chief lalit modi being burnt on the streets of lahore amid condemnation from
politicians and threats of boycotts from other pakistani sports teams
former hockey players demanded that the national team should not feature in the
hockey world cup which begins in new delhi on february india will face
pakistan in the opening match
but sports minister ijaz jakhrani brushed aside the demands
the world cup is an international event not an indian one so our team will
participate in it he told reporters
former hockey captain islahuddin siddiqui and ex captain of the national cricket
team zaheer abbas on thursday called for complete boycott of sports with
india saying the ipl had insulted pakistan cricketers
the third season of the lucrative ipl which features the world top players in
eight teams owned by rich businessmen and bollywood stars will be held in march
and april this year
one franchise official who preferred to remain unnamed told afp that he was
not surprised that the pakistanis were excluded
we were not sure if they would get visas and we did not want players who won
be available he said besides there is also the security issue no one was
willing to take chance
alpine skiing vonn snaps up cortina super
cortina ampezzo italy jan afp
favourite lindsey vonn raced home in friday super race at cortina ampezzo
as she pocketed her th world cup win and seventh this season
vonn won in min sec to see off swiss fabienne suter and swede anja
paerson by and sec
tennis australian open schedule
melbourne jan afp
saturday schedule of play on show courts for the australian open tennis at
melbourne park denotes seeding all sessions start at am gmt
unless stated
rod laver arena
alberta brianti ita samantha stosur aus
roger federer sui albert montanes esp
casey dellacqua aus venus williams usa
not before pm gmt
lleyton hewitt aus marcos baghdatis cyp
caroline wozniaki den shahar peer isr
hisense arena
tathiana garbin ita victoria azarenka blr
serena williams usa carla suarez navarro esp
novak djokovic srb denis istomin uzb
not before pm gmt
jo wilfried tsonga fra tommay haas ger
margaret court arena
vera zvonareva rus gisela dulko arg
juan monaco arg nikolay davydenko rus
fernando verdasco esp stefan koubek aut
alisa kleybanova rus max mirnyi blr anastasia rodionova paul hanley
aus
not before pm gmt
casey dellacqua kerr jordan aus lucie hradecka frantisek cermak cze
show court
michael kohlmann ger jarkko nieminen fin colin fleming ken skupski gbr
agnieszka radwanska pol francesca shiavone ita
nicolas almagro esp alejandro falla col
show court
mikhail youzhny rus lukasz kubot pol
feliciano lopez esp rainer schuettler ger arnaud clement fra jonathan
erlich isr
daniela hantuchova svk li na chn
carsten ball stephen huss aus fernando gonzalez chi ivan ljubicic cro
somali insurgents raid foreign aid offices
mogadishu jan afp
somali islamist rebels from the shebab and hezb al islam groups stormed the
offices of international aid agencies in the restive western city of beledweyn
friday officials and witnesses said
fighters stormed the compound and made away with computers and other equipment
following heavy fighting between insurgents and pro government militias in the
town located kilometres miles north of mogadishu
there was heavy fighting in the city this morning and islamists took control
after the clashes local humanitarian worker told afp on condition of
anonymity
some of their fighters stormed the offices of two humanitarian agencies taking
weapons from the security guards as well as computers the worker said
other sources and witnesses said the offices were being used by save the
children and the un world health organisation
dozens of heavily armed militants entered the offices and took some equipment
with them beledweyn resident and eyewitness ali husein said
they briefly held staff members but later released them ordering them not to
leave the compound until given further instructions he added
saw some of the staff members taken away blindfolded from the save the
children office munir adan another witness said
the shebab have routinely raided humanitarian offices in the areas they control
in recent months accusing most foreign aid agencies of spying against them and
supporting the internationally backed transitional federal government
in some regions of southern and central somalia the shebab have imposed
stringent conditions on foreign humanitarian ngos wishing to contribute to the
aid effort in the war stricken country
beledweyn key city lying near the border with ethiopia has changed hands
countless times recently as hezb al islam the shebab sufi group ahlu sunna wal
jamaa government forces and various local warlords vie for supremacy
karzai wants to pay taliban to lay down their arms
kabul jan afp
afghan president hamid karzai unveiled an ambitious western funded plan friday
to offer money and jobs to tempt taliban fighters to lay down their arms and
return to civilian life
his comments in an interview with the bbc came as us defence secretary robert
gates described the taliban as part of afghanistan political fabric but said
any future role would depend on insurgents laying down their weapons
us secretary of state hillary clinton also unveiled long term non military
strategy to stabilise afghanistan and pakistan that calls for sending in more
civilian experts and bringing extremists back into mainstream society
the taliban militia and other insurgent groups have been waging an increasingly
deadly rebellion against the afghan government and foreign troops since us led
invasion ousted the taliban regime from power in late
we know as the afghan people we must have peace at any cost karzai said in
