himself lined up next to world golf hall of famer singh on the practice range
that was little different stuard said everything is just bigger
paul goydos recalled being similarly intimidated when he made his pga tour debut
in
was walking through the locker room on monday and davis love was walking
toward me and the guy looked about feet tall hitting balls next to payne
stewart watching him hit the ball so good it was silly was pretty
intimidated in sense that am really this good
now goydos has two tour wins on his resume but he can still be intimidated
in the locker room he bumped into year old rookie rickie fowler
he looks like he about eight years old goydos added he going to
intimidate me in another way youth
zach johnson will defend his title but australian geoff ogilvy who won last
week at the limited field sbs championship elected to take time to prepare for
the european tour abu dhabi championship january
vietnamese american lawmaker pushes rights on trip
washington jan afp
the only vietnamese american member of congress said he urged hanoi communist
government to improve human rights on quiet restricted visit back to his
nation of birth
representative anh joseph cao the son of south vietnamese army officer who
fled to the united states when he was eight paid his first trip back since
as part of trip to asia during the holiday recess
cao longtime advocate for human rights who was joined by two fellow
congressmen said he agreed not to meet with dissidents hold news conferences
or issue press releases as conditions to enter vietnam
the vietnamese government did not want to issue visa because they felt that
my visit potentially could be guess you could say explosive cao told
conference call wednesday after returning to washington
in order to get the visa had to quietly go into vietnam and to leave
quietly cao said
but cao said he raised specific concerns including vietnam imprisonment of
internet activists whose blogs have rattled the government
directly addressed to them the issues of human rights violations cao said
cao said he received no specific assurances on any case but cao said his
discussions with vietnamese unaffiliated with the government including his
sister offered reason for hope
they all said that conditions in vietnam have greatly improved people are
allowed to operate their businesses and allowed to worship freely as long as
obviously they don speak out against the government cao said
but cao said that vietnam needed democracy to push ahead with more fundamental
changes including improving the business environment and rule of law
believe that at this juncture in the history of vietnam this is the right
time to push for democracy cao said the system can be improved better under
democracy rather than one party system as vietnam presently has
cao became the first vietnamese born member of the us congress in when the
then little known immigration lawyer pulled off an election upset against
corruption tainted veteran of the democratic party
cao who represents predominantly democratic and african american district in
new orleans has since proven maverick the former seminarian was the only
republican house member to support president barack obama drive to bring
health care to millions of uninsured americans
cao and two democrats mike honda who heads the house asian american caucus
and eni faleomaveaga who heads the house foreign relations subcommittee on asia
toured vietnam cambodia laos and japan
the primary goal of visiting vietnam laos and cambodia was to study ways to
help clear up unexploded ordnance dropped by us forces that have killed
thousands since the end of the vietnam war the lawmakers said
cao said the us contribution of million dollars year to laos was only
quarter of what that nation needed
cao said he was also struck in the three southeast asian nations by the concern
about rising regional power china which he has been flexing its muscle in
territorial dispute with vietnam in the south china sea
everyone in vietnam and somewhat from laos as well as somewhat from cambodia
are cautious of the influence of china in the area and rightly so because of
the history in the region cao said
google still filtering internet searches in china
san francisco jan afp
google said wednesday it was still filtering internet search results in china in
compliance with law there and would not specify when it plans to defy chinese
censors
as of late wednesday no changes had been made to the california search giant
self imposed online search filters in china according to google spokesman
gabriel stricker
stricker answered yes when asked by afp on wednesday whether google is still
filtering search results at google cn
google vowed day earlier to stop cooperating with chinese internet censors and
risk banishment from the lucrative market in outrage at highly sophisticated
cyberattacks aimed at chinese human rights activists
china based cyber spies struck google and at least other unidentified firms
in apparent bids to steal intellectual property and hack into the email accounts
of activists around the world according to security experts
us lawmakers see no ill treatment of hmong
washington jan afp
us lawmakers back from trip to laos said they saw no signs of ill treatment of
ethnic hmong recently expelled from thailand despite human rights groups
concerns they would face persecution
thailand last month defied us un and eu appeals and forcibly repatriated some
hmong into laos the hmong hill people fought alongside us forces in
the vietnam war bringing the wrath of the communist lao government
three us congressmen active on asian affairs anh joseph cao eni
