million dollars million euros organisers said
many of the items come from the workshop of the most diverse art forger ever
known
shaun greenhalgh was jailed for four years and eight months in but not
before he produced an astonishing array of fakes in multiple disciplines
one of his most notorious works is the amarna princess which was bought by
museum in bolton northern england for pounds it thought it was rare
piece from the era of the egyptian pharaoh akhenaten
the forger also succeeded in imitating paintings by the english painter
lowry as well as roman vessels and medieval jewellery
greenhalgh was probably the most diverse art forger that we have never heard
of said detective sergeant vernon rapley head of the metropolitan police
art and antiques unit which has put on the exhibition
he created objects of so many different styles and from so many periods that he
was not really detected rapley told afp noting that he worked for years
without being caught
the forgers featured in the exhibition often certificates of authenticity signed
by experts to help sell their works some of which are on display alongside the
items themselves
others such as brothers robert and brian thwaites even went so far as to stick
bits of newspaper from the victorian era behind fake paintings attributed to an
artist of that period john anster fitzgerald
the exhibition the metropolitan police service investigation of fakes and
forgeries is open from january to february
tennis verdasco into open fourth round after koubek retires
melbourne jan afp
spanish ninth seed fernando verdasco was gifted place in the fourth round of
the australian open saturday when austrian opponent stefan koubek retired after
losing the first set
verdasco will now play sixth seed nikolay davydenko for place in the quarter
finals
australia sends air traffic marshals to quake hit haiti
sydney jan afp
australia said on saturday it would deploy specialist air traffic control team
to quake ravaged haiti following us request to help restore order at the
nation jammed airports
prime minister kevin rudd said group of specially trained military air traffic
marshals would leave next week for the devastated caribbean nation in bid to
improve the flow of aid and supplies
there are over flights waiting to get into the country as tens of
thousands of desperate people struggle to meet even the most basic needs
making haiti airspace and airports effective safe and useable is crucial to
the overall humanitarian effort said rudd
overcoming logistical obstacles is one of the keys to making sure assistance
that is being provided actually gets to the people of haiti and making sure
their airport and airports are operating effectively he added
the personnel were requested by the united states and would be working at more
than one airport said rudd who has already pledged million dollars in
emergency aid
the us military this week extended its operations to three airports beyond port
au prince in bid to free major logjams with between and flights day
now choking the one strip runway which lost its control tower in the quake
medecins sans frontieres doctors without borders has complained that five of
its planes carrying total of tons tonnes of medical and relief
supplies have been diverted from port au prince to the dominican republic
the us command said it was prioritising shipments of water while doctors on the
ground are still scrambling to obtain basic medical supplies to care for
survivors
figure skating us championships results
spokane washington jan afp
results here on friday from the united states figure skating championships
qualifier for the vancouver winter olympics
ice dance
original dance
meryl davis charlie white pts tanith belbin ben agosto
emily samuelson evan bates kim navarro brent bommentre
madison chock greg zuerlein madison hubbell keiffer hubbell
overall standings
meryl davis charlie white pts tanith belbin ben agosto
emily samuelson evan bates kim navarro brent bommentre
madison chock greg zuerlein madison hubbell keiffer hubbell
cycling desperate chase puts greipel in sight of tour win
adelaide australia jan afp
andre greipel moved within sight of second tour down under victory on saturday
after thrilling chase through the race most demanding stage
reigning world champion cadel evans led fierce breakaway over the infamous
willunga hill before greipel battled back to hold on to the leader jersey with
one stage to go
spain luis leon sanchez the champion took the stage five win with
greipel nine seconds behind according to unofficial results reducing his
overall lead to seconds
but the champion from germany who won three of the first four stages will
be favourite to preserve his advantage over sunday flat kilometre
miles stage six around central adelaide
cycling superstar lance armstrong who is preparing for his attempt at an eighth
tour de france title started the day seconds back from greipel and was not
among the top finishers
tennis forgotten pair to meet in fourth round
melbourne jan afp
two of the australian open top seeds have quietly made their way into fourth
round clash largely on outside courts and largely forgotten
seventh seeded belarusian victoria azarenka thrashed italy tathiana garbin
on saturday finishing her match just moments before russia ninth
seed vera zvonareva downed argentine gisela dulko
they now meet in the fourth round with the winner likely to face top seed serena
williams in the quarter finals
azarenka who had williams on the ropes in the fourth round in before
succumbing to illness and the extreme hot weather has lost just eight games in
