Rafael Nadal refuses to quit Australian Open final
World number one Rafael Nadal said he would hate to quit a Grand Slam final despite the back injury that derailed his Australian Open hopes.
Nadal lost 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 to Stanislas Wawrinka, ending his bid for a second Australian and 14th Grand Slam title.
The Spaniard, 27, had been hoping to become only the third man to win all four major titles at least twice.
"The last thing that I wanted to do was retire. No, I hate to do that, especially in a final," he said.
"At the same time, it's tough to see yourself during the whole year, working for a moment like this, and the moment arrives and you feel that you are not able to play at your best."
The Spaniard revealed that he had felt an issue with his back even before the match had started.
"Since the beginning I felt it a little bit, from the warm-up," he said. "At the end of the first set, I started to feel worse.
"Then at the beginning of the second was the key moment that I felt, during a serve in a bad movement, it was very stiff, very bad."
Nadal then left the court for a medical timeout, unaware of the exact nature of the problem.
Source-BBC
NSA 'engaged in industrial espionage' - Snowden
US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has alleged the National Security Agency engaged in industrial espionage.
In an interview with Germany's ARD TV channel, the former NSA contractor said the agency would spy on big German companies that competed with US firms.
Mr Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum by Russia, also said he believed that US officials wanted to kill him.
His leaks caused outrage in Germany when it came to light Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone had been bugged.
After the row broke out last year, Mrs Merkel accused the US of an unacceptable breach of trust.
Last week President Barack Obama indicated to Germany's ZDF TV that US bugging of Mrs Merkel's mobile phone had been a mistake and would not happen again.
Mr Snowden's new allegation about industrial spying may make it harder to rebuild trans-Atlantic trust, the BBC's Stephen Evans reports from Berlin.
Referring to the German engineering company Siemens, Mr Snowden told ARD: "If there is information at Siemens that they [the NSA] think would be beneficial to the national interests, not the national security, of the United States, they will go after that information and they'll take it."
He also said he believed US agents want to kill him, referring to an article published by the Buzzfeed website in which intelligence operatives are quoted as saying they want to see him dead.
In August Russia granted Mr Snowden asylum for one year, after he leaked details of US electronic surveillance programmes.
The US has charged Mr Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.
Each of the charges carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Earlier this week he said he has "no chance" of a fair trial in the US and has no plans to return there.
Source-BBC
Japan reports record annual trade deficit
Japan has reported a record annual trade deficit after the weak yen pushed up the cost of energy imports.
Its deficit rose to 11.5 trillion yen ($112bn; £68bn) in 2013 - a 65% jump from a year ago.
Japan has seen its energy imports rise in recent years after it shut all of its nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the tsunami and earthquake in 2011.
But it is having to pay more for those imports after a series of aggressive policy moves weakened the yen sharply.
The Japanese currency fell more than 20% against the US dollar between January and December last year.
The latest trade data showed that while Japan's imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) rose 0.2% by volume in 2013 from the previous year - the value of those imports surged nearly 18%.
This is the third year in a row that Japan - traditionally known for the strength of its exports - has reported an annual trade deficit.
Japan, the world's third-largest economy, has seen its growth stagnate over the past two decades.
In an attempt to change that, policymakers have unveiled a series of aggressive moves over the past few months, including doubling the country's money supply.
The measures, led by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have come to be known as 'Abenomics'.
The steps have had a big impact on Japan's currency - which has fallen sharply against the US dollar.
A weak currency bodes well for Japan's exports - a key driver of its growth - making them cheaper for foreign buyers. A weak yen also boosts profits of exporters when they repatriate their overseas earnings back home.
The hope has been that a rise in exports, coupled with a jump in earnings of exporters, will aid Japan's economic recovery.
However, the weak currency has also made imports more expensive and affected the country's trade balance.
Source-BBC
Ukrainian Protesters Seize Justice Ministry
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Anti-government protesters have seized the Ukrainian justice ministry in Kyiv, after rejecting President Viktor Yanukovych's offer to name an opposition leader as prime minister.
Demonstrators used sandbags and garbage cans to build a barrier around the ministry Sunday.
President Yanukovych offered to name opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister, and former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko as his deputy.
Yatsenyuk told a crowd that the opposition is "not afraid" of accepting more political responsibility. But he said Mr. Yanukovych still has to meet several demands. They include early elections, freedom for jailed protesters, and repealing anti-protest laws.
Marchers took to the streets in late November after Mr. Yanukovych backed out of a trade deal with the European Union in favor of closer ties to Russia.
Source-Voice of America
Kidnapped Egyptians Released in Libya
Six Egyptians kidnapped in Libya Saturday have been freed.
Libyan officials said the five diplomats and an embassy staff member were released unharmed Sunday. They were kidnapped in retaliation for Egypt's arrest of a Libyan militia commander.
