his last pre poll press conference surrounded by his technicolour coalition of
marxists tamils muslims and right wingers
if there is war we will face it he added threatening street protests and
rallies
rajapakse like fonseka nationalist from the majority sinhalese ethnic group
has vowed to ensure the poll goes off peacefully and has called on voters to
give him second mandate to develop the country post war
his supporters are drawn by the mustachioed year old charisma and populist
approach and see him as the man who liberated the country from fight with the
tigers that cost lives according to the un
rajapakse and fonseka fell out in the aftermath of the conflict when the army
commander was moved to ceremonial position by the president who reportedly
suspected him of plotting coup himself
their relationship began to sour when fonseka horoscope astrology is taken
extremely seriously in sri lanka was read by an influential buddhist monk who
saw future statesman in the career military man
there are no reliable opinion polls in the country and political observers say
the election is too close to call both camps believe they can claim majority
in the voting by the million strong electorate
in curious twist the minority tamils on whose behalf the tigers waged their
campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations might swing the final result if
the two candidates split the sinhalese vote equally
total of police and about soldiers are on duty tuesday to guard
against violence which has flared on more than occasions in the run up to
the election police figures show
at least four activists have been killed and the house of key opposition
fundraiser was bombed last friday
amid fears that fonseka and his allies will reject any rajapakse victory because
of fraud foreign minister rohitha bogollagama on monday played down warnings
about street protests
don think the people of sri lanka have time for street protests he said
it has never happened
the centre for monitoring election violence cmev an accredited monitoring
body has already announced serious flaws in the electoral process in the run up
to the race which includes candidates in total
with deep regret we have to say that we have picture of dysfunctional
electoral process and the breakdown of the authority of the independent
elections commission cmev director paikiasothy saravanamuttu said
elections commissioner dayananda dissanayake responsible for announcing the
winner on wednesday has already criticised public servants for failing to
prevent the misuse of state resources for political purposes
the first results are likely to trickle out late tuesday with the final outcome
expected to be known on wednesday voting begins at am gmt and ends
at pm gmt
football blatter positive on world cup
madrid jan afp
fifa president sepp blatter on monday stressed he was confident the summer world
cup finals would go off without hitch in south africa and urged observers to
dispense with any lingering doubts regarding the host nation capacity to stage
the event successfully
we should have confidence in the organisers let have an end to any doubts
because having doubts does not move you forward in life blatter told anews
conference on visit to madrid
in africa we can bring about something important in the history of humanity
said blatter saying africa deserved to stage the jamboree for the first time as
the continent has given much to the world of football
south africa attracts million tourists year don understand these
doubts when it comes to staging football on the contrary when last june we
staged the confederations cup we had no security problems blatter stressed
fed chief likely to win second term top democrat
washington jan afp
embattled federal reserve chief ben bernanke will win enough support in the us
senate to secure second term the democrats top vote counter predicted
monday
do believe that we re moving forward and with republican support this
nomination will be approved said senator dick durbin who described the
nomination as hanging by the fingernails for long long time
but don take anything for granted until the final vote said durbin who
needed votes in first procedural test in the face of stiff opposition to
bernanke from vocal minority of democratic and republican senators
the senator from illinois said he and bernanke would try to soothe worries among
lawmakers and that president barack obama himself was wooing senators by
telephone in bid to secure bernanke confirmation
leading critics of the fed chief say he was asleep at the switch ahead of the
global financial meltdown and turned deaf ear to main street concerns
while promoting massive wall street bailout package
us lawmakers have stepped up populist rhetoric ahead of november mid term
elections looking to harness deep voter anger at double digit unemployment in
the sputtering us economy
there lot of concern among democratic senators and republican senators for
that matter about the state of the economy said durbin who added that
bernanke would naturally face some of the hardest questions about what
happened in the past and where we re going in the future
earlier the white house stood firm on bernanke re nomination saying second
term for the federal reserve chief was vital to demonstrating stability in the
us financial system
chairman bernanke helped the president and the economic team steer through some
very turbulent times and rough waters white house spokesman robert gibbs said
apple posts record high profit on strong iphone sales
san francisco jan afp
doubling of iphone sales helped apple post record high quarterly net profit on
