explosion in south lebanon on wednesday an army spokesman said
bomb detonated near the house of mehdi hazimeh in kfar fila this morning
wounding three people including two of hazimeh children as they waited to go
to school the spokesman said
he did not elaborate on whether hazimeh was the suspected target of the bomb or
the explosion was believed to be an own goal
fifteen kilometres miles east of the port city of sidon kfar fila has long
been bastion of shiite militant group hezbollah which fought devastating
war with israel
european stocks dip at open london loses percent
london jan afp
europe main stock markets weakened at the start of trading on wednesday with
london benchmark ftse index losing percent to points
frankfurt dax shed just percent to and in paris the cac
dropped percent to stand at points
bangladesh pm hails india trip
new delhi jan afp
bangladesh prime minister sheikh hasina wednesday hailed her four day visit to
giant neighbour india as success that would usher in stronger economic and
development cooperation
hasina on her first visit to india since coming to power in december
polls secured one billion dollars of credit from asia fourth largest economy
for bolstering infrastructure in bangladesh
we feel it will open door new era hasina told reporters before
concluding her india trip
cross border ties have warmed considerably since hasina came to power year ago
and the awami league leader has received strong support from new delhi
india which signed five accords with bangladesh in areas ranging from cultural
exchanges security preventing crime and power supply also deemed the visit as
extremely fruitful
this is one of the most successful visits in recent times it is major step
forward that will transform bilateral ties an indian foreign ministry official
told afp
new delhi has often accused dhaka of providing shelter to militant groups active
in india northeast but hasina has detained several senior rebels and handed
them over to india
german economy shrank by percent in official estimate
frankfurt jan afp
the german economy contracted by five percent last year its deepest recession
since world war ii provisional figures released on wednesday by the national
statistics service showed
europe biggest economy had grown in by percent and the central bank
estimated last month that it should grow again by percent in
urgent german economy shrank by percent in official estimate
frankfurt jan afp
the german economy contracted by five percent last year its deepest recession
since world war ii provisional figures released on wednesday by the national
statistics service showed
comfort women mark th weekly protest against japan
seoul jan afp
braving bitter cold south korean former wartime sex slaves and their supporters
wednesday marked another milestone in year campaign for compensation and an
official apology from japan
compensate shouted four elderly blanket swathed women and about
supporters as they staged the th weekly protest outside the japanese embassy
in the south korean capital
supporters ranging from students to elderly women held placards reading
dignity and human rights restoration and other messages the protests began in
is the th year since korea was annexed by japan and the history of
these old women still remains unsolved said yoon mee hyang head of group
pressing the demands of the so called comfort women
the japanese government should be ashamed so should the korean government
yoon said protesters say the seoul government has refused to take up their
demands
there should not be th weekly protest shouted rally leader kang joo
hye
before and during world war ii about women from korea china the
philippines and other countries were drafted to work as sex slaves for the
japanese military
japan has apologised for the military involvement in crimes against the women
but denies responsibility for running system of military brothels before its
surrender in
the us and canadian parliaments in called for fresh apology from japan
for forcing women into sexual slavery
human rights organisations including amnesty international attended wednesday
rally
alert
german economy shrank by percent in official estimate
china in billion move for australian sugar company
sydney jan afp
shares in australia top sugar refiner csr fell back wednesday after rising
sharply on an approach by china bright food group which could result in
billion dollar billion us takeover
csr dropped five cents or percent to close at dollars
the stock rose cents on tuesday after the china state owned company offered
to discuss possible takeover of the sugar business of csr well known
australian conglomerate
the general feeling in the market is there is very very few details on the
approach and what stage the approach is at ig markets research analyst ben
potter told afp
lot of analysts are saying they can come up with decisive view
csr described the approach as merely an expression of interest and not solid
proposal adding that bright had previously shown interest in its sugar
business
the firm said it would consider any proposal and keep the market informed
the development which comes as the price of sugar has surged follows moves by
other state owned chinese enterprises to shore up raw materials in the mining
and energy sectors by buying australian assets
sugar is still raw commodity it just not metal potter said
it the first step we ve seen away from the typical mining assets so it is
interesting but australia hasn got lot of these raw food companies so
can see it being too big theme playing ahead
dollar mixed in asia
tokyo jan afp
the dollar was mixed in asian trade wednesday after china moved to rein in the
country credit boom sparking concerns that the pace of recovery in the global
economy could lose steam dealers said
