Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - Chinese player Li Na gave Belgian Kim Clijsters a fright in the Australian Open, but Clijsters eventually found her form and won six straight games to take her first-ever Australian Open women’s title. Ninth seed Li Na went into the match with massive enthusiasm from home behind her, as the first Chinese player ever to reach the finals of a Grand Slam tournament. Her game looked powerful but in the end Clijsters took the title, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Links to other sites: Australian Open, Sports Illustrated, Xinhua
Bern, Switzerland and Athens, Greece (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss embassy in Athens received a package with a bomb Tuesday 2 November, one of five embassies in the city to receive such packages. The bomb sent to the Swiss was not thrown into the courtyard, nor did it explode, contrary to initial international media reports, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern, although it sent out a flame .
The news comes the day after a young Greek man was arrested on suspicion of having sent a package, intercepted in Greece, to French President Nicolas Sarkozy as well as to the Belgian, Dutch and Mexican embassies Monday. An employee in a courier delivery service was injured when one of them exploded at the company’s office.
The other four packages sent Tuesday, to the Bulgarian, Chilean, German and Russian embassies, were dismantled by bomb specialists from the Greek police.
Metal was detected in the package delivered to the Swiss embassy, prompting a check. Based on initial information, the local embassy team at the gate, considering the package suspect, threw it into a courtyard. It is unclear if the flame shot out when it was thrown.
(Reuters video) The European Union has two new leaders, in posts created by the Lisbon Treaty, which goes into effect 1 December 2009 following final approval by Ireland and the Czech Republic. Herman van Rompuy, Belgian prime minister, was named President of the European Council, a two-and-a-half year job. He was elected by a majority vote by the 27 members states. A key part of his job is to chair meetings of the European Commission. Catherine Ashton was made EU high representative for foreign affairs. She has been the EU’s trade commissioner for the past year.
The election of the pair, both of whom have relatively low profiles in international affairs, has been praised by the US, France and Germany but those who were hoping to see the first European president play a strong role are expressing disappointment. Turkey’s leaders are unhappy with Rompuy, who resisted Turkish membership and the UK media reaction has been more puzzled than enthusiastic.
Links to other sites: BBC, Die Welt (Ger), Guardian, UK, Le Monde (Fre), Le Temps (Fre), Times, UK
Flushing Meadows, New York (GenevaLunch) - Kim Clijsters showed what tennis been missing as she continued her run with a 6-0 0-6 6-4 win over third seed Venus Williams. The chunky Belgian powered her way past the gangly American in the first set but then started to miss and quickly lost the second. The third set was more even but Williams could not recover from an early loss of serve. Clijsters could face Serena Williams in the semi-finals but first needs to get past Chinese player Li Na.
