al goldman chief market strategist at wells fargo advisors said investors were
cautious after alcoa earnings fell short and china raised bank reserve ratios
sparking concern other central banks will soon start tightening credit
market action the next day or two will say lot about what ahead for the
next several weeks goldman said
if the market can come right back today and close well the message will be
that momentum remains up if the market tries to rally today but fails we are
probably starting an overdue normal correction
the rally that equities have been enjoying since march was always going to be
tested at some point in said capital spreads analyst simon denham
elsewhere in europe amsterdam was up percent brussels rose percent
milan put on percent madrid edged up percent and swiss stocks gained
percent
in asian trade earlier wednesday the china lead sparked substantial losses
with hong kong tumbling percent and shanghai percent the heaviest
falls so far this year for both bourses
tokyo lost percent and sydney was down percent led by the miners as
investors there took fright at china tightening
saudi growth to hit percent in bank study
riyadh jan afp
saudi economic growth will accelerate to percent in on the back of
strong government spending and recovery in the private sector according to
bank study released on wednesday
but declining productivity in the private sector will remain drag on the
economy that could lead to higher unemployment if the government does not
continue to expand its own role said banque saudi fransi bsf in its forecast
the saudi economy eked out bare percent gdp expansion last year buoyed
by heavy government and oil sector investment which will continue to carry the
economy this year said bsf part of the french banking group credit agricole
economic growth is likely to accelerate to percent in with the
private sector growing percent on the back of higher oil prices and
greater infrastructure activity it said
the government through stimulatory public spending programme will continue
to lead the pickup in the economy as saudi oil averages around dollars
barrel and low levels of government debt bolster the kingdom fiscal position
the bank said
the world second largest oil exporter after russia saudi arabia is
overwhelmingly dependent on oil revenues to fund government spending
bsf forecast the private sector after contracting in would grow
percent this year as consumer and investor confidence return and banks resume
lending
hit by sharp rise in non performing loans in the past two years including
billions of dollars of exposure to the troubled saad and algosaibi
conglomerates saudi banks sharply tailed back lending
we believe the crisis of confidence is slowly easing and we anticipate an
advancement in bank lending to the private sector this year bsf said
primary reason for this will be necessity if banks want to avoid repeat of
their lacklustre profit performance they will have to energise the pace of
credit expansion
bsf predicts loan growth returning to an eight percent annual pace after
percent contraction last year
but it warned of inflation rising to percent mainly driven by the domestic
housing shortage
the weak spot in the economy is public and private sector productivity which
have not seen gains since said the bank
the government has been adding saudis steadily to its payrolls to meet high
unemployment problem while private industry continues to rely heavily on
millions of low skill low wage workers mainly from south and southeast asia
rather than boosting efficiency and value from more skilled workers
the country faces serious long term structural problem bsf pointed out as
university graduate numbers are expected to surge and the government will not be
able to offer them jobs as in the past
with the state unable to absorb good deal of the expected onslaught of new
job entrants lower private sector growth rates between could signal
that unemployment rates may begin rising again in the coming years
rallying al attiyah closes on sainz chicherit wins car stage
san juan argentina jan afp
qatar nasser al attiyah made large inroads on volkswagen team mate carlos
sainz overall lead in the dakar rally on wednesday following the th stage
the kilometres special from santiago in chile
al attiyah who was leading when disqualified last year gained over five
minutes on two time world rally champion sainz on day when frenchman guerlain
chicherit driving bmw took the stage itself
dutchman frans verhoeven had earlier won the motorcycling section
verhoeven edged out american jonah street by three seconds while frenchman cyril
despres seventh on the stage over four minutes in arrears remained comfortably
the overall leader with just three stages remaining
despres whose main pre race rival for the title spaniard marc coma saw his
chances disappear last weekend when he was penalised six hours for illegally
changing tyre has lead of hr min over norwegian pal ullevalseter
chile francisco lopez retains third place overall while the big loser of the
day in terms of podium finish was portugal helder rodrigues who held on to
fourth place but lost six minutes on ullevalseter
top bankers admit missteps in financial crisis
washington jan afp
top us bankers wednesday acknowledged mistakes that led up to the global
financial crisis as special commission launched its inquiry into the economic
calamity
the congressionally mandated member panel which has been compared to the
panel that studied the september terror attacks on the united
states began its first hearings on wednesday
brian moynihan the new chief executive and president of bank of america
acknowledged that the banking industry caused lot of damage over the course
of the crisis which led to the government pumping hundreds of billions of
dollars into the firms to keep them afloat
