gambhir at mid wicket after hitting one six and fours
golf cluttered africa open leaderboard as clarke trails by three
east london south africa jan afp
south african and scandinavian golfers shared the lead on thursday after the
first round of the africa open the latest addition to the european tour
richard sterne trevor fisher titch moore dane mark haastrup and swede patrick
sjoland topped the leaderboard on seven under par for the metre east
london golf club course
and south africans thomas aiken keith horne charl schwartzel and tjaart van
der walt lay joint second one stroke behind on the links cum parkland layout
overlooking the indian ocean
former south african open champion james kingston was among those on and
crowd favourite darren clarke from northern ireland returned to stay in
contention for first prize at the one million euro tournament
some big names struggled on day when the potentially fearsome wind did not
wreak havoc with swede joakim haeggman managing only par while englishman
nick dougherty slumped to and is already in trouble
briton in better form was robert coles who reeled off six consecutive birdies
on his back nine before penultimate hole bogey saw him finish five under
south africans will be desperate to impress in this eastern cape city after
spaniard pablo martin and scot richie ramsay last month won the first two of
four european tour events being staged in their country
world number sterne was poised at seven under with four holes left to finish
even lower but his respect for the closing holes meant conservative shots and
pars
the sole blemish by moore was bogey on the par four th while fisher had
back to back birdies before landing in sandy divot on the final hole that
culminated in dropped shot
darts darts fan found dead in lakeside lake
london jan afp
the dead body of fan attending the world darts championships has been
discovered under ice in the lake that gave tournament venue the lakeside country
club its name organisers announced on thursday
member of staff at the lakeside in frimley green south east england alerted
surrey police after the body was found on thursday prompting formal
investigation into the cause of death
spokesman for the british darts organisation bdo which runs the tournament
said the as yet unnamed fan had been staying at the complex to watch the event
which started on january and is due to conclude on sunday
the bdo robert holmes said the death appeared to have been tragic
accident
he offered his sympathies to the deceased family before adding the tournament
which has been played at the lakeside for the past years would continue as
planned
body was taken from the lake this thursday morning and it was someone who
had been here to watch the darts holmes said
all can say on behalf of the bdo is that we send our condolences on this
tragic accident the championships carry on but it tragedy
britain is in the midst of one its most severe cold spells for decades and
holmes said the lake at the heart of the lakeside complex had frozen over
the weather has played major part in this we have been coming here for
years and have never seen weather like this
we had eight inches of snow here and the lake is frozen solid
unfortunately don know how the accident happened whether the man fell
into the lake or walked on to it we all feel terribly sorry for what has
happened
the bdo tournament is the older of darts two world championships
last week the breakaway professional darts corporation version was won by
england phil taylor who claimed his th world title after defeating
australia simon whitlock in the final at london alexandra palace
cricket smith rues lack of knockout punch as england escape again
cape town jan afp
number batsman graham onions batted out the last over for the second time in
the series as england escaped with draw on the fifth day of the third test
against south africa at newlands on thursday
south african captain graeme smith bemoaned his side inability to finish off
the opposition which means england go into the fourth and final test in
johannesburg next thursday with an unbeatable lead despite south africa
twice getting within one wicket of victory
it hugely frustrating not being able to land the knockout blow said smith
we arrived in this test match under lot of pressure with lot of questions
being asked we were put in to bat on wicket that was doing bit and the guys
showed lot of character we played lot of positive cricket
england finished on for nine after four wickets fell in the last hour
everyone gave percent in that last overs said smith
england captain andrew strauss hailed onions as legend but said the finish
should not have been so close after an unbelievable partnership between paul
collingwood and ian bell who batted together for almost four hours
strauss said england would not be satisfied with share of the series
it nice to know they can win it but we came here to win the series said
the south african born strauss
we ll be pretty unhappy when we step on that plane if we let them back in but
we ve got to be better than we were in this game
dramatic finish seemed unlikely after collingwood and bell saw off the second
new ball and batted comfortably into the last hour
but collingwood was caught at slip off the part time off spinner jp duminy with
overs remaining and as happened in the first test at centurion england
found themselves in desperate trouble
in duminy next over matt prior prodded catch to ab de villiers at short leg
with up to seven fielders clustered around the bat stuart broad survived
without scoring run for balls before ball from left arm spinner paul
harris bounced and popped off his glove for de villiers to make another catch at
short leg
fast bowler morne morkel was brought back into the south african attack and with
his first ball had bell caught at first slip by graeme smith after minute
vigil in which he scored
