in while importing to cover perennial power deficit
we can have situation where we import to export mudzuri told the
newspaper
in the past we have never stopped supplying them namibia with electricity
even when hwange power station was down this meant we were importing and then
re exporting and am saying that is not proper he said
zimbabwe has been experiencing erratic supplies with some areas facing blackouts
lasting up to hours as the country battles to keep its thermal power
generators at hwange running
in zimbabwe and namibia entered into an agreement under which namibia gave
zimbabwe million dollar loan for repairs to its thermal power stations
while zimbabwe would pay back by exporting electricity to namibia
last week zimbabwe power utility signed an eight million dollar deal with
botswana to revive shut down thermal power station in the second city of
bulawayo and ease national blackouts
under the deal the botswana power company will provide funds to the zimbabwe
power company zpc to refurbish and buy coal from the country main colliery
zimbabwe will export power to gaborone in return it added
bulawayo and other small thermal power stations in the country were shut down in
june due to zimbabwe financial crisis
kyocera founder to become japan airlines ceo reports
tokyo jan afp
kazuo inamori the founder of japanese high tech maker kyocera corp has
accepted an offer by the government to become the next chief executive of
troubled japan airlines kyodo news said wednesday
inamori the year old honorary chairman of kyocera on wednesday reportedly
met with officials of the turnaround body overseeing jal restructuring and was
asked to take the helm of the money losing airline
earlier in the day he had told reporters he would consider positively any
offer to run jal which is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy protection
jal spokeswoman said she was unable to confirm or deny the report
the carrier current president and chief executive haruka nishimatsu is
expected to step down after the carrier files for bankruptcy proceedings
japan airlines shares dived percent wednesday to just eight us cents as
investors dumped the stock ahead of an expected bankruptcy filing by the debt
ridden carrier
the government has pledged to avoid total collapse of the former state owned
airline but has signalled likely bankruptcy filing which could aid jal
recovery efforts while leaving investors out of pocket
afp client advisory embargoed us politics story
washington jan afp
the afp story slugged us politics obama polls poll on americans opinions of
president barack obama first year in office has moved in error
the story is under embargo until gmt wednesday and should not be used in
any format until that time
guinea junta chief convalescing in ouagadougou minister
ouagadougou jan afp
guinea junta chief moussa dadis camara injured in an assassination attempt
is recuperating in ouagadougou burkina faso foreign ministry said wednesday
camara arrived in ouagadougou late tuesday from morocco where he had been
treated for head wound following the assassination attempt on december
after month of treatment in morocco and considering the evolving state of
his health moussa dadis camara arrived in ouagadougou where he will continue
his convalescence said foreign ministry statement indicating that he
intended to stay for some time in ouagadougou
the junta leader had not appeared in public since being evacuated to rabat for
medical treatment after being shot in the head by his aide de camp on december
during dispute allegedly over bloody crackdown on an opposition rally
troops under camara command massacred at least people at an opposition
rally at stadium in guinea capital conakry on september
in camara absence guinea defence minister general sekouba konate has taken
over as interim junta leader and burkina faso president blaise compaore has
been acting as mediator between him and the opposition
konate recently asked guinea forces vives coalition of opposition parties
trade unions and civil society to share power in transition government and has
called for democracy in the country
the bauxite rich west african country has been under military rule since
december military coup launched by camara following the death of longtime
leader lansana conte
the united states has expressed concern about the possible return of camara to
his country
washington has been demanding the establishment of transition government to
take over from the junta
recent un report on the stadium massacre named camara as suspect in what it
described as crimes against humanity
erdogan visits russia for talks on pipeline rivals
moscow jan afp
turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan whose country is involved in two
competing gas pipeline projects was visiting russia wednesday for talks on the
bitter rivalry between energy transit routes
erdogan will meet with his russian counterpart and close personal friend
vladimir putin as well as president dmitry medvedev in moscow for talks that
underscore improving relations between the former cold war era foes
turkey in august agreed to allow russia to start surveys in its territorial
waters in the black sea for the russian south stream pipeline which aims to
pump russian gas to europe via new route that by passes ukraine
but ankara is also leading player in the eu backed nabucco pipeline which aims
to carry gas from the caspian sea region to europe and is seen as way of
reducing european reliance on russian gas
