Rock On 2011

SINGAPORE : The body of a man was found floating on a lake at Woodlands Town Garden.

He was pronounced dead at about 4.30pm on Saturday.

It is understood the body was lying face down on the water, but did not appear decomposed.

The man has yet to be identified.

Police have classified the case as unnatural death.

– CNA/ms

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE : A man in his early 60s was struck by lightning at about 3.40pm on Saturday, while playing golf at Laguna National Golf and Country Club.

Police said he was with friends who called an ambulance.

None of the others were injured.

The victim is being treated at Changi General Hospital.

– CNA/ms

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE : Some iPhone 4 users got off to a bad start in the New Year when the alarm function of their phones failed to go off, apparently due to a bug in the smart phone's operating system.

The problem was first reported in Australia and New Zealand, which were the first countries to ring in the New Year.

And complaints have come fast and furious on sites such as Twitter.

iPhone user Ameer Assik Shahrir was one of those tripped up by the bug.

He had set his alarm for 7.30am, but woke up only at 8.30am.

He said: “This morning, I was late for breakfast by one hour, I was supposed to meet a few friends.

“If this was a school day, I would have been late by one hour and it wouldn't be good.”

And it wasn't good at all for those who had to work on New Year's Day.

One of them called the Channel NewsAsia hotline.

Alex Lam said: “I set my alarm last night for 6.30 this morning. I only received a call from my colleague at 8am, and that was when I realised I was already late for work.

“I immediately went to work and noticed my colleagues were also late because their iPhone alarms also did not go off.”

According to tech websites, users can avoid the problem by setting the alarm to the “repeat” mode.

The alarm function can apparently revert to normal on January 3.

Sites such as 9to5 Mac also report that only iPhones using specific versions of the iOS 4 operating system – in particular, the 4.2.1, 4.1 and 4.0.2 versions – may be affected. However, the extent of the problem is still unclear.

IPhone maker Apple has not made an official comment yet. But it had promised an upgrade of the operating system soon, following similar glitches in November when the phone's clock failed to register the switch from daylight savings time.

– CNA/wk/ms

Channel News Asia

CAPE TOWN: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Saturday that his team were ready to make history when they face South Africa in the series-deciding third and final Test starting at Newlands on Sunday.

“The good thing with this side is that we know why we can win a series in South Africa,” said Dhoni.

India were in the same situation four years ago when they came to Newlands with the series level at one-all – but Dhoni said the mood in the side was much more confident this time around. South Africa won by five wickets on that occasion and India have yet to win or even share a series in South Africa.

“The dressing room is much better now,” he said. “It doesn't mean that it was bad four years ago but I can say this is the best dressing room that I have felt in the last five years. Most of the guys have achieved a lot in their long Test careers.

“They enjoy their cricket and they enjoy each and every practice session. It feels a very complete dressing room, a very happy dressing room. A lot of credit must go to everyone, including each and every one of the support staff.”

Dhoni said India's success in reaching number one on the Test rankings was based on attention to detail. “We focus on the small things, we prepare well, we make good plans and then we go out to execute those plans.”

It is India's fifth Test tour of South Africa and Dhoni acknowledged: “It's a chance to create history. We did that when we won the first Test in Johannesburg in (December) 2006 when we won in South Africa for the first time.

“We have the talent and the temperament to achieve success in South Africa, although I always say it's not about the past, it's all about the next five days.”

Dhoni said South Africa would be under some pressure. “They are feeling a bit of it because we are the home team and we won the last match.”

South African captain Graeme Smith said his team needed to perform better than they did in the second Test in Durban, which India won by 87 runs. “We were not as focused as we should have been and we lacked a bit of discipline at key moments.”

Smith said the main reason for the loss in Durban was the failure of the batsmen but he said he was confident they would bounce back. “We have had a lot of success as a batting unit but in Durban we seemed to lose our minds. We have spoken a lot about what needs to be done.”

Unseasonal rain swept across Newlands on Saturday morning and South Africa were forced to cancel a scheduled practice although the sun came out later when it was India's turn to train.

