reach parish which remained sealed by police two weeks after unrest over
crucifix the local priest said on thursday
about uniformed and plainclothes officers on wednesday stopped brother nguyen
van tang and several other catholics from entering dong chiem parish in my duc
district about kilometres miles from hanoi said parish priest nguyen
van huu
after they seized his camera and mobile phone he was making his way back when
he was attacked by unknown assailants and left with serious head injuries huu
said adding tang was taken to hanoi for hospital treatment
roads leading to the parish were still blocked by the authorities thursday
morning as they had been since the day after the cross incident early this
month huu said
local police declined to comment to afp
unrest broke out on january when parishioners tried to stop large group of
police and troops sent to dismantle the crucifix atop mountain according to
huu
he said parishioners told him the police used electric prods tear gas and
stones against the crowd two of whom were seriously injured huu was not
present at the time of the incident
as described by the priest the clash was one of the most serious recent
incidents in long running series of church state land disputes
huu said thursday that two women injured on january were still in hospital
and that he was questioned by police on wednesday about the cross
told them the cross has already been dismantled and the story is over he
said
report last week by the official vietnam news agency vna denied that
parishioners at dong chiem had been suppressed after erecting the cross on
state land it said the catholics ignored authorities persuasive efforts for
them to take down the illegally built crucifix which according to vna was
finally dismantled safely and according to law
huu said the land where the cross stood had been used by the catholic church
for more than years
the government says it respects freedom of religion
gold helps swiss central bank post healthy profit in
zurich jan afp
the swiss central bank said thursday that it was expecting to climb back into
healthy profit for the full year thanks partly to the booming price of
gold and improvement in currency markets
consequently the overall profit is likely to come to billion swiss francs
billion euros billion dollars the swiss national bank said in
statement that would exceed pre crisis levels
the central bank made loss of billion swiss francs as the financial crisis
took hold the year before forcing the bank to intervene on currency markets and
help prop up ailing commercial bank ubs
the steep rise in gold prices resulted in valuation gains of about billion
francs while improvements in foreign exchange brought about an additional two
billion franc boost the snb added
the central bank is due to publish its full results in march
the bulk of snb profits are re distributed to swiss federal and regional
governments
latvian bailout vote passes but government at risk
riga jan afp
the latvian government won vote on thursday enabling it to pursue bailout
talks with international lenders but parliamentary revolt put survival of the
fractious coalition in doubt
in vote lawmakers approved bill empowering the centre right coalition
to continue talks with lenders including the international monetary fund and
european union
those two bodies are steering billion euro billion dollar bailout
to keep the baltic state afloat
think it was very significant decision for the country financial
stability prime minister valdis dombrovskis told reporters
but the largest player in his five party coalition the people party broke
ranks and he had to rely on the opposition to win
dombrovskis played down the revolt however
like to underscore that this is not vote about the government but on the
international loan programme he said adding that he would hold fence mending
talks with the people party
on wednesday president valdis zatlers had chided the people party and
dombrovskis new era movement saying they must stop punching each other at the
expense of state interests
under the terms of the rescue package agreed in december latvia has
repeatedly slashed public spending and raised taxes to try to plug gaping hole
in state coffers
payouts of tranches of the funding depend on ongoing belt tightening which has
sparked regular coalition infighting
the people party has made increasingly angry public statements about the
bailout conditions and said lawmakers should have more say
it became necessary to turn to parliament after latvia top court ruled last
month that the government had violated the constitution by cutting pensions to
save money requiring changes to the bailout
latvia is in one of the steepest recessions in the nation eu authorities
estimate its economy shrank by up to percent last year
that is far cry from the double digit boom it enjoyed following eu entry in
the country of million people broke from the crumbling soviet union in
opel says to close belgian plant this year
frankfurt jan afp
directors of the european carmaker opel announced on thursday that belgian
plant in antwerp would be shut down this year
the site which would be closed during employs workers an opel
statement said
gm europe to close belgian opel plant
brussels jan afp
general motors europe announced to unions on thursday that it is to close its
opel auto production plant in antwerp with the loss of jobs belgian
union representative told afp
they have announced to us their intention to proceed towards collective
redundancy and the closure of the business said walter cnop of the csc
union metalworkers branch
opel confirmed in statement that the site would be closed this year
workers blocked access to the northern belgian factory on wednesday ahead of
planned talks at which they feared the axe would finally fall
it an absolute catastrophe for belgian workers and manufacturing cnop
added slamming management arrogance and decision he said was based on
