rivals attacked each other with flagpoles bottles and boots
then in police used pepper spray to subdue rowdy elements of the crowd
watching match between konstantinos economidis of greece and chile fernando
gonzales
there was more trouble last year with several people currently facing court over
fight between serbian and bosnian fans
since then police numbers have been boosted and more cctv cameras installed
with police last week saying they were confident there would be no repetition of
the brawls
cricket india all out for in first bangladesh test
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
india were all out for in their first innings before lunch on the second day
of the first test against bangladesh here on monday
bomb blasts gunshots heard in central kabul witnesses
kabul jan afp
explosions and gun shots were heard near the presidential palace in busy area
of central kabul on monday 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 he said
urgent bomb blasts gunshots heard in central kabul witnesses
kabul jan afp
explosions and gun shots have been heard near the presidential palace in central
kabul witnesses in the area said monday
nba anthony billups lift nuggets over jazz
denver colorado jan afp
carmelo anthony finished with points and chauncey billups scored as the
denver defeated utah snapping the jazz four game national basketball
association win streak
ty lawson returned to denver lineup after missing four games with sprained
ankle and scored points while nene added points
denver improved to against utah winning the season series which could be
key for playoff seeding should the nuggets and jazz finish with the same record
in their conference
guard deron williams led the jazz with points while kyle korver had
carlos boozer had and paul millsap for utah in game that came down to
the final minute
the jazz didn go down quietly they used run to pull to heading
into the fourth quarter and mehmet okur bucket cut denver lead to
boozer drive made it with just under two minutes left but the jazz
got no closer
billups cinched it with three point basket with seconds left that made it
alert
bomb blasts gunshots heard near presidental palace in kabul witnesses
tennis safina clijsters through as sharapova crashes out
melbourne jan afp
former champion maria sharapova crashed out of the australian open on monday but
there were no dramas for dinara safina and kim clijsters who spearheaded the
charge into the second round
american andy roddick also cruised through in stark contrast to former world
number one sharapova who was shadow of her former self in
defeat to fellow russian maria kirilenko
it was disastrous start to the year for the underdone year old seeded
who opted to only play exhibitions in thailand and hong kong as warm up to the
opening grand slam of the season
playing with the roof closed on the rod laver arena due to rain which disrupted
play on outside courts she struggled to find consistency against player
ranked
certainly had my chances and just didn execute she said
there is no grey area it was just up and down in many areas and just finished
at the down level
the russian pin up won here in but was deprived of defending her title last
year after failing to recover from shoulder surgery which kept her out of action
until may
another of the russian contingent safina downed slovakia th ranked
magdalena rybarikova
but she too had her work cut out as she battled double faults and unforced
errors in an emotional and spasmodic performance
the year old who struggled with back problem at the end of last year and
was playing in only her seventh match since mid september was happy just to
stay in the tournament
it was not an easy first round match she very good opponent said the
number two seed who was thrashed in the final last year by serena williams
had some good moments and bad moments but overall happy went through
she added that her back was no longer problem and she was fired up for this
season
feel like back and enjoying every moment on the court said safina
who next faces either russian qualifier regina kulikova or czech barbora
zahlavova strycova
clijsters who sensationally won the us open last year after coming out of
retirement was too good for canada valerie tetreault romping home
in under an hour
the belgian along with justine henin lurk as dark horses to bookmakers
favourite williams who gets her title defence underway on tuesday against
poland urszula radwanska
on the men side american seventh seed roddick motored past dutchman thiemo de
bakker to stay on track for potential quarter final clash with
us open champion juan martin del potro
croatia ivan ljubicic also progressed with the th seed crushing year old
australian wildcard jason kubler the youngest player in the draw
former finalist fernando gonzalez of chile seeded stayed alive with
victory over belgian olivier rochus
world number two and defending champion rafael nadal plays later monday against
australia peter luczak in night match
on the spaniard side of the draw andy murray is key threat with the scot
also in action monday against south africa kevin anderson
world number one roger federer opens his tournament on tuesday against russia
