rodionova on monday
taliban launch attacks on central kabul
kabul jan afp
the taliban launched wave of gun and bomb attacks on kabul on monday saying
it had sent in suicide bombers to strike government buildings in the heart of
the afghan capital
series of explosions and intense gunfire rocked kabul at the height of the
morning rush hour but there was no immediate information about possible
casualties
it is our work the targets are the presidential palace the finance justice
and mines ministries and the central bank purported taliban spokesman told
afp by telephone from an undisclosed location
twenty of our suicide bombers have entered the area and fighting is ongoing
the spokesman zabihullah mujahid said adding that one militant had detonated
suicide vest at the entrance to the presidential palace complex
insurgents also stormed five storey shopping mall and were exchanging gunfire
with security forces surrounding the building witnesses said
army and police snipers took positions on buildings around pashtunistan square
in the centre of the capital after attacks whnich appeared to be well
coordinated and involve large number of gunmen
heard the blast then we started running but we happened to be running
towards the explosions said witness bahram sarwary
saw smoke coming from building near the central bank and the presidential
palace and saw at least one person injured he said
the central business district of the afghan capital is the nexus of political
business and diplomatic life
attacks on the capital are infrequent thanks say military and government
officials to better intelligence which is supplemented with surveillance
balloon that hovers over the city
the attacks came day after the government said president hamid karzai was to
announce new plan aimed at forging peace with the islamist taliban and other
militants fighting to topple his administration
the plan would be announced ahead of key international conference on
afghanistan security and development due to be held in london on january
karzai spokesman waheed omar said
the scheme we are proposing this time is taking all those into consideration
and learning from the past and trying to come up with proper programme where
we have all the necessary ground to allow those joining the programme to have
peaceful life he said
karzai has long called for peace talks with the taliban even offering
government posts to its leaders but the militia has refused dialogue until
the withdrawal of international troops on which kabul relies for security
rockets were also fired into the heavily fortified diplomatic area of wazir
akbar khan on saturday night coinciding with visits by the us special
representative to afghanistan and pakistan richard holbrooke and british foreign
secretary david miliband
the last major attack on the capital was on december when suicide car
bomber blew up his vehicle outside the homes of former senior government
officials killing eight people and injuring more than
on october guesthouse occupied by united nations employees was overrun by
taliban militants who murdered six un workers the incident prompted the
organisation to evacuate most of its kabul based staff
cricket india crash to despite tendulkar ton
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
sachin tendulkar completed superb century under pressure before india crashed
to their lowest ever total of against bangladesh in the opening test here on
monday
the middle order batsman hit an unbeaten for his th test hundred just when
his team desperately needed runs following below par batting performance
against disciplined bangladeshi attack on sunday
india previous lowest total in completed innings against bangladesh was
in dhaka in
bangladesh were for no loss in reply at lunch on the second day with tamim
iqbal scoring all the runs
india reeling at in their first innings on sunday lost their remaining
two wickets in less than eight overs in the morning with left arm spinner
shakib al hasan and fast bowler shahadat hossain finishing with five wickets
apiece
shakib grabbed for his sixth haul of five or more wickets in tests and
shahadat took for his third
tendulkar who had only tail enders ishant sharma and shanthakumaran sreesanth
to give him company went for shots early in the morning in pursuit of his
century
he pulled shahadat for four in the first over after play started minutes
late due to fog and then hoisted shakib over long on for six
tendulkar overnight was on when last man sreesanth joined him and
completed his century with two successive fours off shahadat his ball knock
contained two sixes and fours
shahadat was the first to strike when he had sharma caught behind for one and
then shakib dismissed sreesanth in the eighth over
tennis roddick escapes injury after aussie open tumble
melbourne jan afp
chill went through andy roddick as he took heavy tumble on his way to
straight sets win to open his australian open campaign on monday
the american seventh seed who missed the end of last season after injuring his
left knee at the shanghai masters in october collided with line judge during
his victory over dutchman thiemo de bakker
he fell over the leg of the linesman deep at the back of the court as he
scurried to make volley in the sixth game of the opening set
roddick fell heavily to the court and for moment he feared another injury
mishap after just fighting his way back to full fitness
kind of pinched it knee little bit roddick said promise you that
first step afterwards was relief definitely don want to go doing that
whole lot
normally they line judges see player running full speed they decide to at
least move or catch the player
