affairs might be longing for president who brings sense of civil virtue to
the table even if it is sterile other analysts argue
the mild mannered intellectual has campaigned under the slogan justice for
croatia insisting on the need to fight corruption and return of morals in
politics
decisive fight against corruption and crime is my main task josipovic said
he vowed to eradicate enrichment founded on corruption instead on work and
political and family ties as top criteria for one progress
josipovic is married and has daughter
milan bandic bandic the popular mayor of zagreb is running as an
independent candidate after being expelled from the main opposition spd party in
november when he announced his candidacy for the presidency
with his conservative viewpoints notably strong links with the powerful roman
catholic church and support of traditional values bandic was often an odd man
out within the opposition social democrats
the bosnian born veteran politician studied politics at zagreb university and
first became major of zagreb in
forced to resign after three years following drink driving scandal in which
he fled from police bandic styles himself as an ordinary man of flesh and
blood
passionate long distance runner he has promised to work like horse for
croatia if he is elected president bandic names his leading virtues are
patriotism philanthropy and love of god and promises to stand up for the
little man
critics point to bandic suspected links with corruption in the capital his
alleged incompetence for the job and reputation for empty rhetoric the
energetic populist has countered that deeds are better than words and stresses
the country needs man who had already proven himself
bandic is expected to attract votes of those backing the ruling conservatives
whose candidate did not make into the run off as well as supporters of
rightwing parties he is also very popular among the some ethnic croats
living in bosnia who have the right to vote in the presidential elections
bandic is married and has daughter
eu aspirant croatia elects president on sunday
zagreb jan afp
croatians vote sunday in run off presidential election with leftist law
professor and populist mayor both promising crackdown on corruption to
secure the former yugoslav republic eu entry
while ivo josipovic the candidate of the main opposition social democrats
sdp is the favourite according to the polls surge in turnout could help
popular zagreb mayor milan bandic pull off an upset
josipovic won the first round on december with percent of the vote
more than double the support for his rival milan bandic and has maintained
lead of to points according to various opinion polls
bandic who was expelled from josipovic sdp party in november when he
announced he would run for president has sharpened his rhetoric hoping to woo
supporters of the ruling conservative croatian democratic union hdz whose
candidate did not make it into the run off
these also include some ethnic croats living in bosnia who
traditionally back the conservatives and are entitled to vote as they have dual
nationality bandic also enjoys the backing of the powerful roman catholic
church
analysts say that josipovic has less of reserve of possible new supporters
and that big turnout on sunday could favour bandic only percent of the
electorate cast ballots in the first round
both candidates are running on similar platform promising to crack down on
corruption one of the key remaining hurdles to croatia eu entry and
popular theme in the country which has plunged into deep economic crisis
croatia hopes to join the eu by putting it squarely within the new
president five year mandate
if croatia chooses me it will get decent man and program that can be
achieved said josipovic who has campaigned under the slogan justice for
croatia
bandic he emphasised his proven competency in running the capital since
during the past years made zagreb into civilized european capital and
convinced that can do the same from croatia my rival did not do anything
concrete in that sense he told afp
despite the candidates wide ranging pledges the croatian president has limited
powers which were curtailed by the incumbent stipe mesic who steps down on
february after serving the maximum two mandates
in croatia the president is the supreme commander of the army helps shape
foreign policy and takes part in the nomination of secret services chiefs
with such similar political platforms observers say voters will look to the
different personalities and temperament of the candidates
while josipovic law professor and classical composer is credited for
his untarnished political career and his competency analysts warn the chemistry
between the mild mannered intellectual and voters is lacking
in contrast the energetic year old bandic is an outspoken populist who spent
years cultivating his image of fighter for the common man
however during debates bandic made several gaffes about foreign policy and
independent observers point to his suspected links with corruption in the
capital which could work against him
total of million croatians are entitled to vote the polling stations open
at am gmt and close at pm gmt exit polls are to be released
shortly after polls close with the first official results expected by midnight
japan uniqlo enjoys soaring profit
tokyo jan afp
the operator of japan recession busting clothing chain uniqlo said friday its
quarterly profit surged on strong sales of winter underwear upgrading its full
year outlook
fast retailing said its net profit jumped percent from year earlier to
billion yen million dollars in the three months to november
operating profit surged percent to billion yen in the first quarter of
the group business year on revenue of billion yen up percent
year on year the company said
the strong performance was mainly due to brisk sales of autumn and winter lines
led by uniqlo heattech innerwear
sales of heattech have remained strong as we considerably raised the quantity