the television interview aired friday ahead of an international conference on
afghanistan in london next week
those that we approach to return will be provided with the abilities to work
to find jobs to have protection to resettle in their own communities
hardline taliban supporters who were members of al qaeda or other terror
groups would not be accepted karzai said adding that he expected the plan to
be announced at the london conference on thursday
the taliban gives its volunteers higher salaries than the afghan government can
afford to pay its forces and the president said his project would have
international backing to provide the necessary funds
the taliban leadership have repeatedly rebuffed peace talks in the past while
spokesmen for another top insurgent leader gulbuddin hekmatyar also said he
would not come to the table unless strict conditions were met
we want free and independent afghanistan we are ready for positive
negotiations which can bring results and peace in our country spokesman
waliullah told afp on friday
but another spokesman for the warlord zubair sediqi said that before peace
talks were held all the foreign forces must leave afghanistan unconditionally
and permanent ceasefire must be enforced
karzai has faced severe criticism from western powers over the fraud tainted
august election that returned him to power but said his position could be
strengthened by increased resources
my presidency is weak in regard to the means of power which means money which
means equipment which means manpower which means capacity he said
karzai sounded an optimistic note about the war ravaged country future
predicting that in five years afghanistan could be in control of its own
security and the fight against corruption and drugs
on visit to pakistan which has come under intense us pressure to do more to
wipe out islamist extremists along its border with afghanistan gates said the
taliban had to prove they wanted role in afghanistan future
the question is whether they are prepared to play legitimate role in the
political fabric of afghanistan going forward meaning participating in
elections meaning not assassinating local officials and killing families he
told reporters
gates had said earlier this week it was unlikely taliban leaders would reconcile
with afghanistan government but that lower ranking insurgents might be open to
making peace with kabul
in washington on thursday clinton announced civilian strategy to rebuild the
afghan farm sector improve governance and bring extremists back into mainstream
society
it also calls for boosting pakistan capabilities to fight growing islamist
insurgency and to enhance the us partnership with islamabad
it complements military strategy in which president barack obama announced on
december he would deploy another us troops to afghanistan
extra troop commitments from nato allies are expected to take to around
the total number of foreign troops operating in afghanistan under us and nato
command in the coming year
football bullish zambia look beyond star studded nigeria
benguela angola jan afp
zambia are confident they can beat highly fancied nigeria on monday to book
semi final place in the africa cup of nations for the first time in years
zambia were bottom of the standings in group but thursday victory over
gabon lifted them on to four points with cameroon and the azingo but they stole
the group show having scored more goals
against nigeria our target is to reach the semi final said zambia coach
herve renard who grabbed football association of zambia faz president
kalusha bwalya in big bear hug moments after the final whistle
the frenchman added we played against them in durban in friendly two weeks
ago and the match ended in draw they are strong team with several
famous players but we have good chance against them
for one thing the pressure is on them not on us we have nothing to lose our
target at this competition was to reach at least the quarter finals and we have
done so now and from this stage on it is bonus for us
zambia have always been very skilful team they know how to play football
but the discipline and the concentration on the pitch has not always been very
good he continued
both countries last clashed in the final of the nations cup with nigeria
winning to clinch their second continental trophy
this has been long time coming for zambia said delighted faz boss bwalya
who featured in the final against nigeria at the el menzah stadium in
tunis
our qualification is the reward for all the hard work we have done in the last
few years we can only get better after this
we will take little time to celebrate this before we get back to work ahead
of our match against nigeria
bwlaya added we are all happy the whole team the whole country we showed
that there are no underdogs in football
we played well against cameroon and tunisia before we finished the job against
gabon
skipper chris katongo along with younger brother felix and strikers jacob
mulenga and china based james chamanga tormented gabon defence to achieve
milestone that many said was beyond this team
believe we have answered some of our critics who said that we were not
scoring goals but the most important thing is that we qualified for the next
round said chris katongo who led the copper bullets to fire five goals ahead
of the four netted by closest rivals cameroon
the chipolopolo making their first appearance in the last eight in years
attacked gabon from the start aware only win would keep their title hopes
alive
they took deserved lead in the th minute when rainford kalaba was set up by
felix katongo and the portugal based midfielder drove right through into the