nato member turkey which has long pursued eu membership has sought to downplay
rivalry between the pipelines
the kommersant daily said there is speculation ankara wants moscow to
participate in nabucco and believes the need for south stream may be lessened
once viktor yushchenko foe of russia departs the ukrainian presidency
however moscow is not prepared to give up its beloved child the newspaper
added referring to south stream
it is unclear whether gas supplies are sufficient to fill two pipelines and
moscow is keen to complete south stream ahead of its rival with plans to go
online with the pipeline section in turkish waters as early as
russia which supplies over quarter of europe gas imports has sold south
stream as an alternative to gas transits via ukraine after price row with kiev
last winter disrupted supplies to europe
the construction of turkey first nuclear power plants and plans to extend the
existing blue stream gas pipeline linking the two countries are also on the
agenda the kremlin said in statement
ankara has in turn sought russian support for planned turkish oil pipeline to
be built from the black sea port of samsun to ceyhan on the mediterranean
talks are also expected to focus on security in the caucasus region where
turkey is increasingly presenting itself as major diplomatic player
turkey and russia have joined efforts to broker peace between ex soviet states
azerbaijan and armenia which are still technically at war over the mountainous
nagorno karabakh region
shared concerns over stability in the caucasus were tested as russia fought
brief war with georgia in august but moscow has since played role in the
recent rapprochement between turkey and its ally armenia
russia is one of turkey top trading partners and its main gas supplier
accounting for about percent of the country gas imports the countries had
bilateral trade ties of billion dollars in the kremlin said
iran speaker accuses israel cia of killing scientist
tehran jan afp
parliament speaker ali larijani iran former chief nuclear negotiator accused
intelligence agents of the united states and israel on wednesday of plotting
bombing which killed top atomic scientist
in an angry address to iran conservative dominated parliament larijani
accused us president barack obama of state terrorism over the assassination of
the scientist
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
massoud ali mohammadi particle physics professor at prestigious tehran
university was killed on tuesday morning 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 implicated the us central intelligence agency and israel 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
the former nuclear official 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
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
thailand leaves interest rate unchanged
bangkok jan afp
thailand central bank wednesday kept its key interest rate unchanged at
historic low of percent as it sought to encourage the country fledgling
economic recovery
the bank of thailand monetary policy committee mpc decided to keep the same
rate for the sixth consecutive meeting since april last year
the latest economic data point toward continued recovery of the thai
economy the bank assistant governor paiboon kittisrikangwan said in
statement
nevertheless private investment remains subdued
he said thailand was benefiting from greater private consumption of durable
goods in particular automobiles along with higher income from the tourism
export and agriculture sectors
but while asian economies were likely to recover more quickly than those of the
industrialised west paiboon said that could lead to volatile capital flows
thailand economy shrank by percent year on year in the third quarter of
signalling improvement on the previous quarter fourth quarter results are
expected to be positive when released next month
inflation rose percent year on year in december mostly due to high oil
prices according to the bank
the bank said it would continue to monitor inflation as pressure is likely to
increase this year due to oil prices economic recovery and the end of
government subsidy scheme
singapore tiger airways launches share offer
singapore jan afp
singapore budget carrier tiger airways on wednesday launched an initial public
offering ipo to fund its expansion plans as travel demand improves
tiger kicked off the share sale soon after registering its prospectus with the
monetary authority of singapore fixing maximum price of dollars share
the ipo is worth million singapore dollars million us with the carrier
issuing million shares at dollars each it hopes to raise
million singapore dollars in net proceeds
the under developed low fare low cost model in the majority of countries in
the region presents opportunities for our future growth said tiger president
and chief executive tony davis
we are now ready to embark on the next stage of growth and believe that
listing will help fuel that growth he said in statement
the firm said it will be the first budget carrier to list on the singapore stock
exchange when its shares begin trading on january
tiger which is percent owned by flag carrier singapore airlines said it
would set aside million dollars to pay for the planned purchase of new jets
the carrier wants to expand its current fleet of airbus to by
december as it plans to fly to more destinations within the region and in
australia
it is also looking to establish new operating bases and airlines when the
