disappointment of seventh place finish at the turin games is still fresh
in the minds of many
we are very confident in the team we have put together hopefully luck is on
our side and we will get the goal we want said team director steve yzerma
former nhl all star
one of the biggest surprises is on the blueline which will have more depth than
before and solid leadership from anaheim ducks scott niedermayer who did not go
to the turin games
probably the biggest mistake by canada in turin was leaving canuck golden boy
sidney crosby off the roster
crosby will be competing in his first olympics just eight months after leading
his pittsburgh penguins to the stanley cup title
yzerman also has got rid of former team canada underachievers like defenceman
jay bouwmeester and unproductive forwards todd bertuzzi and patrick sharp
bouwmeester struggled to keep up at the worlds and was on the ice for all
four regulations goals as russia beat canada in overtime for the championship
two time reigning world champion russia will need to come together quickly as
group like they did in turin
russia opens against latvia and with so many superstars like alex ovechkin
ilya kovalchuk pavel datsyuk and evgeni malkin scoring will not be problem
for the red machine
the biggest surprise by coach vyacheslav bykov was leaving former national team
captain alexei kovalev off the roster
sweden along with canada martin brodeur have the best goaltender in the
tournament in henrik lundqvist
sweden coach bengt aake gustafsson took the bold step of naming year old
centre peter forsberg to the roster despite the veteran having struggled with
ankle and foot injuries which have doomed his nhl career
he now plays for modo in the swedish league
sweden appears to have dodged another injury bullet as daniel alfredsson
shoulder doesn appear to be as seriously hurt as first thought alfredsson
returned to the ottawa senators lineup saturday after missing games and
scored goal and added two assists
finland the silver medallists have strong leadership from veterans like
saku koivu kimmo timonen and teemu selanne
but injuries are concern as anaheim ducks forward selanne bid to play in his
fifth olympics is in doubt after breaking his jaw on wednesday
there is still chance selanne could play he lost three teeth during the
turin olympics when he was hit in the face by stick but didn miss game
ryan miller and tim thomas will give team usa the goaltending it lacked in
turin
general manager brian burke chose to go with role players like david backes and
ryan callahan over talented youngsters such as james van riemsdyk and kyle
okposo
the americans will be led on defence by jack johnson and brian rafalski but with
just two players patrick kane and zach parise averaging more than point
game in the nhl they may have trouble scoring goals
prince william aims to maintain queen standards on tour
auckland jan afp
britain prince william arrived in auckland on sunday on his first official
overseas trip on behalf of his grandmother queen elizabeth ii saying he was
eager to maintain her high standards
but the year old who is second in line to the british throne told reporters
at the start of the five day tour of new zealand and australia he had plenty of
work to do to achieve that goal
want to be able to do something good and keep the standards up that she has
led the way with he said
asked if he expected to undertake more tours on behalf of the queen he was keen
to play down expectations
we ll wait and see wouldn get too carried away ve still got lot of
training to do and need the training believe me
but in day dominated by sport william said all the right things
just love seeing everyone and seeing more of new zealand so it great
as well as carrying out some official duties on behalf of the queen in new
zealand he will travel to australia on tuesday for more informal three day
visit
it is the prince third visit to new zealand the first was with his parents
prince charles and the late princess diana as nine month old baby in
he returned in taking time out to follow the fortunes of the touring
british and irish lions rugby team
the prince was met sunday at auckland airport by prime minister john key and the
queen representative in new zealand governor general anand satyanand in
low key welcome without pomp or ceremony
the tone was even more relaxed during the afternoon when william dressed
casually for visit to the eden park rugby stadium which is being redeveloped
for next year rugby world cup
accompanying him on the half hour tour of the world cup final venue were key and
all blacks captain richie mccaw
key praised the friendliness of the royal envoy
he very nice young man he very relaxed he got good sense of new
zealand been here before and enjoyed it and think he great ambassador
both for the royal family and for the united kingdom key said
