american troops have started joint operations with iraqi and kurdish forces in
iraq disputed northern zones in an effort to dampen tensions between kurds and
sunni arabs the us army said tuesday
the deal marks new chapter in the us military role since the invasion
that toppled saddam hussein as it could once again see them involved in full
scale operations in urban areas
general ray odierno the top us officer in iraq told reporters training had
began three weeks ago in the provinces of kirkuk nineveh and diyala and that
about percent of the tripartite force checkpoints had been established
by january they checkpoints will all be manned and we will begin joint
security patrols he said without specifying how many american soldiers had
been deployed
it is about protecting the population who have been targets of al qaeda and
others who are trying to exploit political differences
this force has been put together in an attempt to stop the vulnerability of
people in the disputed areas
kurdish leaders want their autonomous region which currently consists of three
distinct provinces to be expanded into historically kurdish inhabited parts of
nineveh and diyala as well as all of kirkuk
baghdad however says the kurdish region borders should not extend past its
existing provinces of arbil sulaimaniyah and dohuk
the us military which presently has troops in iraq believes that
tension between sunni arabs and kurds is the main driver of instability in the
country and major threat to its long term future
the deal to set up the joint force was first mooted by odierno in august last
year and he held discussions with iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki and
kurdish regional president massud barzani whose approval was needed
us combat troops exited iraq cities towns and villages in june last year and
are scheduled to leave completely by august all american soldiers must withdraw
from the country by the end of under landmark security agreement signed
between baghdad and washington
odierno did not reveal the conditions for establishing the new tripartite force
but has previously said the need for us soldiers to be stationed in villages in
the disputed zones could require an exception to be made to the existing
security accord
there ll be some political challenges to it but we will work our way through
it odierno said have spoken to most of the local political leaders and
deputy prime minister rafa essawi sunni has helped me with that
odierno said that some kurdish peshmerga fighters had been killed in the
disputed zones but there had yet been no attacks on the new joint force
have been very pleased with how it has gone so far cooperation has been
very very good he added
un panel defends climate change evidence
geneva jan afp
the un climate panel has rejected as baseless and misleading newspaper
report that raised doubts about the evidence behind claim that global warming
is linked to worsening natural disasters
this weekend the sunday times of london reported that passage in one of the
panel reports which suggested natural disasters including hurricanes and
floods had increased in number and intensity had been challenged
the ipcc insisted in statement released late on monday that the targeted study
was quoted alongside others in balanced manner exposing the range of evidence
it said the panel had weighed its conclusions
this section of the ipcc report is balanced treatment of complicated and
important issue
it clearly makes the point that one study detected an increase in economic
losses corrected for values at risk but that other studies have not detected
such trend the statement added
the tone is balanced and the section contains many important qualifiers
the panel also underlined that it came to several conclusions about the role of
climate change in extreme weather events and disasters in different sections of
its reports based on careful assessment of past changes and projections of
future trends
the panel concluded that the newspaper ran misleading and baseless story
attacking the way the fourth assessment report of the ipcc handled an important
question concerning recent trends in economic losses from climate related
disasters
the sunday times had reported that the ipcc included the reference to the then
unpublished study despite doubts raised by at least two scientific reviewers at
the time
professor jean pascal van ypersele climatologist at the universite catholique
de louvain in belgium and the vice chairman of the ipcc was quoted by the
newspaper as saying that the panel was reassessing the evidence
it was the second time in recent weeks that doubt was cast on the scientific
validity some of the evidence used in the un panel reports
the ipcc last week admitted errors in forecast about melting himalayan
glaciers that was included in landmark report
the ongoing series of reports compiled since are meant to reflect global
scientific consensus to guide official action against climate change
tennis henin zheng set up unlikely semi final
melbourne jan afp
former world number one justine henin and chinese battler zheng jie set up an
unlikely australian open semi final after both enjoyed straight sets quarter
final wins on tuesday
henin beat determined nadia petrova of russia before zheng
created yet more history by beating another russian maria kirilenko
after becoming the first chinese player into the wimbledon semi finals in
zheng has now achieved the same honour in australia
however to achieve even greater glory she will have to overcome player who
was won seven grand slams including the australian open and one whom
zheng admits is one of her favourites
