warning opposition supporters against using sms and email messages to organise
rallies amid reports fresh anti government protests are being planned
words by gmt
africa
sudan politics vote arman profile
khartoum
charming and media savvy yassir arman secular muslim from north sudan has
been selected by his ex rebel group to fight omar al beshir in the april
presidential election the first multi party ballot since in sudan
words gmt picture
americas
attacks india us pakistan court thlead
chicago
chicago businessman is charged with helping an old friend from military school
in pakistan plot the deadly mumbai attacks that killed people
officials say
words moved by mira oberman file picture
cricket smith amla close in on england total
johannesburg jan afp
graeme smith and hashim amla shared century partnership as south africa closed
in on england first innings total on the second day of the fourth and final
test at the wanderers stadium on friday
south africa were for one at lunch just runs behind england all
out smith was unbeaten on and amla had scored not out
the batsmen had to negotiate some hostile bowling at the start of an extended
morning play with the ball swinging and moving off the pitch but gradually
took control as runs were added in overs the only batsman dismissed was
the out of form ashwell prince who was out for
smith survived confident appeal for catch behind the wicket when he was on
in the fourth over of the day
he chased wide delivery from ryan sidebottom and the slips cordon went up in
unison as wicketkeeper matt prior held the ball but the south african captain
was given not out by umpire tony hill
england asked for review and although sound could be heard on television
replays third umpire daryl harper could not find reason to overturn hill
decision
the snick and hot spot technology is not being used in the series
prince was out in the next over caught at second slip by graeme swann off
stuart broad but england could not make another breakthrough
both batsmen played some edgy shots early on but the scoring rate was reasonably
brisk with england setting attacking fields
as the morning progressed smith and amla started to bat confidently they
notched fifty partnership off balls and made the stand worth after
balls
us soldier killed in afghan bombing nato
kabul jan afp
an american soldier has been killed in afghanistan by the type of crude bomb
used by taliban militants in their war against the kabul government nato said
an isaf service member from the united states was killed today thursday in
southern afghanistan as the result of an ied strike said statement from
nato international security assistance force referring to an improvised
explosive device
the death brings to the number of foreign soldiers to have been killed in
afghanistan so far this year according to an afp count based on tally kept by
independent website icasualties org
ieds along with suicide bomb attacks are the main weapons deployed by taliban
militants and have become more powerful and deadly as foreign forces enhance
security procedures military officials have said
the bombs made principally from fertiliser and detonated by remote control can
range up to pounds kilograms senior us military intelligence
official said recently destroying even the heaviest armoured vehicles
roadside bomb that exploded beneath car on friday killed four children aged
two to years old and woman in the spin boldak district of kandahar the
commander of the border police general abdul razik told afp
the family had been to martyr shrine and on their way home the roadside
bomb blew up their car he said adding four children and woman were
killed and man and another child were wounded
united nations survey released this week showed civilian casualties rose
percent in but that the vast majority percent were caused by taliban
attacks
the southern provinces of helmand and kandahar are the most violent but the
taliban has spread its fight to previously peaceful regions
pedestrian suicide bomber blew himself up in crowded market on thursday in
uruzgan province which borders both helmand and kandahar killing at least
people officials said
the militants rarely take responsibility for attacks that kill large numbers of
civilians though the uruzgan attack bore the hallmarks of their handiwork
foreign troops under us and nato command currently number around and are
being reinforced with another over the course of this year as the
counter insurgency strategy moves into high gear
hundreds of civilians are also moving into afghanistan to back up the military
effort with renewed emphasis on development and aid to enable afghans in
insurgency hotspots to shift their allegiance to the government
recent public opinion poll in afghanistan commissioned by the bbc and other
media organisations found that percent of afghans are optimistic about their
future and believe the country is heading in the right direction
that figure derived from survey of people across the country is up
from percent last year
cricket south africa england scoreboard
johannesburg jan afp
scores at lunch on the second day of the fourth test between south africa and
england at the wanderers stadium on friday
england first innings
south africa first innings overnight
smith not out
prince swann broad
amla not out
extras lb nb
total wkt overs
fall of wicket prince
