the imminent rise will be the first since china adopted looser monetary policy
in november
chinese developers on the hang seng fell sharply blue chip china overseas land
fell percent to hong kong dollars other blue chip developers with
property projects in china were also hit with wharf holdings falling
percent to
china resources land dropped percent to
banks in the southern chinese city were also down with china construction bank
percent off at and icbc down percent at
the rate hike is sooner than expected and indicates bank lending has remained
worryingly strong so far this month and december inflation is very likely to be
higher than expected said essence securities analyst gao weidong
in shanghai banks led wednesday decline industrial and commercial bank of
china fell percent to yuan and bank of china was down percent at
yuan
real estate developers remained weak on concerns over further tightening
measures targeting the sector traders said
china vanke the country largest real estate developer by market value fell
percent to yuan and poly real estate was down percent at
yuan
indonesian anti graft protesters clash during inquiry
jakarta jan afp
hundreds of indonesians pelted each other with stones outside parliament
wednesday as lawmakers grilled finance minister sri mulyani indrawati over
controversial bank bailout
one protester was punched and kicked by the mob as about anti graft
protesters from rival groups set upon each other in the latest sign of mounting
anger over pervasive corruption
they clashed for about half an hour outside the parliament building the police
managed to calm them central jakarta police chief hamidin told afp
the demonstrators from little known groups called the youth network movement and
white revolution were protesting against the government decision to pump some
million dollars into failing bank century in
lawmakers have been publicly questioning ministers and central bank officials as
part of parliamentary inquiry into the rescue package which has been linked
to string of damaging corruption allegations
indrawati told the inquiry the bailout in november which was around
times larger than initially approved was necessary to prevent systemic
economic meltdown at the height of global economic crisis
her defence matched earlier testimony from vice president boediono who was
central bank governor at the time of the bailout
the country top auditor has found strong indications of violations in the
bailout procedures and recommended full investigation
president susilo bambang yudhoyono has denied allegations that some of the money
went to his political patrons and to charitable organisations that subsequently
backed his election campaign
three wounded in blast in hezbollah bastion
kfar fila lebanon jan afp
an explosion in village in south lebanon considered bastion of hezbollah
wounded three people two of them young children on wednesday officials said
the youngsters one of whom lost leg in the blast were on their way to school
when the bomb went off
hospital official in the town of nabatiyeh where the wounded were taken
identified the children as diana and hassan zreik their father was identified
as mohammed zreik
diana had her left leg amputated and was seriously wounded her brother
hassan suffered slight wounds to his face the official who spoke on
condition of anonymity told afp
the third victim was identified as zeinab hazimeh who suffered wounds to
her hands and face
lebanese media said the blast in the village of kfar fila kilometres
miles east of the coastal city of sidon struck in front of three storey
building that is the home of hezbollah member
security official identified the owner of the building as hussein saeed
hamdan
he said it was unclear whether hamdan was the target or was even in the building
when the explosion took place
we don know what kind of explosive it was or who was targeted the official
told afp
kfar fila has long been bastion of shiite militant group hezbollah which
fought devastating war with israel
hezbollah official contacted by afp had no immediate comment on the explosion
societe generale reports us property risks shares fall
paris jan afp
societe generale bank warned on wednesday that fourth quarter results would be
weaker than investors had expected owing to risks linked to the us housing
market and its shares fell by percent
the bank one of the top french banks with strong international activities said
it would only make slight profit in the last quarter of because of
charge of billion euros billion dollars for assets considered at risk
the market had expected the bank to report quarterly profit of one billion
euros an analyst who declined to be named told afp
this would have had significant impact on the results for the whole of
in the first nine months of the year the bank made net profit of million
euros it is to report results for the fourth quarter on february
the bank said that in the light of conflicting signals coming from the us
residential property market it had decided to mark down sharply the prospects
for the valuation of its holdings of bonds based on risky property loans
in addition to marking down valuations the bank had also made provisions as
result raising the estimated rate of bad loans and reducing the rate of loan
recovery
it also took charge of million euros under the so called mark to market
rule whereby the value of some assets must be downgraded in the accounts if the
market value has fallen
the fourth quarter figure will take account of capital gain of about
million euros on merger of the asset management businesses sgam and caam
known as the amundi deal
however the bank said that the fourth quarter results should confirm the
underlying strength of retail banking in france and of the private banking
division as well as the resilience of the international networks in central