monday of billion dollars
we re thrilled to report our best quarter ever apple chief financial officer
peter oppenheimer said in conference call with financial analysts
apple said revenue in the first quarter rose to billion dollars from
billion dollars in the corresponding quarter year ago
if you annualize our quarterly revenue it surprising that apple is now
billion dollar plus company said the iconic california firm chief executive
steve jobs
the new products we are planning to release this year are very strong starting
this week with major new product that we re really excited about jobs said
in statement
apple has maintained trademark secrecy regarding wednesday event at which it
is expected to unveil tablet computer along the lines of iphone on
steroids according to analysts
apple executives repeatedly refused to comment on the wednesday event during the
conference call telling analysts only to stay tuned
the firm quarterly profit amounted to dollars per share in leap from
the dollars per share or billion dollars in net profit in the final
three months of
the billion dollar net profit reported in the recent quarter topped apple
previous record high profit by nearly million dollars according to
oppenheimer
apple said it sold million macintosh computers during the quarter
percent more than year ago and million iphones up percent from
year ago
however sales of ipods slid eight percent to million units in year over
year comparison
apple executives noted that while sales of traditional ipod models declined as
anticipated those of top end ipod touch models rose percent resulting in
slight increase in revenue in that product category
apple said its share of the mp music player market remains at more than
percent and ipod models are gaining ground internationally apple online
itunes store also had record breaking quarter according to oppenheimer
apple has expanded iphone sales to countries including china
apple has activated more than iphones in china since it began selling
them in that country at the end of october according to chief operating officer
tim cook
we would prefer to move slow because we are focused on building the brand for
the long term cook said during the conference call we are very happy working
with china unicom they are an excellent partner for us
apple ended the last quarter with points of sale for iphones in china
apple said percent of its revenue in the quarter came from outside the united
states
we are very pleased to have generated billion dollars in cash during the
quarter said oppenheimer
oppenheimer said apple expects revenue in the current fiscal quarter to range
from billion dollars to billion dollars and for diluted earnings per
share to wind up between dollars and dollars
overrun un forced to leave thousands of haitians hungry
port au prince jan afp
daily aid hand out in front of the collapsed national palace turned into
chaotic scramble monday as some uruguayan un peacekeepers attempted to
contain strong mass of desperately hungry haitians
whatever we do it doesn matter they are animals un troop who
declined to be named cried in spanish when asked why the peacekeepers weren
trying to explain anything in french or creole as he struggled to hold back the
jostling crowd with hard plastic shield
the troops waved pepper spray into the queue front line
others standing atop grubby white un tank fired off steady rounds of rubber
bullets to the air barely acknowledged by people shoving to get at precious
food supplied by the us multi faith eagles wings foundation which is providing
disaster relief here
the massive magnitude earthquake on january has left around million
people homeless living in squalid tent camps in city parks as hundreds of
thousands of quake victims are being encouraged by the haitian government to
evacuate the destroyed capital
when asked why there weren greater numbers of un troops to contain the hungry
crowd peacekeepers gestured that there weren any more available to join them
uno uno uno the uruguayans part of the un mission in haiti minustah
screamed in vain holding up single fingers in bid to form an orderly line
the crowd instead moved as one pushed strongly from behind toward trucks laden
with rice sacks emblazoned with the us flag and gallon jugs of vitamin enriched
soy oil
vomiting pregnant woman still gesturing at her mouth to show hunger was
carried off by un troops after collapsing out of the crush of bodies
in five minutes we ll leave because they ll overrun us un troop warned
foreign press photographers
when they did withdraw the crowd wildly swarmed to get at the rice sacks left
behind
it all gone they left nothing wailed geneve an older haitian woman clad
in sweaty rags when she finally reached the spot where trampled aid boxes laid
empty
she joined dozens of others to kneel on the trash strewn street to pick up the
last rice grains
football africa cup of nations quarter final nigeria zambia
lubango angola jan afp
full result of an africa cup of nations quarter final at tundavala stadium on
monday
nigeria zambia aet
nigeria win on penalties
penalty sequence zambia first
chivuta mikel katongo martins mayuka nsofor
nyirenda saved odemwingie mweene enyeama
teams
nigeria
victor enyeama yusuf mohammed onyekachi apam danny shittu elderson
echiejile dickson etuhu yussuf ayila sani kaita john obi mikel osaze
odemwingie yakubu aiyegbeni capt obafemi martins chinedu obasi obinna
nsofor
coach shaibu amodu
zambia
kennedy mweene joseph musonda stoppila sunzu hichani himonde emmanuel mbola
christopher katongo capt thomas nyirenda william njobvu mulenga felix
katongo noah chivuta james chamanga emmanuel mayuka jacob mulenga