Shabaan Hadiya is the leader of the Revolutionaries' Operation Room, one of the militias that sprang up during the fight to topple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
UN invites Iran to Syria peace talks
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has invited Iran to take part in preliminary Syrian peace talks this week in Switzerland, an offer Tehran has accepted.
Mr Ban said he had received assurances that Iran would play a positive role in securing a transitional government.
But Syria's main opposition group said it would withdraw from the talks unless Mr Ban retracted the offer to Iran.
And the US said the offer must be conditional on Iran's support for the 2012 deal on Syria's transition.
The Syria peace conference has been more than a year in the making and now it is in disarray before it's even started, reports the BBC's Kim Ghattas.
The UN move appeared to take American officials by surprise, she adds.
Preliminary talks are due to open in Montreux on Wednesday and then continue in Geneva two days later.
Syria's government earlier agreed to attend the meeting.
The three-year conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people.
An estimated two million people have fled the country and some 6.5 million have been internally displaced.
On Sunday, UN Secretary General Ban said that Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had pledged that Tehran would play "a positive and constructive" role in Montreux.
"As I have said repeatedly, I believe strongly that Iran needs to be part of the solution to the Syrian crisis," he added.
And Mr Ban stressed: "Let me be clear - Montreux is not a venue for negotiations. The Syrian parties themselves will begin that process in Geneva on 24 January."
Shortly afterwards, Iran said it accepted the invitation. Tehran had earlier insisted it wanted to take part but without preconditions.
There had been a dispute over whether Iran, a crucial ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, should be taking part in the talks.
The UN and Russia had advocated a role for Tehran, but the US had reservations because of its failure to endorse the 2012 Geneva communique, detailing Syria's political transition process.
Washington is also concerned about Iran's deployment of military personnel in Syria, and its support of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which had sent fighters to bolster Mr Assad's forces.
Responding to Mr Ban's invitation, Syria's main political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, threatened to withdraw from the Geneva talks.
In a tweet, SNC spokesman Louay Safi wrote: "The Syrian Coalition announces that they will withdraw their attendance in G2 unless Ban Ki-moon retracts Iran's invitation."
In a statement, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington viewed Mr Ban's invitation "as conditioned on Iran's explicit and public support for the full implementation of the Geneva communique including the establishment of a transitional governing body by mutual consent with full executive authorities.
"This is something Iran has never done publicly and something we have long made clear is required," Ms Psaki added.
"We also remain deeply concerned about Iran's contributions to the Assad regime's brutal campaign against its own people, which has contributed to the growth of extremism and instability in the region.
"If Iran does not fully and publicly accept the Geneva communiqué, the invitation must be rescinded."
Source-BBC
Suicide Bombing Kills 9 in Pakistan
Officials in northern Pakistan say a suicide bomber has struck a market near the country's military headquarters, killing at least nine people.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack Monday in Rawalpindi, not far from the capital, Islamabad. The blast, which wounded at least 14 people, went off in an area considered one of the most secure parts of the city.
On Sunday, the group said it was behind a deadly suicide bombing that targeted a military convoy in the town of Bannu. That blast killed at least 20 Pakistani soldiers, and afterward a Taliban spokesman warned that the group would "carry out more such attacks in the future."
The Taliban has conducted a bloody insurgency against the Pakistani state since 2007. The bombing Sunday was the biggest against Pakistani security forces in months.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned Sunday's bombing and canceled his trip to this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Clashes Erupt at Kyiv Rally
A tense standoff between anti-government demonstrators and riot police continued overnight in Kyiv following clashes in the Ukrainian capital.
The violence on January 19 came after tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Independence Square in defiance of new anti-protest legislation.
Protesters attacked police with sticks as they tried to push their way towards the parliament building, which had been cordoned off by rows of police and buses.
Stun grenades were used and smoke was seen above the crowd.
One police bus was destroyed and set alight. The flames of the burning bus could be seen from far away.
As clashes continued reports emerged that boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko had met with President Viktor Yanukovych at his presidential residence outside Kyiv.
Klitschko later tweeted that Yanukovych had agreed to set up a committee to settle the political crisis.
On his website, Yanukovych said that he had tasked a working group -- headed by national security head Andriy Klyuev -- to meet with opposition representatives on January 20 to work out a solution to the crisis.
The White House urged an end to the violence, with National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden saying that Washington was deeply concerned and urging "all sides to immediately de-escalate the situation."
Hayden said Ukraine's government "has moved to weaken the foundations of Ukraine's democracy by criminalizing peaceful protest and stripping civil society and political opponents of key democratic protections under the law."
She called on Ukraine to repeal recent laws limiting protests, remove riot police from downtown Kyiv and start talking to the opposition.
"The U.S. will continue to consider additional steps -- including sanctions -- in response to the use of violence," Hayden said in a statement.
The new legislation -- signed into law by Yanukovych on January 16 -- bans any unauthorized installation of tents, stages, or amplifiers. It also prohibits protesters from covering their faces or from wearing construction hats.
