small is big at delhi auto show
new delhi jan afp
small will be big at an indian auto show when the world leading manufacturers
unveil slew of compact cars designed for one of the world fastest growing
markets
autoexpo which begins on tuesday and runs until january is expected to
be the biggest ever featuring global releases of new models from the most
famous names in the industry
recent months have seen foreign giants ford general motors hyundai and renault
join stampede to india where each has promised small cheap model designed
for what ford boss alan mulally termed the sweet spot of the market
many of these will be on display during the week including the figo from ford
concept small cars from japan honda and toyota as well as the india made polo
by germany volkswagen
india is developing as small car hub senior director at the society of
indian automobile manufacturers siam sugato sen told afp
he pointed to government policies that have promoted the production of small
cars domestically while rising incomes have driven demand for basic no frills
vehicles
india ultimately is developing country where the average annual income is
below dollars year so this is reflected in the vehicles we use he
said
they re not sophisticated but the market is growing double digit
india is asia third largest car market after china and japan but what has
manufacturers excited is the potential explosive growth in country with
billion plus population
growth in developed counties is almost saturated so they are looking for where
they can sell especially in the low end entry level segment said analyst
vaishali jajoo from angel broking
she said sales of passenger vehicles have been growing at above percent
year for the last five years and will carry on at percent for the next
four to five years
incomes are rising steadily meaning indians are following the familiar pattern
of upgrading their personal transport from push bikes to motorbikes then to
cars
the market is forecast to triple to six million car sales annually in decade
mouth watering proposition for car groups but concern for those who
drive on the already traffic clogged streets of india cities
the train is leaving the station and you want to make sure you have the
products on line carlos ghosn who runs renault and nissan said in november
as he announced plans to produce an ultra low cost vehicle
such is the buzz around the india show this year that some insiders are
beginning to speak of it in the same breath as the detroit auto event that kicks
off on the day the delhi exhibition finishes
ten global launches of vehicles from heavy trucks to two wheelers are planned at
the delhi event which will see an expected million visitors pass through
the doors
this year delhi is the th but it first caught the world attention in
when indian manufacturer tata motors unveiled its nano the world cheapest car
that has since hit the roads though production remains restricted
ranojoy mukerji an auto sector analyst and adviser on government car
certification project underlines that the range of new vehicles set to hit the
market is good news for consumers
but it means manufacturers will face highly competitive market that is
currently dominated by indo japanese group maruti suzuki which has about
percent market share and strong track record in the small car segment
it will become very tough market because the consumer will have lot of
choice mukerji told afp before consumers had five cars to choose from
suddenly they will be looking at
nba short handed celtics down raptors
boston massachusetts jan afp
the short handed boston celtics missing three injured starters still managed
to snap three game losing streak on saturday with nba victory over
toronto
ray allen scored points and rasheed wallace added for the celtics who
ended toronto five game winning streak
paul pierce missed fifth straight game after having two medical procedures to
treat an infection in his right knee kevin garnett was sidelined for his second
straight game with sore right knee and rajon rondo was nursing sore left
hamstring
celtics coach doc rivers joked before the game that he might have to suit up and
play
rivers makeshift lineup had allen at point guard and little used reserve lester
hudson playing significant minutes in the fourth quarter jr giddens made his
first professional start
even so boston had seized an lead with less than minutes to play on
hudson jump shot
toronto twice narrowed the gap to five points but could get no closer
tony allen added points seven assists and five rebounds for the celtics
glen davis had points and kendrick perkins one of two regular starters in
the lineup had points and rebounds
chris bosh led toronto with points and nine rebounds andrea bargnani had
points and jarrett jack had points and seven assists
pierce said before the game that he expected to be back at practice on monday
as long as the swelling continues to go down pierce said it goes down every
day it seems like every day there some improvement don want to go out
and hobble around and try and force it want to get back when ready
rivers said he wasn sure when to expect to have pierce back
like ve said earlier with infections we don know how to treat that he
said we ve never had that paul to practice on monday
rivers said he expected it to be around days before garnett returned to
practice
bono calls for control over internet downloads
washington jan afp
irish rock star bono called sunday for tougher controls over the spread of
intellectual property over the internet arguing that file swiping and sharing
hurt creators of cultural products
the only thing protecting the movie and tv industries from the fate that has
befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files the
lead singer of the band wrote in an op ed piece in the new york times
he pointed out that the immutable laws of bandwidth indicate that technology
is just few years from allowing viewers to download entire movies in just
few seconds
decade worth of music file sharing and swiping has made clear that the