the first three rounds while zvonareva has dropped only
the year old azarenka was in complete control against garbin who didn get
on the scoreboard until midway throught the second set
think did very well today had good game plan and definitely played
to it very well she said
was going for my shots and playing comfortably and confidently
she said she had put the disappointment of behind her
already forgot about last year have nothing to make up for she said
will just go out there and play my best tennis and just enjoy every moment of
it
was definitely happy it was cooler but here you never know how it going
to be she added
but what can you do if you are fit enough you can play in any conditions
azarenka has not beaten zvonareva in four previous meetings the year old
muscovite winning all four in straight sets
it good challenge for me azarenka said
hope turn around our record just going to try my best and we ll see
how it goes
zvonareva who lost to dinara safina in the semi finals last year is just happy
to be playing after undergoing ankle surgery towards the end of
just enjoying my time out there didn expect to be even playing the
australian open zvonareva said
had my ankle surgery in november and the whole of december wasn able to
be on the court lot
not judging my form just working hard and trying to improve little by
little my ankle is feeling much better so happy about that
nba bryant scores in return to madison square garden
new york jan afp
kobe bryant marked his return to madison square garden by scoring points to
lead the los angeles lakers to win over the new york knicks on friday
bryant put up big numbers in the fourth quarter scoring points but it was
far short of his last visit to the garden when he scored an arena record
points
pau gasol added points which translated into dollars for the haiti
earthquake victims gasol said earlier he would contribute dollars for
each point he scored friday
we had to fight through fatigue gasol said at the beginning we were
allowing too many layups
we played much better in the second half once we started playing good defence
in the fourth quarter it was lot better
andrew bynum finished with points for los angeles who lost to lebron james
cleveland cavaliers on thursday
the lakers are just two games into an eight game road swing
we take it one game at time said lakers ron artest we played decent we
didn play great
david lee scored season high points and grabbed rebounds wilson
chandler added points and danilo gallinari had for the losing team
tennis stosur not scared of serena
melbourne jan afp
australian hope samantha stosur says she is not scared of serena williams after
the two women set up fourth round clash at the australian open saturday
stosur the th seed welcomed the chance to meet the world number one after
cruising past italy alberta brianti
williams is the defending champion and herself advanced with commanding
win over spain carla suarez navarro seeded nd
the last time the pair met stosur recorded one of the best wins of her career
in california last august beating the american
williams wasn overly gracious about the defeat saying stosur was good
framer who enjoyed fair bit of luck
but stosur buoyed by her improved form in each outing here after admitting to
arriving in melbourne uncertain about her game and struggling with the burden of
local expectations said she was ready to prove herself again
looking forward to it stosur said ve lived up to my expectation and
ve got to where should have got to
playing the number one player in the world defending champion can go out
there and really enjoy it know won the last time we played against each
other
that probably not going to mean too much going into monday match but at
least know ve be able to beat her before
speaking after the california match williams bluntly said she thought the
australian enjoyed plenty of good fortune
she had lot of lucky shots she good framer williams said
stosur said her game caught williams by surprise
guess she thought hit too many frames or shanks during that match she
said
don know maybe hit couple of frames but hit with bit of spin
and maybe she wasn expecting so many balls to drop in because of the spin
williams had won their only two previous encounters but their clash in sydney
early last year went to in the third set
stosur who was most pleased by the improved consistency in her game against
brianti said the key to beating williams was not being intimidated
going to have to serve well and take every opportunity that presents
itself she said
as soon as get that shorter ball at half sniff to do something then ve got
to do it can let those kind of go by and wait for second chance
it going to be obviously quick points and hard hitting so going to have
to stand my ground and really stand up to her and give her my best shot
stosur who won her first wta title last year equalled her previous best
australian open performance in by beating brianti
tennis federer fresh for coming battles at open
melbourne jan afp
world number one roger federer declared himself physically fine and mentally
fresh after strolling into the fourth round of the australian open at the
expense of albert montanes saturday
the time grand slam champion brushed aside the st seeded spaniard
and had few concerns in the one hour minutes on rod laver arena
such was federer domination that montanes did not get one break point on the
swiss star service
federer is expected to face tougher test in the round of on monday against
either australian two time grand slam champion lleyton hewitt or former finalist