faleomavaega and mike honda visited laos as part of four nation trip over
the holiday recess and asked to see the camps for repatriated hmong
we heard all these rumors that they would be executing or harassing the
repatriated hmong honda told afp in an interview we didn get that sense
honda member of president barack obama democratic party from california
said that the pha lak camp appeared to be at maximum capacity with more than
people inside
but he said the accommodation seemed relatively new with corrugated roofs and
proximity to wells built through british and french assistance
it was airy clean and orderly honda said
cao who has phobia of helicopters did not go the camp but said he had
similar impression based on his colleagues accounts and meetings in the capital
vientiane
think people are being well treated there cao told reporters on
conference call many of the human rights violations that were being reported
we did not observe there
cao republican from louisiana said the congressmen had luncheon with
foreign minister thongloun sisoulit who assured us that the hmong will not be
maltreated
but hmong advocates scoffed at the accounts accusing laotian authorities of
staging potemkin village for the congressmen
the australian newspaper the age reported reaching another camp in laos where
hundreds of asylum seekers mainly women and children stood barefoot in the
dirt behind three meters of razor wire as loudspeakers exhorted them to move
away
philip smith executive director of the center for public policy analysis said
some repatriated hmong have disappeared
we know from previous groups that lot of hmong have been killed and tortured
and imprisoned smith said
it is outrageous and insulting to the hmong community in the us to go so far as
to accuse them of making up stories about human rights abuses he said
hershey authorises bid preparation for cadbury report
london jan afp
us chocolate maker hershey has authorised bid to be prepared for british
confectioner cadbury to counter american giant kraft billion pound
hostile offer newspaper reported thursday
citing people familiar with the matter the financial times said hershey had
given the go ahead for bid to be drawn up and formal offer could be made by
january deadline
the company bid plan would see former banker from us investment giant
goldman sachs who runs his own investment firm given permission to attract
private equity investors the newspaper said
the trust that controls hershey is preparing the bid and also plans to invest
million pounds billion dollars million euros in the scheme the
paper reported
the cadbury board has repeatedly rejected kraft cash and shares hostile offer
and hershey bid is likely to find more favour with the british company
chiefs
cadbury chief executive todd stitzer previously told the newspaper that he saw
cultural similarities between his company and hershey
would prefer cadbury to be in an environment where its values and principles
could continue stitzer said
hershey already has relationship with cadbury which includes the rights to
make and distribute some cadbury products in the us and in other countries
according to hershey website
news of the plans came as italian chocolate make ferrero decided to end talks
with hershey on the possibility of launching joint bid for cadbury according
to source
neither hershey nor the hershey trust could be reached for comment hershey
earlier declined to comment to the financial times
kraft is the world second biggest snacks group after nestle cadbury is the
second largest confectionery company behind mars
leading chocolate manufacturer in the united states hershey was founded over
century ago by milton hershey
us defense secretary delays australia trip after haiti quake
washington jan afp
us defense secretary robert gates on wednesday postponed planned trip to
australia in order to help with the response to the recent earthquake in haiti
spokesman said
secretary gates has decided not to travel to australia this weekend and will
instead remain in washington to continue to manage the department response to
the humanitarian crisis in haiti pentagon spokesman geoff morrell said in
statement
gates had been scheduled to travel to australia along with us secretary of state
hillary clinton to participate in bilateral talks at the annual australia us
ministerial consultations
clinton also cancelled her trip and will return to the united states to assist
the us response to tuesday devastating earthquake in haiti where hundreds
of thousands are feared dead
football defiant benitez vows to continue despite cup shock
liverpool england jan afp
rafael benitez on thursday shrugged off the increasing pressure surrounding his
position as liverpool manager in the wake of the club embarrassing exit from
the fa cup
benitez in charge at anfield since was booed along with his players as
they were knocked out of the competition after suffering extra time home
defeat at the hands of championship strugglers reading on wednesday
the result is serious blow to benitez hopes of ending liverpool four year
wait for trophy and means the spaniard must win the second tier european club
competition europa league if he is to secure the club first piece of major
silverware since the fa cup triumph against west ham united
it is really bad everyone wanted to progress but we can so we are
disappointed said year old benitez after the third round replay defeat
reading worked very hard but there were lot of things did not like we had
chances they had chances they were doing well but we might have won too the
chances they created worried me but we had some too
