nineteen people were killed in car bomb attack outside the us embassy in
september in october us military personnel were killed in al
qaeda suicide attack on the uss cole destroyer in southern yemen
the government has welcomed us and british help to fight extremism
any assistance provided to yemen counter terrorism force will be most
welcome government official told afp
air berlin jet leaves runway at germany airport boeing
berlin jan afp
an air berlin boeing ran off the runway after abandoning its take off at
dortmund airport on sunday said the plane manufacturer but all the
passengers emerged unhurt from the incident
the pilot noticed that his instruments were giving him contradictory speed
readings and opted to abandon the take off
the plane coasted off the runway and into patch of snowbound grass and all
passengers and six crew members left the aircraft unscathed
an airport spokesman said that although conditions were slightly below freezing
and there had been slight snowfall the runway had been cleared and was not
frozen
german civil aviation experts will inspect the aircraft to try to find out what
had given the divergent readings the spokesman added
air traffic was suspended at the airport following the incident to the plane
which had been due to fly to the canary islands
missing after ferry sinks in eastern india
kolkata india jan afp
at least people were missing sunday after an overcrowded ferry capsized in
river in the eastern indian state of west bengal police said
the small vessel with passengers on board sank while crossing the runarayan
river in kolaghat about kilometres southwest of the state capital kolkata
the ferry was overcrowded and leaking and it overturned in the middle of the
river west bengal police inspector general surojit kar purakayastha told afp
purakayastha said local fishermen had managed to rescue nine men and two
children after the incident
we fear the other people have been swept away by the strong current he
said
police said the coastguard had been called in to help with the rescue operation
nordic skiing majdic clinches tour de ski double
oberhof germany jan afp
slovenia petra majdic added sunday second stage of the tour de ski to her
prologue win on friday while eldar roenning of norway took the men race
majdic edged out poland justyna kowalczyk the world number one last season
with finland aino kaisa saarinen in third
meanwhile roenning saw off russia ivan alypov and norway petter northug
who won saturday first stage
the tour de ski is made up of seven stages over days and takes place in three
countries germany italy and the czech republic
on monday the championship moves to prague
underdog british pm brown ready for election fight
london jan afp
british prime minister gordon brown admitted sunday he was the underdog in this
year general election but pledged he would not stop fighting to win the
poll
the day after conservative main opposition leader david cameron drew out his
battle themes for the election brown said the vote to be held by june at the
latest would be the decision of the decade for britain
brown set out his case why voters should plump for him and his centre left
labour party to lead britain out of recession
cameron centre right tories have consistently been ahead in opinion polls for
more than year
when you re behind in the polls you ve got to regard yourselves as the fighter
everything ve ever won in my life ve had to fight for brown told bbc
television
he described himself as someone who is ready to fight for every aspect of
britain future and will not stop fighting
we the labour party will fight every inch of the way he vowed
new survey for the daily telegraph newspaper put the conservatives on
percent labour on percent and the third party centre left liberal democrats
on percent the pollsters yougov questioned adults on tuesday and
wednesday
explaining his outlook on the election campaign brown said my vision for the
future of britain is as the digital low carbon biotechnology education
creative industry leader of the world
he declared that labour is the only party that can take people from recession
to recovery and guarantee that we have growth in the future
this is defining issue of the election believe in an age of aspiration of
opportunity and prosperity afraid the conservatives have gone for an age of
austerity and that means the majority of hard working families suffer as
result
on saturday cameron kicked off his campaign to become the next prime
minister declaring britain cannot go on for another five years with gordon
brown
brown became premier in june succeeding the retiring tony blair who
had led labour to power in and two more election victories in and
when asked in the interview why people should vote for brown he replied in the
third person because he knows how to deal with the british economy problems
and take us through them and he knows what sort of economy we can build for the
future
he got passionate desire to improve our public services and his whole
career has been built on wanting to see everybody realise their potential to the
full
brown would not be drawn on date for the general election which as prime
minister he can call at any time before the current five year parliament expires
at midnight on may
he said there would be labour budget this spring if it at the right time
budget is due before march
brown and other labour heavyweights have attacked the private education
background of cameron and other top conservatives leading the tory chief to
accuse labour of fighting an old fashioned left wing class war
brown said his remarks about cameron were in jest adding don attack him
for being toff attack him for having the wrong views
no smoking gun tagged plane bomb suspect us official
washington jan afp
there was no smoking gun that could have led us intelligence agencies to