the dollar often seen as safe haven currency in times of economic
uncertainty gained to yen in tokyo afternoon trade from in new york
late tuesday
the euro climbed to dollars from dollars and to yen from
risk appetite declined after beijing on tuesday hiked the minimum amount of
money that banks must keep in reserve for the first time in more than year
seeking to prevent the economy overheating after huge stimulus spending
china has been key in helping the rest of the region to get out from last
year recession and quick moderation of chinese demand would withdraw part
of this support calyon analysts wrote in note
the turn in sentiment has hit commodities and commodity currencies particularly
hard they added as would be expected against the background of higher risk
aversion the dollar made up some ground
analysts said they expected beijing to gradually tighten monetary policy further
to fight the risks of excessive liquidity and asset bubbles
sentiment was also dampened by weak earnings report from us aluminium giant
alcoa and as investors waited for the beige book report on economic conditions
in the united states to be released later in the day
market players were also eyeing first estimate of germany gross domestic
product data for the fourth quarter of as well as eurozone industrial
production figures
against asian currencies the dollar rose to south korean won from
on tuesday to indonesian rupiah from to
philippine pesos from and to taiwan dollars from
but it fell to singapore dollars from and to thai baht from
sri lankan govt condemns campaign trail killing
colombo jan afp
the sri lankan government on wednesday expressed its outrage over the shooting
of political activist ahead of presidential elections later this month
several people were also wounded when unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets at the
vehicle of supporters of former general sarath fonseka the main opposition
candidate in the poll
the office of president rajapakse who is running for re election said the
government was taking steps to catch the attackers
the government of sri lanka is appalled at this tragedy vehemently condemns
it and will not tolerate any such acts of violence in the midst of this
democratic electoral process statement said
it said instructions have been given to authorities to bolster security at
political events
the government response came after the us embassy in colombo said it was deeply
concerned over the killing and escalating violence in the run up to the january
election
fonseka quit the army and entered politics in november over differences with
rajapakse who accused him of trying to seize power after crushing the
separatist tamil tiger rebels
sri lankan elections have been marred in the past by violence but tuesday
shooting near the town of hungama in the south of the island was the first
fatality in this campaign
imf begins mission to debt stricken greece
athens jan afp
team of international monetary fund experts embarked wednesday on week long
mission to help debt stricken greece overcome its financial crisis the finance
ministry said
the mission has arrived and will start the day by meeting finance minister
george papaconstantinou ministry source told afp
the team consists of five imf officials who will spend week here
the imf said earlier it had been invited by greek authorities to explore
possibilities for technical assistance from the imf in the coming months on
pension reform tax policy tax administration and budget management
the mission is within the context of the regular surveillance that the imf
provides to its membership it said
greek officials have repeatedly stressed that the country does not intend to
request an imf loan
greece which is mired in recession has public spending deficit that rose to
percent of output last year far above the percent ceiling permitted to
countries sharing the euro currency
it is also saddled with debt constituting percent of gross domestic
product gdp
the recently elected socialist government which must present its crisis plans
to the european commission by the end of the month has said it will cut the
deficit to percent in by slashing spending and fighting tax fraud
it aims to bring the deficit to below percent of gdp the limit imposed by
the eurozone in
european officials have criticised athens for its failure to control its
finances and the three main credit rating agencies have all downgraded the
country sovereign debt standing
the european commission this week published damning report on greece
unreliable economic figures increasing the chances of the eu executive
launching infringement proceedings against athens
the report on greek government deficit and debt statistics highlights the
general lack of quality of the greek fiscal statistics and failures of the
relevant greek institutions in broad sense
iran speaker accuses israel cia of killing scientist
tehran jan afp
parliament speaker ali larijani iran former chief nuclear negotiator accused
intelligence agents of the united states and israel on wednesday of plotting
bombing which killed top atomic scientist
we had received clear information few days before the assassination that
the intelligence service of the zionist regime with the cooperation of the
cia were seeking to carry out terrorist act in tehran the isna news agency
quoted larijani as saying
massoud ali mohammadi particle physics professor at prestigious tehran
university was killed on tuesday morning by bomb strapped to motorcycle in
the capital well to do northern suburbs
they the israeli and us intelligence agencies might have thought that in the
face of certain internal disputes there was an opportunity to take this action
and that they could cause friction among academics and harm the country
nuclear research work larijani added