henin kept her fairytale comeback well on track when she beat petrova in one
hour minutes the first time since round one that the year old has been
off court in under two hours
the dangerous petrova had been in excellent form heading into the match
highlighted by her minute thrashing of kim clijsters in the third round and
her win over third seed svetlana kuznetsova in the fourth
there was little between the two players as they went shot for shot on hot day
on the rod laver arena but henin was able to lift her game at crucial moments in
both sets
think ve improved lot in this tournament since in brisbane henin said
referring to the warm up brisbane international tournament where she lost in the
final to clijsters
haven been able to play well in the tough moments and this week in this
tournament ve been able in the last few days to do it
even if getting older still have this fighting spirit and that good
thing
petrova said she would not be surprised if henin won the tournament
she has good shot mean she has really good round in the semi finals
petrova said
whoever she going to face in the final sure you know she has good
shot at it
zheng also impressed as she took control early against the year old
kirilenko who took to the court with her left thigh heavily bandaged and called
for medical time out at the end of the first set
the chinese player raced through the first set in just minutes as she broke
kirilenko twice her all court coverage and accurate groundstrokes proving too
much for her opponent
kirilenko was obviously hampered by her leg injury and wasn able to get any
power behind her shots making them easy pickings for the determined zheng
first of all admire her henin because she is so strong mentally zheng
said
always watch her play how do you say enjoy watching her play
secondly think it is tough match for me is big challenge but like
it
zheng won her first grand slam title in when she took out the australian
open doubles
feel this court is lucky for me so hope can be here at the end of the
week she said
by reaching the semis the year old from chengdu will also return to the top
for the first since june last year
the final two quarter finals will be played wednesday with serena williams
taking on belarusian victoria azarenka and venus williams up against china li
na
british irish leaders scramble to save ireland executive
belfast jan afp
british prime minister gordon brown and his irish counterpart brian cowen
scrambled tuesday to save northern ireland fragile power sharing
administration as emergency talks entered second day
the leaders rushed to belfast monday for talks with the democratic unionist
party dup and sinn fein the once bitter foes now working together in
government
after talks ran late into the night brown and cowen will again try to break the
deadlock between the dup and sinn fein over when to transfer policing and
justice powers from london to belfast the last big step to full devolution
the negotiations are complicated further by the recent scandal over first
minister and dup leader peter robinson wife affair with year old plus
allegations of financial impropriety which he temporarily stood aside to fight
the talks continued well into the early hours of the morning downing street
spokesman said tuesday
they were hard going but parties have engaged in good faith and there was
frank discussion across range of issues the prime minister and cowen remain
determined that progress can be made
robinson said there were still unresolved issues but said his party was up
for it and hope that others are too before going in for talks at hillsborough
castle in belfast
can say whether there going to be deal what can say is we re going
to sit at the table ready to talk to others until we do get deal said
robinson leading the dup delegation despite his temporary withdrawal from
frontline politics
meanwhile irish foreign minister micheal martin said the talks had been
difficult and challenging but said he was hopeful we can bridge the gap
today in an interview with ireland rte radio
the british and irish leaders have reportedly cleared their diaries for the next
few days to allow them to focus on negotiations meeting of brown cabinet in
london due tuesday has been postponed
sinn fein which is catholic and wants northern ireland to be part of united
ireland has warned it could pull out of power sharing unless progress is made
this would force snap election to the northern ireland assembly
but the dup protestant and in favour of northern ireland remaining part of
the united kingdom wants concessions on how protestant parades are managed
these have often been flashpoints for sectarian violence in the past
robinson is leading the negotiations on policing and justice for the dup even
though he has temporarily stepped aside as first minister this month
that came after the bbc reported that his year old wife iris fellow dup
politician secured pounds dollars euros from two
developers to enable her then year old lover to set up cafe in belfast
police are investigating while iris robinson has stepped down as dup lawmaker
in belfast and london and is receiving psychiatric treatment
her husband has strongly denied knowledge of her financial affairs he should
have reported to officials if he knew of them
britain and ireland helped to broker the good friday agreement which
largely ended three decades of violence which killed at least people and
led to power sharing executive devolved from london being created
but northern ireland is still dogged by sporadic violence most recently
policeman lost leg in car bomb attack earlier this month two men aged
and were arrested in connection with the incident monday
