their daughters aged three and seven
in august they were caught by chinese police en route to mongolia from where
they hoped to travel to south korea and were repatriated to the north
following confession by jeong the paper said friend called song gwang
cheol who had assisted the escape attempt was also arrested
jeong his wife lee and song were all executed daily nk reported
this month it said jeong family was taken to political prison camp while
song was exiled to the countryside
the paper quoted its source as saying refugees normally face years in
prison camp the executions were part of crackdown ordered to sweep away
anti socialist elements the source was quoted as saying
united nations special envoy said this month that the north has been imposing
harsher punishment on would be refugees
vitit muntarbhorn un special rapporteur on north korean human rights said
that in and offenders had been sent to labour camps instead of
prisons but that slight mitigation had been reversed
now we get reports of serious punishment muntarbhorn said citing the
imprisonment of those repatriated the collective punishment of their families
and even possible executions in some cases
china in policy widely criticised by rights groups repatriates all those
north koreans it catches as economic migrants
almost north koreans have arrived in the south since the end of the
korean war with virtually all fleeing first to china
ethiopian airliner crashes on takeoff in lebanon official
beirut lebanon jan afp
an ethiopian airliner transporting passengers and crew crashed in stormy
weather following takeoff in lebanon early monday plunging into the
mediterranean sea an airport official told afp
ethiopian airline flight crashed about five minutes after takeoff at
am gmt with passengers and nine crew members the airport official
said speaking on condition of anonymity
he said witnesses saw ball of fire as the jet plunged into the sea
the official said rescuers were trying to reach the plane to determine whether
there were any survivors
risk averse investors send asian shares lower
hong kong jan afp
financial stocks fell again in asian trade monday as uncertainty over us
president barack obama bank revamp plans and policy tightening by beijing
weighed on risk averse investors
the region saw broad falls following percent slump on the dow jones index
friday its biggest weekly drop since february
sentiment on global markets has soured since obama unveiled last thursday plans
for tough banking reform that would limit excessive risk taking blamed for
the financial crisis
tokyo was percent lower by the break as stronger yen weighed on
exporters hong kong shares were down percent while sydney shed
percent singapore was down percent
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
in shanghai shares fell percent with banks leading the losses amid concerns
that fund raising plans in the sector could dilute share value dealers said
in response to calls by beijing for banks to raise the amount of capital they
hold against their loans bank of china announced aggressive plans over the
weekend to issue new shares and multi billion yuan convertible bond sale
other chinese lenders fell on concerns of similar plans with china construction
bank down percent and icbc down percent
fears that beijing is set to tighten credit as it tries to rein in its scorching
economy also continued to play on the minds of investors china last week said
inflation reached month high
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 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
the dollar traded close to one month low against the yen at yen in tokyo
morning trade against in new york late friday
the euro was steady at dollars but rose 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
tennis li breaks new ground for chinese tennis
melbourne jan afp
li na broke new ground for chinese tennis when she upset fourth seed caroline
wonziacki in straight sets to reach the quarter finals of the
australian open here monday
the year old th seed joined countrywoman zheng jie in the last eight the
first time two chinese players have ever reached that stage of grand slam
li will face sixth seed venus williams in the quarters and won their only
previous clash at the beijing olympics in straight sets
it is li best ever performance at the australian open eclipsing her fourth
round appearance in and the third time she has reached the last eight of
grand slam
in match dominated by breaks of serve li was down service break and in
the first set but then rattled off the next six games to win the first set and
be break up herself in the second
the groundstrokes by the pair were as good as the serving was bad both players
trading powerful winners in an entertaining clash
however there were seven successive services breaks in the second set after li
held in the first game until the chinese star was able to steady and serve out
the match
denmark wozniacki was able to save one set point but then pushed forehand
long to hand li the upset win
wozniacki last year us open finalist called for the trainer after the fourth
game of the second set receiving treatment on her right thigh and returning to
the court with it bandaged
urgent ethiopian airliner crashes on takeoff in lebanon tv
beirut jan afp
an ethiopian airliner crashed in stormy weather following takeoff in lebanon
early monday plunging into the mediterranean sea lebanese television reported
dollar subdued with eyes on obama bernanke
tokyo jan afp
the dollar traded close to one month low against the yen in asia monday as
investors waited nervously for federal reserve meeting and key speech by us
president barack obama this week
the dollar was at yen in tokyo morning trade against in new york
late friday
the euro was steady at dollars but rose 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 noted
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
alert
ethiopian airplane crashes into sea on takeoff in lebanon tv
china denies state role in google cyberattacks
beijing jan afp
china on monday denied any state involvement in cyberattacks on google and