There is a 30 per cent possibility of more rain on Sunday morning but the weather is expected to be clear for the rest of the match.

Groundsman Evan Flint said he had hoped for a full day of sunshine to finalise his pitch preparation. “The pitch might be a bit slower and softer than usual at the start of the game but it should be a good batting wicket,” he said.

– AFP/fa

Channel News Asia

ABUJA: President Goodluck Jonathan vowed Saturday to rid Nigeria of “terrorists” after a bomb ripped through a crowded market in Abuja on New Year's Eve, killing four people in the latest of a spate of attacks.

Speaking at a New Year church service, Jonathan said late Friday's bombing in the capital Abuja bore the hallmarks of a series of attacks on Christmas Eve that left about 80 people dead, including after reprisals.

“They (attacks) will never stop Nigeria from where we are going to, we must work and reproduce a country … where there will be no space for terrorists, a country where there will be no bombers and people with explosives to deter us,” he said.

The four people killed in the blast near a military barracks in Abuja included a pregnant woman, Defence Minister Adetokunbo Kayode said. Twenty-six people were wounded, 11 seriously.

There has been no claim of responsibility.

All the dead and most of the wounded are civilians, the minister told reporters. A soldier was among those hurt, the president's office said.

It was the second such attack in the capital since twin car bombings on Independence Day on October 1 killed 12 people.

The bombings were claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which says it is fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue in Nigeria's oil-rich but impoverished Delta region.

Jonathan said such attacks were “road bumps” in the country's development.

“For us to get where we want to go as a nation, we will have our obstacles,” Jonathan told the church service.

US President Barack Obama extended his “deepest condolences to the families of those killed and wounded”, saying the attack targeted “innocent civilians who were simply gathering — like so many people around the world — to celebrate the beginning of a New Year”.

The bomb exploded around 7:00 pm at a popular eating and drinking spot on the fringes of the Mogadishu military barracks in a heavily fortified area of the city.

The site was cordoned off Saturday and dozens of security officials, including soldiers, stood guard or patrolled the area.

Kayode, the defence minister, said it was not yet clear who may have been behind the bombing.

But Jonathan said preliminary analysis indicated the attack was “identical with the ones that happened in Jos” on Christmas Eve.

Chief of defence staff Air Marshal Oluseyi Petirin also said the blast appeared similar to the multiple attacks in the central city. “It's the same type of incident we had in Jos,” he said.

“It's unfortunate that some people planted a bomb where people were relaxing,” he added.

An Islamic sect calling itself Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad has claimed responsibility for the Jos attacks.

Boko Haram, which launched an uprising in Nigeria last year, had previously said it wanted to be known as a group that goes by that name.

Police in northern Nigeria said Thursday they had arrested 92 suspected Boko Haram members, including a man in his 70s they believe is the main financier of the group's activities.

– AFP/fa

Channel News Asia

BIRMINGHAM: Arsenal succeeded where Manchester United failed days earlier to become only the second team to win at St Andrew's in 30 games with a 3-0 victory over Birmingham City here on Saturday.

Their success saw Arsenal stay within two points of both Premier League leaders Manchester United, top on goal difference, and Manchester City.

It was the perfect response to the disappointment of throwing away points in a midweek draw against Wigan on Wednesday and the taunts of Sir Alex Ferguson, who had provocatively claimed following United's 1-1 draw that no team gets an easy game against Alex McLeish's combative Birmingham side.

In stark contrast to United's troubles though, this was as facile a victory as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger could have wished for as Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri's telepathic understanding was elevated to new heights against opponents who seem to have relished causing the Gunners discomfort and embarrassment in recent meetings.

Wenger, criticised for making eight changes to the side that defeated Chelsea for the game against Wigan, reverted to the starting XI that saw off the champions 3-1.

The Frenchman found further proof of his side's new found maturity and mental strength as Birmingham were picked apart.

Robin van Persie started the demolition before Nasri's 13th goal of the season and a comical own-goal from Roger Johnson epitomised Birmingham's miserable day.