europe and in the mediterranean basin
the price of shares in the bank slumped by percent to euros in early
trading the overall french market was showing fall of percent on the cac
index
three jordanian peacekeepers killed in haiti quake army
amman jan afp
three jordanian peacekeepers were killed and wounded in the massive
earthquake that rocked haiti the army said on wednesday
major atta manasir major asharf jaiusi and corporal raed khawaldeh of the
jordanian peacekeeping force in haiti died in the earthquake that hit the area
on tuesday night an army spokesman said in statement
twenty one other members of the armed forces were slightly injured in the
quake
the spokesman gave no further details
the strongest earthquake to hit haiti in over century jolted the impoverished
caribbean nation tuesday toppling buildings and triggering fears that hundreds
have been killed in widespread destruction
attacks kill one wound in thai south police
yala thailand jan afp
suspected militants launched series of bomb and shooting attacks in thailand
muslim majority south wednesday killing one man and wounding including
three soldiers police said
more than people have been killed since separatist islamic insurgency
erupted in january in thailand troubled southernmost provinces bordering
malaysia
an unknown number of gunmen shot three men as they carried out maintenance work
on power line in pattani province on wednesday police said all three were
taken to hospital where one later died of his injuries
bomb hidden in motorcycle was detonated by mobile phone outside tea shop
in pattani main provincial town early wednesday wounding five villagers said
police
another bomb exploded shortly afterwards at food market in neighbouring yala
province injuring four people including three soldiers they said
gunmen five minutes later targeted three male fruit vendors in drive by
shooting nearby wounding all of them
the current insurgency erupted in january but tensions had bubbled under
the surface in the south since predominantly buddhist thailand annexed the
former malay muslim sultanate in
the shadowy militants never publicly state their goals and target security
forces officials and civilians alike
iran speaker accuses obama of state terrorism
tehran jan afp
parliament speaker ali larijani iran former chief nuclear negotiator accused
us president barack obama of state terrorism on wednesday over the killing in
tehran of leading nuclear scientist
in an angry address to iran conservative dominated parliament larijani
reiterated iranian charges that the us central intelligence agency and israel
mossad were behind the scientist death in bombing on tuesday
such filthy actions are easy to carry out but such adventurism will do you no
good the isna news agency quoted larijani as saying in reference to obama
you have practically promoted acts of terrorism he said
this black spot will be recorded in the dossier of us crimes against the
iranian nation
massoud ali mohammadi particle physics professor at prestigious tehran
university was killed by bomb strapped to motorcycle in the capital well
to do northern suburbs
neither the police nor the intelligence services have yet reported any leads in
their investigation into the murder but larijani blamed the cia and mossad
we had received clear information few days before the assassination that
the intelligence service of the zionist regime with the cooperation of the
cia were seeking to carry out terrorist act in tehran larijani said
they the israeli and us intelligence agencies might have thought that in the
face of certain internal disputes there was an opportunity to take this action
and that they could cause friction among academics and harm the country
nuclear research work larijani added
islamist students and the volunteer basij militia condemned the killing of ali
mohammadi who they described as basiji professor
but his name appeared on list of academics backing opposition leader mir
hossein mousavi in disputed june presidential election which gave hardline
president mahmoud ahmadinejad second term
the rare assassination came as the government faced the most sustained period of
protest since the revolution of with hundreds of thousands taking to the
streets of tehran after the election
the opposition charges the vote was massively rigged in ahmadinejad favour
for the past six months it has been holding anti government protests at every
opportunity many of which have been broken up by police who have arrested
hundreds of demonstrators
the daylight killing also came amid an increasingly bitter standoff between iran
and world powers over tehran controversial nuclear programme which the west
suspects is cover for weapons drive
larijani slammed obama for rashly resorting to monarchist group which has no
credibility to cover such an operation
this is new disgrace for mr obama he said
it seems you are entertained by this group statement how come you have
made your country den for terrorists
larijani was alluding to group called takavaran tondar which claimed
responsibility for the bombing on its website
but according to the rahesabz net opposition website the group later disavowed
the claim and accused iranian intelligence agents of plotting hoax
tehran officials have repeatedly accused the united states and israel of seeking
to foment unrest in iran the two countries have never ruled out military
strike to thwart iran nuclear programme
you are very pitiful mr obama larijani said
after all those claims of humanitarianism and change of policy today all
that is left standing is the same old war mongering and acts of terrorism
he was alluding to obama pledge on taking office last year to adopt new
policy of engagement with iran in contrast with the axis of evil rhetoric of
his predecessor george bush
larijani insisted that the scientist murder would have no impact on iran
nuclear programme