islamist students and the volunteer basij militia condemned the killing of ali
mohammadi who they described as basiji professor
but his name appeared on list of academics backing opposition leader mir
hossein mousavi in the disputed june presidential election which gave
president mahmoud ahmadinejad second term
the rare assassination came as the government faced the most sustained period of
protest since the revolution of with hundreds of thousands taking to the
streets of tehran after the june election
the opposition claims the vote was massively rigged in ahmadinejad favour for
the past six months it has been holding anti government protests at every
opportunity many of which have been broken up by police who have arrested
hundreds of demonstrators
the daylight killing also came amid an increasingly bitter standoff between iran
and world powers over tehran controversial nuclear programme which the west
suspects is cover for weapons drive
larijani slammed us president barack obama for rashly resorting to monarchist
group which has no credibility to cover such an operation
this is new disgrace for mr obama he said
the former nuclear official was alluding to group called takavaran tondar
which claimed responsibility for the bombing on its website
but according to the rahesabz net opposition website the group later disavowed
the claim and accused iranian intelligence agents of plotting hoax
tehran officials have repeatedly accused the united states and israel of seeking
to foment unrest in iran the two countries have never ruled out military
strike to thwart iran nuclear programme
china india could reshape global auto industry executives
detroit michigan jan afp
china and india could reshape the global auto industry and pose significant
competitive threat in coming years executives from the world top carmakers
said at the detroit auto show
they are very credible threat and we discount anyone at our peril john
mendel vice president in charge of sales at american honda motor said tuesday
while the globally competitive nature of the automotive industry requires mass
economies of scale the relatively young chinese and indian manufacturers are
ramping up quickly mendel noted
and the chinese automakers buying brands like hummer and volvo are gaining
access to valuable distribution network critical technology and instant
credibility he told afp
india tata motors will take its opening shot at the us market thursday when
it brings the nano minicar to the detroit science center to show motor city what
the world cheapest car looks like
build your dreams motor byd brought its four door electric straight to the
floor of the auto show where it vowed tuesday to become the first chinese
automaker to enter the united states at the end of this year
meanwhile both countries are becoming increasingly important markets in the
global sales strategy of top automakers with china surpassing the united states
in total sales volume last year and indian sales expected to double by
toyota chief of us automotive operations expressed skepticism that either byd
or tata would make significant mark here in the short term
it not so easy to come walking into market and develop product and
distribution network don esmond said in an interview on the sidelines of the
auto show
lot of it going to depend on who does the best job of listening to the
customer and has the ability technically to deliver the product he said
whether it be toyota gm ford or chrysler we have more resources more
manufacturing capacities and more technical development available here so we
should be able to deliver better product
carlos tavares nissan executive vice president in charge of the americas
disagreed
think it mid term prospective not years he said noting the
success of korean automakers hyundai and kia in breaking into the us market
overcoming quality concerns and becoming major players
affordability will be key driver in the industry in the coming years and china
and india will offer automakers an important testing ground for pushing the
boundaries tavares said
what we can learn from china and from india is not so complex he said in an
interview
it about determining the level of quality the consumer expects it then
about reducing operating costs which will bring you to fuel efficiency
ford chief executive officer alan mulally said that while china going to be
force going forward and india is not too far behind the real competitive
threat could come from unfair trade practices
we expect the auto world industry to continue to evolve mulally told
conference hosted by automotive news
there is no reason that if we get to global trade rules that we can compete
with the best of the world
but the lack of flexibility inherent in massive and decades old company could
give their younger and more innovative rivals leg up said warren harris
president of automotive engineering consulting firm tata technologies
just the willingness to innovate in and around the value chain this is where
the chinese and the indian oems original equipment manufacturers are going to
have an advantage said harris whose team helped develop tata motor nano and
works with major automakers and suppliers
if you look at the american oems they have the technical know how and the
distribution networks that would be the envy of the chinese and indians he
told afp
but if they re not going to match the chinese and the indians for innovation
then that advantage is not going to be enough
suicide truck bomber kills two civilians west of baghdad
baghdad jan afp
suicide truck bomber killed two civilians and wounded six people one of them
young girl on wednesday in an attack near police station being built west
of baghdad security official said
the attack occurred around am gmt in saqlawiyah town north of