Many demonstrators wore medical, ski, and carnival masks in defiance of the new regulations and others had kitchen pots and colanders on their heads. Many others wore construction hats.
The legislation allows for prison terms of up to 15 years for the "mass violation" of public order.
The new laws also require nongovernmental organizations to register as "foreign agents" if they are funded from abroad, mirroring a similar rule on the books in Russia.
The new legislation was passed by a show of hands in the parliament after the opposition blocked access to the podium and the electronic voting system.
Opposition lawmakers said the way the laws were passed was unconstitutional and declared the legislation null and void.
Also on January 16, opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk declared the start of opposition-sponsored referendums and elections for new government bodies and officials in Ukraine.
"We are starting popular voting on the lack of confidence [in the government] and over the dismissal of [Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovych," he said.
Yatsenyuk added that ballots would be held on a "declaration of support for and confirmation of the authority of the Ukrainian People's Council" as well as on "the creation of a new constitution for Ukraine."
He also said a popular vote would be held to elect an alternative Kyiv City Council and mayor of Kyiv.
Source-Voice Of America
Environmental Management Agency will utilise $20 million for La Brea in TNT
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) will utilise the $20 million which it fined Petrotrin to “rehabilitate” areas impacted by the oil spill along the country’s southwestern coastline. Several concerns have been raised about the size of the fine and whether that money would be deposited into the consolidated fund, making it harder to access.
But EMA officials confirmed to the Sunday Guardian that the multi-million dollar fine would be deposited into an environmental account which gives them access to it without the bureaucratic ministerial or Cabinet approval. The money, according to a consent agreement signed between Petrotrin and the EMA, would be used to “assess, rehabilitate and do remedial work” in the affected areas. The EMA said that contrary to earlier conservative reports, close to 10.5 miles of beach was affected by the spills.
This small victory for the EMA was hard won, as the agency is currently dealing with archaic legislations that make it hard to leverage or take action against offending companies. The EMA latched on to only one CEC granted to Petrotrin back in 2006 in order to impose the $20 million fine for the consequences of the environmental breach that led to over 7,000 barrels of oil being emptied into the Gulf of Paria on December 17, and another spill on December 26.
Petrotrin President Khalid Hassanali and the EMA’s Dr Allan Bachan signed off on the consent agreement on January 7 where Petrotrin accepted liability for the two spills which contributed to the oily mess washing up on miles of beach along the peninsula. The agreement states that Petrotrin was the “violator” of four clauses of the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC).
The unprecedented spill forced the EMA to invoke Section 25 of its legislation for the first time. Enacting that law means that the $20 million would be placed in an environmental fund. “The fine is not for the breach, the fine is for the consequence of the breach,” one high-level member said. This means that Petrotrin, because of the short legislative arms of the EMA, may be able to side step any financial responsibility for the spills and pay for the clean-up operations alone.
“There is no way to fine them for negligence, because the law is not made up that way,” the source said. The Environmental Management Act legislation leaves companies in operation before 2001 without the now regulatory Certificate of Environmental Compliance (CEC), and also leaves the EMA without any leverage to enforce environmental compliance. “You know how hard we had to search for that one CEC to leverage on Petrotrin?” one EMA member revealed.
While residents, environmentalists and wild life enthusiasts continue to reel under the strain of almost one month of clean-up operations, the EMA has admitted that it cannot force the state company to adopt better maintenance practices or preventative maintenance. The Sunday Guardian met with senior staffers at the EMA and was told of frustration driven by archaic legislation, which left the body virtually powerless to prevent environmental mishaps and little room to leverage on companies violating environmental rules.
“The bottom line is we need to advocate to change the legislation,” one EMA member said. The bigger question though, is whether this sort of environmental disaster can happen again. “We cannot stop them, we cannot change how they do business. It could very well happen again,” one member said.
The environmental company, the Sunday Guardian learnt, has already met with a member of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for assistance on the next step in rehabbing the affected areas. One representative has accompanied EMA members for an on-site assessment of the damage.
Source-Guardian
St Lucia: Warwickshire man Roger Pratt murdered
A British man has been murdered on the Caribbean island of St Lucia as he tried to defend his wife from attackers.
Roger Pratt, 62, was killed on board the couple's yacht in the town of Vieux Fort on Friday night, police said.
His wife, Margaret, was treated for injuries sustained in the attack, which took place while the Warwickshire couple were on a round-the-world trip.
Police said three people were in custody, but no arrests had been made.
Mrs Pratt had been released from hospital and was helping detectives investigating the robbery, they said.
The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of the death of a British national on the island and was providing consular assistance to the family.
The cause of Mr Pratt's death has not been established, but police said there was no evidence he had been shot. A post-mortem examination is due to take place on Monday.
A police spokesman said: "Nobody has been arrested yet but there are some guys in custody.
The investigators are very busy looking at what happened."
Source-BBC