reliance operates the world largest oil processing complex in jamnagar
western india where two adjacent refineries have combined capacity to process
million barrels of oil day
gas production from the kg field off the eastern indian coast has ramped up
to million metric standard cubic meters day in nine months from its start
last april
this reaffirms our belief in our ability to create truly world class assets in
the integrated energy value chain ambani said
reliance has generated two billion dollars through stock sales since last
september and is expected to keep raising cash to boost its reserves and fund
acquisitions
the company india largest by market capitalisation already has bankrupt
netherlands based chemicals group lyondellbasell in its sights
reliance has declined to comment on media report earlier this month that said
the company had sweetened its bid for lyondellbasell to billion dollars
from the billion dollars initially put forward in november
the indian firm said local demand for most of its petrochemical products
remained strong
exports of refined products grew percent to billion dollars in the
quarter from year earlier
reliance added it was still expanding its retail operations and that the company
now had more than stores in more than cities in india
the results announcement came as reliance awaits ruling by india supreme
court in lawsuit over the sale price for gas from the kg field that has
pitted mukesh ambani against his estranged brother anil ambani
afp animated graphics advisory
paris jan afp
we will move the following animated graphic
cinema
intreractive graphic on film technology as it enjoys revival
with the multi oscar nominations for james cameron avatar and the
release of string of other movies in the format including tim
burton alice in wonderland toy story and shrek forever
format adobe flash cs player px dmovieen gmt
slug entertainment cinema
afp animated graphics
peter shard tel
afp gmt economics news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor nathaniel harrison
telephone
stocks world economy lead wrap
london
world stock markets drop in confusion at us president barack obama vow to
crack down on reckless big banks and on jitters over china economy and
soaring debts
words gmt
stocks europe finance economy banking
paris
european banking shares slide in response to proposed action by us president
barack obama to crimp and curb us banks with analysts warning of volatility as
they try to evaluate the effects
words gmt
forex europe wrap
london
the yen rises against the dollar boosted by safe haven flows as prospects for
the global economy dim in light of recent economic data and moves by governments
to curb lending
words gmt
commodities energy oil price lead wrap
london
oil prices rise slightly with gains capped by weak energy demand in the united
states and worries over the strength of china economy the world biggest
energy consuming nations traders say
words gmt
china us it internet google lead wrap
beijing
china rejects criticism of its internet censorship by us secretary of state
hillary clinton saying it harmed relations as row over google threat to
leave the chinese market escalates
words gmt by dan martin
india company reliance earnings ndlead
mumbai
indian refining and energy giant reliance industries announces its first profit
rise in over year as its performance is boosted by higher natural gas output
words gmt by salil panchal
india telecom company earnings bharti ndlead
new delhi
top indian mobile phone firm bharti airtel squeezes out small rise in
quarterly profit as fierce price war in the explosively growing cellular
market cuts into the company revenues
words gmt by penny macrae
football world cup qualifiers suffer in angola
luanda jan afp
the five leading cast members at the africa cup of nations suffered varying
degrees of stage fright during act of the competition
cameroon ivory coast nigeria ghana and algeria all eventually made it into
the quarter finals but each of the quintet experienced world cup reality check
along the way
the first of the famous five to stumble was ivory coast who almost came
cropper against burkina faso didier drogba and his star studded teammmates
fortunate to escape with goalless draw
the elephants stepped up gear in their next run out defeating ghana to
become the first side into the last eight with coach vahid halilhodzic
relieved man
told the boys that we had to choose path between paradise and hell as
nation like the ivory coast would never forgive us if we lost he said
this wasn easy because we had to win the game to qualify the pressure was
enormous on me
great team is in the process of being born
this win will give the players lot of confidence we ve come here to go right
to the finish line
next of the south africa bound teams to join them in the second round were
algeria who had looked down and out when suffering thrashing by minnows
malawi in their opener
that triggered an onslaught of criticism from the algerian media who held coach
rabah saadane responsible for the wipe out
the desert foxes came back fighting with win over mali and then ensured
their last eight ticket with draw against hosts angola
after the mali victory saadane said crisply this win has given the perfect
