in for good match for sure favour my chances in best of five set
match we ll see how it goes
there was only momentary spark to fire up the willing home crowd when hewitt
broke federer service for the only time in the eighth game of the third set
but the swiss great unleashed sensational forehand cross court volley to
immediately break back in the next game
it lifted federer imposing record over former world number one hewitt to
and was his st match win at the australian open with seven defeats
davydenko hadn dropped set before his round of match with verdasco but he
messed up fourth set tiebreaker and was forced into fifth set
the in form russian improved his winning streak to matches and is in the
right frame to take on the federer challenge
mentally still strong don know if can win here but feeling
good about my tennis right now davydenko said
djokovic warned he was hitting his best form after his impressive win over
kubot
the pole ranked th in the world had been gifted spot in the fourth round
by the withdrawal of russian th seed mikhail youzhny from their third round
clash and found djokovic far too good
in general was very happy with the way performed today djokovic said
aware the matches will get more difficult throughout this week so
ready for it
tsonga who played in his first five set match will go in against djokovic with
the edge having won won four of their five clashes since their meeting
here
beat him four times since that moment he said so have learned to beat
him don have any fears
have to recover and will be ready for that against him have to say stay
aggressive very aggressive and give everything
eu agrees to send some police to haiti diplomat
brussels jan afp
eu foreign ministers agreed monday to send mission of just over police
officers to help ensure aid distribution in quake ravaged haiti european
diplomat told afp
there is an agreement on collective contribution of gendarmes the diplomat
said adding that the contingent whose biggest contributors will be france and
italy would number little over people
britain had opposed the idea insisting that the united states with some
troops in the area had more than enough personnel to provide for
security needs
greek farmers take road blocking protest to athens
athens jan afp
greek farmers who have blocked highways and frontier posts for week to demand
higher product prices on monday took their protest to athens as the government
began fresh talks to break the deadlock
around communist affiliated farmers and students marched through the city
centre as fellow agriculturists further north maintained stranglehold on
highways and crossings into neighbouring bulgaria and macedonia
farmers at the main crossing to bulgaria on monday also blocked railway tracks
although the hellenic railways organisation said no scheduled services were
disrupted
senior farming unionist dismissed the government two day roundtable talks
with agricultural groups that opened in athens on monday as sham
this dialogue is sham the government intention is to reduce small
and medium farmers to misery and soon there will be no more farmers in greece
vangelis boutas told afp as he led protesters through the affluent athens
district of kolonaki to stunned looks from shoppers
we are fighting so we can stay in our fields and villages he said
the greek government has already rejected the farmers demands for thousands of
euros in state support to counterbalance falls in prices for produce including
wheat cotton and milk
the growers are also seeking price cuts on fertilisers pharmaceutical products
and seeds rebate on the cost of electricity and fuel and three year freeze
on their debts to the greek agricultural bank
greek prime minister george papandreou on friday criticised the action which
comes as the debt stricken country battles recession and major financial
crisis
meeting the farmers demands would be criminal for the greek people
papandreou said in parliamentary debate adding the action was damaging the
country already dented international image
bulgaria has lodged complaint with the european union and threatens to make
greece pay for commercial losses worth several million euros dollars
greek farmers protested at the same time last year for similar reasons
korea president offers help india build nuclear reactors
new delhi jan afp
south korea president offered monday to help energy hungry india build more
nuclear reactors as he forecast new trade pact between the asian powerhouses
president lee myung bak touted what he said was his nation expertise in
building nuclear reactors as he expressed hope that south korean companies could
help india construct new atomic power plants
lee said south korea which recently won billion dollar deal to design
build and operate four nuclear power plants in the united arab emirates has
displayed its global competitiveness in the nuclear field
south korea was key supporter of new delhi in its successful bid to have
year old embargo on the export and sale of nuclear technology to india lifted
in speech to business leaders lee added that far reaching trade pact which
came into effect at the start of the year would put relations on to new
trajectory
the comprehensive economic partnership agreement between south korea and india
which scraps or reduces most trade tariffs heralds great new era for the two
countries said lee
the president who was accompanied by high powered political and business
delegation was slated to be chief guest at india republic day national
celebrations tuesday
lee who is on four day visit met top indian leaders monday to discuss
furthering trade between the two countries which has increased more than five
fold to billion dollars from three billion in
leading indian industry group ficci forecast bilateral trade could hit by
billion dollars by
