poland holds rates steady for seventh month
warsaw jan afp
poland central bank on tuesday left its key interest rates untouched for the
seventh month in row
the bank monetary policy council said in statement it had held its main
interest rate the minimum bank intervention rate at percent while the
discount rate stood at percent and the lombard rate at percent
analysts had expected the decision to hold rates
having joined the european union in ex communist poland enjoyed several
years of robust economic expansion and is faring better than many other
countries in the current global slump remaining the only eu economy to post
continued growth
israeli pm honours holocaust victims in polish capital
warsaw jan afp
israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu honoured holocaust victims at war
memorial in the polish capital tuesday on the eve of the th anniversary of
the auschwitz death camp liberation
the israeli leader bowed his head in front of the imposing grey marble
umschlagplatz memorial in the centre of warsaw laying wreath draped in
banner in the blue and white colours of the israeli flag
at this place from where hundreds of thousands of our people were sent to death
camps and where we meet today the righteous among the nations we encounter the
worst evil in the history of mankind together with the greatest courage in the
history of humanity netanyahu told reporters at the site
it was from the infamous umschlagplatz site that in warsaw wwii nazi
german occupiers sent more than jews by train to the notorious treblinka
death camp kilometres miles northeast of the city
holocaust survivors and polish woman whom israel has honoured as righteous
among the nations for having risked her life to save jews during the holocaust
attended the wreath laying ceremony
this is not an easy encounter but it gives us hope and direction for our
future may god avenge the victims said the israeli leader standing alongside
his wife sara whose father was the only member of his family to survive the nazi
holocaust in which some six million jews were murdered
he later visited the city warsaw uprising museum where he honoured
victims of the bloody and doomed revolt launched by polish partisans
against the city nazis occupiers
it came over year after jewish resistance fighters led an equally doomed
uprising in the warsaw ghetto against the nazis in
the people of israel have learnt their lesson he wrote in hebrew in the
museum guestbook
on the eve of the trip to poland netanyahu warned that jews are again facing
calls for their extermination in an apparent reference to iranian president
mahmoud ahmadinejad
there is evil in the world if it is unstopped it expands and it is expanding
and it is threatening the same people the jewish people but we know it only
starts with the jewish people netanyahu said on monday
there is new call for the extermination of the jewish people he said at the
opening of an exhibition of the auschwitz blueprints at the yad vashem holocaust
memorial in jerusalem
ahmadinejad has repeatedly said the jewish state was doomed to be wiped off the
map and has questioned the scale of the holocaust israel considers iran to be
an existential threat
the son of prominent nationalist historian netanyahu views the jewish state
as the shield against recent years growing expressions of holocaust denial
earlier tuesday netanyahu met with polish foreign minister radoslaw sikorski
senior israeli official told reporters the talks had focused on the middle
east peace process and international efforts to halt iran nuclear programme
and ways to impose effective sanctions on tehran
they also discussed bilateral and trade relations including the sale of israeli
drones to the polish army the official who requested anonymity said
later tuesday netanyahu was expected to hold talks with president lech
kaczynski as well as his polish counterpart donald tusk
on wednesday netanyahu will head to the former nazi auschwitz death camp to
attend ceremony marking international holocaust remembrance day and the th
anniversary of the liberation of the camp in nazi occupied poland where some one
million jews perished between june and january
french report calls for burqa ban
paris jan afp
french parliament report called tuesday for ban on the full islamic veil
saying muslim women who wear the burqa were mounting an unacceptable challenge
to french values
after six months of hearings panel of lawmakers recommended ban on the
face covering veil in all schools hospitals public transport and government
offices the broadest move yet to restrict muslim dress in france
the wearing of the full veil is challenge to our republic this is
unacceptable the report said we must condemn this excess
the commission however stopped short of proposing broad legislation to outlaw
the burqa in the streets in shopping centres and other public venues after
raising doubts about its constitutionality
the wearing of the full veil is the tip of the iceberg said communist
lawmaker andre gerin the chair of the commission who presented the report to
the parliament speaker
there are scandalous practices hidden behind this veil said gerin who vowed
to fight the gurus he said were seeking to export radical brand of
fundamentalism and sectarianism to france
tensions flared at the last minute when group of right wing mps pushed
unsuccessfully for tougher measure to ban the burqa in all public venues
in the end the commission called on parliament to adopt resolution stating
that the all encompassing veil was contrary to the values of the republic and
proclaiming that all of france is saying no to the full veil
the national assembly resolution would pave the way to legislation making it
illegal for anyone to appear with their face covered at state run institutions
