egypt
karzai meets neighbours ahead of key london conference
istanbul jan afp
afghan president hamid karzai met officials from pakistan and other neighbouring
nations here tuesday amid efforts for strategy to cajole islamist insurgents
into laying down arms
the ankara meeting also attended by british foreign secretary david miliband
preceded major conference in london on thursday where karzai hopes to win
western support for plan to offer money and jobs to taliban fighters to
encourage them to quit insurgency
turkish president abdullah gul hosted the gathering attended by pakistani
president asif ali zardari and senior officials from iran china tajikistan and
turkmenistan and observers from the united states russia and international
organisations
the participants were expected to issue joint declaration after the talks
turkey nato sole muslim majority member and partner in the multi national
force in afghanistan is keen to drum up regional support for karzai
ankara is stressing the need to step up efforts to also help in afghanistan
social and economic development
there cannot be more important strategy than winning the minds and hearts of
the afghan people turkish government official said ahead of the meeting
sometimes drilling simple water well for instance can be more valuable in
the eyes of the people than costly project he said
tuesday gathering follows turkish sponsored talks in istanbul on monday
between karzai and zardari aimed at pushing the two troubled neighbours to
enhance cooperation against islamist extremists
speaking after the talks karzai said he would make statement at the london
conference asking for taliban names to be removed from un blacklist
the idea had previously met resistance but as we are talking today there is
more willingness that this can be reconsidered he said
the list targeting taliban and al qaeda individuals and entities contains some
names including linked to the afghan extremist group according the
austrian un mission which maintains the document
karzai wants to bring low and mid level fighters into the mainstream to end the
insurgency but the leadership of islamist militant groups remain hostile to
negotiations
richard holbrooke the special us envoy for afghanistan and pakistan said
monday the nations meeting in london would back kabul proposal to set up
reintegration fund to persuade taliban fighters to lay down arms
the nato military commander in afghanistan also voiced support for negotiated
peace
as soldier my personal feeling is that there been enough fighting us
general stanley mcchrystal told the financial times monday believe that
political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome and it the
right outcome
the intensified peace efforts come as the united states and other allies aim for
an eventual withdrawal from afghanistan after eight years of battling brutal
islamist insurgency
under plan announced by us president barack obama in december us
troops will go to afghanistan this year on top of more than already
there before they begin withdrawing in july
washington also intends to step up non military assistance with new civilian
strategy to stabilise afghanistan and pakistan which includes improving the
farm sector and governance in the two nations
german business confidence up for record th month
berlin jan afp
german business confidence rose for record th month in row the ifo index
showed tuesday raising hopes that germany economy europe largest could
lead the continent from its slump
the closely watched survey of around firms in the key manufacturing
construction wholesaling and retail sectors climbed to in january from
in the previous month hitting its highest level since july
the economic recovery is continuing at the beginning of the new year hans
werner sinn the institute president said in statement
the result was better than analysts surveyed by dow jones newswires had
expected
today ifo reading sets new record ten consecutive increases have been
unprecedented so far commented carsten brzeski senior economist at ing
financial markets
reflecting the brighter mood in europe economic powerhouse the german
government last week revised up its forecast for output in to percent
from the percent it had previously estimated
in another boost to germany the government last week published substantial
revision to industrial orders data for november saying orders had risen by
percent compared to october rather than by percent
nevertheless there are still several clouds on the broadly sunnier horizon
separate survey of financial market professions by the zew research institute
fell for the fourth time running in january
the institute president wolfgang franz said germans should brace for
burdensome and long path from economic recovery
the country is also saddled with mountain of debt and expects record
billion in new borrowing this year
last year germany suffered its worst economic recession since world war ii
with output shrinking by five percent
of course it is still long way to go before the pain of the drastic
decrease will be fully cured nevertheless the german industry is slowly
but surely steering out of the slump said brzeski
tennis australian open schedule
melbourne jan afp
wednesday schedule of play on show courts for the australian open tennis at
melbourne park denotes seeding all sessions start at am gmt
unless stated
rod laver arena
li na chn venus williams usa
serena williams usa victoria azarenka blr
roger federer sui nikolay davydenko rus
not before pm gmt
novak djokovic srb jo wilfried tsonga fra
maria kirilenko rus agnieszka radwanska pol sally peers aus laura
robson gbr
margaret court arena
