Abu Dhabi, UAE  - Andy Murray remains more excited about his fast-improving Australian Open chances than even the 250,000-dollar prize packet he stands to win in the final with Rafael Nadal at the Capitala Championship in Abu Dhabi.

Murray reached the Saturday title showdown as he beat Roger Federer in three sets at the exhibition.

"It's always a challenge playing Roger," said the Scot, ranked fourth. "I've got the better of him on a few occasions, but in the big one we played, at the US Open final, he beat me pretty badly.

Perth, Australia  - Lleyton Hewitt has revealed he was forced to undergo August hip surgery after his leg "shut down" at the Beijing Olympics.

"It got to the stage where at Wimbledon I was struggling quite a bit. I made the fourth round, and lost to Roger Federer," said the two-time Grand Slam champion, making his comeback at the Hopman Cup.

"But I put up a great effort there, but then went to Beijing and after one match my whole leg basically shut down.

Berlin  - With the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaching, many Germans are disappointed with the achievements made since unification, according to a new poll.

The survey by the opinion research organization Forsa showed less than half of those polled thought their personal situation had improved since the fusion of East and West Germany.

"The euphoria that dominated after the fall of the Wall has more or less disappeared," the head of Forsa, Professor Manfred Guellner, told the newspaper Berliner Zeitung.

Singapore  - Singapore was hotter last year than the average for the last 50 years, with temperatures averaging 27.5 degrees Celsius, 0.6 degrees Celsius higher than average, The Straits Times reported Saturday.

The report cited the National Environment Agency (NEA) as saying that it was difficult to determine how much of the upward trend in temperature was due to global warming and how much was caused by the city state's rapid development and urbanization over the past 30 years. "But the trend is consistent with rising global temperature levels," a NEA spokesman was quoted as saying.

Lisbon  - The world's oldest person, Maria de Jesus, died Friday at the age of 115 in a hospital in the Portuguese community of Corujo near the city of Tomar.

She held the Guinness world record for just a month after the death of American Edna Parker.

De Jesus, born September 10, 1983, had never left the small town where she was born and completely avoided both alcohol and coffee, relatives told local media.

Her husband, Jose, died 58 years ago, when she was 57 years old. She had six children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

Budapest/Brussels  - The European Union reported the first impacts of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian gas row on Friday evening as three member states in Central and Eastern Europe reported falling gas pressure in their pipelines.

Pipeline pressure is down in the main pipes leading from Ukraine into EU members Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the Czech Republic's energy envoy, Vaclav Bartuska, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The Czech Republic currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"It is so far only a decrease in pressure. The volumes (being delivered) remain the same ... The Ukrainian side told us that volumes will be down tomorrow (Saturday)," Bartuska said.