now they seek to eliminate nuclear scientists you will see that these
terrorist actions will achieve nothing and the iranian nation will safeguard its
nuclear success
iran has ignored repeated un security council ultimatums to suspend uranium
enrichment the sensitive process which makes nuclear fuel but in highly
extended form can also produce the fissile core of an atomic bomb
it is already under three sets of un sanctions major powers are to meet in new
york on saturday to discuss proposals for fourth
urgent three jordanian peacekeepers killed in haiti quake army
amman jan afp
three jordanian peacekeepers were killed and wounded in the massive
earthquake that rocked haiti the army said on wednesday
asia markets fall as china moves to curb credit
hong kong jan afp
fears that the global recovery may lose steam weighed on asian shares wednesday
as china moved to curb its credit boom and wall street earnings season got off
to weak start
tokyo closed percent lower as shares in stricken japan airlines tumbled
percent to just seven yen eight us cents on flood of sell orders due to
fears the carrier which faces bankruptcy will be delisted
the nikkei shed points to the selling is unstoppable said
hideaki higashi strategist at smbc friend securities
beijing move to raise the amount of money banks must hold in reserves by
basis points sent hong kong shares tumbling percent and shanghai
percent the heaviest falls so far this year for both bourses
hong kong hang seng index closed down points to while the
shanghai composite index fell points to
beijing decision followed move to raise the yield on one year chinese
government bills for the first time in five months after last week similar
move on another benchmark sale in sign of tighter borrowing costs
investors sentiment was hurt by the sooner than expected reserve requirement
ratio hike while concerns over further monetary tightening will make investors
more cautious in the future citic securities analyst yu jun told dow jones
newswires
sydney lost points or percent to led by resources as
investors took fright at china tightening moves
anything from stocks to currencies exposed to china are being sold said ig
markets research analyst ben potter the market wasn expecting the measures
so soon
engineering and maintenance group worleyparsons dropped percent to
australian dollars us dollars after lowering its full year profit
guidance
seoul kospi closed down points or percent at led by
steelmakers shipbuilders and brokerages on concerns china may soon raise
interest rates
wall street earlier provided weak lead where the dow jones index dropped
percent
traders mulled monday disappointing profit forecast from aluminium giant
alcoa the first of the blue chip us companies to release financial results
possible new us government fee or tax on financial institutions to help recoup
taxpayer bailout funds also weighed on banks
the dollar was mixed in asian trade as china policy moves sparked demand for
the safe haven greenback dealers said
the us unit gained to yen in tokyo afternoon trade from in new york
late tuesday the euro climbed to dollars from dollars and to
yen from
in singapore crude continued to fall from month highs posted earlier this
week on prospects of softening fuel demand in the united states the world
biggest oil consumer
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in february
fell cents to dollars
brent north sea crude for february delivery was down cents to dollars
hong kong gold ended lower at us dollars an ounce down from
tuesday close of dollars
in other markets
singapore straits times index fell percent or points to
investor sentiment will be influenced by the financial results of major us banks
next week and us retail data expected thursday dealers said
these will determine market movements for the next few weeks if they
disappoint it could trigger the long awaited correction dealer with
foreign brokerage said
taipei closed down points or percent at on concerns
china may take further steps to prevent overheating dealers said
it may take the market day or two to digest the selling pressure said mars
hsu of grand cathay securities
jakarta lost percent or points to
kuala lumpur fell percent or points to
manila closed percent or points down with the composite index
ending at
top traded philippine long distance telephone shed percent to pesos
wellington nzx index fell percent or points to
chinese peacekeepers missing in haiti quake state media
beijing jan afp
eight chinese peacekeepers were buried in rubble and were missing after
massive earthquake in haiti china state run media reported wednesday
the report followed the strongest earthquake in more than century in the
impoverished caribbean nation on tuesday which toppled buildings including the
headquarters of the un mission
in report on its website the china daily newspaper said the chinese
casualties were revealed by liu xiangyang vice president of the china national
earthquake disaster emergency rescue team
no other details were given
the un mission in the capital port au prince has run peacekeeping operations in
haiti since
the report said china has peacekeepers deployed in haiti
china foreign ministry issued statement expressing its sympathies to haiti
over the disaster and said it would send relief supplies and personnel without
giving any details
the chinese government expresses its deep concern and sympathy said the
statement on the ministry website
singaporean man murdered in thailand police
bangkok jan afp
thai police launched murder hunt wednesday after the naked body of retired
singaporean man was found dumped in field
teo ah yua had been strangled with his own shirt and his hands and legs
were tied with nylon ropes said police in the southeastern town of sri racha
teo was long term resident in thailand and was married to local woman