never has it been clearer how mistakes made by financial companies can affect
main street and we need to learn the lessons of the past few years said the
head of the largest us bank measured by assets
morgan stanley chairman john mack said that in retrospect many firms were too
highly leveraged took on too much risk and did not have sufficient resources to
manage those risks effectively in rapidly changing environment
while we were able to withstand the crisis and believe emerge as stronger
institution we like many others made mistakes admitted jamie dimon
chairman and chief executive of jpmorgan chase
phil angelides chairman of the the financial crisis inquiry commission said
the forum may be our last best chance to take stock of what really happened so
that we can learn from it and restore faith in our economic system
if we ignore history we re doomed to bail it out again said angelides
former california state treasurer
the crisis which peaked in september triggered by home mortgage
meltdown sent financial tsunami across the globe slamming the brakes on
growth and plunging the united states and many other nations into the worst
recession in decades
more than seven million americans lost their jobs in the recession and nearly
million americans are unemployed underemployed because they could not find full
time work or have given up looking for work commission report said
in addition more than two million families have lost their homes in the last
three years and over million have been in the foreclosure process during that
period
goldman sachs chairman and chief executive lloyd blankfein said accumulation
of risk was the biggest problem that financial institutions faced ahead of
the crisis
because we were accumulating positions which by the way we acquired from
clients who want to sell them to us we have to go out ourselves and provide and
source the other side of the transactions so that we can manage our risks he
said these are all exercises in risk management
but commission chief angelides was unmoved showing his apparent displeasure
over the way financial risks were managed
well just going to be blunt with you he said it sounds to me little
bit like selling car with faulty brakes and then buying an insurance policy on
the buyer of those cars it doesn seem to me that practice that inspires
confidence
blankfein cautioned against overregulation
taking risk completely out of the system will be at the cost of economic
growth we know from economic history that innovation and the new industries
and new jobs that result from it require risk taking he said
the banking chiefs also addressed public concerns over fat bonuses paid to top
executives as compensation practices that critics say fueled the global
financial crisis came under scrutiny
many have questioned the extent to which compensation practices at financial
institutions incentivized excessive risk taking think some of those concerns
are quite legitimate jpmorgan chase dimon said
goldman blankfein said that to avoid misaligning compensation and
performance multi year guaranteed employment contracts should be banned
entirely
the use of these contracts unfortunately is common practice in our
industry we should all recognize that they are bad for the long term interests
of our industry and the financial system
pp rl
chinese student kills woman in french stabbing spree
perpignan france jan afp
chinese student stabbed to death year old secretary and wounded three
other people in an attack wednesday at university in southern france
officials said
the year old sociology student killed the woman with butcher knife and
wounded three other people one of them seriously at the university in the
southern town of perpignan
police arrested the student from the northeast chinese city of shenyang who
appeared to be suffering from an attack of dementia and was undergoing
psychological testing said public prosecutor jean pierre dreno
he attacked them at gmt in the university sociology department
with butcher knife of to centimetres up to inches dreno said
the secretary was making photocopies at the university library when she was
attacked her screams for help prompted sociology professor to rush to her
aid
the professor suffered serious wounds from knife blows to his face arms and
legs the prosecutor said
supply teacher who also arrived to help managed to disarm the attacker and
group of students then subdued him the secretary later died in hospital from
knife wounds to her chest and throat dreno said
the prosecutor said the chinese student who had been attending university in
perpignan since apparently knew the secretary daughter and also had
threatened other students
president nicolas sarkozy offered condolences to the secretary family and
praised the courage of bystanders who came to her aid and managed to subdue the
attacker
in statement issued by his office he expressed support for the whole
university community and hopes that investigations will shed light on these
events as soon as possible
higher education minister valerie pecresse travelled to perpignan to show
support for university employees following the attack
this is horrible tragedy it is tragedy involving mental health said
pecresse want to understand why this young man who had been hospitalised in
psychiatric ward was at the university
the chinese student had spent week at the perpignan hospital in november to
undergo treatment and had not shown up for his exams earlier this week
the head of the conference of university rectors lionel collet described the
incident as one of the worst on campus in recent years
the sociology faculty was closed on wednesday but the rest of the university
remained open students professors and staff were in state of shock
bissau state pays civil servants arrears
bissau jan afp
guinea bissau government has paid off million euros in civil servants
