also back in business after long lay off with shoulder injury is sharapova
the champion and former world number one
she said she was excited about the year ahead
honestly hope that this will be one of the most exciting years in women
tennis she said
you have the story lines of the comebacks you have the depth of the top
there many possibilities
serena sister venus will also be threat but it is the return to melbourne
of clijsters and henin that has whetted appetites
clijsters crowd favourite in australia retired in may to have baby
but made partial comeback last year when she sensationally won the us open
this year is her first full season back and few will bet against her making the
second week of the tournament after beating henin to win the brisbane
international earlier this month
was able to practise on centre court little bit it just nice to see that
again because never thought it would happen again to be playing tennis here
it exciting said the popular belgian
henin retired in may when world number one with seven grand slam titles
including the australian open citing lack of desire
but the lure of the game has drawn her back and she looks as good as ever
now she injured her leg late in the brisbane final and said she was taking
it day at time
feel like still here to build my confidence again and it will take
probably few weeks maybe few tournaments maybe few months to really be
at my top she said
it doesn mean cannot win matches that the attitude got out of
brisbane it been quite constructive here in melbourne with the same
attitude
india veteran marxist leader jyoti basu dies party
kolkata india jan afp
jyoti basu the charismatic indian marxist who headed the world most
electorally successful communist party for two decades died on sunday after
long illness party officials said
jyoti basu is no more with us he is no more in this world biman bose
communist party of india marxist cpm state secretary told reporters
basu who was the longest serving chief minister in indian political
history led the cpm to power in west bengal in and ruled the state for an
unbroken years
he was colossus on the political scene for many decades home minister
chidambaram said he was great patriot and great democrat
basu died of multiple organ failure in hospital in kolkata capital of west
bengal state
ill health forced him to step down in
after an inconclusive general election in he was within hair breadth
of becoming prime minister at the head of centre left coalition prospect
that prompted the headline red star over delhi in one national newspaper
but the cpm central committee decided not to participate in the government
move that basu later described as historic blunder
the son of well off bengali family basu was born in in kolkata which
was then calcutta and the capital of british india
while training to be lawyer in england in the at the time of the
spanish civil war and the rise of fascism he was drawn to the communist
movement which he formally joined following his return to india in
after period of trade union activity basu launched his political career when
he was elected to the bengal legislative assembly
when the communist party of india split in basu became one of the first
politburo members of the newly formed cpm and several years later he became
deputy chief minister of west bengal
his more than two decade reign as chief minister began on june and will
be remembered for rural reforms which included the creation of village councils
and the redistribution of land to peasant farmers
but critics blame him for allowing west bengal economy to stagnate pointing
to his failure to rein in militant trade unions rejuvenate industry or
encourage foreign investment
an unabashed critic of the united states basu mischievously changed the address
of the us consulate in kolkata from harrington street to ho chi minh street
widower basu is survived by his son chandan who is an industrialist
urgent us drone strike kills in nw pakistan officials
miranshah pakistan jan afp
us drone attack early sunday killed at least militants in restive
pakistani tribal area bordering afghanistan pakistani officials said
tennis federer open favourite but pundits point to murray
melbourne jan afp
roger federer is the bookmakers pick to win the australian open and it is hard
to go past his grand slam dominance but influential pundits are tipping it
andy murray time
all time grand slam leader federer is gunning for his th major title over the
next fortnight after passing pete sampras previous best of following last
year wimbledon triumph
underlining his incredible consistency federer has only missed playing in one
of the last grand slam finals his sole slip up coming when he lost to
russian marat safin in the semi finals of the australian open
yet flying in the face of the weight of opinion are seven times grand slam
champion john mcenroe and australian darren cahill the former coach of grand
slam champions andre agassi and lleyton hewitt
they are predicting breakthrough triumph for the young scot murray who has
us open final appearance as his best effort from grand slams
murray is saddled with the burden of national expectation of becoming the first
british player to win grand slam since fred perry us open triumph
yet that has not deterred mcenroe and cahill from throwing their lot in with the
world number five for the australian open crown
think it is his murray time mcenroe said
each time he doesn win major the pressure builds but hardcourts are his
favourite surface
to me the australian open is there for the taking because there are
questions about some of the other guys
cahill who is regarded as one of the most astute tennis judges agrees with
supermac
the smart money is always on federer but think it going to be
