Kvitova basks in WTA glory

Istanbul, Oct 30 - Petra Kvitova provided further proof that she is the rising force in women's tennis by beating Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to win the WTA Championships on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Czech, who shot to fame by winning Wimbledon this year, produced a display of power and skill to overpower the gritty Azarenka and claim the $1.75 million jackpot after remaining undefeated at the year-ending event featuring the world's top eight players.

Victory also confirmed Kvitova at a career-high second in the WTA rankings after ending 2010 in 34th spot and she will enter the New Year with No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in her sights.

Left-handed Kvitova's free-flowing game took her into a 5-0 lead in the opening set inside the Sinan Erdem Dome but she lost the next five games as the errors began to stack up.

She finally edged the opening set on a fifth set point but Azarenka, who could also have taken the number two ranking with victory, refused to be cowed by her opponent's superior firepower and kept her nose front to win the second set.

Belarusian Azarenka had three break points at the start of the third set but could not convert any of them and it was to prove a pivotal moment as Kvitova regained control to take the title on her debut at the showpiece tournament.

She is the first Czech to win the Championships since Jana Novotna in 1997 and can still put the icing on the cake of a dream season when she leads her country in the Fed Cup final against Russia next week.

Just as was the case against Australia's Samantha Stosur in the semi-finals, Kvitova's play veered between unplayable and erratic but her high-risk style proved to the liking of the 13,600 crowd who produced a great atmosphere to cap an encouraging debut for Istanbul as host city.

CAUGHT COLD

She has won her last 19 matches indoors and during an explosive start it was easy to see why as the pace of her forehand and serving accuracy caught Azarenka cold.

After opening the match with a confident service game, Kvitova broke the Azarenka serve straight away with the help of one of the numerous drops shots she employed throughout the match to great effect.

A searing forehand sealed the early break and she struck again two games later when a flustered Azarenka missed the line with a straightforward forehand at 30-30.

Some meaty Kvitova serving made it 5-0 but Azarenka finally got on the scoreboard in the next game with a rolled forehand winner that signalled a complete shift in momentum.

Suddenly she began to miss the lines by inches and Azarenka chipped away at the lead, saving two set points on serve in the eighth game and twice breaking Kvitova to love.

Kvitova steadied herself to hold serve at 5-5 and all Azarenka's hard work proved in vain as she dropped serve in the next game to put Kvitova a set to the good.

However, it was Azarenka who emerged from a flurry of early service breaks with the advantage in the second set and she kept her nose in front to level the match with a forehand that landed flush on the sideline.

Kvitova called her coach David Kotyza on to court for a chat before the start of the decider but the Czech found herself under more pressure as Azarenka engineered three break points but failed to take any of them.

It was to prove a pivotal moment as Kvitova, who celebrates important points with a gut-wrenching screech, took command when Azarenka blazed a forehand long to drop serve.

Azarenka, who will end the year at No.3 after winning three titles, resisted bravely to hold serve at 2-5 but Kvitova sealed victory in the next game when her opponent netted a simple backhand volley after a superb point.
From:bdnews24.com

Twin setbacks for AL

Dhaka, Oct 30 — With its mayor pick Shamim Osman losing heavily and a tussle with the Election Commission, the ruling Awami League has suffered twin defeats in the Narayanganj City Corporation polls.


This has been the ruling party's first test of public mandate after the repeal of the unelected caretaker government.


"This is a big lesson for Awami League," ruling ally Workers Party chief Rashed Khan Menon MP told bdnews24.com.

"They had backed a criminal-mafia instead of the one who Narayanganj liked," he said.


"They should now realise the error."


Ivy, saying that she had the blessings of the party chief Sheikh Hasina in her bid for the mayor's office, knocked Shamim out of the race in the unofficial results.


Many view it as a defeat for the government for the insurmountable lead that renegade Awami League candidate Selina Hayat Ivy had over his nearest rival Awami League-backed former MP Shamim Osman in the city close to capital Dhaka.