igor andreev with third seed novak djokovic and sixth seed nicolay davydenko
posing the main threat for him in his top half of the draw
tennis roddick through in straight sets
melbourne jan afp
american andy roddick swept into the second round of the australian open with
straight sets win over dutchman thiemo de bakker on monday
the seventh seed proved too strong for the st ranked dutchman with
victory in just over two hours under the closed roof of the hisense arena
it maintained the year old american record of never have lost in the
opening round here in nine australian opens
roddick who is four time semi finalist in melbourne needed just one match
point to get past de bakker who was making only his second grand slam
appearance
roddick is now for the new season after coming into the australian open as
the winner of the lead up brisbane international tournament
the power server whose fastest serve was clocked at kph mph broke
the dutchman twice in the opening set which 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
roddick will play either teimuraz gabashvili of russia or brazilian thomaz
bellucci in the next round on wednesday
figure skating abbott defends us men title
spokane washington jan afp
jeremy abbott defended his men title at the us figure skating championships
and clinched berth in the upcoming vancouver olympics by winning the free
skate sunday
the year old abbott breezed to victory with overall score of points
to finish well ahead of world champion evan lysacek
speechless abbott said last year this is what thought my first title
would feel like but here am second time it just feels like the first
time
skating to the music saen sans symphony no abbott set the tone for his
skate by completing quadruple toe loop
after the quad it was business as usual abbott said still had seven
jumping passes and eight triple jumps to do stuck to my plan stayed focused
and finally did what ve been doing in practice
three time national champion johnny weir placed third overall he was third
after the short programme then dropped to fifth in the free skate
abbott lysacek and weir will represent the us at next month winter olympics
ryan bradley placed fourth overall and adam rippon who was fourth in the short
programme rounded out the top five
lysacek was second after the short programme but finished third in the free
skate by completing six triple jumps
some things didn go as had hoped them to go but some things did go as
had planned them to go obviously lysacek said have mixed feelings today
ukraine vote heads for tense run off
kiev jan afp
pro russian politician viktor yanukovich won the first round of presidential
elections in ukraine and was set to head for nail biting runoff with prime
minister yulia timoshenko who came in second results showed with half the votes
counted monday
yanukovich was about points ahead of timoshenko with percent to her
percent according to the results after percent of the votes had
been counted
third place went to ex banker sergiy tigipko who had around percent
discredited orange revolution hero president viktor yushchenko was eliminated
after coming in fifth with mere percent of the vote
yanukovich was the man accused of rigging elections which sparked the
orange revolution uprising that swept the old order from power
tymoshenko former orange revolution comrade of yushchenko subsequently fell
out with the president and adopted more pragmatic tone on relations with
russia
as yanukovich failed to win majority in sunday first round the election
will go to second round on february with all to play for between the two old
foes who have savaged each other reputation in the campaign
yushchenko miserable score was reflection of ukraine frustration that the
orange revolution failed to realise the dreams of those who protested in
turnout was percent the central electoral commission said
if tymoshenko is less than percent behind then her chances of winning in the
second round climb sharply said analyst igor zhdanov of the open policy think
tank
businessman tigipko made late campaign surge and his electorate will now prove
crucial in determining the second round outcome as the two frontrunners bare
their teeth
yanukovich who represents criminal circles has no chance in the second
round said the prime minister at her post election news conference resplendent
in pure white costume
her opponent snapped back that ukrainians had voted for change and said that
tymoshenko was in despair
the second round promises to be gloves off affair and analysts have warned of
the risk of the result being taken to the courts and even once more sparking
street protests
the bitter campaign has already seen the shady pasts of the candidates once
again dredged up
yanukovich was jailed twice in the soviet era for theft and assault though the
convictions were erased in the late tymoshenko herself was briefly
detained in on smuggling charges that were later quashed
the orange revolution raised hopes of new era free of kremlin influence
for the country of million that would set precedent for other former soviet
states
but although ukraine now boasts improved freedom of speech steps to implement
