reception in the city
my family along with millions around the world followed the events of last
february with sense of horror which slowly as the days passed turned to one
of deep deep admiration for the steadfastness of the australian people
william travelled from sydney to the town of whittlesea early thursday to
receive an official briefing about the disaster before touring devastated areas
it terrifying what it can do isn it he remarked leafing through
photographs of the damage
victoria state premier john brumby said the young prince was staggered by the
scale of the destruction
hundreds of homeless and traumatised victims who took refuge in whittlesea
following the blazes turned out to greet william whose visit comes two weeks
ahead of the first anniversary of the tragedy
his convoy made stop at the humevale property of richard and diane fox so that
he could speak with them about their ordeal
it an honour it not every day that royalty comes to walk on your lovely
block of land said diane adding that the visit would lift spirits and help
the healing process
there been lot of heartache lot of mud she said
it not just about an area it about the people and there been so many
people affected not just us who lost our houses
the casually dressed royal who wore yellow ribbon on his shirt in memory of
the dead mixed easily with survivors during barbecue lunch inquiring after
the welfare of families and whether they intended to rebuild
delighted local children queued for chance to bat against the prince during
lunchtime cricket game with australian stars matthew hayden and brett lee
william told the melbourne reception being in australia was the realisation of
long held dream recalling his much loved late mother princess diana affection
for australia and the profound impression it made on her
his father prince charles was still misty eyed about an immortal moment on
bondi beach when an australian beauty planted smack on his cheek william
said
it good to see this tradition is still continuing he joked
the prince praised australia as truly country for the st century
what has struck me during this visit to the southern hemisphere is what shared
heritage actually means it really is about core values and our way of life
william added
it really is about humour and decency and it is also about courage and an
ability to face down adversity
he made an impromptu appearance at the australian open tennis tournament and
watched world number one roger federer secure straight sets win over romania
victor hanescu
william will reportedly return to britain on an overnight flight
the prince last visited australia in the arms of his mother when he was just
nine months old in and commentators say his ready humour and laid back
manner gave him the diana touch with the public
his popular tour has revived debate over whether australia should become
republic with some opinion formers suggesting he had boosted the monarchist
cause
deputy prime minister julia gillard said there were no present plans to have
referendum on becoming republic move the australian people voted against in
olympics reigning boardcross gold frieden injured
geneva jan afp
reigning olympic snowboard gold medallist tanja frieden is flying back to
switzerland for treatment after being injured during qualifying for canadian
world cup race the swiss ski ing federation said thursday
federation spokesman david hurzeler said it was not clear if the boardcross
champion was in doubt for the winter games in vancouver in three weeks time
after she dislocated shoulder and hurt both her achilles tendons at stoneham
it still not certain swiss ski spokesman david hurzeler told afp
frieden will return to switzerland accompanied by nurse for check up by the
swiss team doctor at clinic in zurich the federation said in statement
tennis serena and venus answer belgian challenge in style
melbourne jan afp
serena and venus williams answered the challenge of belgian pair kim clijsters
and justine henin in emphatic fashion on thursday as they both crushed second
round opponents at the australian open
serena demolished petra kvitova of the czech republic on the hisense
arena immediately after venus had disposed of crafty austrian sybille bammer
on the same court
however former world number one ana ivanovic showed just how far she has fallen
as she was bundled out by unseeded argentine gisele dulko
on good day for the seeded players fourth ranked dane caroline wozniacki
crushed german julia goerges belarusian victoria azarenka seeded
seven beat swiss teenager stefanie voegele and russia vera zvonareva
nine smashed czech iveta benesova
but it was serena who impressed most as she wiped out the challenge of year
old kvitova in only minutes
kvitova matched it with williams for five games in the first set before the
world number one stepped up gear and blitzed her way through the rest of the
match
williams four time champion here warned she would only get better from here
thought today was little bit better than my match in my first round
williams said
felt like was moving better and had better energy just felt all around
lot better
but felt like could have actually played lot better today
meanwhile venus said she was now playing style of attacking tennis that
naturally suits her after she powered past bammer
bammer game plan seemed to be to try and get the ball back into play as much
as possible and wait for her opponent to make mistake and this tactic worked
on occasions as williams hit unforced errors over two sets
