brian davis gbr jason day aus henrik
bjornstad nor
ryuichi oda jpn
china eastern surges on profit expectations
shanghai jan afp
shares in china eastern airlines surged on monday after the firm said it
expected to return to the black in due to the rebound in the aviation
industry and lower fuel costs
the nation third largest carrier in terms of fleet size saw its shanghai
listed shares jump by the daily trading limit of five percent to yuan
us cents in the morning session
the results of the company for will substantially grow compared to the
same period last year china eastern said in statement filed with the
shanghai stock exchange over the weekend
the results of the company for are expected to turn from loss into
profit
the airline which posted net loss of billion yuan for did not give
specific figures for its earnings last year in the preliminary announcement
complete annual results are due on april
china eastern said reversal in the fair value of fuel hedging contracts helped
it recover from when it booked paper losses of about billion yuan
million dollars on the deals due to sharp drop in oil prices
it also attributed the improvement to the recovery of the aviation industry
and government support
the official people daily reported earlier this month that china aviation
industry had turned combined profit of billion yuan in and the
number of passengers increased percent on year to million
china could cancel shanghai mobiles in porn crackdown media
shanghai jan afp
mobile users in shanghai caught sending dirty short messages photos or videos
by phone could have their numbers cancelled as part of china crackdown on
pornography state media reported monday
an employee at the shanghai subsidiary of china mobile the world biggest
phone operator by market value said the company would search for keywords and
then forward the offending messages to the police to investigate
we will first block the user from sending and receiving messages and the
police station will then evaluate it the unidentified employee was quoted in
the global times as saying
if police found the message contained dirty words the phone number would be
cancelled said the report
state media said last week china mobile users would be banned from sending texts
if they are found to have distributed pornography or other illegal content by
phone
but this latest report indicates the mobile operator could now go one step
further by cancelling phone numbers
calls by afp to china mobile were not immediately answered
china mobile had million subscribers at the end of november according to
the latest company figures accounting for more than percent of the
country mobile phone users
china strictly censors the internet and other media saying it is aimed at
curbing pornographic or violent content
but critics allege the so called great firewall of china is used to strangle
dissent and curb the spread of political content deemed threat to communist
party rule
more than pornographic websites including over mobile wap sites
websites that users can access via cell phones were shut down or blocked
in the official xinhua news agency said last week
beijing has vowed tougher online policing in as key element of state
security
third body found in malaysian dragon boat tragedy
kuala lumpur jan afp
malaysian authorities said monday they had recovered the bodies of teacher and
two students drowned in boating tragedy while the search for three others
continued
eighteen people were aboard the long narrow dragon boat when strong
undercurrents tipped it over as it made turn in waters off the resort island
of penang in malaysia north early sunday
the including young paddlers were practising for dragon boat
competition later in the year along with teacher and two trainers
we discovered the body of the third victim year old student at about
am this morning near the scene of the accident penang police chief ayub
yakob told afp
the confirmed deaths so far are three and we will continue to search for
another three missing students he added
the body of the male teacher was recovered from the sea sunday morning and the
body of another year old student was found in the afternoon
ayub has said that initial investigations revealed that several of the rowers
all from local school were not wearing life jackets but most of the group
managed to swim to shore
tennis zheng wins all china showdown
melbourne jan afp
zheng jie came from set down to win the all chinese showdown with peng shuai
monday to secure her place in the australian open second round
zheng who has slipped down the rankings to after abandoning the chinese
state sports system to manage her own career was in disarray during the first
set crashing before recovering to take the next two sets
it was gutsy victory for zheng over her friend and sets her up with second
round clash against either th seeded spaniard maria jose martinez sanchez or
russian evgeniya rodina
with rain forcing delays on the outside courts zheng said she was slow to start
because of disrupted warm up routine
had to stop for or minutes and when got to the court didn feel
warmed up for the first set said zheng who made the fourth round last year
and is one of asia best hopes here along with fellow chinese li na
the second set kept moving and tried to play more aggressive and was able to
come back
it was the pair first match against each other since when peng scored
three set win in shenzhen
avatar wins golden globes best picture
beverly hills california jan afp
science fiction epic avatar won the best picture prize at the golden globe
awards here sunday cementing its status as front runner for the oscars