breakthrough year for andy murray he said
think he going to win one of the four majors and there no reason why it
won be this one
this surface suits him the weather suits him there no reason he can kick
off the year in great fashion ll go with murray
murray who opens up against south african qualifier kevin anderson on monday
lost to spaniard fernando verdasco in the fourth round here last year
feel like learned lot from what happened last year and ll try and play
better and go deeper in the tournament than have done in previous years
that getting past the fourth round murray said
that will be my first goal
murray could face fourth round duel with frenchman gael monfils and is
projected to meet second seed rafael nadal in the quarters
federer who is bidding for his fourth australian open title opens against
russian igor andreev on tuesday and could face either lleyton hewitt or marcos
baghdatis in the fourth round before potential quarter with russian bogeyman
nikolay davydenko
davydenko the sixth seed has beaten the swiss legend at their previous two
meetings and could pose another test
nadal kicks off his campaign against australian peter luczak on monday night
while third seeded novak djokovic takes on spaniard daniel gimeno traver in the
first round
djokovic is drawn to face french open finalist robin soderling of sweden in the
quarters before potential tilt at federer in the semis
another prospective quarter final looms between us open champion juan martin del
potro the fourth seed and wimbledon finalist andy roddick
alert
fifteen killed in us drone strike in nw pakistan officials
disillusioned ukraine votes for new president
kiev jan afp
disappointed with the orange revolution failure to bring change ukraine on
sunday voted in presidential polls set to be led by the pro russia viktor
yanukovich at the expense of his west leaning rivals
yanukovich has lead of around percent in opinion polls over his nearest
challenger the charismatic prime minister yulia tymoshenko but with
candidates standing the election appears certain to require second round
the failure of orange revolution figurehead and winner president viktor
yushchenko to usher in new era in the country of million bridging the eu
and russia has left ukrainians deeply disillusioned
yushchenko who has warned ukraine can say goodbye to democracy if either
yanukovich or the prime minister wins is expected to record dismal single
digit rating and be eliminated in the first round
yanukovich former mechanic jailed for theft in the ussr was ingloriously
beaten in when the orange revolution street protests forced re run of
presidential polls marred by mass vote rigging in his favour
polls opened at gmt and were to close hours later with exit polls
expected to give the first indication of trends the run off vote is scheduled
for february
tymoshenko famed for her peasant style golden hair braid is seen as more in
favour of eu integration than yanukovich but has also played up her close ties
to russian strongman prime minister vladimir putin
the bitter campaign saw the shady pasts of the candidates once again dredged up
yanukovich was jailed twice in the soviet era for theft and assault though the
convictions were erased in the late tymoshenko herself was briefly
detained in on smuggling charges that were later quashed
the electorate who took part in the orange protests are disappointed that the
majority of their expectations have not been fulfilled said volodymyr fesenko
director of the penta centre for political studies in kiev
increasingly voters have critical attitude to all politicians they want to
see new faces
the level of cynicism in ukraine is such that one local politician is even
standing under the name of protivsikh against everyone while website
appeared last week offering voters the chance to auction off their votes
yanukovich should win around percent of the vote in the first round and
tymoshenko percent according to the latest polls by the kiev international
institute of sociology
third place is expected to go to businessman sergiy tigipko who appears to have
made late surge and is given an outside chance of springing first round
upset
am voting with sense of disenchantment said dmytro rudovsky the head of
small state owned enterprise as he cast his vote in snow blanketed kiev
saying he would nonetheless vote for tigipko
andrew wilson ukraine expert with the european council on foreign relations
said the size of the gap between yanukovich and tymoshenko would be crucial in
the first round
less than percent and tymoshenko is confident she can close it in the second
round percent and the election will be close more than percent is
difficult he said
yushchenko and tymoshenko were comrades in arms in the orange revolution but
later became sworn enemies their relationship poisoned by perennial power
struggle and mutual accusations of criminal wrongdoing
since yanukovich has sought to reinvent himself with the help of western
pr strategists and to show he is not servant of the kremlin but defender of
ukrainian interests
he has also sought more support in the country ukrainian speaking west
traditionally the heartland of tymoshenko and yushchenko supporters while
holding on to his powerbase in the russian speaking east
india veteran marxist leader jyoti basu dies party
kolkata india jan afp
jyoti basu the charismatic indian marxist who headed the world most
electorally successful communist party for two decades died on sunday after
long illness party officials said
jyoti basu is no more with us he is no more in this world biman bose
communist party of india marxist state secretary told reporters
basu who was the longest serving chief minister in indian political
history led the communist party of india marxist cpm to power in west bengal