in the second half we had more control but after we made lot of mistakes
we know the fa cup is massive competition and we wanted to progress at this
moment we are really disappointed for the fans who came to support the team we
tried to win from the beginning
benitez was already under pressure before this game after the team champions
league exit and their faltering premier league campaign which sees them
points behind leaders chelsea in the title race
but losing to reading has again put his position back in the spotlight ahead of
saturday tricky away game at stoke city
however benitez insists he can handle the criticism
for three months everyone was talking about me at the end as manager you
have to be disappointed but then move forward and think about stoke on
saturday he added
we are frustrated but you have to carry on everyone is disappointed we have
to prepare for saturday game because it will be difficult
as if benitez did not have enough problems his two best players steven gerrard
and fernando torres are both major doubts for the weekend
torres limped off in the first half with twisted knee while gerrard has
hamstring problem both will undergo scans on thursday
we ll see what the doctors say said benitez who completed the signing of
argentine winger maxi rodriguez from atletico madrid earlier wednesday
reading caretaker manager brian mcdermott insisted his side deserved the
victory
we played some really good stuff he said we did the right thing played in
the right way
liverpool goal could have hurt us but we responded well chuffed for
everybody to come here and win is terrific
on wednesday liverpool were ahead after an own goal by ryan bertrand but were
stunned by stoppage time penalty leveller by gylfi sigurdsson which sent the
tie into extra time
substitute shane long then headed th minute winner for reading
venezuela sells bonds to curb rise of black market dollar
caracas jan afp
venezuela central bank began selling million dollars worth of bonds
wednesday in bid to curb the rising value of the unofficial gray market
dollar after the national currency was devalued last week
to all those who ve already begun trying to speculate with the so called gray
dollar they ll burn in your hands president hugo chavez said in televised
speech
chavez on friday announced that the bolivar would trade at to the dollar
for non essential goods double the present rate and at rate of
bolivars to the dollar for basic goods in an election year move aimed at
favoring the poor
he also said the central bank would intervene in the unofficial parallel
market to squelch speculation after the gray dollar soared to three times the
official rate on government decision last year to limit the dollar supply to
offset losses from plunging oil prices
we re going to bring it down and we re already doing so with the central
bank intervention chavez said adding that the bank would continue
injecting dollars as needed into the economy
the central bank on wednesday began auctioning off dollar denominated bonds
against the national debt at fixed rate it said on its website
exchange rates on the gray market are pegged to dollar denominated bonds issued
by the venezuelan government which trade at far higher rates of exchange than
the official rate set by the government since
it is legal but finance minister ali rodriguez has said the government
eventually aims to phase it out some factors surrounding its use are however
illegal such as publishing the unofficial rate
football injury ravaged ghana bank on essien against ivorians
cabinda angola jan afp
chelsea midfielder michael essien faces great challenge of his international
career when he captains ghana against ivory coast here on friday
the box to box workaholic with the biting tackle and thunderous drive must
inspire an injury ravaged black stars side against the under pressure africa
cup of nations title favourites in crunch group clash
it will be the second fixture in this restive northern angola enclave where an
ambush last friday claimed two lives as the togolese delegation crossed the
border from congo training camp
togo later withdrew leaving ghana ivory coast and outsiders burkina faso
fighting for two quarter fianls places and the burkinabe threw spanner in the
works by forcing goalless stalemate with the ivorians
ghana go into the match without midfielders anthony annan stephen appiah
laryea kingston and central defender john pantsil and john mensah because of
injuries while sulley muntari was axed for indiscipline
withdrawals ahead of the tournament saw the number of starlets from the ghana
world youth championship winning squad called up by serb coach milovan
rajevac swell to eight
and rajevac admitted that several could be in the starting line up at the
seat chiazi stadium alongside essien who has had his own problems ahead
of the biennial african football showcase
hamstring tear sidelined him in the build up to the three week tournament
being staged in portuguese speaking country for the first time and he arrived
only hours before the kick off owing to snow hit london airports
he has arrived in cabinda and after training with his club recently should be
physically fit to face the ivorians ghana team spokesman told reporters
here
the ivorian elephants fourth two years ago in ghana and runners up to
hosts egypt looked far from champions elect against the ultra cautious well
drilled burkinabe stallions in the least exciting first round match
captain and chelsea striker didier drogba said the aftermath of the togo tragedy
had affected squad boasting stars like kolo and yaya toure emmanuel eboue
