runs in the second test in durban when smith hinted at concerns about the
coaching set up
we need to be quite precise in terms of the things we need to improve on in
terms of training sessions and coaching smith said at the time
south african newspaper report claimed that arthur decision to resign
followed an irreparable breakdown in the relationship with smith but source
said arthur departure was the result of decision by the csa board
arthur axeing comes just days before the south african team departure for
india on saturday for two match test series between the two top ranked teams
in test cricket india recently took over the top spot from south africa
high performance coach corrie van zyl is expected to take the side to india
while cricket sa starts the process to find long term successor
gates weighs in on google china spat
washington jan afp
microsoft founder bill gates has weighed in on row between china and web giant
google over cyberattacks saying that beijing efforts to censor the internet
were fortunately very limited
calling it complex issue gates spoke about the controversy in an interview
monday with abc television even as the us government was stiffening its stance
on internet freedom
the role of the internet in every country has been very positive letting
people speak out in new ways he said and fortunately the chinese efforts to
censor the internet have been very limited you know it is easy to go around
it
gates said different countries had different rules on censorship pointing out
that germany forbids pro nazi statements that would be protected as free speech
in the united states
and so you have got to decide do you want to obey the laws of the countries you
are in or not if not you may not end up doing business there he said
you know fortunately the trend towards openness and sharing ideas is being
fostered in an incredible way
google has said that following the cyberattacks on the email accounts of chinese
human rights activists it is no longer willing to censor web search results in
china even it that means it has to leave the country
google has not yet stopped censoring search results on google cn but google
chief executive eric schmidt said last week it would happen soon
the us state department meanwhile said it recognized that china had
different position with respect to restricting information but the united states
believe it was inconsistent with the information environment and prerequisites
of the st century
so we will continue to promote the free flow of information unfettered access
to information the ability to have virtual freedom of association said
spokesman philip crowley
these are all we believe fundamental tenets of the environment that we live
in and we will not back away from advocating that this should be something that
all countries should promote crowley said
the spokesman recalled that secretary of state hillary clinton delivered major
policy speech on internet freedom last week in which she talked about being
able to surf the internet without restrictions
beijing lashed out at clinton speech on friday saying it was harmful to
sino us relations which are already dogged by trade and currency issues and us
arms sales to taiwan and chinese spokesman on monday denied any state
involvement in the cyberattacks which google said originated in china
spokesman for china ministry of industry and information technology said
monday that the accusation that the chinese government participated in any
cyberattack either in an explicit or inexplicit way is groundless and aims to
denigrate china
china policy on internet safety is transparent and consistent the spokesman
told state news agency xinhua saying the country with the world largest
online community was itself the biggest victim of hacking
in another interview on xinhua spokesman for china state council or
cabinet said beijing efforts to remove harmful content from the internet were
legitimate and should be free from unjustifiable interference
meanwhile the websites of at least five organizations dealing with chinese
human rights and dissident issues were hacked in recent days one of the groups
said monday
chinese human rights defenders network of domestic and overseas china
activists released statement saying attacks on its website began saturday
afternoon and continued for about hours
it said others reporting cyberattacks included the human rights related news and
information sites canyu rights and livelihood watch and new century news as
well as the independent chinese pen writer group
libya pursuing big russian arms deal report
moscow jan afp
libya is seeking to buy more than two billion dollars worth of russian arms
including fighter planes the interfax news agency reported on tuesday
citing military diplomatic source
the report came as libya defence minister was due to visit russia in the
latest sign of renewed cooperation between moscow and the north african state
which enjoyed close ties during the cold war
libya is ready to buy around fighter planes at least two divisions of
pmu air defence systems and several dozen tanks from russia and
also to modernise more than tanks and other weapons the source said
the source told interfax that more than one billion dollars of the deal was for
combat aircraft such as su su and yak the news agency put the
total size of the deal at two billion dollars billion euros
earlier senior russian official had confirmed that moscow was counting on
signing arms deals with libya during tuesday visit by the country defence
minister general abu bakr yunis jaber
we expect his visit will not just be of political nature but will also allow
the signing of contracts on the delivery of arms and military hardware
vyacheslav dzirkaln deputy head of the federal service for military technical
cooperation told the ria novosti state news agency last week
dzirkaln whose service oversees arms exports said libya was interested in