opportunities arise as well as repay short term loans
tiger said the region was poised to be the biggest travel market by and was
aiming to expand its route network to take advantage of growing demand for air
travel
we intend to apply our proven low cost airline model to offer domestic and or
international air travel in other asian markets through the creation of
additional operating airlines said davis
we also plan to increase frequency of flights on existing routes and expand
operations by commencing new routes between the airports we now serve as well
as add new destinations from our existing bases in singapore and australia
during conference call from london davis said tiger airways will press on
with keeping costs down so it can offer competitive fares to attract more
travellers
what we are interested in is reducing our fares on consistent basis but
you will also see our costs will continue to come down said davis
we maintain our margins but we increase the volume of people flying with us
tiger which began its first commercial flights in september flies from
singapore to destinations across asia including popular holiday spots such as
penang in malaysia and bangkok and phuket in thailand
it has also expanded into australia where it offers domestic flights between key
cities and towns across the continent
in its prospectus tiger said it made net loss of million dollars and
revenues of million dollars in the financial year ended march compared
to profit of million dollars on income of million dollars in the
previous year
in the six months to september losses totalled million dollars which
was smaller than the million dollars recorded in the same period the year
before
the budget carrier market has expanded rapidly in southeast asia where tiger
airways is competing against malaysia airasia and host of other low fare
airlines
mandelson eyes curbs on hostile takeovers report
london jan afp
britain business minister peter mandelson will meet leading investors this
week to discuss how to protect british companies from unwanted takeover bids
the times reported on wednesday
some of britain biggest institutional investors will meet top delegation
from mandelson department for business innovation and skills the daily
newspaper said without citing its source
the group will use us food giant kraft hostile takeover bid for british
confectioner cadbury as case study for the discussions it reported
mandelson will ask the leading investors to show stewardship by taking
stronger line against takeovers from opportunistic bidders who might be
attempting to purchase quality assets on the cheap the paper added
spokesman for mandelson department confirmed the meeting would take place
dow jones newswires reported
the busines minister warned last month that kraft would face strong opposition
if the us firm was seeking to make fast buck from cadbury
if you think that you can come here and make fast buck you will find that you
face huge opposition from the local population and from the british
government mandelson said in december
cadbury on tuesday sought to step up its defence against hostile multi
billion dollar takeover bid by kraft telling shareholders that had been
outstanding
cadbury also repeated its claim that kraft cash and shares offer worth
billion pounds billion euros billion dollars was derisory and
maintained its revenue targets for
tie up between kraft and cadbury would bring together leading kraft brands
like dairylea cheese kenco coffee and toblerone with the british group dairy
milk chocolate cadbury creme eggs and trident chewing gum
images of haiti quake horror fired off on twitter
san francisco jan afp
heart rending pictures from quake ravaged haiti and rallying cries for aid
spread swiftly on twitter as the microblogging service was once again key
communication tool during disaster
the destruction was massive twitter user wrote in spanish in an exchange
beneath one of set of twitpic photos reportedly taken by local journalist
carel pedre with mobile phone camera in haiti
twitpic is service that lets people post pictures using the wildly popular
microblogging service that allows users to fire off text messages of no more
than characters in widespread shotgun blast style
set of pictures posted by lisandrosuero included before and after shots of
presidential palace damaged in the deadly magnitude temblor that struck the
caribbean island nation tuesday
the quake toppled buildings and triggered fears that hundreds had been killed
another lisandrosuero picture showed woman covered in dust and buried up to
her knees in rubble
wow that so sad twitter user said in chat forum below picture posted
by twitpic user marvinady of people rushing from mound of debris that was
once home
twitpic was peppered with requests from news agencies seeking permission to
publish pictures from the disaster or speak with those who took them
help haiti was among the top trending topics at twitter on tuesday with
tweets urging people to support relief efforts
meanwhile photos of quake damage evidently taken from twitpic were also being
compiled at haiti needs us and we need haiti group at social networking
service facebook
the brothers and sisters out there suffering the group leader said in
message on the opening page yeah we can pray but prayer without action
means nothing if you believe that lets get together and do what we can
hong kong warns economy not out of danger
hong kong jan afp
hong kong economy could be in for rocky ride this year if turnaround in
