diplomatic pressure on north korea must continue to bring it back to the table
of dialogue
north korea quit the forum last april and staged its second nuclear test the
following month it calls for united nations sanctions to be lifted before it
returns
the north also wants talks on treaty to formally end the korean war before
putting the issue of dismantling its nuclear programmes on the table
six party agreements in and envisage talks on peace treaty but only
in return for full denuclearisation the north says the peace pact should come
first
the united states and south korea have rejected the conditions
what is important at this point in time is that the north must return to the
six party talks unconditionally so that tangible progress in denuclearisation
can be made yu said
the south korean government sticks to its stance that we will continue with
sanctions while pursuing dialogue simultaneously
urgent us internet criticism harms ties china
beijing jan afp
china on friday said us calls for internet freedom were harmful to bilateral
ties after secretary of state hillary clinton criticised chinese censorship of
the web
hong kong gold closes lower
hong kong jan afp
hong kong gold closed lower friday at us dollars an ounce
down from thursday finish of dollars
it opened at dollars
tennis henin murray keep open dreams alive
melbourne jan afp
justine henin performed great escape act friday to keep her australian open
dream alive as she joined dinara safina andy murray and juan martin del potro
in the last
american seventh seed andy roddick also made the fourth round but jelena
jankovic tournament is over with the eighth seed shadow of her former self
in defeat to st seed alona bondarenko
men th seed gael monfils was another casualty as the frenchman succumbed
to american rd seed john isner
the diminutive henin the champion at melbourne park was also staring at
defeat after losing the opening set and falling behind in the second to big
serving russian th seed alisa kleybanova
but she drew on all her experience as seven time grand slam champion to claw
back taking the second set and rattling through the third for
victory in gripping two hour minute contest
following her ousting of fifth seed elena dementieva in the previous round
henin battling win proved once again she is still threat despite playing in
only her second tournament on her comeback from an month retirement
kind of survived little bit today she said
it was so difficult for me after the last match physically suffered
little bit in the last two days
very happy that still in the tournament
she will next play fellow belgian yanina wickmayer who beat italy sara errani
safina the second seed clocked rapid fire minute thrashing of
england elena baltacha in her first match on rod laver arena since she
imploded during last year final against serena williams
the russian took heart from winning return at the scene of one of her worst
days in tennis
didn have good memories of the last match played on rod laver arena for
sure said the world number two am glad to be back and had to fight hard
and make sure won to forget the bad memories
she will next face maria kirilenko after the fellow russian outlasted italy
roberta vinci
while safina and henin powered on jankovic looked like spent force as she was
bundled in miserable end to the tournament for player ranked world number
one this time last year
she joins other high profile casualties maria sharapova and ana ivanovic
the serb struggled to live up to her potential in and her big match
credentials were again found wanting but jankovic wasn overly concerned
it no big deal it only my second tournament of the year she said
just have to stay positive keep my head up high know what have to work
on feel like my game is improving and feel like really can raise my level
and be up there
on the men side scotland murray maintained his flawless form by advancing
with win over frenchman florent serra
the year old who next plays isner equalled his best performance here he
has not dropped set in three matches as he takes aim at maiden grand slam
title
happy to have won in three sets in all of the matches he said
happy to save as much energy as possible today was hot so it was nice to
get off the court quickly
roddick ground out win over tenacious spaniard
feliciano lopez
it sets up the american seventh seed four time semi finalist here with
fourth round clash against chilean th seed fernando gonzalez who dug deep to
win five setter against kazak evgeny korolev
del potro fired past german florian mayer
alert
china says clinton speech harmful to sino us ties
philippine military to accept small soldiers
manila jan afp
the philippine military said friday it will now accept small soldiers
breaking long standing tradition
defence secretary norberto gonzales ordered the armed forces to start accepting
at boot camps male and female applicants who are as short as five feet
metres an army statement said
aspiring soldiers who are not so lucky with their height will now have
greater chance of serving the country through the armed forces the statement
said
the new ruling would accommodate small but equally competent applicants the
statement added
