am gmt with passengers and nine crew members the airport official
said speaking on condition of anonymity
he said witnesses saw ball of fire as the the boeing plunged into the
sea
the official said rescuers were trying to reach the plane to determine whether
there were any survivors
another official said among the passengers headed to the ethiopian capital addis
ababa were lebanese nationals
transport minister ghazi aridi rushed to beirut rafiq hariri international
airport located on the outkirts of the city and was to give statement
shortly
the boeing which entered into commerical service in is one of the
latest versions of the world most widely used short to medium haul airliners
and is capable of carrying up to passengers
the accident took place amid heavy rains and storms in lebanon in the past two
days that have caused heavy flooding and damages in some part of the country
it also comes just one month after panamian flagged ship transporting
livestock capsized in similar weather and sank off the coast of northern lebanon
with around sailors on board
the majority of the sailors were rescued but were unaccounted for and
presumed dead
tennis murray moment of truth in nadal showdown
melbourne jan afp
andy murray believes his time has come for grand slam breakthrough and if he
is to do that at the australian open he will have to get past defending champion
rafael nadal in tuesday quarter finals
in the other bottom half quarter final american seventh seed andy roddick is
vying for his fifth australian semi final appearance against croatian th seed
marin cilic
murray the great british hope has looked the goods so far becoming the first
briton in years since john lloyd to reach the australian last eight and
without dropping set
the year old scot carries an enormous burden into his much anticipated
showdown with the spanish world number two to break britain grand slam
drought in men tennis stretching back to fred perry us open triumph
but there are plenty of astute observers willing to tip the fifth seed ahead of
three time champion roger federer and nadal to win the year opening grand
slam
murray has beaten nadal twice in their nine encounters once significantly in
the semi finals of the us open where he went on to lose to federer in his
only grand slam final
they first met in the fourth round of the australian open when murray was
greenhorn year old and pushed nadal all the way
it was the first time had played five set match against one of the top
players murray recalled
felt as though hadn lost the match physically and had chances to win
even though was still pretty inexperienced
there is feeling that confident murray is hitting nadal at the right time
the six time grand slam champion is coming off frustrating year blighted by
knee tendinitis that robbed him of any chance of defending his french open and
wimbledon titles and disrupting his american summer
nadal has not beaten top player in matches since the semi finals of the
madrid masters last may
at the end of last year he was coming back from injury he needs to play lot
that the way he has been brought up murray said
he has always practised loads he gets to the latter stages of tournaments the
whole time
if he is physically fit which he seems to be it going to be an incredibly
tough match not going to say that he is looking vulnerable
but playing well no question about that just need to play like have
been and maybe bit more if want to win the tournament
but one thing can be taken as accepted nadal will be fighting all the way to
defend the australian title he prised off federer in classic five set final
last year
happy the important thing is am in the quarter finals losing only two
sets nadal said
have to play my best tennis andy is one of the more difficult players to
play against am here to fight
roddick survived to fight on after being taken to the brink by chile former
finalist fernando gonzalez in the fourth round and will be favoured to beat
cilic
cilic knocked out us open champion juan martin del potro in five gruelling sets
in the round of
he one of those big guys just kills the ball from the baseline roddick
said of cilic he likes to play inside of the court he relentless and goes
after the ball every point
cilic won their last match in canada in but roddick won at queens in
london the previous year
tennis venus ready to break australian open title drought
melbourne jan afp
sixth seed venus williams clawed back from set down to beat make the
australian open quarter finals on monday and said she was ready to break her
title drought in melbourne
williams seven time grand slam winner dug deep to overcome italian th seed
francesca schiavone as she works to win one of the few tournaments
to elude her
she is in her th australian open campaign but is yet to take the singles
crown in stark contrast to sister serena who is four time champion and
defending her title
but williams is not beating herself up about her comparative lack of success in
melbourne insisting major part of her game plan was staying positive
she said she could break the drought this year
yeah ready to go and feel very good said williams who has won five
wimbledons and two us open titles
obviously hitting the ball pretty good especially against her today she
was really playing well
comfortable with my game absolutely
it was good recovery against schiavone with an out of sorts williams seemingly
headed for shock defeat when she lost the first set
but she recovered her composure to gradually take control against the
increasingly frustrated italian
she played really well in the first set have to give her credit williams
said
she just played really aggressively she was making her shots doing everything
she needed to do to win the match