mccaw was also impressed saying there was lot of respect for the prince in
new zealand
it can be easy being in the position he in but he handles himself
amazingly well underneath all that stuff he has to deal with he just
genuine bloke you can have yarn with he said
the prince threw few passes with some aspiring all blacks from team of
year olds as cameras from the large international press pack snapped away
william also went sailing in auckland harbour taking the helm of new zealand
america cup yacht and later donned shirt with an indigenous maori motif for
traditional hangi meal cooked in pit in the ground
the main official duty of his new zealand visit will be on monday when he opens
new zealand new supreme court building in wellington after receiving
traditional maori welcome
polls in recent years have shown that around percent of new zealanders
support dropping the british monarch as head of state in favour of republic
some supporters of cutting royal ties are expected to gather to promote their
cause at the court opening
william is taking short break from his military career having achieved
milestone on friday when his father presented him with his flying badge after
graduation from the royal air force advanced helicopter training course
later this month he is due to start training to become search and rescue
pilot
football euro football will keep neuer at schalke
berlin jan afp
manchester united and bayern munich target manuel neuer said sunday he will stay
at bundesliga title condenders schalke providing the royal blues qualify for
the champions league next season
the year old is battling leverkusen rene adler and bremen tim wiese for
the germany goalkeeping shirt at this june world cup in south africa with
schalke fourth in the bundesliga before sunday game with nuremberg
both united and bayern have been reported to be tracking neuer but with
contract at schalke until the shot stopper says he will stay in
gelsenkirchen providing they reach the champions league next season
have contract here at schalke until neuer told bild on sunday
if we reach the champions league will stand in schalke goal next season
even if some people might not believe me do not pay attention to what
happens at bayern or manchester united
our priority is to get into the top three of the bundesliga and make name for
ourselves in the champions league
our coach felix magath has given us the best possible chance to achieve that
neuer made his germany debut in june last year in the win over the united
arab emirates and was also in goal for germany last match in november in the
draw with the ivory coast
badminton korea open final results
seoul jan afp
finals results from the korea open badminton championships sunday denotes
seeds
men singles
lee chong wei masx bt peter hoeg gade denx
women singles
wang shixian chn bt sung ji hyun kor
men doubles
jung jae sung lee yong dae korx bt cai yun fu haifeng chnx
women doubles
cheng shu zhao yunlei chnx bt mizuki fujii reika kakiwa jpnx
mixed doubles
he hanbin yu yang chnx bt tao jiaming zhang yawen chn
taiwan snubs china call for joint haiti rescue plan
taipei jan afp
china proposal for the establishment of joint rescue and search team with
taiwan in earthquake devastated haiti has been rejected foreign ministry
official was quoted as saying sunday
chang tai fu taiwan acting ambassador in haiti told the state central news
agency that china commercial representative there had suggested to him via
taiwanese businessman that taipei and beijing jointly conduct rescue and relief
tasks in the caribbean country
however the proposal has been rejected courteously by chang on grounds that
the rescue teams of the two sides have been tasked with different missions
ties between taiwan and its former bitter rival china have improved markedly
since president ma ying jeou of the beijing friendly kuomintang party came to
power in pledging to boost trade links and allow in more chinese tourists
despite the fast warming ties beijing still considers taiwan part of its
territory awaiting reunification by force if necessary although the island has
governed itself since their split in at the end of civil war
haiti is one of the countries that recognise taipei rather than beijing
taiwan ambassador to haiti hsu mien sheng and other staff at the embassy
were injured when their port au prince headquarters collapsed during the killer
quake they have been sent to the neighbouring dominican republic for treatment
taiwan has sent member search and rescue team to haiti while mulling
dispatching medical team
taiwan has boosted its pledge of humanitarian aid to five million us dollars up
from the previously announced dollars the foreign ministry said
more than people were killed and injured by last week
earthquake which also left nearly million homeless the haitian government
said
chemical ali saddam notorious henchman
baghdad jan afp