answer to all our critics
next into the quarter final mix was ghana who qualified with tight win
over burkina faso
the black stars the first team from africa to qualify for the world cup went
into their must win game missing raft of star players including chelsea
midfielder michael essien who suffered serious training injury hours
before kick off
andre ayew son of one of africa most decorated players abedi pele ayew
was the hero of the hour producing the decisive first half goal to bag them the
runners up spot behind ivory coast in group
ghana serb coach milovan rajevac said the injuries to key players like essien
were giving dede and the other youngsters the chance to shine
we ve had lot of problems with injuries throughout the entire team some
before the competition and others like essien during it
we ve got big problems but this is good opprotunity for young players they
need to prove themselves we believe in them
nigeria found themselves with their backs to the wall after an opening
defeat to champions egypt
that led to an ultimatum to coach shuaibu amodu beat next door neighbours
benin or else make way for assistant coach daniel amokachi
the super eagles duly beat benin and qualified with victory over
mozambique
match winner osaze odenwingie who scored twice said happy for the team
we had lot of pressure on us but since the start of the competition we have
made daily progress from the goalkeepers to the strikers
amodu added my job is to do good can can avoid the critics happy
that the boys were able to deliver the goods
and finally to cameroon who after their shock opening loss to gabon were
four minutes away from getting knocked out only for substitute mohamadou
idrissou to head home the th minute winner for win over zambia
samuel eto and his men had to make another comeback for draw with
tunisia in lubango on thursday to join their fellow world cup contenders in the
second round
coach paul le guen said he had two objectives in angola
to get the best possible results in this africa cup of nations and to prepare
the squad for the world cup
it hard going but we ve shown we can fight back even if we are letting in
lot of goals
have had to take decisions about team selection which may appear tough but
it allows me to prepare for the world cup in the best fashion
british car output collapses in trade data
london jan afp
british car production slumped percent last year as recession slammed the
brakes on demand but december output soared thanks to state aid for buying new
vehicles industry data showed on friday
total of cars were manufactured in britain last year which marked
percent drop from the society of motor manufacturers and traders
smmt said in statement
however output surged percent last month compared with december to
vehicles as result of the british government so called car scrappage
scheme that was the biggest monthly rise since may
the global economic downturn savaged worldwide demand for high value items like
automobiles particularly in the first half of prompting most automakers
to curb output
but several governments including britain and germany introduced new for old
schemes to encourage motorists to ditch less efficient and older vehicles for
newer models
britain scrappage scheme allows car owners to trade in year old vehicle
for pound euro dollar discount on new car
meanwhile the smmt gave cautious outlook for amid growing optimism that
the economy escaped recession in the final three months of
the significant rise in december vehicle production is welcome news and signals
some greater stability across global automotive markets smmt chief executive
paul everitt said in the statement
we expect the year ahead to be extremely challenging but the return of
economic growth and competitive exchange rate will help uk producers
car and commercial vehicle production remain well below pre recession levels
and it is essential that there continues to be focus on creating more and
better priced finance for businesses and consumers
britain officially remains the last major world power in recession experiencing
six straight quarters of economic contraction
however data due on tuesday is widely expected to show that the economy grew in
the fourth quarter of according to most analysts
urgent nigerian cabinet gets days to decide on ailing president
abuja jan afp
the high court in nigeria on friday gave the cabinet days to decide if ailing
president umaru yar adua was fit to stay in office
afp gmt news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor denis barnett
tel
top stories
stock markets slump as obama puts the squeeze on banks
rescue teams begin pullout as focus switches to haiti living
karzai to pay taliban to lay down arms
us economy politics banking regulate ndlead wrap
washington
stock markets around the world slump after president barack obama unveils plans
to limit the size and scope of us banks and financial firms in new offensive
against wall street excesses
words gmt by stephen collinson
haiti quake lead wrap
port au prince
un led teams in haiti switch focus away from searching for people trapped in
collapsed buildings to aid for survivors as the relocation begins of hundreds of
thousands of desperate people from the quake ravaged capital