arnaud clement fra jonathan erlich isr daniel nestor can nenad zimonjic
srb
cara black zim liezel huber usa alisa kleybanova rus francesca
schiavone ita
bomb blasts in sri lanka ahead of key vote monitors
colombo jan afp
several bombs exploded in sri lanka ethnic tamil heartland of jaffna ahead of
tuesday crucial presidential vote an independent election monitoring group
told afp
at least two bombs went off outside the home of ruling party activist in the
jaffna peninsula but there were no reports of casualties the centre for
monitoring election violence cmev said
we have complaint that two bombs were thrown at the home of subramaniam
sharma an organiser for the ruling sri lanka freedom party early this
morning spokesman dissanayake said
he said sharma front yard was damaged but there were no casualties
it was not clear who carried out the attack he added
grenade explosion was reported from the tamil region of vavuniya south of the
jaffna peninsula but there were no casualties the cmev said
the main opposition candidate retired army general sarath fonseka said unruly
elements in the armed forces were responsible for the blasts
these attacks were aimed at discouraging people from voting fonseka told
reporters in colombo initially people in jaffna were not coming out but two
hours after the booths opened they began voting
fonseka said the huge voter turnout reported from other parts of the island was
favourable to him and he was confident of winning with margin of million
votes
however senior aide to president mahinda rajapakse discounted fonseka claim
and said the heavy polling favoured the incumbent re election bid
why should the government discourage voters when higher turnout is better for
the president the official who declined to be named said there is no hand of
the military in these blasts and we are also investigating
residents in the northern peninsula counted up to four pre dawn blasts but the
source of the other explosions was unclear said sunil jayasekara cmev
monitor in jaffna kilometres miles north of colombo
we are not sure from where the blasts originated or who was responsible
jayasekara said adding that it shattered the relative calm in the region ahead
of the vote in which the minority tamils could emerge as kingmakers
the percent tamil minority is seen as crucial in the event that the
majority sinhalese community is divided down the middle between rajapakse and
fonseka
government forces wrested control of jaffna in december from tamil tiger
rebels who were completely crushed in may last year
the military lifted night curfew in jaffna ahead of tuesday presidential
election but the military maintains large presence in the former stronghold of
the tamil separatists
austria collects million euros for haiti
vienna jan afp
austria national broadcaster orf said tuesday some billion euros had been
raised for survivors of the haiti earthquake
an orf statement said million euros million dollars in day long
charity drive on monday alone in which more than people participated
total of million euros have been donated to the orf red cross and caritas
action neighbour in need nachbar in not the statement said
the austrian government is also due to increase its aid contribution to haiti to
million euros
africa reserve bank defends its independence
johannesburg jan afp
south africa central bank has said its independence is legally guaranteed and
its operations not profit driven after the country ruling party mooted debate
over its nationalisation
the south african reserve bank is required to conduct its activities in the
public interest only without regard to profit maximisation the bank said in
statement late monday
its independence is entrenched in the constitution and it is not owned by
anyone
the bank which has more than private shareholders released the
statement after the ruling african national congress questioned the lack of
discussion on its ownership at the weekend
the bank is one of less than five central banks in private hands in the world
the anc secretary general gwede mantashe said
last year the country biggest labour federation and the anc junior ruling
partner cosatu called for the bank to be nationalised
the bank will announce its latest interest rate decision on tuesday with
expectations that it will hold at percent
olympics skiing sidko out of olympics after failing dope test
moscow jan afp
alena sidko one of the russia most experienced nordic skiers was thrown out
of the country olympic team after testing positive for the banned drug epo
local media reported tuesday
reports said that the samples that were given by the year old sidko on
december at an annual skiing event at krasnogorks in the moscow
region showed the presence of the banned medication
sidko won bronze medals in the team sprint at the world championships and
in the individual sprint at olympics in turin
national head coach yury charkovsky refused to comment on the reports that sidko
had been caught doping and insisted instead that she had been expelled from the
team for being overweight
new evidence china told banks to halt january lending
shanghai jan afp
fresh evidence emerged tuesday that chinese authorities had ordered several
banks to stop issuing new loans this month as fears grow that the extra money is
fuelling inflation
credit suisse said in research note that six banks had confirmed new lending
had been suspended from january after an emergency meeting by the central
bank monetary policy bureau it didn name the banks
there are growing concerns in beijing that speculators are taking advantage of
the money sloshing around the markets which could cause stock or property