coach herve renard fra
referee essam abdel fatah egy
yellow cards katongo himonde musonda apam katongo
red card apam after second yellow
attendance
football egypt stun cameroon nigeria penalise zambia
luanda jan afp
egypt kept their title defence firmly on track with extra time win over
cameroon while goalkeeper victor enyeama was nigeria penalty shoot out hero
against zambia in monday quarter final action at the africa cup of nations
egypt now face bitter rivals algeria and nigeria take on ghana in thursday
semi finals with the victors meeting in luanda november stadium in sunday
finale
it was always going to be hard to live up to algeria thrilling five goal extra
time win over favourites ivory coast on monday but silky smooth egypt managed
it
the pharoahs extended their unbeaten run in the continental championship to
games despite going goal down with skipper ahmed hassan heading in to his own
net
but hassan celebrated earning an african record th cap with peach of goal
in the th minute firing in from yards to land the ball inches in front of
keeper carlos kameni who watched in despair as the ball bounced past him
extra time was only two minutes old when substitute mohamed gedo nafy put
egypt in front and they turned the screw on minutes when curling freekick
by hassan was adjudged to have been palmed beyond the goalline by kameni
television replays showed that the ball did not cross the line
startling statistic from this last eight fixture in benguela was that cameroon
had no fewer than corners to egypt none
cameroon coach paul le guen angrily walked out of the post match press
conference leaving skipper samuel eto to take issue with south african
referee jerome damon
the referee supported egypt bit because they did not deserve to win this
game but won blame the referee because this is africa and we still have
lot to learn
egypt assistant coach shawki gharib saluted cameroon and defended damon
performance
cameroon are great team and they pushed us very hard
we on our own part played very well and knew what we needed to do to win this
match
however match is all about minutes and there are no games without
mistakes but overall the referee was fair to both teams
man of the hour hassan whose country is going for record seventh crown was
unperturbed by the controversy
very happy because we won today he said we played very good match
and thrilled to score two goals and also with the record of
appearances
egypt now take on algeria who thwarted their chances of competing in the world
cup in november acrimonious play off
but africa cup of nations organisers will be spared any similar violent clashes
between the two country fans as there are barely any of them in angola due to
visa restrictions and the exhorbitant cost of accommodation and food
ghana despite their youthfulness and lack of star players will fancy their
chances against nigeria after turgid scrappy affair in lubango the goalless
stalemate would have gone on all night if it hadn been for spotkicks
zambia thomas nyirenda saw his penalty saved by enyeama leaving nigeria
hapoel tel aviv based stopper to put the super eagles into the last four when he
stepped up and converted for win
for zambia it was cruel end to what has been fine tournament for herve
renard minnows who outplayed nigeria for much of the game
dollar down against euro on increasing risk appetite
new york jan afp
the us dollar traded mainly lower monday as some investors moved away from the
safe haven greenback amid receding fears about the reappointment of federal
reserve chief ben bernanke for new term
the euro climbed to dollars at gmt from dollars in new york
late friday as doubts emerged last week about bernanke confirmation after key
democratic senators said they would oppose the central bank chief bid for
second term
the dollar however rose against the japanese currency to yen against
yen late friday
the dollar and yen are slightly lower in sign of somewhat receding risk
aversion but stocks still look shaky said analyst larry greenberg wrote on
his currency thoughts website
congress took look at the stock market bloodbath last week and decided not to
kill bernanke reappointment at fed chairman he said
in sign of easing risk aversion us stocks rebounded monday from last week
heavy selloff as prospects improved for bernanke confirmation
analyst samarjit shankar of the bank of new york mellon cited indicators showing
further improvement in risk appetite
the white house launched an emergency bid at the weekend to shore up the central
bank chief nomination and senate majority leader harry reid and other
influential senators threw their support behind bernanke
analysts said the market remained cautious ahead of two day meeting beginning
tuesday of the federal reserve policy making body
the federal open market committee is likely to keep the federal funds base rate
at range of zero to percent which has been in place for more than year
as part of plan to revive economic activity
any hint that the fomc is on the verge of turning more hawkish will extend the
near term us dollar bid tone further said camilla sutton of scotia capital
however dovish tone could stabilize the euro and other currencies
dollar sentiment monday was also hit by fresh data showing us existing home
sales plunging in december following buyers rush to snap up tax credits
signaling murky outlook for the ailing sector
the national association of realtors nar said sales fell record percent
to seasonally adjusted annual rate of million units
though decline had been widely anticipated it was much sharper than the
million units expected by most analysts and was the steepest monthly drop since
