research institute said on tuesday
the zew indicator of german economic sentiment fell more steeply than forecast
to an indexed points the lowest level since july
in earlier asian trade tokyo stocks fell percent ahead of the bankruptcy
filing by debt ridden japan airlines
asia biggest carrier will receive billions of dollars in public aid to keep it
flying as it undergoes painful revamp that will see it cut about jobs
about third of its staff
huge crowds pay final respects to indian communist leader
kolkata jan afp
hundreds of thousands of people thronged the streets of kolkata in eastern india
on tuesday to pay their last respects to veteran communist leader jyoti basu who
died at the weekend
basu who was the longest serving chief minister in indian political history
headed the world most electorally successful communist party for two decades
from his base in kolkata in the state of west bengal
he died on sunday at the age of after long illness
vast crowds gathered in the city throughout the day many weeping as his funeral
cortege passed on its way from private mortuary to the state legislative
assembly
emotional mourners pushed down barricades to try to get final glimpse of their
former state chief and police were unable to prevent several minor stampedes
though no injuries were reported
many in the crowd shouted long live comrade jyoti basu while others carried
placards reading red salute to comrade jyoti basu and we will never forget
you
communist party officials used megaphones to appeal for calm
he was friend of the poor the working class young elders women and
children everyone is here to pay their last tributes to the leader sohini
roy college teacher told afp
basu led the communist party of india marxist cpm to power in west bengal in
and ruled the state for an unbroken years
after an inconclusive general election in he nearly became prime minister
at the head of centre left coalition
basu was my hero said year old asit banerji who travelled from malda
kilometres miles north of kolkata the capital of west bengal on tuesday
senior indian politicians including the leader of the governing congress party
sonia gandhi and senior opposition figure advani as well as bangladesh
prime minister sheikh hasina gathered in kolkata for the farewell
before reaching the assembly basu flower decked cortege stopped briefly at
the cpm office in the heart of the city where senior leaders laid floral
wreaths
west bengal chief minister buddhadeb bhatterjee and senior government officials
also paid tribute as the funeral procession passed in front of the colonial era
writers buildings the state administrative headquarters
basu instructed his son in that he wanted his body donated to medical
science apparently in line with his atheist beliefs which ran against the
devout hindu practices of most indians
after military gun salute his body was taken to the anatomy department of the
sskm hospital in kolkata
microsoft to cut time holds internet search data
brussels jan afp
software giant microsoft said tuesday it would slash by two thirds the time it
holds internet users personal data gathered from search queries
the us giant behind the bing search engine called on market leader google to
do likewise during brussels press conference
microsoft will remove the entirety of ip addresses from search queries at six
months said john vassallo vice president for european union affairs
referring to internet protocol data identifying individual users
the company currently holds the information for months and said the new rules
will come into force within to months
the decision marks an abrupt change of stance as previously it said it would
only reduce the stockage time if its rivals followed suit
analysts said the move was triggered by pressure from european privacy
campaigners but microsoft said users worldwide would benefit
in europe bing has just two percent of the market compared to google
percent
it is the latest climbdown for microsoft in europe after it was forced by
brussels regulators to unbundle both its media player and internet explorer
browser software from new pcs sold in the world biggest border free trading
market
vassallo suggested the company was acting in advance of possible european
commission initiative to protect users privacy
tennis federer serena live up to star billing
melbourne jan afp
top seeds roger federer and serena williams lived up to their star billing
tuesday by charging into the australian open second round with venus williams
and novak djokovic hot on their heels
the swiss world number one swept home after sluggish start to eliminate
russian igor andreev in four sets while serena wasted little energy in
demolishing pole urszula radwanska
also through was in form russian nikolay davydenko who laid down the gauntlet
by saying the federer nadal dominance was over
tenth seed jo wilfried tsonga powered on but eighth ranked swede robin soderling
was sent packing the highest seed to fall so far
world number three djokovic the champion was tested in the first set by
spaniard daniel gimeno traver before taking control and racing to
win
on the women side eighth seed jelena jankovic and fellow serb ana ivanovic
also made the next round
federer said it was good opening test
tough match knew from the start it was not going be an easy one said the
time grand slam winner after winning
few hiccups but think those are more due to his good play and because of
also playing against the wind so it was good first round for me
serena who is searching for her th grand slam singles title to join billie
jean king as one of the all time greats was in fine form despite having her
right thigh heavily strapped
just supportive and preventive she said referring to her hamstring
williams four time champion in melbourne broke radwanska twice in the first
set and three times in the second on her way to comfortable victory
the scoreline seemed to be easy but it was long match out there said the
