pakistan could not be harnessed
england australia new zealand and south africa refused to tour pakistan for
the champions trophy last year citing security fears forcing the international
cricket council icc to move it to south africa
the icc also stripped pakistan of its world cup matches after the attack on
the sri lankan team
what happened in the past was deplorable but at times the situation is blown
out of proportion which is disappointing khan said
khan whose parents hail from small village near rawalpindi rose to
prominence when he won silver medal at the athens olympics at the age of
the youngest british boxing medallist
popularly known by his nickname king khan the boxer turned professional in
after win loss record of in amateur bouts
pakistani cricketers are world class and am amazed to see the boxing talent
as four pakistani boxers are in the final of the benazir bhutto tournament
which proves there is great future for the sport khan said
am there as inspiration and can help pakistani boxers train whenever they
want to come to my academy in bolton am ready to train them and win world
titles said khan who also promised to fight professional bout in pakistan
iceland will honour bank crisis obligations president
reykjavik jan afp
iceland president insisted on thursday the country would not dodge its
compensation obligations to foreign governments over the icesave bank collapse
despite putting the issue to referendum
as storm clouds swirled over reyjkavik after his decision not to sign the
legislation olafur ragnar grimsson argued it was vital such measure receive
the backing of the public in iceland which has population of some
but the president also denied his move meant the british and dutch governments
would lose the billion euros billion dollars compensation detailed in
the bill
hope that the people of these two countries and their political leaders will
in keeping with the longstanding democratic traditions of britain and the
netherlands acknowledge that referendum is democratic way of making
decision he said in an interview with the financial times
strongly believe that for the future progress in iceland it is important
that the electorate is convinced that it has itself been partner in this
resolution
both the british and dutch governments reacted angrily to grimsson decision on
tuesday warning it could impact on whether they would support iceland
ambitions to join the european union
on wednesday standard and poor put icelandic debt on creditwatch negative
saying the veto could undermine the country rescue package from the
international monetary fund although the imf has said there was no link
moody investors service meanwhile said the president move had uncertain
credit implications but will certainly complicate any near term plans for
iceland to exit from its financial and economic crisis
but in separate interview to the bbc grimsson said the view being put
forward that we will not honour our obligations is completely wrong
all over europe there are countries that trust the people with the referendum
what decided to do was simply to follow an honoured european tradition of
allowing the people to make the final decision
to swedish radio grimsson added iceland fully recognises its obligations and
responsabilites to pay and the law we re talking about and that will be put to
referendum is simply in what way and in what forms and in what terms
the icesave bill narrowly approved by the icelandic parliament on december
calls for billion euros to be paid to the british and dutch governments who
had to compensate savers who lost money in the collapse of icesave bank
the payout has stirred up resentment among many ordinary icelanders
about people have signed petition protesting against the bill which
they fear will doom them to decades of poverty all because of the mistakes of
handful of bankers and financial regulators
the icelandic parliament is expected to reconvene on friday to discuss whether
to hold the referendum on february
poll published late on wednesday by capacent gallup showed that percent of
icelanders would approve the bill in the referendum
that contrasts with another survey day earlier which suggested that percent
were opposed to it
prime minister johanna sigurdardottir has staked her political future on passage
of the bill suggesting her government could quit if it were blocked
despite the reaction from britain and the netherlands grimsson stance has
received some degree of backing with latvia foreign minister maris riekstins
arguing that iceland one of europe smallest countries was being bullied
it is hard to imagine that one would hear similar comments should the move
have been made by the president of france for example riekstins said
the financial times said britain and the netherlands were not innocent
victims saying they were happy to take advantage of icesave generous
interest rates before the banking crisis and could absorb the losses
neighbourly generosity would cost amsterdam and london next to nothing it
said
an editorial in the dutch financial dialy het financieel dagblad said that
rather than isolate iceland the two countries should push for its membership of
both the european union and the single currency eurozone
with the euro as currency iceland can reduce interest payments on its national
debt which would bring it closer to settling outstanding accounts it said
cycling german teams face extinction as milram mulls pulling plug
dortmund germany jan afp
german dairy company milram said it is unlikely to renew its sponsorship of its
top cycling team after their mutual contract expires at the end of this year
the image of cycling in germany has suffered badly from doping controversies
souring the media and public appetite for the sport in recent years