working in singapore police also found his passport and foreign currency
we have not found the motive but we guess he was killed elsewhere before his
body was dumped investigator lieutenant colonel suchart maneerat said
while thailand bills itself as the land of smiles for tourists and expats
there are regular incidents of foreigners falling prey to violence
imf launches mission to debt stricken greece
athens jan afp
team of international monetary fund experts on wednesday launched week long
mission to debt stricken greece to advise the government on how to overcome its
financial crisis the finance ministry said
the mission has arrived and will start the day by meeting finance minister
george papaconstantinou ministry source told afp
the team consists of five imf officials who will spend week here
the visit came after damning report from the european union this week on
greece economic statistics raised fears that the crisis could worsen
the imf said earlier it had been invited by greek authorities to explore
possibilities for technical assistance from the imf in the coming months on
pension reform tax policy tax administration and budget management
the mission is within the context of the regular surveillance that the imf
provides to its membership it said
greek officials have repeatedly stressed that the country does not intend to
apply for an imf loan
recession mired greece has public spending deficit that rose to percent
of output last year far above the percent ceiling permitted to countries
sharing the euro currency
it is also burdened by debt constituting percent of gross domestic product
gdp
prime minister george papandreou was expected to address greece economic woes
at new conference scheduled for later on wednesday
across the continent there is concern that serious fiscal problems in greece
and elsewhere threaten the credibility of the eurozone and could be precursor
to similar debt crises in other european economies
the nation eurozone first recession has exacerbated fiscal weakness among
its members presenting the european central bank with the challenge of dealing
with weaker economies such as greece portugal and spain
the recently elected greek socialist government which must present its crisis
plans to the european commission by late january has said it will cut the
deficit to percent in by slashing spending and fighting tax fraud
it aims to bring the deficit to below percent of gdp in
european officials have criticised athens for the failure to control its
finances and the three main credit rating agencies have all downgraded the
country sovereign debt standing
the european commission this week published damning report on greece
unreliable economic figures increasing the chances of the eu executive
launching infringement proceedings against athens
the report highlights the general lack of quality of the greek fiscal
statistics and failures of the relevant greek institutions in broad sense
commentator john authers writing in the financial times on wednesday said that
the eu report was broadside that raised fears once more that greece could
default without being bailed out by fellow eurozone members
the athens stock exchange closed percent down on tuesday after the report
was issued but was up percent in morning trading on wednesday
report by the european central bank in december said there was little chance
of eurozone member leaving or being forced out but the fact the bank produced
such document at all raised eyebrows in financial markets
pakistan school children killed as train slams into bus
multan pakistan jan afp
at least nine people eight of them children were killed and others injured
on wednesday when passenger train hit bus packed with school children in
central pakistan officials said
the crash took place at an unmanned crossing with no barrier near mian channun
town about kilometres miles east of the central city of multan in
punjab province which was enveloped in fog at the time
the lahore bound jaffer express collided with school van killing nine people
including two girls and the driver and wounding others senior police
official kamran khan told afp
mushtaq ahmad senior doctor at the government main hospital in mian
channun said the bodies of seven children and the driver reached his hospital
while other people were being treated for injuries
officials said the parents of the eighth dead child may have taken the body home
for burial
the primary school children were all aged around eight to years old and were
on their way to class when the accident happened
prime minister yousuf raza gilani ordered an inquiry into the tragic incident
the prime minister expressed deep grief and concern over the tragic road
accident in which several school children lost their lives statement issued
by his office said
gilani also asked state owned pakistan railways to ensure proper vigilance at
their unmanned crossings particularly during times of fog
pakistan has one of the world worst records for fatal rail and road accidents
blamed on poor infrastructure badly maintained vehicles and roads and reckless
driving
alert
three jordanian peacekeepers killed in haiti quake army
tennis hobart international results collated
hobart australia jan afp
results from the fourth day of the hobart international women tennis
tournament here wednesday denotes seed
second round
kirsten flipkens bel bt aleksandra wozniak can
carla suarez navarro esp bt alicia molik aus
sara errani ita bt kateryna bondarenko ukr
shahar peer isr bt jelena dokic aus
un without news from key relief agencies in haiti
geneva jan afp
the united nations said wednesday that it was without news from relief agencies
in haiti that were based in buildings outside the damaged main un headquarters
after the massive earthquake there
as they mobilised an international relief effort un aid officials said their
main headquarters at the christopher hotel in the capital port au prince had