gabon box before he clipped the ball over lunging ebang ovono
the chipolopolo increased the lead in the st minute when chamanga tapped home
after superb run by mulenga who dribbled his way into the box from the left
before he threaded his pass for chamanga to finish off
gabon pulled goal back in the rd minute through substitute fabrice do
marcolino who bundled home the ball from inside the six yard box
urgent british pm to face iraq inquiry before election chairman
london jan afp
prime minister gordon brown has agreed to appear at britain iraq war inquiry
before elections due by june rather than afterwards as previously expected the
probe chairman said friday
football china football chief sacked amid graft probe
beijing jan afp
china on friday sacked the chief of its football association after it was
revealed that he was in custody as part of probe into match fixing and other
corruption that has stained the chinese game
nan yong who was appointed to head the scandal rocked chinese football
association year ago was removed from his post the xinhua news agency said
quoting the nation deputy sports minister cui dalin
reports this week said nan and two other top cfa officials deputy chiefs yang
yimin and zhang jianqiang were taken away last friday in beijing for
interrogation by police from northeastern liaoning province where the probe
is based
xinhua quoted cui as saying wei di china former head of water sports has
been named to lead chinese soccer
the decision to remove nan yong as director and yang yimin as deputy director
has been made as both of them are now helping the police in the bribery and
match fixing cases cui was quoted as saying
none of the reports have made clear whether nan and the other officials were
suspected of wrongdoing
zhang had been in charge of managing the referees who worked matches in the
chinese pro leagues according to press reports
following widespread allegations of organised gambling crooked referees and
match fixing the cfa announced in late it had set up joint task force
with police to root out corruption in the sport
the allegations and misbehaviour by players have severely damaged public trust
in the chinese leagues and been blamed for dwindling attendance and frustration
among fans and sponsors
the arrests of at least football and club officials have been announced since
november with police interrogating more than suspects according to press
reports
officials at the cfa and the sports ministry could not be reached by afp on
friday the association had earlier this week declined requests for comment
athletics gebrselassie wins dubai marathon but no record
dubai jan afp
ethiopian athletics legend haile gebrselassie attempt to break the world
record and walk away with million dollar bonus was undone by bad back
friday but the legendary ethiopian still won his third successive dubai
marathon
the year old gebrselassie was trying to break his own record set in berlin
on september but failed by little over two minutes
he finished in hr min sec while the record time is hr min sec
gebrselassie won the first prize of dollars in the richest marathon race
in the world as he finished ahead of kenyan chala dechase beyene and
compatriot eshetu wendimu tisge
gebrselassie who later revealed he had to undergo intensive physiotherapy on
his back just to start the race never looked like breaking the record and it
was only with about kms to the finish line that he pulled away from the pack
chala dechase came in by sec after gebrselassie while eshetu wendimu clocked
hr min sec
gebrselassie said it was not good night and when woke up this morning my
back was in bad position
halfway through the race decided just to win the race knew with all the
spectators at the finish line it would be unbelievable could not lose in
front of them
mamitu daska molisa made it an ethiopian clean sweep when she won the women
race in hr min sec eight seconds ahead of compatriot aberu kebede shewaye
third place went to kenya helena loshanyang kirop who clocked
asia markets tumble on obama crackdown on banks
hong kong jan afp
us president barack obama vow to crack down on wall street reckless big
banks sent shockwaves through asian stock markets on friday with the region
financial centres suffering
investors followed the lead of the dow jones index which suffered its worst
fall of the year after obama said he wanted to put limits on banks to avoid
repeat of the financial crisis that tore into the world economies
tokyo nikkei dived percent or points to while sydney
gave up percent or points to its biggest daily drop since
november
however bargain hunting later in the day pulled some markets off their intra
day lows
hong kong finished percent or points off at the hang
seng had fallen as much as percent by the break
singapore was percent or points down at
obama thursday unveiled plans to limit excessive risk taking and protect us
taxpayers by preventing banks or financial institutions from owning investing
in or sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds
never again will the american taxpayer be held hostage by bank that is too
big to fail vowed obama
blaming the banks for causing the economic crisis he said my resolve to
reform the system is only strengthened when see return to old practices at
some of the very firms fighting reform
he said he was also galvanised to act when see record profits at some of the
very firms claiming that they cannot lend more to small business cannot keep
credit card rates low and cannot refund taxpayers for the bailout
he vowed if these folks want fight it fight ready to have
his words sent wall street diving percent
