momentum and begins to see that they are not going to win that the likelihood
of reconciliation at senior levels is not terribly great
as the clean up of kabul was under way residents and analysts voiced concern
about security
kabul is big city with five million inhabitants mainly poor people and the
taliban and al qaeda can take advantage of it and infiltrate city said analyst
haroun mir
shopkeeper fahim whose store in the qari sami mall was destroyed when the
building was stormed and set ablaze said he had lost everything and blamed the
government for allowing the attack to happen
the taliban succeeded here they have shown what they can do he told afp
beijing denies china hackers attacked indian govt
beijing jan afp
china on tuesday rejected reports that indian government computers had been
attacked by chinese hackers as groundless one week after us internet giant
google made similar accusation
source in the office of indian prime minister manmohan singh confirmed an
attempted hacking to afp last friday but said nothing had been compromised
the origin of the cyber attack was unknown at this stage the source said but
daily newspaper mail today reported that china was the chief suspect
can say that these accusations are groundless chinese foreign ministry
spokesman ma zhaoxu told reporters declaring that china itself was the biggest
victim of hacking activities
the chinese government is firmly against hacking activities and will deal with
relevant cases in accordance with the law he said
in an interview published monday india national security adviser
narayanan confirmed his office and other government departments were targeted
with an email with pdf attachment that contained trojan virus
the email which indian authorities suspect came from china would allow
hacker to access computer remotely and download or delete files
this was not the first instance of an attempt to hack into our computers
narayanan told the times of london
people seem to be fairly sure it was the chinese it is difficult to find the
exact source but this is the main suspicion it seems well founded he said
the official from the indian prime minister office speaking on condition of
anonymity said several attempts had been made in the past to hack government
computers through various means
the accusations came after google said it was considering whether to leave china
after it suffered major cyberattack by hackers believed to be based in the
country
when asked if google had contacted the chinese government to hold talks on the
matter ma said not aware of the situation
football nigeria fa unaware of presidential order to fire amodu
benguela angola jan afp
the nigeria football federation nff have disclosed that they are unaware of
presidential directive that they should sack coach shuaibu amodu with immediate
effect
the nff are not aware of any presidential order to sack amodu top nff
official taiwo ogunjobi told afp on tuesday
amodu is still in charge of the team and he took the team training in lubango
yesterday monday he will lead the team against mozambique on wednesday
it has been speculated in section of the nigerian media that the presidential
task force ptf for the world cup at the weekend conveyed an order from
the country vice president goodluck jonathan that amodu be fired immediately
following nigeria tentative start to the nations cup
ogunjobi regretted that these speculations have amounted to huge distraction
to the team on the eve of their crucial group match against mozambique on
wednesday
we only have hours to our match against mozambique we cannot afford to lose
this match and instead what we have is big distraction which is very ill
timed he said
the players are all worried about what they are haring now we only have to see
how we can assure them that all is well
nigeria are second in group behind leaders egypt with three points from two
matches but must avoid defeat against the mambas of mozambique to progress to
the quarter final of angola
speculation has been rife about the future of coach amodu since nigeria fell to
egypt in an opening group match here in angola
amodu first qualified nigeria for the world cup but was fired after the
eagles failed to reach the final of the africa cup of nations in mali
allowing adeboye onigbinde to take the team to the world cup
amodu also qualified the eagles to the world cup and has been given
nations cup semi final target
officials admitted that they have discussed with mozambique coach mart nooij
about the top nigeria coaching post while another coach linked with the job
claude le roy formerly of ghana watched the eagles two matches against egypt
and benin
dubai says abu dhabi lifeline only half originally reported
dubai jan afp
cash strapped dubai said on tuesday that the financial lifeline extended by abu
dhabi last month is only half of what was originally announced because it
included previously committed funding
in december as property giant nakheel was about to default on billion
dollars in islamic bonds and dubai looked set for more financial woes it
announced billion dollar bailout from neighbouring abu dhabi
however it was learned on tuesday that the billion dollars included five
billion that dubai had already been promised through bond issue in november
the billion dollar support funding from abu dhabi did include the five
billion dollars from the two abu dhabi banks government spokeswoman said
the spokeswoman who asked not to be identified was referring to the
subscription by two abu dhabi backed banks to dubai government bonds which was
announced in late november
that came shortly before dubai said that it wanted to restructure the debt of
