andy murray gbr bt john isner usa
rafael nadal esp bt ivo karlovic cro
marin cilic cro bt juan martin del potro arg
women singles
th round
zheng jie chn bt alona bondarenko ukr
nadia petrova rus bt svetlana kuznetsova rus
justine henin bel bt yanina wickmayer bel
maria kirilenko rus bt dinara safina rus retired back injury
cricket pacemen put india on top despite mahmudullah
dhaka jan afp
mohammad mahmudullah cracked an unbeaten under pressure but failed to stop
india from gaining an upper hand in the second and final test against bangladesh
here on sunday
bangladesh were wobbling at before posting in their first innings
thanks to lower order batsman mahmudullah who kept the indian attack at bay with
gutsy ball knock
india raced to for no loss in reply at stumps with virender sehwag not
out and gautam gambhir not out at the crease
the visitors were indebted to pacemen ishant sharma and zaheer khan
for restricting bangladesh to modest total left arm spinner pragyan
ojha was the other main wicket taker with
bangladesh were when mahmudullah walked in to bat but india had to
struggle for the remaining wickets as he put on useful runs for the ninth
wicket with shafiul islam who contributed only nine
mahmudullah was on when last man rubel hossain joined him but could manage
only including in an over from off spinner harbhajan singh he hit
fours
harbhajan finished the innings when he bowled rubel for his lone victim leaving
mahmudullah just four short of his maiden test hundred
india bowlers were superbly supported by wicket keeper mahendra singh dhoni
who took three catches and two stumpings after missing the previous test due to
an injury
most of the bangladeshi batsmen failed to apply themselves with mohammad
ashraful skipper shakib al hasan and mushfiqur rahim all getting
out when looking well set
ashraful and shakib both fell to rash strokes ashraful stepped out to attempt
big shot off ojha missed the line and was stumped while shakib was caught
behind chasing an away going delivery from zaheer
rahim who added for the sixth wicket with his captain was trapped leg
before by sharma after hitting six fours in his ball knock
india gained an early advantage when they left the hosts reeling at in the
morning session with zaheer and sharma taking two wickets apiece and ojha one
ashraful hit six fours in his ball knock while tamim iqbal imrul kayes
junaid siddique and raqibul hasan all failed to reach double figures
bangladesh batting problems began immediately after winning the toss when
sharma had kayes caught by dhoni with his first delivery of the match
zaheer bowled opener iqbal with delivery that came in sharply and then had
siddique caught behind to reduce the hosts to
sharma second victim was raqibul hasan caught by rahul dravid at second slip
after making only four
india lead in the short series following their run victory in the
opening test in chittagong on thursday
tennis nadal sets up murray blockbuster as safina pulls out
melbourne jan afp
rafael nadal set up blockbuster australian open quarter final with andy murray
on sunday and justine henin comeback stayed on track but there was misery for
dinara safina who pulled out injured
on day of upsets the tournament ended for us open champion juan martin del
potro and french open champion svetlana kuznetsova
second seed safina limped out with back problem during her fourth round clash
with unseeded countrywoman maria kirilenko
the year old russian the runner up last year battled the injury in late
and withdrew from the brisbane international this month
she was trailing and when she walked towards the umpire and indicated
her night was over
my back again it suddenly hit me it was getting worse and worse said
safina clearly in pain
have no idea really how it could happen it really really terrible
zheng jie meanwhile rewrote the history books by becoming the first chinese
player to reach the last eight in melbourne and will now play kirilenko
spain second seeded nadal was put to the test by big serving croat ivo
karlovic who slammed down aces before he muted the challenge
it ensured an enticing last eight showdown with in form fifth seed murray after
the scot tamed another big server american john isner
murray is one of the more dangerous players on the tour he can play
aggressively and defensively said nadal who has not won tournament in eight
months after being hampered by injury
will have to play as well as can and use my forehand
murray will be competing in his first australian quarter final and is the first
briton since john lloyd in to get this far
he showcased his exciting strokeplay against isner and has yet to drop set
playing well no question about that said murray who lost to nadal in
five sets in the fourth round of the australian open
just need to play like have been and maybe bit more if want to win the
tournament
the pair have played each other nine times with nadal winning seven
henin successful return to tennis after an month retirement continued full
steam when the seven time grand slam champion beat fellow belgian and world
number yanina wickmayer
it great feeling to be back everything is going so well said henin who
is at her first grand slam since the australian open in after being handed
wildcard by organisers
physically it tough as didn play for two years but love being back on
court
her victory matched the best performance by wildcard here in the open era
martina hingis in and jelena dokic in also made the quarters and
earned her crack at russian nadia petrova for place in the semi finals
petrova the th seed made the last eight by beating third seed kuznetsova
continuing her giantkilling ways having already ousted kim clijsters