Arsenal's recent visits to St Andrew's have rarely been short on controversy. The mental scars of the broken leg suffered by Croatian striker Eduardo, almost three years ago, still remain and there is a barely hidden contempt from Wenger for the confrontational style of McLeish's team.

Wenger complained about everything last season, from the pitch, to McLeish's attitude after Kevin Phillips' late equaliser and he was shaking his head again on Saturday following Johnson's over-aggressive lunge on Arsenal captain Fabregas inside the first ten minutes.

Fabregas was fortunate to escape serious injury and Johnson equally fortunate to see yellow and not red from referee Peter Walton.

But Wenger's sense of injustice was eased by a slice of good fortune, when van Persie's free-kick, after Johnson's tug on his shirt, deflected off Lee Bowyer on the end of the defensive wall and wrong-footed Ben Foster to give the Dutch striker his first league goal of an injury interrupted season.

He should have doubled that advantage, but completely failed in his attempt to lift his shot over Foster from close range after Fabregas and Nasri weaved intricate passing patterns on the edge of the area.

The understanding between the pair was a joy to behold and left Birmingham disoriented, such was the speed of their exchanges.

And the Gunners pair saw their interplay rewarded with Arsenal's second goal just before the hour mark.

No Birmingham player went with Nasri's run for the second return pass and he was allowed to shoot unchallenged past Foster from the edge of the area.

Arsenal's ability to move the ball and switch play left Birmingham's players dizzy on New Year's Eve and another passage of mesmeric possession between Fabregas and Nasri generated Arsenal's third goal.

This time it was Fabregas who ended up having the final shot, after twice exchanging passes.

Foster beat out the effort at his near post but it bounced against the legs of Scott Dann. rebounded off the shins of Johnson and went into the goal.

– AFP/fa

Channel News Asia

NEW YORK: US stocks enter 2011 at two-year highs, facing a crucial reading next week on the health of the US economy: the monthly unemployment and job creation data.

“From all indications available, the year should begin well,” said Gregori Volokhine, at Meeschaert Capital Markets.

“There are real signs that monetary policy and fiscal policy are having an effect on the economy,” the analyst said. “There's a wave of optimism which began in the markets several months ago and which now is being reinforced by macroeconomic numbers.”

Over the past week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average barely budged, slipping 0.03 percent to close Friday at 11,577.51 points.

The tech-rich NASDAQ dropped 0.48 per cent to 2,652.87 points while the Standard & Poor's 500 index, a broad measure of the market, added 0.07 per cent at 1,257.64 points.

The blue-chip Dow index, which gained 11.02 per cent in 2010, added more than 5.0 per cent in December alone. On Wednesday it finished at its highest level since August 2008.

“Investors will probably look back on this December as one to remember,” said Frederic Dickson at DA Davidson & Co.

“Big year-end rallies often fizzle out shortly after the beginning of a new calendar year,” Dickson cautioned.

“While we believe the economic landscape will continue to support higher stock prices in 2011, the market now appears technically extended from a longer-term perspective.”

The final week of 2010 was marked by extremely thin volumes. Traditionally quiet because of the Christmas and New Year holidays, this year's lull was even deeper after a blizzard along the East Coast kept many traders away from their offices.

Trading sessions were listless and final results were weak.

The Dow, for example, slipped 0.14 per cent Thursday, despite three positive US economic indicators: new claims for jobless insurance benefits fell to their lowest level in two and a half years last week, pending home sales unexpectedly rose in November, and the Chicago ISM index showed manufacturing activity at its fastest pace in more than 20 years.

“A lot of investors are waiting for the new year to see what the December employment report looks like and to wait until the fourth-quarter earnings reports start to be released,” said Hugh Johnson of Hugh Johnson Advisors.

Stocks face a calendar crammed with economic releases, capped Friday by the closely watched unemployment and job creation report.

The labour data in previous months has been grim, leaving the unemployment rate near 10 percent as the economy struggles to recover from recession.

“That's going to be the test,” said Volokhine. “This number needs to confirm that the jobs market is improving.”