Awami League joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif announced that Shamim was the party's official candidate with only days before the election and only after the deadline for nomination withdrawal was over.

The official endorsement, however, could not be resolved despite the prime minister's intervention. She had met both the candidates, apparently to convince one to pull out of the race. Neither Shamim, nor Ivy agreed to relent, and given their political pedigree—both Shamim and Ivy's fathers were closely associated with the party—Awami League leadership had found it difficult to choose one over the other.

Evidently embarrassed at the result those who favoured Shamim chose to keep mum. Even Hanif refused to speak about the polls on Sunday evening. He told bdnews24.com, "I won't make any comments about the Narayanganj elections."


With the opposition demanding resignation of the election commission officials, namely the chief election commissioner, A T M Shamsul Huda said that they would demand an explanation from the government for failing to accommodate the commission's request for army deployment.

Former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan said he thought the election was a new dawn for democracy in Bangladesh.

"Our political parties must take a lesson from this election. The lesson is to pay attention to grassroots leadership," he said.

"The grassroots leadership won this election, and the central leadership lost it."

"People rejected the Awami League candidate. Awami League central leadership must strengthen its relationship with its grassroots.

"Our democracy will be established if the central leadership follows this lesson," he said.
From:bdnews24.com

WI 27 for 1

Dhaka, Oct 31 – West Indies has scored 27 runs for the loss of one wicket in the second innings on the third day of the second and final test against Bangladesh, being played at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.

Kirk Edwards (14) and Kieran Powell (12) are guarding the wickets with 14 overs already bowled.

KC Brathwaite (0) was run out on the second ball of the innings, by a direct throw from Naeem Islam.

Earlier on the day, Devendra Bishoo snared two wickets as the West Indies took 17 overs to finish off Bangladesh's first innings and take a 124-run lead in the second Test.

Bangladesh were dismissed for 231 on Day Three after after resuming at 204 for seven.

The hosts lost three wickets - Nasir Hossain (42), Sohrawardi Shuvo (15) and Shahadat Hossain (4) - in the session.

Bishoo returned 3-62 for the innings and Marlon Samuels took one wicket on the third morning.

Fidel Edwards was the main destroyer for the West Indies, returning 5-63 in the innings. Shakib Al Hasan led the Bangladesh batting with 73 runs.
From:bdnews24.com

Japan intervenes to tame high-flying yen

TOKYO, Oct 31 - Japan intervened to weaken the yen after the currency hit a record high against the dollar on Monday, saying it acted to counter speculative moves that did not reflect the health of the Japanese economy.

The dollar spiked after the intervention as much as 4 percent past 79 yen from around 75.65 yen. The dollar touched a record low of 75.31 yen earlier on Monday.

Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Tokyo stepped into the market for the second time in less than three months on its own at 10:25 a.m. local time (1:25 a.m. GMT) and would continue to intervene until it was satisfied with the results.

"I have repeatedly said that we would take decisive steps against speculative moves in the market," Azumi told an ad-hoc news conference.

Azumi would not comment on the size of the intervention, but one trader said the authorities were intervening "quite persistently."

"My sense is that they might not quit very easily," a trader said. The trader added, however, that dollar/yen may start to become heavy at levels above 79 yen.

Tokyo's second foray into currency markets since its record 4.5 trillion yen selling intervention on August 4, follows weeks of warnings by government and central bank officials that their patience with the currency's strength was wearing thin.

Even though the yen's exchange rate when measured against a trade-weighted basket of currencies and adjusted for inflation is not far from its 30-year average, it has been trading at much stronger levels against the dollar than one assumed by Japanese exporters in their earnings projections.

Last Thursday, acting in part out of concern that the yen's impact on corporate profits could derail Japan's recovery from the March earthquake and tsunami, the Bank of Japan eased its monetary policy by boosting government bond purchases.