president obama proposal to limit us banks risk taking increased
uncertainties leading investors to quickly move to safer assets jung seung
jae an analyst at mirae asset securities told dow jones newswires
the region was dragged lower after wall street fall with taipei closing down
percent or points to and seoul falling percent or
points to
financial groups were heavily hit in taipei cathay financial was down
percent and fubon financial percent lower
and in sydney anz banking group fell percent while the national australia
bank lost percent
seoul kospi saw kb financial group fall percent shinhan financial group
decline percent daewoo securities slide percent
dbs bank in singapore fell cents to united overseas bank declined
cents to and oversea chinese banking corp closed nine cents lower at
in tokyo nomura holdings shed percent
indian shares were one percent off with the country largest bank icici
percent down and state bank of india percent lower
the news capped tough week for asia markets which have been struggling due
to fears beijing is set to tighten credit as it tries to rein in its scorching
economy
those worries were stoked thursday after china said its economy expanded
percent in the december quarter while inflation reached month high
shanghai was percent or points lower at bargain hunting
helped the index finish off intraday lows near three percent
we had weak lead from wall street on the potential moves from china to slow
things down and mr obama is going forward on bank regulation burrell
stockbroking director richard herring said
we had good run over the christmas period so maybe there just little
unwinding of some christmas excess
despite the markets woes tiger airways made its debut in singapore becoming
the first asian carrier to list in five years
the budget airline one of the most actively bought stocks closed at
singapore dollars us apiece up eight cents or percent from its
initial public offering price of dollars
in tokyo bankrupt japan airlines added one yen one us cent to end the day at
three yen
japanese stocks were also hit by stronger yen which led to new fears for
exporters
the dollar dropped to yen in tokyo afternoon trade from in new york
late thursday the euro gained to dollars from but dropped to
yen from
oil was also lower with new york main contract light sweet crude for march
delivery down cents to us dollars barrel while brent north sea crude
was off cents at dollars
hong kong gold finished at us dollars an ounce down from
thursday close of dollars
in other markets
jakarta lost percent or points to
car distributor astra international shed percent to rupiah while
coal miner bumi resources lost percent to rupiah
bank mandiri declined percent to rupiah
in malaysia the kuala lumpur composite index lost points or
percent to close at
decliners included banking group cimb which lost percent at ringgit
while integrated infrastructure conglomerate ytl added percent at
wellington fell percent or points to
fletcher building lost cents to dollars and contact energy dropped
cents to
manila fell percent or points to
philippine long distance telephone fell percent to pesos
bangkok lost percent or points to close at
coal producer banpu fell baht to close at and energy firm ptt plc
ended baht lower at baht
eu current account deficit almost halved official data
brussels jan afp
european current payment flows showed deficit almost halved in the third
quarter with the trade component revealing solid surplus in the services
sector official data showed on friday
the deficit on the current account vital measure of all current payments in
and out of the nation european union fell to billion euros
billion dollars from july to september the eurostat statistics agency said
the deficit was revised billion euros in the second quarter having hit
billion euros in the first quarter and billion in the fourth quarter
of
the eu strong services sector posted surplus of billion euros during
the three month period slightly lower than in the previous quarter
alert
british pm to appear at iraq inquiry before election chairman
eurozone industrial orders up in november eu
brussels jan afp
new industrial orders rose by percent in november across the countries
that share the euro in sharp rebound from the previous month percent
fall
european union data released on friday also showed that factory orders in the
eurozone were down percent compared to one year earlier as europe stutters
along fragile path to recovery
in the nation eu as whole industrial orders followed similar course
rising by percent in november from october but falling by percent over
months according to official figures from the eurostat agency
among the member states for which data was available orders rose in
during november with greece notably posting percent increase
on an annual basis countries saw reduced orders with ireland recording the
largest drop at percent
scores more bodies recovered after nigerian clashes
kuru karama nigeria jan afp
volunteers recovered scores more bodies in nigeria troubled central plateau
state as the death toll from inter religious clashes rose and the army was
ordered to step up security
scores of bodies were picked up from streets houses and open water wells in
kuru karama village some kilometres miles south of state capital jos
many of the victims had been thrown into drinking water wells the leader of
muslim aid team said
so far we have retrieved bodies but many more are still in the wells and
afraid we may have to sand fill them because the bodies have decomposed so
bad that the flesh disintegrates when we try to bring them out ibrahim tanimu
told afp
tanimu team piled the bodies into waiting vans late thursday