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 the next four years we want to create the conditions to enable our military
presence to be wound down gradually we want to begin this year step by
step with the handover of security responsibilities westerwelle said
in we want to begin reducing our own contingent and by we want to
have handed over responsibility for security to afghanistan said westerwelle
who will represent germany at thursday talks
he noted however that the plans did not include setting fixed date for the
complete withdrawal of germany troops in the country currently numbering
and based mostly in the north
chancellor angela merkel announced earlier that germany planned to send more
soldiers and to have reservists on stand by as well as boost its training
of afghan security forces and increase development aid
german troops currently form the third largest contingent in the strong
international force behind the united states and britain with the upper limit
capped by parliament at soldiers
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 confirmed 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 tuesday the diplomats confirmed
the new appointee succeeds ambassador fernando gentilini who served as nato
fourth senior civilian representative in afghanistan from may to january
nato said in statement announcing the press conference
sedwill will be responsible for carrying forward the political military aspects
of the alliance assistance to the afghan government
he will work closely with the afghan government isaf nato led international
security assistance force the united nations and other key stakeholders in
afghanistan it said
last week nato spokesperson said the new nominee would have bigger team and
beefed up role as the alliance seeks to streamline military and civilian
efforts to help rebuild afghanistan and beat taliban led insurgency
but she said he would not take over responsibilities currently held by the
united nations in afghanistan
israeli pm honours holocaust victims in polish capital
warsaw jan afp
israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu honoured holocaust victims at war
memorial in the polish capital tuesday on the eve of the th anniversary of
the auschwitz death camp liberation
the israeli leader bowed his head in front of the imposing grey marble
umschalgplatz memorial in the centre of warsaw laying wreath draped in
banner in the blue and white colours of the israeli flag
at this place from where hundreds of thousands of our people were sent to death
camps and where we meet today the righteous among the nations we encounter the
worst evil in the history of mankind together with the greatest courage in the
history of humanity netanyahu told reporters at the site
it was from the infamous umschlagplatz site that in warsaw wwii nazi
german occupiers sent more than jews by train to the infamous treblinka
death camp kilometres miles northeast of the city
holocaust survivors and polish woman whom israel has honoured as rightous
among the nations for having risked her life to save jews during the holocaust
attended the wreath laying ceremony
this is not an easy encounter but it gives us hope and direction for our
future may god avenge the victims said the israeli leader whose father was
the only member of his family to survive the nazi holocaust in which some six
million jews were murdered
ceremonies on wednesday at the former nazi german auschwitz death camp will mark
international holocaust remembrance day and the th anniversary of the
liberation of the camp in nazi occupied poland where some one million jews
perished between june and january
on the eve of the trip to poland netanyahu warned against new rise of anti
semitism in the wake of israel devastating war in the gaza strip last year
when some palestinians and israelis were killed
this anti semitism is mixed with new attempt to deny the jewish state the
right of self defence he said
tennis australian open results day nine rd update
melbourne jan afp
results from day nine of the australian open at melbourne park here tuesday
denotes seeding
men singles
quarter finals
marin cilic cro bt andy roddick usa
andy murray gbr bt rafael nadal esp retired knee
injury
women singles
quarter finals
justine henin bel bt nadia petrova rus
zheng jie chn bt maria kirilenko rus
men doubles
quarter finals
michael kohlmann ger jarkko nieminen fin bt fernando gonzalez chi ivan
ljubicic cro retired
women doubles
quarter finals
lisa raymond usa rennae stubbs aus bt gisela dulko arg flavia pennetta
ita
venus williams usa serena williams usa bt bathanie mattek sands usa yan
zi chn
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
we support the afghan national process of reconciliation and reintegration
in accordance with the constitution of afghanistan in way that is afghan led
and driven the statement said
the talks were attended by karzai his counterparts from pakistan and turkey as
well as senior officials from iran china tajikistan and turkmenistan
tennis murray ousts nadal as henin dream run continues
melbourne jan afp
andy murray stayed on track for his first australian open final when defending
champion rafael nadal retired injured on tuesday as justine henin dream run
gathered pace
the fifth seeded scot became the first briton since john lloyd in to make
the semi finals in melbourne after nadal pulled out with right knee problem
when trailing
murray had looked the goods during the match pumping down aces and moving
around the court effortlessly as he set up showdown with surprise package
marin cilic
the big serving croatian made his first grand slam semi by outlasting seventh