and in public transport for reasons of security
women who turn up at the post office or any government building wearing the full
veil would be denied services such as work visa residency papers or french
citizenship the report said
the opposition socialists refused to endorse the final report to protest the
government launching of debate on national identity which has exposed
french fears about islam
critics of the burqa debate have warned that it risks stigmatising france
six million muslims and describe it as marginal phenomenon affecting few
women
despite large muslim presence the sight of fully veiled women is not common
in france only women wear the burqa according to the interior ministry
half of them live in the paris region and percent are under
home to europe biggest muslim minority france is being closely watched at
time of particular unease over islam three months after swiss voters approved
ban on minarets
president nicolas sarkozy set the tone for the debate in june when he declared
the burqa not welcome in france and described it as symbol of women
subservience that cannot be tolerated in country that considers itself
human rights leader
french support for law banning the full veil is strong poll last week
showed percent are in favour
the leader of sarkozy right wing party in parliament jean francois cope has
already presented draft legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to
cover their faces in public
the bill is not expected to come up for debate before regional elections in
march
in france passed law banning headscarves and any other conspicuous
religious symbols in state schools after long running debate on how far it was
willing to go to accommodate islam in its strictly secular society
denmark the netherlands and austria are also studying measures to ban the full
veil
football real accepts ronaldo unfair sending off
madrid jan afp
real madrid blasted the unfair red card handed out to cristiano ronaldo at the
weekend but said it will accept the referee decision
seeing the move he clearly did not want to hurt the opponent emilio
butragueno the club vice president and former player was quoted as saying
tuesday in sports newspaper marca
was striker and when you are challenged you want to free yourself
the world most expensive player spoiled stellar two goal display on sunday
by getting red carded after stray elbow caught defender patrick mtiliga who
tugged the portuguese winger shirt during the win over malaga
the primera liga disciplinary committee is expected to announce later tuesday
whether he will be suspended for one or two matches
real sporting director jorge valdano described the decision as unfair and
very hard as ronaldo was merely trying to continue the move
we regret very much the injury to the malaga player we accept any decision
but we defend the conviction that we are right he told spanish radio cope
tuesday
it was second dismissal of the season for ronaldo who was sent off in
win over almeria on december for kicking out at an opponent
the manchester united star said monday he also felt his red card was unjust
ve spoken to mtiliga and he said he doesn believe should apologise
because he doesn think hurt him intentionally he was quoted as saying on
the club website
never try to trick referees never intended to injure the player believe
they should be fair with what really happened
china seizes million dollars in fake bank notes report
beijing jan afp
china seized billion yuan million dollars in fake bank notes last
year in month campaign to fight counterfeiting state media reported
tuesday
liu jinguo vice public security minister said police had arrested nearly
suspects involved in counterfeiting cases during the campaign according to the
official xinhua news agency
last year chinese shoppers were subjected to flood of counterfeit yuan
bills and many people were found carrying and using fake bills beginning with
the serial numbers hd
the situation prompted china central bank to issue warning to consumers
banks and retail outlets to be on guard for the fake notes
china lifts escalator maker kone profits
helsinki jan afp
finnish lift and escalator maker kone on tuesday reported rise in profits in
despite the global economic crisis with the company growth led by the
booming chinese market
net profits reached million euros million dollars last year
percent higher than in
in the fourth quarter the net profit rose to million euros from
million euros in the third quarter
kone chief executive matti alahuhta said in the earnings statement that kone
market position continued to strengthen in china
he said kone was well placed to reach good performance again in
but kone also said it expected net sales to decline around percent this year
at comparable exchange rates its net sales grew by percent in by the
same measure
in europe the middle east africa and north america the market will continue
to decline in most countries however stabilisation is expected towards the end
of the year kone said
shares in kone on the helsinki stock exchange were percent lower in
afternoon trading after the announcement at euros
cricket iqbal defies indian attack with explosive ton
dhaka jan afp
bangladeshi opener tamim iqbal put india attack to the sword with blistering
on the third day of the second and final test in dhaka on tuesday
the left hander dominated record run stand for the second wicket with
junaid siddique as bangladesh reached in their second innings at
stumps
but the hosts still face stiff task to save the match as they need more
runs with seven wickets in hand to make india bat again after conceding
run lead
the tourists lead in the short series following their run win in the
opening match in chittagong last week
