the global times also hit out at what it called washington continuous resort
to double standards and said western criticism of china internet policies
came either out of ignorance of the facts or cold war mentality
in another interview carried by xinhua spokesman for china state council
or cabinet said beijing efforts to remove harmful content from the internet
were legitimate and should be free from unjustifiable interference
the spokesman said china policy had nothing to do with claims of restrictions
on internet freedom
the google row which erupted less than two weeks ago has threatened to damage
sino us ties which are already dogged by series of trade and currency issues
us arms sales to taiwan and climate change
white house deputy spokesman bill burton said friday that obama continues to be
troubled by the cybersecurity breach that google attributes to china adding
all we are looking for from china are some answers
some groups in the united states are also calling on washington to challenge
china so called great firewall of web censorship before the world trade
organisation
last week beijing lashed out at washington after speech by us secretary of
state hillary clinton on internet freedom saying the address was harmful to
relations
we urge the united states to respect facts and stop using the so called
internet freedom issue to criticise china unreasonably said foreign ministry
spokesman ma zhaoxu
in her speech clinton lamented what she said were beijing increasing efforts
to control what its million web users can see
google has not yet stopped censoring search results on google cn but google
chief executive eric schmidt said last week it would happen soon
the us state department said friday that us and chinese diplomats had held
several meetings to discuss the attacks on google which the firm said appeared
aimed at cracking the email accounts of chinese human rights activists
we are having high level meetings and we will continue to have meetings and we
will continue to press this issue aggressively state department spokesman
philip crowley said we will continue to seek an explanation from china
blanket denial that nothing happened we don think is particularly helpful
crowley added
susan stevenson spokeswoman for the us embassy in beijing told afp monday that
some of those meetings had occurred in the chinese capital but declined to
provide further details
lebanese president rules out foul play in plane crash
beirut lebanon jan afp
lebanese president michel sleiman said monday that authorities had ruled out
terrorism or sabotage as the cause of the crash of an ethiopian jet into the sea
shortly after takeoff from beirut
up until now we have ruled out foul play sleiman told reporters
ethiopian airlines flight crashed early monday off the coast of lebanon with
passengers and crew on board
there were no reports of any survivors
jz bpz
indonesia mulls tearing down obama statue
jakarta jan afp
indonesian authorities said monday they are considering petition to tear down
statue of us president barack obama as boy only month after the bronze
was unveiled in jakarta
the statue of little barry as obama was known when he lived in the capital
in the late stands in central jakarta menteng park short walk from
the us president former elementary school
critics say the site should have been used to honour an indonesian and
people have joined page on social networking website facebook calling for the
statue to be removed
we ve been discussing for the past two weeks what to do with the statue
whether to take it down move it elsewhere or retain it we re finding the best
solution jakarta parks agency official dwi bintarto said
obama who was born in hawaii lived for four years as child in jakarta from
after his divorced mother married an indonesian
the bronze was designed by indonesian artists and depicts the boy obama dressed
in shorts and shirt with butterfly perched on his hand
the statue is of obama as child not as the us president his relatives and
friends who erected it said it meant to motivate children to study hard and
dream big bintarto said
members of the take down the barack obama statue in menteng park group on
facebook say obama has done nothing for indonesia
barack obama has yet to make significant contribution to the indonesian
nation we could say obama only ate and shat in menteng he spent his subsequent
days living as an american the web page says
for the dignity of sovereign nation barack obama monument in menteng park
must be removed immediately
the childhood connection and his knowledge of few words of indonesian made
obama popular in the mainly muslim country of million people
obama said in november he would visit indonesia this year along with first lady
michelle obama and daughters malia and sasha
urgent lebanese president rules out foul play in plane crash
beirut jan afp
lebanese president michel sleiman said monday that authorities had ruled out
terrorism or sabotage as the cause of the crash of an ethiopian jet that crashed
shortly after takeoff from beirut
alert
lebanese president rules out terrorist attack in plane crash
obama bank plan fears send asian shares lower
hong kong jan afp
uncertainty over us president barack obama bank revamp plans and fears of
policy tightening by beijing spooked risk averse investors in asian trade
monday as financial stocks continued to slide
world market sentiment has soured since obama unveiled on thursday plans for
tough banking reform that would limit excessive risk taking blamed for the
economic crisis move that would affect the scope of financial institutions
fears beijing will curb credit as it tries to rein in its scorching economy have
also eroded risk appetite while its calls for banks to raise funds to meet
