health care had caused more human losses
after the blast several hours passed but the other doctors didn come
don know why they were missing we have opened an inquiry and committee has
been constituted syed zahir ali shah told afp
there were scenes of chaos at the hospital in the town of lakki marwat which
said it was short of medicine and beds overwhelmed with casualties
even now the injured are undergoing treatment on the hospital floor some have
brought their own beds doctor usman ali told afp by telephone
shopkeeper riaz khatok told afp from the hospital my daughter died because of
the poor facilities in the hospital there was no bed no medicine and not even
the ray machine was working
the local peace committee that organised the tournament and heads an anti
taliban militia blamed the government for failing to prevent the attack
the government didn provide us with any security there were no security
personnel or policemen at that time those policemen killed in the attack were
here to see the match mushtaq ahmad the committee head told afp
suspicion has fallen on tehreek taliban pakistan ttp and its allies in north
waziristan where us drone attacks have increasingly targeted al qaeda fighters
and the haqqani network which is known for attacks in afghanistan
for two months pakistani troops have pursued an offensive aimed at wiping out
ttp hideouts in south waziristan sparking revenge attacks
we have arrested suspects and are interrogating them this village is
adjacent to the bhitni area of south waziristan and the bomber came from that
area district police chief mohammad ayub khan told afp
roadside bombs of the type deployed to such deadly effect by the taliban in
neighbouring afghanistan killed another six people in the northwest on sunday
including former provincial minister and pro government tribesmen
ghani ur rehman controversial former northwest cabinet minister and three
other people were killed in the restive district of hangu in an area with
history of sunni and shiite muslim sectarian clashes
suicide and bomb attacks blamed on the taliban and al qaeda linked militants
have killed more than people in pakistan since july increasingly
targeting civilians and government security installations
under huge us pressure to crack down on militants destabilising the border with
afghanistan where us and nato troops are fighting the taliban pakistan
has launched wave of offensives in its tribal belt
in the north roadside bomb killed two anti taliban militiamen and wounded
four others in khararri village in bajaur officials said
the bullet ridden bodies of man and woman were also found dumped on the
outskirts of khar with letter saying all those who go against sharia will
face the same fate from tehreek taliban
taliban deny abducting french reporters
kandahar afghanistan jan afp
the taliban militia in afghanistan on sunday denied abducting two french
television journalists who went missing last week in the east of the country
we are not involved self styled taliban spokesman zabihullah mujahid told afp
by telephone from an undisclosed location
we ask our fighters to inform us if they do anything but we have no information
coming from this area he said
there has been no claim of responsibility for the kidnapping but colleague of
the two journalists who were snatched with three afghan assistants at gunpoint
on wednesday in kapisa province had blamed the taliban
the group disappeared while going to meet contact kilometres miles
from the afghan capital near french military bases
criminal groups and taliban insurgents have kidnapped several dozen foreigners
many of them journalists since the us led invasion ousted the taliban
regime in kabul sparking the current insurgency
france joins europe flu vaccine sell off
paris jan afp
france has joined other european countries in selling off millions of its
emergency swine flu vaccines after buying far more than it needed to fight the
outbreak the government said sunday
we started with plan for two dose vaccinations but since one dose is
sufficient we can start to re sell part of the stock french health ministry
official told afp
like some other european countries france has witnessed less demand than
expected after spending million euros billion dollars on vaccines for
the flu virus
it bought million doses almost one and half for every member of the
population but so far only about five million people in france are recorded
as having been vaccinated since the programme launched in october
france took the decision to sell some of its stock after european medical
authorities said that one off vaccination was enough to protect against the
virus
the ministry said qatar had already bought doses from france and egypt
was negotiating to buy two million france is also in discussions with mexico
and ukraine it said
germany also said last month it was looking to sell off vaccines even though its
full order of million doses was not due to be delivered until march only
about five percent of the population had been vaccinated in germany
health ministry senior official in the german state of thuringia hartmut
schubert said there had been requests from afghanistan and eastern european
countries including ukraine where france is now competing with it
the netherlands announced in november that it would sell million of the
million vaccines it ordered to countries with shortage of them judging its