But the easing failed to take the pressure off the yen, which continued to climb against the U.S. dollar -- underpinned by investors seeking relative safety in the currency from the European debt crisis.

Yunosuke Ikeda, senior FX strategist at Nomura Securities, said last week's central bank easing and Monday's intervention could be an effective combination.

"It was very good timing. The BOJ has prepared the ground by easing last week. Speculators' yen-buying position has piled up, and intervention is most effective in such cases," Ikeda said.

"This will likely be one-off intervention, but I think the government wants to stop the yen's strength, which is out of sync with gradually improving global economic fundamentals.

"The dollar/yen will unlikely fall back to the record low hit earlier today for some time."

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Azumi will head to the Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France later this week and Tokyo has been keen to win its international partners' understanding for its problems with the yen.

Azumi said that while Monday's intervention was a solo act he was in a continuous contact with his international partners.

"I have been frequently in contact (with other countries) ... I have always conveyed Japan's stance and interests at senior official levels," he said.

Since September 2010, Japan has now intervened three times on its own and once jointly with other G7 rich nations to weaken the yen. But the effects of past intervention have proved fleeting in the face of steady demand from nervous investors seeking highly liquid and relatively safe assets such as Japanese government bonds.

This has been a source of deepening frustration for Japanese officials, who argue that a yen rally is one problem too many for a nation grappling with a nuclear crisis, a $250 billion (156 billion pounds) post-quake rebuilding effort and ballooning debt.
From:www.bdnews24.com

With future for Saif unknown, Niger wary

NIAMEY, Oct 31 - The likely flight of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi from Libya to neighbouring Niger leaves the West African nation trying to balance its commitment to the International Criminal Court with avoiding another rebellion by heavily armed Tuareg tribesmen.

After the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya itself risks tribal violence, insurgency and chaos unless Tripoli's new government disarms regional militias and eases the grievances bottled up during 42 years of one-man rule.

Thought to be on the run somewhere in the mountains on Libya's southern borders with Algeria and Niger, Saif al-Islam, 39, is desperately seeking to avoid the fate of his father, who was beaten, abused and shot as forces of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) captured him on October 20 after the fall of his home town Sirte.

Saif al-Islam's surrender to the ICC would help restore the image of the NATO-backed campaign to overthrow Gaddafi which was tarnished in the eyes of some in the West by film of the former strongman humiliated, killed and put on public display.

The ICC wants to try Saif al-Islam for crimes against humanity and its prosecutor said on Sunday he had "substantial evidence" that Saif al-Islam had helped hire mercenaries to attack Libyan civilians protesting against his father's rule.

"We have a witness who explained how Saif was involved with the planning of the attacks against civilians, including in particular the hiring of core mercenaries from different countries and the transport of them, and also the financial aspects he was covering," ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters during a visit to Beijing.

"So we have substantial evidence to prove the case, but of course Saif is still (presumed) innocent, and (will) have to go to court and the judge will decide," he said.

Moreno-Ocampo said he would brief the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday about the court's work in Libya.

A senior member of Niger's coalition government told Reuters Saif al-Islam's whereabouts remained unknown, but that surrender was his best option. Niger would cooperate with the ICC to ensure he was handed over as safely as possible.

"It's perhaps best that he goes of his own accord rather than to be hunted and caught by Libyans who will end up lynching him as they did to his father," said Habi Mahamadou Salissou, vice-president of the Nigerien Democratic Movement.

But Tuareg nomads straddling the border region, many of them returning home with their weapons after fighting for Gaddafi in Libya, still feel a sense of loyalty to the late dictator who bankrolled their revolts in Niger.

"Gaddafi backed virtually all the rebellions in Niger and then managed to find a solution to them," said Salissou, a former foreign minister.

"NO NEGOTIATIONS"

Now Niger risks sparking a new Tuareg revolt if it mishandles any entry by Saif al-Islam onto its soil, a leading human rights official there said.