regulatory requirements have prompted concerns of share value dilution
in tokyo the nikkei was down percent or points to as
stronger yen weighed on exporters in seoul the kospi shed percent or
points to
hong kong shares were down percent by the break
it seems that the obama administration is trying to fight the decline in its
voter support by addressing popular criticism against the financial sector
mizuho securities analyst yukio takahashi told dow jones newswires
this issue could continue to weigh on wall street
the region saw broad falls following percent slump on the dow jones index
friday its biggest weekly drop since february
sydney shed percent with the amp asx down points at
financials were hardest hit with westpac down percent at australian
dollars us and anz percent lower at bhp billiton fell
percent to but rio tinto rose percent to
singapore was down percent
shanghai fell percent with banks leading the losses after bank of china
announced aggressive plans over the weekend to issue new shares and billion
yuan billion dollar convertible bond sale
the lender shanghai listed shares saw volatile trade but recovered early
losses to rise percent in early afternoon trade
chinese banks need to raise funds to meet regulatory requirements for capital
after lending spree last year in response to government calls to support the
country massive economic stimulus efforts
however other chinese lenders fell on concerns of similar fund raising plans
with china construction bank down percent and industrial and commercial
bank of china down percent
banks may continue to fall as investors are unsure how successful the capital
raising exercises would be said simon wang an analyst at guoyuan securities
markets also grappled with doubts about the future of us federal reserve
chairman ben bernanke after key democratic senators said last week they would
oppose his reappointment after his first term ends on january
top ranking members of the us senate banking committee however voiced
confidence saturday that he would be confirmed for second term
the dollar edged higher to yen in tokyo afternoon trade from in new
york late friday
the euro rose to dollars after and to yen from
oil was higher new york main contract light sweet crude for march delivery
rose five cents to dollars barrel and brent north sea crude for delivery
in march was up cents to dollars
hong kong gold opened lower at us dollars an ounce down from
friday close of dollars
in other markets
taiwan closed down points or percent at
wall street will continue to dictate the local trading amid weak sentiment
towards financial firms grand cathay securities analyst mars hsu said
taiwan semiconductor manufacturing co closed down percent at while
hon hai precision industry closed up percent at
new zealand was flat with the nzx index down points at in
light trade
construction company fletcher building rose five cents to dollars
philippine share prices closed percent lower the composite index fell
points to
philippine long distance telephone co fell percent to pesos
dollars while energy development corp dropped four percent to pesos
japan pm says anti us base vote will of the people
tokyo jan afp
japan centre left prime minister yukio hatoyama said monday that local
election victory by an opponent of planned us military base on okinawa island
reflects the will of the people
the outcome of the mayoral vote sunday makes it less likely that controversial
new marine corps air base will be built in coastal area of the southern island
on which tens of thousands of us troops are already stationed
the base issue has soured ties between washington and tokyo since hatoyama
government swept to power in august promising less subservient stance towards
the united states and announcing review of the plan
both countries agreed in to move the air operations of the locally
unpopular futenma base from crowded urban area to quieter location in the
coastal city of nago by
hatoyama whose coalition includes strongly pacifist party has said he will
decide by may whether to stick with the pact or move the base to another site
either on or off the island
the united states has insisted that japan honour the deal which is part of
wider plan to realign its strong troop presence in country where
american forces have been based since the end of world war ii
in sunday vote in nago the anti base candidate susumu inamine who was backed
by hatoyama ruling party beat the pro base incumbent yoshikazu shimabukuro by
to votes
hatoyama on monday told reporters that the election result shows the will of
the people of nago city although he reiterated that the central government
final decision would not come before may
later in parliament the premier told lawmaker of the conservative opposition
which backs the original relocation plan that disagree with you that the
will of the okinawan people is in line with yours
the new mayor inamine said that once he takes up his post next month he
will push for city assembly resolution opposing the hosting of the new base
and later seek to hand it over in person to hatoyama
top government spokesman hirofumi hirano congratulated inamine on his poll win
but stressed that the local election would not prevent the possibility of tokyo
sticking with the original relocation plan
japan media saw the local vote as litmus test in the base row
the liberal asahi daily said that the prime minister now needs to work his
hardest to find new candidate site outside of okinawa
the conservative sankei daily criticised hatoyama for leaving the backbone of
japan us national security up to the outcome of mere mayoral election
under the pact the futenma base would be closed and its air operations
moved to new facility at the camp schwab site at henoko in nago while
marines would be shifted to the us territory of guam