reform and end corruption were forgotten as government became paralysed in
bitter power struggle between yushchenko and tymoshenko
tymoshenko famed for her peasant style blonde hair braid is seen as more in
favour of eu integration than yanukovich but has also played up her close ties
to russian strongman prime minister vladimir putin
since yanukovich has sought to reinvent himself with the help of western
pr strategists and to show he is not servant of the kremlin but defender of
ukrainian interests
he has also sought more support in the country ukrainian speaking west
traditionally the heartland of tymoshenko and yushchenko supporters while
holding on to his powerbase in the russian speaking east
militants blow up boys school in pakistan officials
peshawar pakistan jan afp
militants blew up boys primary school in northwest pakistan on monday the
latest in wave of attacks by islamist extremists targeting educational
institutes local officials said
no one was hurt in the bombing in the village of ashraf kalay in the khyber
tribal region which lies between afghanistan and pakistan northwest capital
peshawar the officials said
militants blew up government boys primary school with explosives at around
am tribal administration official daulat khan told afp adding that all
seven rooms of the school were destroyed
another local administration official rehan gul khattak blamed the attack on
the militant group lashkar islam army of islam
lashkar islam is the main extremist group operating in khyber and has some
ideological ties to the pakistani taliban
the military launched an offensive against the group last year but have yet to
capture its leader mangal bagh
islamist militants opposed to co education have destroyed hundreds of schools
mostly for girls in northwest pakistan in recent years
elsewhere in the restive northwest four suspected militants were killed in
clash with security forces in swat valley late sunday the paramilitary frontier
corps said in statement
swat former tourist resort slipped out of government control in july
but the army claims to have largely cleared the area of taliban rebels after
launching major military operation there last spring
tennis clijsters romps to first round win in melbourne
melbourne jan afp
reigning us open champion kim clijsters romped to win over canadian
qualifier valerie tetreault in the first round of 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
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
tennis roddick through in straight sets
melbourne jan afp
american seventh seed andy roddick beat dutchman thiemo de bakker
to reach the second round of the australian open on monday
asia faces golden opportunity after crisis singapore fund
taipei jan afp
asian financial institutions face golden opportunity after the global slump
left their western counterparts struggling the deputy head of singapore
sovereign wealth fund said in taipei monday
tony tan deputy chairman of the government of singapore investment corporation
gic said asian firms were in much better shape to play major role on the
region expansion over the next several years
asian financial institutions and markets have been given golden opportunity
he told forum in the taiwan capital according to the text of his speech
the globalised western banking system hampered by capital constraints and re
regulation will likely not be able to intermediate the massive capital demand
needed to finance asian growth
this leaves the playing field unusually open for asian financial institutions
and markets particularly for the next few years
the gic is the world fourth largest sovereign wealth fund managing global
portfolio of more than billion us dollars
asian banks have benefited from entering the crisis with relatively healthy
levels of capital liquidity and non performing assets but now they must act
fast tan said
asian banks and capital markets will need to develop quickly to step into the
breach he said
regulatory and development authorities in the financial sector in asia need to
cooperate as never before with each other and financial institutions to develop
regional financial and capital markets
figure skating abbott defends us men title
spokane washington jan afp
jeremy abbott defended his men title at the us figure skating championships
and clinched berth in the upcoming vancouver olympics by winning the free
skate sunday
the year old abbott breezed to victory with overall score of points
to finish well ahead of world champion evan lysacek lysacek was second
after the short programme but finished third in the free skate
three time national champion johnny weir placed third overall he was third
after the short programme then dropped to fifth in the free skate
ryan bradley placed fourth overall and adam rippon who was fourth in the short
programme rounded out the top five
abbott lysacek and weir will represent the us at next month winter olympics
support for japan pm drops amid money scandal polls
tokyo jan afp
approval ratings for japan centre left prime minister yukio hatoyama dropped
into the percent range amid money scandal involving his party secretary
general two newspapers said monday
the polls were released at the start of day parliament session in which