iqbal completed his second hundred off just balls the fastest by
bangladeshi in tests his stand with siddique was also bangladesh highest for
any wicket in test cricket
bangladesh previous best was between mohammad ashraful and mushfiqur rahim
for the sixth wicket against sri lanka in colombo in
this innings is so far my best wanted to bat throughout the day played my
natural game always enjoy scoring against india if had stayed unbeaten it
would have been good for the team said iqbal
if we had not lost two wickets towards the end we would have been on top
hope one batsman now makes big score and another or runs then we will
be in competitive position
iqbal delighted the crowd with bold strokeplay smashing three sixes and
fours in his career best knock he spared neither seamers nor spinners as he
kept playing attacking shots on both sides of the wicket
indian seamer zaheer khan struck in the third over when he had bangladeshi
opener imrul kayes five caught by substitute dinesh karthik who dived forward
to hold on to the ball at short cover
the visitors then had to wait for more than overs for the next breakthrough
as iqbal and siddique bolstered the innings with their contrasting knocks
zaheer broke the partnership when he had siddique caught behind the bangladeshi
batsman who relied more on singles and twos hit only five fours in his
ball knock for his fifth test half century
the indian seamer then got big wicket in the day penultimate over when he
had iqbal caught behind claiming his third victim
he iqbal played well he is very aggressive player we were pleased to get
him out at the end of the day it was very important for us said india coach
gary kirsten
we now need to get early wickets tomorrow we have got two days left and the
wicket is fantastic to bat on
india earlier declared their first innings closed at their lunch total of
in reply to the hosts with skipper mahendra singh dhoni making solid
the visitors added to their overnight total of with dhoni alone
contributing
the indian captain on overnight completed his th test half century when
he lofted seamer rubel hossain over mid off for boundary
he looked set for his fourth test hundred when he was stumped by rahim off part
time spinner raqibul hasan on the stroke of lunch he cracked two sixes and nine
fours in his ball knock
shafiul finished with and left arm spinner shakib al hasan
japan shrugs off economic project offer on disputed islets
tokyo jan afp
japan said tuesday joint economic projects with russia on their disputed islands
are unlikely unless the two countries resolve their territorial row
russia first deputy foreign minister andrey denisov told the nikkei
business daily on tuesday that japan and russia should conduct joint economic
projects on and around the four disputed islands
but japanese foreign minister katsuya okada told news conference the countries
must first clarify the ownership of the islands off northern japan that were
seized in by soviet troops who expelled japanese residents
it is legally difficult to realise joint economic activities without resolving
the fundamental issue and personally not quite positive toward that okada
said
the territory is known as the south kurils by russia and the northern
territories by japan
tennis injury curse strikes nadal again
melbourne jan afp
rafael nadal career has been blighted by injury and the curse struck again on
tuesday with his australian open title defence ending meekly in retirement from
his quarter final with andy murray
the spanish second seed was trailing the scot when he came
to the net to concede defeat
nadal had sought medical timeout after the opening game of the third set and
looked concerned as he had physio treatment to his right knee
it was sad end for the world number two whose physically demanding playing
style may be catching up with him with injuries last year raising fears over
his long term future
he was forced to withdraw from the wimbledon where he was defending
champion with tendinitis in both knees after his match winning streak at the
french open was ended by swede robin soderling in the fourth round
nadal was sidelined for nine weeks and after resuming suffered an abdominal
injury and played with it at the us open where he reached the semi finals
during all this he relinquished the world number one ranking to roger federer
and is seeking his first atp world tour title in eight months
he said he feared tuesday injury was the same tendinitis problem he had last
year
it was in the end of the second set it felt similar to what had last year
he said
after that couldn get down properly so it was impossible to win the match
said sorry to andy for that
felt the pain still there and there was no chance to do anything didn
know if still playing it would get worst so said well won repeat the
same mistake like last year
the latest setback is serious blow to nadal but he said it was too early to
tell how bad it might be
didn have lot of problems for the last six months today was the first
time he said
think it is going to be okay
it was an anti climactic end to thrilling match between two of the best
players in the world
both had exchanged service breaks early in the opening set before murray got the
vital second break in the sixth
the intense scot withstood three break points before he served out for the
opening set in minutes
it was compelling tennis as the two again exchanged service breaks in the second
set
nadal fought off four break points in the th game during which he brought the
crowd to its feet with fantastic reflex volley to win point in an exciting
rally
but in the tiebreaker murray broke clear racing to five set points after two
smashes and then taking two sets to love lead when nadal backhand found the