people it hurts are the creators in this case the young fledgling
songwriters who can live off ticket and shirt sales like the least
sympathetic among us bono noted
the singer pointed out that the us effort to stop child pornography and
china effort to suppress online dissent indicate that it is perfectly
possible to track internet content
perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed
so far and rally america to defend the most creative economy in the world
where music film tv and video games help to account for nearly four percent of
gross domestic product bono said
counterfeiting in china thrives despite crackdowns experts
beijing jan afp
while china has talked up its recent progress in stamping out copyright piracy
the market for fake iphones and bootleg dvds still flourishes and its trading
partners say it could do better
late last month the united states consistently critical of beijing failure
to stop the illicit production of us brands issued an annual report saying
piracy in the asian giant remained at unacceptably high levels
analysts say despite official crackdowns and successful prosecutions graft and
weak policing means factories continue to churn out fake goods costing foreign
and domestic firms billions of dollars in lost revenue
local protectionism and government corruption are the real issue daniel chow
professor at the ohio state university college of law told afp
the central government is probably sincere but enforcement occurs at the local
level and local governments have direct and indirect interest in protecting
counterfeiting which is important to the local economy
china counterfeit and piracy market is the biggest in the world and employs
millions of factory workers distributors and shop assistants across the vast
country of billion
fake products are readily available in stores and on the internet in china as
well as in overseas markets from new york to sydney at fraction of the cost
for the real thing
avatar is smashing box office records in north america but can be bought for
about dollar in beijing shops cheap copies of apple iphone were available
in china long before the smartphone was officially launched in
in china you can get enforcement but no deterrence said chow
you can easily get raid but there are no consequences to the counterfeiter
who usually pays light fine and is back in business in two to three weeks
in his annual report to congress before christmas us trade representative ron
kirk key member of us president barack obama delegation for his first
official visit to china in november was damning
despite repeated anti piracy campaigns in china and an increasing number of
civil ipr cases in chinese courts counterfeiting and piracy remain at
unacceptably high levels and continue to cause serious harm to us businesses
across many sectors of the economy kirk said
kirk comments followed decision by the us congressional international anti
piracy caucus to place china among the top five countries on its international
piracy watch list for
but beijing says it has made notable progress in the war on internet piracy
and copyright infringement state media reported last month citing an official
from the national copyright administration of china
since august beijing has investigated more than internet copyright
infringements closed hundreds of illegal websites and fined those involved in
online piracy million yuan dollars the china daily said
foreign companies have also been targeted chinese firm successfully sued
microsoft corp for infringing its intellectual property rights by including
certain fonts in its operating systems
and chinese author has launched the country first civil lawsuit against
internet giant google for scanning one of her novels into its digital web
library without consent
but many more cases of piracy and counterfeiting go undetected said victor ho
shanghai based lawyer with allen and overy with understaffed enforcement
agencies overwhelmed by the scale of the illicit industry in china
it not easy to police ho told afp
major hurdle facing beijing in its battle against counterfeits is local
government officials who are determined to protect jobs and maintain fast
economic growth seen as crucial for their own career advancement
if the local government cracks down on counterfeiting millions of jobs will be
lost not just in counterfeiting but in legitimate industries that support
counterfeiting and millions in tax revenue chow said
but as beijing demonstrated in the lead up to the olympic games in it has
the power to stop the illegal reproduction of merchandise when it is truly
motivated ho said
the olympic products were being sold and the central government made sure
everyone understood that it was not going to tolerate any knock off products
ho said
if there is significant amount of will to do this it can be done
afghan mps reject karzai cabinet nominees
kabul jan afp
afghan president hamid karzai suffered new blow to his authority when
parliament rejected most of his nominees for new cabinet including the only
woman and warlord
only seven out of nominees were approved by more than lawmakers in
secret ballot saturday throwing afghanistan into new political uncertainty just
weeks ahead of an international conference on the war ravaged nation
of the nominees introduced to parliament seven have succeeded in getting
your vote of confidence parliamentary speaker mohammad yunus qanoni said after
counting ended
karzai cabinet list was seen by his western backers as test of his
commitment to building clean and accountable government and eradicating the
corruption that blights afghanistan and helps fuel the taliban insurgency
us and nato countries fighting the taliban have made it clear that the billions
of dollars in military and development assistance they pour into afghanistan now
depend on concrete action against corruption
those voted down included warlord ismail khan nominated for the post of water
and energy minister widely seen as reward for supporting karzai during the