but the american sixth seed also blasted winners many of them coming at
the net to bammer four to underline her superiority
the seven time grand slam winner has never won the australian open and she would
likely have to get past wozniacki in the quarters and serena in the semis to
have shot in
but the nature of her wins over lucie safarova in the first round and bammer in
the second indicate she has as good chance as anyone of lifting the trophy
she said she was playing brand of attacking tennis this week that she enjoys
for the most part enjoying coming in to the net lot she said
mean it feels pretty natural for me to come in like that that good for
me
if anyone can stop the williams juggernaut it could well be us open runner
up wozniacki
she was highly impressive in her win over goerges breaking the german once in
the first set and twice in the second
her powerful groundstrokes were devastating and she served far better than in
her first round match
it was good match and happy to be through she said
am definitely happy with my form now hope get day off tomorrow and
relax little bit have short practice and then ll be ready for my third
round
thirteenth seed samantha stosur kept australian hopes alive as she beat german
kristina barrois while china li na joined countrywoman zheng jie in
the third round when she beat hungary agnes szavay
euro parliament approves all vetted eu commission nominees
strasbourg jan afp
euro mps voiced approval thursday for of the would be members of eu
commission chief jose manuel barroso new team with bulgaria replacement
choice yet to be vetted spokesman said
the european parliament is scheduled to give its official green light for the
barroso ii commission on february after sofia second choice candidate for
its humanitarian aid portfolio has been quizzed
the first choice rumiana jeleva was this week forced to withdraw from the
brussels post and resign as bulgaria foreign minister after allegations of
incompetence and financial wrongdoing arose during her grilling at the eu
parliament last week
the parliament cannot veto an individual commissioner designate but can block
the team as whole
european parliament president jerzy buzek on thursday received the last of the
letters from the parliamentary committees which interviewed the would be
members of the eu executive arm
spokesman for buzek said all the committees gave favourable opinion except
for jeleva who failed the audition quite badly
her failure has delayed the entry into force of barroso cabinet for his second
five year term as commission head
it is the second postponed for commission which was unable to take up its
functions in november due to delays in getting the eu reforming lisbon treaty
ratified
the parliamentary green light is especially good news for the likes of olli
rehn finland choice for the monetary affairs brief and neelie kroes the
dutch pick for new technologies who did not overly impress the meps
british peer catherine ashton the eu foreign affairs supremo received
unenthusiastic support after giving vague replies on major global issues source
said
the commission will comprise members one from each eu nation the afigure
includes portuguese barroso who was re selected for the job last year
afp gmt news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor martin bennitt
tel
haiti desperate fight for aid
troops keep uneasy peace in nigerian riot city
markets rattled by china fears
haiti quake newseries wrap
port au prince
rescuers in haiti pull two more children from the rubble more than week after
the massive magnitude quake as desperate crowds fight for aid being handed
out
words gmt by sophie nicholson and stephane jourdain graphic picture
video
nigeria religion unrest
jos nigeria
thousands of troops patrol the streets of jos in bid to restore calm in the
nigerian city after four days of christian muslim clashes left around people
dead while an estimated have fled their homes
words gmt by aminu abubakar
stocks world economy wrap
london
global stocks recover slightly from major falls but the euro suffers and world
oil prices fall amid mounting worries over china economy
words gmt
europe
attacks aviation security eu us talks ndlead
toledo spain
the united states seeks to overcome european union resistance to body scanners
to monitor passengers crossing the atlantic after the attempted christmas day
airline bombing
words gmt by christian spillmann graphic picture
serbia croatia bosnia politics lead
belgrade serbia and croatia row over bosnian serb threats to call referendum
on independence from bosnia hercegovia stirring up uncertainty in the fragile
region
words gmt by stephanie van den berg
cyprus britain property focus
nicosia
foreign property owners in northern cyprus express alarm over british court
ruling which ordered couple to tear down villa built on disputed land in the
divided island and pay compensation to the owner
words gmt by cyril julien
middle east
attacks yemen qaeda ndlead wrap
sanaa
yemen stops granting entry visas to travellers at its airports to prevent
militants from sneaking into the country widening its dragnet against an al
qaeda cell believed behind spate of international attacks
words gmt by hammound mounassar
attacks yemen qaeda students focus
sanaa
yemen authorities cannot keep track of the thousands of foreign students thought
to be in the country learning arabic or studying islam
words gmt by michel moutot
americas
us economy politics banking rdlead
washington