and unseeded cypriot marcos baghdatis who play later saturday
ve come through difficult draw feel physically fine and mentally fresh
but the opponents will get tougher from here federer said
the top seed was never threatened by baseliner montanes and broke the spaniard
service three times
he broke montanes in the fourth game of the opening set in the ninth game of
the second set and in the opening game of the final set
montanes only won points in the first seven games as federer rolled through
the gears in his most consummate performance of the tournament after dropping
set against russian igor andreev in his opening match
that was the first time federer had lost set in first round grand slam match
since the us open
federer hit total of winners in the three sets but he made total of
unforced errors as he attempted to take the game to the spaniard
the victory improved federer australian open record to which makes him
only second to swede stefan edberg for most match wins here in the open
era
federer leads hewitt and has won their last encounters while he leads
finalist baghdatis
obama signs haiti aid bill
washington jan afp
us taxpayers will be able to claim any charitable donations to relief efforts
for quake hit haiti under their tax filings under bill president barack
obama signed into law friday
the measure which aims to encourage more donations after january killer
earthquake devastated the poorest nation in the americas raced through
congress lawmakers sent it to obama on thursday
modeled after similar bill that bolstered giving after the indian ocean
tsunami it allows cash contributions made through march to count
against taxes
the measure also allows those who answered red cross appeal for donations via
text message to use their telephone bill as proof of donation
donors would usually have to wait until they file their tax returns next
year to write off their gifts
tennis dangerous davydenko rolls on
melbourne jan afp
dangerous russian nikolay davydenko produced another top notch performance to
make the fourth round of the australian open beating argentinian juan monaco in
straight sets on saturday
davydenko the sixth seed has yet to drop set in three matches and has
conceded just games in nine sets in reaching the last for the fifth year
in row
the win over the th seeded monaco in one hour and minutes also extended his
current winning streak to matches
monaco was powerless to stop an early onslaught as the russian year old
reeled off the first nine games in quick time
the argentinian won just eight points in the first set and took until the fourth
game of the second set to get on the board
such was the dominance of davydenko that monaco raised his arms in triumph and
looked thankfully to the heavens when he finally held serve to open his account
monaco was more competitive in the third set achieving his only break of the
match but davydenko quickly steadied and break of his own in the ninth game
allowed him to serve out the match
davydenko who has never made grand slam final hit winners on his way to
his fourth win in five meetings with monaco while his opponent could only
manage four
the russian opponent in the fourth round is likely to be ninth seed fernando
verdasco who plays qualifier stefan koubek later
nba gasol nets dollars for haiti victims
new york jan afp
generosity seems to be the keyword whenever the los angeles lakers come into
madison square garden
kobe bryant helped himself an arena record points in his last trip to the new
york knicks home but this time it was pau gasol turn to share the love
gasol was one of national basketball association players that donated
dollars to the quake victims in haiti for every point they scored on friday
night
gasol finished with points in the lakers win means he will donate
dollars to the clinton bush haiti fund
think it is important to be able to contribute gasol said there are so
many tragedies going on in the world and we have got to acknowledge how lucky we
are so we decided to do that with the clinton foundation
the other players taking part comprise rookie of the year derrick rose atlanta
all star joe johnson rookie tyreke evans and spencer hawes of sacramento
wizards players antawn jamison and mike miller pacers guard mike dunleavy jr
celtics centre kendrick perkins and thunder guard russell westbrook all the
players are clients of the wasserman media group
speaking at halftime of the lakers game former president bill clinton lauded
the nba players
the situation in haiti is awful said clinton in announcing the programme
there is no way to put nice spin on it but have confidence the people of
haiti that they can get through this
think their spirit is great
the players in action friday will combine with other wasserman nba clients
to donate minimum of dollars to the fund
more than killed in haiti quake ministry
port au prince jan afp
more than people have been confirmed as killed in haiti devastating
earthquake the interior ministry said friday making it the deadliest on record
in the americas
the ministry put the toll from the disastrous january quake at
major increase from the government previous estimate of people killed
calling the damage catastrophic it said in statement that people
were injured in the magnitude quake that hit the port au prince capital
region
more than people were currently living in temporary camps it said
updating previous figure of homeless
haitian officials have expressed fear that the death toll from the country
worst earthquake in over century may surpass
