he not going to give up anything easy around the basket
neal was also key contributer on offense coming up with two assists and
dunk in scoring run that put the game out of reach
it is great to have that luxury james said shaq is an unselfish guy and it
is great to have that interior presence
after cleveland the lakers will visit new york toronto washington indiana
philadelphia boston and memphis
jackson said the key to successful trip would be consistency on the court
and probably plenty of patience off it
traveling in the wintertime you never know what going to happen delayed
flights or the plane has to be de iced and you don get in until four in the
morning jackson said those are always things that are problematic on these
types of trips
afp sports schedule for thursday january
paris jan afp
afp sports schedule for thursday january
tennis
fourth day of the australian open in melbourne with roger federer novak
djokovic and the williams sisters all in second round action
coverage by martin parry robert smith andrew dent and scott coughlan
master slug tennis open aus
football
in the africa cup of nations the pool matches come to an end with cameroon
gabon zambia and tunisia all in the hunt for quarter final place from group
coverage by nick reeves david legge and samm addu
spanish kings cup quarter finals first leg matches between racing santander and
osasuna while atletico madrid face celta vigo
slugs fbl afr fbl esp cup
cricket
bangladesh needing to beat india are in their second innings on the
final day of the opening test in chittagong
coverage by shafiq alam
slugs cricket ban ind
cycling
tour down under in australia continues with the third stage km run from
unley to stirling with germany andre greipel in front while lance armstrong
is in th spot
coverage by talek harris
slug cycling aus tour
golf
epga at the abu dhabi championship second day of the uspga bob hope classic in
la quinta california
slugs golf epga uae golf uspga
figure skating
european championships in tallinn
coverage by emmeline moore
slug fskate eur
rallying
second day of the historic monte carlo rally now part of the intercontinental
rally challenge series with finland mikko hirvonen in the lead
slug auto rally irc mon
biathlon
world cup men km at antholz germany
slug biathlon world
winter olympics
sixth part of advancer package filed ahead of the winter olympics in
vancouver
see separate advisory
master slug oly
tornado hits near texas town injuries reported
washington jan afp
tornado struck near town in east texas on wednesday causing damage and
reportedly injuring several people and trapping others in their homes
emergency crews rushed to the scene few miles kilometers west of the town
of waskom and were treating the injured according to the marshall news
messenger local newspaper
right now we are still assessing the damage we are still trying to figure out
the damage waskom police spokesman told afp
the tornado trapped several people in their homes reported the shreveport
times second daily across the nearby louisiana state border quoting the
national weather service
several businesses and homes had been damaged the reports said
zelaya can leave honduras in possible political settlement
santo domingo jan afp
incoming honduran leader porfirio lobo said wednesday that deposed president
manuel zelaya will be allowed to leave honduras as part of settlement in the
country lengthy political crisis
lobo said that zelaya holed up at the brazilian embassy in tegucigalpa since
september in failed attempt to regain power can leave honduras with no fear
of being arrested
lobo is due to take office on january following controversial november
elections held under the de facto regime led by roberto micheletti
zelaya his relatives and members of his circle of advisors can leave for the
dominican republic on january as guests of that sister nation lobo said
in statement
zelaya had earlier announced the agreement from tegucigalpa
the document is goodwill gesture by porfirio lobo who is distancing himself
from the dictatorship of micheletti zelaya told globo radio network
zelaya who was ousted in coup supported by micheletti on june insisted
that he was the country legitimate president
lobo was in santo domingo visiting dominican republic president leonel
fernandez
meanwhile in washington us officials revoked more visas for members of the
micheletti regime as it ramped up pressure to finalize political solution in
honduras washington had already denied visas to micheletti and top members of
his government
minister for youth luis ortez in tegucigalpa said the new visa denials included
himself the ministers of finance transport and culture as well as
micheletti advisor and his chief of protocol
ortez said company executives who supported the coup against zelaya were also
included in the us visa denial list
the united states condemned the june coup and called but failed to have
zelaya reinstated it has since recognized lobo election and has been pressing
micheletti to step down ahead of his inauguration next wednesday
the united states along with the european union and international
organizations froze millions of dollars of much needed aid to honduras after
the military backed coup
us state department not foreign policy arm of google
washington jan afp
the state department is taking cyberattacks on google and other us firms very
seriously and is seeking an explanation from beijing but it is not the foreign
policy arm of google us official said on wednesday
alec ross the senior advisor for innovation to secretary of state hillary