in and ruled the state for an unbroken years
urgent india veteran marxist leader jyoti basu dies party
kolkata india jan afp
jyoti basu the charismatic indian marxist who headed the world most
electorally successful communist party for two decades died on sunday after
long illness party officials said
alert
india veteran marxist leader jyoti basu dies party officials
super nannies for troubled australian families
sydney jan afp
australian parents who are struggling to cope with their children will be sent
super nannies to help them raise their offspring properly under state
government plan released sunday
the southern state of victoria will begin trial later this year in which
parenting experts will visit the homes of vulnerable families to try to break
the cycle of disadvantage and protect children
becoming parent is difficult and confusing time for everyone but some mums
and dads need some extra help victoria community services minister lisa
neville said
the specialist staff will work intensively with mothers and fathers helping
them in the day to day tasks of bringing up children neville said
for some families this could involve helping to establish routines around
buying and preparing healthy food keeping their home safe and clean getting
kids to school and bath and bed time for the kids neville said
they may also help the parents to manage their family budget the minister
said in press release headed super nannies set to fly into victoria
the super nannies could also help develop routine for new baby give
advice on managing toddler or adolescent and teach parents how to play
educational games with their children
families to receive the help would be targeted by government agencies and staff
will reportedly be briefed on how to identify domestic violence post natal
depression drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues
it is expected that the parenting mentors will visit the family regularly
possibly daily in the early stages for up to year
families that would participate in the program love their children just like
any other family neville said
however it may be that they have not had the support peer networks or
positive experiences in their lives to always know how to bring up their
children in the best way possible
the supernanny is reality television show in which no nonsense british
nanny helps distraught parents instill discipline in their unruly children
prince william aims to maintain queen standards on tour
auckland jan afp
britain prince william arrived in auckland sunday on his first official
overseas trip on behalf of his grandmother queen elizabeth ii saying he wanted
to maintain her high standards on tour
but the year old who is second in line to the british throne told reporters
at the start of the five day tour to new zealand and australia he had plenty of
work to do to achieve that goal
want to be able to do something good and keep the standards up that she has
led the way with he said
asked if he expected to undertake more tours on behalf of the queen he was keen
to downplay expectations
we ll wait and see wouldn get too carried away ve still got lot of
training to do and need the training believe me
but in day dominated by sporting theme william said all the right things
just love seeing everyone and seeing more of new zealand so it great
as well as carrying out some official duties on behalf of the queen in new
zealand he will travel to australia on tuesday for more informal three day
visit
the prince is on his third visit to new zealand the first was with his parents
prince charles and the late princess diana as nine month old baby in
he returned in taking time out to follow the fortunes of the touring
british and irish lions rugby team
the prince was met sunday at auckland airport by prime minister john key and the
queen representative in new zealand governor general anand satyanand in
low key welcome without pomp or ceremony
the tone was even more relaxed during the afternoon when william dressed
casually for visit to the eden park rugby stadium which is being redeveloped
for next year rugby world cup
those accompanying him on the half hour tour of the world cup final venue
included key and all blacks captain richie mccaw
key praised the friendliness of the royal envoy
he very nice young man he very relaxed he got good sense of new
zealand been here before and enjoyed it and think he great ambassador
both for the royal family and for the united kingdom key said
mccaw also praised the prince saying there was lot of respect for him in new
zealand
it can be easy being in the position he in but he handles himself
amazingly well underneath all that stuff he has to deal with he just
genuine bloke you can have yarn with he said
william later went sailing on auckland harbour taking the helm of new zealand
america cup yacht and on sunday night was to be hosted at traditional
indigenous maori hangi meal cooked in pit in the ground
the main official duty of his new zealand visit will be carried out monday when
he opens new zealand new supreme court building in wellington after receiving
traditional maori welcome
polls in recent years have shown that around percent of new zealanders
support dropping the british monarch as head of state in favour of republic
some supporters of cutting the royal ties are expected to gather to promote
their cause at the court opening
william is taking short break from his military career which reached
landmark friday when his father presented him with his flying badge after
graduating from the royal air force advanced helicopter training course
later this month he is due to start training to become search and rescue
pilot
bro bsk
one dead five missing in malaysia boat accident police
penang malaysia jan afp