didier zokora salomon kalou and kouassi gervinho yao
drogba says this will probably be his nations cup swansong and craves glory for
squad known as the golden generation but without trophy to show for their
sometimes sublime cocktail of skill and steel
defeat by ghana who have won five and drawn one of eight previous nations cup
clashes between the west african neighbours could lead to sensational first
round exit for ivory coast
we are now in very difficult position but still have all the cards in our
hands and know we can go through to the knockout phase insists bosnian coach
vahid halilhodzic
he also knows that first round failure would almost certainly cost him his job
and chance to lead the ivory coast against portugal brazil and north korea at
the world cup in south africa
the final mini league fixture between ghana and burkina faso is scheduled for
the seat november stadium in the angolan capital luanda next tuesday
afp sports schedule for thursday january
paris jan afp
afp sports schedule for thursday january
football
in the africa cup of nations algeria tackle mali while angola meet malawi in
luanda
coverage by nick reeves david legge and samm addu
see separate advisory
masterslug fbl afr
in the english league cup semi finals first leg blackburn face aston villa
action also in spanish and italian cups
slugs fbl eng lcup fbl esp cup fbl ita cup
cricket
south africa tackle england on the first day on the fourth and final test at the
wanderers in johannesburg with the tourists holding lead in the series
coverage by colin bryden
slug cricket rsa eng
tennis
world number one serena williams bids to reach the final of the sydney
international when she meets france aravane rezai in the semi finals while
victoria azarenka faces elena dementieva
the men draw sees home favourite lleyton hewitt tackling cyprus marcos
baghdatis in the quarter finals
coverage by robert smith
also atp at auckland and wta at hobart
kooyong classic in melbourne
coverage by scott williams
slugs tennis atp wta aus tennis atp nzl tennis wta aus tennis aus kooyong
golf
epga at joburg open uspga at honolulu hawaii and asian tour qualifying school
at hua hin thailand
slugs golf epga rsa golf uspga golf asia
rallying
stage of the dakar rally is km special from san juan to san rafael with
carlos sainz leading fellow volkswagen man nasser al attiyah while cyril despres
leads the motorcycle section
coverage by joris fioriti
slug auto moto rally dakar
snooker
the masters continues at wembley
slug snooker gbr masters
afp sports schedule for thursday january
paris jan afp
afp sports schedule for thursday january
football
in the africa cup of nations algeria tackle mali while angola meet malawi in
luanda
coverage by nick reeves david legge and samm addu
see separate advisory
masterslug fbl afr
action also in spanish and italian cups
slugs fbl esp cup fbl ita cup
cricket
south africa tackle england on the first day on the fourth and final test at the
wanderers in johannesburg with the tourists holding lead in the series
coverage by colin bryden
slug cricket rsa eng
tennis
world number one serena williams bids to reach the final of the sydney
international when she meets france aravane rezai in the semi finals while
victoria azarenka faces elena dementieva
the men draw sees home favourite lleyton hewitt tackling cyprus marcos
baghdatis in the quarter finals
coverage by robert smith
also atp at auckland and wta at hobart
kooyong classic in melbourne
coverage by scott williams
slugs tennis atp wta aus tennis atp nzl tennis wta aus tennis aus kooyong
golf
epga at joburg open uspga at honolulu hawaii and asian tour qualifying school
at hua hin thailand
slugs golf epga rsa golf uspga golf asia
rallying
stage of the dakar rally is km special from san juan to san rafael with
carlos sainz leading fellow volkswagen man nasser al attiyah while cyril despres
leads the motorcycle section
coverage by joris fioriti
slug auto moto rally dakar
snooker
the masters continues at wembley
slug snooker gbr masters
us defense secretary delays australia trip after haiti quake
washington jan afp
us defense secretary robert gates on wednesday postponed planned trip to
australia in order to help with the response to the recent earthquake in haiti
spokesman said
secretary gates has decided not to travel to australia this weekend and will
instead remain in washington to continue to manage the department response to
the humanitarian crisis in haiti pentagon spokesman geoff morrell said in
statement
icelandic search and rescue team lands in haiti ministry
reykjavik jan afp
search and rescue team from iceland landed wednesday in haitian capital port
au prince to offer assistance following devastating earthquake iceland
foreign ministry announced in statement
man strong icelandic international search and rescue team has landed in
port au prince one of the first rescue teams to reach haiti following the
devastating earthquake statement from the icelandic foreign ministry said
adding the team had landed at gmt and was composed of highly trained
group of search and rescue specialists
in separate statement iceland foreign ministry said the plane was to leave
haiti with foreign nationals on board and that authorities in the united
states sweden and denmark have already accepted the offer of assistance from
iceland in evacuating foreign nationals
more than people were feared dead wednesday after cataclysmic
earthquake struck haiti filling the streets with corpses and burying thousands
under razed schools hotels and hospitals
urgent us defense secretary delays australia trip after haiti quake
washington jan afp