bubbles
the report came as china citic bank employee speaking on condition of
anonymity told dow jones newswires the central people bank of china had told
it to halt new loans because it had reached its january quota
the people bank of china and the bank headquarters have told us to
control the pace of lending this year he was quoted as saying adding that the
order appeared to be directed at the bank shanghai offices
our headquarters hasn asked branches across the country to suspend lending
he added
officials at the medium sized lender were not available to comment when afp
called
spokesman for bank of china the country largest foreign exchange bank
declined to say whether it had been told to suspend giving out new loans
however it said authorities wanted to rebalance monthly and quarterly lending
as much as possible after large amount of credit was extended in the first
days of january
new loans at chinese banks totalled trillion yuan trillion dollars
last year nearly double the figure
the banking regulator has set this year target at about trillion yuan and
in the first two weeks of january new loans totalled trillion yuan in
line with the surge in lending at the start of last year
however the latest data shows the pace of lending far exceeds the average over
the past decade credit suisse analyst tao dong said
on thursday official data showed the economy grew percent last year and
percent in the fourth quarter thanks to government stimulus spending and
beijing calls to banks to boost lending to get people spending
it also showed inflation at percent in december the highest for months
liu mingkang chairman of the china banking regulatory commission last week
denied state media reports that banks had been ordered to stop lending for the
rest of january
ve made it very clear about bank lending we have never asked the banks to
stop lending he said
however industrial and commercial bank of china the country largest lender
also ordered its beijing branches on friday not to issue new loans for the rest
the month dow jones reported citing an unnamed person with direct knowledge of
the matter
officials at icbc were also not immediately available for comment
the people bank of china launched more aggressive quantitative tightening
than we previously have thought credit suisse analyst tao said adding new
monthly lending quotas were likely
beijing will keep close eye on lending activities the state council is
watching the lending figures on daily basis instead of the usual monthly
basis
dd amj dan
german business confidence up for th straight month
berlin jan afp
german business confidence rose for the th straight month in january the ifo
index showed tuesday bolstering hopes that germany economy europe largest
could lead the continent out of its slump
the closely watched survey of around firms in the key manufacturing
construction wholesaling and retail sectors climbed to from in
december its highest level since july
the economic recovery is continuing at the beginning of the new year hans
werner sinn the institute president said in statement
the result was better than analysts surveyed by dow jones newswires had
expected
reflecting the brighter mood in europe economic powerhouse the german
government last week revised up its forecast for output in to percent
from the it had previously estimated
in another boost to germany the government last week published substantial
revision to industrial orders data for november saying orders had risen by
percent compared to october rather than by percent
last year germany suffered its worst economic recession since world war ii
with output shrinking by five percent
killed in nigeria inter religious clashes police
kano nigeria jan afp
nigerian police said tuesday at least people died in muslim christian
clashes last week in the central plateau state
from the figures available to the police people were killed in the
recent violence police spokesman mohammed lerama told afp
however other estimates from medical and aid workers and religious and
community leaders put the toll at more than
urgent killed in nigeria inter religious clashes police
kano nigeria jan afp
nigerian police said tuesday at least people died in muslim christian
clashes last week in the central plateau state
mobile toilets hit dhaka streets
dhaka bangladesh jan afp
bangladesh has ordered an emergency deployment of mobile toilets in its
capital to head off worrying rise in public defecation dhaka mayor said
tuesday
sadeque hossain khoka told afp the sprawling metropolis which has an official
population of million has only public toilets one for every quarter of
million residents
this cannot meet demand he said leading to pile up of the kind of stools it
would be inadvisable to sit on in parks and by roadsides
we have launched mobile toilets which will be carried around manually on
tricycle vans they will be strategically placed so that people don have to
use road corners to answer the call of nature he said
unofficially dhaka population tops million when vast slums on the city
outskirts are included
the tin sided mobile toilets are plastered with colourful advertisements
including quotes from famous bangla poem which tells people let do good
work no matter where you were born
they also carry posters urging people not to treat streets and open spaces as
public toilets
the mobile toilets will charge five taka cents for people to defecate and
two taka to urinate and are now available for hours day between am and
pm
khoka said the authorities would introduce more mobile toilets if the venture
was success
profits plunge at spain banco popular