one teacher died and five students were still missing after their boat capsized
off the resort island of penang in northern malaysia early sunday police said
penang police chief ayub yakob said people were on the long narrow boat when
strong undercurrents tipped it over as it made turn
they were practising for dragon boat competition to be held later in the year
he said
ayub said there were young paddlers aged at least years old one teacher
and two trainers in the boat
the body of one male teacher has been fished out of the sea he told reporters
adding that most of the students swam to shore safely
ayub said rescue teams are searching for the missing students adding that
initial investigations revealed that several of the rowers from local school
were not wearing life jackets
tennis federer serena lead stars on haiti fundraiser
melbourne jan afp
the top stars in tennis raised at least dollars us for the
haiti earthquake victims sunday in hastily arranged charity doubles match led
by roger federer and serena williams
federer organised the event in rod laver arena on the eve of the australian open
after watching the tragic events in the caribbean nation unfold on television
followed it on the tv and saw the devastation said the swiss superstar
on saturday morning thought we should do something called up tennis
australia chief craig tiley and said is it possible
he said probably not
called up few players just in case and they were like we should do it
straight away in hours we were able to pull this thing off
federer managed to rustle up fellow world number one williams rafael nadal kim
clijsters novak djokovic andy roddick and australian favourites lleyton hewitt
and samantha stosur
despite the late notice it was sell out with fans packing rod laver
arena and paying dollars nine us each with all the proceeds going to
partners in health charity aiding haiti
tennis australia did an amazing job promoting the event in such short time
added federer
it is wonderful to see am happy it was such success
tiley said it was too soon to put figure on money raised but said it would be
at least dollars us
the players were split into two teams red and blue the colours of the haitian
flag with former grand slam champion jim courier in the umpire chair
clijsters djokovic nadal and roddick were on the blues and the rest on the
reds with federer team winning the light hearted match thee players were
fitted with portable microphones to joke with the crowd
roddick foot faulted by linesman provided the comic highlight by
threatening to send williams in to seek retribution along the lines of her us
open outburst last september
williams took the joke in good spirit doubling over in laughter
the magnitude earthquake struck haiti last week bringing death and misery
on an unprecedented scale to the impoverished nation
the latest toll from the haitian government is at least people dead and
million homeless but those figures could soar once the full extent of the
tragedy is known
early estimates had spoken of dead
cricket india make sound start in first bangladesh test
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
india made solid start when they reached for no loss in their first innings
at lunch on the opening day of the first test against bangladesh here on sunday
stand in skipper virender sehwag was unbeaten with brisk at the break and
left handed gautam gambhir was on not out after their team had been put in to
bat
sehwag led the side in the absence of injured mahendra singh dhoni
bangladesh skipper shakib al hasan used all of his three pacemen in the opening
hour but none could provide the breakthrough
sehwag was more aggressive than his partner driving shahadat hossain and then
upper cutting debutant shafiul islam over the slips for fours he has so far
smashed six boundaries in his ball knock
gambhir has hit three fours in his ball knock
india suffered double blow when wicketkeeper batsman mahendra singh dhoni
back spasms and off spinner harbhajan singh stiff neck were ruled out of the
match they were replaced by dinesh karthik and leg spinner amit mishra
the start was delayed by minutes because of fog and murky weather over this
coastal city
tennis australian open women singles draw
melbourne jan afp
the full draw after qualifying was completed for the women singles at the
australian open beginning monday denotes seeding
women
serena williams usa urszula radwanska pol petra kvitova cze jill
craybas usa renata voracova cze andrea petkovic ger ayumi morita jpn
carla suarez navarro esp sabine lisicki ger petra martic cro
varvara lepchenko usa alberta brianti ita kristina barrois ger akgul
amanmuradova uzb xinyun han chn samantha stosur aus vera zvonareva
rus kristina kucova svk chang kai chen tpe iveta benesova cze
zuzana kucova svk gisela dulko arg shenay perry usa ana ivanovic srb
elena vesnina rus tathiana garbin ita kimiko date krumm jpn
yaroslava shvedova kaz stefanie voegele sui melinda czink hun
stephanie cohen aloro fra victoria azarenka blr caroline wozniacki
den aleksandra wozniak can tamira paszek aut julia goerges ger
galina voskoboeva kaz tsvetana pironkova bul lucie hradecka cze
shahar peer isr daniela hantuchova svk viktoriya kutuzova ukr
jarmila groth aus sofia arvidsson swe stephanie dubois can agnes
szavay hun marina erakovic nzl li na chn agnieszka radwanska pol
tatjana malek ger melanie oudin usa alla kudryavtseva rus julie
coin fra alicia molik aus alize cornet fra francesca schiavone ita
anabel medina garrigues esp karolina sprem cro anastasiya
yakimova blr casey dellacqua aus arantxa parra santonja esp sybille
bammer aut lucie safarova cze venus williams usa elena dementieva
rus vera dushevina rus kirsten flipkens bel justine henin bel
sorana cirstea rom olivia rogowska aus jelena dokic aus alisa