ericsson cuts more jobs profit plunges
stockholm jan afp
ericsson announced on monday an extra job cuts under restructuring which
bit deeply into fourth quarter net profit at the firm the world leader in phone
network equipment
total announced job cuts are now about generating huge restructuring
charges with the intention of bringing equally huge cost savings
but ericsson chief executive hans vestberg refused to issue forecast for
earnings telling reporters it was too early to say how the market would
develop financial daily dagens industri said in its online edition
the swedish telecom giant which has some employees worldwide said sales
had dropped in the fourth quarter owing to cuts in investments by mobile phone
operators in number of markets including in developing nations in central
europe the middle east and africa
in sign of the impact of the economic crisis on the telecom industry
ericsson net profit plunged by percent to million kronor million
euros million dollars between october and december
that was in contrast to net profit of billion kronor in the same period
of the company said in statement
the profit was much lower than expected as analysts polled by dow jones
newswires had forecast net profit of billion kronor
restructuring costs nearly doubled to billion kronor in the fourth quarter
compared to billion kronor in the same period in and for the full year
the charges totalled billion kronor the company said
the company estimated that its restructuring programme would cost up to
billion kronor and bring annual savings of between billion and billion
kronor
when the initial restructuring programme was announced in january it
was anticipated that the actions would result in reduction of the number of
employees by some of which about in sweden ericsson said
the has been exceeded and is estimated to reach approximately the
company said in the statement
ericsson has also suffered from the difficulties at its two joint ventures sony
ericsson and st ericsson which together chalked up charges of billion
kronor
sales fell by percent to billion kronor in the fourth quarter in the
wake of the global economic crisis and growing competition from telecom
equipment industry with the rise of china huawei
ericsson said the anticipated decline in sales of older gsm networks had
accelerated owing to the economic crisis but was not yet offset by the growth
in mobile broadband and investments in next generation ip networks
during the second half of networks sales were impacted by reduced
operator spending in number of markets vestberg said in statement
during operators in number of developing markets especially central
europe middle east and africa became increasingly cautious with investments
he said
meanwhile other markets including china india and the us continued to show
good development with major network buildouts vestberg said
despite the gloomy earnings report the company said it planned to increase its
dividend to shareholders from kronor to kronor
ericsson shares were down by percent at kronor on the stockholm stock
exchange in midday trading
fiat forecasts return to profit in
milan jan afp
italian automaker fiat on monday reported higher than expected net loss in
but forecast return to profit this year as long as european governments
continue to offer incentives to buy green
the automaker announced net loss of million euros billion dollars in
compared with profit of billion euros the previous year
analysts had predicted net loss of some million euros according to
consensus compiled by dow jones newswires
the loss is the first for the italian icon since its return to profit in
under its dynamic new boss sergi marchionne credited with turning the company
around after four straight years in the red
the group forecast net profit of between million and million euros in
subject to continued availability of eco incentives in the european
automotive market it said
schemes such as cash for clunkers bonuses for swapping in petrol guzzling cars
for more fuel efficient models will help fiat achieve turnover of between
billion and billion euros fiat said in statement
without such programmes turnover would be some billion euros less it said
the italian group put the loss down to restructuring costs and write downs
related to the strategic realignment with chrysler last year when the italian
group obtained percent stake in the ailing us automaker in exchange for
access to fiat technology
fiat posted fourth quarter loss of million euros compared with net
profit of million euros year earlier
after particularly difficult with uneven trading conditions across the
group international scope of operations is positioning itself as
year of transition and stabilisation the statement said
urgent eu agrees to send some police to haiti diplomat
brussels jan afp
eu foreign ministers agreed monday to send mission of just over police
officers to help ensure aid distribution in quake ravaged haiti european
diplomat told afp
eu greenlights somali security training mission
brussels jan afp
european union foreign ministers agreed monday to set up training mission in
somalia to help build the fledgling army with the mission due to start this
spring
officials say the european instructors numbering around people would
train around somali security personnel in neighbouring uganda
the council agreed to set up military mission to contribute to training of
somali security forces the ministers said in statement at talks in brussels
it would be launched with the next intake of trainees scheduled to start in
spring it said an eu diplomat said it could begin in may
somalia has been gripped by civil wars and insurgencies and bereft of stable
government since the overthrow of president mohamed siad barre in