but you know it takes lot to close out match especially on an important
match like that one
was able just to get some footing back in and start to execute the way
wanted to
the year old american appeared almost disinterested during the minute
first set but after taking short bathroom break she came out different
player in the second
shots that were going long and wide in the first set began to fall in while
schiavone who hardly missed in the first set began to succumb to the pressure
as the match wore on
williams serve which usually allows her to win host of cheap points also
picked up with her first serve percentage success rate increasing from
percent in the first set to percent in the third
it was williams sixth win over schiavone in as many meetings and only the
second time the italian has taken set off her
williams now faces quarter final against surprise packet li na of china who
beat danish fourth seed caroline wozniacki ahead of possible semi
final showdown against serena
li beat williams at their only previous meeting at the olympics
she very good player williams said of the chinese th seed
obviously to beat wozniacki you have to play very well consistently sure
she did that
she probably will try to do that in the next round
china to rebuild inferno hit tower state media
beijing jan afp
tower constructed by china state owned television broadcaster as part of its
new headquarters gutted in spectacular fire last year will be rebuilt and
not demolished state press said monday
much of the north tower of the new china central television cctv complex will
be stripped of everything but its main structure which was not seriously
damaged in the deadly blaze and rebuilt the beijing news said
although the outer structure was destroyed by fire the results of state
council cabinet investigation showed that the main structure of the building
has not been affected the paper cited beijing fire chief zhao zixin as telling
local legislative hearing on sunday
the decision to renovate the gutted structure ends months of speculation on the
fate of the building which was to house luxury hotel but was torched during
an illegal lunar new year fireworks display put on by cctv itself
one fireman was killed while trying to put out the inferno in the tower located
next to the futuristic showpiece metre foot cctv tower designed by
dutch architect rem koolhaas
dozen or so cctv staffers were detained following the blaze including top
executive xu wei who was in charge of construction at the new complex
it was not immediately clear who would occupy the building once renovated nor
was it known if mandarin oriental would seek to manage the building as it had
been contracted to do before the fire the beijing news said
the inferno also led to the postponement of the opening of the new cctv
building which before the blaze had been scheduled to begin operations in
october
tennis venus li stride into open quarters
melbourne jan afp
venus williams strode into the australian open quarter finals monday where she
will meet li na who ensured china has two players in the last eight of grand
slam for the first time
they join justine henin nadia petrova maria kirilenko and zheng jie safely
through with williams bouncing back from set down to oust italian th seed
francesca schiavone
the hard fought victory under blue skies on rod laver arena keeps her on track
for semi final with sister serena who takes on australian hope and th seed
samantha stosur later
li upset danish fourth seed caroline wozniacki for her best ever
performance at the australian open eclipsing her fourth round appearance in
in match dominated by breaks of serve li was down service break and in
the first set but then rattled off the next six games to win the first set and
be break up in the second
however there were seven successive service breaks in the second set after li
held in the first game until the chinese star steadied and served out the
match
had my chances especially in the first set leading all the time had my
chance for but didn take it said wozniacki finalist at the us open
last year
it just didn go my way today
venus is in her th australian open campaign but is yet to win the singles
crown in stark contrast to serena who is four time champion and defending
her title
but the elder williams is not beating herself up about her comparative lack of
success in melbourne insisting major part of her game plan was staying
positive
she said she could break her australian drought this year
yeah ready to go and feel very good said williams who has won five
wimbledons and two us open titles
obviously hitting the ball pretty good especially against her today she
was really playing well
williams appeared almost disinterested during the minute first set against
schiavone but after taking short bathroom break she came out different
player in the second
shots that were long and wide in the first set began to fall in while
schiavone who hardly missed in the first set began to succumb to the pressure
as williams turned up the heat
if serena gets past the super fit stosur she will line up against either
belarrussian seventh seed victoria azarenka or ninth seeded russian vera
zvonareva who play night match
with spanish defending champion rafael nadal british fifth seed andy murray
american seventh seed andy roddick and th seeded croat marin cilic safely in
the last eight roger federer will attempt to join them later monday
the time grand slam champion has marquee showdown against australia
lleyton hewitt who has not beaten the swiss great in their last meetings
whoever wins will play in form russian sixth seed nikolay davydenko or tenacious
spanish ninth seed fernado verdasco for berth in the semi finals
