japan airlines said tuesday that it had won vital backing from its workers to
slash their pensions as tokyo signalled that bankruptcy was possibility for
the debt ridden carrier
about of jal workers have agreed to reductions in their
corporate pensions more than the percent legally required for such move
spokesman for the airline said
however only about of jal retirees had accepted cuts in their
pension payments as of monday evening he said adding we are continuing to
try our best to gain their understanding
jal huge pension obligations are seen as major reason for its financial
troubles which were aggravated by the global recession
transport minister seiji maehara indicated tuesday that bankruptcy proceedings
were still an option for the money losing airline saying the priority was to
keep it flying
specific measures are more important than the form of jal restructuring he
told press conference
the focus should be on how jal can be revived as it continues its flight
services he added
jal private lenders favour out of court restructuring fearing legal
bankruptcy would damage the airline reputation and make it harder for them to
recoup their investments
jal shares closed up percent at yen extending rebound seen after the
government pledged over the weekend to expand an emergency credit line to the
airline
the stock had surged percent on monday after plunge of almost percent
on the last trading day of
battered by the global recession the carrier is seeking its fourth government
bailout since
the airline which lost about billion dollars in the six months to
september has said it plans thousands of job cuts and drastic reduction in
routes as part of its efforts to return to profitability
jal will receive fewer flight slots than its smaller rival all nippon airways
for new runway at haneda airport tokyo busiest air hub which serves mainly
domestic routes report said tuesday
the government has traditionally given equal treatment to the two major
carriers but judged that jal could not cope with sharp increase in flights
given its deep financial troubles the nikkei business daily said
officials at the transport ministry jal and ana declined to comment
dow jones newswires contributed to this story
hong kong shares end percent up
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares closed percent up on tuesday as investors followed
strong lead on wall street and other regional markets
the benchmark hang seng index added points to with turnover
reaching billion hong kong dollars billion us
no evidence indian death racially motivated australia
sydney jan afp
australia on tuesday said there was no evidence the murder of an indian man in
melbourne was racially motivated as it downplayed the impact of the killing on
ties between the nations
the death of year old nitin garg who was stabbed fatally in the abdomen as
he walked to work at hamburger restaurant on saturday night follows string
of crimes against indian nationals in australia
the murder has received wide press coverage in india with one newspaper
describing garg death as proof that the issue of racist attacks on the indian
community needs to be addressed by the australian authorities
but australia acting foreign minister said while the murder was an emotional
issue there was nothing to suggest the killing was race attack
it is an unfortunate very unfortunate circumstance but the police have
continued to reaffirm the fact that there is no evidence that this is racially
based attack simon crean told reporters
the accounting graduate death prompted an angry response in india with
foreign minister krishna describing the murder as crime on humanity and
saying it would certainly affect ties between the two countries
but crean who is trade minister said australian officials had been in contact
with the indian high commission in canberra as he downplayed the impact on
bilateral ties between the growing trading partners
asked whether the issue would hurt relations crean said doubt very much
that it will
in india the mail today said garg murder showed that australian police needed
to do more to stop violence against indians
the police claim that it is too early to describe the attack as racist but
there are enough indicators that it is most likely to have been motivated by the
victim national origins it said in an editorial
the paper ran cartoon depicting an australian policeman wearing pointed
white hood associated with the us racist group the ku klux klan the officer was
shown saying we are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime
ing completes sale of us reinsurance unit
the hague jan afp
dutch bank and insurance group ing said on tuesday it had completed the sale of
its us reinsurance business to reinsurance group of america for an undisclosed
amount
the transaction was expected to free up some million euros million
dollars in capital in and improve ing insurance debt to equity ratio by
about basis points it said in statement
ing announced today that it has closed the transaction to transfer its us group
reinsurance business ing reinsurance us to reinsurance group of america inc
rga it said
ing did not disclose terms of the agreement which was previously announced on
october and effectively closed on january
no evidence indian death racially motivated australia
sydney jan afp
australia on tuesday said there was no evidence the murder of an indian man in
melbourne was racially motivated as it downplayed the impact of the killing on
ties between the nations
the death of year old nitin garg who was stabbed fatally in the abdomen as
he walked to work at hamburger restaurant on saturday night follows string
of crimes against indian nationals in australia
the murder has received wide press coverage in india with one newspaper
describing garg death as proof that the issue of racist attacks on the indian