the base row and hatoyama at times contradictory statements on it appear to
have hurt his government popularity
support for the hatoyama cabinet has slipped by points in two weeks to
percent while the disapproval rating rose points to percent according
to survey of voters by private broadcaster tbs
tennis australian open results day eight nd update
melbourne jan afp
results from day eight of the australian open at melbourne park here monday
denotes seeding
men singles
th round
novak djokovic srb bt lukasz kubot pol
nikolay davydenko rus bt fernando verdasco esp
women singles
th round
venus williams usa bt francesca schiavone ita
li na chn bt caroline wozniacki den
tennis djokovic venus stride into open quarters
melbourne jan afp
novak djokovic and venus williams strode into the australian open quarter finals
monday while li na ensured china has two players in the last eight of grand
slam for the first time
third seed djokovic the winner joins spanish defending champion rafael
nadal british fifth seed andy murray american seventh seed andy roddick and
th seeded croat marin cilic safely through
also staying in the hunt was in form russian sixth seed nikolay davydenko who
was stretched to the limit by spanish ninth seed fernando verdasco before
prevailing
roger federer attempts to join them later monday with the time grand slam
champion playing australia lleyton hewitt who has not beaten the swiss great
in their last meetings
whoever wins will next face davydenko
djokovic powered into the quarters with an emphatic win over
poland unseeded lukasz kubot and will meet either france jo wilfried tsonga
who he beat in the final or spanish th seed nicolas almagro
the serbian struggled with his form in the opening two rounds but has moved up
gear and is back with the dominant touch he displayed in the second half of
last year
think the first two sets was very dominant on the court then he lifted up
his level of the game little bit he said
that why we had longer third set in general was very happy with the way
performed today
williams and li join justine henin nadia petrova maria kirilenko and zheng jie
in the last eight
williams bounced back from set down to oust italian th seed francesca
schiavone
the hard fought victory under blue skies on rod laver arena keeps her on track
for semi final with sister serena who takes on australian hope and australian
th seed samantha stosur later monday
williams is in her th australian open campaign but is yet to win the singles
crown in stark contrast to serena who is four time champion and defending
her title
but the elder williams is not beating herself up about her comparative lack of
success in melbourne insisting major part of her game plan was staying
positive
she said she could break her australian drought this year
yeah ready to go and feel very good said williams who has won five
wimbledons and two us open titles
obviously hitting the ball pretty good especially against her today she
was really playing well
she faces li next after the th seed upset danish fourth seed caroline
wozniacki for her best ever performance at the australian open
li victory broke new ground for chinese tennis with the year old joining
compatriot zheng jie in the last eight the first time two chinese players have
ever reached that stage of grand slam
she is looking forward to meeting williams who she beat in their only previous
match at the beijing olympics
know it ll be tough but you have to play venus first and then maybe serena
she said
it was good experience for me for my tennis she added on beating williams
in beijing
but just want to forget because play her again don want to think
about the last match want to look forward
if serena gets past stosur she will line up against either belarrussian seventh
seed victoria azarenka or ninth seeded russian vera zvonareva
ethiopian airliner crashes on takeoff in lebanon
beirut jan afp
an ethiopian jet carrying passengers and crew plunged into the sea off
lebanon in ball of fire just after takeoff in stormy weather early monday
witnesses and transport minister ghazi aridi said
it was unclear whether there were any survivors helicopters and navy vessels
could be seen at the crash site and aridi said several bodies had been
recovered
the minister said ethiopian airlines flight lost contact with the airport
control tower shortly after takeoff and crashed into the mediterranean sea about
kilometres seven miles south of the airport
the control tower was assisting the pilot of the plane on takeoff and suddenly
lost contact for no known reason aridi told reporters identifying the crash
site as being about kilometres two miles off the coastal village of
na ameh
families of the passengers some of them weeping could be seen huddled at the
vip lounge of beirut international airport while awaiting news of their loved
ones
one woman was sobbing and screaming why why
government official said there were several children on board the plane which
crashed about five minutes after takeoff at am gmt
witnesses reported seeing ball of fire as the boeing plunged into the sea
the accident took place amid heavy rains and storms in lebanon in the past two
days that have caused heavy flooding and damage in some parts of the country
aridi said the passengers include lebanese ethiopians one iraqi one
french woman one syrian and seven crew members there were also several dual
nationals including two british lebanese one canadian lebanese and russian
lebanese
thousands of ethiopians are employed as domestic workers in lebanon and
ethiopian airlines operates regular flight between addis ababa and beirut
among those on board the flight was marla sanchez pietton the wife of france
ambassador to lebanon denis pietton the french embassy told afp
