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detroit
indiana
southeast div pct gb
orlando
atlanta
miami
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washington
western conference
northwest div pct gb
denver
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pacific div pct gb
la lakers
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southwest div pct gb
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afp
alert
peruvian supreme court confirms year sentence for fujimori
massive clean up as philippine volcano calms down
manila jan afp
disaster relief officials in the philippines launched massive clean up on
sunday as tens of thousands of villagers began returning home after the restive
mayon volcano showed signs of calming down
joey salceda governor of the province of albay southeast of manila where mayon
is located said he expected all public schools converted into temporary
shelters would reopen for classes monday
what we are doing now is conducting damage assessment we are on an early
recovery stage salceda told reporters we are cleaning up schools and
classrooms so that classes can resume tomorrow
he said firetrucks had been brought in to hose down sanitation facilities that
were overwhelmed when more than people were evacuated over the past three
weeks for fear of possible major eruption
it massive clean up operation he said
mayon began rumbling and spewing lava and ash in early december leading
authorities to declared level four alert out of scale of five meaning that
major hazardous eruption was about to take place
but mayon has since shown signs it was calming down and on saturday the
philippine institute of volcanology and seismology lowered the alert level to
three
the provincial government said more than people living some seven to
eight kilometres five miles from mayon the country most active volcano had
been given the green light to return home
but more than others who live in six kilometre zone will have to remain
in evacuation centres
right now we are not seeing new rise of magma chief volcanologist renato
solidum said in radio interview
however he warned villagers returning to their farms on the foothills of mayon
to remain wary of lava flows or heavy rains that could dislodge volcanic debris
from the slopes
an august eruption caused no immediate deaths but the following december
passing typhoon unleashed an avalanche of volcanic mud from the mountain
slopes that left people dead
the metre foot mayon has erupted times in recorded history in
more than people were killed when lava flows buried the town of
cagsawa
tennis soderling cilic set for india atp event
chennai india jan afp
world number eight robin soderling and defending champion marin cilic will
prepare for the tough season ahead at the dollar atp chennai open
starting on monday
soderling flies in for his maiden appearance in south asia only atp event from
abu dhabi where he knocked out world number one roger federer in the semi final
of an exhibition tournament on friday
the swede lost in saturday final to rafael nadal who he beat at the french
open last year on the way to his first grand slam final
soderling is the top seed at the chennai event regarded as warm up for the
first grand slam of the year the australian open which begins in melbourne on
january
the year old starts his campaign against th ranked american robby ginepri
known for stunning run at the us open in when he reached the semi finals
before losing to andre agassi in five sets
second seed cilic won the chennai and zagreb titles in superb start last year
before enduring mid season slump and finished ranked th
going into the top is obviously an aim but can be thinking about it
yet the big serving croat said sunday
the start and the finish last year were great but it could have been better in
the middle of the year
think was not fit enough for the whole year have worked hard on my
fitness in the off season the important thing is to play at least three or four
weeks in row without any problem
cilic who won the chennai open last year by beating indian wildcard somdev
devvarman in the final plays russian igor kunitsyn in the first round
fourth seed janko tipsarevic of serbia is favoured to meet cilic in the semi
final of the bottom half of the draw which also includes german veteran rainer
schuettler
soderling faces possible quarter final against fifth seed dudi sela of israel
while his semi final opponent could be the st ranked stanislas wawrinka of
switzerland
spanish veteran carlos moya two time chennai open champion and former world
number one returns to the circuit after string of injuries restricted him to
just four tournaments in
moya dismissed talk of imminent retirement saying he was raring to play
competitive tennis again
missed it for almost the whole of last year said moya the former french
open champion who won the chennai title in and
but now am feeling good and will play in australia south america and miami
before deciding what to do am still quite motivated to play and win
india top player devvarman who delighted home fans by reaching the final last
year returns as wildcard to take on schuettler in the first round
india other davis cup singles player rohan bopanna also faces tough opener
against wawrinka on the nungambakkam hard courts
national hockey league results
washington jan afp
national hockey league results and standings after saturday games
saturday january nd results
carolina ny rangers ot
vancouver dallas
tampa bay pittsburgh
los angeles washington
calgary toronto
colorado columbus
ny islanders atlanta so
new jersey minnesota
nashville anaheim
detroit phoenix
chicago st louis
san jose edmonton
eastern conference
atlantic division
new jersey
pittsburgh
ny rangers
ny islanders
philadelphia
northeast division
buffalo
boston
ottawa
montreal
toronto
southeast division
washington
atlanta
tampa bay
florida
carolina
western conference
central division
chicago
nashville
detroit
st louis
columbus
northwest division
colorado
calgary
vancouver
minnesota
edmonton
pacific division
san jose
phoenix
los angeles
dallas
anaheim
note overtime losses ot are worth one point in the standings and are not
included in the loss column
afp
snowboarding pearce critical but stable after head injury
salt lake city utah jan afp
snowboarder kevin pearce remained in critical but stable condition in hospital