salary arrears and loans to local banks with eu budgetary aid the finance
minister said wednesday
we ve just balanced our accounts with the banks after updating the payment of
salaries to public administration workers finance minister jose mario vaz told
reporters
the total amount of the payments concluded last week was million euros
million dollars
mario vaz said the state now had the resources to balance all its accounts we
hope to do that before the end of the first quarter he said
the european union released million euros in budgetary aid to one of the
world poorest states at the end of december to help it pay off its internal
debt and state employees pay arrears
football milan second string edge minnows novara
rome jan afp
mathieu flamini scored the winner nine minutes from time as second string ac
milan team beat third division novara at the san siro on wednesday to reach
the coppa italia quarter finals
the rossoneri thus join neighbours inter milan and roma in the competition
last eight
milan coach leonardo made changes to the team that won at juventus on
sunday with ronaldinho loan signing david beckham andrea pirlo and alessandro
nesta not even included on the bench
veteran striker filippo inzaghi opened the scoring on minutes but in the
first minute of the second period pablo gonzalez stunned the san siro by drawing
novara level
flamini had the last word though and milan will play udinese or lumezzane in
the next round
eight people amongst them two children were taken to hospital after people
were injured in motorway crash between lorry and coach carrying novara
supporters to the game
football lyon sign croatian defender lovren
zagreb jan afp
lyon on wednesday signed defender dejan lovren from croatian side dynamo zagreb
as the former french champions seek to plug the back four leaks which have
hampered their campaign
starting from today dejan lovren is officially lyon player having signed
contract with the club said dynamo statement
the year old joins lyon side who are sixth in the french first division
points behind leaders bordeaux and also have the top worst defensive
record
spain sees end of cycle in high illegal immigration
madrid jan afp
the spanish government said wednesday it was the end of cycle in high numbers
of illegal immigrants arriving on its shores as the number dropped
significantly in due to the economic crisis
it is the end of long cycle consuelo rumi the secretary of state for
immigration said following the publication of its immigration directory
we are seeing transition towards new period that will be characterised by
slower rate of arrivals rumi added also predicting that those who did arrive
would face tougher entry process
the number of illegal immigrants who reached spain as whole in halved to
around from some last year
unemployment at percent for the spanish population rises to percent
for immigrants who continued to arrive in spain in high numbers until the
second part of
among spain population of million percent are from abroad especially
south america morocco and eastern europe
over year period more than four million immigrants have arrived in spain
attracted especially to its once booming construction sector
regional summit this week on zimbabwe madagascar
maputo jan afp
key southern african leaders will hold special summit thursday in mozambique
capital maputo to discuss the crisis in madagascar and the power sharing
government in zimbabwe officials said
the security organ of the southern african development community sadc known
as the troika will meet from pm gmt on thursday mozambican
foreign ministry official told afp
there will be troika meeting tomorrow he said
senior zimbabwe government official told afp that president robert mugabe had
already left harare to attend the meeting
president mugabe left this afternoon for maputo to attend an extra ordinary
summit of sadc which is expected to discuss the zimbabwe situation and
unfolding events in madagascar the official said in harare speaking on
condition of anonymity
the summit will take place following the swearing in of mozambican president
armando guebuza to his second term in office
guebuza currently heads the troika which also includes zambia and swaziland
zambian president rupiah banda will attend the summit as will south african
president jacob zuma their offices said
last week sadc foreign ministers met in maputo where they also discussed
zimbabwe and madagascar
the regional bloc has been due to review progress in zimbabwe unity government
after special summit in november broke deadlock that threatened to sink the
deal
south african mediators have since held talks in harare among the rival zimbabwe
parties to settle slate of differences between mugabe and his partner in the
unity government prime minister morgan tsvangirai
tsvangirai spokesman james maridadi said that he did not know about the summit
and that the prime minister would not attend
the prime minister is currently on leave and he is not going to the summit we
are not aware of it maridadi said
it was not immediately clear if madagascar leaders would attend the summit
disagreements between the island nation four main political groups have
scuttled repeated efforts to end the impasse with de facto leader andry
rajoelina trampling on previous deals with rivals to form unity government
international mediators last week called for elections in madagascar to end the
prolonged political crisis after rajoelina took power last year with the army
blessing following wave of public protests
white house backs free internet in google china dispute
washington jan afp
the white house said wednesday that it backs the right to free internet and
confirmed it has held talks with google which has threatened to quit china over
censorship demands
white house spokesman robert gibbs said he would not go into details about the