community needs to be addressed by the australian authorities
but australia acting foreign minister said while the murder was an emotional
issue there was nothing to suggest the killing was race attack
it is an unfortunate very unfortunate circumstance but the police have
continued to reaffirm the fact that there is no evidence that this is racially
based attack simon crean told reporters
the accounting graduate death prompted an angry response in india with
foreign minister krishna describing the murder as crime on humanity and
saying it would certainly affect ties between the two countries
but crean who is trade minister said australian officials had been in contact
with the indian high commission in canberra as he downplayed the impact on
bilateral ties between the growing trading partners
asked whether the issue would hurt relations crean said doubt very much
that it will
in india the mail today said garg murder showed that australian police needed
to do more to stop violence against indians
the police claim that it is too early to describe the attack as racist but
there are enough indicators that it is most likely to have been motivated by the
victim national origins it said in an editorial
the paper ran cartoon depicting an australian policeman wearing pointed
white hood associated with the us racist group the ku klux klan the officer was
shown saying we are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime
nestle says it is paying billion dollars for kraft pizzas
zurich jan afp
food giant nestle announced on tuesday that it was buying kraft foods frozen
pizza units in the united states and canada for billion dollars billion
euros
nestle also said that it was not interested in buying british confectionary
group cadbury maker of chocolate bars this statement was seen as killing
rumours that nestle which is cash rich might use its treasure chest to snap up
cadbury
nestle chief paul bulke said of the move on kraft pizzas this frozen pizza
business greatly enhances nestle frozen food activities in north america
bringing together selection of great us and canadian brands industry leading
amp and excellent route to market capabilities which complement our
existing ice cream direct store delivery
he said with total sales of around billion swiss francs nestle will
become the world leader in the attractive fast growing frozen pizza category
nestle statement said the us is the largest pizza market in the world with
consumer sales of about billion dollars
it said with estimated sales of billion dollars in kraft foods was the
leader in the frozen pizza category and had enjoyed double digit growth in the
us and canada over the last four years
the brands include digiorno tombstone and california pizza kitchen
selling this business now not only delivers an attractive return for our
shareholders but enables us to better focus our resources on priority global
brands and categories said kraft chief executive officer irene rosenfeld
nestle is well positioned to continue building these powerhouse pizza brands
given its strength in frozen foods rosenfeld said
hong kong gold closes higher
hong kong jan afp
hong kong gold closed higher on tuesday at us dollars an
ounce up from monday close of dollars
it opened at dollars
indian village opens diy railway station
new delhi jan afp
an indian village has built its own railway station and persuaded authorities to
stop trains there so that local people can travel to nearby towns for work and
college officials said tuesday
residents of tajnagar who had watched trains pass through their village for
decades started campaign for station in the village in but their pleas
remained unanswered
two years ago they took the matter into their own hands by collecting
dollars to build their own complete with two platforms electricity and
ticket counter
we have agreed that seven passenger trains will stop at this station day and
we believe it is financially viable anant swaroop railway ministry
official told afp
the site is built according to specifications after we gave the villagers some
designs the station will be operational from today and will benefit lot of
people
construction on the building started year ago and the first train pulled into
the platform on tuesday to be greeted by cheering crowds the local member of
parliament and religious blessing
most of the plus people living in the village are farmers tajnagar
resident ranjeet singh told the times of india but such was the burning desire
to have station that everyone contributed according to their capacity
india vast railway system legacy of british colonial rule covers about
kilometres miles of track and has nearly stations
it employs at least million people and carries million passengers every
day
the do it yourself station will allow villagers from tajnagar to travel the
kilometres to gurgaon booming satellite city outside the capital new delhi
we thought that as the railway line passes through the village we should have
station here hukum chand one of the station committee members said the
railways told us they had no funds so finally we decided to craft our own
destiny
bangladesh gives bharti green light for warid takeover
dhaka jan afp
bid by indian telecoms giant bharti airtel to purchase bangladesh fourth
largest mobile phone operator warid has been approved regulators said tuesday
abu dhabi based dhabi group which fully owns warid telecom last month sought
approval from the bangladesh telecommunications regulatory commission for the
sale of percent stake in warid
the commission has given the go ahead to transfer dhabi group warid telecom
shares to bharti airtel the director general of btrc ahsan habib told afp
tuesday
the purchase makes bharti the latest foreign company to make in roads into the
fast growing bangladesh mobile market
the commission has also approved investment of million dollars by bharti