while also shaking up the employment market worldwide the recent global
economic crisis has prompted many sponsors to think twice about investing their
money
milram spokeswoman godja soennichsen explained as things currently stand
renewal of the contract is not something we re considering
it means that it milram walks away from the sport there will be no german teams
in cycling professional elite
team chief gerry van gerwen however said he will fight to find german
sponsor
germany is such big country and it bang in the middle of europe said the
dutchman who has fixed the second rest day of this year tour de france as the
cutoff point to find new sponsor
mobile where tour de france winner jan ullrich was team leader was
germany and one of the world biggest cycling teams before it fell apart in
in the wake of series of doping allegations
gerolsteiner suffered similar fate before folding at the end of stefan
schumacher double stage winner at the tour de france as well as former
teammate bernhard kohl of austria tested positive for doping at that year
race
milram was created in with italian sprint king alessandro petacchi as its
leader to be supported by german legend erik zabel
however even the squeaky clean petacchi record stage winner at the grand
tours and former milan sanremo champion was snared for doping
serb president celebrates christmas in kosovo monastery
belgrade jan afp
serbian president boris tadic celebrated the orthodox christmas thursday at
century serb monastery in the breakaway republic of kosovo the agency beta
reported
tadic arrived by nato helicopter wednesday and attended christmas eve mass in
the visoki decani monastery some kilometers miles from the capital
pristina and one of the most revered in the serbian orthodox church
since the withdrawal of belgrade government troops from kosovo following the end
of the war the monastery has been under the protection of nato led
peacekeepers
in it was designated world heritage site by unesco
on his arrival the president said he was bringing message of peace in the
name of serbian citizens in the name of the serbian state and in my own name
and remain convinced that peace is more than necessary in today world
christmas provided an opportunity to reconcile all those who are in conflict or
have misunderstandings he added an opportunity for them to shake hands and
to better understand each other
but tadic also reminded that serbia has rejected kosovo declaration of
independence which it is challenging at the international court of justice
tadic stressed that serbia had the same borders it has always had way of
reiterating that belgrade still considers kosovo as its southern province
in february kosovo ethnic albanian dominated parliament unilaterally
declared independence from serbia
more than countries including the united states and all but five european
union members have recognised kosovo independence so far
new us jobless claims edge up continuing claims lower
washington jan afp
new claims for us jobless benefits edged up by in the past week to
while other claims data showed modest improvement in the troubled labor market
official figures showed thursday
the seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in
the week ending january rose slightly from the prior week when it had hit the
lowest level in over year
the four week moving average less volatile indicator than the week to week
figures fell to from the previous week revised average of
the figures offer some hope that the brutal pace of job cuts is easing as the
economy pulls out recession
the report showed the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was
percent for the week ending december decrease from the prior week
unrevised rate of percent
the number of people receiving benefits in the week to december fell by
to
on net claims for unemployment benefits are indicating modest labor market
firming said andrew gledhill at moody economy com
japanese firms slow construction of dubai metro
tokyo jan afp
consortium led by japan mitsubishi heavy industries has put the brakes on
construction work on the dubai metro due to disagreement over payments one of
the firms said thursday
we are slowing the pace of the construction for the purpose of negotiating the
terms of contracts said toshitaka kawahara spokesman for obayashi corp
which is one of the constructors
the consortium also comprises mitsubishi corp kajima corp and turkey yapi
merkezi
source close to one of the companies said that the construction work appeared
to have been temporarily halted
it seems that the work has stopped on site said the source who declined to
be named
spokesman for mitsubishi heavy industries said the work had slowed down
dubai road and transport authority however denied thursday that there has been
slowdown in construction or any delay in payments
construction in the project is ongoing as per the timetable work is
progressing normally in various sites of the project the authority said in
statement issued in dubai
it also reiterated its commitment to contractual payment obligations in
accordance with progress in construction
it said that one of the metro stations near khalifa tower the tallest structure
on earth was opened only four days ago
dubai said in september that the cost of building the metro had nearly doubled
to billion dollars adding to the financial troubles of the gulf emirate
which is battling serious debt crisis
the japanese nikkei business daily reported earlier thursday that the consortium
would suspend construction on the metro as early as thursday due to delay in
payment from the dubai government
the consortium members decided to halt the work for the time being to secure
back payments from the dubai government it said