seed andy roddick in an epic five setter as the
american once again failed to live up to expectations
murray who carries an enormous burden in attempting to break britain grand
slam drought in men tennis stretching back to fred perry us open
triumph said he felt sorry for spain nadal the second seed
he my favourite player to watch just because of what he brings to the court
with his energy and gutted for him he said
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
fourteenth seeded cilic once again proved his staying power but he admitted it
was tough going
it wasn easy in the last set was just trying to hold my serve and he was
putting lot of pressure on said cilic the first croat to reach the last
four in melbourne
won the first game easily and that helped and then when broke him it got
bit easier
can go one more five setter why not
it was marathon man cilic third five set match of the tournament
roger federer plays nikolay davydenko and novak djokovic faces jo wilfried
tsonga in the other quarter finals on wednesday
henin powered into the last four by using her vast experience to down determined
russian th seed nadia petrova
the year old belgian decided to return to tennis after seeing fellow belgian
kim clijsters win the us open last year and she has more than justified the
faith of organisers here who handed her wildcard
the draw opened up for her nicely when clijsters was knocked out in the third
round and henin has seized the opportunity
she now faces the dangerous but unseeded chinese zheng jie who destroyed
unseeded russian maria kirilenko
henin whose win made her just the third women wildcard to reach the semi
final of any grand slam after zheng at wimbledon in and clijsters at last
year us open said she was now daring to dream
here again in the last four it just much more than what could expect
and the dream continues said henin who called it quits in may after
losing her enthusiasm
but there still long way to go ll just try to be focused on what have
to do on the court and hope it keeps going this way
ll have good recovery and two good nights rest that what need
zheng is in her first australian semi final matching her run at wimbledon
and with li na also still in the tournament chinese tennis is on high
li plays sixth seed venus williams in the other quarter final on wednesday
while defending champion serena williams takes on seventh seed victoria azarenka
of belarus
henin for me is such good player she is so strong mentally said zheng who
was far too good for kirilenko who played with her left thigh heavily strapped
and was clearly struggling in the heat
just want to go out there and enjoy the match and play well
by reaching the semis the year old from chengdu will return to the top
for the first time since last june
israeli pm honours holocaust victims in poland
warsaw jan afp
israeli premier benjamin netanyahu tuesday honoured holocaust victims at world
war ii memorial in warsaw ahead of visit to the auschwitz death camp on the
th anniversary of its liberation
the israeli leader bowed his head in front of the imposing grey marble
umschalgplatz memorial in central warsaw laying wreath draped in the blue
and white colours of the israeli flag at its foot
at this place from where hundreds of thousands of our people were sent to death
camps we encounter the worst evil in the history of mankind together with
the greatest courage in the history of humanity netanyahu told reporters
it was from the infamous umschlagplatz site that in poland nazi german
occupiers sent more than jews by train to the infamous treblinka death
camp kilometres miles northeast of the city
holocaust survivors and polish woman who israel has honoured for having risked
her life to save jews during the holocaust attended the ceremony
this is not an easy encounter but it gives us hope and direction for our
future may god avenge the victims said the israeli leader accompanied by his
wife sara whose father was the only member of his family to survive the nazi
holocaust in which some six million jews were murdered
ceremonies on wednesday at the former nazi german auschwitz death camp will mark
international holocaust remembrance day and the th anniversary of the
liberation of the camp in nazi occupied poland where some one million jews
perished between june and january
on the eve of the trip to poland netanyahu warned against new rise of anti
semitism in the wake of israel devastating war in the gaza strip last year
when some palestinians and israelis were killed
this anti semitism is mixed with new attempt to deny the jewish state the
right of self defence he said
tennis murray ousts nadal as henin dream run continues
melbourne jan afp
andy murray stayed on track for his first australian open final when defending
champion rafael nadal retired injured on tuesday as justine henin dream run
gathered pace
the fifth seeded scot became the first briton since john lloyd in to make
the semi finals in melbourne after nadal pulled out with right knee problem
when trailing
murray had looked the goods during the match pumping down aces and moving
around the court effortlessly as he set up showdown with surprise package
marin cilic
the big serving croatian made his first grand slam semi by outlasting seventh
seed andy roddick in an epic five setter as the
american once again failed to live up to expectations
murray who carries an enormous burden in attempting to break britain grand
slam drought in men tennis stretching back to fred perry us open
triumph said he felt sorry for spain nadal the second seed
he my favourite player to watch just because of what he brings to the court