airtel for the expansion of their telecommunication network across the country
habib added
launched in may warid had nearly three million subscribers out of
nearly million overall at the end of october
as the industry expands in bangladesh experts predict the number of mobile
customers will pass million by fuelled by price war among the
country six operators
in egyptian orascom took over sheba and singapore state owned singtel
bought percent stake in bangladesh telecom in
last year japan ntt docomo paid million dollars to buy percent stake
in operator aktel majority owned by malaysia axiata
the move into bangladesh by bharti comes after its plan to ally with south
africa mtn to create an emerging market telecom giant collapsed in september
when pretoria said it feared mtn might lose its national character
analysts say bharti which has more than million subscribers in india will
need to expand abroad to increase revenues with earnings growth slowing in its
home market which has become crowded by new players
tennis aussies stay in contention in hopman cup
perth australia jan afp
australia kept their hopman cup final hopes alive with comfortable win
over the united states on tuesday
the top seeds were stunned by romania on the opening day of the mixed teams
tournament but bounced back to claim both singles tie against the americans
who are now out of contention after also losing to spain on sunday
samantha stosur the world no rebounded after her surprise loss to sorana
cirstea on saturday to easily beat melanie oudin in straight sets
lleyton hewitt then secured the tie for australia with barnstorming start
winning the first five games of the match on his way to an impressive
win over lanky american john isner
the americans then gained some compensation by winning the dead mixed doubles
rubber in tiebreak in result that could yet have
significance for australia hopes of reaching the final
hewitt aiming for return to the top made it two wins from as many singles
matches to start dismantling the imposing isner serve early and then
needing just one break point to claim much tighter second set
the former world no was delighted with his form against isner particularly
with the way he handled the big man serve breaking it three times despite
aces
it was important to get good start and jump him early and was able to do
that hewitt said
felt like was reading his serve very well
moved extremely well passed extremely well and served as well as have in
long time
hewitt said that strapping around his knee was simply precautionary after
slightly jarring the joint on saturday
beaten in three sets by cirstea stosur fired down aces against last year
us open quarter finalist and was pleased with the improved consistency in her
game
already regarded as boasting one of the best serves in women tennis stosur
said she was still working on improving that aspect of her game
have been working on it the last few months and am starting to see the
improvement in the consistency regularly and am very happy that is the case
she said
tried to mix up where was going hit the corners pretty well and also
tried to serve into her body little bit to keep her guessing
us rally boosts asian markets
hong kong jan afp
strong rally on wall street spurred by positive economic data in the united
states and china helped asian markets power ahead on tuesday
commodities stocks were the main gainers as crude oil pushed well past the
dollar mark on the back of upbeat sentiment over the global recovery as well as
the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere
tokyo shares closed up percent at while hong kong was
percent higher and singapore up percent in afternoon trade
overall sentiment is upbeat tsuyoshi kawata senior strategist at nikko
cordial securities in japan told dow jones newswires
shanghai was up percent by midday and sydney closed percent higher at
pushed by resources firms thanks to oil rally
however seoul bucked the trend closing percent lower on concerns about
earnings prospects for local exporters as the south korean won gained against
the greenback
wall street jumped percent on the first day of trade for the new year as
dealers welcomed december manufacturing data showing the strongest pace of
activity by us industry since april
the institute for supply management said its manufacturing index also known as
the purchasing managers index pmi climbed to in december from in
november for fifth consecutive month of expansion any number above
indicates growth
that followed news on monday that two pmi surveys in china had shown strong
growth
after the pace of global expansion in manufacturing activity cooled in november
it has accelerated again in the final month of raising hopes that growth
in will be much better than last year nab capital analysts wrote in
note
this has buoyed stock markets pushed commodity prices higher and increased the
likelihood that global economic growth will continue to exceed that in the us by
comfortable margin weighing on the greenback
in asian trade tuesday new york main futures contract light sweet crude for
delivery in february was up cents to dollars barrel in the
afternoon
brent north sea crude for february delivery gained cents to dollars
reports that russia had cut fuel supplies to belarus helped pushed up prices
overnight despite denial from minsk dealers said
however the dollar fell back slightly as the positive economic outlook led
investors to seek out riskier plays
in asian trade the greenback fell to yen from in new york late
monday
in hong kong gold was at us dollars an ounce slightly down from its
open of dollars
elsewhere wellington stocks ended percent stronger at month high of
while manila added percent to taipei closed flat at
us embassy in yemen reopens as security concerns ease
sanaa jan afp
the us mission in yemen reopened tuesday following two day closure as security