but apart from his tumble roddick had few problems with the st ranked
dutchman maintaining his record of never have lost in the opening round here in
nine australian opens
roddick is now for the new season after coming into the australian open as
the winner of the lead up brisbane international tournament
when started brisbane was about ready to start as far as health it was
constant procession of little goals that led up to brisbane he said
roddick who is four time semi finalist in melbourne needed just one match
point and just over two hours to get past de bakker who was making only his
second grand slam appearance
overall thought it was pretty good he said
first rounds are always little uncomfortable especially at slam you re
kind of built up you re maybe little bit over anxious
but thought overall thought it was all right
the power server whose fastest serve was clocked at kph mph broke
the dutchman twice in the opening set which was played with the stadium roof
open
there was minute rain interruption midway through the second set at and
the roof was closed then roddick grabbed service break in the seventh game
and had three set points saved before he took out the set
de bakker who out hit roddick winners got the fourth and final service
break in the ninth game of the third set and served out for the victory
definitely was impressed with him in spurts roddick said of his dutch
opponent
now think it just matter of consistency mean he hits the ball great
overall he certainly seems to have the foundation for pretty good game
roddick will play either teimuraz gabashvili of russia or brazilian thomaz
bellucci in the next round on wednesday
corrected gunmen kill two in thai south police
pattani thailand jan afp
suspected insurgents have killed two muslims in separate incidents in thailand
violent south police said monday
in pattani province on sunday night four gunmen opened fire with rifles on
year old male muslim villager outside his home where he died
soon afterwards year old dessert vendor was killed in drive by shooting
while he was travelling home from tea shop in the same province
also on sunday evening buddhist woman aged was injured when two suspects
travelling by motorcycle threw hand made bomb into the karaoke bar where she
worked in pattani police said
more than people have been killed and thousands more wounded since an
insurgency erupted in the southern region six years ago but the shadowy
militants have never publicly stated their goals
tensions had simmered ever since mainly buddhist thailand annexed the mainly
muslim south formerly malay muslim sultanate in
tennis clijsters finding consistency after open romp
melbourne jan afp
reigning us open champion kim clijsters warned she was starting to find
consistency after romping to win over canadian qualifier valerie
tetreault at the australian open on monday
coming on court immediately after former champion maria sharapova lost an epic
three and half hour clash with maria kirilenko clijsters needed just
minutes to dispose of tetreault
the year old belgian was too powerful in every department barely raising
sweat as she won the first set without conceding game
tetreault put up much better fight in the second and matched it with clijsters
until serving at when the belgian broke to lead then came out and
served for the match
former world number one clijsters now ranked th in the world won the
brisbane international in the first week of the year her second title in just
five tournaments since making comeback after marrying and having baby
her three set win in the brisbane final over fellow belgian comeback star
justine henin was of such high quality that she was immediately installed as one
of the favourites to take the opening grand slam of the year
obviously my matches in brisbane have definitely helped me to try to keep
everything going clijsters said
think in brisbane was little bit inconsistent once in while during my
matches that something that really trying to focus on is trying to make
sure stay consistent
or even when feel like my level is dropping little bit that jump on it
straight away or that notice it that what working on
she added that she was also starting to feel better physically
think physically definitely ve improved lot because the way that play
it very physical type of tennis she said
obviously maybe not today but think when the matches get tougher the type of
tennis that play and the way that move it more physical
and think physically feel stronger in my mind that already big
advantage
the competitive juices are also flowing again with clijsters thrilled at being
back on melbourne centre court
really excited to get out there and to play well and to play big matches
she said that what you do it for
you lose some you win some but the ones that you lose will make you work even
harder and improve
japan recovery still fragile finance minister
tokyo jan afp
the world second largest economy is recovering but japan still faces tough
challenges led by the twin threats of deflation and unemployment the finance
minister said on monday
the economic situation is still severe falling short of self sustained
recovery even though it is beginning to pick up newly appointed naoto kan
said at the start of day parliament session
looking ahead there are the risks of further worsening of the employment
situation and deflation and the foundation of strong private demand led
recovery is still fragile
asia top economy plunged into deep recession in as the global downturn
sharply cut into its exports but it grew at modest percent on an
annualised basis in the july september quarter
kan referring to stimulus package announced last month japan fourth