she won and kuznetsova admitted she deserved to lose
was struggling little bit was not good today think deserved to
lose he said
zheng achievement was impressive with the unseeded year old upsetting
ukrainian st seed alona bondarenko as she and li na who plays
her fourth round match on monday continue to fly the flag for china
zheng proved to be marginally steadier than the ukrainian in match where both
women struggled to hold their serves
argentina del potro crashed out of contention in five set epic with th
seed marin cilic
the croatian outlasted an exhausted del potro to earn
himself quarter final against either american seventh seed andy roddick or
former finalist fernando gonzalez of chile
in baghdad the magic wand still rules at checkpoints
baghdad jan afp
bomb detection device newly banned from export in britain and labelled useless
by us forces was still being used at checkpoints in baghdad on sunday to
mixture of confidence and disbelief
we know it doesn work and that it has been banned but we are continuing to
use it an iraqi army lieutenant shaking his head amid busy traffic told an
afp correspondent in the capital
it is bullshit the officer who was not authorised to speak to the press
said of the ade which consists of swivelling antenna mounted to hinge on
pistol shaped plastic hand grip but still we are lying about it
the device known as the magic wand uses series of interchangeable credit
card size paper cards said to be able to detect explosives such as and tnt
as well as weapons
it is manufactured by atsc british based company was reputedly sold for
between and dollars per unit and has become ubiquitous in iraq
having been bought in large numbers by local security forces
however british police last week arrested atsc director jim mccormick on
suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation he was bailed pending further
investigation
britain banned export of the device after tests showed it was not suitable for
bomb detection substances as diverse as perfume and metal tooth coatings have
previously been shown to falsely alert its antenna
afp reporters on sunday saw the ade being used in baghdad the restive
northern city of mosul and the sprawling southern city of basra
at checkpoints in the capital several army officers refused to talk about the
device capabilities and referred enquiries to their commanders
an iraqi policeman however defended its use
it works very well said rayad mehdi who works at busy checkpoint in
salhiyah central baghdad district only few hundred metres yards from the
justice ministry and baghdad governorate buildings that were ripped apart by
twin suicide vehicle bombs on october last year
the attacks left people dead and more than wounded and were the
deadliest in more than two years
mehdi however who has been using the ade for more than year remained
adamant it works when search the cars it detects everything even hydraulic
oil and cds
faisal ghazi security guard who uses the ade at the entrance of the
nearby al mansour hotel had not heard about the british export ban but he was
adamant about its qualities
it works very well if you have received proper training ghazi said of the
device which does not need batteries but instead relies on the user static
electricity according to atsc promotional material
major general jihad al jabiri chief of iraq interior ministry directorate for
combating explosives was forced to defend the ade last november after his us
counterpart said he had no confidence that these work
whether it magic or scientific what care about is it detects bombs
jabiri said at the time
the british ban is limited to iraq and afghanistan because the ade is not
classed as military technology the new restrictions were based on the risk that
sale of such goods could cause harm to uk and other friendly forces
the british embassy in baghdad has also raised london concerns about the
ade with iraqi authorities
the iraqi government has made no official statement
ammar touma an mp who sits on parliament defence and security committee
however on sunday called for probe into why the ade had been bought
want an investigation into why this device was purchased he said also
want to know if corruption was involved
barclays capital head slates obama bank plan media
geneva jan afp
the chairman of investment bank barclays capital hans joerg rudloff has
criticised president barack obama plans to rein in us banks as populist in
newspaper interview published on sunday
rudloff acknowledged in the swiss newspaper sonntag that the financial
services industry was on the threshold of major change
but he said that the tone of obama appearance last thursday when he announced
crackdown on the scope and size of big us banks did not fit with attempts to
forge dialogue between business and government
it can only be regarded as populist diversionary tactic after huge setback
for the democratic party rudloff told the newspaper
the chief executive of the investment arm of the british banking group said the
proposals to fence off different parts of the banking business and limit the
size of big banks were vague poorly thought out and hard to implement
we banks are conscious that new regulation will be aimed at better protecting
savings and deposits banks would thus be obliged to speculate less he said
however that doesn in any way mean that one should simply pull regulations
from the last century out of mothballs rudloff added
the us proposals have been compared with the glass steagall act which
prohibited commercial banks from underwriting corporate securities or acting as
brokerages it was repealed in
rudloff said banks would have to change their culture
we are at the beginning of new chapter in the history of finance and