its largest conglomerate and nakheel parent dubai world
the december bailout announcement said the government of abu dhabi has
agreed to fund billion dollars to the dubai financial support fund that will
be used to satisfy series of upcoming obligations on dubai world
as first action for the new fund the government of dubai has authorised
billion dollars to be used to pay the sukuk nakheel islamic bonds obligations
that are due today it added
no further details were provided
the spokeswoman told afp on tuesday this is not new we just sought to clarify
this to resolve confusion abu dhabi has not reduced its funding
in february dubai received billion dollars from the abu dhabi based
federal central bank of the united arab emirates when the once booming emirate
set up special fund to deal with the mounting debt of its firms and set
fund raising target of billion dollars
the total of funds pledged is billion dollars as announced at the
beginning of the spokeswoman said pointing out that remaining
billion dollars from the last tranche has not yet been drawn down
she confirmed that billion dollars was used to repay nakheel sukuk last
month and that another one billion dollars was also drawn from the five billion
dollars received from the two abu dhabi banks
dubai world has begun negotiations with its creditors to restructure billion
dollars in debt of some of its troubled subsidiaries
the total debt of dubai world was billion dollars before the repayment of
nakheel due bonds it represents the bulk of dubai total debt which the
emirate has said is billion dollars
arcelormittal reveals talks with bhp on african venture
paris jan afp
the world biggest steel maker arcelormittal said on tuesday it had opened
talks with australian miner bhp billiton on venture that would combine their
iron ore mining and infrastructure assets in liberia and guinea in west africa
the iron ore interests of the two companies in liberia and guinea are proximate
and could be significantly more competitive if brought together in combined
operation arcelormittal said in statement
it added that the parties would assess the merits of such partnership over
the coming months in consultations with the two governments
cricket bangladesh india first test scoreboard
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
scoreboard after bangladesh first innings against india on the third day of
the first test here on tuesday
india st innings tendulkar not out sehwag shahadat hossain
shakib al hasan
bangladesh st innings overnight
tamim iqbal zaheer
imrul kayes lbw zaheer
shahriar nafees laxman sharma
mohammad ashraful dravid sharma
raqibul hasan karthik sreesanth
shakib al hasan sehwag zaheer
mushfiqur rahim sehwag mishra
mohammad mahmudullah karthik sreesanth
shahadat hossain yuvraj mishra
shafiul islam yuvraj mishra
rubel hossain not out
extras lb nb
total for all out overs
fall of wickets kayes nafees iqbal ashraful
shakib raqibul rahim shahadat
mahmudullah shafiul
bowling zaheer sreesanth nb sharma
mishra nb yuvraj
toss bangladesh
umpires billy bowden nzl and marais erasmus rsa
tv umpire enamul haque ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
cadbury agrees to billion pound takeover from kraft
london jan afp
british confectioner cadbury has agreed to takeover from us food giant kraft
worth pence per share or billion pounds billion euros
billion dollars the pair said tuesday
the board of kraft foods is pleased to announce the detailed terms of
recommended final offer for cadbury and the board of cadbury unanimously
recommends cadbury security holders to accept the terms statement said
the us firm proposes to pay pence in cash and new kraft foods shares
per cadbury share that would value each cadbury share at pence
in addition cadbury shareholders will be entitled to receive pence per
cadbury share by way of special dividend following the date on which the final
offer becomes or is declared unconditional the statement added
the terms of the final offer reflect the strength of cadbury business its
brands and the future potential for growth through the combination of kraft
foods and cadbury
cricket india gain one run lead in bangladesh test
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
bangladesh were bowled out for in reply to india first innings total of
on the third day of the opening test here on tuesday
tennis venus joins serena in second round
melbourne jan afp
venus williams joined sister serena in the second round of the australian open
when she demolished czech lucie safarova on tuesday
safarova was expected to provide tough opening challenge for williams but the
tall american was in imperious form as she raced to an easy win in just
minutes seconds faster than serena took to beat urszula radwanska earlier
williams whose best finish at the australian open was runner up to serena in
looked in great shape physically as she broke safarova twice in the first
set and three times in the second
the seven time grand slam champion returned brilliantly throughout putting
enormous pressure on safarova second serve which crumbled badly as result
and although williams first serve misfired badly with only percent success
rate safarova only had five break point chances in the match converting just
one of those
the sixth seed has kept low profile heading into the tournament
however against safarova she displayed the form that should see her make up for
the disappointment of when she lost in the second round to unseeded
spaniard carla suarez navarro
football gold and sullivan take over west ham
london jan afp
former birmingham owners david gold and david sullivan have taken control of
west ham after acquiring percent stake in the english premier league club