the film which earned best director prize for creator james cameron earlier
in the evening beat out competition from the hurt locker inglourious
basterds precious and up in the air
urgent avatar wins golden globes best picture
beverly hills california jan afp
science fiction epic avatar won the best picture prize at the golden globe
awards here sunday cementing its status as front runner for the oscars
tennis motivated safina powers on in australia
melbourne jan afp
last year finalist dinara safina said her motivation had never been greater
after powering into the australian open second round after hard fought
slugfest with magdalena rybarikova on monday
the second seed trounced in the final year ago by serena williams had her
work cut out as she battled double faults unforced errors and persistent
world number
the former world number one squandered early service breaks in both sets but
eventually overpowered the year old on the back of her aggressive
groundstrokes
having struggled with back injury late last year it was rusty safina in
just her seventh match since september
the year old made unforced errors and served nine double faults almost
one per game
but she also showed off the qualities that enabled her to get to number one in
the world last year despite failing to win grand slam title hitting
winners
it was not an easy first round match she very good opponent she said
had some good moments and bad moments but overall happy went through
and pretty satisfied with everything
it was solid game by me just from this can start to build up much more
confidence and using more my shots
safina shrugged off any lingering disappointment after shattering defeats in the
french and australian open finals in describing it as great year
she said she was even more motivated for the new season after the tribulations
of last year
think at the end of the last year was tired exhausted had no more fun
on the court she said
but now feel like back and enjoying every moment on the court that
was missing little bit last year was every time pushing myself
but now do it with much more desire
she said she was close to full fitness again despite withdrawing from the
opening tournament of the year in brisbane to get more treatment on her lower
back
it was good lesson that have to be smarter and take much more care about
myself she said
just had good rest my recovery went pretty fast and feeling pretty
good
safina needed touch of fortune in the second set with the slovak republic star
calling for video review as the russian faced crucial break point in the
eighth game
but the replay showed the safina shot just brushed the outside of the line
foiling rybarikova attempt to level the scores at
safina held to lead and then was able to close out the match easily on her
following service game
at their only previous meeting safina had dropped just one game at the
french open
figure skating chan hitting his stride ahead of vancouver games
london canada jan afp
world silver medallist patrick chan anticipated dream of an olympic season
had not been exactly that ahead of the canadian figure skating championships
held here this past week
he dealt with illness injury disastrous competitive debut at skate canada
and just days before he headed to nationals last week the resignation of his
primary coach don laws
but on sunday chan shook off his early season woes and took giant step
forward towards re establishing himself as prime contender for the podium at
the olympic winter games in vancouver with convincing win of his third
national crown
he earned points in all score puffed up perhaps by supportive canadian
judges the silver medal and canada second olympic men berth went to vaughn
chipeur whose score of paled in comparison
really taken aback with everything that happened here with all the
hardship had this season to come through with great performance here
when you put that olympic team jacket on you realize really going to
the olympics chan said
going to look forward to training now with bit more weight off my
shoulders
as the olympic clock ticks down towards the men contest which begins less
than month from now chan will work hard to iron out the various wrinkles
including less than solid landings that marred some triple jumps
under the watchful if not nervous gaze of his long time canadian choreographer
and now coach lori nichol and co coach christy krall from colorado springs
chan performed superior if not yet superlative worthy programmes here
his performances were not yet on par with those he delivered last season in
winning the isu four continents title and world championships silver medal but
were better than some had expected on the heels of the resignation of his
florida based coach don laws
laws threw in the towel saying he could not coach an athlete who had chosen to
spend most of his time training kilometres away in colorado observers
wondered if the split would thwart chan olympic ambitions but it appears
the transition has been rather seamless
on sunday chan credited training at altitude in colorado with the increased
stamina that allowed him to finish his demanding final step sequence with
flourish
think we set him on great path six weeks ago we invoked everything he
needed on ice off ice nutrition sleep enforcing that and tweaking it
along the way nichol said he been working hard working smart and
think tonight is product of that
like evgeni plushenko at the russian nationals chan also earned an astronomical
score for his short programme on friday considering the missteps he
made