american well not long but it was tough points so was just happy to get
it over with
on blustery but dry day with organisers trying to clear backlog of matches
unable to finish due to rain on monday sister venus also made short work of her
oppenent crushing czech lucie safarova
just wanted to stay focused and execute my game great way to start
said the sixth seeded venus whose best effort in melbourne was runner up in
to serena
jankovic also progressed with an easy win over romania monica
niculescu while fellow serb and th seed ana ivanovic was another motoring
through
other women staying alive included australian th seed samantha stosur who
struggled past chinese qualifier han xinyun in three sets french th seed
marion bartoli and th seed aravane rezai who beat india sania mirza
davydenko known as mr invisible for his low public profile was the first top
man into the second round tuesday dropping just four games in his
rout of germany dieter kindlmann
having won the atp world tour masters in london at the end of last year and then
beating rafael nadal in the final of the qatar open this month he is viewed as
strong contender
know can win mostly before lost against these top guys but now can
beat everyone it good feeling said the russian
it starting to change in tennis it not only nadal and federer any more
davydenko is scheduled to meet federer in the quarter finals
other top names going through were th seed tsonga who overcame sergiy
stakhovsky in straight sets and french th seed gael monfils who wrapped up
his rain delayed match against australian matthew ebden
spanish ninth seed fernando verdasco was another staying in the hunt after
tough four set encounter with australian carsten ball
trial of egypt coptic man accused of rape postponed
cairo jan afp
the trial of an egyptian coptic christian man accused of kidnapping and sexually
assaulting year old muslim girl has been adjourned till february the
official mena news agency reported
the hearing took place in the southern city of qena around kilometres
miles south of cairo
girgis baroumi girgis is accused of having raped year old yussra
mohammed in the southern village of farshut in november last year
authorities have said the rape prompted revenge attack in which six coptic
christians were gunned down as they emerged from their christmas eve mass in the
southern town of nagaa hammadi on january
in november news of the alleged rape saw hundreds of muslim protesters burn
christian owned shops and attacking police station where they believed girgis
was being held
roughly percent of egypt million strong population are coptic
christians who complain of discrimination and marginalisation
dubai says abu dhabi lifeline only half originally reported
dubai jan afp
cash strapped dubai said on tuesday that the financial lifeline extended by abu
dhabi last month is only half of what was originally announced because it
included previously committed funding
in december as property giant nakheel was about to default on billion
dollars in islamic bonds and dubai looked set for more financial woes it
announced billion dollar bailout from neighbouring abu dhabi
however it was learned on tuesday that the billion dollars included five
billion that dubai had already been promised through bond issue in november
the billion dollar support funding from abu dhabi did include the five
billion dollars from the two abu dhabi banks government spokeswoman said
the spokeswoman who asked not to be identified was referring to the
subscription by two abu dhabi backed banks to dubai government bonds which was
announced in late november
that came shortly before dubai said that it wanted to restructure the debt of
its largest conglomerate and nakheel parent dubai world
the december bailout announcement said the government of abu dhabi has
agreed to fund billion dollars to the dubai financial support fund that will
be used to satisfy series of upcoming obligations on dubai world
as first action for the new fund the government of dubai has authorised
billion dollars to be used to pay the sukuk nakheel islamic bonds obligations
that are due today it added
no further details were provided
the spokeswoman told afp on tuesday this is not new we just sought to clarify
this to resolve confusion abu dhabi has not reduced its funding
in february dubai received billion dollars from the abu dhabi based
federal central bank of the united arab emirates when the once booming emirate
set up special fund to deal with the mounting debt of its firms and set
fund raising target of billion dollars
the total of funds pledged is billion dollars as announced at the
beginning of the spokeswoman said pointing out that remaining
billion dollars from the last tranche has not yet been drawn down
she confirmed that billion dollars was used to repay nakheel sukuk last
month and that another one billion dollars was also drawn from the five billion
dollars received from the two abu dhabi banks
the announcement did not appear to affect the dubai financial market which
dropped percent on tuesday after slight percent rise on monday
this drop was due to profit taking after the market gained on monday following
six straight declines said financial analyst wadah taha from the zarooni
group the announcement had no impact on the market
fahd iqbal the gulf strategist at efg hermes regional investment bank said the
announcement did not change the bank view of the dubai debt situation
the more important element in the dubai debt situation is that federal backing
has been re established for dubai debt that is the critical issue he told
afp
but the announcement again raised questions about the dubai government
transparency
we had long running complaint about transparency in dubai official
communications come through very often in drip feed manner this helps create
and perpetuate speculation and hearsay said iqbal