discussions with google which announced on tuesday it would no longer filter
search results from china on its web search engine
we have had conversations and discussions with them about what they have talked
about yesterday gibbs told reporters here don want to get much further
afield than that
the president and this administration have beliefs about the freedom of the
internet gibbs added noting that president barack obama had expressed them in
china last year
the right of free internet is what many of you heard the president talk about
in china taking question over the internet about the freedom of the internet
something he talked about there gibbs said
during visit to china in november obama pushed for an unshackled internet
saying he was strong supporter of open internet use and big supporter of
non censorship
gibbs also recalled that secretary of state hillary clinton had asked for an
explanation from china on tuesday for what google said were cyberattacks
originating from china aimed at chinese human rights activists
as the secretary of state said we look forward to the response from the
chinese the white house spokesman said
google on tuesday said china based cyber spies struck the internet giant and at
least other unidentified firms in an apparent bid to hack into the email
accounts of chinese human rights activists around the world
syria assad starts saudi visit
riyadh jan afp
syrian president bashar al assad arrived in riyadh on wednesday for talks with
king abdullah expected to cover middle east peace efforts iran role in the
region and iraq
the king greeted assad at riyadh airport and the two headed to abdullah
private desert farm janadiriyah outside the capital where the monarch was to
host dinner the official spa news agency said
the visit comes amid stepped up efforts by riyadh to build arab unity around the
palestinians ahead of possible resumption of peace talks with israel
it has also been seeking to isolate iran which is key ally of syria over its
controversial nuclear programme
damascus riyadh ties were severely strained for years notably over syria role
in lebanon and its support for lebanese shiite militant group hezbollah before
thaw marked by landmark damascus trip by abdullah in october
but the two countries still differ over lebanese politics over the palestinian
division between the hamas and fatah factions and iran role in the region
according to diplomats and analysts
canada sends plane of medical aid for quake hit haiti
ottawa jan afp
canada and canadians of haitian origin mobilized wednesday to help
earthquake stricken residents of port au prince sending plane with medical
equipment and large relief and rescue force
canadian authorities reacted quickly dispatching reconnaissance mission to
haiti to evaluate the needs of survivors to be followed by sizeable relief
and rescue force
the first elements of canada emergency assistance to haiti are being deployed
this morning said foreign affairs minister lawrence cannon
the dart or disaster assistance response team of about troops engineers
and doctors will assess the needs on the ground and draw up recommendations to
the government
the elite unit can be deployed at the request of foreign governments for up to
days to provide humanitarian relief including potable water in disaster
zones
the aircraft with medical equipment and helicopters for search and
rescue would be followed by more assistance
according to public broadcaster radio canada the dart team was poised to head
to haiti as early as thursday morning
two canadian warships equipped with generators capable of powering small town
and medical facilities were also on standby in the atlantic to help with
international aid efforts
canadian prime minister stephen harper earlier met with haitian head of mission
in canada nathalie gissel menos telling her the people of haiti could count on
our solidarity
in transcript of their conversation seen by afp harper said canada would
deploy all necessary assistance to the people of haiti during this time of
need
ottawa would immediately provide five million canadian dollars million us
to haiti for emergency shelter medical services food water and sanitation
services as well as protection international cooperation minister beverly oda
announced
we want to ensure that the immediate basic needs of the haitian people are met
quickly and effectively said oda
haiti is already the second largest recipient of canadian development aid after
afghanistan
canada haitian expatriate community based largely in montreal took to local
radio stations to plead for help and rally aid for their compatriots
midday meeting of local haitian groups was planned to choose an organization
to receive and distribute donations from canadians for haiti ruth pierre paul
head of montreal haitian community group told afp
some canadians are believed to be in haiti at the moment but cannon said
all were believed to be safe
however local media reported that three royal canadian mounted police officers
deployed as part of an member police training and peacekeeping force were
missing
the third most senior member of the un mission canadian was also reportedly
unaccounted for
nigerian court rules vp can act for ailing president
abuja jan afp
nigerian high court ruled wednesday that vice president goodluck jonathan can
take executive powers in the absence of ailing president umaru yar adua in
hospital in saudi arabia since november
judge dan abutu the chief judge of the federal high court in abuja gave the
ruling in case filed on monday by lawyer christopher onwuekwe seeking the
court interpretation of the constitution
by virtue of section of the constitution the vice president can perform
the executive functions of the president pending the time he returns abutu
said
the clause states that executive powers are vested in the president and may
subject to the provisions of any law made by the national assembly be