russian fighter jets and air defence systems but did not elaborate
neither the service nor russia state run arms exporter rosoboronexport could
be reached for comment on tuesday
libya longtime pariah state that has moved to rejoin the international
community in recent years has reportedly been in talks with moscow about
revamping its military
much of the north african state arsenal was purchased from the soviet union in
the last years of the cold war
moscow and tripoli have stepped up their contacts in recent years in
libyan leader moamer kadhafi visited the russian capital in his first visit to
moscow since the
dutch telecom operator kpn says profits surge
the hague jan afp
dutch telecoms operator kpn reported percent surge in net profit for
boosted by tripling of profits in the fourth quarter in statement on
tuesday
we are pleased with kpn performance in despite the generally difficult
economic environment we have continued to invest in our business kpn chief
executive ad scheepbouwer said in statement
while revenues declined our focus on ebitda free cash flow and market shares
continued to pay off he said
for the full year net profit was up percent to billion euros
billion dollars in while sales fell by percent to billion euros
kpn confirmed its outlook for with sales ranging between billion and
billion euros ebitda of billion euros and dividend per share of
euros
the company said that fourth quarter net profit more than tripled on cost
cutting and announced that it would buy back one billion euros worth of
shares
net profit rose to billion euros in the last quarter compared with
million euros in the same period in kpn said in statement
the latest quarter net profit was boosted by cost cutting and tax gain of
million euros the figure beat expectations by analysts surveyed by dow
jones newswires of million euro profit
the company which employs more than people cut jobs last year
kpn fourth quarter earnings before interest taxes depreciation and
amortisation ebitda rose by percent to billion euros
the company sales however fell by percent to billion euros in the
quarter
china sentences four to death in xinjiang state media
beijing jan afp
court in china restive xinjiang region sentenced four more people to death
over deadly unrest last july state run media reported on tuesday
another person received death sentence with two year reprieve sentence
normally commuted to life in prison the xinjiang daily said
the unrest in the xinjiang capital urumqi pitted mainly muslim uighurs against
china han ethnic majority and left nearly dead
hong kong china shares weighed by credit fears
hong kong jan afp
shares in hong kong and china fell tuesday as worries over expected credit
tightening moves by beijing continued to weigh on sentiment
hong kong benchmark hang seng index saw its fifth straight loss giving up
percent or points to end at turnover was billion
hong kong dollars billion us
banks and property developers fell amid reports that chinese authorities had
ordered several financial institutions to halt new loans until february amid
growing fears that soaring loans are fuelling inflation
the market is at its lowest since september when it ended at and alvin
cheung associate director at prudential brokerages told dow jones newswires it
may fall back below this week
uncertainties over chinese banks fund raising plans and possible further
tightening measures from beijing will continue to weigh on both the hong kong
and china markets in the short term said cheung
beijing also recently hiked the amount banks must hold in reserve
bank of china fell percent to hong kong dollars extending monday
percent fall after announcing plans to issue new shares and convertible bonds
whose combined value could reach tens of billions of dollars
icbc ended down percent at and china construction bank closed
percent lower at
contract handset maker foxconn international was the worst performing blue chip
losing percent to after saying it expects to report significant
decline in net profit
in shanghai chinese shares closed down percent on tuesday amid lingering
concerns over further monetary tightening and glut of new share offerings
dealers said
the shanghai composite index which covers both and shares was down
points at on turnover of billion yuan billion dollars
the key index dropped to the lowest level since it ended at on october
the concerns about credit tightening are weighing on investor sentiment but
the drop in the index today is larger than what we had expected said amy lin
an analyst from capital securities
china merchants bank ended percent down at yuan and china
construction bank fell percent to yuan
property developers also tumbled due to concerns about tightening liquidity as
the industry is heavily reliant on credit
china vanke the country largest property developer by market value dropped
percent to yuan while poly real estate fell percent to yuan
urgent china sentences four to death for xinjiang unrest state media
beijing jan afp
court in china restive xinjiang region sentenced four people to death over
deadly unrest last july state run media reported on tuesday
israel to shun un call for gaza probe minister
jerusalem jan afp
israel told the un chief it will not conduct an independent probe of the gaza
war as demanded by un report minister said on tuesday two days before the
jewish state submits its official response to charges of war crimes
israel has no intention of creating verification commission information and
diaspora minister yuli edelstein told israel public radio from new york day
after meeting un secretary general ban ki moon
edelstein who was to present israel rebuttal on thursday said he informed
ban of his country intention during the meeting late monday
the respected haaretz daily said however that israel might agree to set up
limited inquiry to deflect some of the massive international criticism over the