president barack obama is to unveil new limits on the size of the biggest us
banks after spending billions of tax payer dollars to bail out too big to
fail financial giants
words gmt
iran us eu china un nuclear diplomacy focus
washington
six international powers seek unity to check iran nuclear ambitions as top
diplomat predicts china will drop its opposition to new sanctions
words gmt by christophe schmidt
asia pacific
china economy rdlead wrap
beijing
china red hot economy expanded by percent in but inflation surged
towards the end of the year new data show as authorities intervene to avert the
risk of overheating
words moved by marianne barriaux picture graphic
pakistan afghanistan us unrest military rdlead
islamabad
us defense secretary robert gates warns that taliban safe havens along the
pakistan afghanistan border must be tackled or both nations would suffer more
lethal and more brazen attacks
words gmt by dan de luce
australia britain royals william rdlead wrap
melbourne
britain prince william paid tribute to the courageous survivors of horrific
firestorms that killed people last year as embodying the spirit of
australia
words by gmt picture
africa
angola politics lead
luanda
angola parliament approves the nation first constitution cementing the
power of president jose eduardo dos santos who has ruled for years in
africa top oil producer
words gmt by louise redvers
afp
corrected swiss pilots aim to circle world in solar powered plane
abu dhabi jan afp
bertrand piccard is no conventional environmental activist he hopes to raise
awareness about the potential of renewable energy by flying solar powered
aircraft around the world
what we want to do is to fly day and night to show that with renewable
energies you can have unlimited duration of flight no restriction piccard
told afp at the world future energy summit in abu dhabi where he had booth to
promote his venture
the year old swiss psychiatrist plans to fly his one of kind solar impulse
around the world over to days traveling at an average of kilometres
miles an hour
he will split the flying time with andre borschberg former swiss fighter
pilot
we believe that if an airplane can fly around the world with no fuel nobody
can say after that it impossible to do it for cars for heating systems for
air conditioning for computers and so on he said
the prototype of solar impulse made its first test flight near zurich in
december the plane is made of carbon fibre with solar panels along the top of
its roughly metre foot wingspan
the aim is for the solar panels to absorb energy to power the aircraft during
the day and at the same time store energy in lithium polymer batteries to run
the engines at night
after aircraft manufacturers said piccard specifications would be impossible
to meet he turned to racing yacht manufacturer to build the airframe
they did not know it impossible so they did it he said
the plane is powered by four electric engines each making maximum of
horsepower piccard said that despite having wingspan close to that of an
airbus solar impulse weighs only kilogrammes pounds
asked what led him to try this unorthodox method of promoting renewable energy
piccard pointed to his family history
come from family of explorers who always had lot of concern for the
environment and for natural resources he said
my grandfather was the first man to explore the stratosphere to climb above
the atmosphere in balloon and my father made in the deepest dive
ever in submarine he said
piccard has already demonstrated penchant for adventure in he and
briton brian jones became the first men to complete non stop flight around the
globe in hot air balloon
that flight gave me the fame to do useful things piccard said including
finding sponsors money and support for his current project
the project which will cost total of million euros million dollars
has been underway for around seven years and still has way to go the
attempted flight around the world won take place until or
this year the aircraft will undergo high altitude testing and will also be
tested in daytime and nighttime flight if that goes well the prototype will
either be modified or new one built for trans atlantic flight
we have to reproduce lindbergh flight with no fuel piccard said referring
to charles lindbergh the first man to fly solo non stop across the atlantic
ocean
the one man aircraft will land at different points during the flight around the
world so the pilots can switch off piccard said
in addition to the switch the landings will be an opportunity to present the
technology of this airplane to encourage people to use the technology also
for their daily life he said
for piccard the solar impulse project is new positive tack in promoting
renewable energy and conservation
was in copenhagen for the recent climate change conference and see
people are fed up with the alarmists the catastrophists he said
people need solutions not problems so we have to demonstrate the solutions
we have to show that it possible to do great things
and aviation piccard said is good vector to push messages
tennis federer in regal form to charge into third round
melbourne jan afp
roger federer imperiously took his place in the australian open third round with
straight sets demolition of hapless romanian victor hanescu on thursday
watched by britain prince william in the official box the world number one
ripped through the th ranked hanescu in just one hour minutes winning
federer bidding for his th grand slam title and fourth australian open here