there were balls left but onions and graeme swann survived against dale steyn
and morkel with onions playing out challenging last over from morkel with
impressive calm
south african hopes were high when they took the second new ball one over after
lunch needing five wickets to square the series
but collingwood survived blistering spell of fast bowling from dale steyn
while the rest of the south african bowling attack made minimal impression on
pitch which played easily under warm sun
we had it well set up with five down and that new ball coming said smith
we bowled well with it the first ten overs with that new ball was key
collingwood and bell stuck to their game plans and really showed lot of
strength of character
really can complain about the performance of our bowlers with the second
new ball we asked lot of questions think paul played out of balls at
one stage
strauss praised the two batsmen
colly used his experience again and ian bell has wanted to play an innings like
that for long time and he did it exceptionally well
steyn gave south africa an important breakthrough minutes before lunch when
he bowled jonathan trott with superb delivery which swung in late
but steyn and morne morkel could not separate england last two specialist
batsmen when they took the new ball
south africa were hampered by back injury to friedel de wet brought in for
the dropped makhaya ntini who bowled only four overs during the day
tennis nadal admits to loss of confidence
doha jan afp
rafael nadal seeking his first atp world tour title in eight months admitted
after reaching the semi finals of the qatar open that he has been suffering from
crisis of confidence
have had lot of problems in the head the former world number one said
after winning when his opponent the belgian qualifier steve darcis
retired after only minutes of very one sided action
have had under confidence and things in the head but that life you have
to accept problems and you have to come back am trying we will see what
happens in the next six months
for someone who has been conspicuously stable while closing out matches rarely
letting slip opportunities to win when they present themselves nadal words
superficially contained an element of surprise
however he has had increasing problems with arthritic knees suffered from
stomach ailment and reportedly been affected by the recent break up of his
parents marriage
the year old majorcan took only two days break over christmas before
returning to training and is here in doha with his mother though not his uncle
coach toni apparently he will link up in melbourne for nadal defence of the
australian open title the week after next
nadal was asked whether the media has been too impatient with him suggesting
that he is not the player he was for having reached just one final since
returning from three month absence in august
we will see in few months nadal replied amicably everyone is free to
talk can say nothing against them didn win against the best players
but that tennis you can be all the time one hundred percent am ready
to try and win tournaments but you never know what will happen you have to
work every day every week and wait your moment
during the very short time nadal was on court it was apparent that he was trying
to be more forceful with his first serve later volunteering to having made
small improvements identified after many hours of watching videos with his
uncle
he also put plenty of energy into his pumping topspin drives applying plenty of
pressure without waiting for opportunities for his more characteristic counter
attacks the highlight though was an inventive winning lob played off his body
like cricket shot
nadal semi final opponent is viktor troicki the tenacious serbian who came
from down in the final set to win against lukasz kubot
the first pole to break into the world top since wojtek fibak quarter of
century ago
cleopatra stunner make up cured eye disease as well
paris jan afp
ancient egypt stunning eye make up not only shielded wearers from the dark
deeds of the evil eye but also protected them against eye disease french
scientists said thursday
ancient egyptians some years ago produced the make up used to darken and
adorn eyes with lead and lead salts in mixtures that sometimes took month to
concoct said philippe walter who co headed team of scientists from the
louvre museum and the cnrs national research institute
we knew ancient greeks and romans too had noted the make up had medicinal
properties but wanted to determine exactly how he told afp
contrary to widely held belief that lead is harmful the team using analytical
chemistry determined that in very low doses lead does not kill cells
instead it produces molecule nitric oxide that activates the immune
defence system which beats back bacteria in case of eye infection
the research was carried out using tiny electrode the th of the size of
hair to look at the effect of lead chloride synthesised by the egyptians
laurionite on single cell
the study was released thursday online by the journal analytical chemistry
plastic logic aims que reader at business crowd
las vegas california jan afp
plastic logic on thursday unveiled long anticipated que electronic reader
aimed at giving business travelers paperless briefcase
plastic logic unveiled two que proreader models designed for getting work done
on the road as well as for reading digitized books
we are going beyond an reader product and actually developing whole new
category plastic logic chief executive richard archuleta said while holding up
que the size of legal size notepad
it very cool he said
readers have become hot products as hardware makers race into market
dominated by kindle devices made by online retail powerhouse amazon com
plastic logic billed que as an electronic document tool that goes beyond what
kindles and other readers have to offer
smart phones have small screens laptops are big heavy bulky and take while