accused the united states of double standards as row with washington over
internet freedom rumbled on
the latest salvo from beijing came after the white house said us president
barack obama was troubled by google claims that it had been attacked by
china based hackers
the us internet giant has threatened to abandon its chinese search engine and
perhaps end all operations in the country over the cyberattacks it has also
said it is no longer willing to bow to chinese government censors
but china said the hacking charges were without foundation
the accusation that the chinese government participated in any cyberattack
either in an explicit or inexplicit way is groundless and aims to denigrate
china an unnamed spokesman for the ministry of industry and information
technology told state news agency xinhua
we are firmly opposed to that the spokesman said
china policy on internet safety is transparent and consistent he added
saying that the country with the biggest online community was itself the
biggest victim of hacking
the global times an english language newspaper run by the people daily the
ruling communist party mouthpiece went even further saying the united states
itself was major source of hack attacks
the us is the first country to launch cyber warfare it said in an editorial
it claimed washington had cyber army of people equipped with over
computer viruses citing us defence expert joel harker
it 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 regulate the internet were legitimate and
should be free from unjustifiable interference
the spokesman said china was fully justified in its efforts to regulate what it
deems to be harmful internet content noting that the 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 rattle
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 firewall 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
bilateral 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 system known as the
great firewall of china
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
nfl national football league playoff results
washington jan afp
results from sunday national football league playoff games to determine
qualifiers for super bowl
american conference final
at indianapolis
indianapolis colts new york jets
national conference final
at new orleans
new orleans saints minnesota vikings over time
tennis australian open results day eight
melbourne jan afp
collated results from day eight of the australian open at melbourne park here
monday denotes seeding
women singles
th round
venus williams usa bt francesca schiavone ita
li na chn bt caroline wozniacki den
tennis china li into quarters at open
melbourne jan afp
china th seeded li na won through to the quarter finals of the australian
open when she upset danish fourth seed caroline wozniacki on monday
li will face venus williams in the last eight
foreign forces in afghanistan face five more years report
london jan afp
major conference on afghanistan this week will conclude that international
forces face up to five more years battling the taliban newspaper reported
monday
citing communique which it said will end thursday meeting in london the
times said afghan forces up will be given up to half decade to take
responsibility for physical security
continued support from western troops will be needed until then
the draft statement commits the afghan troops to taking the lead and conducting
the majority of operations in the insecure areas of afghanistan within three
years and taking responsibility for physical security within five years
according to the paper
some of the more stable regions could come under the control of afghan security
forces at the end of this year or early with support from western troops
providing conditions are met the document adds
the ministry of defence in britain which has the second biggest contingent of
troops in afghanistan after the united states said monday it did not comment on
leaked documents
but it added decision on pulling out troops would be based on conditions not
arbitrary timelines
more than international troops are fighting the taliban under us and
nato command and losing soldiers almost daily in the conflict which started
with the us led invasion of
the united states is pouring another troops into afghanistan this year
on top of more than already there but under us president barack obama
plans they are begin withdrawing in july
details of western funded reconciliation plan to use offers of cash and jobs
to tempt insurgents away from the taliban will also form part of the closing
statement the times said scheme unveiled several days ago by afghan
president hamid karzai
britain foreign ministry which is organising the conference also said it did
not comment on leaked documents
korea agrees to more talks with korea despite threats
seoul jan afp
south korea agreed monday to hold talks with north korea on restarting lucrative
tourism projects in the communist state despite pyongyang weekend threat to
attack its neighbour
the unification ministry responding to proposal from the north said it sent
message suggesting the talks be held on february at the kaesong joint
industrial estate just north of the heavily guarded border
the north had wanted the talks held at mount kumgang its resort on the east
coast on january
on sunday the north military lashed out at south korea plan to launch
preemptive strike to thwart any nuclear attack calling it an open declaration
of war
the threat was sparked by comments last week from the south defence minister
who said seoul would have to launch such strike if nuclear attack from its
neighbour was imminent
analysts say the sanctions hit north seems eager to promote joint business
projects with the south despite political tensions
the tours to kumgang earned the cash strapped north tens of millions of dollars
year until they were suspended by the south in
hong kong gold opens lower
hong kong jan afp
hong kong gold opened lower monday at us dollars an ounce
down from friday close of dollars
tennis venus claws back to make open quarters
melbourne jan afp
sixth seed venus williams clawed back from set down to beat italian th seed