aridi said he had formed an investigative committee to determine the cause of
the crash and had contacted nearby countries to assist in the search and rescue
effort
the lebanese army navy as well as the united nations interim force in lebanon
unifil were assisting in the rescue aridi added
we have contacted everyone inside and outside the country that can assist us
and the lebanese navy the army and unifil have joined in the rescue the
minister added
he said the french organisation responsible for technical investigation of civil
aviation accidents was taking part in the probe
government official said cyprus was assisting in the search and rescue
efforts he said un helicopter from cyprus was dispatched to the site
german naval unifil boat was also at the site
the boeing which entered into commercial service in is one of the
latest versions of the world most widely used short to medium haul airliners
and is capable of carrying up to passengers
the accident comes just one month after panamian flagged ship transporting
livestock capsized in stormy weather and sank off the coast of northern lebanon
with around sailors on board
the majority of the sailors were rescued but were unaccounted for and
presumed dead
tennis djokovic hitting form at right time
melbourne jan afp
serbian third seed novak djokovic warned he was hitting his best form after
powering into the australian open quarter finals with an emphatic win over
unseeded lukasz kubot on monday
the pole ranked th in the world had been gifted spot in the fourth round
by the withdrawal of russian th seed mikhail youzhny from their third round
clash and found djokovic far too good crashing
djokovic admitted he struggled with his form little in the opening two rounds
but believes he is approaching the sort of dominant touch he displayed in the
second half of last year
didn have an official match before started the australian open so the
opening rounds were quite challenging for me explained the champion
think the first two sets was very dominant on the court then he lifted up
his level of the game little bit
in general was very happy with the way performed today
think my serve was much more consistent and had better serve percentage on
the first serves
got more free points there which gave me lot of advantage
his next opponent will be either french th seed jo wilfried tsonga his
opponent in the final or spanish th seed nicolas almagro
djokovic will be keen to bury the memories of last year quarter final when he
retired against andy roddick due to fatigue
having been able to ease his way into the latter stages of the tournament
djokovic was aware the hard work was just beginning but said he was ready
whoever play next round it going to be tough opponent he said
aware the matches will get more difficult throughout this week so
ready for it
physically ve been putting in lot of work and intensity into the practice
and it paying off right now feel great
the champion dropped just four games to uzbekistan denis istomin in the
third round and came out firing against kubot year old in just his third
grand slam
with new coach todd martin watching appreciatively djokovic broke kubot in the
fourth and sixth games of the first set and then achieved another two breaks in
the second set
the serb again broke in the fifth game of the third set and quick victory
loomed but the pole showed some fight by breaking back immediately holding his
own serve for lead and then taking djokovic to deuce in his next service
game
however the world number three broke again in the th game and easily held
serve to seal the win
china firms found selling melamine tainted food report
beijing jan afp
three chinese companies have been found selling food products laced with
melamine the chemical blamed for the deaths of six babies in huge dairy
scandal in state media said monday
the revelations came ahead of the possible trial next month of three chinese
dairy executives who are facing charges of making and selling toxic and
hazardous food over tainted milk supplies
in the latest reported case authorities in the southwestern province of guizhou
found that the products said to include popsicles contained levels of the
industrial chemical above allowable limits the china daily said
one official quoted in the newspaper said the products may have contained
tainted milk that was recalled after the scandal but had found its way back on
to the market
the paper said the food companies involved had blamed the problem on milk powder
bought from suppliers
in the scandal melamine was found to have been added to milk in china to
give the appearance of higher protein content
it found its way into range of products including baby formula leading to the
death of six infants and making almost ill according to official
figures
the scandal triggered an uproar in china and abroad and many products
containing chinese dairy were taken off shelves around the world
total of people have been reportedly convicted two have been executed and
others were given jail sentences ranging from two years to life another three
executives face possible trial in february
the china daily report said the latest discovery of tainted goods included
popsicles produced by two of the companies but gave no other specifics
the products were made in march and april last year months after the
government declared the melamine scare over
the three firms were zibo lusaier dairy company in eastern china shandong
province tieling wuzhou food company in northeastern liaoning province and the
laoting kaida refrigeration plant in northern hebei province it said
the firms blamed the problem on milk powder bought from suppliers it added
staff at the guizhou provincial health department denied the report when
contacted by afp staff at the companies named declined comment