own flu scare to be past
spain health minister trinidad jimenez was quoted as saying in the daily el
pais on sunday that it expects to buy total of about million doses
little more than third of its earlier estimate of million
the world health organisation who said last month that was reaching
peak in much of western europe as the disease progressed into central europe
and through parts of asia
german authorities said moldova kosovo mongolia and the maldives had
approached them asking for vaccines to be donated as aid
the who said last week that swine flu has killed at least people
worldwide the biggest share of them in the united states and canada but had
peaked and was declining in north america
militants killed in afghanistan military
kunduz afghanistan jan afp
afghan and nato forces have killed militants in the northern province of
kunduz where taliban rebels are expanding their activities an afghan army
officer said sunday
the militants were killed on saturday after trying to ambush patrol of afghan
forces and troops from nato international security assistance force isaf in
the archi district of the province said colonel abdul wakeel ihsas
after the attempted ambush gun battle began and air support was called in he
told reporters
eighteen taliban were killed nineteen were wounded he said the dead
included five rebel commanders and four foreign militants linked to al qaeda he
added
there was no immediate comment from isaf
afghanistan taliban led insurgency has lasted more than eight years since the
islamists were ousted in us led invasion in late
nato and the united states have troops in afghanistan fighting the
insurgents who have spread their footprint over the previously peaceful north
and east inflicting record western military casualties
in the past year taliban activity in the north has focused on supply route
for materiel brought by truck from bordering central asian countries
up to more us and nato troops are to arrive over the course of
backed by thousands of civilians as the war strategy turns from battleground
tactics to development and aid
corrected cricket india eye another success in dhaka tri series
dhaka jan afp
india will be keen to extend their impressive run in triangular series
starting in dhaka on monday and boost their hopes of becoming the top ranked
side in one day cricket
they have won six of their last seven bilateral one day series under mahendra
singh dhoni and title triumph here against new look sri lanka and
resurgent bangladesh will help them narrow the gap against leaders australia
dhoni men are currently the top ranked team in test cricket and number two
behind the aussies in one day internationals and although they cannot overtake
the australians in this series india are hoping to close in on their rivals
the tournament opens with day night clash between sri lanka and the hosts
each team will play four league matches before the top two qualify for the final
on january
india vice captain virender sehwag said ahead of the series his team were
focused on maintaining consistency
if we win the series the rankings will look after themselves he said
we have been playing very tough and good cricket for the last two years so
hopefully we will do well in it important for the team to play well
consistently we hope to do well and win the series here
india will be without batting superstar sachin tendulkar who has been rested
for the one dayers but they still have depth in batting to give good account
of themselves
india who beat sri lanka in both test and one day series at home recently have
explosive batsmen in sehwag gautam gambhir yuvraj singh and dhoni to dominate
any attack
sehwag said sri lanka were tough side to beat despite missing veterans muttiah
muralitharan mahela jayawardene and sanath jayasuriya
opener jayasuriya the world second highest scorer with one day runs
was dropped while spinner muralitharan and batsman jayawardene have yet to
recover from injuries picked up during the india tour
think sri lanka still are good side and bangladesh can also beat any team
we are not taking them lightly said sehwag
bangladesh coach jamie siddons said his side could make it to the final despite
missing skipper mashrafe mortaza and key seamer nazmul hossain due to injuries
top all rounder shakib al hasan will lead the team while shahadat hossain
replaces nazmal
sri lanka have brought team below their best they have left few top
players behind we ll be competitive against them and can push them hard
hopefully we ll beat them he said
he added that bangladesh were now better batting side and would also be
competitive against favourites india
the series will be real test for bangladesh who will be keen to build on
their one day successes last year
bangladesh clinched their one day series against below strength west indies and
zimbabwe in under shakib who led the side in the absence of mortaza
the tri series will be followed by two tests between india and the hosts at
chittagong january and dhaka january
alpine skiing in form aubert takes second slalom race
zagreb jan afp
french skiier sandrine aubert won her second world cup race of the season here
on sunday as she won the women slalom for her fourth career victory in the
discipline
the year old who was fourth after the first leg beat home austrian kathrin
zettel by hundreths of second while germany susanne riesch was third