over the next fortnight will now play spanish st seed albert montanes in
saturday third round
used to it because play lot of primetime matches where there are very
important people watching federer said
this one tonight was obviously extremely special it pleasure of course
playing in front of him
it was big honour that he came to watch me
it was stunning set of statistics for federer in thursday match
he broke hanescu serve five times and didn drop his own serve while hitting
winners of them with the forehand federer dominated the match points
to
happy the way played today federer said the opponent was very
different to the one played in the first round
he played much more on the baseline so there was many more half volleys and
the rallies were shorter
so it was different kind of match got off to good start and kind of never
looked back moved well and played some amazing shots it was great
hanescu has still to take set off federer in their four meetings as the swiss
legend stepped up gear after his muddling opening round performance against
russian igor andreev on tuesday
his opening set loss to andreev was the first time he had dropped set in
first round grand slam match since the us open
federer made his intentions known from the outset breaking hanescu opening
service and again in the eighth game to take the set in minutes
the swiss great strolled through the second set reeling off another service
break in the eighth game to take sets lead
he broke hanescu in his opening two service games of the final set to coast to
victory in quick time
today was willing to go for more points and rallies where decided not to
miss and only go for it if perfectly set up he said
think the tactic worked tonight for the next round opponent definitely
have to adjust my tactics again
the latest victory his australian open record to as he competes in his st
consecutive grand slam tournament
federer is on track to face either former finalists lleyton hewitt or marcos
baghdatis in the fourth round and potential quarter final with russian sixth
seed nikolay davydenko
he has missed playing in only one of the last grand slam finals and
bookmakers have again installed him the favourite to win here
last year he finally broke through at roland garros clinching the french open
at his th attempt and followed up with sixth wimbledon crown in seven years
he became the all time grand slam leader in men tennis in the process passing
the won by american pete sampras while retrieving the number one ranking off
rafael nadal
mumbai govt orders taxi drivers to speak local language
mumbai jan afp
taxi drivers in mumbai on thursday railed against state government order that
they must be able to speak the local language in the latest outbreak of
regionalist feuding in the city
the maharashtra state congress led alliance said it would only grant licences
to taxi drivers who speak marathi effectively excluding the many migrants who
pour into the city from elsewhere in india
the tens of thousands of distinctive black and yellow vehicles that ply the
roads are often driven by indians who have recently moved to mumbai the
country most cosmopolitan city
this is undemocratic and unwarranted against people seeking to earn living
said quadros general secretary of mumbai taximen union the oldest in
the city
taxi unions are now considering strike or legal moves he said
opposition hindu parties in mumbai have led an anti migrant campaign in recent
years saying they wish to defend the rights of marathi speaking locals
analysts see the state government move as an attempt to counter the popularity
of the right wing maharashtra navnirman sena party led by veteran firebrand raj
thackeray
lithuanian fm quits after questioning secret us prisons probe
vilnius jan afp
lithuania foreign minister vygaudas usackas quit thursday following tensions
with the baltic state president over probe into claims that the country had
hosted secret us war on terror jails
it crucial for the government be able to work smoothly and seriously with
parliament and the president to help lithuanians overcome our economic and
financial problems usackas told reporters
with that in mind submitting my resignation he added
on wednesday president dalia grybauskaite had said she had lost confidence in
usackas
grybauskaite spokesman said usackas was too hungry for personal publicity
and was failing to coordinate policy with the president who is in charge of
lithuania diplomacy
last month usackas broke ranks by publicly casting doubt on parliamentary
inquiry findings that lithuania may have hosted two secret lock ups
purportedly used by us intelligence to interrogate suspected al qaeda members in
grybauskaite meanwhile had hailed the landmark probe
the two fell out again this month over grybauskaite plan to invite hardline
president alexander lukashenko of belarus to ceremony in march marking
years since lithuania declared independence from the soviet union
usackas dubbed the move ill timed because ex soviet belarus refuses to
extradite an ex general who lithuania accuses of steering failed soviet
crackdown in vilnius which claimed civilian lives
usackas became foreign minister in december after lithuania
conservatives won general election
the non partisan grybauskaite former european union budget chief with no
nonsense reputation took office in july last year
opel belgian plant will close this year company
frankfurt jan afp
german car company opel will close its plant in antwerp belgium this year gm
europe announced on thursday