fallujah in anbar province once stronghold of the sunni insurgency against us
and iraqi security forces the official said
the six wounded included three police officers and young girl the official
added
anbar west of baghdad was the theatre of brutal war after the us led
invasion of mainly in fallujah and the provincial capital ramadi several
towns along the euphrates river valley became al qaeda strongholds and later
safe havens for insurgents
rocky ride for asian airlines
singapore jan afp
asia airlines should ride fledgling pickup in travel demand this year but
higher oil prices hesitant economic growth and increased airport security costs
may stall momentum analysts said
the debacle at asia largest carrier japan airlines jal which is on the
brink of bankruptcy is considered unlikely to weigh on the industry as whole
although other airlines could be in line for government bailouts
asia low fare carriers have been less affected than their premium counterparts
by the global economic downturn and continue to expand
there have been tentative signs of pickup in demand for both passenger and
cargo traffic in recent months said andrew herdman director general of
industry group the association of asia pacific airlines aapa
nevertheless yields remain weak and fuel costs are still stubbornly high with
oil trading above dollars per barrel he said in an email reply to afp
airlines are still struggling to reduce losses and move towards restoring
profitability
yields refer to the revenue an airline makes on each passenger for every
kilometre mile travelled
in and regional carriers suffered total annual losses of more than
four billion us dollars as the global economic slump eroded travel demand
herdman said
passenger demand is estimated to have shrank percent in from the year
before while cargo demand was percent lower he said
singapore airlines posted its first quarterly loss in six years during the june
quarter and deferred the delivery of eight superjumbos australia
qantas and hong kong cathay pacific also saw earnings slump
the international air transport association iata said it expects asia pacific
carriers to lose million dollars this year which is still an improvement
from the billion dollars scythed away last year
globally iata is forecasting loss of billion dollars for the industry
this year
asia pacific airlines are perking up in line with stronger economies iata
spokesman albert tjoeng said
but he said that while passenger and cargo demand are rising there is still
lot of growth to recover and that we cannot anticipate any significant
improvement in yields in the coming months
so conserving cash controlling costs and carefully matching capacity to demand
will be key to survival he said
shukor yusof an aviation analyst with standard and poor equity research said
jal woes were not endemic to the industry
jal has been having these difficulties for very long time he said noting
that rival japanese carrier all nippon airways is surviving the downturn
but the sydney based centre for asia pacific aviation said several asian
carriers faced similar predicament to jal
china eastern airlines air india garuda indonesia thai airways and malaysia
airlines all needed government help to stay flying it said
shukor cited rising oil prices overcapacity in some airlines and the effect on
costs of stricter aviation security measures following the christmas day attempt
to blow up us bound flight from amsterdam as among the industry challenges
this year
however asia budget airlines have managed to fly above the gloom with at
least low fare carriers based across the region from japan to pakistan
budget carriers which focused on serving the short haul regional leisure market
were less impacted by the global economic downturn compared to global carriers
serving long haul and business passengers said herdman
small operator zest air plans to become the latest budget airline to launch
services between manila and singapore
singapore tiger airways has brought forward its order for five airbus
planes to late this year and early from their original delivery dates in
to boost its expansion into asia and australia
it also launched public share sale offer on wednesday to raise about
million singapore dollars million us to fund the expansion
analysts now see an increasing overlap as budget carriers expand into long haul
markets herdman said
we expect competition to remain intense in all segments of the business but
the major global network airlines are expected to thrive even as the leading
budget carriers continue to expand he said
cricket sri lanka ask india to bat in tri series final
dhaka jan afp
sri lanka captain kumar sangakkara elected to field after winning the toss
against india in the final of the triangular one day series here on wednesday
sri lanka made one change from their last match bringing in experienced seamer
nuwan kulasekara in place of suranga lakmal
india seasoned trio of virender sehwag zaheer khan and harbhajan singh
replaced dinesh karthik amit mishra and sudeep tyagi
sri lanka kumar sangakkara capt tillakaratne dilshan upul tharanga mahela
jayawardene thilan samaraweera thilina kandamby thissara perera suraj
randiv thilan thushara nuwan kulasekara chanaka welegedara
india mahendra singh dhoni capt virender sehwag gautam gambhir virat
kohli suresh raina yuvraj singh ravindra jadeja harbhajan singh zaheer
khan ashish nehra shanthakumaran sreesanth
umpires enamul haque ban and ian gould eng
tv umpire sharfuddoula shahid ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
about missing in haiti hotel collapse french minister
paris jan afp
around people were missing after hotel popular with tourists in the haiti
capital collapsed in the massive quake there french minister said on radio
europe