communication and transparency have improved over the past few years but there
is still some way to go he added
dubai shocked world markets in late november when it chose the eve of long
muslim feast holiday to announce that it wanted to seek freeze on debt
repayments by dubai world the news sent jitters through global stock markets
while the emirate was on holiday
dubai world has begun negotiations with its creditors to restructure billion
dollars in debt of some of its troubled subsidiaries
the total debt of dubai world was billion dollars before the repayment of
nakheel due bonds it represents the bulk of dubai total debt which the
emirate has said is billion dollars
afp features
paris jan afp
attention editors please note that our somalia piracy shipping feature ex
mogadishu by mustafa haji abdinur moved earlier today should carry only
graphic mention there is no picture to go with the story
football officials ban bayern fans for mainz clash
paris jan afp
the german football federation dfb on tuesday announced they have banned
bayern munich fans who are currently under police investigation from attending
saturday bundesliga clash against mainz
police are investigating disturbance last august in wuerzburg bavaria which
involved bayern fans after their team lost at mainz and three officers
were injured after clashes at the town railway station
saturday return game at munich allianz arena has seen fans banned
although there are court cases pending for charges of assault and breach of the
peace against only of those who have been excluded
bayern are currently third in the bundesliga two points behind leaders
leverkusen while mainz are th in the table
opec sticks to oil demand forecast sees price volatility
vienna dec afp
the opec oil producers cartel left unchanged on tuesday its forecast for modest
growth in world oil demand this year but warned that prices are likely to remain
volatile in the coming months
world oil demand in is forecast to grow by million barrels per day
bpd to average million bpd representing no major change from last
month the organization of petroleum exporting countries said in its january
report
nevertheless prices are likely to be particularly vulnerable to economic
developments during the upcoming low demand second quarter the report said
the persisting stock overhang low seasonal demand and start of refining
maintenance point to the need for continued caution over the coming months as
market volatility is expected to remain
oil prices had been moving higher since the beginning of the year the cartel
noted
while that can be partially attributed to global cold snap it cannot fully
explain such sharp increase especially as inventories remain high enough to
cope with any sudden jump in winter demand opec said insisting that
fundamentals were not behind the surge
in the coming months price developments would largely depend on continuation
of the current relatively positive outlook for the global economy especially in
key countries such as the united states and china
should developments turn out to be less positive than expected market
attention will revert back to weak oil fundamentals
the outlook for the global economy this year was semi rosy following two
years of devastating financial crisis the report said
recovery would help reduce the loss in the oil demand in advanced economies
to only million bpd year on year in
most of the recovery was anticipated in the united states which accounts for
nearly percent of total oil consumed worldwide
but an improvement was forecast in all developed economies opec said
on top of that developing countries are forecast to experience some recovery
in all economic activities leading to smooth growth in oil demand estimated at
million bpd
in addition cold weather was affecting the northern hemisphere which has led to
additional demand for winter petroleum products opec said
tennis federer djokovic win but soderling bounced out
melbourne jan afp
world number one roger federer former champion novak djokovic and nikolay
davydenko won through to the second round but robin soderling was seeded
casualty at the australian open on tuesday
federer chasing his th grand slam title dropped the opening set but rattled
home against the th ranked russian igor andreev in
two hours minutes on rod laver arena
djokovic who won the open two years ago accounted for spaniard daniel gimeno
traver while davydenko continued his impeccable start to the
year cruising past german dieter kindlmann
but swedish eighth seed soderling became the first men top casualty bowing
out to spain th ranked marcel granollers
federer performance gave him an early indication of how he stacks up in the
opening grand slam of the season after losing to russian davydenko in his last
two matches
know if my body is there and my game is there can beat anybody federer
said
through in the second round it not very deep yet but at least got
some information and feel like playing really well
although he stormed through the final set to love with three service breaks it
looked early on as though the swiss legend was facing tough tussle against the
man who took him to five sets in the fourth round at the us open
third seed djokovic fought back from an early break in the opening set to beat
the th ranked spaniard in just over two hours
djokovic path in his quarter was cleared somewhat by the upset loss of
soderling and th spanish seed tommy robredo earlier tuesday
davydenko beat world number two rafael nadal in the final and federer in the
semis in doha before heading to australia for the year first grand slam
the russian four times grand slam semi finalist but yet to reach decider
said his confidence had never been higher
now feel like can beat everyone he said
before no mostly was losing against these guys top players
but now can beat everyone it good feeling
french open finalist soderling made unforced errors and was scathing in his
assessment of his performance