certainly face restructuring of the whole industry he added
barclays capital took over the north american business of lehman brothers the
huge us financial services firm which went bankrupt in september
precipitating the collapse in stock markets and the financial crisis
detroit shows new phase in al qaeda operations miliband
london jan afp
recent bid to blow up us plane marks new phase in al qaeda campaign
against the west british foreign secretary david miliband said sunday before
this week london talks on afghanistan and yemen
miliband also said there remained very real danger from violent extremists
who will stop at nothing after britain raised its terrorism threat assessment
level from substantial to severe friday
his comments came ahead of meeting wednesday on yemen featuring ministers and
officials from countries called after year old nigerian allegedly tried
to blow up detroit bound airliner on christmas day
the suspect was allegedly trained in yemen and in new audio statement sunday
al qaeda chief osama bin laden claimed the foiled attempt threatening further
strikes on us targets
the yemen meeting will be followed on thursday by bigger higher level
conference to which countries have been invited and which will be attended by
us secretary of state hillary clinton and afghan president hamid karzai
the talks will focus on how to tackle extremism in yemen and how to stabilise
afghanistan through political as well as military means
the scale of the problems facing afghanistan was highlighted sunday when the
afghan government postponed parliamentary elections for four months from may to
september
miliband spoke of the threat posed by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap
operating in yemen in an interview with the bbc saying the country had been
rising on our radar for the last months to two years
the heart of the al qaeda senior leadership remains on the afghan pakistan
border miliband said
but there is real issue in yemen the fact that al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula should have tried to strike in detroit marks new phase in the
campaign and that why there an important meeting on yemen on wednesday
miliband said the detroit incident was the first time the group had attempted to
strike in the west rather than within the middle east
karzai last week unveiled plans to offer money and jobs to tempt taliban
fighters to lay down arms and return to civilian life and miliband appeared to
back this when asked about it
think it very important that we say very very clearly that dividing the
enemy is very important part of our strategy it the counterpart of
military strategy it vital he said
when people say to me should the afghan government be talking to the taliban
have very simple answer yes they should
he refused to comment on why britain had raised its terrorism threat level
following media report that al qaeda is training female suicide bombers and
india decision to warn airlines about possible hijack attempt
the change means that terrorist attack is highly likely but there is no
intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent home secretary alan johnson
said
tennis back injury forces safina out of open
melbourne jan afp
russian second seed dinara safina australian open campaign ended in misery
sunday when she retired with back injury during her fourth round clash with
countrywoman maria kirilenko
safina the runner up last year was trailing and when she withdrew
the year old battled with back problem in late and pulled out of from
the warm up tournament in brisbane to receive further treatment but had said
the injury was behind her upon arriving in melbourne
she looked in good touch in the first three rounds winning all her matches in
straight sets
after holding serve in game that had eight deuces safina led with break
of serve against kirilenko but called for the trainer after the seventh game
she did not get any treatment but took some painkillers and played on
however she dropped the next two games
safina was in obvious discomfort and after netting weak forehand at all to
hand kirilenko set point she strode towards the umpire and indicated her night
was over
she went back to her seat and put her racquet down before returning to the
court to shake hands with kirilenko
it is the first time the th ranked kirilenko has reached the quarter finals of
grand slam and the year old will face china zheng jie
corrected sri lanka president hit by defection
colombo jan afp
sri lanka president suffered major defection on sunday when the matriarch of
his party pledged support for the main opposition candidate ahead of tuesday
fiercely contested election
former president chandrika kumaratunga met the common opposition candidate
sarath fonseka former army general and endorsed his bid to oust incumbent
mahinda rajapakse
took the decision to end four years of silence as am deeply concerned
about the violence intimidation and corruption kumaratunga told reporters and
urged her supporters to vote for fonseka
kumaratunga is key symbol of the sri lanka freedom party slfp the main
constituent in the ruling coalition
the socialist slfp was founded by her late prime minister father who was
succeeded by his widow who also went on to become the world first elected
woman premier in kumaratunga took over the party in
campaigning for tuesday presidential election ended on saturday night with
both fonseka and rajapakse expressing confidence of winning amid highly
personal and bitter contest between the two sides
the two men were the architects of the government victory over tamil tiger
rebels whose year violent struggle for tamil homeland was crushed in may