Among other economic numbers slated are construction spending and the ISM manufacturing index on Monday, industrial orders Tuesday and the ISM services index Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve is set to publish the minutes of its last policy-setting meeting Tuesday.

“With low interest rates, improving economic data and healthy projected earnings growth, the outlook for 2011 is relatively bullish,” Briefing.com analysts said in a client note.

“Although broad market valuation remains reasonable, with stocks at two-year highs, sentiment near a bullish extreme and several macro risks still in the picture, it may be a bumpy ride again in 2011.”

– AFP/fa

Channel News Asia

PARIS: France on Saturday rejected Taliban claims that two French journalists held hostage in Afghanistan for more than a year may have been spying, describing it 'absurd” and said it was committed to securing their release.

A Taliban spokesman accused France earlier Saturday of not paying “much attention” to its demands for the release of Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier, whom it said had been intelligence gathering rather than reporting.

French authorities “categorically deny the absurd accusation of spying made against our compatriots,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Ghesquiere and Taponier were merely two journalists kidnapped while carrying out their work, it said.

“For a year, there have been constant talks to allow our compatriots to return to their families safe and sound,” it said.

“The determination of the French authorities remains unbroken today and, as the president (Nicolas Sarkozy) recalled on Friday, we will continue to mobilise all our efforts until the day they are freed,” it said.

The pair were captured on December 30, 2009 with three Afghan colleagues while travelling without a military escort in an area northwest of Kabul known as a stronghold of anti-government Islamic militants such as the Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP Saturday that his group had presented the French government with conditions for their release but “unfortunately they have not paid much attention”.

They were taken because “they had come to the area without our permission,” he said.

“Second, they were engaged in gathering information that has the nature of intelligence gathering. The information and documents recovered from them suggest they were after intelligence gathering.”

France Televisions, which includes the France 3 chain for which the men work, said suggestions that Ghesquiere and Taponier had been spying were “baseless and ridiculous”.

The journalists were trying to interview Afghan civilians for a report and did not want to get in contact with the Taliban, France Televisions deputy managing editor Thierry Thuillier told the RTL broadcaster.

“There was therefore no risk they wanted to spy on them (Taliban),” he said.

Thuillier said the Taliban statement could be an attempt to put pressure on France more than a year after the journalists were captured.

“It is perhaps a ways of saying 'let's hurry things up',” he said, adding the militants could also be aware of questions in France about the government's efforts to free the men.

A support committee for Ghesquiere and Taponier said the suggestions of espionage were “completely uncalled for and baseless”.

“We assert loud and clear that our friends are really journalists,” spokeswoman Patricia Philibert told AFP. “Journalists always ask difficult questions, that is how we know that they are good journalists.”

Philibert did however question the will of the French authorities in negotiating an end to the ordeal.

The one-year anniversary of the hostage-taking was marked in Paris on Wednesday with events that included the projection of the journalists' faces onto the Arc de Triomphe.

– AFP/fa

Channel News Asia

DOHA: World number one Rafael Nadal will begin the new season which starts at the Qatar Open here on Monday on a high after beating rival Roger Federer in the final of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

The Spaniard arrives in Doha head and shoulders above the rest of field, more than 3,000 points ahead of world number two Federer and with three of the last four Grand Slam titles under his belt.

His hopes of winning the Qatar title for the first time have been boosted by the 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) win over the Swiss in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition match on Saturday.

And the two are set to meet again next week when they are the top two seeds at the Qatar Open, which marks the start of the new season.

“For both of us, these are the first matches of the season. So it is special for us,” said Nadal after his win in Abu Dhabi.

Federer, who has come into the new year with a fresh mindset as he works with new coach Paul Annacone, is bidding for his third title in Doha after winning back-to-back trophies in 2005 and 2006.

“Rafael and myself must have played so many times and so many times it has come down to a few shots here and there. He is an amazing shot-maker. Me as well, but today he got the better of me,” said Federer.

Federer appointed Annacone, who steered Pete Sampras to nine of his 14 Grand Slam titles, after losing his Wimbledon title, as he bids to regain the world number one ranking he once held for a record 237 consecutive weeks.