ali hassan al majid sentenced on sunday to death by hanging for the brutal
halabja chemical attack that killed around kurds was executed dictator
saddam hussein most notorious henchmen
better known by the macabre nickname chemical ali the judgment was the fourth
death sentence majid has received from iraqi courts
he will die by hanging the state run al iraqiya television channel said having
been found guilty of the attack in halabja northeastern town as the iran
iraq war drew to close in
close cousin of saddam majid earned his moniker for ordering poisonous gas
attacks in brutal scorched earth campaign of bombings and mass deportations
that left an estimated kurds dead in the
he had already been condemned to hang for genocide over the kurdish offensives
when he received second death sentence in december for war crimes
committed during the ill fated shiite uprising in southern iraq
and in march last year the iraqi high tribunal handed down third death
sentence over the the murders of dozens of shiites in the sadr city
district of baghdad and in the central shrine city of najaf
majid is also accused of displacing and killing about clansmen of kurdish
regional president massud barzani
like saddam majid hails from the northern town of tikrit where he was born in
according to court documents although he told tribunal last year that
he was born in
majid was the king of spades in the pack of cards of most wanted iraqis issued
by the us military at the time of the invasion that culminated in saddam
ouster majid was arrested in august of that year
considered saddam right hand man and bearing strong resemblance to the
former dictator he was member of the decision making revolutionary command
council and regularly called upon to wipe out rebellion
the henchman was most infamous for his role in northern iraq in march the
ruling baath party put him in charge of state agencies in the kurdish area
including the police army and militias
as iraq eight year war with iran drew to close fighters from the rebel
patriotic union of kurdistan with backing from tehran took over the farming
community of halabja near the border
in march iraqi jets began to swoop over halabja for five hours they
sprayed it with deadly cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents tabun
sarin and vx
an estimated percent of those killed were women and children in what is now
believed to have been the worst gas attack ever carried out against civilians
new york based human rights watch has said majid was responsible for the deaths
or disappearances of around non combatant kurds when he put down the
revolt across the kurdish region
but majid said he ordered the attacks against the kurds who had sided with iran
in the war for the sake of iraqi security he has refused to express remorse
for the killings
majid was condemned in june to hang for genocide crimes against humanity
and war crimes over the so called anfal campaign against kurds
after iraqi troops swept into kuwait in august majid was named governor of
the occupied emirate which the regime considered iraq th province as in
the north he swiftly and viciously annihilated resistance
tens of thousands of people perished when saddam forces driven out of kuwait
by us led coalition after their invasion put down the shiiite uprising
in bloodbath that saw heavy shelling of southern iraqi towns
and in the case majid was convicted of crimes against humanity after
troops were ordered into shiite areas to stop protests after the assassination
of revered shiite cleric mohammed sadeq al sadr after whom sadr city is now
named
as war clouds gathered in january ali left the country for the first time
since visiting syria and lebanon in bid to whip up regional support for
iraq
he was thought to have been killed by coalition bombing of his villa in the
southern city of basra in but us officials were later forced to admit that
he was still alive
cricket india tendulkar crosses mark in tests
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
india sachin tendulkar became the first batsman to complete runs in
test cricket during the opening match against bangladesh here on sunday
tendulkar achieved the feat when he hit bangladesh off spinner mohammad
mahmudullah for four to take his score to
tendulkar is the world leading scorer in test and one day internationals
and has scored the most number of centuries in both forms of the game
cricket bangladesh india first test scoreboard
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
scoreboard at tea on the opening day of the first test between bangladesh and
india here on sunday
india st innings
gambhir rahim shahadat
sehwag tamim shakib
dravid shahadat
tendulkar not out
laxman st rahim shakib
yuvraj singh rubel shakib
karthik raqibul shahadat
mishra not out
extras lb nb
total for six wickets overs
fall of wickets sehwag gambhir dravid laxman