since the global economic crisis hit said the government will tackle
deflation and make sure the economy will recover
the centre left government submitted bill for trillion yen billion
dollars in spending as part of the package announced last month which it says
is worth total of billion dollars
to help finance the package and other spending the government plans to issue
new bonds worth trillion yen billion dollars kan said
japan public debt is around percent of gross domestic product largely due
to massive spending during the economic lost decade of the
kan predecessor hirohisa fujii who stepped down this month citing health
problems has warned that japan fiscal situation is serious
japan public debt this fiscal year will reach trillion yen topping
annual tax revenue for the first time since the government has said
kan said that more than percent of public spending will be financed through
bond issues rather than tax revenues
unemployment climbed to percent in november from percent in october
worsening for the first time in four months core consumer prices fell
percent in november from year earlier the ninth straight monthly drop
more evidence of terror danger than us govt admits report
washington jan afp
top us national security officials failed to fully appreciate mounting evidence
that al qaeda might be preparing new attack on the united states and of the
dangers posed by extremists linked to yemen the new york times reported monday
earlier this month the administration of president barack obama presented its
findings about failed christmas day attempt to blow up detroit bound us
airliner
but detailed review of the episode shows that there were far more warning
signs than the administration has acknowledged the newspaper said
in september united nations expert on al qaeda warned policy makers in
washington that the type of explosive device used by yemeni militant in an
assassination attempt in saudi arabia could be carried aboard an airliner the
report said
in early november us intelligence authorities say they learned from
communications intercept of al qaeda followers in yemen that man named umar
farouk the first two names of the jetliner suspect umar farouk
abdulmutallab had volunteered for coming operation the times noted
in late december more intercepts of al qaeda operatives in yemen who had
previously focused their attacks on the region mentioned the date of december
and suggested that they were looking for ways to get somebody out or for
ways to move people to the west the paper pointed out citing an unnamed
senior administration official
and an al qaeda figure made ominous threats against the united states according
to the report
we carry prayer beads and with them we carry bomb for the enemies of god
man describing himself as an al qaeda fighter from yemen announced in video
released on al jazeera satellite television according to the times the issue
is between us and america and its allies and beware those who stand in the
ranks of america
the us intelligence network was clearly listening in yemen and sharing that
information the paper said yet the inability to pull the data together or
correctly interpret it produced the systemic failure that obama has referred
to
oil tumbles in asian trade on economic concerns
singapore jan afp
oil fell in asian trade monday as economic concerns continued to weigh on
investor sentiment analysts said
new york main contract light sweet crude for february delivery fell cents
to dollars barrel
brent north sea crude for february delivery was down cents to dollars
oil is under pressure primarily from economic considerations said victor
shum singapore based analyst with energy consultancy purvin and gertz
some of the economic data out of the us were not really robust and so these
data raised doubts about the health of the us consumer and the strength of the
us economy
the us is the world biggest energy consumer and global demand for oil has been
affected to large degree by the us economic slowdown
data released friday showed us consumer prices barely rose in december and was
interpreted by economists as sign of lingering weakness in the economy where
consumer spending is major driver of economic activity
the us is still in the grip of intense disinflationary forces despite the
basis effect lifting the headline year on year rate deflation risk is real
said ian shepherdson chief us economist at high frequency economics
meanwhile the international energy agency on friday said oil demand in
would be sluggish in the developed world with emerging markets accounting for
any increases
the agency left unchanged prior forecast of percent rise in global
demand this year to million barrels per day
japanese stocks end down percent
tokyo jan afp
japanese share prices closed down percent on monday tracking losses on
wall street as investors took profits following strong start to dealers
said
the tokyo stock exchange benchmark nikkei index declined points to
stepping back from last friday month high
the broader topix index of all first section shares fell points or
percent to
japan airlines shares plunged two yen or percent to an all time low of
just five yen five us cents on the eve of an expected bankruptcy filing by the
debt ridden carrier
investors bailed out ahead of an announcement tuesday on state backed
restructuring package for the troubled airline which is widely expected to seek
court protection from creditors and may delist its stock
in the meantime many short term speculators are trading the shares to try to
make quick profit dealers said
this has become pure money game said masatoshi sato strategist at mizuho