to his credit he was not shy about conceding the scores were inflated
especially since he managed only triple double jump combination when triple
triple is expected at this level and put hand down to stay upright on landing
his triple flip
his oft troublesome triple axel however was superb in the opener and his
footwork impressive
be honest think it was bit like plushenko chan said of the
generous scoring sure the other skaters are shaking their heads but
points don mean much to me it how felt going out and how skated
asked if her student is now on pace to challenge for the podium at the games in
four weeks time nichol answered you betcha have no question he going
to be totally ready
jeff bridges wins golden globes best actor honor
beverly hills california jan afp
jeff bridges won the best drama actor prize at the golden globes here sunday for
his performance as washed up country singer in crazy heart
the year old hollywood veteran who had been nominated for golden globe on
three previous occasions but never won has received widespread critical
plaudits for his performance
bridges received lengthy standing ovation as he walked to the stage to receive
his honor
you re really screwing up my under appreciated status he quipped before
dedicating the award to his wife and family
other nominees in the category included george clooney for up in the air
colin firth for single man morgan freeman invictus and tobey maguire
brothers
alert
alert avatar wins golden globes best picture
rcw mk
tennis safina through but sharapova crashes out in melbourne
melbourne jan afp
former champion maria sharapova crashed out of the australian open on monday but
there was better luck for fellow russian dinara safina who spearheaded the
charge into the second round
sharapova former world number one and the winner was shadow of her
former self against the hard working maria kirilenko who made the most of her
chances to win
it was disastrous start to the year for the underdone sharapova seeded
who opted to only play exhibitions in thailand and hong kong as warm up to the
opening grand slam of the year
playing with the roof closed on the rod laver arena due to rain which caused
play on outside courts to be suspended the year old struggled to find any
rhythm against player ranked
the russian pin up was deprived of defending her australian title last year
after failing to recover from shoulder surgery
the injury kept her out of action until last may and monday was another example
of her struggling to regain the type of form that made her the top player in the
world
in contrast safina the number two seed who was thrashed in the final last year
by serena williams downed slovakia th ranked magdalena rybarikova
but she too had her work cut out as she battled double faults and unforced
errors in an emotional and spasmodic performance
the year old who battled back problem at the end of last year and was
playing in only her seventh match since mid september said she was happy just
to stay in the tournament
it was not an easy first round match she very good opponent safina said
had some good moments and bad moments but overall happy went through
she added that her back was no longer problem and she was fired up for this
season
feel like back and enjoying every moment on the court she said
that was missing little bit last year last year was pushing myself every
time okay have to do it but now do it with much more desire
she next faces either russian qualifier regina kulikova or czech barbora
zahlavova strycova
other women progressing included th seed kateryna bondarenko of ukraine who
eased past romania raluca ioana olaru and china zheng jie
who beat compatriot peng shuai
serena williams is the bookmakers favourite and she gets her title defence
underway on tuesday against poland urszula radwanska
key threat to her will be the belgian pair of kim clijsters and justine henin
with both in action later monday
on the men side ivan ljubicic was the first seed through with the th ranked
croat crushing year old australian wildcard jason kubler the youngest player
in the draw
former finalist fernando gonzalez of chile seeded progressed after
win over belgian olivier rochus
world number two and defending champion rafael nadal plays later monday against
australia peter luczak in night match
on the spaniard side of the draw andy murray is key threat with the scot
also in action monday against south africa kevin anderson
world number one roger federer opens his tournament on tuesday against russia
igor andreev with third seed novak djokovic and sixth seed nicolay davydenko
posing the main threat for him in his top half of the draw
downey jr wins globe for best comedy performance
los angeles jan afp
robert downey jr won the golden globe award for best comedy actor here sunday
for his performance as victorian era super sleuth sherlock holmes
downey pipped matt damon daniel day lewis joseph gordon levitt and
michael stuhlbarg for the honor
it was the third golden globe of downey career following earlier wins for
short cuts and in television comedy ally mcbeal
prince william proves star power on new zealand walkabout
wellington jan afp
britain prince william proved his star power monday as thousands of new
zealanders cheered the second in line to the throne in the face of small
republican demonstration
the year old prince opened new supreme court building in wellington during
the second day of his first official trip overseas on behalf of his grandmother
queen elizabeth ii
the prince was loudly cheered as he arrived to be draped in ceremonial maori
feather cloak and received haka or challenge from group of bare chested