the minimum height requirement was previously five feet four inches for males
and five feet two inches for females it said
but applicants must still satisfy other requirements they must be single
have had some university education and be aged below
the philippine military is battling some of the longest running muslim
separatist and communist insurgencies in the world but manila is holding peace
talks with the muslim rebels and says maoist fighters are nearly defeated
finland says concerned about human rights in iran
helsinki jan afp
finland has summoned the iranian representative in helsinki to express its
concerns over human rights violations the nordic country foreign ministry
said friday
the government of finland is deeply concerned over the harassment of iranian
human rights activists and journalists iran is expected to observe in full the
international human rights agreements to which the country has committed
itself the ministry said in statement
the foreign ministry summoned iran charge affaires hossein ali zadeh on
thursday it said adding this was not the first time the iranian representative
was summoned over human rights issues
in recent weeks finland has become particularly concerned about the violent
suppression of demonstrations increased harassment of human rights activists
and the treatment of the bahai minority it said
pertti torstila secretary of state at the foreign ministry emphasised the
importance of religious freedom and freedom of opinion and said he was dismayed
by the detention of members of the bahai faith
finland condemns the use of violence against demonstrators exercising their
freedom of speech and freedom of assembly every person detained in connection
with demonstrations should be guaranteed fair trial the ministry said
earlier this week human rights watch said iran had launched the most
widespread crackdown in decade after its disputed presidential election in
june and the large protests it provoked
president mahmoud ahmadinejad june re election has triggered string of
protests over the past seven months with opposition demonstrators defying
official warnings to stay off the streets
dozens of leading government critics including human rights lawyers have been
rounded up and at least two journalists working with foreign outlets have been
detained
bomb attack targets sri lanka opposition ahead of vote
colombo jan afp
key opposition activist in sri lanka was targeted at home by bomb attack
friday as violence escalated ahead of next week presidential election
the pre dawn blast destroyed car and severely damaged the home of tiran alles
wealthy businessman and key ally of the opposition presidential candidate
sarath fonseka he and his family escaped unhurt
heard huge explosion and as came out of my room saw the house on fire
alles told afp pointing the finger at the ruling party for the attempt on his
life they were obviously trying to kill me
the attack came amid tightened security as sri lankans prepare to go to the
polls tuesday to choose between president mahinda rajapakse and his former army
chief fonseka
the opposition alleged alles had been targeted because fonseka campaign had
released photograph of rajapakse eldest son namal with tamil rebel leader
at london nightclub
rajapakse reputation as war hero president is staked on his victory over the
tamil tiger rebels last year who were wiped out in huge government offensive
after years of fighting
since the photograph showed some sort of link between the president family
and the tamil tigers alles had been receiving death threats the spokesman
said even yesterday we complained that he could be targeted
alles said forensic experts were going through the wreckage of his car and house
at colombo nawala quarter but he did not expect an impartial inquiry from the
police
charred debris was strewn over the frontyard of the fire damaged house and the
roof had partially collapsed
don expect anything from the investigation alles said they will try to
kill me before the election
alles campaigned for rajapakse victory in the november election but fell
out when few dissidents were sacked from the government
since his fall from grace within the rajapakse administration alles had worked
with the opposition and was partly credited with arranging for fonseka to come
forward as common opposition candidate
fonseka and opposition leader ranil wickremesinghe visited the bombed home
the attackers are believed to have come in van and carried out the attack and
fled police official at the scene said adding that no arrests had been
made
total of four people have been killed and hundreds have been injured during
campaigning in the run up to the vote the police have received more than
complaints of election related violence
the attack came despite stepping up of security across the country following
orders from rajapakse to ensure violence free vote
international concern over escalating election related violence has poured in
with united nations chief ban ki moon on thursday expressing alarm over the
increasing number of violent incidents and killings
ban urged all parties and their supporters to show restraint and refrain from
violence to adhere to the electoral laws and rules and to avoid provocative
acts throughout the election period and its aftermath