uganda was chosen for the training mission because it is far safer and because
its troops constitute the lion share of the african union mission in somalia
amisom
off the coast of somalia the eu is running an anti piracy mission in the waters
of the gulf of aden but senior officials say the real way to combat the problem
is on somali territory
the eu has given substantial political support to the interim government as
well as funding the amisom mission
alert
eu agrees to send some police to haiti diplomat
alert
eu agrees to send some police to haiti diplomat
football fowler staying after coach dispute resolved fury
melbourne jan afp
former england international robbie fowler was committed to serving out his
contract with north queensland fury after resolving his dispute with coach ian
ferguson the league club said monday
the liverpool great refused to play in the home draw against brisbane roar
on saturday after being informed by ferguson that he would be starting on the
substitutes bench
fowler who is in the middle of two year contract watched from the
stands heightening speculation that he may be finished at the club
but fury chairman don matheson said both fowler and ferguson had agreed to stay
committed for the duration of their contracts following talks on monday
spoken to them today and realise there has been misunderstanding
matheson said in statement
ian wanted to play particular formation and that included utilising robbie as
an impact player off the bench and robbie believed he wasn part of the
squad
there has been an unfortunate outcome because of that misunderstanding
matheson said the issue had been sorted out between the pair and they had given
commitment to try and win fury three remaining matches of the season
the club apologises to the fans for what happened but moving forward am
happy that we been able to resolve this in the best interests of the club
and the game he said
matheson said fowler was frustrated by speculation that he would be quitting
robbie is getting pretty tired of the speculation that he will be leaving north
queensland fury fc he is not leaving the club said matheseon
he and his family have made some sacrifices for him to play for north
queensland and he happy with his decision
fowler told british newspaper last week that his wife was finding it tough to
adjust in townsville where fury are based
the former liverpool star is the highest profile signing in the five years of
the league
he is playing club football outside england for the first time since he finished
as the fourth highest all time scorer with goals in the premier league
fowler manager george scott later played down the events of the weekend
there was bit of misunderstanding and that all it was scott said
he alright he fine there he under contract so at the moment he
fury player so he ll play to his contract simple as that
power failures roll across manila
manila jan afp
manila suburbs suffered rolling power blackouts monday following equipment
failure at major plant serving the philippine capital the country main
electricity distributor said
manila electric co meralco said power would be shut down for up two hours in
selected areas of manila until pm after water pump failed at megawatt
coal fired plant north of the city at around lunchtime
the outages reminded many of manila million residents of the power failures
of the early when the country suffered from lack of generating
capacity
in recent years legislators have called on the government to speed up the
construction of power plants to avoid new round of shortages
man hurls shoe at sudan president beshir
khartoum jan afp
sudanese man hurled his shoe at president omar al beshir on monday but missed
him witnesses said adding that the assailant was immediately arrested
the man who was not identified but appears to be in his threw the shoe at
beshir in hallway of the friendship hall where the president hosts guests
witnesses said on condition of anonymity
security men detained the shoe thrower immediately they said it was not
immediately clear why he had attacked the president
beshir has ruled sudan since seizing power in military coup in and he is
standing for re election in april when sudan holds its first general election
in years
the president who is wanted by the international criminal court for alleged war
crimes in the restive darfur region is the latest leader targeted by shoe
thrower
in the best known incident iraqi journalist muntazer al zaidi threw his shoe at
then us president george bush on december during his farewell visit
to baghdad
zaidi said at the time it was farewell kiss for bush he jailed for nine
months but flown out of the country after he was released for his own security
the assault caused massive embarrassment to bush and his host iraqi prime
minister nuri al maliki particularly since throwing shoe at someone is
considered especially insulting and humiliating in arab culture
other officials who have had shoes thrown at them include chinese premier wen
jiabao while on visit to britain and israel ambassador to sweden
two britons aboard crashed plane in lebanon ministry
london jan afp
two british passport holders were aboard an ethiopian airliner which crashed off
lebanon monday while british helicopter was sent to help the search and
rescue mission officials in london said
we re confirming that one british national and one dual national were on
board spokeswoman for the foreign office told afp adding obviously our
thoughts are with the families of all those involved in the tragedy
she added that royal air force raf helicopter based in cyprus has joined the
lebanese authorities search and rescue operation
prime minister gordon brown sent his condolences to the leaders of lebanon and
ethiopia
no suvivors have yet been recovered from the wreckage of the airliner which was