exercised by him either directly or through the vice president and
ministers or officers in the public service
yar adua absence since november has caused furore in africa second
biggest oil exporter with the opposition alleging that government business has
been stalled and that the nation democracy is facing its most serious threat
in the years since the end of military rule
the court in abuja is to hear three separate legal challenges to yar adua on
thursday amid calls for him to stand down on grounds of frail health
constitutional lawyer femi falana who has lodged one of the court challenges
dismissed wednesday ruling as meaningless
jonathan cannot act for yar adua because no functions have been formally and
directly delegated to him by yar adua to enable him act he said
falana cited another section of the constitution which demands the president
states in writing his absence or incapacitation to both houses of parliament
when he does that and other processes as stipulated in the constitution have
been carried out then jonathan can act as president said falana
justice minister micahel aondoaaka said last week that yar adua was not
suffering from an infirmity that would render him permanently incapable of
discharging his functions
the year old president is being treated for heart condition in jeddah
he broke day silence on tuesday telling the bbc in telephone interview
that he was getting better and intended to return to work he sounded weak in
the interview the bbc reported
the nigerian bar association nba former lawmaker farouk adamu aliyu and
falana have filed separate suits in the federal high court in abuja
they want jonathan to be formally recognised as acting president given
yar adua continued absence
falana said the suit was aimed at ensuring there was no vacuum in the nigerian
presidency
haiti quake death toll may top pm
washington jan afp
the death toll in the haiti quake could top prime minister jean max
bellerive told cnn wednesday
the final death toll could be well over the prime minister told the
us television channel after his caribbean nation was struck tuesday by
quake
hope that is not true because hope the people had the time to get out
because we have so much people on the streets right now we don know exactly
where they were living
but so many so many buildings so many neighborhoods totally destroyed and
some neighborhoods we don even see people so don know where those people
are
relief agencies mobilise massive emergency aid for haiti
geneva jan afp
the red cross and united nations on wednesday mobilised massive aid
operation to help thousands of haiti earthquake casualties amid scenes of
devastation and chaos
the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies said it was
ready to help maximum of three million people based on the numbers who live
in the affected area
federation spokesman jean luc martinage said massive international aid
operation was needed
aid officials in geneva reported that access was hampered by rubble while
electricity water and phone services had been severed and local medical
facilities were damaged or overwhelmed
elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the un office for the coordination of
humanitarian affairs said the priority was to find survivors
we are working against the clock she told journalists as some search and
rescue teams from global network were mobilised by the united nations
un children fund unicef warned that clean water supplies were looming
problem for the four million people in the capital port au prince and in
outlying areas
what people need more urgently than food is water unicef spokeswoman
veronique taveau told journalists
un maps placed the epicentre kilometres miles from port au prince and
indicated that some people lived in areas exposed to the most intense
tremor with violent or extreme shaking
the red cross said the area affected by the magnitude quake covered port au
prince and the west province with population of million
aid officials reported large numbers of casualties especially in poorly built
homes and shantytowns while haiti president rene preval said thousands were
feared dead
people are trying to comfort each other what you are hearing in the streets
are the prayers of thanks of those who survived the international committee of
the red cross icrc chief in haiti ricardo conti said in statement
it is extremely difficult to move around the city to assess needs what is
certain is that the quake has had massive impact on population already
reeling from other recent disasters
doctors without borders msf said it had treated about casualties
suffering from trauma fractures as well as burns caused by exploding domestic
gas canisters sometimes in tents set up to replace damaged clinics
the situation is chaotic visited five medical centres including major
hospital and most of them were not functioning said msf doctor stefano
zannini
many are damaged and saw distressing number of dead bodies he added in
statement
the world health organisation deployed specialists to help handle mass
casualties and corpses
control of communicable diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory
infections will be another major concern in coming days it warned in
statement
the red cross said the most urgent needs at this time are search and rescue
field hospitals emergency health water purification emergency shelter
logistics and telecommunications
relief agencies drew on emergency stocks in haiti which is often hit by severe
floods and hurricanes and prepared to fly in more help from regional base in
panama through the airport at port au prince or the neighbouring dominican
republic
the un world food programme said it could respond swiftly with some
tonnes of food supplies in haiti
we have already launched an emergency operation said wfp official charles