nar began tracking the data series in
in late new york trade the dollar fell to swiss francs from
friday
the pound was up to dollars from
football africa cup of nations semi finals line up
lubango angola jan afp
africa cup of nations semi finals line up times gmt
thursday
at luanda
ghana nigeria
at benguela
algeria egypt
football africa cup of nations quarter finals results collated
benguela angola jan afp
collated africa cup of nations quarter finals results in angola on monday
at benguela
egypt hassan nagy cameroon hassan own goal aet
score after minutes
at lubango
nigeria zambia aet
nigeria win on penalties
played sunday
at luanda
angola ghana gyan
at cabinda
algeria matmour bougherra bouazza ivory coast kalou keita
aet
score after minutes
football leading africa cup of nations scorers
lubango angola jan afp
leading africa cup of nations scorers on monday after completion of quarter
finals
ahmed hassan and mohamed gedo nagy egy flavio amado ang seydou keita
mli
mateus manucho alberto ang samuel eto cmr asamoah gyan gha
frederic kanoute mli emad meteeb egy jacob mulenga zam russell
mwafulirwa maw osaze odemwingie ngr
facts on un taliban blacklist
united nations jan afp
un sanctions list targeting taliban and al qaeda individuals and entities
contains some names including linked to the afghan extremist group
according to austria un mission
afghan president hamid karzai said on monday that he would press for taliban
names to be removed from the un blacklist as he sought support for his country
in talks with the leaders of pakistan and turkey
karzai said he would ask for the names to be scratched at major conference in
london thursday at which he hoped to win western support for plan to offer
money and jobs to persuade taliban fighters into laying down arms
the un blacklist was established under un security council resolution
adopted in october for the purpose of overseeing implementation of
sanctions imposed on taliban controlled afghanistan for its support of osama bin
laden extremist network
under the resolution un member states are required to impose travel bans an
asset freeze and an arms embargo ban on any individual or entity associated with
al qaeda bin laden and or the taliban
for that purpose security council sanctions panel chaired by austria since
january maintains list of individuals and entities linked to the two
extremist groups
any state may ask the sanctions committee to add names to or remove some from
the so called consolidated list
removal from the list requires unanimous approval from all members of the
security council sanctions panel
austria said there have already been removal requests from the taliban but none
have been agreed over the past year
the un blacklist list with all its entries is available on the internet at
http www un org sc committees index shtml
football goalkeeper enyeama takes man nigeria into semis
lubango angola jan afp
nigeria goalkeeper victor enyeama turned africa cup of nations matchwinner by
converting the decisive kick in penalty shootout win over zambia on monday
after goalless quarter final
john obi mikel obafemi martins obinna nsofor and osaze odemwingie also scored
from the spot to give the super eagles percent success rate from five
kicks
thomas nyirenda was the unconsolable zambian at the end after enyeama saved his
kick the seventh of the shootout and nigeria scraped through despite having
onyekachi apam sent off during extra time
the ultra negative last quarter final of the biennial african football showcase
was massive disappointment after victories for ghana algeria and egypt in
thrillers
defending champions egypt made the penultimate stage few hours before nigeria
thanks to extra time triumph over cameroon with cap midfielder ahmed
hassan scoring twice for his side and once for his opponents
back in the knockout phase of the competition for the first time since
zambia had to make two enforced changes from the side that defeated gabon to
reach the quarter finals as shock group table toppers
defender chintu kampamba and midfielder rainford kalaba collected two yellow
cards each in the mini league stage and young french coach herve renard drafted
in hichani himonde and william njobvu
nigeria retained the starting line up from their final pool match against
mozambique that delivered an ultimately convincing win and justification
that they could go far in the tournament after sluggish start
jubilant that his pre tournament promise of quarter finals place had been met
renard saw the game as chance to embellish his reputation amid reports that he
desires more attractive african coaching post
rival coach shaibu amodu is years older at and under constant stress from
public and media criticism despite just one competitive loss since taking charge
of the national team third time couple of years ago
the countries had come face to face four previous times in the nations cup with
nigeria winning two and zambia one after goalless first meeting in ghana
years ago
and after goalless first half in this central angolan town it was hard to
fathom who would prevail this time and book semi finals date with the black
stars of ghana in luanda on thursday afternoon
chelsea midfielder mikel ended lot of cagey early combat with sweetly struck
drive after some slick passing but kennedy mweene dived swiftly to his left and
pushed the ball away with strong one hand save
zambia became more adventurous as time passed and after enyeama rose to grasp
deep dangerous cross striker james chamanga just failed to connect with
threatening ball across the six yard box
it was not half for the faint hearted with some borderline tackling and by the