the global financial crisis has hit the construction sector in dubai delaying
many projects due to the credit crunch
the emirate narrowly escaped financial catastrophe last month as neighbouring
deep pocketed abu dhabi threw it last minute lifeline worth billion dollars
to pay imminent debt owed by dubai world
dubai inaugurated its metro network in september in bid to cut dependency on
cars and ease congestion becoming the first city in the oil rich gulf to
introduce rail as commuting option
afp middle east news summary
nicosia jan afp
top middle east stories on thursday
attacks yemen
sanaa us military intervention in yemen to help fight al qaeda militants could
backfire and strengthen the jihadists believed behind the botched attack on us
airliner top yemeni official said
attacks us yemen nigeria
sanaa nigerian charged with trying to blow up passenger jet on christmas
day met radical muslim cleric accused by the united states of instigating
terrorism yemen deputy prime minister said
yemen germany britain kidnap
sanaa five germans including three children and british national who have
been held by kidnappers in yemen for the past six months are still alive top
official said
egypt religion unrest
cairo clashes erupted as thousands of coptic christians gathered in southern
egyptian town to bury six of their number gunned down on coptic christmas eve by
men believed to be muslims security officials said
iran politics opposition trial
tehran iran will put on trial five people who were arrested in december
following anti government unrest during the shiite religious commemoration of
ashura the isna news agency reported
iraq iran diplomacy
baghdad iraq and iran will hold talks from next week to formally mark their
borders iranian foreign minister manouchehr mottaki said weeks after dispute
between the two countries over an oil well
iraq unrest
ramadi iraq co ordinated bombings targeting local anti terror chief and his
family shattered four homes in the early morning in the western iraqi town of
heet killing seven people
more eurostar woe as train stuck in tunnel again
london jan afp
eurostar passengers faced further disruption thursday after one of the high
speed trains got stuck in the channel tunnel for some two hours weeks after
major breakdown due to the cold
the cause of the latest incident in the tunnel between britain and france was
not immediately clear but it came as northern europe shivered in bitterly cold
temperatures and snow that has caused transport chaos
at first they told us that it was an engine problem jonattan lurasin
from liege in belgium told afp at london saint pancras station where
passengers from brussels arrived after their ordeal
they tried to restart two or three times but it didn work he added after
the stricken train was towed out of the tunnel to ashford southeast of london
and passengers transferred to another train to complete their journey
an announcement at the station where hundreds of people were left queuing and
waiting for more information said there will be extremely limited services
during the afternoon
travellers who absolutely needed to travel thursday were advised to change
their plans
the incident came after several eurostar trains broke down in the tunnel the
weekend before christmas sparking three day suspension of service that left
tens of thousands of passengers stranded
around passengers in five trains were trapped for up to hours
that breakdown was blamed by the trains operators on snow they said was more
powdery than usual that had filtered into engine compartments and melted once
the trains entered the tunnel
eurostar said the cause of the latest breakdown was not clear
we are looking at that urgently but it too early to tell said spokesman
while warning that disruption could continue for some days even if the service
had not been suspended
there is bit of knock on effect obviously the weather remains extreme in
the north of france and there will be service restrictions during the next few
days no suspension is expected the trains continue to run he said
on the platform at saint pancras nicole aerts said her journey had been
terrible although they had been well informed and given water and sandwiches
the pre christmas breakdown was publicity nightmare for eurostar with
passengers complaining of being left stranded for hours without information
sustenance or light
passengers on the train involved in thursday incident seemed relatively happy
with how the situation was managed
eurostar made us good offer they reimbursed our tickets and gave us new
tickets to come back said lurasin so it ok
war is game for child soldiers un expert
the hague jan afp
using children as soldiers was particularly abusive as their ignorance of
death made them fearless un expert told the war crimes trial thursday of
congolese warlord thomas lubanga in the hague
children under had an under developed notion of death radhika
coomaraswamy special un representative for children in armed conflict told
the international criminal court
the lack of the concept of death makes them fearless in battle often thinking
of it as game and rushing straight into the line of fire she testified
for this reason it is particularly abusive to utilise children
lubanga went on trial year ago charged with war crimes for using children
under the age of to fight for his militia during the civil war in
the democratic republic of congo
he pleaded not guilty
after delay of several months the trial was set to have resumed with the
opening of lubanga defence case on thursday but continued instead with the
court calling coomaraswamy as an expert witness
she testified that in tribal conflicts children easily fell prey to romantic
notions of dying for their community