with his energy and gutted for him he said
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
fourteenth seeded cilic once again proved his staying power but he admitted it
was tough going
it wasn easy in the last set was just trying to hold my serve and he was
putting lot of pressure on said cilic the first croat to reach the last
four in melbourne
won the first game easily and that helped and then when broke him it got
bit easier
can go one more five setter why not
it was marathon man cilic third five set match of the tournament
roger federer plays nikolay davydenko and novak djokovic faces jo wilfried
tsonga in the other quarter finals on wednesday
henin powered into the last four by using her vast experience to down determined
russian th seed nadia petrova
the year old belgian decided to return to tennis after seeing fellow belgian
kim clijsters win the us open last year and she has more than justified the
faith of organisers here who handed her wildcard
the draw opened up for her nicely when clijsters was knocked out in the third
round and henin has seized the opportunity
she now faces the dangerous but unseeded chinese zheng jie who destroyed
unseeded russian maria kirilenko
henin whose win made her just the third women wildcard to reach the semi
final of any grand slam after zheng at wimbledon in and clijsters at last
year us open said she was now daring to dream
here again in the last four it just much more than what could expect
and the dream continues said henin who called it quits in may after
losing her enthusiasm
but there still long way to go ll just try to be focused on what have
to do on the court and hope it keeps going this way
ll have good recovery and two good nights rest that what need
zheng is in her first australian semi final matching her run at wimbledon
and with li na also still in the tournament chinese tennis is on high
li plays sixth seed venus williams in the other quarter final on wednesday
while defending champion serena williams takes on seventh seed victoria azarenka
of belarus
henin for me is such good player she is so strong mentally said zheng who
was far too good for kirilenko who played with her left thigh heavily strapped
and was clearly struggling in the heat
just want to go out there and enjoy the match and play well
by reaching the semis the year old from chengdu will return to the top
for the first time since last june
football africa world cup countdown starts against zimbabwe
durban south africa jan afp
expectations will be high when hosts south africa launch their world cup
countdown with friendly against neighbours zimbabwe on wednesday
it is the first and only confirmed warm up game for bafana bafana the boys
ahead of the june tournament opener against mexico at the revamped
capacity soccer city stadium on the outskirts of soweto
south africa did play non cap training match against african football pygmies
swaziland in this indian ocean city last saturday but win may have
inflicted harm as well as good
bafana supporters are glass half full theorists always looking on the bright
side as the team they worship have slumped from african champions to one
that failed to make the biennial tournament this month in angola
bring on the world cup screamed some fans after swaziland were routed
conveniently forgetting that it is mexico and former champions uruguay and
france who await the host nation in group come mid year
other supporters celebrated the biggest victory by south africa since they
returned to international football in after almost three decades in an
apartheid induced wilderness
unfortunately the match will not be recognised by world governing body fifa so
victory over chad in nations cup qualifier here remains the high
point of bafana prowess
but the two week durban camp for local footballers that concludes with the
zimbabwe fixture has been useful exercise judged by some of the finishing
against the swazis
gone was the bad old south african habit of trying to walk the ball into the net
and in its place some ferocious shooting from players like gert schalkwyk and
half time substitute franklin cale
the latter was revelation as wide midfielder adopting shoot on sight
policy so lacking last year when south africa managed an embarrassing return of
goals from outings
while predecessor joel santana was obsessed with negativity in midfield
favouring destroyers over creators replacement and fellow brazilian coach
carlos alberto parreira is keeping his engine room options open
apart that is from everton wide man steven pienaar who is going to play
pivotal role if south africa are to avoid becoming the first world cup hosts
eliminated after the mini league first phase
zimbabwe coach and former star defender sunday chidzambwa has chosen mix of
local and south africa based players for the latest instalment in long
running always competitive rivalry
esrom nyandoro from pretoria based mamelodi sundowns will lead warriors
squad that includes tigerish midfielder tinashe nengomasha and consistent scorer
cuthbert malajila
the south african premiership resumes next week and finishes march with
parreira taking squad to brazil for the rest of that month and to germany in
april
tennis murray into semis after nadal retires
melbourne jan afp
andy murray became the first briton to reach the semi finals of the australian
open in years after defending champion rafael nadal sensationally withdrew
from their quarter final on tuesday
the british fifth seed was leading at the time the spanish
world number two retired with right knee injury
murray now has semi final with croatia marin cilic who earlier eliminated
four time semi finalist andy roddick in five sets