clinton also said that speech clinton is due to give on thursday on internet
freedom would not focus solely on china
speaking of the cyberattacks which internet giant google said last week
originated in china ross said think it is important to emphasize the
private nature of some of this
this is primarily an issue between google and plus other private entities
and the chinese government he said at the start of panel discussion
sponsored by the new america foundation and slate magazine
but we have responded with what think is justifiable concern ross said
we ve asked for an explanation
ross added that the united states and china have had conversations over the
years where we ve made clear our opinions both about the freedom of expression
as well as cybersecurity
so we re taking this very seriously he said
but all of that said the state department is not the foreign policy arm of
google he said
so while we will look to the chinese for an explanation we do need to engage
in this appropriately recognizing the primacy of the role of the private sector
actors within this ross said
google has said it will no longer censor web search results in china following
the cyberattacks even if that means it has to shut down its operations in the
world largest online market
china for its part has defended its right to filter information on the web and
said foreign firms must obey chinese laws
ross said clinton in her speech at the washington based newseum on thursday
is going to speak to internet freedom and lay out series of initiatives
even though china is very much grabbing the headlines today think one of the
things we need to recognize is the global perspective of this he said
tomorrow speech is not speech about china
kurt campbell clinton top diplomat for east asia said tuesday that the us
and chinese governments have had multiple meetings about google and china and
plan to have more in the next few days
clinton last week informally asked for an explanation from china for what google
said was wave of highly sophisticated cyberattacks aimed at chinese human
rights activists
the row has threatened to rattle ties between washington and beijing already
frayed over number of issues from the copenhagen climate change debacle to
the value of the chinese yuan and number of other trade disputes
it forced google on tuesday to postpone the launch in china of two mobile phones
featuring its android operating system and developed in conjunction with
motorola and samsung which were to be used on china unicom network
on wednesday china top internet search engine baidu said it had sued us
web domain name registration firm register com in new york court after its
site was hacked
baidu said it was seeking damages after its site went down for hours in the
january attack by group identifying itself as the iranian cyber army the
same name used by hackers who briefly shut down twitter last month
baidu said software behind its domain name was unlawfully and maliciously
altered as result of gross negligence at register com
figure skating japanese kavaguti proud to win for russia
tallinn jan afp
japanese born figure skater yuko kavaguti revealed her pride at winning for her
adopted country russia as she stood on top of the podium with pairs partner
alexander smirnov at the european figure skating championship here on wednesday
night
it has been long journey for the year old branded traitor in her native
country when she changed her nationality in order to pursue her dream of olympic
gold
after living and training in russia since kavaguti teamed up with smirnov
in she received her russian passport in february last year and changed the
spelling of her name from kawaguchi to the more russified kavaguti
but the girl from aichi could not stop smiling and repeating spasiba thank
you in russian after she and smirnov shocked three time defending champions
aliona savchenko and robin szolkowy of germany to win their first international
title
the victory put the european pairs title back in russian hands for the first
time since
and standing on the top of the podium kavaguti said she was proud to listen to
the russian national anthem
next time don only want to hear it the anthem want to sing it she
promised
smirnov paid tribute to his partner driving ambition
ve never had partner like her he said
she very extraordinary person she very hard working it nice to skate
with her
two time world champions savchenko and szolkowy had held narrow lead from
the short programme but paid for errors in their routine to the soundtrack out
of africa
dressed in bright red kavaguti and her partner gave technically strong and
emotional performance to valse sentimentale and the blue danube
stumble by kavaguti on the landing of her triple toeloop jump was the only
blemish in the four and half minute routine which earned them for the
free skate and overall
the title completes their set of euro medals after silver last year and bronze
in the pair also won bronze at worlds last year
savchenko who missed training earlier this month suffering from suspected
glandular fever looked slightly out of form as she two footed her landing on
their throw triple flip and doubled her triple salchow jump
the germans scored for the free skate and overall
szolkowy said we re little bit disappointed but not that much we came here
to win again and skate clean we had some small mistakes but overall it was
good performance
russia maria mukhortova and maxim trankov took bronze for the second year
year old girl pulled from haiti rubble medical