in other fourth round matches monday champion novak djokovic faces little
known pole lukasz kubot
the final fourth round match features the man djokovic beat in the final
jo wilfried tsonga with the th french seed playing spanish th seed nicolas
almagro
us retailer wal mart to eliminate jobs at sam club
washington jan afp
giant us retailer wal mart announced this weekend that it will eliminate about
jobs at its sam club megastores in the united states
wal mart president and chief executive officer brian cornell said the layoffs
will affect approximately product demonstration associates most of whom
work part time
the decision stems from wal mart decision to appoint shopper events third
party marketing company to run its product demonstration program
we understand shopper events will rapidly staff up to accommodate this new
business and that it expects to hire roughly the same number of people cornell
said
all of the current club demo associates will have the opportunity to apply for
these new positions
on friday wal mart announced its decision to close sam club stores this
year which will result in the loss about additional jobs
ethiopian airliner crashes on takeoff in lebanon official
beirut lebanon jan afp
an ethiopian airliner transporting passengers and crew crashed in stormy
weather following takeoff in lebanon early monday plunging into the
mediterranean sea an airport official told afp
ethiopian airlines flight crashed about five minutes after takeoff at
am gmt with passengers and nine crew members the airport official
said speaking on condition of anonymity
he said witnesses saw ball of fire as the the boeing plunged into the sea
the official said rescuers were trying to reach the plane to determine whether
there were any survivors
another official said among the passengers headed to the ethiopian capital addis
ababa were lebanese nationals
transport minister ghazi aridi rushed to beirut international airport located
on the outkirts of the city and was to give statement shortly
the accident took place amid heavy rains and storms in lebanon in the past two
days that have caused heavy flooding and damages in some part of the country
it also comes just one month after panamian flagged ship transporting
livestock capsized in similar weather and sank off the coast of northern lebanon
with around sailors on board
the majority of the sailors were rescued but were unaccounted for and
presumed dead
nba turkoglu free throws lift raptors over lakers
toronto jan afp
hedo turkoglu made two free throws with seconds to play sunday as toronto
edged the nba champion los angeles lakers
andrea bargnani scored points chris bosh and jarrett jack added apiece
and marco belinelli chipped in for the raptors who improved to at home
this season against western conference opponents
turkoglu was the difference maker as he drove to the basket and drew foul from
pau gasol calmly making both free throws
was surprised thought wasn going to go to the line turkoglu said
usually don rely on that because sometimes you get calls and sometimes you
don just tried to take the best shot could
gasol insisted he didn foul turkoglu on the decisive play
it was questionable call gasol said don think pushed him at all my
arm was on his back but never pushed him tough call at critical part of
the game
kobe bryant who fell one assist short of his first triple double of the season
missed last second attempt
the lakers superstar took an inbounds pass from luke walton but his fadeaway
jump shot hit the rim as the lakers lost for the second time in the first three
games of an eight game road trip
just wanted to get good look bryant said wanted to raise up put
enough arc on the ball it felt pretty good it just came up little bit
short
bryant finished with points and career high rebounds
gasol scored points andrew bynum had and jordan farmar for the lakers
who led through the first three quarters but couldn finish off the win
farmar said the lakers shouldn make habit of relying on last gasp heroics
from bryant
he the best finisher in the game that what he does farmar said he
lives for those moments we re happy to have him in those situations we just
don want to put him there too much
bryant said the lakers whose next stop is in washington on tuesday need to
boost their energy
we re going through malaise little bit bryant said things have kind of
plateaud right now at this stage of the season it happens but you ve still got
to put whole lot of effort and kick it into high gear and get it going
mcchrystal focuses on peace with taliban report
london jan afp
the nato commander in afghanistan said his troop surge could lead to
negotiated peace with the taliban in an interview published monday ahead of
major conference this week on the war
us general stanley mcchrystal also told the financial times he hopes his allies
will leave thursday meeting in london with renewed commitment to the
increasingly bloody conflict
by using the strong surge in us troops to secure territory stretching
from the taliban southern heartlands to kabul the general said he aims to
weaken the insurgency so much its leaders would accept political settlement
as soldier my personal feeling is that there been enough fighting said
mcchrystal
believe that political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome
and it the right outcome he added
asked is he would be content to see taliban leaders in future government in
the country the general said think any afghans can play role if they
focus on the future and not the past
the us troop surge announced by president barack obama in december is pouring
tens of thousands of extra troops into afghanistan this year on top of
already there
more than international soldiers are fighting the taliban under us and