saturday two days after suffering serious head injury in training
pearce struck his head on the side of the halfpipe while attempting cab
double cork difficult twisting double back flip
kevin sustained severe traumatic brain injury doctor holly ledyard said
he is currently in intensive care and in critical condition but stable and has
not needed to undergo surgery at this time he is intubated and being kept
sedated the focus over the next week will be watching for any swelling in his
brain and keeping his brain pressure normal kevin has long recovery ahead of
him
pearce was training at park city utah for olympic qualifying events in mammoth
mountain california next week
after the accident he was airlifted to hospital in salt lake city
pearce is among the few riders who have beaten olympic gold medallist shaun
white in head to head competition in recent years and was among the favorites to
make the us team for the vancouver games
tennis clijsters opens new year in style
brisbane australia jan afp
belgium kim clijsters opened the new year in the best possible style when she
overpowered italian tathiana garbin in the first round of the brisbane
international on sunday
despite nervous start to the match when she lost her serve in the opening
game the reigning us open champion quickly found her form to overcome garbin in
just minutes
garbin had no answer to the year old clijsters once the belgian found her
range with an array of powerful and accurate groundstrokes proving lethal
clijsters forehand was particularly damaging pinning garbin back in the
corners and forcing host of errors from her opponent
the strength of clijsters groundstrokes put garbin serve under immense
pressure and the italian was unable to cope making just percent of her first
serves
clijsters took full advantage and broke twice in the first set and twice more in
the second as she booked her place in the second round
the match was the former world number one first on her full return to the wta
tour after retiring in may
she made partial comeback last year playing just four tournaments and
culminating in her sensational us open victory in new york
it was nice feeling to be out there again clijsters said
felt like my groundstrokes were going really good felt like was standing
up on the baseline and really changing the direction of the rallies
the win delighted the large crowd packed into the pat rafter arena who gave
clijsters rousing reception when she stepped onto the centre court
it also kept alive the possibility of dream final against fierce rival and
fellow countrywoman justine henin who will play second seeded russian nadia
petrova in the first round on monday in her first match since making comeback
clijsters said the brisbane tournament would help her prepare for the australian
open later this month
really happy that here because it really makes the transition to
melbourne bit easier she said
at least now we have roof over us and you get feel for the humidity and you
don all of sudden come from snow to extreme heat
explorers hail historic antarctic plane find
sydney jan afp
australian explorers on sunday credited record low tides and blue moon for the
one in million discovery of one of the world first aeroplanes buried in
antarctic ice
the monoplane which was the first aircraft off the vickers factory production
line in britain just eight years after the wright brothers first flight was
taken to antarctica by australian explorer douglas mawson in
it had crashed on the australian mainland during pre polar test flight and had
its badly damaged wings removed but mawson decided he wanted to take it to the
antarctic to use as an air tractor to pull his sledges officials said
it wasn terribly successful but he did take the engine back with him
australian conservationist david jensen told afp
he left the aircraft and they fitted it out with special skis and also
special tail rudder
mawson abandoned the plane in the antarctic in
armed with magnetic imaging equipment and other technology three successive
teams of conservationists and scientists from the mawsons huts foundation
searched for the fuselage which was last sighted almost totally buried in ice
in
but it was the unprecedented combination of historically low tides prompted by
blue moon the second new moon in calendar month and unprecedented
melting of the ice which led to its chance discovery on new year day jensen
said
it was probably one chance in million that these conditions just allowed us
to spot it he said
one of our heritage carpenters was actually just wandering along the edge of
the harbour and he just by chance spotted the piece of the metal amongst the
rocks
you talk about once in blue moon well it was so true
jensen said the ecstatic team quickly recovered the fragments of the fuselage
and would likely bring them back to australia for treatment at the end of
january
tennis brisbane international results
brisbane australia jan afp
results from the first day of the brisbane international tennis tournament on
sunday denotes seed
first round
women
kim clijsters bel bt tathiana garbin ita
australian pm pens children book
sydney jan afp
australian prime minister kevin rudd has taken time out of his busy schedule to
indulge his imagination by penning children book featuring his family pets
spokeswoman said sunday
rudd who is so famed for his jet setting work ethic he has been nicknamed
kevin by the local press wrote the book with australian children
television star rhys muldoon his spokeswoman told afp
titled jasper and abby and the great australia day kerfuffle the book follows
rudd pet cat and dog on an adventure through the grounds of the lodge his
family official residence in the capital canberra
it delightful it actually very very cute even cuter than one might
imagine the spokeswoman said
jasper in the flesh is very hoity toity in good cat way and abby
gorgeous they re old family pets much beloved
the book will be released on the january australia day holiday which
commemorates the landing of the first fleet on australian shores in some
profits from the sale of the book will go to children charities the
spokeswoman said
the mandarin speaking former diplomat rudd jokingly told the sunday telegraph
newspaper he had wanted to beat his novelist daughter jessica into print and it