started terrible and finished terrible he said played horrible match
today and am terribly disappointed didn feel good at all and didn
play well
elsewhere qualifier louk sorensen became the first irishman to win grand slam
singles match for years beating taiwan lu yen hsun
spanish ninth seed fernando verdasco progressed with hard fought
win over australian carsten ball and french th seed and
finalist jo wilfried tsonga beat sergiy stakhovsky of ukraine
unseeded cypriot marcos baghdatis the finalist said he was fitter than
ever after cruising to straight sets win over italy paolo lorenzi
meanwhile french veteran fabrice santoro had no regrets as he made his final
farewell to grand slam tennis
santoro and still ranked retired last november and only decided this
month that he would play at melbourne to become the first player to compete in
grand slam tournaments in four decades
santoro in record th australian open made his final bow when he went down
to th seed croatian marin cilic
more than arrested after demo photos iran police
tehran jan afp
more than people have been arrested on the basis of tip offs after police
circulated photographs of demonstrators at december rally which turned deadly
police website reported on tuesday
but the reformist ex president mohammad khatami defended the protesters and
condemned the new wave of arrests of government critics launched after the
bloody protests during the shiite mourning rituals of ashura on december
in rare measure police publicised photographs of the protesters encouraging
people to help with their arrest
after the publication of pictures of ashura day rioters on the police website
and in the police special edition more than elements of sedition were
identified and arrested with the cooperation of noble iranians the website
said
president mahmoud ahmadinejad whose disputed june re election has triggered
string of protests over the past seven months has accused iran archfoes the
united states and israel of organising the ashura demonstration
the special edition of police publication which came out on january ran
photographs taken on the ashura day of anti government demonstrators
the eight page publication appealed for the general public to come forward with
information and documents regarding the photographs providing phone number
for informants
it ran close up shots of men and women on the capital streets with the faces
of wanted participants in the rally circled in red some of the pictures show
police car being attacked and stone throwers
eight people were killed as clashes erupted between security forces and
opposition supporters on the day
despite the roundup khatami key figure in the opposition camp which has
infuriated hardliners with its street protests defended the protesters
khatami who was meeting with group of released post vote detainees slammed
those in power who commit violence with complete immunity against
demonstrators
iranian authorities say several hundred people were rounded up on the ashura
day without giving precise figure small number of them have since gone on
trial according to newspaper reports
khatami also accused iran leadership of lying to the people
many lies have been told these days and many promises have been made but people
see those in charge of their affairs have not done much the former president
said
so people realise that many of the protesters are not ill intentioned and their
protest is reasonable he said in comments carried by his baran organisation
website
ahmadinejad opponents have accused the hardliner of trying to cover up his
failures especially in managing the economy while the opposition has rejected
his re election as massively rigged
un says survivors can still be found in haiti rubble
geneva jan afp
the united nations said tuesday survivors can still be found in the debris of
haiti devastating earthquake week after the disaster with international
rescuers having pulled out over people alive
hope persists there is still hope said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the
un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha
byrs earlier told afp that international search and rescue teams had extracted
more than survivors from beneath collapsed buildings since the disaster
struck on january
they include more than people who had been freed from under collapsed
buildings by the teams by saturday according to the un this means that about
people were rescued five or six days after the earthquake struck
that number does not include those rescued by haitians
don forget that the haitians have also saved an enormous number of haitians
the haitians really participated said byrs
us search and rescue teams rescued record people alive on sunday five days
after the disaster defying expectations that survival chances greatly diminish
three days after an earthquake
according to rescue officials this is the largest number of rescues in
single day in decades of earthquake search and rescue efforts usaid said
the un spokeswoman explained that the way the buildings had collapsed had
increased the chances for survival
the climate is mild there are significant air pockets the way in which the
buildings collapsed has created big spaces said byrs
the problem is dehydration but for the moment there is still chance she
added
international rescue teams are now also expanding their search to affected areas
outside of the haitian capital
our rescue and humanitarian efforts are now concentrated outside of port au
prince said byrs
besides the capital the earthquake has wreaked massive damage on nearby cities
including jacmel to the south of the capital and carrefour gressier and
leogane to the west
at the peak of search and rescue operations some international teams with
over rescue workers and dogs were combing through the debris
forty eight teams are still working said byrs
meanwhile others such as members of the belgian and luxembourg rescue teams