of the products toshihisa tokunaga senior official of the firm said
adding that some of the items sold out in december
tokunaga also attributed the firm robust performance to an expansion in its
operations across asia as well as europe and the united states despite tough
competition with its foreign rivals such as gap zara and amp
sales at uniqlo new flagship paris store which opened in september have been
better than expected he said
fast retailing revised upward its forecast for the full business year to august
predicting net profit of billion yen against an earlier estimate
of billion yen
it anticipates record operating profit of billion yen on revenue of
billion yen which would also be an all time best
the casual clothing empire founded by billionaire tadashi yanai is seen as
rare success story in japan retail sector which is struggling in the face of
weak consumer spending and renewed deflation
finnish november trade surplus slumps customs
helsinki jan afp
finland trade surplus was halved to million euros in november year on
year preliminary figures from the national board of customs showed on friday
the figure down from million euros in november was weighed down by
lower export income from oil products electronics paper and machinery the
agency said
in october finland trade surplus was billion euros
for the period january november finland foreign trade surplus fell to
billion euros from billion euros year ago despite one billion euro
boost to october exports stemming from ship delivery it said
finnish november trade surplus slumps customs
helsinki jan afp
finland trade surplus was halved to million euros in november year on
year preliminary figures from the national board of customs showed on friday
the figure down from million euros in november was weighed down by
lower export income from oil products electronics paper and machinery the
agency said
in october finland trade surplus was billion euros
for the period january november finland foreign trade surplus fell to
billion euros from billion euros year ago despite one billion euro
boost to october exports stemming from ship delivery it said
white house pushes health energy education innovation
las vegas nevada jan afp
chief us technology officer aneesh chopra has challenged business leaders and
software developers here to provide more innovation in the fields of health
energy and education
we don have lot of innovation yet about how consumers can communicate with
our electronic health record systems and smart meters and frankly education
technology chopra said thursday in an appearance at the international consumer
electronics show ces in las vegas
we need more innovation he said
chopra who was appointed as the country first chief technology officer by
president barack obama in april said electronic health records should be more
widely available
if you ask how many people receive an electronic record of their health
information after they visit physician or hospital would be shocked if
it was more than five percent he said
it probably more like two percent that one of the provisions we re calling
for the ability of patients to get records within hours of their request
chopra said
we should have fairly open standard that will allow entrepreneurs to make
that low cost product that physicians and hospitals could acquire he said
chopra added that one key barrier to innovation has been lack of
standardization that would help provide an environment for new applications
innovative applications spur demand he said citing the example of apple
iphone which has given rise to more than associated software programs
created by outside developers
the average utility company might have homepage that would welcome you to log
in and look at summary data he said
that is lot different than opening up that information for any of
people who can consume that information add to it mash up useful information
and inform you of what you need to know so that you can make better decisions
he said
chr cl mlm
first direct flight between russia and georgia after war
tbilisi jan afp
russia and georgia on friday re opened air traffic with the first direct flight
from the georgian capital since the two countries war in august an afp
journalist witnessed
the georgian airways charter flight took off from tbilisi at gmt and was
expected in moscow at gmt officials said
in all five charter flights will shuttle between moscow and saint petersburg
from january to but no further charter flights are yet scheduled
moscow has not so far authorised the georgian airline request for the
resumption of regular flights
georgian and russian aviation authorities will hold negotiations and hope the
regular flights will be resumed soon georgian airways chief executive tamaz
gaiashvili told afp
direct flights have been suspended since the two countries went to war over the
russian backed separatist georgian region of south ossetia
last month in the first sign of thaw in relations georgia and russia
announced they had agreed to re open their land border to traffic
under swiss mediation they agreed to open the land crossing at upper lars
the only one that does not pass through either south ossetia or georgia other
rebel region of abkhazia
fighting erupted in august when russian forces poured into georgia to
repel georgian military attempt to retake south ossetia
russian forces later mostly withdrew to within south ossetia and abkhazia both
of which moscow recognised as independent states move so far followed by only
nicaragua venezuela and the pacific island state of nauru
moscow cut air links with georgia during the war only four months after they
had resumed following an month embargo
taiwan to start trade talks with china this month pm
taipei jan afp
taiwan premier wu den yih said friday his government will begin negotiating
with china later this month on major trade pact in bid to sign the agreement
in may