political considerations in no way assessed on economic grounds
hour blockade begun wednesday represents unions armoury and will now be
extended said cnop adding that the unions were set to discuss further
responses
gm has said it will be forced to cut jobs out of total of more than
employees across europe
afghans protest over alleged civilian deaths
ghazni afghanistan jan afp
angry afghan villagers took to the streets on thursday claiming that civilians
were killed in raid by afghan and nato troops but the international force said
the dead were insurgents
nato international security assistance force isaf said it killed four
insurgents including year old boy in an operation in the qarabagh district
of ghazni province on wednesday night
while conducting the operation young man estimated to be years old
displayed hostile intent and grabbed the weapon of service member he was
shot and killed the alliance said in statement
but about furious villagers brought five coffins to the provincial capital
ghazni city on thursday claiming that three of the dead were civilians
including two children below the age of seven an afp reporter saw
doctors told me that there were two children among the bodies brought to
hospital said mohammad ismail ibrahimzai head of the provincial hospital
where the bodies were initially taken
provincial deputy police chief abdul rehman shaidayee said only that four people
were killed and that they were investigating claims of civilian casualties
civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces fuel distrust between the afghan
population the government and us and nato troops even though most such deaths
are caused by insurgent tactics such as home made bombs
about troops under nato and us command are battling an escalating
insurgency by the extremist taliban movement which regrouped after being ousted
from government in us led invasion
basketball nba results and standings
washington jan afp
results and standings after wednesday national basketball association games
wednesday january th results
atlanta sacramento
charlotte miami
orlando indiana
portland philadelphia
dallas washington
detroit boston
milwaukee toronto
oklahoma city minnesota
new orleans memphis
phoenix new jersey
utah san antonio
denver golden state ot
la clippers chicago
eastern conference
atlantic div pct gb
boston
toronto
new york
philadelphia
new jersey
central div pct gb
cleveland
chicago
milwaukee
detroit
indiana
southeast div pct gb
atlanta
orlando
charlotte
miami
washington
western conference
northwest div pct gb
denver
portland
oklahoma city
utah
minnesota
pacific div pct gb
la lakers
phoenix
la clippers
sacramento
golden state
southwest div pct gb
dallas
san antonio
houston
memphis
new orleans
thursday january st schedule
la lakers at cleveland pm
la clippers at denver pm
all times are eastern
afp
cricket pakistan miandad says leagues virus
karachi jan afp
former pakistani international batsman javed miandad on thursday warned
lucrative twenty leagues were virus which threatened to kill off test
cricket
miandad said the leagues offered such good money that playing international
cricket particularly the long form of the game was becoming less
attractive calling on the international cricket council icc to step in
twenty cricket is virus and if the icc doesn restrict matches of this
format it will finish test cricket as leading players will no longer want to
play for their country miandad who played tests for pakistan told afp
twenty cricket the shortest form of the game is rapidly gaining popularity
among players and spectators with huge money on offer in the recognised indian
premier league ipl and the rebel indian cricket league
some of the australian players could have represented their country longer but
retired to play leagues two years ago miandad said
when twenty cricket started had smelled this format will damage cricket
now the game will not see quality players as they are now more attuned to play
the big hitting game than the traditional and classical way
with the introduction of twenty leagues the notion that country comes
first is also hit for six because when there is choice between national duty
and more money players will choose money
sincerely pray that cricket is restricted otherwise the game will suffer
badly
miandad reaction came after pakistani players were snubbed at the ipl
player auction in mumbai on tuesday
none of the eight indian franchises bid for pakistani players apparently
because they were not sure of their availability due to visa and other problems
pakistani players should not be bothered about ipl said miandad
they must concentrate on their national duties as country always comes first
added miandad who also voiced concern that india was becoming too powerful in
world cricket
fear day will come when world cricket will be run by india alone so fear
if australia england sri lanka and the west indies don realise this world
cricket will be at the mercy of india he said
urgent opel says to close belgian plant this year
frankfurt jan afp
directors of the european carmaker opel announced on thursday that belgian
plant in antwerp would be shut down this year
cricket mishra sharma shape india victory
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
amit mishra and ishant sharma shared seven wickets in india crushing run
victory over bangladesh in the first test on thursday
leg spinner mishra finished with and paceman sharma took as bangladesh
were bowled out for in their second innings before tea on the final day
while chasing an improbable target of runs
the only consolation for bangladesh was an entertaining by wicket keeper
mushfiqur rahim who smashed one six and fours in his maiden test century
rahim completed his hundred off balls the fastest by bangladeshi in
tests before becoming the last man to be dismissed when he holed out in the
deep off mishra
rahim gave spectators plenty to cheer about with his exciting strokeplay
