Scud out, Agassi in doubt
The News Review:
- Scud out, Agassi in doubt
- China set to decide on 3G licences
- Open players drop like flies
- CIVIL SOCIETY KYRGYZSTAN PROTESTS: REHEARSAL FOR REVOLUTION?
Scud out, Agassi in doubt
TVNZ – Jan 13, 2005
Philippoussis’ injury – sustained in a match against Dutchman PeterWessels – could not have come at a worse time as he attempts toemerge from a troubled year on and off the court. Philippoussis has plunged in the latest rankings to 110 afterstarting last year ranked nine. Hisabsence from the centenary Australian Open leaves world No. 3Lleyton Hewitt as the only realistic hope for a home-grown malewinner of the event. Philippoussis will now have to prove his fitness before Australia’sfirst-round Davis Cup tie against Austria in Sydney in March. Meanwhile,Andre Agassi’s Australian Open campaign is in severe doubt after hewas forced out of the lead-up Kooyong Classic tennis tournament onThursday with a hip injury. Agassiretired in the first set of his much-anticipated match with AndyRoddick, trailing 5-6 in the first set, apologised to the crowd andimmediately received treatment.
China set to decide on 3G licences
The Age – Jan 13, 2005
Beijing has been slow in making decisions on 3G as it has beenconcerned that too many licences could lead to huge fixed-assetlosses if the technology fails. Amid talk that the government is planning a major restructuringof the telecom industry this year, Xinhua said that Beijing couldmerge the four major telecom operators into two. The central government also wants to give the home-grown 3Gtechnology, TD-SCDMA, more time to get mature. There are three 3G standards, WCDMA, CDMA2000 and China’sTD-SCDMA. After 3G field tests it concluded that WCDMA and CDMA200technology were “near mature” for commercialisation, while theTD-SCDMA standard has made great progress, Xi Guohua, MII viceminister said late last month. At a meeting on Wednesday the telecom regulator also said itexpects China to add 100 million new telephone users this year,bringing the total to over 750 million, with mobile phonesubscribers increasing 58 million. At the end of November last year China had 329.
Open players drop like flies
The Age – Jan 13, 2005
But the longer she and Lleyton Hewitt stay healthy the betterthe chances are of a home-grown winner at the centenary AustralianOpen. Players are dropping out every day, particularly in the women’sdraw. Only three of the women’s top 10 are fully fit with the resteither battling injury or already on a plane out of Melbourne. Among the men, Andre Agassi is hobbling around with a hipcomplaint that forced him to forfeit against fellow American AndyRoddick in the Kooyong Classic at Melbourne. Australia’s Mark Philippoussis officially withdrew because ofthe adductor injury he suffered during the Hopman Cup.
CIVIL SOCIETY KYRGYZSTAN PROTESTS: REHEARSAL FOR REVOLUTION?
EurasiaNet – Jan 13, 2005
The early January protests served as merely the first volley in the opposition’s attempt to overthrow the existing order, Akayev suggested. He went on to urge the Kyrgyz people "to stand against the actions of exporters of revolutions and instigators. ""The most dangerous thing is that our home-grown instigators now have quite skilled trainers, who have learned to make revolutions of various colors out of provocation," Akayev said, referring to Georgia’s Rose Revolution, and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. "We should not let anybody trample our laws and reverse our confident forward movement. " Akayev also attempted to persuade the Kyrgyz populace that his administration was the most trustworthy steward of economic development. Akayev declared 2005 "the year of social stability and housing construction," and detailed the economic gains made over the past year, including a six-percent decrease in poverty rates. The organizers of the Bishkek protests, Akayev argued, used to tout such accomplishments as a sign of the need for social stability, but "[t]oday they’re making a lot of noise and trying to whip up a crowd of picketers to put pressure on the state authorities and Central Election Commission to move things in the direction they desire," Kabar quoted Akayev as saying.