the conservative opposition is expected to attack the four month old government
over the allegation against the party number two ichiro ozawa
prosecutors are probing whether money was illegally given by construction firm
building dam in ozawa political home region and laundered through his
political funds body to help buy an upmarket tokyo property media reports say
nearly percent of respondents in the polls said year old ozawa former
party president and veteran backroom fixer nicknamed the shadow shogun
should quit his post in hatoyama democratic party of japan dpj
the influential yomiuri daily said hatoyama approval rating fell points to
percent while the asahi daily said it dropped six points to percent
the yomiuri polled voters and the asahi surveyed at the weekend
the polls were taken after prosecutors arrested two of ozawa former aides and
one current secretary since friday for failing to report million yen
million dollars made in the purchase of the tokyo property
ozawa at weekend party convention insisted he would stay on as dpj secretary
general but nearly percent of respondents in both polls said ozawa must give
better explanations over the allegation against him
ozawa is credited with engineering the dpj devastating poll defeat last summer
of the conservative liberal democratic party ldp which had ruled japan with
only one interruption for more than five decades
one time ldp member himself ozawa led the dpj until an earlier funding
scandal forced him to step down as party president early last year when his
former right hand man hatoyama took over the party presidency
the conservatives have signalled they will go on the offensive in this diet
session and also grill hatoyama over his own funds scandal in which he used
money from his vast family fortune to help bankroll his political activities
tennis australian open results day one nd update
melbourne jan afp
results from day one of the australian open at melbourne park here monday
denotes seeding
men singles
st round
ivan ljubicic cro bt jason kubler aus
fernando gonzalez chi bt olivier rochus bel
florian mayer ger bt philipp petzschner ger
women singles
st round
dinara safina rus bt magdalena rybarikova svk
maria kirilenko rus bt maria sharapova rus
zheng jie chn bt peng shuai chn
anastasia pavlyuchenkova rus bt anastasija sevastova lat
kateryna bondarenko ukr bt ioana raluca rou
yvonne meusberger aut bt timea bacsinszky sui
elena baltacha gbr bt pauline parmentier fra
kim clijsters bel bt valerie tetreault can
tennis clijsters romps to easy open win
melbourne jan afp
us open champion kim clijsters romped to win over canadian qualifier
valerie tetreault in the first round of the australian open on monday
list of selected golden globe award winners
beverly hills california jan afp
list of selected winners at th golden globe awards here sunday
best motion picture drama
avatar
best director
james cameron avatar
best performance by an actor in motion picture drama
jeff bridges crazy heart
best performance by an actress in motion picture drama
sandra bullock the blind side
best motion picture musical or comedy
the hangover
best performance by an actress in motion picture musical or comedy
meryl streep julie amp julia
best performance by an actor in motion picture musical or comedy
robert downey jr sherlock holmes
best supporting actor in motion picture
christoph waltz inglourious basterds
best supporting actress in motion picture
mo nique precious
best foreign language film
the white ribbon
hong kong shares down percent by break
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares fell percent by the break on monday as dealers followed
wall street worst showing so far this year
the benchmark hang seng index shed points at turnover was
billion hong kong dollars billion us
golf american palmer outlasts allenby to win sony open
honolulu hawaii jan afp
american ryan palmer tapped in for birdie on the final hole to shoot four
under sunday and capture the million dollar pga tour sony open
the year old palmer held off australian robert allenby to win by one shot at
the waialae country club finishing with under
palmer came up short of the green on the par five final hole allenby chipped
onto the green to just inside feet of the cup palmer then bounced his next
shot in front of the cup and hit the pin leaving the ball inches away
lucky bounce palmer said it was probably going to go by seven or eight
feet still hit good chip you need things like that to win
allenby missed his birdie putt and palmer tapped in for his third career
victory
this victory puts palmer in the masters tournament for the first time in five
years
allenby fired three under sunday in his bid to win for the third consecutive
time on three different tours allenby won the nedbank challenge on the sunshine
tour and the australian pga championship on the australasian pga tour at the end
of last year
had couple of chances out there allenby said it so easy to look back
and say could have made that could have made that but at the end of the
day realistically needed to make birdie at the last
charles howell who learned in the offseason his wife is expecting their first