yuvraj karthik
bowling shafiul shahadat nb rubel nb
shakib mahmudullah ashraful
toss bangladesh
umpires billy bowden nzl and marais erasmus rsa
tv umpire enamul haque ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
pope to visit rome synagogue amid jewish anger
rome jan afp
pope benedict xvi was headed sunday for rome main synagogue for much
anticipated visit after angering many jews by moving his wartime predecessor
pius xii further on the road to sainthood
strong press corps will record benedict third visit to jewish house of
worship which comes barely four weeks after he revived controversy over pius
xii whom many jews accuse of inaction over the holocaust
the visit announced in october appeared at risk of being cancelled amid howls
of protest over the papal decree bestowing the title venerable on the nazi era
pope
the tension is in stark contrast to the warm welcome reserved for benedict
predecessor john paul ii who became the first modern pope to visit synagogue
the same imposing temple on rome river tiber in
high profile stayaway sunday is the president of italy assembly of rabbis
giuseppe laras who said benedict had weakened ties between catholics and
jews
israel ambassador to the holy see will attend but remarked that catholic
anti judaism still exists
adding fuel to the fire the head of the roman catholic church on friday urged
vatican doctrinal experts to speed rapprochement with catholic fraternity that
includes holocaust denying bishop richard williamson
renzo gattegna who heads the union of communities of italian jews said it
cannot be denied that some decisions taken by the current pope in led to
moments of tension and concern on the jewish side
gattegna listed the pius xii and williamson affairs as well as benedict
decision to rehabilitate the latin version of the catholic church good friday
mass which contains prayer for the conversion of the jews
cooler heads on both sides see the occasion as an important step along the way
to reconciliation between the two faiths process that began in the with
vatican ii
the year old german born pope said the visit would open new phase along
the irrevocable path of agreement and friendship between catholics and jews
the pope host rome chief rabbi riccardo di segni said for his part that
the visit was sign that benedict wanted to continue the dialogue
the director of vatican newspaper osservatore romano asserted saturday that few
catholics had done as much as benedict xvi to bring christians and jews
together hailing the pope steps forward since vatican ii declaration
absolved jews of blame for jesus death
participants are to include the latin patriarch of jerusalem fouad twal
israel apostolic nuncio antonio franco and oded wiener secretary general of
the chief rabbinate of israel
rome jewish community the oldest in europe has some members
while pius xii was pope the nazis rounded up more than roman jews for
deportation on october only handful returned from the death camps
benedict is to place wreath before plaque commemorating this tragedy before
going into the synagogue
he will also stop before another inscription marking attack by
palestinian extremists that killed two year old child and wounded other
people
in speech benedict is expected to stress the common roots of the two faiths
as he did during his trip to israel in may
later he is to meet briefly with rabbi di segni before planting an olive tree to
record his visit
just few weeks after young woman assaulted the pope in st peter basilica
on christmas eve yanking the pope to the floor but not harming him security
was tight ahead of sunday synagogue visit
the route benedict will take across the tiber from the vatican was to be
determined at the last minute
corrected israel barak in bid to mend fences with turkey
ankara jan afp
israel defence minister ehud barak began one day visit to turkey sunday in
the wake of severe diplomatic row between the two countries eager to mend
fences with muslim ally sliding away
barak trip was the highest level bilateral visit since israel war on the
gaza strip last year prompted an unprecedented barrage of criticism from the
islamist rooted government in ankara
he visited the tomb of turkey secularist founder mustafa kemal ataturk before
scheduled meetings with foreign minister ahmet davutoglu and defence minister
vecdi gonul
the talks were to focus on arms deals israeli public radio reported
turkish officials are currently in israel to test unmanned aircraft that israeli
companies have manufactured for turkey army under joint million dollar
project long delayed amid technical snags and political tensions
prime minister recep tayyip erdogan seen by some as the man at the centre of
bilateral tensions and president abdullah gul were not available to meet the
israeli minister citing programmes outside ankara
barak whose labour party is in favour of maintaining close ties with turkey