the initial contacts will start on january wu told reporters it would be
best if we could sign the deal in may am looking forward to it
taiwan china friendly government is eager to conclude the trade pact known as
the economic cooperation framework agreement ecfa which it says could lift
growth and boost employment
wu noted some public scepticism stressing that his government will only strike
the deal with the consent of the public and parliament
we cannot neglect the people feelings we have to let them understand why
our country and our industries need ecfa in order to stay competitive he said
the needs are even more pressing now after china and countries in the
association of southeast asian nations asean decided to establish the world
biggest free trade area he said
but the opposition democratic progressive party which favours independence from
china opposes the pact fearing it would increase taiwan reliance on china
and imperil the island separate status
taiwan and china have been governed independently 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 have improved since taiwan current administration assumed power in
may pursuing programme of stepping up economic ties
tennis great britain laura robson on the rise
perth australia jan afp
world no elena dementieva has praised young english starlet laura robson who
will team with andy murray in great britain first hopman cup final appearance
on saturday as one to watch
and murray believes his british team mate has the tools to be one of the best
players in the world
the year old robson was beaten in straight sets by dementieva in their
singles clash at the mixed teams hopman cup friday the russian reeling off the
last eight games of the match to win
however the first set was testing affair for one of the veterans of the
women game with dementieva and robson trading service breaks until the
year old prevailed after minutes
while the th ranked robson finished the round robin stage without win in
her three singles matches her competitiveness belied her age and inexperience
in losses to yaroslava shvedova sabine lisicki and dementieva
displaying some impressive groundstrokes and solid serve robson took the
first set off shvedova and lost tight first set tiebreak to lisicki
her form in mixed doubles with world no andy murray was even better the
teenager showing good hands at the net and an unshakeable temperament under
pressure to help the british into the mixed teams final
dementieva the highest ranked player robson had ever come up against was
extremely impressed by her young rival
she has got big future dementieva said noting that robson was almost young
enough to be her daughter
she playing unbelievably well for years old
very enthusiastic around the court trying as hard as possible and very
professional
was very impressed with her
robson became the third year old to reach the hopman cup final and it places
her in elite company
the others were former world no martina hingis and jelena dokic who reached
fourth in the world
murray said robson was star on the rise
what is most impressive for her age under pressure think she is great he
said
she doesn make silly mistakes she doesn make bad decisions at important
stages of matches
at that age you can improve so many things and one thing that will make big
difference as she gets older is that when you play these matches at this level
it is maintaining your level through the whole match
it won take her that long to be able to do that and when she does she going
to get to the top
robson is clearly natural competitor and hasn used her inexperience as
cover for her singles losses this week
that not an excuse she said of the gulf in experience after her loss to
lisicki
in fact robson who earned the biggest pay cheque of her career here regardless
of the result of saturday final said she embraced playing top players
usually player better against better people she said
tennis britain into first hopman cup final
perth australia jan afp
great britain have reached their first hopman cup final after andy murray and
teenager laura robson beat russia in their final group tie here friday
the battle for the right to play spain in saturday final went right down to
the wire with the british needing to win the mixed doubles against elena
dementieva and igor andreev to stop qualifier kazakhstan snatching top spot in
the group
however with robson again defying her inexperience murray in peak form and
andreev out of sorts the british pair won thrilling clash in tense match
tiebreak to remain unbeaten in their group ties and earn
the right to face spanish duo maria jose martinez sanchez and tommy robredo
both spain and great britain were unbeaten in the round robin group ties with
robredo looking to become dual winner of the event
in the crucial mixed doubles against the russians the british made their move
on the andreev serve in the th game of the doubles match breaking to secure
the first set
however the russians came from down in the second set to level the tie
before the british steadied to break kazakhstan hearts
seeded third it is only britain fourth appearance in the mixed teams
tournament and first since they were represented by jo durie and jeremy bates in
in good omen for the melbourne born robson only two year olds have
previously played at the hopman cup and both martina hingis and jelena dokic won
the mixed teams title
in the women singles robson started well and pushed dementieva early but the
russian steadied to win the last eight games of the match and triumph
the men singles was tennis lesson for the th ranked andreev as the
imposing murray simply blew him off the court hitting winners to
four
it continued murray impeccable form here and the world no looks right on
target for the upcoming australian open
kazakhstan which beat germany on friday to stay in the hunt for spot in the
final was left ruing narrow loss to the british on monday
the kazakh pairing of yaroslava shvedova and andrey golubev which qualified for