francesca schiavone and reach the quarter finals of the australian
open on monday
an out of sorts williams looked headed for shock defeat when she lost the
first set but she recovered her composure to gradually take control against an
increasingly frustrated schiavone
the year old williams appeared almost disinterested during the minute
first set but after taking short bathroom break she came out different
player in the second
shots that were going long and wide in the first set began to fall in while
schiavone who hardly missed in the first set began to succumb to the pressure
as the match wore on
williams serve which usually allows the tall american to win host of cheap
points also picked up with her first serve percentage success rate increasing
from percent in the first set to percent in the third
it was williams sixth win over schiavone in as many meetings and only the
second time the italian has taken set off the seven time grand slam champion
williams now faces quarter final against either fourth seeded dane caroline
wozniacki or china th seed li na ahead of possible semi final showdown
against younger sister serena
afghanistan delays parliament vote
kabul jan afp
afghanistan postponed parliamentary vote for four months in the face of
spiralling taliban insurgency move welcomed by the un which had raised
concerns about graft and the slow pace of reform
the independent election commission announced the delay on sunday just days
ahead of an international conference in london on the future of the country
after more than eight years of war
the international community had been pushing for postponement amid concerns
that graft and logistical problems were undermining democracy in one of the
world poorest and most corrupt nations
senior election commissioner fazil ahmad manawi said the ballot would now be
held on september instead of may as originally planned because of lack
of budget security and uncertainty and logistical challenges
kai eide the top un representative to afghanistan welcomed the decision
saying the postponement gave afghanistan electoral institutions additional
time to carry out the necessary preparations for the elections
this would have been extremely difficult to do by the original date eide said
in statement
it also provides time to make improvements to the electoral process based on
lessons learned during the presidential and provincial council elections in
president hamid karzai won second five year term in office following
controversial election in august that was marred by fraud low voter turnout and
taliban violence
karzai is expected to give details at the london conference on peace plan to
offer money and jobs to tempt taliban fighters to lay down their arms and bring
militants back into mainstream afghan society
afghanistan has relied on foreign funding for elections since when us
led invasion overthrew the hardline taliban regime
the commission had previously said it was short of around million dollars to
hold the ballot for the wolosi jirga afghanistan lower house of parliament
but the united nations has said it would need to see evidence of significant
reform including replacing senior election commission officials before
agreeing to release money to stage the election
most cases of fraud during the august election were reported in areas rife with
taliban and other islamist militants battling the government and where afghan
security forces had little or no control
militants launched wave of attacks killing and maiming dozens in an attempt
to disrupt ballot they called an american process
karzai administration had previously called for the parliamentary ballot to be
held on time pledging to fund the process if the international community failed
to provide the budget
manawi said low ranking workers had been dismissed from the commission or moved
to different jobs but added that if you mean the leadership and commissioners
this the responsibility of the president
the president has to decide he added
afghanistan held its first direct parliamentary election in september
under the constitution the next poll was due to be held no later than days
before the end of the legislative cycle which ends on june
fighting corruption is one of the key topics to be discussed at the
international conference on afghanistan on thursday along with the security
situation good governance and reconciliation with taliban fighters
more than foreign troops are fighting the taliban under us and nato
command with another troops being deployed this year along with
hundreds of civilian specialists to advance development and reconstruction
karzai is due to hold talks in istanbul on monday with his turkish and pakistani
counterparts before travelling to germany on tuesday
germany chancellor angela merkel whose country provides the third largest
contingent in afghanistan said she would discuss with karzai how best to
coordinate afghan and international efforts to rebuild the country
turkey has traditionally enjoyed close ties with both afghanistan and pakistan
and hopes to use monday meeting to boost its role as mediator between the two
countries whose relations have been strained in recent years
moderate quake strikes guadeloupe
pointe pitre guadeloupe jan afp
moderate quake registering on the richter scale struck the french
caribbean island guadeloupe on sunday the guadeloupe volcano and seismic
observatory said
no calls for assistance were made the country emergency services centre said
the quake struck kilometres miles east of the island of marie galente at
depth of kilometres according to observatory
the united states geological survey rated the quake on its moment magnitude
scale
guadeloupe french overseas department is located some kilometres to
the southeast of haiti which has been hit with regular aftershocks since the
magnitude quake on january which likely killed over people
magnitude aftershock struck kilometers miles west of the haitian
capital sunday it was not immediately clear whether it caused any damage or
casualties
japanese stocks down percent at break
tokyo jan afp
japanese shares fell percent in morning trade on monday dragged down by