to boot up and they are pretty hard to hold in your hand archuleta said during
press event at the consumer electronics show in las vegas
we saw an opportunity that sits between those devices an electronic piece of
paper that sits in the middle
archuleta said the que will introduce business travelers to the age of the
paperless briefcase
plastic logic introduce proreader with four gigabytes of memory capable of
storing as many as documents with price of dollars an eight
gigabyte model was unveiled with price of dollars
both models can download reading content wirelessly at internet hot spots
while the higher end model also connects to the internet using at amp mobile
telephone network
plastic logic on thursday also launched an online shop at que com where
proreaders can be pre ordered shipping of devices will being in april
according to the california based firm
archuleta said que is the first of what will be series of specialized
readers for students teachers health care professionals and other niche
markets
we are trying to give you the benefits of paper with none of the drawbacks and
add new functionality archuleta said
with the proreader we kept laser focus on the mobile business professional
touch screen que devices allow users to mark up and annotate documents as well
as work with spreadsheets and other business software
the home pages on que devices display outlook emails and attachments along with
downloaded reading material ranging from books to pdf files virtual keyboard
pops onscreen for working with documents
plastic logic partnered with top us book seller barnes amp noble in an online
store selling digital reading material for the que
que complements nook reader sold by barnes amp noble because it targets
business market while the nook is aimed at those that read for fun according to
kevin frain vice president of online commerce at the book seller
que targets business week best sellers while nook targets new york times best
sellers frain said in video presentation at the press conference
we are really excited about selling que proreader at bn com
que has feature for delivery of digital newspapers and magazines and announced
it has expanded its media content partnerships to include forbes cnbc and the
wall street journal
que knows which way is up and flips on screen content to fit how the devices
are being held
que devices also synch wirelessly to emails and attachments on blackberry
smartphones that dominate the business market and can route documents to
printers
plastic logic has taken very fresh look at the marketplace said glenn lurie
of at amp see this device taking the place of the four newspapers three
magazines and pile of files in your briefcase
us welcomes moves in guinea to form transition government
washington jan afp
the united states on thursday welcomed moves by guinea interim junta leader to
form transition government and advance to civilian rule more than year after
the military seized power in coup
we commend general sekouba konate for his announcement yesterday of immediate
plans to form transition government in guinea state department spokesman pj
crowley told reporters
we welcome this new beginning and are pleased to see advance toward civilian
rule he said
crowley spoke after talks began in guinea on who will be the new prime minister
following the junta announcement that it was ready to share power with the
opposition to end crisis in the west african country
bauxite rich guinea has been under military rule since december and
tensions reached their height last september when troops massacred at least
people at an opposition rally
the opposition has reacted with caution and goodwill to speech wednesday by
konate who opened the way to power sharing and appeasement and urged
politicians and civil society to work together for elections
rallying italian rider life in danger after crash
iquique chile jan afp
italian motorcyclist luca manta was fighting for his life on thursday after
crashing in the sixth stage of the dakar rally
the ktm rider crashed just kilometres into the km special from antofagasta
and after receiving treatment had to be taken to hospital by helicopter
however after an initial diagnosis indicated he had head injuries he was due to
be transferred to neurological unit at hospital in the capital santiago
italy settles row with ryanair over passenger ids
milan jan afp
ryanair on thursday dropped threat to suspend flights within italy after
reaching compromise on passenger identification with the italian civil
aviation authority the two sides said
under the agreement passengers on ryanair flights within italy will provide
either passport or valid eu national identity card in full compliance with the
security requirements ryanair statement said
ryanair will restore all its italian domestic flights without interruption
from january it said
the statement from italy enac said that ryanair also agreed to accept id cards
issued to italian employees at government ministries
ryanair asked for time to evaluate whether to accept other documents in future
such as driver licences enac added
as the row broke out last year the irish airline asserted that enac wanted to
oblige it to even accept fishing licences as well
us lawmaker seeks boost in aviation security funds
washington jan afp
key us lawmaker has called for the us department of homeland security to get
more funding to upgrade its aviation security screening efforts after the
thwarted christmas day plane bombing
democratic representative sheila jackson lee head of the house homeland
security subcommittee charged with transportation security and infrastructure
said in letter to homeland security secretary janet napolitano obtained
thursday that she would introduce legislation to do so
jackson lee said she would push for funding to install more sophisticated
passenger screening systems and ensure that dhs has the authority and funding