fraud tainted august presidential election that returned him to power
also rejected was the only woman nominated to cabinet post incumbent women
affairs minister husn banu ghazanfar who lost out by two votes
karzai has long relied on warlords to prop up his fragile government but aides
say he has recognised the need to appease the west to stay in power and bring
some momentum to the development of his poverty stricken country
he had been hoping to finalise his cabinet before an international conference in
london on january to discuss the future of the country
the position of foreign minister the th cabinet post will not be filled
until after the conference which will be attended by outgoing incumbent rangin
dadfar spanta parliamentary spokesman hasib noori said
those approved were the choices for defence agriculture interior finance
education culture and mines and industries mostly people backed by karzai
western supporters as competent and clean technocrats
under the constitution rejected nominees cannot be tapped again for the same
post noori said adding that parliament will begin day winter recess on
january leaving little time for karzai to submit new line up
kabul university law professor nasrullah stanikzai said the high number of
rejections showed that karzai had not thoroughly considered his list before
presenting it to parliament last month
the high rate of rejections will have negative effect on those ministries
which are without leadership and policy in the lead up to the london
conference stanikzai told afp
on the other hand the high rate of rejections shows that parliament has risen
above internecine considerations that have plagued afghan politics in the past
such as tribal issues and ethnic divisions
ministries without approved heads will be run by deputy ministers until nominees
were approved he said
the most notorious warlords abdul rashid dostum and mohammad mohaqiq leaders
of two minority ethnic groups which supported karzai in the election and were
expected to be rewarded with high office were not nominated
the international community deploys troops to fight an increasingly
bloody taliban led insurgency
up to more troops are due to arrive over the course of backed by
thousands of civilians as the war strategy turns from battleground tactics to
development and aid
afghanistan independent election commission meanwhile confirmed that
parliamentary election will take place on may
commenting on reports the poll could be delayed because of fraud problems that
plagued the presidential vote the commission said security budget and timing
requirements had been met with the help of the international community
snow paralyses beijing as north china braces for cold
beijing jan afp
freezing cold front swept over much of northern china sunday with snowstorms
snarling traffic and air travel while some of the coldest temperatures in
decades were forecast for coming days
snow storms were expected to continue through monday as the mercury was set to
plunge in the coming hours the beijing meteorological station said
gale force winds sweeping down from siberia could result in temperatures as low
as minus degrees celsius minus three degrees fahrenheit in the capital on
monday and tuesday it added
according to the beijing youth daily such temperatures would be the coldest in
the capital in years
on sunday major highways in beijing and tianjin as well as in the surrounding
provinces and regions of hebei shanxi and inner mongolia were closed due to the
heavy snowfall china central television said
according to the beijing capital airport departures had been postponed and
flights cancelled from late saturday until mid morning sunday because of
heavy snow and poor visibility
delayed and cancelled flights were expected to increase throughout much of
sunday the airport said in statement faxed to afp
us considers new sanctions against iran report
washington jan afp
the administration of us president barack obama believes domestic unrest and
signs of unexpected trouble in iran nuclear program make the country
leaders particularly vulnerable to strong and immediate new sanctions the new
york times reported late saturday
citing unnamed officials the newspaper said the long discussed sanctions
proposal comes as the administration has completed fresh review of iran
nuclear progress
obama strategists believe iran top political and military leaders were
distracted in recent months by turmoil in the streets and political infighting
and that their drive to produce nuclear fuel appears to have faltered the
report said
the white house wants to focus the new sanctions on the islamic revolutionary
guards corps that is believed to run the nuclear weapons effort the times said
although repeated rounds of sanctions over many years have not dissuaded iran
from pursuing nuclear technology an administration official involved in the
iran policy said the hope was that the current troubles give us window to
impose the first sanctions that may make the iranians think the nuclear program
isn worth the price tag the paper noted
the obama administration officials said they believed that iran bomb
development effort was seriously derailed by the exposure three months ago of
the country secret enrichment plant under construction near the holy city of
qom the report pointed out
exposure of the site deprived iran of its best chance of covertly producing the
highly enriched uranium needed to make fuel for nuclear weapons the times said
in addition international nuclear inspectors report that at iran plant in
natanz where thousands of centrifuges spin to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel
the number of the machines that are currently operating has dropped by
percent since the summer decline nuclear experts attribute to technical
problems according to the report
others including some european officials believe the problems may have been
accentuated by series of covert efforts by the west to undermine iran