another plunge on wall street where worries mounted about us president barack
obama sweeping bank reform
the tokyo stock exchange benchmark nikkei index declined points to
by the lunch break after percent drop on friday
the broader topix index of all first section shares fell points or
percent to
sentiment on global markets has soured since obama unveiled last thursday
tough banking reform plan that would limit excessive risk taking blamed for
the financial crisis
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
japan to give million dollars in aid to haiti kyodo
tokyo jan afp
japan will pledge total of million dollars in aid to quake hit haiti at an
international donors conference in montreal on monday the kyodo news agency
reported
the japanese government has decided to increase its aid for quake hit haiti
from five million dollars to million dollars kyodo reported from new york
citing unnamed government sources
international donors prepared to meet monday in montreal to discuss rebuilding
haiti after the january quake the worst recorded disaster ever to hit the
americas with death toll expected to top
the united states canada france brazil and other donors with interests in
haiti will attempt to craft long term strategies to lift the crippled country
the poorest in the western hemisphere onto path to recovery
japan had initially pledged five million dollars days after the quake an amount
much smaller than the us aid pledge of million dollars and less than the
million dollars vowed by south korea kyodo reported
the report said that after the initial aid pledge the united nations strongly
urged japan to add more aid as the world second largest economy and as the
second biggest donor to the un
greek fm rules out abandoning euro
berlin jan afp
greek finance minister georges papaconstantinou categorically rejected
speculation his country will be forced to abandon the euro amid fiscal crisis
that is testing the resilience of the currency
speculation about an exit from the eurozone are abstruse categorically
exclude that greece will quit the eurozone papaconstantinou was quoted as
saying by the german daily die welt on monday
after greek socialists led by prime minister georges papandreou took power last
year they revealed the country finances were much worse than previously
disclosed
they hiked the public sector deficit forecast for to percent of gross
domestic product way beyond the three percent target limit for the countries
that use the euro
while the government has pledged to trim spending and raise tax revenue there
is concern that greek labour militancy will undermine its efforts to trim the
deficit
coupled with sharply higher borrowing costs that greece now faces there has
been persistent speculation that greece could become the first country to
abandon the euro
but papaconstantinou told die welt that he doesn expect the government
austerity programme will lead to deflation or social problems or that it will
push down growth
in an interview in the german magazine focus european central bank chief jean
claude trichet reiterated that greece as well as other eurozone countries must
do everything to put their budgets in order
in addition to greece there have been concerns about portugal spain and
ireland being able to put their fiscal houses in order
hong kong shares open percent lower
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares were percent lower in the first few minutes of trade
monday with the benchmark hang seng index down points at
tennis venus comes from behind to make open quarter finals
melbourne jan afp
sixth seed venus williams came from set down to beat italian th seed
francesca schiavone to reach the quarter finals of the australian
open on monday
she will next play either danish fourth seed caroline wozniacki or china th
seeded li na
golf prugh watson share bob hope classic lead
la quinta california jan afp
bubba watson and alex prugh were tied for the lead after four rounds of the
hole bob hope classic on sunday each missing chances to edge ahead going
into monday final round
watson double bogeyed the final hole hitting his second shot into the water en
route to three under to fall back into tie with fellow american prugh on
under par
prugh uspga tour rookie missed three footer as he bogeyed his own final
hole to post
bill haas and south african tim clark were stroke back both carding for
joe ogilvie was two shots adrift on after that included costly
double bogey at his th hole
watson prugh haas and clark have never won on the us tour and this event
which features none of the tour top players this year appears to offer
great chance haas father jay won the hope in
watson was poised to take lead into the final round which has been pushed
back day after rain washed out play on thursday
instead his disappointing finish on the nicklaus private course one of four
in use for the first four rounds of the event opened the door for prugh
tomorrow is going to be tough day no matter if had the lead was tied for
the lead or one back or five back watson said tomorrow is going to be
fun day this is what we live for the more chances get to win maybe ll get
one to luckily fall in and win one
watson who had led after the second round moved back to the top of the
leaderboad with six birdies before his disaster at the last
prugh and making his third pga tour start missed an easy putt to cap his
round
the way things were going the first three days where the scores were going
definitely didn think two under would keep me in it prugh said
ogilvie whose lone tour victory came in at milwaukee was clearly irked
with himself after his double bogey at at la quinta
my caddie was about yards off said ogilvie who hadn made bogey since
early in the second round had uncertainty on the tee and it mistake to
hit driver when you re not confident standing there you can have double
bogeys and win the hope
the cut claimed several of the tournament bigger names including england
justin rose justin leonard rocco mediate david duval sweden jesper
parnevik and chad campbell
japan to give million dollars in aid to haiti kyodo
tokyo jan afp
japan will pledge million dollars in aid to quake hit haiti at an