offensive that killed palestinians and israelis in three weeks just
over one year ago
such committee would review the israeli army internal investigations and
examine whether there was any basis to one of the charges of the un report that
said the war was planned as punitive action against gaza civilians the daily
said
senior israeli official told afp on condition of anonymity that decision on
whether to set up any sort of commission had not yet been taken
discussions are under way on the creation of commission of verification but
nothing has been decided yet for tactical reasons he said
since it was released in september israel has sought to discredit the un report
that accused it and palestinian armed groups of having committed war crimes in
the day offensive that israel launched on december in response to
rocket fire from the hamas run enclave
in recent days israeli officials have sought to portray the page report as
anti semitic despite the fact it author south african judge and
international war crimes prosecutor richard goldstone is jewish
this type of report stirs up anti semitism and reinforces those who deny the
holocaust edelstein said on tuesday
the un report recommended that its conclusions be referred to the international
criminal court prosecutor in the hague if israel and the hamas rulers of gaza
fail to carry out credible investigations within six months
in november the un general assembly endorsed the report and called on both sides
to carry out investigations that are independent credible and in conformity
with international standards by february
liberia johnson sirleaf seeks second term as president
monrovia jan afp
liberian president ellen johnson sirleaf africa first elected female head of
state has announced she will run for re election next year despite previously
promising to serve only one term
now announce to you and to the thousands of supporters in radio land and
abroad that will be candidate let me repeat will be candidate just
minute commendable candidate she said during her annual address to
parliament on monday
press secretary cyrus badio told state radio on tuesday morning sirleaf
decision was due to her successes as president after her election in in
the wake of brutal civil war
the president has decided to go for second round because of the numerous
successes she has realised over the years in power she has significantly
changed the lives of liberians said badio
she has reinstalled water and electricity in the capital and some parts of the
rural parts of liberia she has rebuilt the infrastructure that was destroyed
during the war
sirleaf candidature comes despite report by liberia truth and
reconciliation commission naming her among some people who it recommended be
banned from holding public office for years for supporting warring factions
during the civil war
sirleaf proposed amendments to the national human rights commission act to
enable commission to work alongside the justice ministry to determine those
recommendations that are implementable under the constitution and laws of
our nation
argentina courts chinese investors for mining sector
beijing jan afp
argentina is looking to attract chinese investors to help develop its fast
growing mining sector visiting foreign minister jorge taiana said tuesday
taiana who arrived in china on monday along with nearly business leaders
said he wanted to boost and diversify argentine exports and work on developing
bilateral corporate cooperation specifically in mining
the mining sector has developed quite bit in recent years in argentina and
chinese business leaders are interested in investment opportunities he said
since last year metallurgical corporation of china has had presence in the
south american country where it produces iron ore
trade hit high of billion dollars in but fell back last year as the
global financial crisis set in and agricultural yields declined in argentina
taiana explained
farm products make up the majority of argentina exports to china
we re sure that in argentina economy will see sustained growth and that
commercial exchanges with china will again increase in significant way he
said
in argentina exported nearly four billion dollars in goods to china hong
kong and macau imports totalled nearly five billion dollars
taiana who met chinese vice foreign minister wang guangya on tuesday in
beijing was due to head to china financial hub shanghai on wednesday for two
more days of talks between chinese and argentine business leaders
novartis says swine flu vaccine boosts profit
basel switzerland jan afp
swiss pharmaceutical group novartis posted on tuesday an percent jump in
core annual net profit for saying that business had been boosted by sales
of swine flu vaccine
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
novartis said it expected to maintain momentum in with strong array of
newly launched drugs and helped on by the billion dollar acquisition of
dominant eye care group alcon from nestle this month
over the past months we sustained our lead in approvals for new products
achieving more than major new product approvals in the us europe and japan
vasella said
the planned acquisition of alcon will propel novartis to the global leadership
position in eye care and create new growth platform he added
the core annual net profit of billion dollars compared with profit of
billion dollars in
excluding exceptional items full year profit reached billion francs an
increase of four percent over the equivalent figure the previous year
analysts polled by financial agency awp had forecast net profit of billion
dollars
core operating income was up percent to billion dollars novartis said
operating income in the vaccines division more than doubled to million
dollars an increase of percent over while sales grew percent
operating income in the group core business and biggest earner
pharmaceuticals grew by percent to billion dollars in on sales