carrying people when it exploded in ball of flames and plunged into the sea
off lebanon just after takeoff in stormy weather early monday
indonesia arrests bank scam suspect with pins
jakarta jan afp
indonesian police said monday they had arrested people over an alleged bank
scam including one suspect who had hundreds of thousands of personal
identification numbers for credit cards
we arrested people one of them has database of personal
identification numbers national police spokesman edward aritonang told afp of
the weekend arrests
we don know yet whether they are part of one syndicate he added
the jakarta post newspaper said quoting the country central bank that the
fraud caused losses of billions of rupiah to the savings of up to customers
of six major banks
the jakarta globe said that police on the tourist island of bali had seized
data capturing devices illegally installed in bank machines that served to pick
up coded information from atm cards
china reiterates film rules after avatar flap
beijing jan afp
china on monday reiterated rules that most of the screen time in the nation
cinemas be given to domestic films after it cut short the run of us blockbuster
avatar
the state council or cabinet also called for steps to boost the chinese film
industry such as building more digital cinemas and having studios raise funds
through bank loans and by issuing shares and bonds
the statement came after the version of avatar was pulled ahead of schedule
from cinemas on friday amid charges that the government had shunted it aside to
make way for the patriotic chinese biopic confucius
avatar the futuristic adventure that was released in both and versions
january has become china all time box office champion topping million
dollars in sales state media said last week
the state council statement said the industry must earnestly implement relevant
rules requiring that screening time of domestic movies must be no less than two
thirds of total screening time in year
china currently allows foreign films to be shown in the country cinemas
every year
it also should step up efforts to help domestic movies enter the international
mainstream film market as part of its strategy to increase the nation
cultural soft power according to the statement
it said the industry would grow more than percent year by without
giving comparative figure
the united states has complained repeatedly about chinese limits on the
screening of foreign films and the world trade organisation in december upheld
ruling that orders beijing to free up distribution of us films music and
books
anglican bishop kidnapped in nigeria
lagos jan afp
an anglican bishop has been kidnapped in nigeria southern state of edo shortly
after saying mass christian leader said on monday
reverend peter imasuen who is bishop of edo state capital benin city was
ambushed and seized as he arrived home from church on sunday
we were told he was kidnapped yesterday samuel salifu secretary general of
the christian association of nigeria can told afp
we are trying to establish what exactly happened but we understand the
kidnappers are asking for million naira about dollars said
salifu
imasuen was can chairman for edo state
kidnapping for ransom is common in nigeria but imasuen abduction comes just
week after clashes between muslims and christians left nearly people dead in
and around the central city of jos
the nigerian anglican church accounts for million of the world million
anglicans
britain pushes for global deal on bank tax
london jan afp
britain on monday led push for global deal on reforming the banking sector
that could include widespread agreement for an extraordinary tax on lenders amid
concerns that the us may go it alone
paul myners the minister charged with overseeing britain financial services
sector said international agreement on the issue would be the most important
legacy of the state led response to the financial crisis
the comments by city minister myners in the guardian newspaper came as he
chaired seminar monday on the practicality of levying extraordinary taxes on
financial institutions
the london meeting was arranged to canvass opinion among officials from
nations the imf world bank and academics on the practical challenges of
implementing insurance levies according to the treasury
british prime minister gordon brown has urged leading economies including the
united states france and germany to consider tax on financial transactions
to make banks more accountable to society
brown has pressed the idea of so called tobin tax but said nations could also
consider an insurance scheme aimed at preventing repeat of the multi billion
dollar state bailouts of banks caused by the financial crisis
tobin tax was originally proposed in by nobel prize winning economist
james tobin as means of reducing speculation in global markets but tobin
himself later doubted his own idea was workable
us president barack obama recently proposed levying fee on top us banks to
raise billion dollars in years to recoup every single dime of the recent
wall street bailout
and in bid to radically change the financial landscape obama last week
announced plans to limit the size and scope of us banks saying they would
never again get so big that taxpayers have to bail them out
in opening comments to the london seminar on monday myners said it was
important that any costs that governments incur for interventions in the
financial sector are distributed more fairly
there is clearly strong rationale to charge for the externality caused by the
financial sector and financial institutions should shoulder the responsibilities
for losses they may face
but obama proposals have failed to win over britain
on sunday britain finance minister alistair darling expressed scepticism at
the president banking reform plans saying they would not have prevented the