net
nadal then sought treatment on his knee and murray quickly capitalised with
another service break for lead as the momentum swung his way before nadal
called it quits
for sure it is little bit disappointing to have the pain in the knee because
think am very close to starting to win these important matches said nadal
am out of this tournament but very happy about my level because it is much
better right now than two or three months ago
tennis murray to play cilic in semi nadal retires
melbourne jan afp
andy murray will play marin cilic in semi final at the australian open after
an extraordinary day when defending champion rafael nadal succumbed with injury
on tuesday
the fifth seeded scot became the first briton to reach the australian semi
finals in years after nadal withdrew from their quarter final troubled by
right knee injury
murray was leading at the time the spanish world number two
called it quits
fourteenth seed cilic became the first croatian to reach the semi finals after
his gripping five set victory over american andy roddick
cilic at the youngest of the eight quarter finalists wore down the seventh
seeded roddick in three hours minutes
but it was just precursor to dramatic night on rod laver arena as murray
moved step closer to becoming britain first grand slam winner since fred
perry in
murray created some history of his own when he became the first briton since
john lloyd in to qualify for the australian open semis
he my favourite player to watch just because of what he brings to the court
with all his energy and gutted for him murray said of nadal
the year old scot has yet to drop set after five matches
nadal said the knee felt similar to last year when he was forced to withdraw
from wimbledon where he was defending champion with tendinitis
it was in the end of the second set it felt similar to what had last year
he said
after that couldn get down properly so it was impossible to win the match
said sorry to andy for that
murray will go into his semi final against the th seeded cilic after spending
only two and half hours on court against such physical player as nadal for
tournament total of hours
in comparison cilic is the marathon man of the tournament expending hours
eight minutes on court for his five matches
murray was impressive with his offensive game against one of the best defensive
players and his serve was strong point aces and winning percent of his
first serves
he broke the spanish left hander service four times and gave up his serve
twice
cilic continued his splendid tournament with his second victory in three matches
against roddick breaking the american power server five times and dropping his
own six times
today was tough match mentally and for murray it going to take also lot
of energy out of me he said so we ll see how going to be able to
survive
think the biggest thing is to try to recover as much as can and to try to
be ready so can play at my level
it was his third five set match of the tournament
yet again it was more heartbreak for roddick as he fell short in his bid to add
to his sole grand slam title from the us open
roddick is the last american male grand slam winner the longest major title
drought for the proud tennis nation
but he was not too disappointed given sore shoulder
to be able to push it and have shot thought it was pretty good effort
roddick said
hit the ball about as well as could throughout the whole match still hit
the ball pretty well in the fifth
roddick had medical timeout after the first set to seek treatment for the
painful right shoulder
football celtic sign viking raider rasmussen
glasgow jan afp
celtic have signed danish target man morten rasmussen from brondby the scottish
club announced on tuesday
rasmussen who has won three caps for denmark turns on sunday and has signed
three and half year contract at celtic park following transfer that
reportedly cost celtic more than one million pounds
the forward scored goals in games for brondby after signing
for the club from agf aarhus in and he is hoping to book place in
denmark world cup squad by catching the eye in scotland
it would be dream for me to play in the world cup and will work hard to do
well at celtic and then maybe will be able to go to south africa he said
nicknamed duncan because of similarity to former rangers everton and
scotland forward duncan ferguson rasmussen is convinced he can make an impact
in scotland
am striker am strong in the box and that is where score most of my
goals he said also fight hard for the team and am good at holding the
ball up
rasmussen added started at aarhus before going to brondby which was
bigger club so moving to celtic is another big step up for me
am looking forward to my new career here hope to play lot of football
score lot of goals and that the team can win every competition that we are
involved in
rasmussen is celtic manager tony mowbray fourth signing of the january
transfer window following south korean midfielder ki sung yueng dutch defender
jos hooiveld and norwegian defender thomas rogne
suicide car bomber injures five afghans ministry
kabul jan afp
suicide bomber in car laden with explosives struck near foreign military
base in kabul on tuesday injuring at least five afghan civilians an interior
ministry spokesman told afp
there was suicide car bomb explosion near camp phoenix the target of the
blast is not known yet five civilians have been injured so far zemarai
bashary said
he was referring to military base where us forces are based on the main road
between kabul and the eastern provinces
bin laden tape shows al qaeda greatly weakened obama
washington jan afp
an audio message in which osama bin laden seemed to take credit for failed
bombing attempt on us airliner showed the al qaeda leader has been weakened