have returned home believing they have done all they could to help find
survivors
ocha said the immediate priorities for relief agencies remained medical
assistance corpse management shelter water and food and sanitation
while food and tents are arriving in the country relief agencies said access to
fuel essential for the transport of relief items was becoming key issue
the world food programme is now planning to move gallons litres
of diesel fuel day from neighbouring dominican republic to help relieve the
situation said ocha in its latest situation report
fuel has become critical issue said emilia casella the un food agency
spokeswoman
tennis williams sisters send chills through rivals
melbourne jan afp
the williams sisters sent chills down the spines of their australian open rivals
on tuesday with both serena and venus demolishing first round opponents
top seed serena thrashed poland urszula radwanska in minutes on
rod laver arena while on the nearby hisense arena sixth seeded venus took one
minute less to dispatch highly rated czech lucie safarova
with caroline wozniacki the fourth seed and seventh ranked victoria azarenka
having their first round matches postponed until wednesday serena and venus
seized the limelight back from belgians kim clijsters and justine henin
serena complete with heavily strapped right thigh blitzed her way past
radwanska and later insisted she would not change the way she behaved despite
playing under the threat of grand slam suspension
the defending champion four time winner here could be banned from future
grand slams if she misbehaves after being hit with us dollar fine and
put on two years probation for abusing linesperson at last year us open
don think was quiet at all she said when asked whether she was more
subdued during tuesday win because of the probation
felt like pumped my fist little bit feel like was definitely being
who could be that all can do
playing with no sign of the left knee injury that hampered her last week in
sydney serena broke twice in the first set and three times in the second on her
way to comfortable victory
the year old said later the strapping was just precaution because of her
age
ve been having it strapped all week all last week as well making sure
able to keep moving as best as can she said
serena is clear favourite to lift the trophy again but may well have to get
past venus in the semi finals
her sister was equally impressive in her win over safarova
was playing really talented player everyone knows how well lucie can hit
the ball venus said
just wanted to stay focused and execute my game great way to start
venus whose best finish at the australian open was runner up to serena in
looked in great shape physically as she broke safarova twice in the first set
and three times in the second
the seven time grand slam champion returned brilliantly throughout putting
enormous pressure on safarova second serve which crumbled badly as result
almost forgotten in the wake of the williams sisters were serbian duo jelena
jankovic and ana ivanovic
eighth seeded jankovic downed romanian monica niculescu and ivanovic
the runner up was too good for american qualifier shenay perry
jankovic is flying under the radar after coming into last year tournament as
world number one
the year old started slowly against niculescu but found her range in the
second set as she raced to an easy win
first matches are the toughest especially after not competing for two months
jankovic said
you know it nice to feel that rhythm again and feel that atmosphere and the
pressure that you have from playing real match
there was double celebration for australia with th seed samantha stosur and
wildcard casey dellacqua progressing while frenchwomen marion bartoli the th
seed and th seed aravane rezai also went through
japan ruling party heavyweight to answer funds probe
tokyo jan afp
top figure in japan ruling party agreed tuesday to questioning by
prosecutors over money scandal that has battered approval ratings for the
four month old centre left government
authorities are investigating whether ichiro ozawa dubbed the shadow
shogun in the governing party accepted illegal donations from construction
firm and laundered it to invest in an upscale tokyo property
prime minister yukio hatoyama has expressed support for the secretary general of
his democratic party of japan dpj even after prosecutors arrested three
former and current secretaries to ozawa over the weekend
he believes his hands are clean believe it would be best if he explains it
hatoyama told reporters hope he will do so at an early stage
ozawa the architect of the dpj landslide election win has questioned the
investigation and pledged to fight the claims but he is willing to answer
prosecutors kyodo news and public broadcaster nhk reported
kyodo quoted an unidentified source close to ozawa as saying he is ready for
questioning at an undetermined date but that preparations are necessary
prosecutors have raided ozawa offices and asked him to submit to voluntary
questioning as they probe whether money was illegally given to him by
construction firm now building dam in ozawa political home region
conservative opposition lawmakers tuesday grilled hatoyama in parliament over
the affair and about his own scandal in which the premier used undeclared funds
from his own vast family fortune for political activities
several media polls this week showed nearly percent of respondents said ozawa
should quit the number two party post and support ratings for the hatoyama
cabinet have plunged into the percent range
veteran politician ozawa led the dpj until an earlier funding scandal forced him
to step down as party president early last year when his former right hand man
hatoyama took over the party presidency
tennis australian open results day two th update
melbourne jan afp
results from day two of the australian open at melbourne park here tuesday
denotes seeding
men singles