kumaratunga family has strong support among slfp activists and her endorsement
is seen as boost to fonseka who is backed by the right wing united national
party as well as the marxist jvp or people liberation front
our party has deteriorated in recent years and see an opportunity to revive
it through change of the present culture of violence intimidation corruption
and nepotism she said
police and troops impeded journalists attending kumaratunga meeting with
fonseka at her ancestral home outside the capital the media bus was searched by
heavily armed troops before it was stopped second time by police
alpine skiing women world cup results giant slalom st leg
cortina ampezzo italy jan afp
women world cup slalom first leg results here on sunday
kathrin zettel aut
tanja poutiainen fin
viktoria rebensburg ger
elisabeth goergl aut
maria riesch ger
kathrin hoelzl ger
maria pietilae holmner swe
denise karbon ita
andrea fischbacher aut
manuela moelgg ita
michaela kirchgasser aut
tina maze slo
giulia gianesini ita
irene curtoni ita
eva maria brem aut
did not finish anja paerson swe ta na barioz fra tessa worley fra
bin laden claims christmas bombing warns of further attacks
dubai jan afp
al qaeda chief osama bin laden claimed responsibility for the botched christmas
day bombing of us airliner and vowed further strikes on us targets in an
audio message broadcast sunday
the brief statement carried by al jazeera satellite television warned washington
that the attack was meant as similar message to that of the september
attacks on the us carried out by al qaeda militants who hijacked airliners
and crashed them into buildings
bin laden in the statement praised as hero nigerian national umar farouk
abdulmutallab who allegedly tried to detonate explosives on northwest airline
over detroit on december but who was foiled when passengers pounced on him
the message that was conveyed through the attacked plane of the hero umar
farouk is to stress earlier messages delivered to you by the heroes of the
september attack he said
that message is that america should not dream of security until we enjoy it
as reality in palestine he added
the authenticity of the brief audio statement could not immediately be verified
but al jazeera said the voice was that of bin laden
had we been able to deliver our messages to you in words we would not have
sent them by planes the audio statement said
it is not fair that you america enjoy good life while our brothers in gaza
endure the worst standard of living therefore god willing our attacks against
you will continue as long as you maintain your support to israel
al qaeda franchise in yemen al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap had
claimed responsibility for the christmas day plane attack and analysts said bin
laden through his latest statement is stressing that he is still in overall
control of the network
intelligence officials military analysts and other experts have long believed
he is holed up along the remote mountainous border between pakistan and
afghanistan and have hinted that groups such as aqap could be operating
autonomously
washington has accused aqap of training abdulmutallab who had spent some time
in yemen
the us administration is putting pressure on yemen to clamp down on al qaeda
militants in the impoverished country and an international meeting to discuss
combating militancy in yemen will be held on january in london
the yemeni government has intensified its campaign against al qaeda carrying
out waves of air strikes on the extremists hideouts and insists it can battle
the group on its own without any foreign military intervention
bin laden who has million dollar bounty on his head last made public
statement four months ago when he was quoted on september by site
intelligence group monitoring service as urging european countries to pull their
forces out of afghanistan
in an audio message released in march he accused some arab leaders of being
complicit with israel and the west against muslims and urged holy war to
liberate the palestinian territories
us grand jury has indicted year old abdulmutallab on six counts arising
from the attempt to blow up the jet packed with passengers and crew on
flight from amsterdam to detroit
michigan district court documents accused him of carrying concealed bomb of
high explosives inside his clothing on northwest airlines flight
us intelligence chiefs last wednesday admitted that they missed slew of
warning signs that should have prevented the attempted attack
national intelligence director dennis blair and michael leiter head of the
national counter terrorism center made the joint admission during grilling
from the senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs
conceding that the system collectively failed the two officials said that
abdulmutallab should not have stepped on that plane
afghanistan postpones parliamentary elections official
kabul jan afp
afghanistan postponed parliamentary polls for four months sunday days ahead of
crunch talks on the war torn nation in london saying it was unsafe to go ahead
amid spiralling taliban insurgency
the announcement five months after the presidential election descended into
ballot stuffing farce will deepen global concern that graft and logistical
problems are undermining democracy in one of the world poorest and most
corrupt nations
the ballot originally planned for may will be delayed until september
senior election commissioner fazil ahmad manawi told reporters in kabul
the independent election commission iec made the decision because of lack
of budget security and uncertainty and logistical challenges the official
said
kai eide the top un representative to afghanistan welcomed the decision saying