the independent election commissioner dayananda dissanayake was quoted as saying
wednesday that he had stopped giving directives to the police and public
officials who disregarded his orders for conducting free and fair vote
rajapakse called the vote two years ahead of schedule to benefit from the
government defeat of the separatist tamil tiger rebels after decades of ethnic
warfare on the island
but he faces surprise rival to power in fonseka the former general who led
the troops to victory in may
dense fog wreaks havoc across north india
new delhi jan afp
dense fog disrupted road rail and air travel across northern india friday with
dozens of flights from the capital cancelled or delayed officials said
we have domestic and international flight cancellations and cases of
rescheduling of flights there were some diversions as well new delhi
airport authority spokesman said
the main weather office for northern india in new delhi predicted little respite
in the next couple of days adding that fog this winter season had been the most
dense since
foggy conditions are likely to prevail for another few days weather office
spokesman yadav told afp this is not an isolated phenomenon but covering
the entire northern plains
railway schedules were also in disarray with many trains cancelled and long
distance trains running late on friday spokesman for northern railways said
with visibility near zero we have advised our people train drivers to slow
down to avoid accidents the spokesman said
dense fog has been blamed for series of train accidents since the beginning of
january that have claimed at least lives
traffic on city roads and national highways was reduced to crawl as drivers
struggled with poor visibility
foggy conditions are common across northern india in january but the region has
been hit by an unusually severe winter cold snap since the new year
tennis del potro overcomes mayer to reach fourth round
melbourne jan afp
argentine fourth seed juan martin del potro reached the fourth round of the
australian open after win over german florian mayer on
friday
cycling tour down under stage four results
adelaide australia jan afp
results on friday from stage four of the tour down under over kilometres
miles from norwood to goolwa
stage
andre greipel ger htc columbia hr min sec robbie mcewen aus team
katusha graeme brown aus rabobank gert steegmans bel team
radioshack manuel cardoso por footon servetto fuji julian dean nzl
garmin transitions jurgen roelandts bel omega pharma lotto matthew
goss aus htc columbia robert forster ger milram yauheni hutarovich
blr francaise des jeux all same time
selected greg henderson nzl team sky cadel evans aus bmc
racing team lance armstrong usa radioshack at sec alejandro
valverde esp caisse epargne oscar pereiro esp
overall
andre greipel ger htc columbia hr min sec robbie mcewen aus
team katusha at sec greg henderson nzl sky gert steegmans bel
radioshack graeme brown aus rabobank jurgen roelandts bel
omega pharma lotto cadel evans aus bmc andriy grivko ukr
team astana robbie hunter rsa garmin transitions baden cooke
aus saxo bank
selected alejandro valverde esp caisse epargne lance armstrong
usa oscar pereiro esp
figure skating comeback cohen in contention for games berth
spokane washington jan afp
sasha cohen turned back the clock at the us figure skating championships
thursday with strong short programme that put her in solid contention for
third olympic berth
cohen the olympic silver medallist who hadn competed since earning
bronze at the the world championships showed all of her old grace
bringing the crowd to their feet with programme that put her second behind
mirai nagasu
cohen whose oft delayed comeback had many questioning her ability to return to
full form in time to book spot on the us team for the vancouver olympics next
month nailed triple lutz double toe jump combination
she followed with triple flip that had the crowd cheering
at the end of the programme to see all those people standing just made me so
happy to be here to be competing after so many obstacles had to overcome
said cohen who had personal best short programme score of just
really special night
nagasu led the opening phase of the competition with score of while
rachael flatt was third on
nagasu opened her programme with triple lutz double toe combination and
cruised the rest of the way
flatt who skated early was bit shaky on triple flip triple toe combination
and on another triple jump
for only the second time since only two women will represent the united
states at the olympics the lack of third berth ratchets up the pressure even
more at these nationals
ashley wagner the only american woman to qualify for the grand prix final this
season fell on triple lutz and was fourth with points
she was followed by christina gao and amanda dobbs
defending national champion alissa czisny olympic hopes were all but
extinguished as she fell on triple lutz that was meant to be the first jump in
combination she is lying seventh heading into saturday deciding free skate
earlier thursday defending champions meryl davis and charlie white edged tanith
belbin and ben agosto in the ice dance compulsory dance
davis and white scored points while olympic runners up belbin and