port au prince jan afp
neighbors pulled an year old girl out from under the rubble in port au prince
on wednesday eight days after massive earthquake medical workers said
it truly is miracle she came back to life bit by bit she is blessed by the
gods said dominique jean surgeon working at field hospital set up and
staffed by french aid groups virade de espoir and alima
her kidneys are functioning we are hydrating her slowly with salt water and
gradually with more substantive food he said
the girl whose name was not given was being treated at the lambert clinic in
haiti capital
she lay on bed in the clinic corridor bone thin after days without food
crying out with nightmares
mama is not in the hole don leave me mama she cried
at the foot of her bed her mother ernst clerge said only we must have
confidence in jesus
tokyo stocks open lower
tokyo jan afp
japanese share prices opened lower thursday with the benchmark nikkei index
falling points or percent to in the first minute of
trading
us arms to somalia could be used in abuses amnesty
london jan afp
the united states is sending shipments of arms to war ravaged somalia which
could be used to commit gross and widespread abuses amnesty international
warned thursday
in report on the unstable horn of africa nation the london based rights group
detailed shipments of weapons from the us to the internationally backed somali
transitional government
these deliveries which included mortars ammunition and cash for buying arms
were to bolster the administration as it tries to defend the small area it
still controls from fierce attacks by islamist rebels amnesty said
but the rights group raised fears the weapons could be used by government forces
in indiscriminate attacks or could fall into the hands of armed groups
opposed to the government who were frequently responsible for abuses
fighting in somalia killed thousands of civilians last year and displaced
hundreds of the thousands more it said
amnesty said the transfers took place despite substantial risks that such types
of weapons could be used in indiscriminate attacks by transitional government
forces
arms could further be diverted to armed groups opposed to the transitional
government who also commit gross and widespread abuses the amnesty statement
said
amnesty international has called for arms transfers to the somali government to
be suspended until there are adequate safeguards to prevent weapons from being
used to commit war crimes and human rights abuses
somalia has been without an effective government since and the transitional
government controls only small part of the capital mogadishu according to
amnesty
forces backing the weak administration are battling an al qaeda inspired
hardline islamist group called shebab which controls large areas of south and
central somalia
international concern for the future of the somali government has not been
matched by an equal concern for the human rights of civilians said michelle
kagari amnesty deputy director for africa
un arms embargo on somalia has been in place since but states can apply
to the un sanctions committee for exemptions to supply security assistance to
the country government
china could overtake us by pwc
london jan afp
china could overtake the united states to become the world largest economy as
early as top business consultancy said on thursday underlining the
seismic change in global economic power
pricewaterhousecoopers pwc also said in its report that by the top
world economies could be china followed by the united states india japan
brazil russia germany mexico france and britain
the current largest economies according to data from the international
monetary fund are the united states japan china germany france britain
italy russia spain and brazil
these projects suggest that china could be the largest economy in the world as
early as and is likely to be some way ahead of the us by john
hawksworth head of macroeconomics at pwc said in the report
india could grow even faster than china after however and will also move
rapidly up the global gdp gross domestic product rankings because of its
younger and faster growing population as opposed to china he added
the report also pointed to an increasing share of global gdp taken up by china
and india compared to the united states and the european union
the proportion in will be percent for the us percent for the eu
percent for china and five percent for india pwc said
but by that will have changed to percent for the us percent for the
eu percent for china and nine percent for india it added
jim neill chief global economist for us investment bank goldman sachs
forecast last november that china will overtake the united states by
years earlier than previous goldman sachs forecast of made in
neill coined the term brics to refer to the four emerging market powerhouses
brazil russia india and china which have since formed an informal grouping to
discuss global issues and economic policies
the group of developed and emerging economies last year took over from
the traditional group of seven britain canada france germany italy
japan and the united states as the main forum for economic talks
somali donors should stop arms supply rights group
nairobi jan afp
international donors should end weapons and other military supplies to somalia
embattled government as lack of safeguards risks worsening the violence and
human suffering amnesty international said thursday
the london based rights group voiced concern that war wracked somalia
government was receiving weapons while issues of vetting accountability arms