growth of eight percent
novartis said that vasella who became chief executive years ago would
relinquish the post to jimenez on february under transition process it
began in
vasella will continue as chairman of the group focusing on strategy it added
hong kong lawmakers resign in democracy push
hong kong jan afp
five pro democracy lawmakers in hong kong resigned their seats tuesday vowing
to turn the resulting elections into populist campaign for universal suffrage
in defiance of warnings from china
about onlookers with similar number of press in attendance applauded
under leaden skies as the lawmakers staged the most high profile challenge yet
to communist china stewardship of the glitzy financial hub
three members of the league of social democrats and two from the civic party
tendered their resignations at the legislative council toothless body in
british colonial times that critics say remains rubber stamp under beijing
we are giving the opportunity back to the people to vote for real democracy
civic party leader audrey eu said after her two colleagues quit
so we call on the people if you truly believe in democracy there is no reason
to fear
two days before their resignations take effect on friday the lawmakers plan to
outline their goals at what promises to be stormy legislative council session
on wednesday as they face off against pro beijing forces
only half of hong kong seat legislature is directly elected from five
geographical constituencies the remaining functional constituency seats are
largely selected by pro china business elites
an member election committee picked by beijing chooses the city chief
executive job that replaced the post of governor when britain returned hong
kong to chinese rule in
democrats are calling for universal suffrage in but the chinese government
has said hong kong chief executive can only be directly elected at the
earliest by and the legislature by
two weeks ago beijing issued statement expressing gave concern over the
dissident lawmakers plan and saying hong kong had no right to hold popular
plebiscites
civic party member tanya chan one of the five lawmakers who resigned dismissed
claims by pro beijing political parties that democrats were calling for
violent uprising
it not bloody uprising it rational and peaceful pursuit for real
democracy she said
constitutional reform can only take place with the approval of two thirds of
hong kong legislature meaning the democrats who hold seats are unlikely
to be able to force their agenda on policymakers
and the democrats latest campaign faces potential setback after the liberal
party major pro beijing faction announced last week it would not take part
in any by elections
another pro beijing party the democratic alliance for the betterment and
progress of hong kong was to decide whether to contest the by elections in
meeting late tuesday
political observers say china is leaning on the pro beijing parties to shun the
by elections
by pressuring those political parties to boycott the by election beijing hopes
to trivialise the event and discourage people from casting their vote said
ivan choy political analyst at chinese university of hong kong
an opinion poll conducted by the university of hong kong on january said
that just percent of the respondents supported the campaign for
universal suffrage compared to percent who said they were against
but thousands of people took to the streets on new year day to call for
universal suffrage and the release of prominent jailed chinese dissident liu
xiaobo
and pro democrats insist they will press ahead decrying what they say is
steady erosion of hong kong freedoms under chinese rule
they were outraged last week by news that zhou yongjun former leader of the
tiananmen pro democracy protests had been jailed for nine years for fraud
after authorities in hong kong handed him over to china
alert
liberia johnson sirleaf says will seek second term as president
british irish leaders scramble to save ireland executive
belfast jan afp
emergency talks designed to save northern ireland fragile power sharing
administration entered second day tuesday as downing street admitted they had
been hard going so far
british prime minister gordon brown and his irish counterpart brian cowen rushed
to belfast monday for talks with the democratic unionist party dup and sinn
fein the once bitter foes now working together in government
after talks ran late into the night brown and cowen will again try to break the
deadlock between the dup and sinn fein over when to transfer policing and
justice powers from london to belfast the last big step to full devolution
the negotiations are complicated further by the recent scandal over first
minister and dup leader peter robinson wife affair with year old plus
allegations of financial impropriety which he temporarily stood aside to fight
the talks continued well into the early hours of the morning downing street
spokesman said tuesday
they were hard going but parties have engaged in good faith and there was
frank discussion across range of issues the prime minister and cowen remain
determined that progress can be made
irish foreign minister micheal martin added that the talks had been difficult
and challenging but he said he was hopeful we can bridge the gap today in
an interview with ireland rte radio
negotiations between the dup and sinn fein monday failed to reach agreement the
latest round lasted just half an hour before brown and cowen jetted in
unexpectedly for talks
the british and irish leaders have reportedly cleared their diaries for the next
few days to allow them to focus on negotiations meeting of brown cabinet in
london due tuesday has been postponed
sinn fein which is catholic and wants northern ireland to be part of united
ireland has warned it could pull out of power sharing unless progress is made
this would force snap election to the northern ireland assembly