nato command and losing soldiers almost daily in the conflict which started
with the us led invasion of
as major powers prepare to map the way forward in afghanistan at the london
conference mcchrystal urged like everybody to walk out of london with
renewed commitment and that commitment is to the right outcome for the afghan
people
oil prices mixed in asian trade
singapore jan afp
oil prices were mixed in volatile asian trade monday as traders kept their eyes
on white house plan to crack down on banks and prevent excessive risk taking
analysts said
new york main contract light sweet crude for march delivery fell seven cents
to dollars barrel
london brent north sea crude for delivery in march rose seven cents to
dollars barrel
crude is under pressure from the slump last week after the white house
announcement said victor shum senior principal of purvin and gertz energy
consultants in singapore
us president barack obama shocked markets thursday by proposing strict new
limits on banks aimed at curbing excessive risk taking
the measures which require approval by congress would prohibit commercial
banks which engage in activities such as collecting deposits from customers
from so called proprietary trading or acting as brokerages on their own
behalf
the proposal increased pressure on already weak demand in the oil market on
friday as the key new york contract hit dollars its lowest level since
december
oil prices were earlier hit by bearish report from the us department of energy
thursday that its refineries were operating at their lowest rate of capacity in
at least two decades
korea agrees to more talks with korea despite threats
seoul jan afp
south korea agreed monday to hold talks with north korea on restarting lucrative
tourism projects in the communist state despite pyongyang weekend threat to
attack its neighbour
the unification ministry responding to an earlier proposal from the north said
it sent message suggesting the talks be held on february at the kaesong
joint industrial estate just north of the heavily guarded border
the north had wanted the talks held at mount kumgang its resort on the east
coast on january
on sunday the north military lashed out at south korea vow to launch
preemptive strike to thwart any nuclear attack calling it an open declaration
of war
the threat was sparked by comments last week from the south defence minister
who said seoul would have to launch such strike if an atomic attack from its
neighbour was imminent
analysts say the sanctions hit north seems eager to promote joint business
projects with the south despite its tough rhetoric over political affairs
the tours to kumgang earned the cash strapped north tens of millions of dollars
year they were suspended by the south in after north korean troops shot
dead seoul housewife who strayed into closed military zone
the north had also proposed military talks on january to discuss easing
restrictions on travel in and out of the seoul funded estate at kaesong
the south defence ministry suggested the military talks be held sometime after
civilian talks about kaesong future scheduled for february
unification ministry spokesman chun hae sung said there are variety of
sensitive inter korean issues that need examining before more talks
until last summer pyongyang rulers had cut off most contacts with seoul
conservative government which took office almost two years ago and ended
policy of near unconditional aid
some analysts believe the north efforts to revive business links are
response to tougher united nations sanctions imposed following its nuclear and
missile tests last year
kaesong where north koreans work at south korean funded plants is
valuable dollar earner for pyongyang but its operations have often been hit by
political strains in the past
the north expelled hundreds of south korean staff and intermittently restricted
cross border access to the estate in
last week the two sides held discussions about developing kaesong but failed to
come to an agreement after the north insisted on discussing pay rises
the south demanded that the north first guarantee freer communications and
passage to kaesong and easier customs clearance for goods the delegations
agreed to meet again on february
nfl saints end favre dream will play colts in super bowl
new orleans louisiana jan afp
garrett hartley kicked yard field goal in over time to lift new orleans
past minnesota and send the saints to their first super bowl where they
will face indianapolis
national football league icon brett favre the year old all time passing
leader who came out of retirement twice saw his dream run fall short thanks to
an interception in the final seconds of regulation on sunday
new orleans still recovering from the devastation of hurricane katrina in
has been inspired by the saints who were formed in and will finally play
for crown when they meet the colts on february in suburban miami
this stadium used to have holes in it it used to be wet it not wet
anymore saints coach sean payton said this is for the city of new orleans
the saints next face colts team led by peyton manning whose father archie was
the first star quarterback for the saints
manning threw for yards and three touchdowns to rally indianapolis from an
point deficit to beat the visiting new york jets
saints quarterback drew brees threw three touchdown passes and guided the saints
on their final drive
it moment ve been waiting for for long time brees said the job is
not done yet but obviously we re going to enjoy this now we ve got to finish it
in miami
favre completed of passes for yards and adrian peterson ran for three
touchdowns but it was not enough to lift the vikings into their first super bowl
since