agosto five time us champions who were sidelined last year by injury finished
second on kim navarro and brent bommentre were third at
all duos skated to the golden waltz in the compulsory dance the first of three
stages of the competition that continues with friday original dance and
concludes with saturday free dance the united states has three olympic ice
dance berths in vancouver
baseball taiwan seeks lift from us team
taipei jan afp
taiwan is counting on the star power of us pro baseball team to lift fans
spirits after the island favourite sport was hit by string of game fixing
scandals an official said friday
the los angeles dodgers of the us major league baseball are set to play two
exhibition games against team of local stars on march and said tai
hsia ling chairwoman of taiwan sports affairs council
we hope the dodgers visit will broaden the horizon of taiwan baseball fans
and rekindle their passion for the sport despite string of negative news on
taiwan professional baseball she said in statement
the dodgers first visited taiwan in amid much fanfare and the local fan
base for us major league games has expanded especially after home grown talent
made it to the league including relief pitcher hong chih kuo for the dodgers
taiwanese authorities last year launched an investigation into the latest game
fixing allegations resulting in the arrest of six bookies and former players
prosecutors have declined to say how many players are suspected of involvement
in the alleged scam but so far more than have been questioned in the ongoing
probe
local media reported that some players allegedly received cash luxury cars and
even paid for sex services from bookies to deliberately lose games
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
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 movement has been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency against
the afghan government and foreign troops since us led invasion ousted its
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
taliban gunmen and suicide bombers launched massive attack on the heart of
kabul on monday killing five people in one of the most spectacular strikes on
the city since the war was unleashed more than nine years ago
karzai has faced severe criticism from western powers over the fraud tainted
august election that returned him to power and his weak leadership 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
but he added where legitimacy is concerned for the past eight years
afghanistan has had perhaps the most legitimate of its governments ever seen
karzai also 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
he still sounded angry about stinging criticism from the united states and
britain the main contributors to the international nato and us led forces in
afghanistan about the way the presidential election was run
unfortunately our election was very seriously mistreated by our western
allies he said
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
the question is what do the taliban want to make out of afghanistan he told
reporters when they tried before we saw before what they wanted to make and it
was desert culturally and every other way
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 clinton announced on thursday 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 partly through
supporting political and economic reforms
it complements military strategy in which president barack obama announced on
december he would deploy another us troops to afghanistan this year to
undercut the resurgent taliban
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
tennis th seed monfils out of open
melbourne jan afp
american rd seed john isner ousted french th seed gael monfils from the
australian open friday winning
cycling armstrong fails to break greipel stranglehold
adelaide australia jan afp
an audacious lance armstrong attack failed to break andre greipel stranglehold
on the tour down under on friday as the german claimed his third stage win in
emphatic style
armstrong and radioshack team mate tomas vaitkus broke forward with about
kilometres miles to go but were caught by the pack in hot and windy
conditions near the end of the kilometre stage four
greipel the champion put on trademark powerful sprint to close narrowly
ahead of australians robbie mcewen and graeme brown and maintain his overall
lead after four stages
that was as hard as can go said armstrong who finished in the main group
of riders
tomas went and kept going and kept going turned around and it was just the
two of us it was good effort maybe not the best outcome
armstrong described greipel as unbeatable in straight sprint after he also
pounced for victory in the first and second stages with portugal manuel
cardoso taking the third in an uphill finish on thursday
the american who will bid for an eighth tour de france title in july said
greipel always looked favourite with the whole peloton massed for the dash to
the line in the coastal town of goolwa
it would have been better to keep it down to smaller bunch in that wind and
hopefully give everyone better chance against greipel he said
but greipel think we can all see is unbeatable right now