thwart an attack by an al qaeda linked nigerian aboard us bound airliner
top white house security adviser said sunday
us president barack obama counter terrorism adviser john brennan said there
were several bits and pieces of intelligence gathered in the run up to the
botched christmas day bombing and that human or systemic failure lay in not
putting together those pieces of larger puzzle
there was no smoking gun there was no piece of intelligence that said this guy
is terrorist and is going to get on plane none whatsoever brennan told
fox news sunday as part of round of talk show interviews
it was failure to integrate the bits and pieces of information
the terror scare prompted obama to order review of intelligence and security
operations to find any breakdowns that allowed abdulmutallab to get on the
plane
brennan statements came shortly after the united states and britain agreed to
finance special counterterrorism unit in yemen as obama for the first time
saturday blamed an al qaeda branch in that arab country for plotting the attack
and training the suspect in how to carry it out
on sunday the two countries closed their embassies in sanaa over security fears
brennan said washington closed its embassy because there are indications that
al qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against target inside of sanaa
possibly our embassy
obama on saturday accused al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap yemen
based cell of osama bin laden group of targeting northwest jet carrying
people as it approached detroit
but brennan indicated that the united states was not opening new front against
al qaeda in yemen and has no plans to send troops there
wouldn say we re opening second front this is continuation of an
effort that we had underway as said since the beginning of the obama
administration said brennan
obama promised to hold aqap to account and said us probes were revealing new
evidence about the suspected bomber umar farouk abdulmutallab of nigeria
we know that he traveled to yemen obama said in his weekly video address
it appears that he joined an affiliate of al qaeda and that the group
trained him equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that
plane headed for america
adulmutallab is accused of trying to destroy the jet by setting off explosives
stitched into his underwear the detonator failed to set off the explosives
instead lighting fire which was put out by passengers and crew
obama was expected back in washington monday after family vacation in hawaii
on the eve of key meeting on the attack with chiefs of us spy agencies and
government departments with national security responsibilities
general david petraeus the us regional commander met yemeni president ali
abdullah saleh on saturday but few details were made public of the talks which
coincided with reports of american involvement in strikes against extremists
there
meanwhile cbs news citing us special operations expert sebastian gorka
reported that recent strikes on al qaeda positions in yemen including cruise
missile attacks were led by the united states
michael leiter director of the us national counterterrorism center nctc
warned on saturday the christmas day attack would not be the last
while this attempt ended in failure we know with absolute certainty that al
qaeda and those who support its ideology continue to refine their methods to
test our defenses and pursue an attack on the homeland he said
the nctc was set up after the september attacks in exposed disastrous
lack of intelligence sharing among us spy services but has been one of several
agencies criticized over the northwest airlines attack
football ferguson shocked by manchester united cup exit
manchester england jan afp
sir alex ferguson the veteran manchester united manager said he was shocked
by the way his side had lost at home to third tier leeds in the fa cup at
old trafford here on sunday
defeat was the first time ferguson in charge of united since had overseen
defeat in the third round the stage at which teams from english football
top two divisions enter the fa cup
jermaine beckford th minute goal gave league one leaders leeds places
below english champions united their first old trafford victory in years
during what ferguson readily conceded was just bad display by his side
the preparation for the game was very good but shocked by the
performance ferguson told mutv united in house television station
we didn start right and leeds did start right they got their goal and had
something to hold onto the year old scot added
they fought like tigers and we expect that with any team coming to old
trafford for an fa cup tie it disappointment
reflecting on leeds decisive goal ferguson said we did speak about
beckford pace up front
we were caught napping really it was bad goal for us to lose the whole
performance in the first half was bad we never got going and the quality of the
passing the whole performance was just bad
it one of these things we re only human and sometimes you have performances
that surprise you but we didn expect that today
ferguson added don think any of the players can say they had good day
maybe only antonio valencia when he came on can say that even then it took
us about ten minutes to get the ball to him
the united boss rested several players ahead of next week league cup semi
final first leg tie against local rivals manchester city and ferguson said
we have to get this result out of our system as quickly as possible
we have semi final on wednesday and lot of these players won be playing
you have to view this performance in the right light
we ll make sure we re ready for wednesday now we had team in mind but there
will maybe be few changes for that
leeds manager simon grayson hailed his outstanding side after they produced
one of the great fa cup shocks