kleybanova rus virginie razzano fra ekaterina makarova rus
klara zakopalova cze sara errani ita yanina wickmayer bel alexandra
dulgheru rom anna chakvetadze rus flavia pennetta ita kim
clijsters bel valerie tetreault can sesil karatantcheva kaz
tamarine tanasugarn tha chan yung jan tpe kaia kanepi est edina
gallovits rom nadia petrova rus aravane rezai fra sania mirza
ind olga govortsova blr angelique kerber ger anastasia pavlyuchenkova
rus anastasija sevastova lat anastasia rodionova aus svetlana
kuznetsova rus jelena jankovic srb monica niculescu rom patricia
mayr aut katie brien gbr yuliana fedak ukr polona hercog slo
kathrin woerle ger alona bondarenko ukr maria jose martinez sanchez
esp evgeniya rodina rus zheng jie chn peng shuai chn coco
vandeweghe usa sandra zahlavova cze rossana de los rios par marion
bartoli fra maria sharapova rus maria kirilenko rus yvonee
meusberger aut timea bacsinszky sui anna lena groenefeld ger roberta
vinci ita vania king usa dominika cibulkova svk kateryna
bondarenko ukr ioana raluca olaru rom pauline parmentier fra
elena baltacha gbr barbora zahlavova strycova cze regina kulikova rus
magdalena rybarikova svk dinara safina rus
tennis hewitt talks up chances despite injuries
melbourne jan afp
lleyton hewitt believes he can take his game to another level for this week
australian open despite injuries now taking their toll on his playing career
the australian may be aged but he was sounding on sunday like battle weary
campaigner as he prepared for his th home grand slam getting underway on
monday
hewitt who has not reached final in his last grand slams since he was
runner up to marat safin in the final of the australian open faces tough
draw
the two time grand slam champion now ranked opens with brazilian qualifier
ricardo hocevar on tuesday and could face his sydney international conqueror
marcos baghdatis in the third round
if he gets through that he is projected to face world number one roger federer
in the fourth round
hewitt underwent major hip surgery in august and had back spasm during
this month hopman cup in perth
he said it was now management issue with his niggles and pains to stay
competitive in the men game now commanded by younger players
had few setbacks with injuries and having surgery and stuff like that
hewitt said
so your training sometimes alters little bit compared to some of the stuff
you may have done before
but it management thing as well as you get older you start getting few
niggles you have to work around that
in terms of playing still know my game but as whole ve still got
areas of my game feel like can take to another level
hewitt said he felt he was hitting the ball well ahead of the opening grand slam
of the season and saw positives in his three set defeat to baghdatis in the
quarter finals of last week sydney international
hit the ball extremely well on saturday in practice couldn have been
happier the way hit it he said
ve done all hard work now it matter of going on the match court
hopefully executing and doing the things that me and my team will talk about
before the match
if play my game and play as well as know can and the way hitting the
ball yeah ve got chance
cycling favourite greipel puts horror smash behind him
adelaide australia jan afp
germany andre greipel on sunday said he had fully recovered from the horror
crash which prevented him from sealing back to back tour down under wins last
year
greipel was out for four months with shoulder reconstruction surgery after the
accident when as defending champion he ploughed into parked police motorbike
on stage three
it part of sport okay it was bit bad luck that motorbike was standing
there he said
but anyway had really good surgery everything is fine have no pain at
all don think about the crash any more
greipel is many people favourite for the sprint heavy tour down under along
with last year winner australia allan davis who was also involved in the
dramatic crash
davis was floored by greipel bike as it flew back into the peloton but he
remounted and helped by his quick step team mates heroically battled back to
finish the stage second and ultimately win the race
he said his colleagues at new team astana who include tour de france
winner oscar pereiro would provide equally strong support
without my team mates last year wouldn have been able to win the bike
race davis said it was huge to get back in the bike race let alone be up
there for the overall win he said
but oscar pereiro don have to state what he can do he in pretty good
shape and think he key rider for me and the team definitely on par
with the sort of team had last year with quick step
some riders are taking part in separate street race around adelaide on
sunday before starting the six stage kilometre miles tour down under
on tuesday
polls open in ukraine presidential elections
kiev jan afp
polls opened sunday in ukraine presidential elections which are expected to
see comeback by pro russian forces five years after the orange revolution
polls opened at gmt and were due to close hours later when exit polls
are expected to give the first indication of early trends
the pro russia viktor yanukovich is expected to lead the poll but without
winning an overall majority forcing second round run off on february
against the likely second place candidate prime minister yulia tymoshenko
cricket bangladesh india first test scoreboard
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
scoreboard at lunch on the opening day of the first test between bangladesh and
india here on sunday
india st innings
gambhir not out
sehwag not out
extras nb
total for no loss overs
bowling shafiul shahadat rubel nb shakib
mahmudullah
toss bangladesh
umpires billy bowden nzl and marais erasmus rsa
tv umpire enamul haque ban