president barack obama said in an interview broadcast tuesday
while obama said there is no doubt that terror threat persists al qaeda
itself is greatly weakened from where it was back in he said
bin laden sending out tape trying to take credit for nigerian student who
engaged in failed bombing attempt is an indication of how weakened he is
because this is not something necessarily directed by him obama told abc
television
rare daguerreotype camera up for auction in austria
vienna jan afp
one of the forerunners of the modern day camera by jacques daguerre dating from
could sell for record price for such items at auction later this year
vienna art gallery said tuesday
there are barely dozen daguerreotype cameras still in the world today most of
which are housed in museum collections
but galerie westlicht in vienna has been commissioned to sell rare one bearing
the signature of its designer jacques daguerre and it is scheduled
to come under the hammer in the austrian capital on may
when the gallery auctioned an unsigned daguerreotype camera in it sold for
record euros dollars
gallery director peter coeln revealed that the vendors this time were family
of opticians from northern germany who would like to remain anonymous
the current owner was given it by his father in the as present for
getting his opticians diploma coeln told afp
the camera with its sliding box made out of pine and lens by parisian
opticians vincent and charles chevalier is in good condition it carries
seal by the maker alphonse giroux who was daguerre brother in law and
daguerre signature is clearly legible
there is no serial number unlike other apparatus in use at the time but it
carries in the initials uv which suggests it may have been made for someone
of the higher classes in the th century coeln said
the gallerist said he hoped the camera would be sold to french buyer since
france is the country where photography was invented
urgent bin laden tape shows al qaeda greatly weakened obama
washington jan afp
an audio message in which osama bin laden seemed to take credit for failed
bombing attempt on us airliner showed the al qaeda leader has been weakened
president barack obama said in an interview broadcast tuesday
urgent suicide car bomber injures five afghans ministry
kabul jan afp
suicide bomber in car laden with explosives struck near foreign military
base in kabul on tuesday injuring at least five afghan civilians an interior
ministry spokesman told afp
oil prices fall on china concerns
london jan afp
oil prices dropped tuesday on concerns major energy consumer china will make
further moves to tighten credit analysts said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in march slid
cents to dollars barrel
london brent north sea crude for march delivery decreased by cents to
dollars at about gmt
prices were driven lower on concerns that china might further restrict bank
lending said victor shum an analyst at energy consultants purvin and gertz
that what driving the market he added
policymakers in china have taken steps to tighten credit lending in bid to
slow down its roaring economy which grew by sizzling percent in the
fourth quarter of last year
china is the world second biggest oil consuming nation after the united
states
oil prices had begun the week higher closing up almost one dollar on monday as
wall street recovered traders said
crude saw small rebound on monday bouncing off friday lows said vtb
capital commodities analyst andrey kryuchenkov
the market was reversing some losses after heavy sell off at the end of last
week however gains were still capped as little changed fundamentally
regarding supply and demand overall oil was still trading in line with the
broader market he added in note to clients
crude futures had slumped last week as traders fretted over possible moves by
beijing to rein in the booming chinese economy the market weakened also as us
president barack obama unveiled plans to crack down on the us financial sector
amid fragile economic recovery and weak energy demand
gasoline or petrol reserves in the united states the world biggest energy
user increased by stronger than expected million barrels in the week
ending january striking two year high official data showed
us refineries meanwhile operated at percent their lowest rate in at
least two decades apart from the immediate aftermath of hurricane
oil prices jumped by about percent in as traders were heartened by
evidence that the battered global economy was on the mend with the eurozone
japan and the united states escaping deep recession
however crude futures have struggled to make much headway in early as
economic data disappoints
novartis says swine flu vaccine boosts profit
basel switzerland jan afp
swiss pharmaceutical group novartis on tuesday reported an percent jump in
core net profit for on sales of swine flu vaccine which are likely to
weaken this year
the basel based company also announced that daniel vasella would hand over the
chief executive post to joe jimenez the head of the pharmaceuticals division
job vasella had combined with the chairmanship for years
vasella reporting core net profit for last year of billion dollars
billion euros said novartis delivered an excellent performance in
driven by strong underlying growth across our entire healthcare portfolio
the swiss giant swine flu vaccine launched alongside rival vaccine makers
last year in response to the pandemic alert and state led mass vaccination
campaigns helped overall net sales grow by seven percent to billion the
company said
vaccines and diagnostics achieved exceptionally high sales by rapidly
developing and delivering influenza pandemic vaccines to address the
public health threat the company said