the postponement gave the electoral institutions additional time to carry out
the necessary preparations for the elections
this would have been extremely difficult to do by the original date eide said
in statement
it also provides time to make improvements to the electoral process based on
lessons learned during the presidential and provincial council elections in
the top un diplomat added
afghanistan has relied on foreign funding for elections since when us
led invasion overthrew the taliban regime and moves towards democracy began
the commission had previously said it was short of around million dollars to
hold the ballot for the wolosi jirga afghanistan lower house of parliament
but the united nations has said it would need to see evidence of significant
reform including replacing senior iec officials before agreeing to release
money to stage the election
president hamid karzai was sworn into office for second five year term in
november following controversial poll steeped in fraud mostly in his favour
and marred by low voter turnout and taliban violence
most cases of fraud during the august presidential elections were reported in
areas rife with taliban and other islamist militants battling the government
and where afghan security forces had little or no control
militants launched wave of attacks killing and maiming dozens in an attempt
to disrupt ballot they called an american process
karzai administration had earlier called for the parliamentary ballot to be
held on time pledging to fund the process if the international community failed
to provide the budget
his office was not immediately available for comment
manawi said low ranking workers had been dismissed from the commission or moved
to different jobs but added that if you mean the leadership and commissioners
this the responsibility of the president
the president has to decide he added
afghanistan held its first direct parliamentary election in september
under the constitution the next poll was due to be held no later than days
before the end of the legislative cycle which ends on june
manawi did not comment on what would happen to the current parliament after this
date saying the us backed karzai government was responsible for the decision
fighting corruption is one of the key topics due to be discussed at an
international conference on afghanistan in london on january along with the
security situation good governance and reconciliation with taliban fighters
the london meeting was called by british prime minister gordon brown after
karzai had already announced plans to hold an anti corruption conference in
kabul early this year
more than international troops are fighting the taliban under us and
nato command and losing troops almost daily as the war escalates on entering
its ninth year
another troops are being deployed this year along with hundreds of
civilian specialists to back military progress with development and aid to shore
up civilian support for the kabul administration
five us soldiers killed in afghan unrest
kabul jan afp
five us soldiers have been killed in bombings over the past hours in
afghanistan nato international security assistance force isaf said sunday
two of the troopers were killed in home made bomb explosion in the country
south where the insurgency is most intense the force said in statement
two isaf service members from the united states were killed today in an ied
strike in southern afghanistan isaf said referring to the improvised
explosive devices or roadside bombs which have been the scourge of foreign
troops fighting the taliban
the force announced third ied death in the south shortly after taking to five
the number of american soldiers killed in afghanistan in past hours
the statements did not disclose the exact location of the incidents but much of
southern afghanistan is wracked by the taliban insurgency
with the last deaths foreign soldiers including us nationals have been
killed this year fighting taliban insurgency which is at its deadliest since
the islamist regime was ousted by us led invasion in
the afp tally is based on that kept by the independent icasualties org website
which tracks military deaths in iraq and afghanistan
around international troops are deployed in afghanistan under us and
nato command and this will increase to more than troops in under
the washington new war strategy for the country
the reinforcements which include about us troops and nearly from
nato will be mostly deployed in the southern province of helmand the heartland
of the insurgency
some of the troops will help train afghan security forces there are about
troops in the afghan army and about police already trained since
the toppling of the taliban
home made bombs are weapon of choice for taliban militants in their campaign
against the well armed western and afghan troops
afghanistan sunday postponed its parliamentary polls for four months days ahead
of crunch international talks on the war torn nation in london saying it was
not safe to go ahead amid the spiralling insurgency
alpine skiing men world cup results slalom st round
kitzbuehel austria jan afp
men world cup slalom first leg results here on sunday
reinfried herbst aut
manfred moelgg ita
felix neureuther ger
andre myhrer swe
mattias hargin swe
benjamin raich aut
julien lizeroux fra
giuliano razzoli ita
ivica kostelic cro
marcel hirscher aut
michael janyk can
ted ligety usa
silvan zurbriggen swi
brad spence can
naoki yuasa jpn
wolfgang hoerl aut
julien cousineau can
lars elton myhre nor
alexandre anselmet fra
steve missillier fra
mario matt aut
thomas mermillod blondin fra
filip trejbal cze
cristian deville ita
bernard vajdic slo
kilian albrecht bul
ondrej bank cze