the state government has given no official death toll from the violence which
broke out on sunday but religious leaders and medical workers said they had
counted around bodies by wednesday
thousands of troops had deployed in the city and by late wednesday had relaxed
hour curfew to allow people to replenish depleted food and water supplies
collect bodies and bury the dead
ninety eight victims were buried in mass grave in the central city on
thursday
fighting broke out in jos on sunday between religious gangs after christian
landowner said muslim construction site was encroaching on his land
the violence later spread to small towns and villages on the outskirts of jos
the capital of plateau state
vice president goodluck jonathan late thursday ordered the military to take over
the security of the affected regions as well as in neighbouring areas where
reprisals were feared
have today ordered the army to lead the security forces to take over the
entire security of the affected areas including those areas that are considered
prone to risk he said
fitch boosts its assessment of russia
moscow jan afp
international ratings agency fitch on friday raised its outlook on the russian
economy to stable from negative saying it had greater confidence in
russia financial and economic prospects
the agency pointed to higher oil prices tamer inflation smaller than
expected budget deficit last year net inflow of capital to the private sector
and lower banking sector risk
fitch maintained its bbb rating on russia long term local and foreign currency
debt
scores more bodies recovered after nigerian clashes
kuru karama nigeria jan afp
volunteers recovered scores more bodies in nigeria troubled central plateau
state as the death toll from inter religious clashes rose and the army was
ordered to step up security
scores of bodies were picked up from streets houses and open water wells in
kuru karama village some kilometres miles south of state capital jos
many of the victims had been thrown into drinking water wells the leader of
muslim aid team said
so far we have retrieved bodies but many more are still in the wells and
afraid we may have to sand fill them because the bodies have decomposed so
bad that the flesh disintegrates when we try to bring them out ibrahim tanimu
told afp
tanimu team piled the bodies into waiting vans late thursday
the state government has given no official death toll from the violence which
broke out on sunday but religious leaders and medical workers said they had
counted around bodies by wednesday
thousands of troops had deployed in the city and by late wednesday had relaxed
hour curfew to allow people to replenish depleted food and water supplies
collect bodies and bury the dead
ninety eight victims were buried in mass grave in the central city on
thursday
fighting broke out in jos on sunday between religious gangs after christian
landowner said muslim construction site was encroaching on his land
the violence later spread to small towns and villages on the outskirts of jos
the capital of plateau state
vice president goodluck jonathan late thursday ordered the military to take over
the security of the affected regions as well as in neighbouring areas where
reprisals were feared
have today ordered the army to lead the security forces to take over the
entire security of the affected areas including those areas that are considered
prone to risk he said
india reliance industries profit rises percent
mumbai jan afp
indian refining and energy giant reliance industries announced its first profit
rise in over year on friday as its performance was boosted by higher natural
gas production
reliance india largest private sector company said net profit rose
percent to billion rupees million dollars in the fiscal third
quarter to december from billion rupees year earlier
it marked the company first profit increase since october when earnings
were hit by the global economic slowdown
income for the third quarter jumped percent to billion rupees the
company controlled by billionaire mukesh ambani said in statement
the profit was broadly in line with market expectations
reliance is well poised to benefit from the improving global economic
environment and domestic markets opportunities said ambani who is company
chairman
the company said the year ago quarterly results had been restated to include
earnings from subsidiary reliance petroleum which was amalgamated with the
parent last year
after the earnings announcement reliance shares recovered to trade up
percent or rupees at after hitting an intraday low of
reliance gross refining margins fell to dollars barrel in the quarter
from dollars barrel in the same period year earlier
reliance operates the world largest oil processing complex in jamnagar
western india where two adjacent refineries have combined capacity to process
million barrels of oil day
gas production from the kg field off the eastern indian coast has ramped up
to million metric standard cubic meters day in nine months from its start
last april
this reaffirms our belief in our ability to create truly world class assets in
the integrated energy value chain ambani said
reliance has generated two billion dollars through stock sales since last
september and is expected to keep raising cash to boost its reserves and fund
acquisitions
the company india largest by market capitalisation already has bankrupt
netherlands based chemicals group lyondellbasell in its sights
reliance has declined to comment on media report earlier this month that said
the company had sweetened its bid for lyondellbasell to billion dollars
from the billion dollars initially put forward in november