am talking about the hotel montana where tourists stay and french nationals
working in haiti stay we know there were people inside the hotel when it
collapsed only around have got out which greatly concerns us french
secretary of state for cooperation alain joyandet said
he said around french nationals had taken refuge at the french embassy in
port au prince and others were arriving the embassy and the ambassador
residence had both been damaged in the quake
the minister also told afp that france was sending two planes on wednesday with
rescuers and humanitarian aid
we are sending two planes today one from fort de france martinique with
police and rescuers and hospital staff another from marseille south of france
with people on board
asked about the state of the runway in the haitian capital he said that he had
been informed that the two planes would be able to land
around french nationals live in haiti of them living in port au
prince
tennis haas calls for february aussie open
melbourne jan afp
german veteran tommy haas wednesday joined novak djokovic in seeking
recognisable tennis off season with call for the australian open to be moved
to as late as february
haas echoed the thoughts of world number three djokovic as the pair played
at the kooyong classic being held as atp players return to action after little
more than month of down time from
djokovic won the pair first round encounter at the eight man special event
one day after soliciting support for minimum two month close season
for the men game
haas would take it step further
maybe the season should be done by the middle of october latest everybody is
coming down here really early some people leave right away after christmas he
said ahead of next week opening grand slam of the season
if the top players would come together we could come up with schedule
pretty quickly and tell exactly how we would like it
we would still have the biggest tournaments and the ones we like and the ones
that are being watched all around the world
the question is whether it the season start should be little bit later
somewhere like the middle or end of february would be nice start
then you could still have the season finish beginning of november and you
wouldn have to come down here until maybe end of january beginning of
february said haas
djokovic member of the atp player council headed by roger federer said that
time off court during the open will be filled in part with closed door meetings
on how to find workable schedule for players sponsors and television
interests
we will have some talks here in australia that will be crucial for upcoming
years said the year old serb
happy that all the top players are willing to participate in these talks
and try to contribute and fight for their own right
unfortunately something will have to be sacrificed in order for players to
feel better
djokovic said that an idea floating around for world cup of tennis
nations playing once every two years to replace the annual davis cup was an
idea from the player council
but he stressed it all very fresh we didn decide to put anything on
official terms because we have to consider other sides as well
the main point is that we are trying to make the sport improve and get better
and players are most important
this is the bottom line without sponsors there wouldn be tournament
without tournaments you know players wouldn exist
but still players are the ones who are making the show and their opinions have
to be greatly considered
this time think that slowly things will get better but these are things
that cannot happen overnight
tennis djokovic tsonga on top at kooyong
melbourne jan afp
former australian open winner novak djokovic and frenchman jo wilfried tsonga
the man he beat two years ago for the title both advanced with ease wednesday
at the kooyong classic
djokovic world number three behind roger federer and rafael nadal needed less
than an hour to defeat tommy haas after two losses to the year old
german in
tsonga now over troubling wrist niggle defeated french open finalist robin
soderling of sweden
in the elite eight man relegation promotion event djokovic faces fellow winner
fernando verdasco of spain on thursday while tsonga has day off before taking
on argentine juan martin del potro
del potro the us open champion got onto court for the first time since
losing the november season ending atp world tour finals in london to nikolay
davydenko emerging with victory over ivan ljubicic
the veteran croatian was drafted into the eight man tournament field when world
number one roger federer declined the place he had been offered
verdasco spain david cup finals hero for two years running defeated chile
fernando gonzalez
tsonga was satisfied with his winning performance on windy day
feel good better with my new racket today was difficult to play for me and
robin he said
even in these conditions we have to play and we have to win did it today so
it good for me
the fourth ranked del potro has been given boost thanks to his new york title
and appearance at the world tour finals
feel good with my tennis feel confident said the year old
of course to beat roger in the us open final gave to me lot of motivation
and confidence to keep trying keep working
when go to the court with roger rafa don feel too much different
that important for the career for the future and of course if want to fight
for the number one ranking
after two day heatwave melbourne temperatures dropped considerably with
overcast skies and wind
the weather conditions were tough and it was windy admitted del potro
served well and that important for this kind of match this kind of
surface it good victory for the beginning of the season
djokovic said he enjoyed being back down under
got used to playing good tennis on australian soil always happy to come