The next few days may offer insights into just how likely that is. Since Annacone's arrival there have been signs that Federer is working on countering fractional loss of speed as he moves through his 30th year.

He has been trying to reinvigorate his backhand, achieve a more consistent serve, produce crisper ground-strokes, and most crucially, generate an appetite for attacking opponents' second serves more forcefully.

How superb Federer becomes when he achieves all these things was illustrated by his meeting with Nadal at the ATP World Tour finals five weeks ago in London where he concluded the season with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win.

“I think in the beginning he was unplayable,” said Nadal. “He played unbelievable all week. When he's playing like this, it's very difficult to stop him.”

Nadal is happy in returning to Doha, which he believes helped him turn a corner after he had gone without a title for 11 months last year.

“In Doha last year was probably one of the best sets of my career, the first set against (Nikolay) Davydenko,” Nadal said, referring to an incredible final in which he took that set 6-0, held two match points, and still lost to the Russian.

“So the only thing I think is, be focused, don't lose this dynamic, don't lose that, because with that level I have chances to win in every tournament.”

As for the pressure of being the hot favourite, Nadal said: “It doesn't make any difference if I have won three Grand Slams or if I won one or two. It's in the past.

“When I start the season, everything starts. I don't think if I have to defend 100,000 points or if I have to defend 1,000 points. In Australia or in Doha when I start the season, I have zero points. So we start from there.”

The two legends met only twice last year, have not contested a Grand Slam final for two years, and have yet to meet in a Doha final. All this should add tension to the possibility of it happening on January 8.

However, world number three Davydenko beat both last year on his way to the title.

The Russian has struggled with a wrist injury last season and is now seeded only fourth, behind France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is making his debut in Doha, hoping to be fully fit after his 2010 campaign marred by a knee injury.

– AFP/fa

Channel News Asia

COPENHAGEN: A plot foiled this week to massacre staff at a Danish newspaper was destined to fail because the suspects' links to Islamic extremists were so well known, a terrorism expert was quoted saying Saturday.

One of the five men arrested Wednesday was “so publicly exposed and known by the intelligence services that the plot against Jyllands-Posten was almost destined to fail,” Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defence College, told the Politiken daily's online edition.

Munir Awad, a 29-year-old Swede born in Lebanon, was one of five men arrested Wednesday for hatching what Danish officials called a plan to “kill as many people as possible” in an assault on the Jyllands-Posten daily.

The paper published in September 2005 a dozen cartoons of the Muslim prophet that triggered violent and sometimes deadly protests around the world, as well as threats against the daily.

Four men — including Awad and two other Stockholm-based men — were arrested in suburbs of Copenhagen and one was arrested at his home north of the Swedish capital.

The four Swedish residents had all been under surveillance for months, Swedish intelligence service Saepo said this week.

Sweden's foreign ministry confirmed Friday that Awad had been arrested in Somalia in 2007 and in Pakistan in 2009 and that Swedish officials had intervened on his behalf.

Awad had publicly thanked Saepo for obtaining his release from Somalia when he was detained there three years ago with his then 17-year-old pregnant wife.

“We know Saepo brought us home and we are very grateful,” he told a Swedish newspaper at the time.

In Pakistan Awad, his wife and their two-year-old son were arrested in the company of Mehdi Ghezali, a Swede who had spent two years in the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, ministry spokesman Anders Joerle told AFP.

Swedish news reports also said he had on and off had shared a Stockholm apartment with two members of the Islamist movement Al-Shebab who were sentenced to prison by a Swedish court in December for “planning terrorist crimes” in Somalia.

“He is probably about the last man professional terrorists would send off on a mission to Denmark,” Ranstorp said, adding he guessed the suspects in the foiled Danish plot were likely “semi-amateurs”.

Petter Nessar of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment said meanwhile that while Awad and his suspected accomplices may not have been ideal picks to carry out a professional attack, “terror cells need to use the resources they can get hold of.”

“And even though the terrorists were not successful in carrying out the operation … it has had a clear effect. People are frightened and that is the core essence of terror,” he told Politiken.

– AFP/fa

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