NACCO Industries may invest in Kosovo lignite mine

PRISTINA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A unit of NACCO Industries (NC.N) plans to bid on a tender for a proposed coal-fired power plant in Kosovo as it pushes into new markets in the region, a company official said on Wednesday.

North American Coal Corp wants to partner with a power generator to build the 1,000 megawatt plant and to develop a lignite mine nearby, Michael Gregory, the company's vice president told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference.

"Eastern Europe is a new venture for us so we will look around and other places while we are here," said Gregory who cited Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia as other potential places for investment.

Kosovo's government is holding a conference to highlight an upcoming tender to build the long-delayed power plant and to whip up interest in the country's ageing energy sector.

The new plant, located near the Sibovc open Lignite mine, is expected to cost 700 million euros ($994 million) to one billion. The coal mine feeds two existing power stations and will also supply the new one.

The mine has a surface area of 19.7 square kilometres and around 990 million tonnes of lignite. Kosovo uses 7-8 million tonnes of lignite for existing power stations.

"We are interested in the mine and we would like to form a consortium with a power plant producer," Gregory said.

In 2006, Kosovo launched a tender for a 3.5 billion euro, 2,000 megawatt plant to turn the country into a regional power exporter and help deal with chronic electricity shortages.

But last November Kosovo, which has around 14 billion tonnes of lignite, gave up on the project due to a lack of interest among investors who demanded better terms.

The government now plans to launch a tender for a plant with half the planned capacity.

Two existing older coal-fired plants, Kosovo A and Kosovo B, are in poor condition and cannot produce the estimated 1,000 MW of daily capacity Kosovo needs. The Kosovo A plant falls short of environmental standards and will be closed by 2015.

Kosovo, one of the poorest countries in Europe, declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The country is also looking to attract foreign investment to help tackle a 40 percent unemployment rate. (Editing by Michael Kahn and Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.7040 euro)

Source:reuters.com/

Top Seeds Advance To Australian Open Second Round

Top seeds Roger Federer and Serena Williams took contrasting paths into the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament Tuesday.

Three-time champion Federer overcame a spirited challenge from world No. 37 Russia's Igor Andreev in the men's grueling first round with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-0 win.

The Swiss, who is seeking a record-extending 16th major championship in Melbourne, had to fight off three set points in the third set before winding up the match in two hours and 44 minutes.

Defending women's champion Williams, playing her first Grand Slam match since her outburst at the US Open, routed Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1.

Radwanska, however, gave a tough fight to Williams keeping her on the court for 73 minutes.

With this, the 28-year-old American improved the record of not losing in any of the 41 Grand Slam first-round matches she played so far.

Her sister, sixth-seeded Venus Williams, too did not face much resistance in the first round match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, winning in straight sets: 6-2, 6-2.

None of the other seeded women who took to the court Tuesday faced any upset. No. 8 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 13 Samantha Stosur of Australia, 19th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia, and No. 20 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the next stage.

Three seeded players in the men's section were eliminated in the first round Tuesday.

Eighth-seeded Robin Soderling, who is also last year's French Open runner-up, became the highest men's seed to see an early exit, losing a five-set match. No.16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and 25th-seeded Sam Querrey of the US also crashed out of the major season opener.

In an extraordinarily well-played match on Rod Laver Arena, veteran Lleyton Hewitt of Australia eased past Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.

Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, Gael Monfils of France, and Marin Cilic of Croatia were the other prominent winners in the men's section.

Second round matches start Wednesday.

Source:rttnews.com/

Serbian hearings in attack on NY student to start

BELGRADE, Serbia — Pretrial hearings in the case of a Serb accused of beating a fellow student into a coma in the United States will begin in December, a Serbian court said Thursday.

Miladin Kovacevic, a 23-year-old former basketball player at Binghamton University, jumped bail and fled the U.S. last year after being accused of assaulting Bryan Steinhauer in a Binghamton bar in May 2008. Kovacevic was provided with emergency travel documents by Serbian diplomats in New York

A Belgrade district court said in a statement that witnesses to the brawl will testify from the U.S. on Dec. 1 via a video link. The statement did not say whether the closed-door hearings would also include Steinhauer.

The case had strained relations between the United States and Serbia. Hillary Rodham Clinton intervened, first as a U.S. senator and later as secretary of state, as did U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, to make sure Kovacevic was prosecuted.

The 260-pound (118-kilogram) Kovacevic was accused of assaulting the 130-pound (59-kilogram) Steinhauer in a Binghamton bar, in upstate New York, repeatedly kicking him in the chest and head.

Witnesses told New York police that the two men exchanged harsh words after Steinhauer danced with the girlfriend of one of Kovacevic's friends.

The beating fractured Steinhauer's skull and left him with a severe brain injury. Now 23, he awoke from his coma in August 2008, three months after the beating.

The Serbian government has paid the Steinhauer family $900,000 (euro600,000) as part of a deal to prosecute Kovacevic in Serbia. Since the attack, Kovacevic has lived freely in Serbia, training with a local basketball team and advocating an anti-Western political party.

Sanel Softic, a Bosnian man accused along with Kovacevic and another man in the near-fatal beating, has pleaded guilty in New York to felony assault.

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hfDgjWZ_mtjs9pVEFMSCxgGq2rrQD9BU4JP83