the china daily quoted wang dingmian former chair of the guangdong dairy
association in southern china as saying the products likely contained tainted
milk recalled after the scandal that had made its way back into the market
the companies should have been required to test each and every batch of milk
powder they bought wang was quoted as saying
the government should be more responsible and avoid bureaucracy you can just
assume that everything is fine he added
sports india unveils first commonwealth games venue
new delhi jan afp
india threw open its first commonwealth games stadium over the weekend with
promise to deliver the rest of the venues in time for the october event in new
delhi
am confident everything will be in place in time sports minister manohar
singh gill said after inaugurating the refurbished dhyan chand national hockey
stadium on sunday
the stadium named after an indian field hockey legend was used for the
and asian games and will play host to the nation men world cup from
february to march
the seater complex in central delhi has four floodlight towers two
synthetic match pitches and one practice pitch and will be used for the october
commonwealth games
beginning has been made and you will now see the remaining competition
venues being completed one after another gill told reporters
yes we could have finished the work year in advance to get the facilities
tested but at least we can ensure that the venues will come up well before the
games start
the commonwealth games federation has repeatedly expressed concern about the
slow pace of work for the games which will involve athletes drawn from
the former british empire competing in sports
federation president mike fennell said in december he was distressed by report
by the cgf evaluation commission that two major venues would not be ready until
june barely three months before the opening ceremony
the commission said that work on the nehru stadium where the opening and
closing ceremonies and the athletics programme will be held and the swimming
complex was way behind schedule
dollar subdued with eyes on obama bernanke
tokyo jan afp
the dollar edged up against the yen in asia monday as investors waited for
federal reserve policy meeting and key speech by us president barack obama
this week
the dollar climbed to yen in tokyo afternoon trade from in new york
late friday
the euro rose to dollars after and to yen from
investors were cautious ahead of the fed two day monetary policy meeting
starting tuesday followed day later by obama state of the union speech
which comes amid concern about his tough banking reform plan
any traders taking positive view of the dollar prospects will be looking for
signs in obama speech that the us government is serious about cutting the
burgeoning budget deficit calyon analysts wrote in note
the market was also grappling with doubts about the future of fed chairman ben
bernanke after key democratic senators said last week they would oppose the
central bank chief reappointment after his first term ends on january
top ranking members of the us senate banking committee however voiced
confidence saturday that the fed chief would be confirmed for second term
markets were also eyeing us housing data durable goods orders and fourth
quarter gross domestic product gdp figures due out later this week
analysts said the greenback will likely be weighed down against regional
currencies this week due to expectations that some central banks in asia will
hike interest rates ahead of their counterparts in many developed economies
the reserve bank of india expected monetary policy tightening this week
should fuel the view that asian central banks will likely hike before the fed
calyon analysts predicted
investors tend to prefer the currencies of countries with higher interest rates
markets were watching for any indication from china about whether the
authorities there will tighten monetary policy to prevent the economy from
overheating due to credit boom
central banks in japan new zealand malaysia and the philippines will hold
policy meetings this week although they are expected to keep their benchmark
lending rates unchanged
against asian currencies the dollar fell to south korean won from
on friday to singapore dollars from and to
indonesian rupiah from
the greenback dropped to philippine pesos from to thai baht
from and to taiwan dollars from
cambodian rehab centres torture drug users rights group
phnom penh jan afp
detainees at cambodian government run drug rehabilitation centres suffer
sadistic violence such as electric shocks forced labour and rape human
rights group said monday
human rights watch hrw called on cambodia to close at least centres around
the country where it said people are often arbitrarily sent without reasonable
cause suffer grave abuses and are denied access to lawyer
many detainees are subjected to sadistic violence including being shocked with
electric batons and whipped with twisted electrical wire said page report
from the group
arduous physical exercises and labour are the mainstays of supposed drug
treatment it added
rights groups have made allegations about abuse at cambodia drug
rehabilitation centres and un health officials have questioned their treatment
methods in the past
individuals in these centres are not being treated or rehabilitated they are
being illegally detained and often tortured said joseph amon director of the
health and human rights division at hrw
these centres do not need to be revamped or modified they need to be shut
down
hrw also alleged detainees were forced to have sex with staff and to donate
blood were fed rotten or insect ridden food and chained while standing in the
sun as physical punishment
the centres run by various branches of the cambodian state including police and