sustained serious damage
for the moment we have no news from the people in the building there were
to people we don know how many were still there at pm local time
said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the office of the coordination of
humanitarian affairs
think there are more in other buildings opposite as well as unicef un
children fund and world food programme wfp buildings we have no news she
added
the situation is extremely serious she added underlining that communications
were extremely difficult and details were sketchy
ocha task force was meeting to coordinate international aid while standby
emergency relief teams were being mobilised byrs said
wfp to send to two planes of food to quake hit haiti spokesman
madrid jan afp
the un world food programme will send two planes with emergency food aid to
haiti to help survivors of huge earthquake in the impoverished caribbean
nation spokesman told spanish radio
the planes one from el salvador and the other from panama will head to haiti
wfp spokesman for latin america and the caribbean alejandro lopez chicheri
told spanish public radio from panama
food is of vital importance especially after the second or third days he
said adding the most urgently needed aid was medication water and rescuers to
help pull survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings
the wfp has very strong presence in haiti where it employs over people
said lopez chicheri
the strongest earthquake to hit haiti in over century rocked the impoverished
caribbean nation tuesday toppling buildings and triggering fears that hundreds
have been killed in widespread destruction
two us soldiers among seven killed in afghan violence
kabul jan afp
two us soldiers and five afghans were killed in bomb blasts in afghanistan on
wednesday as the un reported the deadliest year yet for war weary civilians
caught in spiralling taliban led insurgency
also wednesday suicide truck bomb rocked southern afghan town injuring
several people day after nine people died as violence erupted at protest
against an alleged desecration of the koran by foreign forces police said
the two us soldiers assigned to the nato international security assistance
force isaf were killed in home made bomb explosion in eastern afghanistan
the force said without giving the exact location
two isaf service members from the united states were killed today as result
of an ied improvised explosive device strike in eastern afghanistan the
force said in statement
the deaths took to the number of foreign forces killed in afghanistan since
the start of the year according to an afp tally based on that kept by the
independent icasualties org website
four afghan military engineers and civilian were killed meanwhile when
bomb device they were trying to defuse went off in the eastern province of
khost said zahir wardak senior military official
in southern kandahar province hub of taliban activity militant detonated
truck bomb near government installations in daman district injuring three
police and as many civilians the interior ministry said
the bomber apparently tried to enter the district headquarters but failed for
some reason and instead exploded outside the gate sardar mohammad zazai the
kandahar provincial police chief told afp
civilians are increasingly being caught in the crossfire of the afghan war the
united nations said in report on wednesday with killed in the
highest toll since the us led invasion in late
this is up percent from the civilians who died in and the vast
majority of the dead were killed in taliban attacks the un mission for
afghanistan unama said in its report
the report said percent of last year civilian deaths or were in
insurgent attacks while pro government forces including nato and us troops were
responsible for percent or civilian deaths last year
civilian casualties are source of tension between the afghan government of
president hamid karzai and the international forces fighting the insurgency
karzai uses the issue to press home his authority draw support for his
unpopular government while criticising the tactics of the foreign forces
the un report also highlighted the cultural insensitivity of some foreign
troops the report release comes day after nine people were reported killed
in protest in southern helmand province garmsir district
violence erupted on tuesday over rumours that nato led forces had defiled copy
of the muslim holy book the koran during military operation
eight protesters were killed when the protesters attacked national security
officials in garmsir deputy provincial police chief kamaluddin khan told afp
the shooting of the protesters occurred after an afghan guard outside nearby
building was killed by gunfire from the demonstrators side he said
nato said it had no information confirming the civilian deaths but that it was
investigating the incident along with afghan security officials
the force however said it shot dead an insurgent sniper who shot an afghan
official on the military base at the time
the only shot we know that was fired was from compound rooftop the gunman
was positively identified as sniper and we took him out sergeant jeff
loftin an isaf spokesman told afp on wednesday
afghanistan is gripped in an increasingly deadly insurgency last year was the
deadliest for foreign forces as well as afghan civilians
the us and nato have troops leading the fight against the taliban with
another being deployed over the course of this year
zimbabwe stops electricity exports to namibia
harare jan afp
zimbabwe power utility has been ordered to stop electricity exports to namibia
until it can meet its own country needs state daily reported on wednesday
the herald newspaper reported that energy minister elias mudzuri said the power
utility could not continue exporting electricity to namibia under deal signed