madrid jan afp
banco popular spain third largest bank tuesday reported net profits
plummeted percent to million euros billion dollars as it set
aside more funds to cover bad loans
in the fourth quarter net profit was up percent from the same period last
year to million euros
the bank said it set aside million euros over the year to cover bad loans
excluding these provisions profits were up percent to billion euros up
percent on it said in statement
suffering of afghans unbearable red cross
tokyo jan afp
the suffering of afghanistan people has reached unbearable levels as the
conflict has intensified and spread across the country top international red
cross official said tuesday
decades of conflict have impacted every family in the country pierre
kraehenbuehl director of operations at the international committee of the red
cross icrc told news conference in tokyo
the suffering of the afghan population has reached levels that are frankly
unbearable in many circumstances kraehenbuehl said speaking two days before
major conference in london on the war ravaged country
can imagine that there is not single afghan family that has not in one way
or another been touched lost relatives decided to flee the region or the
country since soviet troops invaded in he said
kraehenbuehl who was posted for two years in afghanistan in the mid said
our major concern has been that over the past two years the intensity of the
conflict has increased
the geographic spread of the conflict has grown also so it no longer simply
confined to some regions of the south of afghanistan it has spread into the
west but also parts of the north of the country
kraehenbuehl was visiting japan which has offered five billion dollars aid
over the next five years to help rebuild the war torn nation
japan can help improve education and health the key concerns of afghans after
security according to an icrc survey last year and should focus on neglected
rural areas he said
afghanistan is country that has had historically lot of focus on its urban
development and rural regions were neglected kraehenbuehl said think in
those areas there is lot to be done
football league result
melbourne jan afp
result of an australian league match played on tuesday
melbourne victory brown og thompson hernandez kemp wellington
phoenix
alert
nigerian police spokesman says killed in sectarian clashes
urgent baghdad blast kills injures ministry
baghdad jan afp
suicide car bomber killed people and injured in central baghdad on
tuesday while destroying iraq forensics headquarters an interior ministry
official said updating an earlier toll
hsbc head attacks inflated bank bonuses report
london jan afp
the chairman of banking titan hsbc has attacked the payment of inflated
bonuses to bankers in an interview with the financial times published on
tuesday
stephen green said there had been plenty of distortion in bank pay which had
given rise to wrong and frankly inflated bonuses
green however predicted change in culture following public anger over bonuses
which despite the financial crisis are still viewed by many as excessive
as this newer environment beds down think you will see market working in
way that we don need to be ashamed of he told the business daily
green comments come as global bankers return to the international spotlight at
the davos forum on wednesday to battle increased regulation while still fighting
off anger over huge bonuses
facing the mother of all public relations battles deutsche bank chief executive
josef akerman brian moynihan of bank of america vikram pandit of citi group
and green will be among leading bankers at the world econonic forum wef in the
exclusive swiss ski resort
china taiwan trade talks under way
beijing jan afp
experts from china and taiwan on tuesday launched the first round of talks aimed
at paving the way for major trade pact between the one time rivals both sides
said
the meeting comes amid improving ties nearly two years after taiwan president
ma ying jeou took office on pledge to step up trade relations as way to
boost the island stalled economy
the one day talks expected to centre on procedural issues will set the stage
for higher level negotiations before the end of june the state xinhua news
agency reported
we hope today meeting can end in common understandings on basic principles
and procedures for the negotiation of the pact the head of the chinese
delegation zheng lizhong was quoted by xinhua as saying
zheng vice president of the association for relations across the taiwan strait
arats said the pact would help push forward normal systematic and free
economic relations between the mainland and taiwan the report said
the government in taipei is eager to conclude the deal with beijing known as
the economic cooperation framework agreement ecfa which it says could boost
growth and employment on the self ruled island
but the opposition democratic progressive party which favours independence from
china fears it would increase taiwan reliance on beijing resulting in the
loss of million jobs and imperil the island de facto separate status
taipei wants to maintain restrictions over some agricultural imports from the
mainland and the arrival of labourers from china in order to ease opposition
fears over the pact
farmers are concerned about the import of agricultural products and there
are also worries about the competition for old economy industries said the
head of the taiwanese delegation kao koong lian
we hope the mainland side can understand said kao deputy chairman of the
quasi official straits exchange foundation sef
arats and the sef have been authorised by their governments to handle