necessary to assess the behavior of suspected terrorists
in short there must be system that allows persons with suspected terrorist
behavior to be moved expeditiously from watch lists to no fly lists she said
in the letter which was dated wednesday
jackson lee has not settled on dollar figure said spokeswoman pamela brogan
us lawmakers have called for improved security measures after young nigerian
man allegedly tried to blow up us bound northwest airlines jet carrying
people using explosives sown into his underwear
france deports radical imam to egypt
paris jan afp
france on thursday deported to egypt radical imam who for months had been
inciting followers in paris area mosques to rise up against the west the
government said
described as dangerous ali ibrahim al sudani was detained and sent back to
egypt under an emergency deportation order interior minister brice hortefeux
said in statement
the secret services had identified this dangerous individual who for the past
months had been delivering sermons calling for fight against the west in
several mosques in the seine saint denis area said hortefeux in statement
sudani showed contempt for our society values and incited violence he
added
the man was the th imam or islamic preacher to have been deported from france
since according to the interior ministry
in all islamic radicals have been expelled from french territory it added
us welcomes moves in guinea to form transition government
washington jan afp
the united states on thursday welcomed moves by guinea interim junta leader to
form transition government more than year after the military seized power
in bloodless coup
we commend general sekouba konate for his announcement yesterday of immediate
plans to form transition government in guinea state department spokesman pj
crowley told reporters
dollar firmer ahead of key jobs report yen weakens
london jan afp
the dollar made up some ground on thursday after japan new finance minister
said he wanted the yen to weaken rattling foreign exchange markets ahead of key
us jobs data
dealers said finance minister naoto kan remarks were unusually frank and
marked distinct shift from his predecessor tolerance of stronger japanese
currency
disappointing eurozone retail sales figures further dampened sentiment on the
euro as players looked ahead to friday us employment report amid speculation
it could show the first job creation in some two years
dealers said the key issue remains the strength of the us recovery and the
timing of any hike in us interest rates which some have suggested could come
sooner than expected if recent positive data continues
there was little reaction to the bank of england as expected decision to leave
monetary policy on hold
in late london deals the euro fell to dollars from in new york
late on wednesday
the dollar jumped to yen from yen
japanese finance minister kan told his first press conference since replacing
hirohisa fujii that it would be preferable if the yen recent decline
continued
kan who has little experience in financial matters said he would work with
the japanese central bank to steer the yen to an appropriate level
many business leaders have said that yen exchange rate in the mid to the
dollar would be appropriate kan noted
dealers said it was rare for minister to comment on specific currency levels
japan has not intervened in the currency market since march allowing the
yen to find its own level against the dollar but finance minister comments
on currencies can have big impact on trading
at his first press conference kan said it would be nice for the yen to weaken
and that he will make efforts to keep yen level appropriate working together
with the bank of japan said barclays capital analyst paul robinson
his comments may mark shift of japanese foreign exchange policy towards
weakening the yen in our view
japan clearer stance further raises the possibility of intervention if
the yen strengthens again robinson added
in london late thursday the euro was changing hands at dollars against
dollars late on wednesday at yen pounds
and swiss francs
the dollar stood at yen and swiss francs
the pound was at dollars
on the london bullion market the price of gold edged up to dollars an
ounce from dollars on wednesday
urgent us welcomes guinea moves toward transition government
washington jan afp
the united states on thursday welcomed moves by guinea interim junta leader
general sekouba konata to form transition government
sri lankan execution video authentic un envoy
united nations jan afp
un envoy concluded thursday that video footage allegedly showing sri lankan
troops executing tamil tiger rebels last year was authentic and urged colombo to
accept an impartial probe
the video aired on britain channel in august is authentic philip
alston the un special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary
executions told reporters here
the footage was shot during the final stages of the sri lankan army battle
against tamil tiger separatists of the liberation tigers of tamil eelam ltte
alston said the authenticity of the video was established by three us based
independent qualified experts he had commissioned to conduct an impartial
evaluation after four sri lankan specialists had concluded that it was fake
he named the three as daniel spitz prominent forensic pathologist peter
diaczuk firearm evidence expert and jeff spivack forensic video analyst
the independent experts analyses also systematically rebutted most of the
arguments relied upon by sri lanka experts in support of their contention that
the video was faked alston said
in light of these conclusions call for an independent inquiry to be
established to carry out an impartial investigation into war crimes and other
violations of international humanitarian and human rights law allegedly
committed in sri lanka he added
colombo should ask the united nations to set up an independent commission of
inquiry he added