management and respect for human rights by somalia police and armed forces
remain largely unresolved according to its report
without adequate safeguards arms transfers may threaten the human rights and
worsen the humanitarian situation of somali civilians said the report
somalia international military and policing should be reviewed
the watchdog said until safeguards are in place the international community
should end all supplies of weapons military and security equipment and
financial assistance to the transitional federal government
it also called for the proper enforcement of arms embargo on the horn of
africa state
despite international backing the somali government has largely remained
ineffective in the face of relentless attacks by islamist rebels who have pared
its control of the capital mogadishu to just few streets
it also has no control of large swathes of the country much of which is in the
hands of the radical islamist shebab fighters who together with the more
political hezb al islam militants have vowed to topple it
alliance shifting fighters also pose the risk of arms ending up in the hands of
the extremists exacerbating somalia conflict which erupted in with the
ouster of president mohamed siad barre
unless effectively regulated and monitored such material assistance could be
used in committing serious violations of international humanitarian law warned
the rights group
afp
afp world news service no unauthorized reproduction
rallying mikko hirvonen factfile
monaco jan afp
factfile on mikko hirvonen following his victory in the monte carlo rally the
opening leg of the irc season
miko hirvonen
nationality finnish
age
birthdate july
birthplace kannonkoski
co pilot jarmo lehtinen fin
marital status engaged
irc championship
race victory monte carlo rally
wrc record
overall standings nd rd th th
th
debut finland renault clio
stables ford since subaru skoda rally
number of rallys contested
victories
first podium placing spain
first victory australia
last victory australia
rally debut opel kadett
rallying final monte carlo rally results
monaco jan afp
irc monte carlo rally results after the third and final day
mikko hirvonen fin ford fiesta hr min sec juho hanninen
fin skoda fabia at min sec nicolas vouilloz fra skoda fabia
stephane sarrazin fra peugeot jan kopecky cze skoda fabia
guy wilks gbr skoda fabia bruno magalhaes por peugeot
jean sebastien vigion fra peugeot
principal retirements robert kubica pol renault clio kris meeke
gbr peugeot toni gardemeister fin abarth grande punto sebastien ogier
fra peugeot
rallying polished finish sees hirvonen to monte carlo rally victory
monte carlo jan afp
finland two time world rally championship runner up mikko hirvonen won the
monte carlo rally after leading from start to finish in the irc opener
the year old fiesta ford driver winner of rallys on the superior level
world rally championship wrc circuit won by nearly two minutes over
compatriot juho hanninen driving skoda while frenchman nicolas vouilloz was
third in another skoda
hirvonen victory was virtually assured barring catastrophe when another
frenchman and last year winner sebastien ogier had to retire just before the
penultimate special stage of the event
the peugeot driver had earlier on friday looked to have the momentum to repeat
his victory after he moved to within seconds of hirvonen after winning the
opening stage on the third and final day
british birthday boy guy wilks on friday had climbed from seventh to fifth
place overall after recording the second fastest time of the race th special
but ended up in sixth overall
as he did last year ogier recorded the quickest time in stage that took place
between montauban and ouveze eygalayes in his home region of hautes alpes
ogier retirement made him the th driver to pull out of the race of the
that started out the experienced toni gardemeister fiat abarth had quit the
race earlier on friday after his car refused to start at the beginning of the
th special
it was hirvonen first victory in the monte carlo rally and was maiden win
for the fiesta on its debut competitive appearance
hirvonen joins such greats as france multi time world champion sebastien loeb
who won the rally five times and another finnish pilot marcus gronholm winner
in though both of them won when the rally was part of the wrc circuit
us aid chief to visit haiti at weekend
washington jan afp
us president barack obama aid coordinator for haiti is due to visit the quake
devastated nation at the weekend to take stock of relief efforts and attend the
funeral of leading cleric
us agency for international development usaid director rajiv shah will meet
haitian officials international partners and aid groups to assure assistance
is being effectively coordinated on the ground state department spokesman
philip crowley told reporters on friday
he said shah who first visited haiti week ago with us secretary of state
hillary clinton also plans to attend the funeral of the archbishop of port au
prince joseph serge miot who was killed in the january quake
shah will fly to santo domingo the capital of neighboring dominican republic
and take military transport into haiti on saturday before returning to
washington on sunday crowley said
the usaid director will travel with craig fugate his counterpart from the
federal emergency management agency fema the spokesman said
as the president designated coordinator for all us government efforts in
haiti shah will be getting his second first hand look at the us operations
there the state department spokesman said