greipel whose title defence ended in freak crash with parked police
motorbike last year said it was too early to start celebrating with the race
most challenging climb looming on saturday
today race is over but not tomorrow he said praising his htc columbia
team
everyone is looking out for us but if the team works we can be successful we
deserve the wins because we always ride from the front
the german now holds second advantage over mcewen with team sky greg
henderson four seconds further back and world road champion cadel evans
seconds adrift armstrong is th overall
the tour down under the southern hemisphere biggest race is held over six
stages on kilometres of road around adelaide and closes on sunday
asia pacific airline passengers slump percent in
kuala lumpur jan afp
asia pacific airlines suffered percent drop in passenger numbers and an
percent slump in cargo traffic in as they weathered their worst ever
downturn an industry body said friday
the association of asia pacific airlines aapa said that the collapse in
corporate travel and intense price competition during the global recession saw
airline revenues tumble by percent
we have been through downturns before but none as severe as we
experienced in the past two years aapa director general andrew herdman said in
statement
airlines cut flights and cargo capacity and shaved back on costs but were
still not able to fully offset the effects of sharply lower revenues compounded
by continuing volatility in oil prices he said
overall asia pacific airlines are expected to report significant losses for
following similar heavy losses suffered in he said while adding
that traffic numbers in recent months had shown signs of recovery
the cargo business is regaining some of its dynamism and passenger demand on
short haul leisure routes within the region has already picked up although
business travel demand is recovering more slowly herdman added
tennis kirilenko keeps the good times rolling
melbourne jan afp
glamorous russian maria kirilenko equalled her best ever grand slam performance
when she outlasted italian roberta vinci to reach the fourth
round of the australian open on friday
kirilenko who dumped former champion maria sharapova from the tournament in the
first round saw off the challenge of the gritty italian in two and quarter
hours
the year old world number has been somewhat of an underachiever on the big
stage reaching the fourth round in melbourne in but otherwise never making
it past the third round at grand slam
kirilenko said she had started playing well during and enjoyed good off
season which was being reflected in her results this week
had good preparation at the end of the year and also started to play
much better at the end of last year also she said
played well at the kremlin cup and also played well at the us open
also am physically stronger and when you are winning you are naturally more
confident
she faces fellow russian dinara safina in the fourth round after the second seed
demolished england elena baltacha
expecting tough match she being playing very well for the last few
years kirilenko said she was number one and now she number two
kirilenko said she wasn concerned about the power of safina saying sharapova
was just as strong
was prepared for maria and think will be prepared for dinara
india reliance industries profit up nearly percent
mumbai jan afp
indian refining and energy giant reliance industries reported friday quarterly
net profit rose percent boosted by higher gas production from its oil
fields
reliance india largest private sector company reported net profit rose to
billion rupees million dollars in the fiscal third quarter to
december from billion rupees year earlier
total income for the third quarter jumped percent to billion rupees
the company said in statement
the profit was broadly in line with market expectations
the company said the year ago quarterly results had been restated to include
earnings from subsidiary reliance petroleum which was amalgamated with the
parent firm last year
after the earnings announcement reliance shares recovered to trade up
percent or rupees at after hitting day low of
tennis australian open results day five rd update
melbourne jan afp
results from day five of the australian open at melbourne park here friday
denotes seeding
men singles
rd round
andy roddick usa bt feliciano lopez esp
fernando gonzalez chi bt evgeny korolev kaz
andy murray gbr bt florent serra fra
women singles
rd round
dinara safina rus bt elena baltacha gbr
alona bondarenko ukr bt jelena jankovic srb
justin henin bel bt alisa kleybanova rus
yanina wickmayer bel bt sara errani ita
maria kirilenko rus bt roberta vinci ita
zheng jie chn bt marion bartoli fra
tennis china zheng upsets bartoli to make fourth round
melbourne jan afp
china zheng jie came from set down to upset th seeded frenchwoman marion
bartoli in the third round of the australian open on friday
tokyo shares seen sluggish in coming week
tokyo jan afp
japanese shares are likely to remain under pressure next week as investors wait
for details of us president barack obama plan to limit the size and scope of
us banks dealers said friday
the plan on financial regulation will continue to weigh on the market because