children are easily exploited by those kinds of imageries of romantic death and
heroic death coomaraswamy said
she urged the court not to give too much credence to the fact that many child
soldiers had in fact volunteered to fight
heard so many stories of children who told me they felt they had no
choice but to join an armed group in order to feed themselves due to dire
poverty or because they were maltreated by family members
the court should see children as special category creating framework that
protects their vulnerability
prosecutors allege that lubanga militia abducted children as young as from
their homes schools and football fields and took them to military training
camps where they were beaten and drugged the girls among them were said to be
used as sex slaves
the child soldiers were allegedly deployed in combat between september and
august
the prosecution allege that lubanga was driven by desire to maintain and
expand his control over the congo eastern ituri region one of the world
most lucrative gold mining areas where rights groups say inter ethnic fighting
has claimed lives over the last decade
the prosecution wound up its case on july after calling witnesses
including former child soldiers over days of hearings
after coomaraswamy evidence the court is set to hear from another expert
witness and three victims including two alleged former child soldiers before
the start of the defence case on an unannounced date
coomaraswamy told the court that its willingness to prosecute child conscriptors
has resulted in several armed groups approaching the un to negotiate plans for
the release of child soldiers most recently in nepal where the release of
children is about to begin today
france eyes google tax on internet ads
paris jan afp
france may slap google tax on online advertising under proposals that drew
complaints from the internet sector on thursday
the proposal was one of several in government commissioned report submitted on
wednesday following complaints by media companies that internet giants such as
google are profiting from their content for free
the report recommended ways to boost the availability of cultural material
online while also protecting artists and the media intellectual property
the report suggested taxing the online advertising sector as well as internet
providers and using the revenue to aid creative sectors such as the music
industry which are struggling to adapt to the age of downloads
this could raise up to million euros million dollars this year
according to the plan
the report lead author record producer patrick zelnik said the tax would
take small percentage of google online ad revenues which he estimated at
million euros year in total according to liberation newspaper
the report by government commissioned experts dubbed the plan google tax
but said it could target other big internet players such as microsoft aol
yahoo and facebook
the digital media think thank renaissance numerique whose members include
business leaders said the tax proposal penalised advertisers unfairly
let stop demonising the internet and consider the benefits the web brings
said its co president christine balague in statement
neither online advertisers nor internet service providers are robbing artists
he added quite the contrary they are taking part in bringing consumers and
artists together
the report also proposed public subsidies for voucher card system to buy music
files online in order to encourage legal means of downloading media files and
streaming content in real time
french media companies have complained in recent months that their online
material is being used for free via services such as google the world leader in
internet searches
the report followed government reform that came into force this month to
punish users who illegally download films and music on the internet
but it also tapped into the issue of cultural autonomy amid fears in france of
the growing might of internet giants such as google
taxing online ads seemed inevitable if we want to preserve cultural pluralism
and prevent the never ending development of two or three world players
zelnik was quoted as saying on thursday by liberation
the sacd society of authors and composers said it was satisfied with the
proposals which would encourage and stimulate the legal availability of works
to the public
british car sales jump percent in december trade
london jan afp
new car sales in britain jumped percent in december helped by
government backed scheme subsidising the cost of buying vehicles the society of
motor manufacturers and traders said on thursday
the number of new cars sold jumped to last month compared with the level
in december smmt said in statement
they had soared by almost percent in november as the global car industry
recovers following the severe economic downturn
smmt chief executive paul everitt said that british sales were boosted in
december by the so called scrappage incentive scheme and by consumers looking to
avoid this month increase in vat or tax levied on purchased goods
the scrappage scheme which allows car owners to trade in year old vehicle
for pound euro dollar discount on new car
helped to realise almost two million registrations in
the market of new car registrations was significantly above
early expectations and reflects the positive impact of the scheme due to end in
february said everitt
the smmt boss added that would be another tough year for the british
motor industry with new car registrations expected to be below levels and
only limited recovery in the van and heavy commercial vehicle markets
tajikistan jails alleged spy for years
dushanbe jan afp
tajikistan court thursday sentenced man to years in jail for spying for
the neighbouring central asian country of uzbekistan