program including sabotage on its imported equipment and infrastructure the
paper said
these factors have led the administration policymakers to lengthen their
estimate of how long it would take iran to accomplish what nuclear experts call
covert breakout the ability to secretly produce workable weapon the
times noted
for now the iranians don have credible breakout option and we don
think they will have one for at least months maybe two or three years the
paper quotes one senior administration official as saying
the administration has told allies that the longer time frame would allow the
sanctions to have an effect before iran could develop its nuclear ability the
times said
corrected shell co stocking plans under fire
barendrecht netherlands jan afp
plan by oil giant shell to store tonnes of carbon dioxide year in
depleted gas reservoir beneath this dutch city has drawn the ire of residents
and local officials who have vowed to thwart it
we are going to do everything to oppose this project declared barendrecht
deputy mayor simon zuurbier who voiced fears for the safety of the city
inhabitants
we are taking legal action to get it cancelled and we ll approve none of the
required permits
anglo dutch shell in november was authorised by the dutch government to
undertake project to capture and store portion of the megatonnes of
carbon dioxide emitted each year by the company refinery in pernis europe
largest pernis is located kilometers miles from here
under the scheme set to get under way in the co will be carried by
pipeline and after being compressed will be injected into depleted gas
reservoir meters feet under ground the reservoir has capacity
of tonnes
shell has said that over time the co will dissolve or form minerals
with positive evaluation of the initiative by government mandated experts the
project will be extended in few years to another nearby gas reservoir with
megatonne capacity and part of which lies under barendrecht city center
it ridiculous to carry out such an experiment in densely populated area
insisted zuurbier
klaas brantjes member of residents association said that while we have
been given the illusion of security all the risks are not known
the risks that co will escape are real and are especially dangerous as the
city is situated in basin
but spokesman for the dutch foreign ministry jan van diepen insisted that
the project is safe otherwise the government would not have given the go
ahead
the dutch government is providing million euros to help finance the facility
shell has declined to reveal the overall cost
shell says the carbon capture and storage by injection technique has already
been tested in norway and the united states
ccs carbon capture and storage is safe technique in itself margriet
kuijper shell manager of carbon capture and storage projects and studies said
on the company website
it will be carried out with so many safeguards that it can be used anywhere
even in residential areas
the netherlands which emitted megatonnes of co in has total
storage capacity of megatonnes
it is imperative to capture and store co in order to reach our target of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions by percent from levels by van
diepen said
if fifth of the country energy production is from renewable sources by
which is what the government wants it would mean that percent would
still come from fossil fuels he said
storing co is therefore inescapable as transition technology to limit
climate damage
it an argument dismissed by the environmental group greenpeace which has said
the enormous subsidies allocated to burying carbon gas contribute to
maintaining polluting industries at the expense of cleaner energy
shell has acknowledged that carbon storage operations have an impact on the
environment as they release quantity of co equal to percent of the
carbon gas being stored
nba pollin family disapointed over arenas firearms flap
washington jan afp
it still not clear just what happened between gilbert arenas and teammate
javaris crittenton in the wizards locker room but the family of late owner abe
pollin saturday deplored the presence of guns in the nba team facility
arenas has disputed report published in the new york post on friday which
cited an anonymous source as saying he and crittendon brandished guns over
gambling debt
but arenas and the team have acknowledged that arenas had unloaded firearms in
his locker and the matter has expanded into an investigation involving
washington dc police as well as federal investigators and the nba
the situation involving an incident in the locker room is troubling to our
family our organization and our fans the pollin family said in statement
released saturday night we know our fans are frustrated and angry the fact
that guns were brought to the verizon center is dangerous and disappointing and
showed extremely poor judgment
pollin died on november and his family is running the team until new
ownership group is in place
it was pollin who changed the team name from the bullets in the because
of the connotation of violence
guns have absolutely no place in workplace environment and we will take
further steps to ensure this never happens again the statement said while
the police investigation proceeds we are limited in what we can say but we
want our fans to know that we will not rest until this situation is resolved and
has come to satisfactory conclusion
on christmas eve the team said arenas had stored unloaded firearms in
container in his locker arenas said he wanted them out of the house after the
birth of his latest child
arenas didn address the matter before washington hosted san antonio on
saturday but joked about the unusually large press contingent
wizards coach flip saunders acknowledged distractions in his pre game remarks
to reporters
any time you have anything off the floor and your players can have total
focus then it always going to have some saunders said you always want to
have players be able to worry about what you have at hand and that to go out