investors securities there is really no meaning to the level of the shares
taliban launches attacks on central kabul
kabul jan afp
taliban fighters launched wave of attacks on government buildings and the
central bank in the highly fortified centre of the afghan capital on monday the
militia said
witnesses reported hearing series of explosions and gunfire in busy area of
kabul near the presidential palace witnesses said
there was no immediate information about any casualties
it is our work the targets are the presidential palace the finance justice
and mines ministries and the central bank purported taliban spokesman
zabihullah mujahid told afp by telephone from an undisclosed location
twenty of our suicide bombers have entered the area and fighting is ongoing
he said adding that one militant had detonated suicide vest at the entrance
to the presidential palace complex
police have surrounded the area witnesses said
pedestrians in the area busy shopping and business precinct ran after
hearing an explosion followed by smaller blasts and gunfire local businessman
told afp
heard the blast then we started running but we happened to be running
towards the explosions said bahram sarwary
saw smoke coming from building near the central bank and the presidential
palace and saw at least one person injured
the attacks came day after the government said president hamid karzai was to
announce new plan aimed at forging peace with the islamist taliban and other
militants fighting to topple his administration
the plan would be announced ahead of key international conference on
afghanistan security and development due to be held in london on january
karzai spokesman waheed omar said
the scheme we are proposing this time is taking all those into consideration
and learning from the past and trying to come up with proper programme where
we have all the necessary ground to allow those joining the programme to have
peaceful life he said
karzai has long called for peace talks with the taliban even offering
government posts to its leaders but the militia has refused dialogue until
the withdrawal of international troops on which kabul relies for security
cricket bangladesh india first test scoreboard
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
scoreboard at lunch on the second day of the first test between india and
bangladesh here on monday
india st innings overnight
gambhir rahim shahadat
sehwag tamim shakib
dravid shahadat
tendulkar not out
laxman st rahim shakib
yuvraj singh rubel shakib
karthik raqibul shahadat
mishra lbw shahadat
zaheer khan raqibul shakib
sharma rahim shahadat
sreesanth kayes shakib
extras lb nb
total for all out overs
fall of wickets sehwag gambhir dravid laxman
yuvraj karthik mishra zaheer sharma
sreesanth
bowling shafiul shahadat nb rubel nb
shakib mahmudullah ashraful
bangladesh st innings
tamim iqbal not out
imrul kayes not out
total for no loss overs
bowling zaheer sreesanth
toss bangladesh
umpires billy bowden nzl and marais erasmus rsa
tv umpire enamul haque ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
basketball chinese team hopes to sign stephon marbury
beijing jan afp
after bringing in nba bad boy bonzi wells last season shanxi zhongyu of the
china basketball association are seeking to land former disgruntled new york
knick stephon marbury the team said monday
marbury will come next week we want to sign him and we want him to play for
us club general manager zhang beihai told afp by phone
when he arrives we will sit down and talk right now it is not clear if he
wants to sign after we talk we will make decision
if he signs the former nba all star will be joining team sitting near the
bottom of the table with three win nine loss record and faint hopes of making
the post season playoffs
former houston rocket forward maurice taylor and high scoring american lee
benson are currently the two foreign players on the shanxi team and one will be
cut if the year old marbury is signed zhang said
once going by the nickname starbury the new york born point guard averaged
points and assists game in year nba career that was tarnished by
his unpopularity with fans and an image of selfishness
during the nba season marbury refused to play for the knicks after
being benched by coach isiah thomas in public spat that lasted for much of the
season
his unhappiness lasted into the following year before his million dollar
contract was bought out in early and he was signed by the boston celtics
the last nba team he played for
during the cba season in an effort to boost sagging ticket sales
shanxi brought in wells whose year nba career was dogged by troublesome on
court behaviour and various run ins with coaches
wells only played about six weeks in shanxi before he left the team amid reports
that the club had stopped paying him despite his spectacular play after
the team playoff hopes dimmed
cycling armstrong still searching for magic formula
adelaide australia jan afp
lance armstrong admitted on monday he still lacked the magic ratio to leave
riders trailing after failing to convert promising breakaway in the tour down
under build up race
armstrong said he needed extra strength and less weight after his attack
alongside fellow tour de france winner oscar pereiro was snuffed out with three
laps to go
if were little lighter then we would have different conversation
ultimately you have to be as strong as possible and as light as possible he
said
might be stronger than was last year and little bit lighter but that
doesn equal that magic ratio of being able to ride away
sunday one hour adelaide street race kicked off the second season of
armstrong comeback as he aims for an eighth tour de france title and at