break zambians felix katongo himonde and joseph musonda had been shown yellow
cards by the egyptian referee
the second half began as the first ended with more than fouls than thrills for
less than capacity crowd in the seat venue and apam joined the yellow
card offenders via rash tackle on chamanga
midway through the half and finally the crowd had something to cheer as yusuf
mohammed cleared off the line to rescue nigeria and hesitant captain yakubu
aiyegbeni squandered close range opportunity at the other end
it was painful watching the closing stages of regulation time as two teams far
more concerned with not losing than winning rarely mounted threatening attacks
and full time came without goal
football africa cup of nations quarter final nigeria zambia
lubango angola jan afp
result of an africa cup of nations quarter final at tundavala stadium on monday
nigeria zambia aet
nigeria win on penalties
fed chief likely to win second term top democrat
washington jan afp
embattled federal reserve chief ben bernanke will win enough votes from us
senate lawmakers to secure second term top democratic senator predicted
monday
illinois senator dick durbin the second highest ranking democrat in the senate
said he expected bernanke to sway enough lawmakers to his side to be reappointed
as the us central banker
earlier the white house stood firm on bernanke renomination saying second
term for the federal reserve chief was vital to demonstrating stability in the
us financial system
chairman bernanke helped the president and the economic team steer through some
very turbulent times and rough waters white house spokesman robert gibbs said
bernanke nomination which is yet to be put to senate vote appeared in deep
trouble after several democratic senators on friday withdrew support for his
nomination amid public fury over his role in the financial crisis
football rooney ready to stay at united
manchester england jan afp
manchester united wayne rooney said monday that while interest from other
clubs was flattering he had no plans to leave old trafford
the england striker has been in superb form this season scoring goals in the
premier league alone including all four in united win over hull on
saturday that took the defending champions back to the top of the table
rooney goals have been huge boon to united in the absence of portugal winger
cristiano ronaldo who left old trafford before the season started for spanish
giants real madrid in an million pounds move
real and domestic rivals barcelona are both reportedly interested in rooney but
the year old said he was happy to stay with the red devils telling united
official website there always speculation and when other big teams are
talking about you it nice that you re talked about
but as ve said many times before united player and very happy
here
the ex everton forward added hope we can win the title again this year
we ve won the league the last three years and nobody has ever won it four times
in row we want to create history
the title race is much tighter this year and it probably more exciting for
the neutrals or fans around the country but we re hoping that now we are top we
can go on and remain there for the rest of the season
former england striker alan shearer speaking after the hull match said rooney
had been the key factor in united staying in title contention telling bbc
radio they would not be where they are in the league without rooney
he has carried them at times but he is great player and that what great
players do
when the clubs need them they step forward
shearer also said rooney was vital to england hopes of world cup glory in
south africa this year
as important as he is to manchester united he is just as important to england
don think anyone should forget that said shearer
but on the other hand there were question marks people were saying he has to
step up his performance this year because of the loss of ronaldo and boy has he
done that the newcastle great added
think he has actually carried manchester united on his own at times this
season that saying something for the size of that particular club
think his performances have been spectacular and hope he not peaking too
soon as an england fan
rooney committed style has led to concerns he may either injure himself or
simply run out of steam before the world cup and shearer said the fear have
with him is injury and that is not something he nor anyone can do anything
about the former newcastle boss added
if that is going to happen it going to happen we re are in the lap of the
gods afraid
urgent football nigeria reach africa cup of nations semi finals
lubango angola jan afp
nigeria reached the africa cup of nations semi finals on monday with
penalty shootout victory over zambia after draw following extra time
alert
nigeria reach africa cup of nations semi finals
apple net profit up sharply on strong iphone sales
san francisco jan afp
strong iphone sales helped apple post percent increase in quarterly net
profit on monday of billion dollars
apple said revenue in the first quarter rose to billion dollars from
billion dollars in the corresponding quarter year ago
if you annualize our quarterly revenue it surprising that apple is now
billion dollar plus company said the iconic california firm chief executive
steve jobs
the new products we are planning to release this year are very strong starting
this week with major new product that we re really excited about
apple has maintained trademark secrecy regarding wednesday event at which it
is expected to unveil tablet computer along the lines of iphone on
steroids according to analysts