to bat kallis de villiers duminy boucher mclaren steyn
morkel parnell
bowling anderson nb sidebottom broad swann
collingwood
match position south africa trail by runs with nine wickets remaining in the
first innings
toss england
umpires steve davis aus tony hill nzl
tv umpire daryl harper aus
match referee roshan mahanama sri
china says crisis to crimp export growth in
beijing jan afp
china said on friday the global economic downturn would remain drag on its
vital trade sector in following an export contraction last year
exports this year may not be as strong as according to expert forecasts
commerce ministry spokesman yao jian said at briefing
his comments came despite the fact that exports in fell percent from the
previous year to trillion dollars as foreign orders for manufactured goods
shrank amid economic contractions in key markets like the united states
yao told afp after the briefing that under the best case scenario both imports
and exports this year would rebound to levels
but he added personally don think they can
china monthly exports fell in november for the first time since june
as the global downturn began to take its toll the first of straight monthly
declines that ended only last month
china trade surplus key source of friction between china and its major
trade partners including the united states and europe stood at billion
dollars in down percent from
think the trade balance will improve further this year yao said meaning
he expected the chinese surplus to decline
data out of germany this month showed china overtook europe biggest economy in
november to become the world top exporting nation as other countries suffered
even more from the financial crisis
yao said that was mainly because demand for china low cost goods did not fall
as much as it did for more advanced german products including precision
machinery
with the recovery of the global economy in and reversal of the
export ranking cannot be ruled out he said
tennis sydney international results collated
sydney jan afp
results from the sixth day of the sydney international wta atp tennis tournament
on friday denotes seed
women
final
elena dementieva rus bt serena williams usa
men
semi finals
richard gasquet fra bt julien benneteau fra
marcos baghdatis cyp bt mardy fish usa
tennis baghdatis to play gasquet in sydney final
sydney jan afp
marcos baghdatis will play frenchman richard gasquet in the final of the sydney
international after titanic semi final on friday
the nd ranked cypriot an australian open finalist battled for almost three
hours before beating american marty fish
baghdatis who lost to roger federer in the australian open final waged
desperate struggle with fish before claiming his eighth career final appearance
on his fourth match point
gasquet reached his first sydney final after win over fellow
frenchman julien benneteau after falling at the semi final stage in and
gasquet ranked is the first frenchman since guy forget in to play in
the sydney final and will be chasing his sixth career title and his first since
mumbai in
he and baghdatis have yet to play each other on the atp tour although they have
met in the juniors
had some moments of the match that lost my concentration but the most
important thing is that won the match and playing final tomorrow so
that pretty positive baghdatis said
it been hard two years were tough it nice coming into the
year playing finals and having chance to win another title
gasquet prevailed in his semi final after the hawk eye review system decided in
his favour on match point after the ball was shown to have clipped the line
with hawk eye you never know what can happen was very lucky with this point
for sure gasquet said otherwise it could have gone to tiebreak and you
never know it was better to win with this shot
gasquet said it was difficult playing an atp tour match against fellow
frenchman
mentally it wasn easy to play against benneteau he said he very good
player french player and it never easy to play against countryman
know him and he knows my game
former world top player gasquet is climbing the rankings after being cleared
of doping last month by the court of arbitration for sport
new car sales drop percent in europe in
brussels jan afp
cash for clunkers schemes succeeded only in limiting the drop in new car sales
in europe last year with new registrations down percent compared to
the european carmakers body said on friday
nevertheless such incentives along with fleet renewal plans in number of the
biggest auto markets meant the figures showed significant improvement over
when new car sales plunged percent the worst drop since
in total million new cars were registered last year in the nations
covered by the data european union members not counting cyprus and malta
plus free trade partners iceland norway and switzerland
the acea car makers association noted that european new car registrations
picked up in the second half of last year largely due to the impact of fleet
renewal schemes in number of major markets
in december demand for new cars rose by percent or units
compared to the same month the previous year
over the months only austria up percent france up percent and
germany percent posted growth in western europe compared to
by comparison italy dropped percent britain percent and spain
percent over the year
among car makers germany volkswagen with its vw audi seat and skoda