channel had said in its original report that it could not verify the
authenticity of the video which it received from group called journalists for
democracy in sri lanka
the group claims the video footage was taken in january by soldier using
mobile phone
the disturbing footage shows man dressed in army uniform shooting naked
bound and blindfolded man in the back of the head while the bodies of eight
others can be seen nearby in muddy field
alston said spitz found the footage appeared authentic especially with respect
to the two individuals who are shown being shot in the head at close range
and he added that spivack forensic video analysis found no evidence of breaks
in continuity in the video no additional video layers and no evidence of image
manipulation
while there are some unexplained elements in the video there are strong
indications of its authenticity halston said
in addition most of the arguments relied upon by the government of sri lanka
to impugn the video have been shown to be flawed
when it was aired the video was rejected by the sri lankan military as fake
aimed at discrediting the security forces
sri lankan authorities have resisted international calls for war crimes
investigation after the united nations alleged that more than civilians
had been killed during the first four months of alone
the tamil rebels were finally vanquished in may after nearly four decades of
ethnic bloodshed that left between and people dead
the government victory ended the ltte four decade struggle for an independent
tamil homeland one of asia longest running ethnic conflicts
afp graphics advisory
paris jan afp
we shall move the following additional graphic
us shooting
graphic map showing the city of st louis in the state of missouri where
several people were shot dead and others wounded after gunman stormed power
company office
text slug us shooting crime
mm
available by gmt
paris hong kong
tel
us drone attacks undermine support for war zardari
islamabad jan afp
pakistan warned us senators thursday that american drone attacks against
militants on its territory undermined the national consesus that supported the
war against militancy
president asif ali zardari made the warning to us delegation led by former us
presidential candidate and republican senator john mccain one day after us
missile attacks killed at least militants on the afghan border
mccain said thursday in kabul the capital of neighbouring afghanistan that the
use of such drone strikes against suspected islamist militants in pakistan was
an effective part of us strategy and should continue
the drone strikes are part of an overall set of tactics which make up the
strategy for victory and they have been very effective mccain told reporters
during brief trip to afghanistan
but statement issued late thursday by the pakistani government said zardari
had pointed out to the us delegation that drone attacks on pakistani territory
undermined the national consensus supporting the war on militancy
the president underlined the need for the strategic long term partnership
between pakistan and the united states to be based on mutual interest respect
and mutual trust it added
suspected us drone strikes have increasingly targeted north waziristan
stronghold for al qaeda the taliban and the haqqani network from where the
militants launch attacks on us and nato troops fighting in afghanistan
zardari urged the american delegation to persuade the us policy makers to
give drone technology to pakistan so that the militants could be targeted by
pakistan national security forces themselves rather than by foreign troops
which raised questions of sovereignty the release said
it added that zadari had told the delegation that the economic cost of the war
against terror amounting to billion us dollars for the last eight years has
almost paralyzed pakistan economy
washington has put pakistan at the heart of strategy for turning around the
eight year war against the taliban in afghanistan hinging success on
dismantling militant sanctuaries along the porous border
pakistan is under increasing pressure to tackle militants who use its soil to
launch attacks in afghanistan and american officials have said that the highly
secretive drone programme has eliminated some top fighters
the us attacks on pakistani territory fuel anti american sentiment in the
nuclear armed muslim nation and the government publicly condemns the strikes
analysts say however that the strikes have islamabad tacit approval
alert
us welcomes moves in guinea to form transition government
us rejects cuba spy charges against american
washington jan afp
the united states on thursday rejected charges made in cuba that us citizen
was secret intelligence agent
those charges are false state department spokesman pj crowley told reporters
this person is not associated with our intelligence services
in havana ricardo alarcon one of cuba top figures and speaker of the
national assembly denounced the us citizen as secret intelligence agent
dispatched by washington to aid in the downfall of the communist regime
the us citizen who remains unidentified was arrested december reportedly
while distributing cell phones laptops and other communications equipment
gunman kills three wounds five at missouri power company
st louis missouri jan afp
police thursday were hunting gunman who shot dead three people and wounded
five others in an early morning rampage at the missouri offices of swiss power
company
police captain sam dodson confirmed that three people had been killed in the
shooting spree which began at the start of the morning shift when man armed
with an assault rifle and handgun stormed into the offices
dodson could not confirm reports on the local ktvi fox news channel that the
shooter named by police as year old timothy hendron was among the dead
five other people were wounded three of them were in critical condition st
louis spokeswoman said