warriors in grass skirts
group of distinguished maori elders met william with hongi touching noses
in maori greeting
we love you william one woman called out from the crowd
the number of spectators swelled to between to as the year old
prince left the building after the hour long opening ceremony and walked among
the crowd shaking hands and greeting enthusiastic onlookers
have you been waiting all this time so sorry he told one woman
the largest group of protesters representing justice ministry staff demanding
more pay fell quiet as the prince approached pressing to shake his hand and
take photos
draped in new zealand flag onlooker sue reid said william was good example
for young people including daughter zara seven who was by her side
like the fact he is good role model for my children he kind and
compassionate not like some of these rock stars reid said
reid mother jan howie from tasmania in australia was draped in the
australian flag and added approvingly that william supported good causes like
his late mother princess diana
you look just like your mother another woman called out to the prince
william was smiley and chatty in the half hour he spent moving around the low
barricades separating him from the crowd as group of about security staff
kept close watch
there was no sign of the shyness evident in william youth although his face
did start to redden in the bright summer sunshine
group of excited teenage girls compared notes after shaking the prince hand
he has really confident handshake no clamminess one said
asked why they wanted to meet him couple chorused he not married
didn get chance to say anything to him think was star struck
another added
polls show more than percent of new zealanders support new zealand eventually
becoming republic
but there was little support in the wellington crowd for small band of noisy
protesters who unfurled banner reading it time for republic
prince william might be nice guy but it should be new zealander chosen by
new zealanders opening our highest court of appeal the republican movement
chairman lewis holden said
prime minister john key who accompanied the prince during the court opening
said the republican debate would be no shocking revelation to william
personally don think new zealand is going to become republic anytime real
soon but it not something that they are afraid to debate as royals key told
commercial radio
the prince was due to visit an offshore island wildlife sanctuary later monday
before attending barbecue at key official residence in wellington
he was to visit children at wellington hospital on tuesday morning before flying
to sydney for three day unofficial visit to australia
tennis sharapova crashes out of australian open
melbourne jan afp
former champion maria sharapova crashed out of the australian open at the first
hurdle when she was beaten by fellow russian maria kirilenko
on monday
the two year olds slugged it out for over three hours before sharapova
forehand sailed wide giving kirilenko the first upset of the tournament
and her second win in four matches against the former world number one
sharapova who spent almost year out of the game in following surgery
for shoulder injury looked rusty at the start with many of her groundstrokes
either hitting the net or spraying long or wide often both
the champion elected not to play competitive lead up tournament instead
choosing exhibitions in hong kong and thailand and her lack of serious match
practice was evident
both women started nervously dropping their opening serves following string
of unforced errors
kirilenko then lost her second service game and when sharapova opened lead
with booming ace regulation straight sets win looked likely
but kirilenko steadied and began to find her range and as sharapova unforced
error rate continued to climb the lesser ranked russian broke back in the
eighth game to put the set back on serve
sharapova took an early lead in the tiebreak but kirilenko fought back again and
two backhand errors in row from sharapova handed the first set to her
opponent
sharapova came out firing in the second attacking more serving better and
reducing her error rate
she broke kirilenko to lead and held the advantage in tightly contested
second set leveling the match at one set apiece
but the effort appeared to take its toll and tired looking sharapova lost her
opening serve in the third set as kirilenko eased to lead
sharapova refused to concede and when nervous kirilenko served for the match
at the former world number one pounced and broke back to put the set back
on serve
but the respite was only fleeting as kirilenko brought up two match points on
sharapova serve
sharapova saved the first but couldn save the second and kirilenko was
through
suspected killer of son of presidential aide captured
manila jan afp
philippine security agents shot and arrested the main suspect in the road rage
shooting of the son of senior aide of president gloria arroyo officials said
monday
police launched massive manhunt for suspect jason ivler after he allegedly
shot dead renato ebarle jnr during traffic row in manila in november in
crime that shocked the nation
ivler was wounded in shootout when agents of the national bureau of
investigation nbi stormed his family home in manila suburb said nbi deputy
director ruel lasala in radio interview
two nbi agents were also wounded in the incident which was captured live by
television news crew
television footage showed nbi agents shooting into darkened doorway after
coming under fire allegedly from ivler armed with an assault rifle bleeding