fears prompted by al qaeda threats against western targets in the impoverished
country eased the embassy said
the embassy said on its website that yemeni security forces had addressed
specific area of concern in the north of the capital on monday paving the way
for tuesday reopening
warnings of possible al qaeda attack had led washington to close its embassy
in the yemeni capital on sunday the british and french authorities followed
suit while japan suspended consular services at its embassy
there was no sign on tuesday that the other missions had resumed normal
operations
successful counter terrorism operations conducted by the government of yemen
security forces january north of the capital have addressed specific area of
concern and have contributed to the embassy decision to resume operations
it said
the statement appeared also to refer to security operation conducted by yemeni
police monday in the area of arhab kilometres miles north of sanaa
where two suspected members of al qaeda were killed and three others wounded
the united states commends the government of yemen for its efforts to disrupt
al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap networks and reiterates its commitment
to continue to support these efforts it added
the statement was referring to al qaeda franchise in yemen which claimed
responsibility for the failed attack on us airliner on christmas day and
urged attacks on western interests in the country
the yemen interior ministry said tuesday that all foreign missions and interests
were safe pointing out that it has reinforced security measures around
embassies and residents of foreigners
the ministry also said that is arrested five terrorist elements over the past
two days near the capital but gave no details
the culprit of the botched attack on the northwest airlines flight from
amsterdam to detroit umar farouk abdulmutallab has reportedly confessed to
being trained by an al qaeda bombmaker in yemen for his suicide mission
us president barack obama has revealed that abdulmutallab spent time in yemen
during the summer where he was allegedly in contact with aqap
us secretary of state hillary clinton had on monday said washington would reopen
its mission in yemen when the conditions permit
the instability in yemen is threat to regional stability and even global
stability clinton told reporters in washington following talks with qatari
prime minister sheikh hamad bin jassem bin jabr al thani
and certainly we know that this is difficult set of challenges but they
have to be addressed clinton said
speaking on visit to qatar yemeni foreign minister abu bakr al kurbi said on
monday that his country needed help to take on the militants who have found the
impoverished arabian peninsula country fertile ground for recruitment
certainly there is problem with al qaeda and an interest among the
international community in its activities kurbi said
yemen is capable of confronting these groups but it needs international aid to
form and train anti terrorist units as well as economic aid since the problem
also has an economic dimension
obama counter terrorism adviser john brennan said on sunday that washington
was making determined and concerted effort to help fund yemen special
counter terrorism unit
at the same time us officials said yemen was one of terror linked
countries to which enhanced airline passenger screening would be applied cuba
iran sudan syria afghanistan libya nigeria pakistan and somalia are among
some of the other countries affected
the new designation means that all passengers flying into the united states from
the countries will be subject to measures such as body pat downs and searches of
their hand luggage
bur ak bpz
china says still room for talks on iran nuclear issue
beijing jan afp
china on tuesday called for continued dialogue to resolve the international
standoff over iran nuclear programme saying there was still room for
diplomacy
we believe that dialogue and negotiation are the proper way to resolve the iran
nuclear issue foreign ministry spokeswoman jiang yu told reporters
we still have room for diplomatic efforts and we hope all parties will adopt
more flexible and pragmatic policies to enhance the diplomatic efforts so as to
promote an early resumption of talks
the statement came after the united states on monday said the door is still
open for iran to meet world demands on its nuclear aims but warned it was
discussing with its allies the next steps which could include sanctions
tehran has dismissed us set deadline of december to agree to un brokered
nuclear fuel swap deal and instead issued the west one month ultimatum
expiring january to accept counter proposal
the door is of course still open for iran to do the right thing and live up to
its international obligations said bill burton white house spokesman
separately us secretary of state hillary clinton said the united states has
discussed with its allies pressure and sanctions on iran over its nuclear
programme which the west suspects is cover for atomic weapons building
the deal brokered by the un nuclear watchdog the international atomic energy
agency iaea called on tehran to ship most of its low enriched uranium leu
stockpile abroad to be further enriched into reactor fuel
despite the threat of tougher sanctions iran came out with its own proposal of
simultaneous and staged swap of leu with reactor fuel
iranian foreign minister manouchehr mottaki said iran would press on with plans
to produce higher enriched nuclear fuel if there is no agreement
on monday the chinese spokeswoman in statement faxed to afp called for
consensus on the iaea proposal by all concerned parties at an early date
china is involved in the talks on iran nuclear programme along with britain
france russia and the united states the other four permanent members of the
un security council and germany