and prepare and play against san antonio
nba rules bar players from possessing firearms at league facilities or when
traveling on any league business
shell co stocking plans under fire
barendrecht netherlands jan afp
plan by oil giant shell to store tonnes of carbon dioxide year in
depleted gas reservoir beneath this dutch city has drawn the ire of residents
and local officials who have vowed to thwart it
we are going to do everything to oppose this project declared barendrecht
deputy mayor simon zuubrier who voiced fears for the safety of the city
inhabitants
we are taking legal action to get it cancelled and we ll approve none of the
required permits
anglo dutch shell in november was authorised by the dutch government to
undertake project to capture and store portion of the megatonnes of
carbon dioxide emitted each year by the company refinery in pernis europe
largest pernis is located kilometers miles from here
under the scheme set to get under way in the co will be carried by
pipeline and after being compressed will be injected into depleted gas
reservoir meters feet under ground the reservoir has capacity
of tonnes
shell has said that over time the co will dissolve or form minerals
with positive evaluation of the initiative by government mandated experts the
project will be extended in few years to another nearby gas reservoir with
megatonne capacity and part of which lies under barendrecht city center
it ridiculous to carry out such an experiment in densely populated area
insisted zuubrier
klass brantjes member of residents association said that while we have
been given the illusion of security all the risks are not known
the risks that co will escape are real and are especially dangerous as the
city is situated in basin
but spokesman for the dutch foreign ministry jan van diepen insisted that
the project is safe otherwise the government would not have given the go
ahead
the dutch government is providing million euros to help finance the facility
shell has declined to reveal the overall cost
shell says the carbon capture and storage by injection technique has already
been tested in norway and the united states
ccs carbon capture and storage is safe technique in itself margriet
kuijper shell manager of carbon capture and storage projects and studies said
on the company website
it will be carried out with so many safeguards that it can be used anywhere
even in residential areas
the netherlands which emitted megatonnes of co in has total
storage capacity of megatonnes
it is imperative to capture and store co in order to reach our target of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions by percent from levels by van
diepen said
if fifth of the country energy production is from renewable sources by
which is what the government wants it would mean that percent would
still come from fossil fuels he said
storing co is therefore inescapable as transition technology to limit
climate damage
it an argument dismissed by the environmental group greenpeace which has said
the enormous subsidies allocated to burying carbon gas contribute to
maintaining polluting industries at the expense of cleaner energy
shell has acknowledged that carbon storage operations have an impact on the
environment as they release quantity of co equal to percent of the
carbon gas being stored
french industry fears revised carbon tax
paris jan afp
the french government first job for is to revise its planned carbon
emissions tax raising fears among businesses they will be hurt by changes to
the environmental measure
president nicolas sarkozy made the tax pillar of his budget aiming to
reduce emissions by taxing them and redistributing the revenue to reward
households that cut carbon fuel consumption
but while pursuing environmental reforms on the one hand sarkozy risks
jeopardising another of his major priorities making french businesses more
competitive
the tax which the government has been forced to revise after ruling on
wednesday will be new blow for our exports and jobs said yvon jacob
president of the group of industry federations
the constitutional court struck down the proposed tax just days before it was to
kick in ruling that it created inequalities by placing the burden of cuts on
minority of consumers
the plan offered too many exemptions and would have allowed major polluters to
dodge the tax it ruled this raised concerns among business leaders that
efforts to even out the tax will harm their competitiveness
the rejected version of the law had exempted around industries such as the
paper and chemicals sectors these are already bound by european carbon quotas
under which payments will be enforced from
the decision to reject it is surprising said jean pelin of the chemical
industries union we don see how businesses can at the same time be subject
to the carbon tax while also having to pay for their emissions from
great attention must be paid to the problems of competitiveness of french
industry said jean louis schilansky of the french petroleum industry union
taxing carbon emitting businesses which are already subject to quota system
will distort competition
the ruling also dismayed sensitive sectors such as agriculture and transport
we will fight to the end not to pay this carbon tax said jean michel
lemetayer president of the national federation of farmers unions
leader of the national road haulage federation nicolas paulissen said he
feared his sector would be sacrificed on the altar of hasty analysis of the
constitutional council conclusions
economy minister christine lagarde responded on thursday that these sectors
would be spared however when the government takes measures to correct the
text where it concerns industries that would have escaped the tax
industry minister christian estrosi insisted the measure did not aim to tax
industry more heavily than it already is
the ruling was welcomed by environmentalists and the left and seen as an
embarrassing setback for sarkozy who had called it revolutionary approach
in the fight against climate change
