Young Australian sea traveler greets New Year off Cape Horn

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SYDNEY, January 3 (Itar-Tass) - Jessica Watson, 16, Australian
contender for the title of the world's youngest seafarer, celebrated the
advent of the New Year off Cape Horn.
According to an entry made at Jessica's own Internet page on Sunday, a
storm that had caught her yacht Ella's Pink Lady had calmed down only on
Friday night, enabling her, at least, to have a supper at the banqueting
table in calm.
The young sea traveler pointed out that her only wish is to complete
the round-the-globe cruise safely and set a world record.
By retracing the route of her compatriot Kay Cotty, who in 1988 became
the world's first woman to circumnavigate the globe solo, Jessica would
automatically get into the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest
seafarer. The Australian has been in the open ocean for 2.5 months. Her
entire route is estimated to be 23,000 nautical miles, the distance that
she has got to cover within 230 days.

.Russian youth ice hockey team bow to Switzerland, 2-3.

OTTAWA, January 3 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian youth ice hockey team
bowed to Switzerland, 2-3 (0-0, 2-1, 0-1, 0-1) in a 2010 world
championship quarterfinal match on Saturday.
Swiss defender Michel Lochat opened the score in the ninth minute of
the second period. It took the Russian side ten minutes to even the score.
It was Vladimir Tarasenko who slammed in an equalizer. One minute before
the end of the second period, Kirill Petrov brought the Russian team into
the lead. The third period went off in a tough contest. Thirty-three
seconds before the final siren, Ninot Niederreiter managed to even the
score and then propelled the team into the lead in extra time, 14 seconds
before the siren.
The Russian team is now to play against a winner in the USA-Finland
match to be played on January 4.

.Hatoyama urges RF-Japan intensive top-level contacts.

TOKYO, January 3 (Itar-Tass) - Premier Yukio Hatoyama believes that
more frequent top-level contacts are essential for achieving progress in
efforts towards a settlement of the territorial issue in relations between
Russia and Japan.
In an interview published in this year's first edition of the Hokkaido
Shimbun newspaper, Hatoyama said, "It is essential to make headway. We
have already met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev twice, and I
intend to make efforts to secure that there are as many such meetings as
possible".
"This is an indispensable condition for an effective search for novel
solutions," the Premier pointed out.
Hatoyama went on to say, "If contacts (at top level) are made only
once in six months or a year, quite a lot of things happen in the interim
between them. In result, we roll back and are unable to move in a new
direction".
"My wish finally to settle the issue is much stronger than that of any
of my predecessors in the office of Japan's Head of Government," the
Premier emphasized.

.Al-Qaida persists in attempts to attack US--intel official.

WASHINGTON, January 3 (Itar-Tass) - Al-Qaida and radicals connected
with it persist in attempts at staging a terrorist act in US territory,
National Counterterrorism Center (NCC) Director Michael Leiter warned in a
statement circulated on Saturday.
The NCC is part of the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence. It coordinates the activities of all the 16 American
intelligence agencies.
Leiter's statement pointed out that the failed attempt made by a
Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to blow up a passenger airliner of
the Northwest air company on December 25, last year, was the starkest
reminder of perfidious terrorist threats that the US encounters.
Leiter emphasized that officials "know with absolute certainty" that
al-Qaida and those who share its ideology continue to refine their methods
to test U.S. defenses and launch an attack on American soil. Leiter said
the key aim of the work of US intelligence services must be to prevent a
terrorist attack in US territory or that against US interests.
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