"Niger has the same border, is part of the same family as Libya and has lots of ties with Libya and the Libyans of Gaddafi," said Moustapha Kadi, national coordinator of Niger's human rights and democracy groups.

"Even if the government takes the decision (to hand al-Islam over) national opinion must be consulted to make sure that this does not create further tensions -- that is the last thing we need right now," he said in an interview.

Thanks in part to talks hosted by Gaddafi, Niger and neighbouring Mali managed in 2009 to seal a shaky peace with Tuareg rebels after a two-year insurgency that was just the latest bout of unrest in the north going back decades.

"If he decides to seek asylum, the government is free to study that - without ruling out the ICC's request. We should put Niger's interests first," said Kadi. "We have just got shot of a rebellion. We don't want any more conflict in the north."

The NTC may try Saif al-Islam itself, but the fugitive Libyan has been in indirect contact with the ICC over a possible surrender, though he may also harbour hopes that mercenaries can spirit him to a friendly African country.

Algeria, which took in Saif al-Islam's mother, sister, brother Hannibal and half-brother Mohammed, is not a signatory to the treaty that set up the ICC. Nor is Sudan or Zimbabwe.

The Hague-based ICC has warned Saif al-Islam that it could order a mid-air interception if he tried to flee by plane from his unidentified Sahara desert hideout for a safe haven.

"We received through an informal intermediary some questions from Saif apparently about the legal system -- what happens to him if he appears before the judges, can he be sent to Libya, what happens if he's convicted, what happens if he's acquitted," said Moreno-Ocampo.

"We are not in any negotiations with Saif," he said, adding that the ICC would not later force him to return to Libya provided another country is willing to receive him after he is either acquitted or is convicted and has served his sentence.

The NTC's interim information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, said the council had not discussed the indirect contacts between Saif al-Islam and the ICC. "We don't have a formal position on the reports," he told Reuters in Tripoli.

Before a popular uprising imperiled his father's grip on Libya, Saif al-Islam had cast himself as an enlightened supporter of reform at home and across the Arab world. But then he swore to crush opponents of his father's 42-year rule.

Asked about Saif al-Islam's metamorphosis, Moreno-Ocampo said: "After all these years, nothing surprises me."
From:www.bdnews24.com

Taimur is a 'dead man'

Narayanganj, Oct 30– BNP-backed mayor candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker, who announced polls boycott late on Saturday night, considers himself a 'dead man' at the moment as the maiden Narayanganj City Corporation election results reach final rounds.

"I am a dead man in this result," Taimur told bdnews24.com when approached for his comment over the election results that showed Selina Hayet Ivy clearly ahead of her nearest rival Awami League-backed Shamim Osman, with him trailing far behind in vote count, at the third position.

"I gave my own sacrifice (qurbani) following my leader's (Khaleda Zia) instructions," said an apparently upset Taimur, who had to opt out of at least three electoral races mid-way earlier.

In the morning, Shamim Osman has said Taimur 'gave in' to the Jamaat-e-Islami's 'intellect'.

"It's Jamaat intellect that let down the BNP candidate," Shamim told journalists reacting to the decision of election boycott.

Shamim quipped, "He (Taimur) was buried alive because of Jamaat. He had promised not to quit before death."

Meanwhile, Ivy polled 91,924 votes at 80 centres declared until 11pm out of the 163, while Shamim polled 36,952 and Taimur 3,660.

Islami Andolon-backed candidate Atiqur Rahman Nannu Munshi maintained fourth position bagging 3,567 votes.
From:www.bdnews24.com

Shamim shuts off, for Sunday

Dhaka, Oct 30 — Ruling party-backed Narayanganj mayor candidate Shamim Osman has gone behind the closed doors.

Until 9pm on Sunday, there was no reaction from him on the progress of polls results, which started trickling in from around 6.15pm.

Shamim entered his Jamtala home in the afternoon and has been off the radar since then. When attempts were made to contact him, reporters were told he would not speak to anyone and may hold a press conference on Monday.