brett did good job of preparing us for peyton saints star defender darren
sharper said
the saints with nfl best offensive unit began sudden death over time on
their own yard line and were aided by two first downs by penalty and another
on fourth down dive that withstood video review
minnesota one of the nfl best at avoiding giveaways committed five against
the saints two within yards of the saints goal line and the last when favre
was picked off by tracy porter in the dying seconds of regulation to snuff out
scoring threat and force over time
adrian peterson third touchdown run two yarder with remaining in the
fourth quarter pulled minnesota level at and set the stage for the tense
final drama
favre had suffered left ankle injury late in the third quarter but returned to
start the fourth only to see percy harvin lose fumble that allowed the saints
to seize the lead
brees flipped five yard pass to reggie bush that was first ruled out of bounds
just shy of the goal line but video replay reversal ruled bush had the ball
in the end zone and new orleans took lead with to play
the saints grabbed their first lead at on nine yard touchdown run by
pierre thomas just into the third quarter but the vikings answered midway
into the quarter on one yard peterson touchdown run to even the score
muffed punt by bush gave minnesota the ball at the saints yard line in the
final seconds of the second quarter but peterson lost fumble and the teams
reached half time deadlocked at
favre flipped five yard touchdown pass to sidney rice to give the vikings
lead with remaining in the first quarter but new orleans equalized
just later on nine yard pass from brees to devery henderson
peterson opened with scoring on yard touchdown run just into the game
but pierre thomas took pass from brees and completed yard touchdown play
just later to pull the saints level at
in indianapolis manning completed of passes of them to pierre garcon
for yards and touchdown and was the first passer this season with three
touchdowns against the jets nfl best defense as the colts scored the final
points
we talked about being patient against these guys it took some time to figure
out what their plan of attack was manning said we stayed patient didn
panic got bead on them and beat them with the passing game
since moving from baltimore to indianapolis in the colts only nfl title
came in when manning sparked victory over the chicago bears in the
same stadium where they will play for championship in two weeks
manning threw yard touchdown pass to austin collie with seconds
remaining in the second quarter lifting the colts within at half time
manning used precision passing to march the colts downfield to seize the lead
for good early in the second half connecting with garcon on four yard
touchdown pass that gave indianapolis lead into the third quarter
peyton had an outstanding game once he had bead on them he did extremely
well colts coach jim caldwell said this has always been confident bunch of
guys they don panic they hung in there and played really well
manning threw yard touchdown pass over the middle to dallas clark with
to play boosting the indianapolis edge to points
when you struggle against peyton manning he will eat you alive said jets
coach rex ryan
colts kicker matt stover who at will be the oldest player in super bowl
history added yard field goal with to play for the final points
bank of china shares fall on fund raising plan
shanghai jan afp
shares in bank of china fell in early trade on monday after the lender said it
planned to issue up to billion yuan billion dollars in convertible
bonds to replenish its capital base
the bank shanghai listed shares dipped as much as percent to yuan in
early trade
bank of china and other chinese banks need to raise funds to meet regulatory
requirements for capital after lending spree last year in response to
government calls to support the country massive economic stimulus efforts
the proceeds from the issuance of the convertible bonds will be applied to
replenish the capital base and working capital of the bank the lender said in
statement to the shanghai stock exchange over the weekend
the bank said the new six year bonds which have been approved by the board of
directors are still subject to approval from its shareholders formality in
china
the lender added it could sell up to billion shanghai listed shares as
well as up to billion hong kong listed shares or no more than
percent of its existing hong kong and shanghai listed shares
the bank capital adequacy ratio stood at percent at the end of
september slightly higher than the percent minimum required for large banks
china banking regulator has urged banks to boost their capital adequacy ratio
the amount of capital banks must hold against their risk amid concerns
rampant lending will lead to sharp rise in bad debts
new loans at chinese banks totalled trillion yuan last year
more koreans executed for escape bids seoul spy agency
seoul jan afp
north korea is imposing harsher punishments for people trying to flee the
country with the number of executions increasing south korea spy agency said
monday
the communist state has recently toughened the punishment for escapees with
the number of executions on the rise spokesman for the national intelligence
service told afp
the spokesman could not confirm report in south korean internet newspaper
that three people had been executed and their families punished for an attempt
to flee
daily nk said the punishments are part of day battle aimed at restoring
order in society
the paper quoting source in china named those it said were victims in the
case
it said jeong dae sung aged escaped across the border to the chinese town
of changbai last july along with his mother wife lee ok geum aged and