we must make this announcement now so that we can secure viable future for
the entire opel and vauxhall operations gm europe president nick reilly said
in statement
the opel site which will close in the course of employs workers
the statement said
opel and its british sister brand vauxhall have launched programme of deep
restructuring to salvage the core of loss making operations under the direction
of us parent company general motors
reilly who is head of both gm europe and opel vauxhall has said that
jobs will have to be cut from total of more than across europe
it an absolute catastrophe for belgian workers and manufacturing walter
cnop of the belgian csc union metalworkers branch told afp
cnop blasted management arrogance and decision he said was based on
political considerations in no way assessed on economic grounds
gm had initially planned to sell opel vauxhall to canadian company and
russian bank but changed its mind in november and decided to restructure the
carmaker and cut its output capacity by percent
opel vauxhall needs billion euros billion dollars to carry out the
restructuring and directors have sought billion of that from european
governments which host the company factories
tennis federer welcomes prince william to centre court
melbourne jan afp
prince william made surprise visit to the australian open to watch world
number one roger federer on thursday and the swiss star called it an extremely
special occasion
after touring communities near melbourne affected by bushfires last year that
killed people william arrived at the rod laver arena in time to see the
time grand slam champion demolish romanian victor hanescu
the crowd gave william warm ovation as he took his seat with tennis australia
officials and he applauded enthusiastically as federer marched into the third
round
after the game federer was interviewed courtside by former grand slam champion
jim courier who asked the swiss great to officially welcome royalty to
melbourne park
federer turning to face the laughing william duly obliged
your royal highness welcome to the world of tennis he said
thank you for coming
the two met after the game and federer said the prince was charming
this one tonight was obviously extremely special it pleasure of course
playing in front of him he said
asked what william said to him federer replied he was happy he could make it
mean not going to tell you everything he just said to me you ve got to
have little bit of secret
no he looked really happy coming to sports venue think he had very
busy schedule over the last few days
from what ve heard think he met serena and myself and came to watch my
match he said he was happy that played little bit longer because the match
could have ended even shorter so it was nice
william second in line to the british throne earlier told melbourne
reception that being in australia was the realisation of long held dream
he recalled his much loved late mother princess diana affection for australia
and the profound impression it made on her
the young royal requested the trip to australia as way to get to know the
country and its people following official duties in new zealand where he
represented his grandmother queen elizabeth ii for the first time
william last visited australia in the arms of his mother when he was just nine
months old in and commentators say his ready humour and laid back manner
gave him the diana touch with the public
us welcome in quake aid effort haiti government
paris jan afp
haitian leaders stressed that us forces in the quake stricken country were
welcome there and the country was not under their guardianship in comments to
french media on thursday
haiti is not under guardianship of other countries as they help nurse and feed
the victims of last week huge quake and keep the streets safe haitian
president rene preval said quoted by the daily newspaper liberation
haiti prime minister jean max bellerive told rtl radio in port au prince the
americans are here at our request they are here purely to help us with our
humanitarian and security needs
he added everyone agrees that the aid of different armies in controlled
concerted way is welcome in haiti
the total us force in haiti is due to swell to around in coming days as
more troops are poured in to help after the quake that haitian authorities say
killed at least people and left million homeless
the americans controlling of the aid effort has raised tensions with some
countries bolivia and venezuela have criticised its heavy presence and france
earlier expressed annoyance after aid planes were delayed from landing
french president nicolas sarkozy moved on tuesday to ease strains with the
united states over the relief effort in haiti saying that paris and washington
were fully cooperating to help there
alert prompts calls for better security at german airports
berlin jan afp
germany interior minister called thursday for full enquiry into major
alert at munich airport when man fled security personnel after his laptop
tested positive for possible explosives
have ordered every single circumstance surrounding this incident to be looked
at with all those involved thomas de maiziere said on deutschlandfunk radio
adding that he was taking it very seriously
if necessary then consequences must be taken at munich airport he said as
well as other airports in germany if problems of structural nature are
detected
police said after the incident which involved parts of munich airport being
sealed off that the traveller was most likely businessman in hurry to catch