The police vehicle accompanying Shamim also left around 9pm.

Shamim last spoke to the press around 4pm. He had in a vehement reaction alleged that a faction of his own party was rigging the polls to ensure his defeat.

At that point, the returning officer had announced the results of 40 polling centres in which Shamim's rival Selina Hayat Ivy was leading him by a massive margin of nearly three times.
From:www.bdnews24.com

Arab League hands Syria plan to end unrest

AMMAN, Oct 31- The Arab League handed Syrian officials a plan for ending seven months of increasingly violent unrest against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, and Assad told Russian Television he would cooperate with the opposition.

"We will cooperate with all political powers, both those who had existed before the crisis, and those who arose during it. We believe interacting with these powers is extremely important," Assad said in the interview on Sunday.

The United Nations says more than 3,000 people have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters demanding political reforms and an end to Assad's rule.

Assad blames the unrest of foreign-backed armed gangs and said in the television interview there had been "hundreds of deaths among the military, police and security forces."

The Arab League committee put its plan, involving talks in Cairo between the Syrian authorities and their opponents, to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem and Bouthaina Shaaban, a political adviser to Assad, on Sunday in Qatar.

The League had previously set a two-week deadline for the start of such talks, which expired on Sunday. The committee said it hoped for a Syrian response to its plan by Monday.

"More important than a dialogue is action... This committee has given a very strong response to the recent killings," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country presides over the committee, told reporters.

Syrian objections to holding a meeting regarding what they consider domestic affairs outside Syria was one of the points of disagreement between the two sides.

Opposition sources said 61 civilians and 30 soldiers had been killed in the latest clashes over the previous three days.

Opposition figures have repeatedly said Assad's offers of dialogue were not serious, and have said there has been a rise in recent weeks of mass arrests, torture, disappearances and assassinations of activists and street protest leaders.

"Whether we agree on the working paper or not we hope to receive an answer by Monday. If they approve the working paper, it will be implemented immediately," Thani said after the meeting, without giving details.

China's Middle East envoy called on the authorities on Sunday to speed up the reforms Assad has promised, saying the situation was dangerous and the bloodshed could not continue.

INTERVENTION AN "EARTHQUAKE"

Assad told Britain's Sunday Telegraph that Western powers would cause an "earthquake" in the Middle East if they intervened in Syria, after protesters demanded outside protection to stop the killing of civilians.

Syria sits at the heart of the volatile Middle East, sharing borders with Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.

"It is the faultline, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake," he said. "Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?"

Mass protests have not persuaded Assad to carry out significant reforms, and Western sanctions aimed at Assad and the ruling elite have not been matched by any sign of military intervention, unlike the NATO action in Libya.

Syria, a mostly Sunni Muslim country of 20 million, is ruled by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, who also dominate the military, key sectors of the economy and a pervasive security apparatus.

On Sunday, security forces and pro-Assad militiamen killed at least 10 civilians, mostly in Homs, 140 km (85 miles) north of Damascus, bringing the total in the last 72 hours to 61, activists and residents said.

Syria has barred most international media, making it hard to verify conflicting accounts from activists and authorities.

Homs province, which borders Lebanon and is home to one of Syria's two oil refineries, is emerging as a center of armed resistance to Assad's rule after months of peaceful protests that often drew a violent response from security forces.

One activist group said fighters thought to be army deserters had killed 30 soldiers in clashes in Homs city and in an ambush in the northwestern province of Idlib on Saturday.

INVOKING THE PAST

In the television interview, Assad compared the unrest with the 1980s, when his father, Hafez al-Assad, crushed Islamist and leftist challenges to his rule, killing tens of thousands.

Many thousands were killed in 1982 in the city of Hama when the elder Assad's armed forces crushed a revolt by the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Opposition figures say Islamists played no part in starting the anti-Assad uprising that erupted in March.