the man identified as boimurod anarov was detained with secret and strategic
information on two hydroelectric power stations court sources told afp
the man who had lived in uzbekistan for years was arrested near the
sangtuda hydroelectric power station in southern tajikistan which was built
with financing from russia the sources said
the hydroelectric plant which opened in july last year was aimed at easing an
energy crisis in the mountainous ex soviet state which depends for percent
of its natural gas on uzbekistan
tajikistan and uzbekistan have long been at loggerheads over number of issues
including water and energy supplies in addition to long standing cultural
strains
the conviction comes month after tajik police said they arrested an anti
government militant who entered from uzbekistan and plotted to assassinate
city mayor using remote explosive device
egypt christians clash with police after christmas murders
cairo jan afp
clashes erupted on thursday as thousands of coptic christians gathered in
southern egyptian town to bury six of their number gunned down on coptic
christmas eve by men believed to be muslims security officials said
officials and the local bishop said three men in car had raked pedestrians
with gunfire along street containing two churches and shopping precinct
bishop kirolos said the victims were people who had just come out of main church
after attending christmas eve service and the proximity of the shopping
precinct might have drawn some of them to it
six copts and muslim policeman were killed while at least nine more copts
were wounded two of them seriously security official said
the wounded were evacuated to hospital in the nearby governorate of sohag
an estimated copts attended the funeral in nagaa hammadi miles
kilometres from the popular tourist city of luxor
police said copts stoned the hospital where the bodies of the six dead were kept
and police cars before the service
police responded with tear gas
protesters shouted no to repression and blessed cross we will defend you
with our soul and our blood witnesses said
the clashes had subsided by midday gmt and no violence was reported at
the funeral
an initial investigation reported that the gunmen opened fire as they sped along
the street killing and wounding people over distance of metres yards
the car then turned down side street to leave the town and the gunmen fired at
convent after exiting the street which also housed the bishop offices and
fled to rural area near the town in qena province kilometres miles
south of cairo
copts celebrate christmas on january along with many other orthodox
communities around the world
bishop kirilos told afp on thursday that he saw gunmen peppering worshippers
with automatic gunfire outside the archbishopric after the mass was over at
pm gmt the previous night
we concluded the mass at pm and was heading to the bishopric when saw
man in car open fire with an automatic rifle at copts who were walking
past the building kirolos said in telephone interview
the gunman then continued to fire on copts in the streets of the town he
said
the bishop said the author of this crime has police record and should have
been arrested for past crimes but is under the protection of prominent figures
close to the ruling national democratic party
witnesses cited by local officials earlier said the main gunman is muslim
wanted by police and linked to the abduction of year old muslim girl in
november who was allegedly raped by coptic youth
the first elements of the investigation based on testimony of people on the
ground indicate that the main shooter is town resident identified as mohammed
ahmed hussein who is wanted by the police one official said
kirolos also told afp that some of his parishioners had been receiving for the
past week hate calls on their cell phones and threats alleging that muslims
will avenge the rape of the girl during the christmas celebrations
copts who represent roughly percent of egypt million strong population
are the largest christian community in the middle east but they frequently
complain of discrimination harassment and sectarian attacks
in november hundreds of muslim protesters torched christian owned shops in the
town of farshut near nagaa hammadi and attacked police station where they
believed the suspected rapist was being held
it was latest in string of sectarian tensions between muslims and egypt
copts the middle east largest christian community
on wednesday the head of the coptic minority pope shenuda iii led christmas
midnight mass at the abbassiya church in cairo which was attended by thousands
of worshippers including president hosni mubarak son and heir apparent gamal
mubarak
tennis atp chennai open results
chennai india jan afp
results from the fourth day of the dollar atp chennai open tennis
tournament on thursday denotes seeding
nd rd
lukas lacko svk bt robby ginepri usa
dudi sela isr bt kevin kim usa
cricket south africa england scoreboard
cape town jan afp
scores at tea on the fifth day of the third test between south africa and
england at newlands on thursday
south africa first innings
england first innings
south africa second innings dec
england second innings
overnight
strauss amla harris
cook boucher de wet
trott steyn
pietersen lbw steyn
anderson prince harris
collingwood not out
bell not out
extras lb
total wkts overs
fall of wickets cook strauss pietersen
anderson trott
to bat prior broad swann onions
bowling morkel steyn de wet harris
kallis duminy
match position england need another to win with five wickets remaining in
the second innings
toss england
umpires daryl harper aus tony hill nzl
tv umpire aleem dar pak
match referee roshan mahanama sri
poor euro retail sales trigger fears of recovery rut