once hammering sharma for runs in an over and then hitting paceman
shanthakumaran sreesanth for six and boundary off successive balls
he was involved in rollicking run stand for the eighth wicket with shahadat
hossain which ended when shahadat failed to read mishra googly and was
bowled
but rahim knock came too late for bangladesh as india were virtually assured
of victory after reducing the hosts to in the afternoon session
india captain virender sehwag standing in for the injured mahendra singh dhoni
said he was delighted by the win
our bowlers did fantastic job zaheer khan and ishant especially after we
were bowled out for sehwag said at the post match ceremony
it was good pitch it had nice carry turn and bounce we must continue to
play good cricket and if we do that we can easily win the next match
the second and final test starts in dhaka on sunday
bangladesh skipper shakib al hasan rued the collapse in the first innings but
praised his team bowlers
we did not bat well in the first innings and that led to our downfall said
shakib we played too many rash shots outside the off stump we need to work on
it
we should have taken lead of runs hopefully next time we will bat
better the way mushfiqur did today he was brilliant there are lot of
lessons to be learnt
bangladesh chances of saving the match receded sharply when they lost three
wickets in the morning after adding only to their overnight total of
with sharma taking two and part time off spinner virender sehwag one
india strengthened their position when mishra had key batsman shakib caught
by sehwag at silly point few overs after lunch
india began on an impressive note with sharma removing mohammad ashraful and
raqibul hasan in lively opening spell and sehwag dismissing well set tamim
iqbal to put the hosts under pressure
iqbal caught by rahul dravid in the slips just before lunch executed some
handsome shots during his ball knock he reached his third test half century
when he reverse swept mishra for his sixth four
sharma struck in the day fourth over when he had ashraful caught by dravid at
second slip after the batsman added only to his overnight score of
raqibul was beaten by the movement before being trapped leg before by
sharma leaving his team struggling at
veteran sachin tendulkar was named man of the match for his century in the first
innings the th test hundred of his record breaking career
national hockey league results
washington jan afp
national hockey league results and standings after wednesday games
wednesday january th results
new jersey florida
st louis montreal ot
vancouver edmonton ot
eastern conference
atlantic division
new jersey
pittsburgh
ny rangers
ny islanders
philadelphia
northeast division
buffalo
ottawa
boston
montreal
toronto
southeast division
washington
atlanta
florida
tampa bay
carolina
western conference
central division
chicago
nashville
detroit
st louis
columbus
northwest division
colorado
vancouver
calgary
minnesota
edmonton
pacific division
san jose
phoenix
los angeles
anaheim
dallas
note overtime losses ot are worth one point in the standings and are not
included in the loss column
thursday january st schedule
carolina at atlanta pm
columbus at boston pm
detroit at minnesota pm
florida at ny islanders pm
st louis at ottawa pm
ny rangers at philadelphia pm
nashville at phoenix pm
toronto at tampa bay pm
dallas at vancouver pm
chicago at calgary pm
buffalo at los angeles pm
washington at pittsburgh pm
anaheim at san jose pm
all times are eastern
afp
alert
opel management announces closure of belgian plant this year
eu approves oracle bid for sun microsystems
brussels jan afp
the eu competition watchdog on thursday approved us business software giant
oracle bid for hardware and software vendor sun microsystems saying the deal
would not skew the market in europe
the billion euro billion dollar deal for sun one time silicon
valley star and developer of the popular java programming language was approved
by sun shareholders in july and the us department of justice in august
the eu commission previously had misgivings about the deal but last month
welcomed concessions by oracle including the company extension for up to five
years of the terms and conditions of existing commercial licenses
am now satisfied that competition and innovation will be preserved on all the
markets concerned oracle acquisition of sun has the potential to revitalise
important assets and create new and innovative products eu competition
commissioner neelie kroes said in statement
tennis merciless serena lays down the gauntlet
melbourne jan afp
defending champion serena williams laid down the gauntlet to her rivals at the
australian open by mercilessly crushing petra kvitova of the czech republic
thursday
the year old kvitova matched it with williams for five games in the first set
before the world number one stepped up gear and blitzed her way through the
rest of the match winning lopsided encounter in only minutes
much of the talk at this year tournament has been about the return of belgian
pair kim clijsters and justine henin and how either of them could win the
opening grand slam of
but williams four time titalist here sent out clear message that anyone
who wants to lift the trophy including older sister venus will have to get
past her to do so
and the world number one warned she would only get better from here
thought today was little bit better than my match in my first round
williams said after her second round match
felt like was moving better and had better energy just felt all around
lot better
but felt like could have actually played lot better today
if play well really tough to beat still definitely feel that way
kvitova started the match positively attacking her more illustrious opponent
whenever she could and hitting the ball with power and precision
williams relished the challenge however and the young czech player soon found
the ball coming back at her just as powerfully with even more precision