they confirmed on tuesday
the announcement came after tony fernandes the chief executive of airasia and
the boss of the lotus formula one team confirmed that he had pulled out of the
race
the malaysian businessman posted message on twitter which read deal lost on
west ham hopefully new owners protect what good we gave awesome deal and new
ideas to rejuvenate club and bring excitement
sullivan and gold will have the final say in the running of the club although cb
holdings the current owner which is headed by icelandic bank straumur retains
percent stake
the two businessmen have been working towards takeover of west ham since
leaving birmingham in november following the sale of their controlling interest
in that club to hong kong businessman carson yeung
the duo have promised that they will provide funds for manager gianfranco zola
to bolster his relegation threatened squad in the current transfer window but
sullivan also warned that they would seek to address the imbalance in the squad
and the crazy wages the club has been paying
two executed in china crime crackdown state media
beijing jan afp
china on tuesday executed two gangsters convicted in crackdown on organised
crime in southwestern chongqing state media said in the first news of death
sentences being carried out in the case
the china news service identified those executed as yang tianqing and liu
chenghu whose sentences were reported in october
for years yang ran crime ring in chongqing huge municipality of more
than million people that committed murder assault extortion loan
sharking identity card forging and range of other criminal acts it said
liu was one of yang key henchmen the report said quoting the chongqing
supreme people court
total of six people were reported in october to have been sentenced to death
in the sensational trials which have lifted the lid on the murky underworld in
chongqing with sordid tales of sex gambling and corruption
three of those sentenced were given two year reprieves the court had said in
october meaning their sentences were likely to be commuted to life in prison
more than suspects linked to organised crime groups have been arrested in
the chongqing crackdown in which top judicial and police officials have been
implicated according to officials
they include wen qiang who became chongqing top judicial official in
after years on the police force and who stands accused of protecting an
intricate web of businessmen officials and mobsters
football angola fans relieved at draw
luanda jan afp
angolan football fans cheered with relief monday when the final whistle blew
giving them goalless draw with algeria and sending them into the quarter
finals of the africa cup of nations
in beach bar on luanda island known as ilha where large screen beamed
the game down to more than people everyone leapt to their feet as the game
ended spilling their drinks and knocking over chairs as they hugged each other
blowing enthusiastically on their vuvuzelas
there was less of the euphoria and frenzy seen after the win over malawi
when fans poured into the streets jumping on cars and screaming but there was
still plenty of celebration and high spirits
we could have done better but it ok it takes us through to the next round
that all we needed edilson marques who watched the game at beach
bar in the capital told afp
it more of relief than anything else
with an angolan bandana on her head and the country red black and gold flag
painted on each cheek marieta zua who had travelled from her home in
germany to be among family to watch the game added the game was good we got
the result we wanted the draw was good enough and now we qualified
the mood during the game was one of nerves both on and off the pitch as both
teams need at least draw to qualify
but within minutes of the match finishing party atmosphere took over the
music was cranked up the plastic seats moved to one side and everybody started
to dance
the match began with the november stadium half empty as fans were stuck in
dreadful traffic but by the time the final whistle went every one of its
seats was occupied
urgent jal stock to be delisted next month tokyo stock exchange
tokyo jan afp
japan airlines shares will be delisted from the tokyo stock exchange on february
or earlier the bourse said on its website tuesday as the carrier filed for
bankruptcy
greek farmers extend roadblocks
athens jan afp
greek farmers on tuesday extended highway and border blockade in bid for
state funds which has cornered the country cash strapped government and
fueled anger in neighbouring bulgaria
we will meet at midday to decide how to broaden our protest vaios ganis
farmer coordinator in central greece told private mega television
demanding hundreds of thousands of euros dollars in state support to
counterbalance low produce prices farmers began setting up roadblocks in the
thessaly region in the country centre and in east macedonia in the north at
the weekend
over tractors have gathered near the central city of larissa strategic
centre on the sole highway linking athens to the north of the country
the farmers have also set up roadblocks in another half dozen key highway
junctions in northern and western greece and maintained stranglehold over the
main border crossing into bulgaria at promahonas for the second day
more roadblocks could spring up in the southern peloponnese peninsula later in
the day news reports said
bulgaria has threatened to appeal to the european commission unless the
promahonas border crossing is reopened by wednesday
we will appeal to the european commission to intervene immediately bulgarian
prime minister boyko borisov has warned
unless the frontier posts are reopened by wednesday we will demand