but the dup protestant and in favour of northern ireland remaining part of
the united kingdom wants concessions on how protestant parades are managed
these have often been flashpoints for sectarian violence in the past
robinson is leading the negotiations on policing and justice for the dup even
though he has temporarily stepped aside as first minister this month
that came after the bbc reported that his year old wife iris fellow dup
politician secured pounds dollars euros from two
developers to enable her then year old lover to set up cafe in belfast
police are investigating while iris robinson has stepped down as dup lawmaker
in belfast and london and is receiving psychiatric treatment
her husband has strongly denied knowledge of her financial affairs he should
have reported to officials if he knew of them
britain and ireland helped to broker the good friday agreement which
largely ended three decades of violence which killed at least people and
led to power sharing executive devolved from london being created
but northern ireland is still dogged by sporadic violence most recently
policeman lost leg in car bomb attack earlier this month two men aged
and were arrested in connection with the incident monday
alert
four more sentenced to death for unrest in china xinjiang state media
sri lanka votes in tense post war election
colombo jan afp
sri lankans voted under tight security in their first post war presidential poll
tuesday which opened with series of pre dawn bomb attacks after tense and
bitter campaign
the blasts in the northern tamil heartland of jaffna were violent start to the
contest between president mahinda rajapakse and his former army chief sarath
fonseka that threatens new instability in the island nation
two explosive devices were thrown at the home of an organiser for rajapakse
sri lanka freedom party causing damage to the property but no injuries the
centre for monitoring election violence cmev said
both sides said they expected to emerge victorious on wednesday when results are
announced and blamed each other for the violence which the cmev said had scared
some voters and led to low turnout in the north
we will have great victory rajapakse told reporters after casting his
ballot in his southern home constituency of mulkirigala
we must be ready to face the challenges of reaching new heights after this
vote added the one time film actor who entered parliament aged just
last may rajapakse and fonseka wiped out sri lanka tamil tiger rebels who
had fought for tamil homeland since in military campaign since dogged
by allegations of war crimes
but from close allies on the battlefield they have turned into irreconcilable
enemies after fonseka year old political novice decided to challenge his
former boss at the ballot box on an anti corruption platform
there are no reliable opinion polls in the country and political observers say
the election is too close to call between the men who are the only realistic
contenders in field of
in the acrimonious run up to the election the opposition and government have
made claim and counter claim about each other malevolent intentions raising
tensions across the country and the prospect of contested result
fonseka alleged the government intended to unleash violence to intimidate voters
and was preparing coup if it lost he was accused in turn of working with
militia of army deserters who could disrupt the vote
cmev national coordinator dissanayake said there had been violent
incidents in total on polling day out of which were serious such as gunfire
or explosions near voting booths
it is too early to give final assessment but we would not be able to say the
elections were free and fair in some areas he told afp referring to tamil
areas in the north and east
in the tamil dominated town of vavuniya where cmev said grenades were let off
near polling station streams of people caught up in the war made their way to
makeshift voting booths in schools
fonseka supporter kandaswamy wellarayanam walked six kilometres four
miles from one of the nearby state internment camps where thousands of
displaced tamils were locked up after the end of fighting in may
now able to move freely after repeated condemnation of the camps by the united
nations he said he and his family were eager to take part even though buses
that were meant to transport them never turned up
we walked to vote because we felt it was important after the war he told afp
was keen to have say in who should be our next president
the opposition has said it will not accept the result if the police and
soldiers on duty fail to prevent violence or if there is evidence of
vote rigging
the technicolour alliance behind fonseka of marxists muslims tamils and right
wingers has threatened to stage street protests if it feels the result has been
stolen
the english language daily mirror newspaper urged both sides to respect the will
of the people
already the respective campaigns have done lot of damage to national unity
the paper said in an editorial people are sick and tired of confrontations
the first results are expected to emerge late tuesday after polls shut at
pm gmt with final outcome anticipated around midday on wednesday
rajapakse supporters are drawn by the year old charisma and populist
approach and see him as the man who liberated the country from fight with the
tigers that cost lives according to the un
libya pursuing two billion dollar russian arms deal report
moscow jan afp
libya is seeking to buy more than two billion dollars worth of russian arms
including fighter planes the interfax news agency reported on tuesday
citing military diplomatic source
the report came as libya defence minister was due to visit russia in the
latest sign of renewed cooperation between moscow and the north african state
which enjoyed close ties during the cold war
libya is ready to buy around fighter planes at least two divisions of