hundreths of second adrift for her second ever podium position
zettel had led after the first leg ahead of compatriot marlies schild but whilst
the latter crashed out on the second run the former had to be content with her
sixth podium placing of the campaign
victory for aubert who won in the swedish resort of are and then finished
second in linz in austria last tuesday saw her move to the top of the slalom
standings
its like that this sport said aubert
there are good and bad days certain among us had the luck today sunday
others didn
as the leaders were coming down on the second leg thought was going to
win added aubert who collected euros cheque for the win which is the
richest prize on offer on the circuit
germany maria riesch older sister of susanne went top of the overall world
cup standings after finishing fourth at the expense of american lindsey vonn
who was disqualified
body of fifth british hostage to be handed over soon iraq
baghdad jan afp
the body of the fifth briton kidnapped in baghdad in is expected to be
handed over in the coming days iraqi government spokesman ali al dabbagh told
afp on sunday
we expect them to deliver the body within the next few days in order to close
the file dabbagh said referring to year old alan mcmenemy the bodyguard
of another briton who was released last week
the british embassy was not immediately available for comment
peter moore computer expert was released unharmed on wednesday by the league
of the righteous group after two and half years in captivity during which time
all four of his bodyguards also britons were killed
the bodies of three alec maclachlan jason swindlehurst and jason
creswell were handed over to british officials last year
the five were kidnapped from the finance ministry in baghdad in may by
some gunmen from the league of the righteous breakaway shiite militia
britain closes sanaa embassy yemen official
sanaa jan afp
britain closed its embassy in yemen on sunday following similar move by the
united states because of threats from local branch of al qaeda government
official told afp
the embassy is closed today sunday for security reasons and out of fear of
possible al qaeda reactions the official said on condition of anonymity but
he stressed there were no direct al qaeda threats against the mission
the us embassy in yemen was also closed on sunday in response to ongoing
threats by by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap to attack american
interests in yemen statement posted on the embassy website said
body of fifth british hostage to be handed over soon iraq
baghdad jan afp
the body of the fifth briton kidnapped in baghdad in is expected to be
handed over in the coming days iraqi government spokesman ali al dabbagh told
afp on sunday
we expect them to deliver the body within the next few days in order to close
the file dabbagh said referring to alan mcmenemy the bodyguard of another
briton who was released last week
urgent britain closes sanaa embassy yemen official
sanaa jan afp
britain closed its embassy in yemen on sunday following similar move by the
united states because of threats from local branch of al qaeda government
official told afp
rugbyu humbled mcgeechan picks ireland for six nations title
london jan afp
scottish rugby legend ian mcgeechan admitted on sunday receiving knighthood in
the new years honours list had been humbling experience
the year old grand slam winning coach who also won three test series with
the british and irish lions as player and coach picked out ireland to defend
their six nations title when it gets under way early in february
mcgeechan who guided scotland to the five nations grand slam said that to
receive such an honour had been extraordinary
it was fantastic news its been quite an exciting and humbling time he told
bbc radio
mcgeechan said he saw no other side apart from the irish who went unbeaten
throughout rounding it off with win over world champions south africa
winning the six nations
they re settled they re confident and they ve got some talented players they
look very competent side thought they did well in the autumn said
mcgeechan
mcgeechan said he could sympathise with the travails of england coach martin
johnson whyo has struggled to convince critics that he can be as successful
coach as he was as player
it was unfortunate for martin that there were so many injuries in the autumn
said mcgeechan who added he had identified some progress at last year six
nations
he hasn been able to develop and build he had some of his key players
missing
it always difficult then when you re trying to draw things together and
introduce not just one or two new players sometimes but five six seven new
players at international level
mcgeechan who featured in seven british and irish lions tours including five
as coach and two as player picked out his most memorable moments from his
glittering career
obviously as player getting your first international cap for scotland
and obviously the lions in as player and then having the opportunity to
coach scotland said mcgeechan who has also coached northampton at club level
and was director of rugby at wasps
later winning the grand slam in again was something which was exceptional
and winning the lions test series in and added the former teacher
mcgeechan affectionaltely known as geech confessed that he didn think he
would be able to play at the top level these days given his size