insisted on making the visit despite row that brought ankara to the verge of
recalling its ambassador from tel aviv
the storm broke monday when danny ayalon the deputy of israel ultra
nationalist foreign minister avigdor lieberman gave turkey ambassador
public dressing down as he protested turkish television series for depicting
israel and jews as baby snatchers and war criminals
as the unexpecting ambassador smiled ayalon turned to reporters and told them
in hebrew to pay attention that the envoy was made to sit on low couch and
that the turkish flag was removed from their table
bowing to pressure from furious ankara ayalon sent letter of apology to
ambassador oguz celikkol on wednesday cooling row that had threatened to
plunge the two already estranged allies into serious crisis
once flourishing bilateral ties took sharp downturn last year amid israel
war on gaza and its persisting blockade of the impoverished palestinian enclave
in memorable outburst erdogan stormed out of debate at the world economic
forum accusing the jewish state of barbarian acts and telling israeli
president shimon peres sitting next to him that you know well how to kill
people
ankara has said relations will continue to suffer unless israel ends the
humanitarian tragedy in gaza and revives peace talks with the palestinians
turkey booming ties with one time foe syria and close contacts with iran have
made its criticism even harder for israel to swallow and raised questions on
whether erdogan government is taking key muslim majority nato member away
from the west
turkey has been israel main regional ally since when the two signed
military cooperation accord
but in october ankara excluded israel from joint air exercises in central
turkey that have been held for years angering tel aviv and prompting rebuke
from washington
the following month israel trade minister benjamin ben eliezer visited ankara
in an effort to mend fences and gul and peres met at the sidelines of un
climate summit in denmark last month
afp world news agenda
paris jan afp
what coming up around the world
un chief visits haiti amid quake survivors search
iraq chemical ali sentenced to death
ukraine votes in first round of presidential election
port au prince un secretary general ban ki moon visits haiti as rescue teams
search for survivors trapped in the rubble five days after deadly earthquake
that devastated the impoverished caribbean country haiti quake
baghdad ali hassan al majid better known as saddam hussein enforcer
chemical ali is sentenced to death for ordering the gassing of kurds in the
iraqi village of halabja state television reports iraq trial chemicalali
kurds
kiev ukraine votes in the first round of presidential elections with pro
russian viktor yanukovich on course to record stunning comeback against his
rivals who stormed to power in the orange revolution polls close gmt
ukraine vote
ankara israeli defence minister ehud barak visits turkey after relations
between the two military allies were strained by row over turkish tv series
picture mideast turkey israel diplomacy
auckland britain prince william begins tour of new zealand and australia
nzealand australia britain royals william
los angeles the hollywood foreign press association hosts the th golden globe
awards with science fiction epic avatar hoping to score vital pre oscars
momentum event opens at gmt monday entertainment us film globes
santiago cliffhanger runoff vote in presidential election between conservative
billionaire sebastian pinera and former president eduardo frei that threatens
the left year hold on power polls open gmt and close gmt first
official results from gmt chile vote
washington former us presidents george bush and bill clinton appear on the
major sunday political talks shows to appeal for aid for haiti haiti quake us
beware internet use malaysia warns
kuala lumpur jan afp
the malaysian government has warned against excessive use of micro blogging
sites like facebook and twitter arguing that they could erode the country
culture report said sunday
rais yatim the information and communication minister said muslims and other
religious groups must be wary of the internet as it was introduced by the west
we are not saying they cannot use facebook or twitter but when using such
facilities they must upkeep the values taught by islam buddhism or
christianity to maintain our culture he was quoted as saying by the new sunday
times newspaper
rais said users must not be influenced by what they see and hear when using the
internet
we must be strong in our belief and culture because the identity and image of
our country depends on us he said
the government decided last august not to implement controversial plan to
create an internet filter blocking undesirable websites after coming under
fire from rights groups
malaysia lively blogosphere has been thorn in the side of the barisan