financial crisis and warning they risk undermining the global consensus
writing in the guardian daily myners said that finding new way to keep
taxpayers from shouldering the bill for future bailouts will be far from easy
but the uk will continue to lead the international effort to do so
he added global agreement on this issue would be the most important legacy
of our response to this crisis and it is prize all governments have duty to
pursue
the imf is meanwhile due to publish report in april expected to outline what
it considers to be the best form of extraordinary taxation on financial
institutions
iraq completes deal with oil giants exxon mobil shell
baghdad jan afp
iraq oil ministry on monday completed major deal with us major exxon mobil
and anglo dutch giant shell to develop production at west qurna the war torn
country second biggest field
the oil ministry signed the contract for west qurna with exxon mobil and
shell ministry spokesman assem jihad said in statement
this contract will increase production from barrels per day to
barrels per day
west qurna has reserves of around billion barrels according to oil
ministry figures
deal with consortium led by russian energy giant lukoil to develop the
neighbouring west qurna field is expected to be signed on saturday jihad
added
some previous plane crashes over water
paris jan afp
an ethiopian airliner carrying people burst into flames over the
mediterranean and plunged into the sea on monday shortly after taking off for
addis ababa in stormy weather
list of recent plane crashes over water
june an airbus operated by yemenia airlines crashes into the indian
ocean on arrival in the comoros islands dead one survivor
june an air france airbus carrying people disappears from radar
screens in mid atlantic on flight between rio de janeiro and paris no
survivors
january us airways pilot brings his airbus down to safe crash
landing on the hudson river in central new york shortly after take off from la
guardia airport on domestic flight all people aboard survive
january boeing operated by adam air of indonesia crashes into the
sea on domestic flight all people aboard die
may an airbus of the armenian company armavia crashes into the black
sea shortly before landing in the russian city of sochi on flight from yervan
dead no survivors
january boeing of the egyptian firm flash airlines crashes into the
red sea shortly after take off from the tourist resort of sharm el sheikh for
paris via cairo dead no survivors
november ethiopian airlines flight is hijacked between addis
ababa and nairobi by three ethiopians seeking political asylum the aircraft
crashes into the indian ocean off the comoros when it runs out of fuel killing
of the people on board
formula one interest in return thrills schumacher
stuttgart germany jan afp
seven times world champion michael schumacher admitted monday he has been
thrilled by the amount of interest from his fans in his return to formula one
racing
having retired in the year old has broken his three year hiatus to sign
three year contract to race for mercedes gp and reunite with ross brawn the
man who orchestrated all of his world drivers championship titles
schumacher was at the launch of mercedes formula one car in stuttgart and said
he is looking forward to his first grand prix for three years in bahrain on
march which is eagerly anticipated by his fans here
have been taken aback bit by the interest he said standing next to
mercedes silver arrow formula one car
was both surprised and thrilled to see the reaction
it great thrill to be back and to be part of the silver arrow team it
great emotion and feeling am getting from people outside
like to thank the fans it gives me extra push to do well
am fit and am looking forward to testing the new car next month
brawn who masterminded all of schumacher seven world titles in the pits
first at benetton and then at ferrari said he was delighted to resume their
partnership on the track
working with michael again is treat it is something didn think would
happen again and it is something am excited about said brawn
nico is an exciting prospect and think he will be good for michael it will
also help him to see how world champion operates
schumacher team mate nico rosberg the son of finland formula one world
champion keke rosberg admitted he was excited to be working with both
schumacher and brawn having raced for williams in
it very special said the german
it dream come true to be able to drive the first silver arrow since
it fantastic look forward to it
having michael as team mate is great it is going to be great season
there aren many german stars in the world but two of them have joined
together in michael schumacher and mercedes said dieter zetsche the chairman
of the daimler group and the head of mercedes benz
and there is no reason why nico rosberg can become world star
there is obvious pride at mercedes in having schumacher racing for the german
team next season
we are the germany team of formula one said zetsche
we want to be world champions to have the best car but that is not to say it
will happen in the first year
we are new team and we will need time
football wolves sign guedioura
wolverhampton england jan afp
wolverhampton wanderers have signed french midfielder adlene guedioura on loan
for the rest of the season the english premier league club announced monday
the year old has joined wolves currently above the relegation zone on goal
difference only from charleroi with view to permanent move
guedioura is the second player wolves have signed from belgian club charleroi
following last week arrival of geoffrey mujangi bia
adlene is an all round midfield player who is very mobile and can get up and
down the pitch wolves manager mick mccarthy told the club website