compensation borisov added
the farmers are seeking financial assistance because of drop in prices for
products including wheat cotton and milk
they are also asking for price cuts on fertilisers pharmaceutical products and
seeds rebate on the price of electricity and petrol and three year freeze
on their debts to the greek agricultural bank
give us billion euros so we can fill our stomachs another farmer
representative said at roadblock in nigrita northern greece
but the recently elected socialist government which is already labouring to fix
the country ailing national finances under pressure from brussels says it
gave financial aid to farmers last month and could afford no more
katerina batzeli minister of rural development and food has invited the farmer
unions to roundtable talks on january and
greece is in recession and has been hit by major financial crisis with debt
constituting percent of gross domestic product
greek farmers protested at the same time last year for similar reasons putting
down roadblocks that lasted over two weeks
korea holds talks with korea despite threats
seoul jan afp
south korean team held talks in north korea tuesday about joint business
project despite last week threats from pyongyang to cut contacts and launch
possible attack on its neighbour
the two sides began two days of talks to discuss ways to revitalise their
jointly run industrial estate at kaesong just north of the border seoul
unification ministry said
the two sides agreed last week to hold the meeting at kaesong the latest in
series of apparently conciliatory moves by the north after months of tensions
but the meeting appeared in doubt friday when the north launched verbal
broadside against the south hours after it had agreed to accept food aid from
seoul
its national defence commission the top decision making body threatened to cut
all dialogue and cooperation unless the south apologises for an alleged
contingency plan to handle regime collapse in the north
the commission also warned of holy war against the south should there be any
attempt to carry out the plan
north korea has taken stance that is hard to understand south korea
foreign minister yu myung hwan told forum noting its serious threats while
at the same time accepting aid and agreeing to the kaesong talks
the joongang daily in an editorial tuesday headlined the north erratic
behaviour agreed
given the north recent behaviour it seems as though it would be impossible
for even god to understand north korea policies and actions toward south
korea the paper said
the cash strapped north has faced tighter united nations sanctions since its
nuclear and missile tests last year it appears eager to promote economic
projects with the south despite the fiery rhetoric
last week pyongyang called for the resumption of lucrative tours by south
koreans to the north
the kaesong estate employs north koreans in south korean firms wages
are paid in dollars to state bodies and not to the workers directly another
source of hard currency for pyongyang
the unification ministry said tuesday talks were being held in serious and
practical mood and the north made no mention of friday statement
but six nation nuclear disarmament negotiations remain stalled despite visit
to pyongyang last month by us envoy stephen bosworth
the north now insists that sanctions be dropped before it returns to the forum
it abandoned last april it also wants early talks on pact to formally end the
korean war to build confidence in the nuclear negotiations
the united states and south korea have dismissed both demands
minister yu quoted by yonhap news agency said talks on peace pact could come
only after the north starts to shut down its nuclear programmes
north korea is trying to shift responsibility for the stalemate in six party
negotiations to the outside world he said
south korea chief negotiator in the six party forum wi sung lac will visit
washington this week for talks with his us counterparts on ways to restart the
talks which group the two koreas china the united states russia and japan
wi said he would meet bosworth and other officials
cadbury agrees to billion pound takeover from kraft
london jan afp
british confectioner cadbury announced tuesday that it had agreed to takeover
from us food giant kraft worth pence per share or billion pounds
billion euros billion dollars
the board of kraft foods is pleased to announce the detailed terms of
recommended final offer for cadbury and the board of cadbury unanimously
recommends cadbury security holders to accept the terms the pair said in
statement
urgent cadbury agrees to billion pound takeover from kraft
london jan afp
british confectioner cadbury announced tuesday that it had agreed to takeover
from us food giant kraft worth pence per share or billion pounds
billion euros billion dollars
swedish man jailed for sex with cambodian boys
phnom penh jan afp
cambodian court on tuesday sentenced year old swedish man to more than
six years in prison for sexually abusing three boys
judge chhay kong of phnom penh municipal court jailed johan abrahim escori
for committing indecent acts and having sexual intercourse with the boys who
were aged nine to
the judge told afp he sentenced escori who was arrested in may to total of
six and half years in prison for the offences
swedish court sentenced escori in to one year term for molesting
year old girl but suspended the sentence local reports said
cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as haven for paedophiles
putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to
face trial in their home countries since
alert
japan airlines shares to be delisted next month tokyo stock exchange