it was good ball from jonathan howson and jermaine got in there and nine
times out of he finishes them off and that what he did grayson told itv
of beckford goal
he gave us an opportunity to go on and win the game from there and with bit
of luck that what we did the lifelong leeds fan added
full credit to the players who were outstanding today but it what they ve
been like all season
grayson recalling how brian flynn had been the last man to score the winner for
leeds at old trafford back in added saw flynny the other week and he
reminded me he was the last player to score the winner at old trafford
told the players before the game this was the opportunity to be new hero
sure we ll be celebrating in leeds over the next few days and the players
might have tomorrow monday off then start ready for the wycombe game at the
weekend
snow paralyses beijing as china braces for deep freeze
beijing jan afp
freezing front swept over much of northern china sunday with snowstorms
snarling road and air traffic schools set to stay closed and some of the
lowest temperatures in decades forecast in coming days
snow storms were expected to continue through monday and the mercury was set to
plunge in the next hours when china returns to work following three day new
year holiday the beijing meteorological station said
gale force winds sweeping down from siberia could result in temperatures as low
as minus degrees celsius minus three degrees fahrenheit in the capital on
monday and tuesday it added
in some parts of northern china temperatures were expected to drop as low as
minus degrees celsius
classes at primary and middle schools in beijing and nearby tianjin would be
suspended on monday state run xinhua news agency reported
heavy snows hampered traffic at beijing capital airport where about percent
of all flights were delayed or cancelled on sunday the last day of the holiday
china central television said
over flights were delayed and about flights were cancelled stranding
thousands of passengers it said
to ensure safety under the snowy icy and foggy conditions only one of the
airport three runways was in operation reports said
inbound and outgoing flights at other airports in northern china were also
experiencing delays and cancellations they said
with beijing set to return to work the head of its traffic management office
song jianguo said traffic police would be deployed for monday morning
rush hour along with volunteers to maintain order at crowded bus stops
xinhua reported
the city authorities had mobilised vast army of people to clear snow
the agency added
major highways in beijing and tianjin as well as in the surrounding provinces
and regions of hebei shanxi and inner mongolia were closed due to the heavy
snowfall earlier sunday but some roads opened later in the day china central
television said
long distance bus travel in north china was also being hampered by the weather
reports said
with snows expected to continue in the region throughout the night traffic was
likely to become even more snarled when the nation returns to work the reports
said
meanwhile the agriculture ministry said it had dispatched teams of experts to
farming areas to advise farmers on how to protect their crops in the extreme
cold weather
rugbyu castres roll on as stade stutter
paris jan afp
castres consolidated their lead of the french top with six try drubbing of
albi on sunday as stade francais stuttered to drab all draw with montauban
racing metro who last lost in september were denied th successive win by
doughty bourgoin who triumphed in the french capital
racing saw late penalty from springbok centre francois steyn and last gasp
jonathan wisniewski drop goal both drift wide and pierre berbizier team had to
be content with defensive bonus point
fourth placed perpignan suffered shock defeat to brive for whom england
centre rikki flutey made his comeback from injury and france international full
back alexis palisson was key scoring try conversion and five penalties
for personal haul of points
georgian prop davit kinchagishvili scored the opening try for the hosts while
the visitors abrasive romanian prop marius tincu was in the sin bin
south african replacement centre ronnie cooke rounded off brive comprehensive
win with try seven minutes from time with perpignan only managing three
penalties from ex natal sharks outside half steve meyer
we showed lot of heart today said palisson we wanted to rebound from the
defeat at clermont
we gave everything and think perpignan had hand in our success they let
us play the ball which gave us the chance of snatching the attacking bonus
point
castres fresh from putting montauban to the sword last week again turned on
the style in their demolition of bottom placed albi
the home side scored through marc andreu cameron mcintyre double former all
black chris masoe iosefa tekori and penalty try as albi crumbled after
sebastien pages was sent off in the th minute for brutality
but struggling stade francais desperate for victory to help ensure
participation in next season european cup could only manage to slug out
dour draw with montauban on heavy pitch
two lionel beauxis penalties cancelled out penalty and drop goal by cedric
rosalen in what turned out to be forward slug fest with neither side gaining
the ascendancy
mid table biarritz sealed much needed win over montpellier scoring four tries
to one in victory
rejuvenated former england full back iain balshaw and american winger takudzwa
ngwenya crossed for touchdowns either side of arnaud mignardi brace
in the day late games bayonne host toulouse and second placed clermont host
fifth placed toulon
us drone attack kills two in pakistan officials
peshawar pakistan jan afp
us missiles flattened an extremist hideout in pakistan lawless tribal belt
sunday killing two militants in the latest strike in recent spike in drone