brands remained in pole position with its share of the market rising to
percent from percent in
it sold million vehicles in
psa peugeot citroen sales remained stable at million units
most germans unhappy with merkel leadership poll
berlin jan afp
majority of germans think chancellor angela merkel is weak leader poll
showed friday as bitter row over tax cuts and fiscal discipline in europe
biggest economy rocked her ruling coalition
more than half of respondents percent said merkel was doing little to
set the course for the government versus percent who approved of her
management of the centre right coalition
meanwhile strong majority percent said the government merkel hand
picked alliance of her conservative bloc with the pro business free democrats
had had bad start since their term began in late october
and only about one in three percent said they thought merkel
christian democratic party fully backed her down from percent in october
critics accuse merkel of an above the fray style that has allowed battles over
economic policy among the ruling parties to rage on as germany struggles to
emerge from its worst post war recession
half of respondents said planned meeting sunday between the leaders of the
three governing parties would do little to clear the air while percent
expected an improvement
at the crux of the dispute are the free democrats demands for even deeper tax
breaks from next year after the government pushed through billion euros
billion dollars in tax relief from january
leading christian democrats as well as several state and local leaders say tax
giveaway now would be disastrous in the face of the tattered state of germany
public finances
the economic downturn has blown huge hole in the budget with merkel
government predicting last month it will have to take on record billion
euros in new debt in
friday poll conducted for zdf public television by independent opinion
research institute forschungsgruppe wahlen found that full percent of
respondents rejected the planned tax cuts up from percent in november
only percent were in favour
the poll was conducted among randomly selected eligible voters january
to
separate survey released last week showed that percent of voters were
satisfied with merkel down percentage points from december with percent
unhappy with her new government up seven points
the poll by ard public television and the welt daily showed that percent
thought merkel quarrelsome coalition was divided and rudderless while
percent wanted merkel forbes magazine most powerful female on the planet to
show clearer leadership
korea threatens to cut dialogue with korea accepts aid
seoul jan afp
north korea threatened friday to break off all dialogue with south korea unless
seoul apologises for an alleged contingency plan to handle regime collapse in
the communist state
in day of mixed signals the north also announced it would accept food aid
which it had shunned for two years as political tensions with the south rose
the north powerful national defence commission ndc which is headed by
leader kim jong il denounced the alleged plan as crime and said it would
stage holy war against those who drew it up
in statement on pyongyang official news agency it termed the alleged
document plan to overthrow its socialist system
unconfirmed south korean news reports say officials in seoul have drawn up
plan to administer the north in case of regime collapse coup or popular
uprising there
the ndc vowed that unless seoul authorities apologise for the crime against
the north they will be thoroughly excluded from any dialogue and negotiations
aimed at improving inter korean ties and securing peace and stability on the
korean peninsula
the north said monday it wants talks with the united states on treaty to
formally end the korean war before it makes any further moves towards
nuclear disarmament
it did not mention talks with south korea about pact to end the war which
concluded only with an armistice seoul has long been suspicious that pyongyang
wants to exclude it
south korea and the united states rejected the north proposal for early peace
talks saying it must first return to nuclear disarmament forum
the north abandoned the six party forum in april month before staging
second nuclear test
pan national holy war will be staged aimed at eradicating the headquarters of
south korean authorities including the presidential blue house which led in
drawing up this plan the ndc statement said without elaborating
it urged the south to disband its unification ministry and the national
intelligence service holding them responsible for drawing up the plan
the south unification ministry meanwhile said the north had accepted an offer
of tons of food aid which seoul made back in october
the shipment if it goes ahead will be seoul first official aid to its hungry
neighbour for two years in the south offered tons of corn but the
north rejected the shipment amid high tensions
the north reacted furiously when seoul new conservative government took office
in february and linked major economic aid to progress in nuclear
disarmament
but since august it has been making peace overtures to south korea and the
united states
on thursday the cash strapped nation proposed talks with south korea about
resuming tourism projects which had earned it tens of millions of dollars year
until relations soured