us defense secretary robert gates on wednesday postponed planned trip to
australia in order to help with the response to the recent earthquake in haiti
spokesman said
us poll finds broad support for profiling at airports
washington jan afp
seven in americans support more intensive security checks for airplane
passengers that fit the profile of possible terrorist us study said
wednesday
support for profiling by airport screeners was at percent according to the
usa today gallup poll conducted shortly after an attacker attempted to blow up
us bound airliner on christmas day
the number of americans worried about being victims of terrorist attack also
increased three points from percent in early december to percent in
january according to the survey which questioned people from january
to
forty two percent of the respondents also said they thought the security
response from president barack obama did not go far enough percent said they
were satisfied while only four percent thought the actions including
increased security at us airports went too far
in the days and weeks since the thwarted attack the us government has moved to
revise watchlists of possible attackers accelerated the installation of body
scanners at airports and imposed heightened security for passengers travelling
from dozen mostly muslim countries
immediately after the attacks of september fully percent of
americans said they feared becoming the victim of terrorist attack
the figure fell to its lowest point of percent in january month after
the capture of former iraqi dictator saddam hussein
alert
us defense secretary delays australia trip after haiti quake
nba celtics coach fined for outburst over officiating
east rutherford new jersey jan afp
the national basketball association fined boston coach doc rivers dollars
on wednesday for an argument with officials that saw him tossed from game
rivers speaking before boston game against new jersey admitted he was
disappointed by the move
they admit that the call was wrong rivers said before the celtics game
against the new jersey nets of all the fines ve ever had this is by far the
most disappointing just don get this one watched couple of coaches
last week run out on the floor and no fine get fined for being right
rivers was irked over flagrant foul called on glen davis with six minutes
remaining in monday loss to atlanta
rivers received two technical fouls but kept shouting at referee bennett
salvatore another technical was called on celtics assistant coach armond hill
latin america rallies to help haiti
mexico city jan afp
latin american nations many with experience of devastating earthquakes and un
peacekeepers in haiti scrambled to send aid to the earthquake hit nation
wednesday
rescue efforts stepped up as haiti prime minister warned the death toll may
top from tuesday brutal magnitude earthquake that flattened much
of the capital port au prince
the quake killed at least peacekeepers with the brazilian led un mission in
haiti and brazil defense minister was on his way to the caribbean state to
assess the situation
brasilia said it was sending million dollars in immediate disaster aid
including tons of drinking water and food including sugar powdered milk and
sardines
peru will send two planes with metric tonnes of humanitarian aid mainly
food and doctors and nurses and two field hospitals the health minister
said wednesday afternoon adding that peruvian president alan garcia may
accompany the mission
the peruvian government declared national mourning for thursday in solidarity
with haiti
an argentine un built hospital was caring for some people mainly women and
children in the country but was in critical situation due to the number of
dead and wounded said its director daniel desimone on todo noticias argentine
news channel
all haitian hospitals had collapsed desimone said
the quake looked set to join some of the worst catastrophes in region shaken
by earthquakes volcanic eruptions and landslides
mexico planned to send three planes and hospital boat with total of
metric tonnes of public and private aid and around doctors as well as
rescue workers and expert engineers presdient felipe calderon said in news
conference wednesday
further boat from the mexican marines would set off in the coming days with
more aid calderon said
cuba which also felt the quake and evacuated some people following
brief tsunami alert sent doctors on wednesday according to cuban media
some cuban medical staff already in haiti were largely unharmed and two
cuban field hospitals in the capital port au prince had dealt with almost
wounded by early wednesday said foreign minister bruno rodriguez
venezuelan president hugo chavez promised more aid after the departure of
first group of doctors firefighters and rescue workers from venezuela early
wednesday
chile which has troops in the country said it would send metric tonnes of
food and medicines team of search and rescue experts and doctors
according to president michelle bachelet adding that two chileans connected to
the un mission were reported missing
colombia and guatemala also promised to send rescue workers and aid as soon as
possible
surviving soldiers from the un peacekeeping mission in haiti of
soldiers and police were now carrying out disaster relief operations
though were hampered by debris blocked roads and teetering buildings officials
said
an argentine gendarme was reported killed and another was missing and seven
soldiers from brazil and uruguayan soldier were also missing
bolivian defense minister walker san miguel said none of bolivia estimated
soldiers in haiti had been killed and that the impoverished andean nation was