Forty-one years of Assad family rule have stifled political life and public debate in Syria, making it hard to predict how Syrians would vote if their country became a democracy.

Some argue that Islamists are unlikely to win power, citing secular traditions among Syria's majority Sunnis, who live alongside Christian, Alawite and Druze minorities.

Burhan Ghalioun, a main figure in the opposition Syrian National Council, formed in Istanbul in September, is a secular, Western-educated professor. The council also includes Islamists.

NATO military intervention in Libya played a decisive role in toppling Muammar Gaddafi, the third Arab leader to be overthrown after the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

Western nations, which have been tightening sanctions on Syria to include the oil sector, have shown no desire to repeat their Libyan operation in Syria, though demonstrators have called for a "no-fly zone" to protect them.
From:www.bdnews24.com

Stocks none of Muhith's business, please!

Dhaka, Oct 30 – Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has said he does not want to talk about the share market.

"It's a SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) business, not mine," he told reporters on Sunday.

His comments came in response to journalists' query on the latest slump in the stocks market as he emerged from a meeting with the Japanese ambassador H E Shiro Sadoshima at the Secretariat.

On Sunday, the Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark index lost 231.65 points or 4.36 percent to slip to 5077.12 points. Last week, the index shed 237 points to stand at 5308.79 points at close on Thursday.

Muhith has been facing criticism from various quarters, including ruling Awami League MPs, for his expressions of frustration over continuously falling market.

Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim launched a tirade against Muhith on Thursday saying he is not allowed to avoid the matter by saying 'I don't understand share market'.

On Oct 18, a frustrated Muhith had said, "A slew of measures have been put in place to make the market steady. Still, it's not returning to its normal self. I don't know how it will be set right."

The share market slump that began in December last year has spurred demonstrations by small investors. Thay have also been demanding resignation of the finance minister and the Bangladesh Bank governor.

Since July 25, when the slide resumed, the DSE general index has risen in just four trading sessions.

On July 20, Muhith had said the stock market was moving towards stability. "It's going to be rather stable, though it'll now fluctuate a little." On Aug 6, he said that those expecting a rise in the share market every day were 'insane'.

The next day, he termed the demonstrators 'speculators'.

CALL FOR MORE INVESTMENT

After the meeting with the Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh, Muhith told reporters, "Japan is one of the biggest development partners for us. But financial relation between us is not vast. Investment and trade rate is very low which Japan is interested in increasing."

He said, "Japanese prime minister will lead a business delegation to Bangladesh next year. I hope the visit will take the relationship between the countries to a new high."

The minister said even after such devastating natural disasters in Japan, Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) would still provide the promised financing for the Padma bridge project.

"The Japanese ambassador has said that there is no problem with the JICA funding. They will provide the pledged funding."

On Oct 10, the World Bank temporarily suspended its funding for the project following charges of corruption in river dredging, appointment of consultants and preliminary selections.

The World Bank has promised $1.2-billion financing for the country's longest bridge over the Padma river.

The $2.9-billion bridge will connect the northwest of the country to the capital Dhaka and Chittagong port.

Apart from the global lender, JICA will give Bangladesh $415 million, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will give $140 million and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will give $615 million for the project. The government will spend the rest of money from its coffers.

The 10-kilometre bridge will be the longest in Asia. Six kilometres of the bridge will be built over the river while four kilometres on the land to link the country's central region with the South.
from:www.bdnews24.com

Eid-ul-Azha on Nov 7

Dhaka, Oct 28— Eid-ul-Azha, the second-largest religious festival of the Muslim Ummah, will be celebrated in the country on Nov 7, as the Jilhaz moon was sighted on Friday.

Acting director general of the National Moon Sighting Committee Ikramul Haque confirmed bdnews24.com that the moon was sighted on Friday evening.

In the absence of committee chief and state minister for religious affairs Mohammad Shajahan Mia, Ikramul presided over the meeting in this regard.

bdnews24.com