the two countries have also agreed to hold separate talks next week on ways to
revitalise their jointly run industrial estate in the north
some analysts believe the peace overtures were prompted by tougher united
nations sanctions imposed to punish the north nuclear and missile tests
yang moo jin of seoul university of north korean studies said the ndc
statement means all inter korean talks will be suspended for the foreseeable
future including discussions on food aid and the resumption of tours
the statement reflects the final decision by the highest authority kim jong
il that it will not engage in talks to improve ties with south korea yang
told afp
the north suffered full scale famine in the in which hundreds of thousands
died and since then has relied on foreign food aid to help feed its people
the un world food programme estimated last september that third of north
korea women and young children are malnourished
haiti quake survivors land in france
paris jan afp
the first wave of french survivors of haiti devastating earthquake landed in
paris on friday morning
foreign minister bernard kouchner was waiting at orly airport to greet the
arrivals including seven haitians on an air france flight that had brought
them from the french caribbean island of guadeloupe
the arrivals were wrapped in blankets after stepping off the plane and joined
family members who were waiting
around french nationals live in haiti an impoverished former of colony of
france according to kouchner
tens of thousands of haitians live in france and many have relatives there
affected by the disaster foreign ministry information line for haiti said it
had been flooded with calls since the quake
second plane was due to bring further survivors to paris later on friday
morning according to government figures
at least french nationals were missing in the devastation of the quake
kouchner said earlier on friday and two little french girls had been pulled
alive from the rubble in the capital port au prince on thursday
the red cross said up to people may have died in the quake in the
caribbean nation where bodies were piling up in the streets and many residents
still lay trapped under their collapsed homes
iran police warn against sms email protest calls
tehran jan afp
iran police chief has warned opposition supporters against using text and
email messages to organise rallies isna news agency said friday amid reports
new demonstrations are being planned
these people should know where they are sending the sms and email as these
systems are under control they should not think using proxies will prevent
their identification esmail ahmadi moghaddam said
if these people continue their data records will be examined and those who
organise or issue appeals have committed worse crime than those who come to
the streets he warned
iran cyber savvy young opposition supporters have used the internet
effectively since unrest erupted in iran after the disputed june presidential
election to organise demonstrations and spread news and pictures
despite heavy crackdown by police opposition supporters take the streets on
every possible occasion to stage anti government rallies against what they say
was massive rigging of the presidential vote to secure hardliner mahmoud
ahmadinejad second term in office
reports are now circulating that the opposition plans to take to the streets
again on the anniversary of the islamic revolution on february
iranian authorities have vowed to show no tolerance towards any new protests by
opposition supporters who often hijack official events to stage their rallies
the authorities have taken to blocking text messaging and slowing down internet
speeds on protest days
bargain hunting lifts stocks as intel boosts tech firms
hong kong jan afp
investor concerns that china will move to further rein in lending were brushed
aside in asia on friday as bargain hunters moved in following losses in the
morning
technology plays were big gainers after us bellwether intel the world biggest
chipmaker posted profit surge of almost percent
chinese shares fell early on but ended percent higher as investors picked
up cheap property and banking stocks
the two sectors have been the main losers on fears that beijing was likely to
impose more stringent rules to stop soaring house prices and cap lending
the shanghai composite index which covers both and shares was up
points at
it is just technical rebound and the upside is likely limited as concerns
over monetary tightening are still lingering guoyuan securities analyst simon
wang told dow jones newswires
huatai securities analyst dai shuang said there are expectations that the
government may take fresh administrative measures to rein in rapid bank lending
growth near term
in bid to ease runaway economic growth the government this week increased the
amount of money banks must hold in reserve and raised the yield on one year
bills for the first time in five months
despite the chinese rebound hong kong fell percent or points to
japan nikkei rose percent or points to its best since
october
shares in cosmetics maker shiseido soared percent to yen on news it
will spend billion dollars to buy bare escentuals of the united states
and troubled japan airlines which has lost around percent this week over
fears it is about to apply for bankruptcy fell one yen to yen
sydney closed flat after spending much of the day in the red