the tournament by winning the asia hopman cup actually held match and tie point
in the match tiebreak of deciding mixed doubles rubber against the british
but couldn convert it
had they done so they would have been unbeaten and playing spain in the final
tokyo shares may mark pause next week analysts
tokyo jan afp
fast rising japanese shares may take breather next week as worries grow that
the market may be overheating dealers said friday
weaker yen may keep sentiment generally upbeat particularly if accompanied by
fresh signs of recovery in the us economy they added
but there are concerns that stocks may have risen too quickly and the uncertain
outlook for corporate earnings may come back into focus during the upcoming
results season in the united states and japan
in the first trading week of through january the nikkei index of the
tokyo exchange gained points or percent to
the broader topix index of all first section shares gained points or
percent to during the week to friday
the swift rise in japanese shares is starting to raise some worries among
investors said toshihiko matsuno senior strategist at smbc friend securities
investors are starting to talk about the speed of the rise as being very fast
it is possible that at some point the market will take breather he said
the nikkei has soared more than points or almost percent since
november when worries about dubai debt crisis were shaking markets
but stocks could remain well supported if the us jobs market shows further signs
of an improvement dealers said
nomura securities analysts said in memo to clients that the recovery outlook
for the american economy was the main focus of the market
us consumer confidence numbers and japanese machinery orders data should also
provide trading cues next week nomura said
upcoming us corporate earnings results for the october december quarter may also
influence trading japan quarterly earnings season is also due to get into
full swing later this month
the appointment of japan new finance minister naoto kan should have limited
long term impact on the market analysts said although exporter shares could
benefit if he reiterates his preference for weaker yen
mr kan appointment was not shock but the market will keep its eyes on
what mr kan might say matsuno said
wto chief says world recovery not guaranteed in
paris jan afp
the world economy may not emerge out of crisis in due to bubbles created
by the huge injections of money used to keep the financial system operating
world trade organisation chief pascal lamy said friday
you have to be realistic it is not guaranteed the wto director general said
on french radio when asked whether the world economy would recover in
there is no doubt we have reached the bottom of the pool but the speed at which
we are coming up again is not clear in flooding the economic and financial
system with public money we have also created bubbles which will have to be
absorbed lamy told france culture radio
governments around the world have spent trillions of dollars over the past
months avoiding the collapse of the financial system and then trying to claw
away from recession
the wto chief highlighted the dynamism of the emerging economic powers china
brazil india and south africa in avoiding the worst of the crisis
these are the more dynamic better run less endebted countries said lamy
these are the countries which are from certain point of view better run than
the western economies
swiss unemployment reaches percent in official data
geneva jan afp
unemployment in switzerland climbed to percent in up from percent
year ago latest official data showed friday
the turbulences that rattled the financial markets around the world have
significantly affected the employment situation in switzerland the economy
ministry said in statement
after having recorded in six year low monthly and annual average rates
unemployment figures have grown by over people in total in due to
the recession it added
for the month of december unemployment rate reached year high of
percent up from percent in november
the number of people who signed up as unemployed reached up from
november
muslim guerrillas attack philippine official milf
manila jan afp
five muslim guerrillas were killed in failed attack on government official
in southern philippine province where political massacre occurred last year
the rebels spokesman said friday
moro islamic liberation front milf rebels led by two local commanders sought
to kill town councillor tamano mamalapat on thursday but the official own
gunmen successfully fought back milf spokesman eid kabalu told afp
five milf rebels were killed and another five were wounded kabalu said adding
he believed there were no casualties among mamalapat party
the motive for the attack in saudi ampatuan town of maguindanao province is
longstanding land conflict between the families of the councillor and the two
commanders said kabalu
local military spokesman major randolph cabangbang confirmed the battle between
the two sides and said there were casualties but gave no figures
the attack breaks ceasefire between the government and the strong milf
which has been fighting to set up separate islamic state in the southern
philippines since
the conflict has left more than people dead according to the military
peace efforts between the two sides were only revived last month after talks
collapsed in the wake of bloody attacks by two other milf commanders in august
which claimed about lives
kabalu conceded the attacks might be considered violation of the ceasefire and
that the leadership of the milf the country largest muslim rebel group had
ordered the two commanders to stop fighting
concrete measures will be taken up in addressing the problem kabalu said
without elaborating
maguindanao province was the scene of massacre of people in november
carried out allegedly by the powerful ampatuan clan to keep rival from running
against them in this year national elections