she coped for while but inevitably cracked and from then on it was matter
of how long it would take for williams to close it out
williams now has chance to avenge sister venus second round loss at the last
year australian open when she faces tricky left handed spaniard carla suarez
navarro in the third round
she really good she said of the spaniard she has so much talent
know she took out venus around this time last year if not mistaken
would hate to see it become habit for her taking out sister this time
every year so have to be ready
williams who lost to clijsters in the semi finals of last year us open
added that the return of the two belgian stars had provided women tennis with
huge boost
so happy to see henin back and doing well she such good player and
fighter williams said
think she brings just totally different theme to the game
obviously kim is fun to have back on the tour and her winning the us open is
awesome
think it great to have these ladies back it fun
williams the winner here in is gunning for th
grand slam title to match the exploits of the legendary billie jean king
only few select women including steffi graf martina navratilova and chris
evert have won more major championships
urgent eu approves oracle bid for sun microsystems
brussels jan afp
the eu competition watchdog on thursday approved us business software giant
oracle bid for hardware and software vendor sun microsystems saying the deal
would not skew the market in europe
india kingfisher airlines third quarter loss widens
mumbai jan afp
india second largest private carrier kingfisher airlines reported thursday
higher third quarter net loss but said the outlook for the industry was
improving
kingfisher owned by liquor baron vijay mallya said its net loss increased to
billion rupees million dollars for the three months to december from
loss of billion rupees the same period year earlier
net income from operations fell percent to billion rupees in the third
quarter with performance hit by fierce competition it said
but the company known for its advertising slogan fly the good times and its
five star service said the industry was seeing signs of recovery
the figures came after the singapore based centre for asia pacific aviation last
month forecast india private airlines should return to profit in the next
financial year following several years of bruising losses
kingfisher holds percent of india aviation industry behind rival jet
airways which with its low cost subsidiary jet lite has percent share
official data shows
passenger traffic for the aviation industry rose percent in the three months
to december from the same period year earlier according to the kingfisher
statement
domestic traffic has shown strong recovery in the quarter kingfisher said
in its statement
the firm said it achieved record seat load factor of percent in domestic
operations in the december ended quarter load factor represents the percentage
of available seats filled with paying customers
the industry has been hit by overcapacity and sharp drop in passenger numbers
due to the global economic slowdown
the indian aviation sector posted combined loss of two billion dollars in the
fiscal year to march sector losses for this year are expected to hit
billion dollars
india private sector airlines are expected to return to profit in the new
financial year beginning in april but troubled state run air india is seen
staying in the red
kingfisher shares an alliance with rival jet airways which includes ground
handling network rationalisation and crew sharing but no exchange of equity
kingfisher shares fell percent or rupees to after the earnings
were announced
alert
eu commission approves oracle bid for sun microsystems
gm europe to close belgian opel plant union
brussels jan afp
general motors europe announced to unions on thursday that it is to close its
opel auto production plant in antwerp with the loss of jobs belgian
union representative told afp
they have announced to us their intention to proceed towards collective
redundancy and the closure of the business said walter cnop of the csc
union metalworkers branch
eu conditionally approves agilent buyout of varian
brussels jan afp
the european union competition watchdog on thursday approved us high tech
group agilent technologies takeover of varian inc rival american maker of
scientific instruments
agilent and varian have offered to sell off bits of their business to secure
final approval in europe
in view of the remedies proposed the eu commission has concluded that the
operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the european
economic area or any substantial part of it the eu executive arm said in
statement
am satisfied that the merger of two major global players will not hinder
effective competition in the analytical instruments field and that consumers
will therefore not be harmed said eu competition commissioner neelie kroes
the proposed merger will bring together two close competitors in the laboratory
instruments market leaving the combined entity with significant market
shares according to the commission
agilent announced last july an agreement to purchase varian for billion
dollars billion euros at current exchange rates
the boards of directors of the two california based companies approved the all
cash purchase which establishes agilent as clear market leader
agilent bio analytical measurement business allows customers to identify
quantify and analyse the physical and biological properties of substances and
products
varian makes scientific instruments and vacuum technologies for life science
environmental energy and applied research and other applications
palo alto based varian employs some people worldwide and had revenue of
one billion dollars in fiscal
tennis australian open results day four th update
melbourne jan afp
results from day four of the australian open at melbourne park here thursday
denotes seeding
men singles
nd round