wasn the most demanding text he had ever worked on
it good to put more human face on them he said of his much loved pets
who he claimed to have interviewed for the story with muldoon
cricket former new zealand allrounder cairns eyes ipl
wellington jan afp
former new zealand allrounder chris cairns is eyeing an international cricket
comeback at the age of by registering for the next player auction in the
lucrative indian premier league ipl
he is one of internationals chasing contract with the final auction list
to be announced on tuesday the ipl said on its website
cairns who once held the world record for the most sixes in tests and is
one of only seven players to have reached the double of wickets and
runs was wisden cricketer of the year in
however his career was repeatedly disrupted by injury and he last played test
cricket in before ending his international career two years later following
twenty match against the west indies
new zealand fast bowler shane bond who retired last month from test cricket
because of injury has also put his name down to join the ipl
both players were previously aligned with the unsanctioned indian cricket league
icl
bond who was barred from the new zealand team for two years until he
renounced his icl ties returned for the first test against pakistan last month
before announcing he would in future focus on the short form of the game
malaysian government to appeal allah ruling minister
kuala lumpur jan afp
malaysia minister in charge of muslim affairs said the government would appeal
court ruling allowing catholic paper the right to use the word allah
malaysia high court ruled last week the herald weekly had the right to use the
word allah after long running dispute between the government and the
newspaper in the muslim majority nation
the paper has been using the word as translation for god in its malay
language section but the government argued it should be used only by muslims
jamil khir johari said the country national fatwa council had ruled in may
that allah could only be used by muslims in malaysia state news agency
bernama reported late saturday
therefore it is important for muslims here to guard the use of the word and if
there is any attempt to insult or misuse the word we must take all legal action
as allowed under the federal constitution he was quoted as saying by bernama
the court ruled on thursday the catholic paper had the constitutional right to
use the word allah declaring the government ban on the word illegal null
and void
muslim groups have opposed the ruling saying they will stage demonstrations
against it
the herald is printed in four languages with circulation of week in
country with about catholics
the court case was one of string of religious disputes that have erupted in
recent years straining relations between muslim malays and minority ethnic
chinese and indians who fear the country is being islamised
tennis murray believes his time has come
perth australia jan afp
scotland andy murray believes he enters primed to make the quantum leap
from contender to champion and finally end britain year drought in grand
slam singles tennis
the world no has fine tuned his schedule and preparation to give himself every
chance of success in the grand slams starting with the australian open later
this month in melbourne
the year old has controversially opted out of davis cup duties for great
britain worked on his net game and put in the hard yards on the training track
in miami during the brief off season so that he can fill the one gap in resume
that includes atp singles titles
speaking in perth on sunday as he prepared to represent great britain at the
mixed teams hopman cup murray said he was ready to become the first british
male player to win grand slam singles title since fred perry success at
the us open
ve been working really hard for the last two or three years physically to
make sure that am strong enough he said
tennis wise just need to play my best at the slams
last year thought did well but few things could have done bit better
this year is all about getting prepared for the slams and making sure am in
the best shape going into them
if feel good going into the tournaments especially on the hard courts and
the grass have got pretty good chance of beating any of the guys and
winning the tournament so believe can do well this year
murray is aware of criticism that he doesn attack the net enough but said he
was continuing to work on his serve and volley game and noted that the challenge
was to hone his tactics in very unforgiving environment
practice playing at the net lot and have done for the last few years it is
more understanding when to come to the net and making sure you pick the right
moments to come forward he said
it very difficult now because guys pass so well move so well and hit the
ball so hard that you really have to pick the right moments
that is tactical thing have had to work on with my coach and hopefully it
will pay off
murray has altered his preparation for the australian open where he was pre
tournament favourite last year but bowed out to fernando verdasco in five sets
in the fourth round
this year he has opted for the hopman cup in australia rather than trying for
third successive title at the season opening atp event in doha
he said he wanted to arrive in australia earlier than in previous years to give
himself more time to acclimatise to the local conditions
wanted to get out here little bit earlier to get used to the heat to get
over the jet lag and get used to the courts because the surface is lot
different than the one in doha
murray believes the plexicushion courts in melbourne suit his game and said he
was also considering playing at melbourne kooyong classic next week
he defended his decision to sit out great britain davis cup europe africa zone
group ii tie against lithuania in march saying it was time for younger british
players to be given the chance to pick up the baton
ve played lot of davis cup matches the last few years and enjoyed playing
in them but when play and we lose don feel like it benefits the other
british players that much he said
think it is bit unfair to single me out for that missing the tie roger
federer has missed davis cup matches raf nadal has missed davis cup matches
novak djokovic has missed davis cup matches pete sampras andre agassi