the impact was particularly severe in the center of the coastal city of
jacmel with cities and towns in southeast sud est department affected the
ministry said
in west department cities and towns were impacted with the effect
especially felt in the capital and cabaret cite soleil croix des bouquets
tabarre carrefour gressier leogane grand goave petit goave delmas and
petion ville
the effect was minimal in nippes and grand anse departments it added
there was pressing need for temporary shelter and access to basic services
in the areas hit by the disaster food water medical supplies and services
sanitary supplies body bags mass graves education and psychological support
according to the ministry
the us geological survey said the haiti disaster has already gone down in
history as the most destructive on record in this region
that probably accurate that this is the most deadly quake to occur in this
part of the world usgs geophysicist dale grant told afp
don think we ve seen anything like it in this area
the previous deadliest earthquake in the americas was the peru quake that
left an estimated people dead according to the usgs
tennis dangerous davydenko rolls into fourth round
melbourne jan afp
dangerous russian nikolay davydenko rolled into australian open fourth round
saturday with the sixth seed crushing argentinian th seed juan monaco
tennis schiavone puts th seed radwanska out
melbourne jan afp
italian francesca schiavone the th seed upset th seeded pole agnieszka
radwanska in the third round of the australian open on saturday
tennis serena into australian open fourth round
melbourne jan afp
defending champion serena williams blitzed into the fourth round of the
australian open with win over spaniard carla suarez navarro on
saturday
the top seed will next play australian th seed samantha stosur who earlier
beat italian alberta brianti
it was far from plain sailing for williams despite the scoreline with the
plucky spaniard recovering from disastrous start to push the top seed for much
of the second set
williams came out with all guns blazing and raced to lead in only
minutes suarez navarro winning just five points in the first five games
she only seemed to wake up in the sixth game which went for an amazing
minutes with deuces williams clinching the first set on her eighth
opportunity
suarez navarro put williams sister venus out in the second round last year and
she took the same game plan in against serena blunting the american power
with precise placement and acute angles
williams was made to run all over the court but she showed her superb
athleticism as she chased down many of the spaniard best shots and returned
them with interest
williams broke suarez navarro in the third game of the second set and was never
in any trouble on her own serve holding comfortably to when she seized on
loose game by the spaniard to break again and take the match
her match with stosur should create plenty of interest with the australian
number one beating williams the last time they met
williams then added fuel to the fire by accusing stosur of being good
framer implying many of her winning shots of being miss hits
guess she thought hit too many frames or shanks during that match stosur
said
maybe hit couple but hit with bit of spin maybe she wasn expecting
so many balls to drop in because of the spin
tennis federer and serena step up gear
melbourne jan afp
top seeds roger federer and serena williams moved up gear saturday with
straight sets wins as they closed in more silverware at the australian open
the world premier players have grand slam titles between them and both look
primed to add to their collections
the swiss great made short work of spanish st albert montanes
while williams completed demolition of carla suarez navarro as the
fourth round of the opening grand slam of the season took shape
federer with grand slam titles now faces round of clash against either
lleyton hewitt or marcos baghdatis who play later while williams will take on
th seed australian samantha stosur
ve come through difficult draw feel physically fine and mentally fresh
but the opponents will get tougher from here said federer
the imposing and super fit stosur blessed with one of the biggest serves in
women tennis had breakthrough making the semi finals at the french
open and was in top form saturday
she outclassed italy alberta brianti on rod laver arena and is
gunning for another crack at williams who she beat when they last met in
stanford in july
we ve had couple of close matches the last two times we ve played and got
the last one so going to ride with that and go into the match feeling pretty
confident stosur said
know going to have to play extremely well to try and beat her and
going to give it my best shot and hopefully can do well
also pushing into the fourth round were seventh seeded belarrussian victoria
azarenka who destroyed italy tathiana garbin
russian ninth seed vera zvonareva beat argentine gisela dulko the conqueror of
ana ivanovic in the previous round and will play azarenka for place
in the quarters
think did very well today had good game plan and definitely played
to it very well said azarenka
was going for my shots and playing comfortably and confident
serena sister venus has been quietly making her way through the draw and will
take on australian casey dellacqua later saturday while chinese hope li na is
up against off court friend daniela hantuchova
russian sixth seed nikolay davydenko is in action against argentina juan
monaco with the winner challenging either ninth seed fernando verdasco or
qualifier stefan koubek for place in the quarter finals