attacks pakistani officials said
the attack targeted house in mosakki village about kilometres miles
east of miranshah the main town in north waziristan and was the third
suspected us missile attack in the tribal district in less than week
there may have been an important figure hiding in the house one pakistani
security official in miranshah told afp on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorised to speak about the sensitive strikes
suspected us drones have increasingly targeted north waziristan bastion of
al qaeda fighters and the haqqani network that attacks us and nato troops
fighting against the taliban in neighbouring afghanistan
washington is putting increased pressure on pakistan to tackle militants who use
its soil to launch attacks in afghanistan and american officials have said that
the highly secretive drone programme has eliminated some top fighters
one us drone fired two missiles on house the target was this house and
car parked outside was also destroyed senior pakistani security official
told afp on condition of anonymity
two militants were killed in the attack and we have reports that more militants
were hiding there so the death toll could rise he added
local officials confirmed the attack and the death toll
north waziristan borders the afghan province of khost where suicide bomber
killed seven cia agents and an eighth american on us base last week in the
deadliest attack on the us spy agency since
washington has put pakistan at the heart of new strategy for winning the
eight year war against the taliban in afghanistan saying success depends on
dismantling militant sanctuaries along the porous border
around eight us missile strikes in north waziristan have killed people in the
past month although the identities of those killed are hard to verify as the
deaths are deep in taliban controlled territory
the attacks on pakistani territory fuel anti american sentiment in the nuclear
armed muslim nation and the government in islamabad publicly condemns the
strikes analysts say however that the strikes have islamabad tacit
approval
more than us drone missile strikes have killed at least people in
pakistan since august the united states does not confirm drone attacks
but its military is the only force that deploys drones in the region
north waziristan neighbours south waziristan where pakistan has been focusing
its most ambitious military offensive yet against homegrown taliban militants
it sent about troops into the region on october
cricket kallis century revives south africa
cape town south africa jan afp
jacques kallis hit calm chanceless century to keep south african hopes alive
on the first day of the third test against england at newlands here on sunday
kallis made not out as south africa recovered from for five to reach
for six at the close
it was crucial innings by kallis for team under pressure after losing the
second test in durban by an innings and runs to go down in four match
series
he shared three half century partnerships as south africa clawed their way back
into contention after poor start
south africa slumped to for three before kallis and ab de villiers put on
for the fourth wicket but then off spinner graeme swann took two wickets in two
balls to plunge them to for five
but wicketkeeper mark boucher hit an aggressive and helped kallis add for
the sixth wicket before dale steyn partnered south africa senior batsman in
an unbeaten seventh wicket stand of
it was kallis rd test century his sixth at newlands and his third in
successive tests against england at the ground
kallis reached his century shortly before the second new ball was due when he
hit full toss from part time spinner kevin pietersen to the wide mid off
boundary for his th boundary he had faced balls
rain delayed the start of play by half an hour and andrew strauss decision to
bowl first paid an early dividend when james anderson had ashwell prince caught
behind for nought off the fourth ball of the match
south africa could have been two down three balls later when graeme smith on
one edged graham onions first delivery into the midriff of swann at second
slip
but swann could not hold the chance although regular second slip paul
collingwood was passed fit to play he was fielding at fine leg to prevent
further damage to dislocated left index finger
smith and hashim amla put on for the second wicket before amla was leg before
wicket to graham onions for smith made before being caught behind off
anderson off the first ball he faced after lunch
shortened morning had been played under overcast skies but the sun came out
after lunch and kallis and de villiers batted brightly adding runs off
balls
swann man of the match in the first two tests ended run third wicket
stand between kallis and de villiers when he had the latter smartly caught at
short midwicket by strauss for
jp duminy then suffered his second successive first ball dismissal when he
pushed forward tentatively and edged catch to wicketkeeper matt prior
boucher was in sparkling form as he made off balls before he was leg
before wicket to broad
with the clouds again sweeping over the ground steyn provided surprisingly
capable support until bad light stopped play balls after the second new ball
was taken
veteran fast bowler makhaya ntini was dropped from the south african team and
replaced by friedel de wet
rugbyu rfu to probe venter ref rant
london jan afp
saracens director of rugby brendan venter is set to face disciplinary action
after the rugby football union rfu announced on sunday they would be
investigating his withering remarks about referees
venter was highly critical of referee david rose following premiership leaders
saracens loss away to leicester on saturday accusing him of being
different official in the second half at welford road