lot better players than me have missed davis cup matches
am not abandoning great britain am here representing them here as well
north china oil spill threatens yellow river
beijing jan afp
burst oil pipeline in north china has spewed thousands of gallons litres of
diesel into major tributary of the yellow river state media said sunday
the spill occurred on wednesday last week on the chishui river in shaanxi
province when pipeline operated by the china national petroleum corporation
cnpc ruptured statement on the weinan city government website said
emergency measures have been taken to stop the leak with containment belts
set up downstream from the spill and up to people scrambling to clean up the
mess the statement said
local government officials refused to reveal how much diesel had spilled into
the river or comment on the spill when contacted by afp
the official xinhua news agency reported that up to litres us
gallons had leaked into the river about kilometres miles from the
yellow river one of china longest watercourses
oil has already been detected kilometres downstream from the spill the
report said
we must take thorough measures to handle the spill and the pollution and
strictly prevent it from entering the yellow river while ensuring the safety of
drinking water the chongqing evening news quoted vice premier li keqiang as
saying
local environmental departments have warned residents not to use the river water
as it may be polluted the report said
preliminary investigation showed that the pipeline rupture was caused by
local construction project cnpc one of china biggest state owned oil and gas
companies said in statement
the pipeline is used to transport diesel from northwest china gansu province
to the central parts of the nation it said
around years of unbridled economic growth have left most of china lakes and
rivers heavily polluted while the nation urban dwellers also face some of the
world worst air pollution
more than million chinese currently do not have access to safe drinking
water according to government data
in november major oil spill on the songhua river in northeast china
heilongjiang province resulted in cut off of water supplies to up to four
million people in the provincial capital of harbin before flowing down river
into russia causing diplomatic crisis
race link presumptuous in indian killing australia police
sydney jan afp
australian police on sunday played down suggestions the fatal stabbing of an
indian student in the southern city of melbourne was racially motivated
the year old was apparently attacked as he walked through parkland west of
the city on saturday night
senior sergeant david snare said there was no indication the man who had been
studying accounting was targeted because of his race
think to jump to any conclusion like that is presumptuous and may well
interfere with the investigations snare told reporters
anger over string of violent attacks against indian students spilled over into
street protests in sydney and melbourne last june sparking wave of negative
publicity
an interim report on australia international education sector released in
december found its global reputation had been damaged by news of the attacks and
later revelations of migration scams particularly in india
based on early visa data officials said the number of students from the
subcontinent was likely to slump by one fifth in with fewer
enrolments at cost to australia economy of up to million dollars
million us
australia lucrative higher education industry is worth billion dollars
billion us year and is officially listed as the country third largest
export earner
students from the subcontinent account for percent of total international
enrolments they filled places in the months to october
according to government statistics
nba arenas admits bad judgment in firearm flap
washington jan afp
gilbert arenas said saturday he showed bad judgment in bringing guns into the
wizards locker room but he declined to discuss details of an incident between
him and teammate that has drawn the attention of authorities
arenas has disputed new york post report that he and javaris crittenton
brandished firearms in an argument over gambling debt
the player and the team have confirmed that arenas had unloaded firearms in his
locker and the matter has expanded into an investigation involving washington
dc police as well as federal investigators and the nba
the family of late wizards owner abe pollin said in statement saturday they
were troubled the reports
the fact that guns were brought to the verizon center is dangerous and
disappointing and showed extremely poor judgment the family said
agree arenas said after washington loss to san antonio that bad
judgment on my part to store them in here and take responsibility for that
arenas said he couldn comment specifically on the report that guns were drawn
can speak on that but if you know me you ve been here ve never did
anything involving violence anything do is funny well it funny to me
asked if accounts of the incident have been overblown arenas laughed and said
little
but it serious matter for the nba especially in city that has some of the
toughest gun laws in the country
pollin who died on november changed his team name from the bullets in the
because of the connotation of violence
nba rules bar players from possessing firearms at league facilities or when
traveling on league business
guns have absolutely no place in workplace environment and we will take
further steps to ensure this never happens again the pollin family statement
said while the police investigation proceeds we are limited in what we can
say but we want our fans to know that we will not rest until this situation is
resolved and has come to satisfactory conclusion
on christmas eve the wizards said arenas had stored unloaded firearms in
container in his locker arenas said he wanted them out of the house after the
birth of his latest child
wizards coach flip saunders acknowledged distractions in his pre game remarks
to reporters
any time you have anything off the floor and your players can have total
focus then it always going to have some saunders said you always want to
have players be able to worry about what you have at hand and that to go out
and prepare and play against san antonio