he said ken merten the us ambassador to haiti and the un secretary general
special representative in haiti edmond mulet earlier friday also signed
statement of principles on us un relief coordination
he added that no official from the haitian government signed the document
raising questions about how much the badly hit haitian government was involved
in running the relief effort
the united states has sent economic and technical aid to haiti and total of
us military personnel are due to be in haiti or on ships offshore by
sunday
crowley also said total of americans including one government official
have been confirmed dead in the quake the authorities were trying to verify
reports that another americans were among the dead
nearly american citizens have been evacuated from haiti in the last
days he said an estimated to americans many of them dual
nationals were in haiti at the time of the temblor
top us senator backs new fed term for bernanke
washington jan afp
federal reserve chief ben bernanke embattled nomination for second term as
the us central banker got boost late friday as the top us senator said he
would vote in favor of confirmation
will vote for his confirmation senate democratic majority leader harry reid
said in statement that capped an aggressive behind the scenes campaign on
bernanke behalf by top aides to president barack obama
bernanke confirmation once thought assured fell into doubt friday as key
democrats came out against it amid deep election year voter anger at double
digit joblessness and what was widely perceived as wall street greed
the american people are frustrated and rightly so share their frustration
said reid who emphasized that bernanke most important job was to reassure
us families and businesses their economy is working for them
the fed chief also faced sharp criticisms from republicans over what they charge
is excessive government intervention in the economy including the titanic
wall street bailout approved in october
the unusual senate coalition against bernanke had imperiled his ability to draw
the votes needed to ensure his confirmation and led obama aides to spend the
day lobbying key lawmakers
white house chief of staff rahm emanuel and treasury secretary timothy geithner
reached out to senators on bernanke behalf according to an administration
official who requested anonymity
it was not immediately clear when the senate would take up the nomination after
key test vote this week was postponed because of uncertainty over whether
bernanke could rally the votes needed for passage
democrats and republicans were expected to battle in the months leading up to
the november mid term elections over which side can better revive the us
economy reduce unemployment and stem wave of home foreclosures
reid read from the same populist playbook praising bernanke response to the
global financial meltdown but warning his support going forward was not
unconditional and would turn on help for american families
reid who met with bernanke thursday said he had made it clear that to merit
confirmation chairman bernanke must redouble his efforts to ensure families can
access the credit they need to buy or keep their home send their children to
college or start small business
he has assured me he will soon outline plans for making that happen and
eagerly await them said the senator the senate will continue to demand
visible and responsible results for the people we represent
reid said steps bernanke championed during the collapse had averted
repeat of the devastating depression of the
an expert on the great depression chairman bernanke helped steer us away from
second one conventional wisdom rarely credits those who averted disaster but
that precisely what chairman bernanke did said reid
google co founders to each sell five million shares
washington jan afp
google founders larry page and sergey brin each plan to sell five million shares
in the internet giant move that would reduce their joint holdings to below
percent according to filing friday with the us securities and exchange
commission sec
the sec filing said the stock sales which will occur over the next five years
are part of pre determined stock trading plan set up by page and brin on
november
it said the google co founders currently hold about million shares of
google stock which represents percent of google outstanding shares and
percent of the voting power
page and brin each plan to sell five million shares which would leave them with
approximately million shares or percent of google outstanding shares
and percent of the voting power the sec filing said
although page and brin would no longer hold majority of the voting power
their remaining holdings would allow them to continue to exert control over the
internet search and advertising giant
the filing said the trading plan was adopted to allow larry and sergey to sell
portion of their google stock over time as part of their respective long term
strategies for individual asset diversification and liquidity
using these plans they can gradually diversify their investment portfolios and
can spread stock trades out over an extended period of time to reduce market
impact it said
five million shares of google is currently worth billion dollars
google lost percent to close at dollars on wall street on friday
haiti woman pulled from quake rubble after days
port au prince jan afp
an elderly haitian woman was rescued friday after spending days buried in the
rubble of the quake hit capital as the official death toll from the disaster
soared to more than