iran is already under three sets of security council sanctions over its defiance
and refusal to suspend enrichment which lies at the heart of international
fears about its nuclear programme
nestle buys kraft american pizza unit for bln dollars
zurich jan afp
food giant nestle tuesday announced it was buying kraft foods frozen pizza
units in the united states and canada for billion dollars billion
euros
this frozen pizza business greatly enhances nestle frozen food activities in
north america bringing together selection of great us and canadian brands
industry leading amp and excellent route to market capabilities which
complement our existing ice cream direct store delivery nestle chief paul
bulke said
with total sales of around billion swiss francs nestle will become the
world leader in the attractive fast growing frozen pizza category he said
nestle statement said the us is the largest pizza market in the world with
consumer sales of about billion dollars
it said with estimated sales of billion dollars in kraft foods was the
leader in the frozen pizza category and had enjoyed double digit growth in the
us and canada over the last four years
the brands include digiorno tombstone and california pizza kitchen
selling this business now not only delivers an attractive return for our
shareholders but enables us to better focus our resources on priority global
brands and categories said kraft chief executive officer irene rosenfeld
nestle is well positioned to continue building these powerhouse pizza brands
given its strength in frozen foods rosenfeld said
authorities assess damage after solomons quake and tsunami
honiara jan afp
authorities in the solomon islands said tuesday around people had been
left homeless by powerful earthquakes and tsunami which hit the isolated
western region of the south pacific nation
the national disaster management office scaled back initial estimates that
homes had been destroyed or damaged in the worst affected areas on rendova and
tetepare islands which lie about kilometres miles west of the capital
honiara
aftershocks continued into tuesday following monday largest quake with
magnitude of which set off tsunami estimated to be up to eight feet
almost metres in height in some areas
disaster management office spokesman julian makaa said there had still been no
reports of serious injuries or deaths from the region
makaa said initial reports of damage had been checked and estimates scaled back
since yesterday we ve reduced that figure after we verified some of the
earlier reports and we think it much less he said adding it could be days
before more accurate figures were available
two patrol boats carrying relief supplies were due to arrive in the affected
area later tuesday
one man interviewed by solomon islands one television station said monday
powerful quake had caused widespread panic on rendova island forcing people to
flee from coastal communities
but large landslips on the hillsides made it difficult for many people to move
inland he added
the memory of april tsunami which followed an quake was still fresh
in many people memories that disaster killed people destroyed hundreds of
homes and left thousands homeless
rendova is home to around people according to the un children fund
unicef which is rebuilding schools on the island following the
tsunami
unicef pacific representative isiye ndombi said rapid response teams had been
sent to rendova and tetepare largely uninhabited island except for an eco
tourism venture
solomon islands police said foreign tourists none of whom was hurt had
been evacuated from tetepare
the disaster management office warned local communities the aftershocks from the
earthquakes were expected to continue for about three days
airbus set to ditch transport plane report
frankfurt jan afp
the head of european plane maker airbus is preparing to ditch its military
transport project which is bogged down in talks with clients german press
report said on tuesday
thomas enders reportedly told group of airbus directors last month he no
longer believed in pursuing the programme and had begun to prepare for it to be
terminated the financial times deutschland said
lists of engineers to be transferred from the to the development of two
other key aircraft the superjumbo and the have already been drawn
up the newspaper added
airbus and its parent group the european aeronautic defence and space company
eads have been in discussions over cost overruns for several months with
seven countries that were to buy the transport plane
total of aircraft had been ordered for around billion euros billion
dollars but clients are being asked to pony up billions more to cover
unexpected costs
the newspaper said enders estimated the chances of reaching an agreement at
around
and the german boss is not ready to threaten the civil aviation division which
is doing well just for the source close to the matter was quoted as
saying
the plane made its maiden flight on december in spain but deliveries are at
least three years behind schedule
nestle buys kraft american pizza unit for bln dollars
zurich jan afp
food giant nestle tuesday announced it was buying kraft foods frozen pizza
units in the united states and canada for billion dollars billion
euros
this frozen pizza business greatly enhances nestle frozen food activities in
north america bringing together selection of great us and canadian brands
industry leading amp and excellent route to market capabilities which
complement our existing ice cream direct store delivery nestle chief paul
bulke said
with total sales of around billion swiss francs nestle will become the
world leader in the attractive fast growing frozen pizza category he said
ale ach mjs
korea mobilises civil servants soldiers to clear snow
seoul jan afp
south korea mobilised tens of thousands of civil servants and soldiers tuesday