the former springbok went on to slam the overall standard of officiating in the
premiership saying it was lottery and responsible for the death of the
game as an entertaining spectacle
venter also revealed he had received an apology from the rfu for the performance
of referee dean richards in saracens league defeat by london irish last weekend
the rfu in statement issued on sunday said venter comments were highly
inappropriate and announced formal investigation
it is the rfu view that such negative public commentary on the performance of
referees either individually or collectively and the disclosure of
confidential discussions held between the rfu and mr venter are highly
inappropriate and do not enhance the image of the game the rfu said
the rfu legal officer will be investigating the matter to decide if there is
case to answer under rule for bringing the game into disrepute and if there
is will refer that to the disciplinary officer
in addition this behaviour and those comments are also clear contravention of
the code of conduct established between the rfu and premier rugby limited prl
and personally signed by the directors of rugby
the rfu will be working with prl to ensure that discussions are had with mr
venter to remind him of his responsibilities under that code of conduct and take
appropriate disciplinary action
rob andrew the rfu elite rugby director said we would like to say in the
strongest terms that the rfu believes mr venter comments to be unfounded
however we believe there is wider issue here respect is one of rugby core
values which underpin our sport and that must include respect for the match
officials at all times
we cannot go down the route where senior figures in the game do not demonstrate
that respect the former england fly half insisted
venter pulled no punches after the leicester match saying there is problem
and that is the game is determined by referees and not by teams
everybody says why don you play lot of rugby
go maybe it just not worth it because it is lottery
everybody wants to know why the game is dying maybe that is why the game is
dying
made request this week for the referee to look at the video of our last
game and leicester last game but was told they don normally do that
if can watch the opposition last five matches how come the referee doesn
look at the last game and come prepared
ed morrison the rfu head of elite referee development was adamant he had
absolute faith in premiership officials and their match preparation
morrison himself former test referee added to date we feel we have very
positive working relationship with all the directors of rugby and robust
review process with every referee and every club which we undertake after every
game
however we absolutely do not expect those conversations to be reported out of
context in the public domain as that would change the dynamic of those reviews
cricket south africa england close of play scoreboard
cape town south africa jan afp
scores at close of play on the first day of the third test between south africa
and england here at newlands on sunday
south africa first innings
smith prior anderson
prince prior anderson
amla lbw onions
kallis not out
de villiers strauss swann
duminy prior swann
boucher lbw broad
steyn not out
extras lb nb
total wkts overs
fall of wickets prince amla smith de villiers
duminy boucher
to bat morkel harris de wet
bowling anderson nb onions broad
swann pietersen
england andrew strauss capt alastair cook jonathan trott kevin pietersen
paul collingwood ian bell matt prior wkt stuart broad graeme swann james
anderson graham onions
match position south africa are for six in the first innings
toss england
umpires daryl harper aus tony hill nzl
tv umpire aleem dar pak
match referee roshan mahanama sri
ski jump home sweet home as schlierenzauer takes third leg of four hills
innsbruck austria jan afp
austrian gregor schlierenzauer the defending world cup champion won the third
leg of the four hills ski jump event on sunday adding to his win at garmisch on
friday
schlierenzauer won at his home venue for the first time leaping and
metres for points he soared past his rivals swiss simon ammann who
jumped and for points and finland five time winner janne
ahonen who scored points with leaps of and
the win was the perfect early birthday present for schlierenzauer coming just
four days before he turns
he had started out with poor showing last tuesday at oberstdorf where
blaming an upset stomach he could only place ninth
but after seeing off compatriot wolfgang loitzl and ammann at garmisch he was
again bang on form
don know quite what to say gasped schlierenzauer who also took command
of the overall world cup standings with two point advantage over ammann
almost every day passed by this jump and said to myself that wanted to
win here
another austrian crowd favourite andreas kofler who triumphed at oberstdorf
was fourth on sunday after jumping and for points while
titleholder loitzl was sixth
austria can dream also of completing their first cleansweep of the final podium
placings in the series since
going into wednesday final event at bischofshofen kofler has wafer thin
points lead over schlierenzauer and points over loitzl
serb police arrest bosnian war crime suspect
belgrade jan afp
serb police have arrested man suspected of war crimes during the war
in bosnia hercegovina including the killing of civilians the prosecutor
office told local television sunday
darko jankovic had been wanted for long time spokesman for the court
prosecutor office bruno vekaric said in statement to the television
station
his name is linked to several crimes mainly in the cultural centre at celopek
where people were killed vekaric said the area is in eastern bosnia
the bosnian war claimed around lives and forced million people to
flee their homes number equal to half the pre war population