kabalu said the latest clash did not involve the ampatuans
however the ampatuans which had ruled the province since had been allowed
by president gloria arroyo national government to run their own private armies
as proxy force to control the milf
the government disbanded the ampatuans private forces in the wake of the
massacre and arrested the clan leaders potentially giving the milf more
freedoms in maguindanao
urgent russia georgia re open air link
tbilisi jan afp
russia and georgia re opened air traffic on friday with the first direct flight
from the georgian capital since the two countries brief war in august an
afp journalist witnessed
don need favour of foreign powers afghanistan karzai
kabul jan afp
afghanistan president hamid karzai whose fragile government is propped up by
more than foreign troops said friday he does not need the favour of
the international community
the us and nato have troops fighting taliban insurgency trying to
topple karzai and destabilise the war torn impoverished and corrupt country
with more than international troop deaths in the war is becoming more
deadly for foreign and afghan troops alike as it drags into its ninth year since
the islamist regime was toppled in
diplomats in kabul say without the western military presence karzai
government would soon collapse as the taliban is spreading its footprint across
the country and setting up shadow administrative and judicial systems
while being propped up by western forces set to rise this year to and
billions of dollars in annual aid karzai told al jazeera television his job is
to win the hearts and minds of the afghan people
have to win the hearts and minds of the afghan people have to be
legitimate and have the trust of the afghan people if am to be good
president karzai said
the legitimacy of my government has to be given by the afghan people
with the international community don have to have their favour they are
here for purpose which is the fight on terror and we are working with them
for purpose which is the stability and safety of afghanistan so we have
common purpose
karzai began second five year term in november after being declared the winner
of an august president poll that descended into ballot stuffing farce with
investigators finding that about million votes for karzai were fake
in the interview he said afghanistan is good model of democracy and has
done well in education and economy despite the fact that millions of
children do not go to school extremists intimidation limits girls education
and the economy is based principally on the illegal poppy trade
but he said in terms of security we have failed
as the us and nato prepare to send in almost more troops and adjust the
war strategy from concentration on the battlefield to development and
reconstruction karzai said they must also help build afghan security forces
if these forces are coming only to chase the taliban at the cost of afghan
civilians of course that not going to produce any good consequences for us
he said
we are also seeking that they must provide better training and equipment to
afghan forces and police so that we can soon start to take responsibility for
the security of our country
karzai has promised his international backers that the afghan army and police
will be able to take responsibility for the country security by the end of his
term which will allow foreign forces to draw down
us president barack obama has said he wants to begin withdrawal in mid
conditional on the ability of the afghans to the job themselves
billions of dollars are being poured into training afghan security forces with
the aim of boosting the army to
obama announcement has provided afghanistan with an incentive karzai said
afghanistan must very soon begin to provide for its own security so we
should speed up efforts to have our own forces security and means to defend our
country hope our international partners will support us to that end
he said recent militant attack on us base near the pakistan border which
killed eight people including seven cia agents was condemnable but used
the interview to criticise foreign troops for civilian casualties
it is touchstone issue for karzai who in recent weeks has used it to bolster
his own popularity with populace weary of war and quick to blame western
forces though most civilian deaths are caused by the taliban
want the nato countries to understand that the war on terror is not in the
afghan villages it not in the pursuit of every man that wearing turban
and has beard and is wearing the national dress of afghanistan he said
these are the citizens of this country and they must be respected and then
we will have peace and success
amazon in the sights of reader rivals
las vegas nevada jan afp
rivals are lining up to try to knock amazon kindle off its throne offering
electronic readers aimed at business professionals or devices geared more to
newspapers and magazines than books
some two dozen companies are displaying readers this year at the consumer
electronics show ces in las vegas more than ever before and the organizers
have provided them with coveted dedicated space for the first time
while host of new readers are on display two of the biggest players or
potential players are absent amazon itself and apple which is reported to
be coming out this month with tablet computer that may double as an reader
none of the current crop of readers offers what apple is rumored to have in
the works full color display although number of manufacturers told afp
on thursday that color figured highly in their future plans
with amazon considered the king of books even if it refuses to reveal
kindle sales figures several other firms are looking to fill niche in the
growing market
japan sony reader has been nipping at amazon heels for some time and another
asian electronics giant south korea samsung jumped into the fray this week
with two readers the which has six inch centimeter screen and