becoming its oldest winner at
the american who won consecutive tours de france from to and placed
third after returning from retirement last year looked surprisingly strong in
the event which was won by team sky greg henderson
armstrong has played down his chances of victory in this week tour down under
raced over six relatively short flat stages which favour sprint specialists
was suffering as think everybody else was he said think the other
guys in the group thought that in general it was faster race than last year
race think the wind made it technically little bit tricky
armstrong also reflected on his brush with life threatening testicular cancer as
he put the name of his livestrong charity to new research centre at adelaide
flinders medical centre
it puts all the other stuff that we do on the bike in perspective for me
personally if you don make it through centre like this you re not here he
said
not here not winning tour or seven tours or coming to the tour down
under or standing over there talking it first things first for sure
the tour down under the southern hemisphere biggest race contested over
kilometres miles of australian countryside starts on tuesday
football egypt toast new star nagy
benguela angola jan afp
defending champions egypt have shining star in angola and it not mohamed
zidan or emad motaeb but mohamed nagy who has marked his nations cup debut
with two well taken strikes
the rookie from al ittihad of egypt announced his arrival when he came off the
bench to put his team opening group match beyond nigeria with cracking low
shot with three minutes left on the clock
he then followed up with another top class finish for egypt second goal
against mozambique on saturday again as substitute as the defending
champions eased into the quarter finals
it was his third goal in four internationals having netted the winner in
win over mali in warm up game prior to angola
can describe my feelings said the midfielder nicknamed gedo meaning
grandfather
very happy to score two goals in as many games but what matters most is
the team winning all three points
good with both feet nagy is either an attacking midfielder or striker who
turned professional al ittihad are his first club and he has contract
with them until
egypt coach hassan shehata was criticised for taking chance on players like
nagy in angola ahead of more established internationals like mido and mohamed
hommos
shehata is the real star we might disagree with him on several issues but
he once again proved that his choices are very good said ex zamalek forward
zakaria nasef
with the core of the egypt team like skipper ahmed hassan mohamed aboutrika and
wael gomaa in their there is an urgent need for shehata to inject fresh
blood into the team like the year old nagy
gedo was outstanding in the egyptian league before it went into recess for the
nations cup netting four goals and creating several more for his alexandria
based club
his displays for both club and country have already sparked off interest from
champions al ahly as well as english premier league outfit sunderland with the
latest interest coming from spain real sociedad
we are only open to sell him to europe not to local club can confirm that
he will be in big european country soon as we have had serious offer from real
sociedad al ittihad president mohamed meselhy told an egyptian television
station
football angola coach jose proves team star
luanda jan afp
angola football players may have their names on the back of the shirts worn
by their fans but the real star of the side is their portuguese coach manuel
jose
plucked to lead angola from glittering run at egypt al ahly where he won
titles in six years jose carries on his shoulders the weight of expectation
of nation desperate to see their team shine as hosts of the africa cup of
nations
but despite the size of the task in hand jose appears unfazed and against all
the odds may take angola into the quarter finals the hosts can seal their
place in the last eight with draw against world cup qualifiers algeria here on
monday
manuel jose is guy who likes challenge khaled mortagy personal friend
and board member of al ahly said
he likes working under pressure he charismatic he great leader and
great coach who has vision and an ability to make players adapt and work for
him
born in in portugal jose has managed clubs over his year career
including benfica sporting lisbon boavista and belenenses but angola is his
first national appointment
he is legend in egypt and for al ahly and it was disappointing when he
decided to leave mortagy told afp
and personally it was very sad as well because he was like member of my
family
jose nicknamed the magician at the cairo club was begged to stay by many
fans who started blogs and social networking sites in his honour
but despite this he packed his bags flew south and started with angola in
june one day after his final game with al ahly
he had just six months to turn around team which was in the doldrums after
failing to qualify for the world cup and string of miserable results including
losses to mali cape verde and draw with namibia
speaking to angolan media at his first press conference flanked by his faithful
portuguese physiotherapist fidalgo antunes who followed him from belenenses and
al ahly jose oozed confidence
by december can guarantee that the angolan national team will be mentally
physically technically tactically and psychologically ready the coach said
according to portuguese journalist ricardo quaresma jose credited for
discovering luis figo knows african football like no other foreign coach
manuel jose has lots of experience he won everything he could win in africa