little known pole lukasz kubot is already through to the fourth round after
being handed free ride when russian th seed mikhail youzhny withdrew with
wrist injury
youzhny played one of the matches of the tournament in the first round when he
beat frenchman richard gasquet in the fifth set but said the win took its toll
with his wrist beginning to hurt late in that epic
the next day it was worse and didn think was going to play second round
match against jan hajek he said
did everything could do for the last few days but it doesn help
youzhny added that he had been advised against playing and was unsure when he
would return to the court
the th ranked kubot will take on either third seed novak djokovic or unseeded
uzbek denis istomin for place in the quarters
tennis australian open results day six st update
melbourne jan afp
results from day six of the australian open at melbourne park here saturday
denotes seeding
men singles
rd round
roger federer sui bt albert montanes esp
women singles
rd round
samantha stosur aus bt alberta brianti ita
victoria azarenka blr bt tathiana garbin ita
vera zvonareva rus bt gisela dulko arg
serena williams usa bt carla suarez navarro esp
tennis federer blitzes into open fourth round
melbourne jan afp
swiss top seed roger federer defeated spanish st seed albert montanes
to reach the fourth round at the australian open on saturday
british actress jean simmons dead at report
los angeles jan afp
british actress jean simmons an emmy award winner whose career included roles
in hamlet and spartacus died in california friday the los angeles times
reported she was
the times said simmons who earned two oscar nominations during long career
that spanned seven decades died at her home in santa monica after losing
battle to lung cancer
the movie star manager could not immediately be reached for comment
although she worked mostly in television in her later years appearing in the
hit mini series the thorn birds for which she obtained an emmy award
simmons gained fame in the and after starring in several hit films
her career took off after she appeared as the doomed ophelia opposite laurence
olivier in the legendary actor production of hamlet simmons
performance earned her the first of two academy award nominations
among her notable early roles were playing the young estella in david lean
classic adaptation of great expectations
later films included guys and dolls spartacus and the happy
ending which earned her second oscar nod for her portrayal of an alcoholic
wife
simmons married twice to actor stewart granger from to and to
director richard brooks from to both marriages ended in divorce
tennis serena into australian open fourth round
melbourne jan afp
defending champion serena williams moved into the fourth round of the australian
open with win over spaniard carla suarez navarro on saturday
she will next play australian th seed samantha stosur
former malaysia king dies aged
kuala lumpur jan afp
the sultan of malaysia johor state iskandar ismail who served as the nation
king for five years has died aged state media reported
abdul ghani othman chief minister of the southern state announced the sultan
death late friday after he was admitted to local hospital the day before for
an unspecified illness state news agency bernama said
the sultan of johor was very much respected and loved abdul ghani said
reading statement on tv according to bernama he said the sultan died at
pm gmt
senior aide to the chief minister confirmed the sultan death and that the
sultan eldest son tunku ibrahim ismail had been appointed regent he is
expected to be named as sultan shortly
sultan iskandar was born in and educated in australia and britain before
joining the state civil service
he took over as sultan of johor in following the death of his father and
served as malaysia king from to
malaysia has rotational monarchical system in which each state sultan takes
turns to serve for five years as king
local papers were filled with tributes to sultan iskandar calling him
selfless ruler at heart and ruler close to his subjects
premier najib razak cut short state visit to india returning to malaysia
early saturday for the sultan funeral bernama reported
tennis late finish puts open scheduling under spotlight again
melbourne jan afp
an early hours finish saturday morning again put the controversial australian
open scheduling under the spotlight with third seed svetlana kuznetsova saying
players should not be on court so late
the reigning french open champion finished her third round match on rod laver
arena at am after being pushed to the wire by german qualifier angelique
kerber before winning
the late finish followed bernard tomic losing to th seeded croat marin cilic
at am on thursday with australia great new hope blasting the scheduling
as ridiculous
the focus was first put on the early hours finishes in when lleyton hewitt
finally beat marcos baghdatis at am the latest end to match in open
history
hewitt was so wiped out he lost in the next round
kuznetsova didn come on court until pm after men defending champion
rafael nadal needed tough four sets to get past german th seed philipp
kohlschreiber
for the first time this year the australian open has followed the same
procedure as the us open in putting the more appealing fixture first in the
prime time night session rather than always beginning with the women
don understand why we started to play after the men anyway think it
never happened before said kuznetsova
we need equality know the men complain it sounds weird but anyway it
tough