the amp asx was up points at thanks to late rally after
commonwealth bank of australia said it expected big rise in first half cash
profit
regional stocks had been weighed by disappointing data from the united states
that showed retail sales fell unexpectedly by percent in december
analysts had expected gain of percent in sales the key driver of us
economic activity
but technology stocks were boosted after intel said net profit soared nearly
nine fold by percent to billion dollars in the three months to
december
intel also said it expects revenue of between billion dollars and
billion dollars this quarter compared with billion dollars forecast by
analysts
the dollar dropped to yen in tokyo afternoon trade from in new york
late thursday as the impact of the retail data set in while the euro slid to
dollars from and held steady at yen
in asian oil trade concerns over demand in the united states sent new york
main contract light sweet crude for february delivery cents lower to
dollars barrel
brent north sea crude for march delivery dropped cents to dollars
gold was at us dollars an ounce in hong kong in the afternoon down
from thursday close of dollars
in other markets
seoul was percent or points up at
bellwether samsung electronics gained percent to won hitting
record price and hynix semiconductor climbed percent to fresh
week high
singapore closed flat the straits times index edging down points to
the muted reaction to intel good results suggests that the market is more
afraid of bad news than reacting to good news said amfraser senior vice
president of equity sales gabriel gan
singapore airlines fell eight cents to dollars united overseas bank
tumbled cents to and property firm city developments was down eight
cents to
taipei rose percent or points to its best level since
june
au optronics added percent to taiwan dollars and innolux rose
percent to both boosted by the intel data
kuala lumpur was percent or points higher at
techs continued to rally on expectations of better earnings but latex glove
plays finally succumbed to profit taking after good run dealer said
among technology firms mpi added percent to ringgit while unisem was
up percent to top glove slid percent to
jakarta was flat rising points to
telkom advanced percent to rupiah while rival indosat jumped
percent to rupiah
bangkok gave up percent or points to close at
coal producer banpu fell to baht and siam cement was off to
baht
manila lost percent or points to on profit taking
wellington fell percent or points to
mumbai eased percent or points to
dealers unwound stocks ahead of the weekend on growing concerns the central
bank could tighten monetary policy to curb inflation
india largest private aluminium producer hindalco fell percent to
and the nation second largest mobile phone firm reliance communications rose
percent to
british comic gervais raps twitter as undignified
london jan afp
british comedian ricky gervais has blasted twitter as fun for teenagers but
undignified for grown ups and questioned the motives of celebrities who
use the micro blogging platform
gervais due to host the golden globes on sunday also raised doubts about the
value of tweeting from the th edition of the pre oscars film awards in
beverley hills
as you may know ve stopped with twitter just don get it afraid
sure it fun as networking device for teenagers but there something bit
undignified about adults using it he wrote on his blog
particularly celebrities who seem to be showing off by talking to each other in
public if want to tell friend famous or otherwise what had to eat this
morning ll text them he added
referring to this weekend us awards ceremony he said he assumed twitter was
bit of marketing tool for the globes but they are watched by million
people in america alone and maybe million people world wide
tweeting about it would be drop in the ocean also ve got his own website
and don have to restrict things to characters he added announcing
that he was giving up using twitter himself
my tweeting was becoming like tabloid version of this blog and couldn
even put important stuff like this up he said
gervais shot to fame as co author of the ground breaking british tv sitcom the
office which won him golden globe in and has just released his first
feature film as director the invention of lying
wfp planning urgent food aid for two million after haiti quake
geneva jan afp
the world food programme said friday that it was planning urgent food aid for
two million people affected by the deadly earthquake in haiti
each agency makes plans for its activities we re planning for two million
people needing urgent food assistance in the first month the un food agency
spokeswoman emilia casella said in geneva
tennis hobart international results collated
hobart australia jan afp
results from the sixth day of the hobart international women tennis tournament
here friday denotes seed
semi finals
shahar peer isr bt sara errani ita
alona bondarenko ukr bt anabel medina garrigues esp
national hockey league results
washington jan afp
national hockey league results and standings after thursday games
thursday january th results
toronto philadelphia
ottawa ny rangers
buffalo atlanta ot
montreal dallas
florida tampa bay
detroit carolina
st louis minnesota
chicago columbus
phoenix new jersey
pittsburgh edmonton
los angeles anaheim
boston san jose so
eastern conference
atlantic division
new jersey