child ended string of tournaments without top finish with
weekend to tie for fifth with sweden carl petterson and american davis
love
defending champion zach johnson got off to slow start and didn have enough
holes to recover despite posting three straight biridies en route to
johnson was group just three shots off the lead going into the fourth round
cricket fog delays play in india bangladesh test
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
dense fog delayed the start of play on the second day of the first test between
india and bangladesh on monday
india were in their first innings at stumps on sunday with sachin
tendulkar and ishant sharma one at the crease
fog and bad light also curtailed play on the opening day after of the
scheduled overs were bowled
the second and final test will start in dhaka on january
avatar wins top honors at golden globes
beverly hills california jan afp
science fiction blockbuster avatar took top honors at the th golden globes
here sunday winning best picture and director to cement its status as an oscars
front runner
the ground breaking epic from titanic director james cameron on course to
become the highest grossing film in history was the big winner on night
when honors were largely spread across several films
the movie has been hailed as cinematic milestone for its use of state of the
art cameras and motion capture technology which cameron was instrumental in
helping to develop
this is the best job in the world cameron told star studded audience at the
beverly hilton hotel after accepting the best motion picture drama award
what we do is we make entertainment for global audience and that what the
golden globes mean
since its release in december avatar has earned an astonishing billion
dollars worldwide and is rapidly closing in on the billion dollar record of
cameron oscar winner titanic
accepting the best director award earlier delighted cameron said he had been
expecting to lose out to ex wife kathryn bigelow who had been nominated for her
powerful iraq war drama the hurt locker
unprepared frankly thought kathryn was going to get this cameron said
but make no mistake very grateful
part of cameron speech was also made in na vi the language spoken by the
blue skinned peace loving alien heroes of avatar
the golden globes are seen as key staging post in the sprint towards the
ultimate prize of the oscars which take place on march this year and often
help shape the field of likely best picture contenders
however hollywood awards shows rarely honor fantasy films and avatar was
expected to face stiff competition from bigelow the hurt locker quentin
tarantino inglourious basterds precious and up in the air
up in the air had started the night as one of the hot favorites with six
nominations but in the event had to settle for one best screenplay
another big loser on the night was musical nine which started the night with
five nominations but finished empty handed nine was pipped for best musical
or comedy by the raucous the hangover
the acting awards saw popular honors going to veterans jeff bridges and sandra
bullock
bridges won the best drama actor prize for his portrayal of washed up
country singer in crazy heart
bridges who had been nominated for golden globe on three previous occasions
but never won has earned widespread acclaim for the role and received lengthy
standing ovation as he walked to the stage
you re really screwing up my under appreciated status he quipped before
dedicating the award to his wife and family
bullock took best drama actress prize for her portrayal of an inspirational
mentor in the blind side
the year old veteran beat out fellow nominees emily blunt the young
victoria helen mirren the last station carey mulligan an education
and gabourey sidibe precious
elsewhere hollywood icon meryl streep scooped record seventh golden globe win
for her portrayal of television chef julia child in julie amp julia
the year old won in the best comedy actress category where she was also
nominated for it complicated
the best comedy actor prize was taken by robert downey jr for his performance in
sherlock holmes as the legendary victorian super sleuth
the supporting acting awards went to austria christoph waltz for inglourious
basterds and mo nique for precious
australian screen icon nicole kidman had got sunday awards under way with an
appeal for donations to the haiti earthquake relief effort
just want to say on serious note lot of people are wearing ribbons
tonight in support of the people of haiti and you can go to nbc com to make
your personal contribution kidman said
golf sony open scores
honolulu hawaii jan afp
leading fourth round scores here on sunday in the million dollar sony open
usa unless noted
ryan palmer
robert allenby aus
steve stricker
retief goosen rsa
charles howell carl pettersson swe davis love
omar uresti john rollins chad campbell
nathan green aus
justin rose gbr ernie els rsa briny baird
zach johnson
stephen ames can dustin johnson chad collins
tom lehman
marc leishman aus
angel cabrera arg nick hern aus tim clark
rsa wc liang chn graham delaet can
choi kor rory sabbatini rsa
ryuji imada jpn
yang kor richard johnson swe
vijay singh fij
david lutterus aus