negotiations between taiwan and china in the absence of official contacts
taiwan and china have been governed separately since the end of civil war in
but beijing considers the island part of its territory and has vowed to
get it back by force if necessary
relations were particularly strained under former president chen shui bian who
angered beijing with his pro independence rhetoric during his eight years in
power from
but since ma took office in may cross strait economic agreements have
been signed
three agreements on supervisory cooperation in the fields of banking
securities futures and insurance went into effect earlier this month
they provide for thresholds and preferential policies for both sides to enter
each other financial markets
other agreements have touched on food quarantine industrial standards and
fishing crews
since taipei eased an investment ban in the early local taiwanese
businesses have channelled about billion us dollars into china
china took billion us dollars of the island total exports in or
percent of the island overseas sales
tennis roddick shrugs off latest grand slam disappointment
melbourne jan afp
andy roddick put on brave face despite his frustrating drought in grand slams
being extended when he was beaten by croatian marin cilic in five set
australian open marathon on tuesday
the year old fought back gamely after being two sets down with sore upper
arm but as has been the case so often in his career he came up short when it
mattered against an opponent who refused to yield
four times semi finalist here without ever reaching the final the world
number seven has not been able to add to his sole grand slam success at the
us open despite making the last eight times in his career
he was beaten by roger federer in last year wimbledon final his fourth defeat
in grand slam decider
roddick was philosophical dismissing any talk of disappointment as he believed
he played well considering the arm problem
to be able to push it and have shot thought it was pretty good effort
he said
hit the ball about as well as could throughout the whole match still hit
the ball pretty well in the fifth
think maybe he calmed down little bit after he was able to get out of that
hole
roddick received treatment on his right arm after the first set and again during
the second
when the trainer told roddick he didn think he would do any more damage by
playing on the american decided to stay on court
the trainer said it was stemming from the neck down he said
by the end of the first set was pretty numb in the bottom two fingers
could still hit it pretty hard was just having trouble controlling it
didn really have the full deal
but he was confident the injury would not be lingering problem
all signs at this point are good he said
sounds like it was nerve that was compressed or something don know
cutting off something
but they don think it going to be anything too serious long term
sure we ll take the proper precautions and check it out but at this point
not real real scared about it
he looked down and out when cilic took two set lead but battled back to level
the match
cilic has spent more time on court than anyone else in the tournament after
five setters against bernard tomic and juan martin del potro but dug deep to
protect an early service break in the final set and end roddick tournament
roddick said cilic serve improved dramatically in the fifth set and paid
tribute to the croatian temperament
he was the same after he lost two sets as when he won two sets and think that
will definitely serve him well over the course of his career he said
feel like there lot to like about him
peugeot mitsubishi venture talks stuck on valuation report
paris jan afp
talks on venture between french automaker psa peugeot citroen and japanese
group mitsubishi motors are stuck on disagreement over valuation of the two
groups the newspaper les echos reported on tuesday
psa had said at the beginning of december that it was in talks with the japanese
firm on possible strategic partnership after reports to this effect in the
japanese press
the newspaper reported on tuesday that the president of psa philippe varin was
preparing investors for possible failure
the report said that the sticking point concerned valuations because mitsubishi
carried higher stock market valuation than did psa
the peugeot family owning percent of psa does not want to overpay for
its share in mitsubishi nor lose control of the french group in an unfavourable
exchange of shareholdings the report said
spokesman for psa declined to comment to afp beyond saying that the talks
with mitsubishi are still underway
the japanese press reports had suggested that mitsubishi might issue shares
worth billion yen billion euros billion dollars for
psa to buy thereby acquiring percent of the japanese firm and taking
effective control
such an alliance would create the sixth biggest auto group in the world
in tokyo spokesman for mitsubishi motors who asked not to be named told
afp we are in talks with peugeot citroen not necessarily on possible
strategic alliance but on the cooperations we already have
he said that these included electric cars and project for factory in russia
alert
baghdad blast killed people injured interior ministry
fhockey pakistan seek security clearance for india wcup
karachi jan afp
pakistani hockey authorities have sought government security clearance to take
part in next month world cup in india amid strained sporting relations
between the neighbours
pakistan government has said the team will not boycott the event despite
spat last week after an auction in mumbai for the indian premier league ipl