nasional government which was been in power for more than half century but
was dealt its worst ever results in the elections
internet news portals and blogs which escape tight controls on the mainstream
media were credited as key element in the swing towards the opposition which
has been adept at using new media to communicate its ideas
iran suspends pilgrimages to saudi over religious police
tehran jan afp
iran has suspended pilgrimages to the muslim holy places until saudi religious
police end their appalling behaviour towards iranian shiite pilgrims an
official told afp on sunday
the reason for the suspension is because the way the agents of the saudi
commission for promotion of virtue and prevention of vice have been dealing with
our pilgrims the head of public relations of the iranian hajj and pilgrimage
organisation abdollah nassiri said
the umra has been suspended and not halted nassiri added referring to the
so called less pilgrimage that is carried out throughout the year unlike the
annual hajj which was held most recently late last year
our move is not political it is religious he said
since we are shiites we have different rituals like reciting the special
pilgrimage prayers in mecca and medina mosques which has resulted in their
agents rudely confronting our pilgrims and we want this to be corrected and
stopped
saudi arabia is governed according to an ultra strict version of sunni islam and
relies on the religious police of the the commission for promotion of virtue and
prevention of vice to enforce such rules
iranian pilgrims all travel to the muslim holy places under the auspices of the
hajj and pilgrimage organisation so its decision effectively suspends their
travel until further notice
the organisation head ali layali told iran fars news agency due to the
appalling behaviour of the saudi agents during the last annual hajj and the
previous umra we decided to have talks with the saudis over the umra
we received many reports from our pilgrims about the appalling behaviour of the
saudi agents he said adding their approach made many of our citizens very
upset
layali said he had no idea about the timing of the negotiations and until the
negotiations bear fruit cannot tell you when the umra will resume but have
to add the issue is religious and not political
shiite led iran and sunni led saudi arabia are major rivals in the middle east
clashing repeatedly over regional affairs most recently over saudi military
intervention in long running zaidi shiite rebellion in yemen
nigerian vice president warns mischief makers
abuja jan afp
nigerian vice president goodluck jonathan has warned people including
ministers against taking advantage of the ailing president long absence from
the country to cause disharmony in government
president umaru yar adua left nigeria on november and has since been
hospitalised in jeddah saudi arabia for an acute heart ailment
statement by jonathan spokesman ima niboro on saturday said government was
aware of moves by some top government officials and other influential nigerians
to sponsor false and malicious campaigns against him
it said jonathan was miffed at newspaper report saying he was waiting to take
instructions from the president wife hajiya turai yar dua before exercising
presidential powers in line with high court ruling
this report is entirely false the vice president wants to state clearly that
the last time he spoke with the first lady was on tuesday january th after he
spoke with the president the statement said
there is no doubt that those who packaged the report are only attempting to
paint non existent pictures to the nigerian public in the effort to create
mischievous scenarios of undecisivesness on the part of the vice president it
said
it said the vice president was effectively in charge of government adding
barely hours after the decision court ruling we all witnessed how the
vice president led the senate president speaker of the house of
representatives the chief justice of the federation and the service chiefs to
take the salute at the armed forces remembrance day
the statement said jonathan also dismissed media speculations that he was
planning to sack some ministers appointed by the president
the vice president uses this occasion to state that key officers of government
that are on top of their jobs need not harbour such fears it said adding that
those working to cause acrimony and disunity in order to advance personal
aggrandisement have every reason to fear
military cooperation at heart of turkey israel ties
ankara jan afp
intense military cooperation has been the driving force behind once booming
turkish israeli ties now on the skids over what turkey islamist rooted
government sees as lack of israeli commitment to peace in the middle east
underscoring the deep roots of the relationship israeli defence minister ehud