words gmt picture graphic video
afghanistan unrest ndlead wrap
kabul
afghan president hamid karzai unveils an ambitious western funded plan to offer
money and jobs to tempt taliban fighters to lay down their arms and return to
civilian life
words gmt by waheed massoud
we have also moved afghanistan unrest hekmatyar
haiti
haiti quake funeral scene
port au prince
family members friends and neighbors gather for final farewell in port au
prince fighting the acrid stench rotting bodies that has become all to common
in this ravaged city
words gmt by daphne benoit picture
europe
britain iraq military politics inquiry lead
london
prime minister gordon brown will appear at britain public inquiry into the
iraq war before upcoming elections its chairman announces after intense
pressure from opposition leaders eyeing poll boost
words gmt by katherine haddon picture
armenia turkey diplomacy rdlead
yerevan
historic efforts to establish ties between armenia and turkey may break down
the armenian foreign minister warns blaming ankara for obstructing the process
words gmt by mariam harutunian
russia politics democracy lead
moscow
president dmitry medvedev calls for major shake up of the russia political
system to promote opposition parties lamenting that real political competition
is practically non existent in local government
words gmt by anna malpas
africa
nigeria unrest religion ndlead
kuru karama nigeria
volunteers recovered scores more bodies in nigeria troubled central plateau
state as the death toll from inter religious clashes rose and the army was
ordered to step up security
words by aminu abubakar gmt picture
we will also move nigeria unrest religion scene
middle east
mideast diplomacy us lead
ramallah west bank
us envoy george mitchell meets palestinian president mahmud abbas to push middle
east peace efforts despite president barack obama admission that his drive for
deal may have been overambitious
words gmt by nasser abu bakr
israel politics media
jerusalem
legal battle between cleaning lady and israel first lady spawns war of
words between prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the media which is
evidently relishing the scandal
words gmt by patrick moser
asia
pakistan us unrest military ndlead
islamabad
us defence secretary robert gates takes on his critics in pakistan apologising
for past grave mistakes as he works to bolster ties with washington key ally
in the fight against al qaeda
words moved by dan de luce picture
india security airline travel ndlead
new delhi
india has increased airport security and warned its domestic airlines about
possible hijack attempt after tip off from western intelligence services
officials say
words gmt by elizabeth roche
china us it internet google lead wrap
beijing
china rejects criticism of its internet censorship by us secretary of state
hillary clinton saying it has harmed relations as row over google threat
to leave the chinese market escalated
words moved by dan martin
alert
nigerian cabinet gets days to decide on ailing president court
figure skating lure of olympic gold too strong for plushenko
tallinn jan afp
yevgeny plushenko admits he has it all titles money and great wife but
the lure of olympic gold has proved too strong for the skater from st
petersburg
four years ago he retired after claiming olympic gold in turin
but he sealed his international return thursday night with masterful
performance that earned him sixth european men title
the three time world champion finished massive points ahead of
switzerland olympic silver medallist stephane lambiel with defending champion
brian joubert of france struggling to third
and he admitted the plushenko of is far cry from the one of
have everything right now explained the year old
have all titles and money have great wife
plushenko has rock star status in his native russia and married his second wife
jana rudkovskaia last september
he credits rudkovskaia with bringing him back to his first love
came back my wife insisted on it and it great feeling to be in
competition and maybe was lacking that
during his retirement brought about largely by knee problems plushenko
continued to follow the sport and was amazed by how the level had not
progressed technically
the last two world championships were won without doing quad that is just
not possible he lamented
today there are people doing two quads and that good they were pushed to do
it and they realized that you can win without quad will be trying to do
two quads
and he warned that he feels much stronger now
my speed and steps are much better today feel much better he said
won get too euphoric though the most important competition is still to
come the olympic games
the only blemish in his four and half minute free skate to edvin marton
tango amore was the doubling of his planned triple lutz
he opened with solid quadruple toeloop triple toeloop combination adding an
additional five triples including two in combination
it was not yet an olympic performance at the olympics need to skate two
quads and need to skate much better proud of myself that ve won today
and that beat strong competitiors
lambiel has also been lured out of retirement by dreams of olympic glory