alert
kraft takeover values cadbury at billion pounds statement
sweden seeks eu wide bank tax
brussels jan afp
sweden on tuesday called for european tax on banks similar to new us scheme
in bid to fix broken public finances and build buffer against future
financial crises
finance minister anders borg arrived at brussels talks with european union peers
seeking to impose bloc wide levy he says will pay for the impact the rescue
measures have had on our public finances
slamming greek debt mountain and economic mis reporting as fraudulent and
cost for the whole of europe borg insisted that the eu can no longer accept
the situation where the banks are running away from the bill
this is something that has been introduced in the united states and we already
have similar system in sweden
this is tax fee that could bring substantial revenues for dealing with the
public finance situation but also to take care of future banking crises
borg said that tax on final balance sheets different from tax on
individual transactions as mooted since the would get round the problem
of banks moving to more favourable locations
you can move your balance sheet out of the country so it much more
logical model he inisted claiming support among several of my colleagues for
this idea
britain chancellor alistair darling told the scotsman newspaper at the weekend
that london would not match president barack obama plans to recover every
single dime taxpayers shelled out to rescue wall street
the head of the country eurozone jean claude juncker has also warned that
it would be difficult to adopt common approach because tax matters are
reserved for national decision making across the eu
football mission accomplished now for the title jose
luanda jan afp
angola achievement in finishing top of their first round group at the africa
cup of nations was case of mission accomplished for coach manuel jose
monday goalless draw with algeria put the hosts into the quarter finals where
they will face the group runners up either ivory coast ghana or burkina
faso in their luanda fortress at the november stadium on sunday
jose the celebrated al ahly manager who was hired six months ago by the black
antelopes reflected when took over this job said wanted to try to get
angola the best qualification they had ever had
we ve done the best of all time by finishing top of our group
now anything can happen we will try to fight and reach the semi finals we
could get knocked out or we could reach the final and win the title
jose is something of cleptomaniac when it comes to titles he guided al ahly
to no fewer than in his time at the egyptian giants earning him place in
egyptian football folklore
stern disciplinarian he dealt with wayward manucho in no uncertain fashion
last year he is noted tactician with winning mentality which has evidently
filtered down to his players
he had to send his troops into battle against world cup qualifiers algeria
missing number of top brass including three goal hero flavio the suspended
stelvio and influential midfielder dede
with six days before the quarter final he is optimistic his walking wounded will
be fully fit for the next test
the return of flavio wiill be fundamental for us we missed him against
algeria we missed dede and stelvio
these players are crucial flavio can score at any time so he was big loss
we will try to line up for the quarter final in the best physical shape
possible we ve got plenty of time to put everyone in good shape
asked at the post match press conference which of the group teams he would
most like to meet it likely to be either ghana or burkina faso who are
playing in luanda later tuesday he said the coach of burkina faso was
former player of mine
their team doctor is friend know the entire coaching side but friendship
aside don care which one we face we wil try to do our best
angola remain unbeaten after their opening draw with mali win over
malawi and the shared points with algeria
nigerian city under hour curfew over religious violence
kano jan afp
authorities slapped hour curfew on the central nigerian city of jos on
tuesday in the wake of deadly clashes between christians and muslims state
spokesman told afp
the government has placed hour curfew on jos and bukuru small town on
the fringes of jos following the resumption of violence in parts of the city
plateau state information commissioner gregory yenlong said
tennis australian open results day two th update
melbourne jan afp
results from day two of the australian open at melbourne park here tuesday
denotes seeding
men singles
st round
jarkko nieminen fin bt nick lindahl aus
tomas berdych cze bt robin haase ned
evgeny korolev kaz bt daniel brands ger
igor kunitysn rus bt jose acasuso arg
louk sorenson irl bt lu yen hsun tpe
marin cilic cro bt fabrice santoro fra
gael monfils fra bt matthew ebden aus
nikolay davydenko rus bt dieter kindlmann ger
fernando verdasco esp bt carsten ball aus
feliciano lopez esp bt pablo cuevas uru
stanislas wawrinka sui bt guillermo garica lopez esp
thomaz bellucci bra bt teimuraz gabashvilli rus
marsel ilhan tur bt sebastien grosjean fra
john isner usa bt andreas seppi ita
ivan sergeyev ukr bt dudi sela isr
viktor troicki srb bt nicolas lapentti ecu
rainer schuettler ger bt sam querrey usa
james blake usa bt arnaud clement fra
lukasz kubot pol bt mischa zverev ger
julien benneteau fra bt david guez fra
philipp kohlschreiber ger bt horacio zeballos arg
marc gicquel fra bt simone bolelli ita
santiago giraldo col bt tommy robredo esp
florent serra fra bt jurgen melzer aut
roger federer sui bt igor andreev rus
marcel granollers esp bt robin soderling swe
david ferrer esp bt frederico gil por retired