happy played when did he said adding he was now totally enthused by
the coaching side
urgent body of fifth british hostage to be handed over soon iraq
baghdad jan afp
the body of the fifth briton kidnapped in baghdad in is expected to be
handed over in the coming days iraqi government spokesman ali al dabbagh told
afp on sunday
alert
body of fifth british hostage to be handed over soon iraq spokesman
alert
britain closes sanaa embassy yemen govt official
pope secretary visits christmas eve assailant
vatican city jan afp
pope benedict xvi personal secretary has visited the woman who knocked the
pontiff to the ground at midnight mass the pope spokesman said on sunday
father federico lombardi said the pope secretary bishop georg gaenswein paid
visit to susana maiolo who has history of mental problems and is being held
in psychiatric unit outside rome
report in il giornale daily newspaper said gaenswein gave her rosary saying
the pontiff had forgiven her for what she had done
maiolo leapt over security barrier and bundled the pope to the ground at
the christmas eve midnight mass in saint peter basilica
the pope was unhurt and led the service as planned but the year old french
cardinal roger etchegaray who was also knocked over suffered broken hip
over the last few days in confidential way monsignor georg gaenswein paid
visit to miss maiolo to show the holy father interest in her situation
lombardi said in statement
maiolo who has swiss and italian nationality is under investigation by
vatican court and lombardi said this process would be allowed to run its
course
according to vatican sources quoted by ansa few days after the incident the
court was likely to acquit maiolo because of her mental state
italian press reports said maiolo who made similar attempt to get close to
the pontiff at midnight mass year earlier told doctors she did not want to
hurt the pope just ask him to help the weak
alpine skiing french skiier aubert the moon with second win
zagreb jan afp
french skiier sandrine aubert won her second world cup race of the season here
on sunday as she won the women slalom for her fourth career victory in the
discipline
the year old who was fourth after the first leg beat home austrian kathrin
zettel by hundreths of second while germany susanne riesch was third
hundreths of second adrift
victory for aubert who won in the swedish resort of are and then finished
second in linz in austria last tuesday saw her move to the top of the slalom
standings
germany maria riesch went top of the overall world cup standings after
finishing fourth at the expense of american lindsey vonn who was disqualified
alpine skiing french skiier aubert the moon with second win
zagreb jan afp
french skiier sandrine aubert won her second world cup race of the season here
on sunday as she won the women slalom for her fourth career victory in the
discipline
aubert who was fourth after the first leg beat home austrian kathrin zettel by
hundreths of second while germany susanne riesch was third hundreths
of second adrift
abbas to egypt for talks on mideast peace efforts
ramallah west bank jan afp
palestinian president mahmud abbas was to travel to egypt on sunday to discuss
the possible relaunch of us backed peace talks amid lingering divisions over
israeli settlement expansion
abbas spokesman nabil abu rudeina said he would meet egyptian president hosni
mubarak at the red sea resort of sharm el sheikh on monday to discuss important
developments in efforts to restart the talks
mubarak met israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu last week as diplomats
told afp that washington was preparing letters of guarantee for the two sides to
try to relaunch peace talks suspended year ago over the gaza war
us president barack obama has repeatedly called on the two sides to return to
the negotiating table but the palestinians have demanded that israel first
freeze all settlement activity and commit to framework for the talks
there are arab and international efforts to create the climate to support the
return to negotiations with the israeli side based on complete halt to
settlements abu rudeina told afp
he added that the palestinians would also require specific guidelines for the
talks including that the borders of future palestinian state encompass all of
their land that israel occupied in
the israeli position that we have seen up until now is not encouraging and it
will not be possible to return to the negotiations based on it he said
netanyahu in november imposed month halt on new construction of settlements
in the occupied west bank but excluded east jerusalem public buildings and
housing units already under construction
the palestinians have insisted that mostly arab east jerusalem occupied by
israel in and later annexed in move not recognised by the international
community be the capital of their future state
after the meeting with mubarak abbas will travel to qatar and kuwait to meet
with the leaders of the two countries before concluding his regional tour with
an official visit to turkey on wednesday and thursday
meshaal says palestinian reconciliation deal close
riyadh jan afp
hamas exiled leader khaled meshaal said in riyadh on sunday that the egyptian
led talks aimed at reconciling the palestinian islamist movement and its rival
fatah were close to bearing fruit
we have made lot of progress in the negotiations conducted in cairo since the