for all sports men and women the olympic games is very special really wanted
to challenge myself third time in vancouver said the year old
three time european winner joubert failed to impress after two months out
with foot injury
and he expressed his hope that despite the podium being the same as at
europeans it would not mirror the olympics that year
it like but hope it not going to be the same for the olympic games
don want to be sixth again
german industry orders revised up sharply ministry
berlin jan afp
german industrial orders rose sharply in november government figures showed
friday further sign that europe top economy is pulling out of its deepest
slump since world war ii
orders grew by percent on the month the economy ministry said revising
higher preliminary estimate in early january of gain of percent
analysts surveyed by dow jones newswires had expected much smaller revision to
percent
earlier this week berlin also revised higher its forecast for economic growth
this year to percent from previous estimate of percent
in output slumped by five percent as germany one of the world top
exporters suffered its worst recession in six decades
industrial orders across the countries that share the euro also rose by
percent in november in sharp rebound from the previous month percent
fall european union data released earlier friday showed
athletics dubai marathon results
dubai jan afp
dubai marathon results
men
haile gebreselassie eth hr min chala dechase ken
eshetu wendimu eth abiyote guta eth debele tulu
eth abraham chelanga ken dejene yirdaw eth
leonard mucheru ken japhet kosgei ken
yimane mekonnen eth
women
mametu daska eth aberu shewaye eth helena kirop
ken bezunesh bekele eth isobella andersson swe
askale magarsa eth tedesse yeshimebet eth
genet getaneh eth woyshinet tafa eth shuru
diriba eth
malaysian police make new arrests over church attacks
kuala lumpur jan afp
malaysian police said friday they had arrested seven more people over spate of
attacks on churches that have escalated ethnic tensions
the violence which saw churches and two muslim prayer halls targeted was
triggered by court ruling that overturned government ban on non muslims
using the word allah as translation for god
earlier this week eight people were detained over the first of the attacks on
church in suburban kuala lumpur
the seven new accused were arrested in raids late thursday and early friday over
firebombings of church and convent school in northern perak state on january
they are being investigated for throwing molotov cocktails at the all saints
church and the convent school in taiping senior perak police official told
afp on condition of anonymity adding that the seven were all aged between
and
religion and language are sensitive issues in multi racial malaysia which
experienced deadly race riots in
the row over the use of allah is among string of religious disputes that
have erupted in recent years straining relations between malays and minority
ethnic chinese and indians who fear the country is being islamised
the high court last month ruled in favour of the catholic herald newspaper which
has used allah as translation for god in its malay language section the
ruling was suspended pending an appeal
the government has said the word should be used only by muslims because it could
cause confusion and even encourage conversions from islam which is illegal in
malaysia
malaysia population is percent muslim malay but also includes indigenous
tribes as well as the large ethnic chinese and indian communities practising
buddhism christianity and hinduism among others
bhutan queen mother reveals childhood love of elvis
jaipur india jan afp
the queen mother in the remote himalayan kingdom of bhutan revealed friday her
childhood love of elvis presley and the fear she felt at her first ever sighting
of motor car
speaking at the jaipur literary festival in northern india where she read
extracts from her book treasures of the thunder dragon portrait of bhutan
her majesty the queen mother ashi dorji wangmo wangchuck recalled her early
upbringing in tiny isolated village in the west of the kingdom
her memories were of an austere but close knit family life where gender roles
were blurred and husbands acted as midwives
my father delivered me as well as four of my brothers and sisters he was very
skilled with his hands said queen wangchuck the eldest of four sisters
married to the former monarch jigme singye wangchuk
her son bhutan new king jigme khesar namgyel wangchuck was crowned in
after his father abdicated saying that he wanted to match the shift to
democracy in the kingdom with change of face in the royal palace
at the age of six the future queen was uprooted when her father decided to send
her and her younger sister to boarding school in darjeeling in northeast india
so that she could receive an english language education
the journey involved challenging three day trek across rugged terrain from the
bhutanese capital during which the two young children were strapped to the
saddle of horse
at one point it took fright and flew off the saddle turned over and my sister
and were trapped under the belly of the galloping horse it was terrifying
she said
having survived the trip to thimpu she was then given her first ride in car