screaming ivler is then shown being held down by nbi agents
he had been one of the most wanted men in the country since he was identified as
the motorist who shot ebarle jnr who was at the wheel of another car
ivler is alleged to have been in vehicle bearing license plates reserved for
foreign diplomats
the victim was the son of renato ebarle snr undersecretary at the office of the
executive secretary making him the main assistant to arroyo chief aide
the failure to capture ivler became major embarrassment for the government in
one incident filipino working in qatar was deported in december because he
was mistaken for the suspect
ivler was in hospital receiving treatment after his capture monday nbi
officials said he was conscious but gave no further details on his condition
tennis australian open results day one st lead
melbourne jan afp
results from day one of the australian open at melbourne park here monday
denotes seeding
men singles
st round
ivan ljubicic cro bt jason kubler aus
fernando gonzalez chi bt olivier rochus bel
women singles
st round
dinara safina rus bt magdalena rybarikova svk
maria kirilenko rus bt maria sharapova rus
zheng jie chn bt peng shuai chn
anastasia pavlyuchenkova rus bt anastasija sevastova lat
kateryna bondarenko ukr bt ioana raluca rom
yvonne meusberger aut bt timea bacsinszky sui
police arrest korean accused of time zone exam cheating
seoul jan afp
police said monday they have arrested lecturer who allegedly helped two south
korean students cheat on us test by exploiting the time difference between
southeast asia and the united states
they said the man obtained copy of the us based scholastic aptitude test from
thai student who took the exam in bangkok in january last year
he then allegedly sent the test paper and answer sheets via email to two korean
students who took the same test twelve hours later in connecticut
police in seoul suseo district said the year old lecturer identified only
as kim would be charged with interfering with the us based educational testing
service which administers the exam for applicants to us colleges
kim graduated from an american university and has since taught college prep
courses at seoul private institute yonhap news agency reported
the two korean students currently attend us high schools but took classes with
kim while on vacation in seoul
kim was quoted as saying he felt increasing pressure to guarantee high test
scores for his students each of whom paid up to three million won for class
or million won dollars for dozen classes
police said they have issued summonses for the two students and are expanding
their investigation to other private prep centres
education obsessed south korean households spent trillion won on private
education in to supplement the perceived shortcomings of the state system
tennis former finalist gonzalez through to second round
melbourne jan afp
former finalist fernando gonzalez of chile seeded progressed to the second
round of the australian open monday after win over belgian
olivier rochus
sandra bullock wins golden globes best actress
beverly hills california jan afp
sandra bullock won the best drama actress prize at the th golden globe awards
here sunday for her performance as an inspirational mentor in the blind side
the year old veteran beat out fellow nominees emily blunt the young
victoria helen mirren the last station carey mulligan an education
and gabourey sidibe precious
bullock career is at an all time high after string of recent box office hits
which included the proposal which also earned her nomination in the best
comedy actress category
cycling britain sky hail dream debut
adelaide australia jan afp
team sky on monday hailed dream debut on the professional cycling tour as
they aim to produce britain first ever tour de france winner
team manager sean yates said the one two finish in sunday street race in
adelaide kilometre mile tour down under prelude endorsed the big
budget outfit stringent preparations
it dream start obviously we don want to get carried away yesterday was
yesterday it was kilometre criterium we had plan and we did what we did
to win it he told afp
tomorrow will be another day different scenario different type of race
we know it won be the same we ll try again to work as unit and do the best
we can
yesterday the best we could do won us the race tomorrow it might not the day
after it might not tour de france it might not but you can do better than to
give it percent
sky riders reeled in american legend lance armstrong and fellow tour de france
winner oscar pereiro with three laps to go before outstripping hsc columbia
sprint specialist andre greipel on the home straight
new zealand greg henderson took the win followed by australian team mate chris
sutton with germany greipel third and armstrong halfway down the field
the team backed by broadcaster sky tv have built on britain track success at
beijing to create talented roster headed by triple olympic champion
bradley wiggins who was fourth in last year tour de france
yates said it was too early to know whether sky would be in position to
challenge for this year french race the blue riband event of the cycling
calendar
we ve got bradley wiggins in the team and last year he got fourth place so in
theory we should be able to repeat that if not better yates said
but theory one thing reality another the aim is for our riders to give it
what they ve got and if that not good enough to win us the race there
nothing we can do
the six stage tour down under the southern hemisphere biggest race which
attracts hundreds of thousands of fans starts on tuesday in hills around