which was to take her across the border and into india
it was jeep and when we first saw it it made huge impression we couldn
believe it actually moved she recalled
it was frightening to get into it villagers on the way thought it was some
sort of fire breathing dragon and they used to bring grass to feed it when we
stopped
despite persistent homesickness the queen said her time at boarding school in
india was happy one and opened her eyes to new experiences she could never
have had in bhutan which was then firmly closed to the outside world
my happiest memory at school was my first elvis presley movie even remember
its name it happened at the world fair thought he was wonderful she
said
the five day jaipur literary festival the largest of its type in asia boasted
more than invited writers including indian stars like amit chaudhuri and
award winning foreign authors such as roddy doyle and michael frayn
cricket india ipl faces further security trouble
new delhi jan afp
the opening match of the indian premier league in march has been shifted out of
hyderabad due to ongoing protests over the proposed creation of new state
top official said on friday
the match between defending champions the deccan chargers and the kolkata knight
riders which was due to be held in hyderabad on march will now be played in
mumbai ipl commissioner lalit modi told reporters
hyderabad the capital of andhra pradesh state has seen unrest over the past
few weeks after the federal government announced in december that the region
would be carved in two to create separate state of telangana
protesters on thursday disrupted twenty cricket match organised by the
deccan chargers franchise in hyderabad
the first match of the ipl new season will now be held in mumbai on march
said modi the opening match and the gala dinner the previous evening are
very important for us
people from all over the world are coming and we are going to make sure that
everything is in order we don want to take any chances
there are no changes to other matches everything looks fine
hyderabad were due to host the seven home matches of the chargers
two weeks ago an influential right wing hindu party in mumbai warned that it
would try to stop australian cricketers playing in parts of india because of
attacks on indians living down under
bal thackeray who heads the radical shiv sena party said activists planned to
disrupt matches involving australians like they did ahead of test match
against pakistan in new delhi in when they dug up the pitch
two major cities in maharashtra mumbai and nagpur are due to host ipl matches
and shiv sena is particularly influential in the state
two former australian stars adam gilchrist and andrew symonds play for the
deccan chargers team other notable aussies in the glitzy twenty league are
matthew hayden brett lee and shane watson
there has been spate of attacks against indian students in australia over the
past months which have soured ties between the two countries
the ipl is already embroiled in controversy after no pakistani player was picked
up in tuesday auction by the eight cash rich franchises setting off
diplomatic row between india and pakistan
rugbyu attoub appeals week ban
london jan afp
stade francais prop david attoub has lodged an appeal against the week ban he
received for gouging ulster lock stephen ferris during european cup clash in
december cup organisers confirmed friday
attoub received the ban earlier this week after being found guilty of an offence
that the disciplinary official who imposed the penalty labelled the worst act
of contact with the eyes that have had to deal with
the ban was backdated to start on december and unless attoub succeeds in
having it reduced on appeal he will not be allowed to play until april
ruling him out of the remainder of the current european season and most of
next term campaign
an independent appeal panel will be convened as soon as possible to hear
attoub case against the severity of the sanction handed down by jeff blackett
an english judge who handles disciplinary matters for the rugby football union
blackett described attoub action as case of deliberate eye gouging and
accused the player of giving less than truthful account of his actions
the ban follows week ban given to attoub team mate and scrum half julien
dupuy who also gouged ferris in the same match dupuy who began the year as
starter in the french international lineup appealed but his ban was only cut by
week
the french duo have been caught up in crackdown ordered by the international
rugby board in the wake of furore over the eight week ban received by south
africa flanker schalk burger for gouging british and irish lions wing luke
fitzgerald during last year second test in pretoria
stade francais president max guazzini has accused blackett of anti french
bias
we tumbled upon an over zealous judge and with an anti french bias burger got
eight weeks for the same offence attoub receives weeks where the sense in
that
france asks britain switzerland for information on zardari
paris jan afp
french judge probing pakistan bomb attack that killed french engineers
has asked britain and switzerland to provide whatever information they have on