the united states fails to take hold financial secretary john tsang warned on
wednesday
the southern chinese city has reported improving economic data including
falling unemployment and stronger export figures
but the us may suffer double dip recession when government economic stimulus
measures disappear which would hurt the financial hub tsang said
hong kong recovery process could still be rather bumpy going forward he
said in statement to the city legislative council
the situation in the us is of particular concern he added
if the us economy is to show renewed collapse it is very likely that hong
kong economic recovery will also be affected
the warning comes after the city chief executive donald tsang warned last
month that hong kong economy could be in for tumble by mid
he said the city government had reserve of billion hong kong dollars
billion us which was enough for two years worth of expenses
the city gross domestic product grew percent in the three months ending
september compared to the second quarter according to government statistics
however year on year gdp fell percent for the third quarter narrowing
from the percent decline in the second quarter the data showed
tennis serena likes it hot at australian open
sydney jan afp
serena williams stormed into the semi finals of the sydney international on
wednesday cranking up the heat on her opponents ahead of next week australian
open
the american world number one tossed aside russian vera dushevina
making it just seven games she has dropped on her way to the last four of the
sydney tournament
williams strong favourite to lift her fifth australian open crown and her th
grand slam takes on world number aravane rezai of france in thursday semi
finals
rezai won her third match of the tournament against italian flavia pennetta
on wednesday
in the bottom half of the draw belarus sixth seed victoria azarenka is through
to the semi finals after beating slovak dominika cibulkova while
defending champion elena dementieva was due to face world number two dinara
safina later wednesday
definitely enjoy playing in the heat williams said of steamy melbourne
home to the open usually enjoy playing in the heat live in florida so
it all about hot weather there
so think maybe that one of the reasons why do so well down here
the past couple of times won it been extremely hot so expect the same
temperatures again
asked during her post match press conference how close she was to her best form
williams said always try to get there usually around the semi finals and
finals of the grand slams
just doing the best that can now to get there hopefully have long
way to go which think is always good
williams said she was expecting her toughest match of the week against rezai
haven played her but know her game she said played her in doubles
and sister venus has played her before
she good player and she really young she has lot of drive think she
can be really good it ll definitely be my toughest match yet
azarenka had to again work hard to stay alive in the tournament taking two
hours minutes to extinguish the challenge of the th ranked cibulkova
so far azarenka has been taken to three sets in all her three matches at the
tournament
china paper splashes nation first gay marriage
beijing jan afp
state press splashed front page photo of china first publicly married gay
couple on wednesday the latest sign of new openness about homosexuality in
country where it has long been taboo
the page one story in the english language china daily featured photograph of
the newlyweds arm in arm during january ceremony
zeng anquan and pan wenjie tied the knot at gay bar in the
southwestern city of chengdu the paper said calling it the first such public
event in the country
homosexuality remains sensitive issue in china it was officially considered
form of mental illness as recently as same sex marriages or civil unions
have no legal basis
we are no longer hiding any more the wedding is our happiest and most precious
moment zeng divorced architect told the paper
thousands of gays and lesbians get married in france finland the uk why
couldn we
although the vast majority of gays in china are believed to remain in the
closet number of signs have emerged recently that official attitudes may be
softening
last month china first government backed gay bar opened in the tourist town
of dali in southwestern yunnan province after three week delay sparked by
intense media attention in bid to boost hiv aids prevention efforts
on friday the country first gay pageant is scheduled to be held in beijing to
choose the asian nation candidate for the mr gay world contest in norway next
month
china top state run radio network plans to launch new programme this weekend
about aids that features an hiv positive host according to recent report by
xinhua news agency which did not mention whether the host was gay
however the deep seated sensitivity of the issue in chinese society has reared
its head in the zeng pan wedding with the families of the two men reportedly
condemning their nuptials
my sister warned me she would never call me her brother unless break up with
pan and have answered hundreds of phone calls from friends and relatives who
say they feel ashamed of me said zeng
but we are deeply in love and will never desert each other he said of his
relationship with pan recently demobilised soldier
more than of the couple gay friends attended the ceremony which one of
the newlyweds attended in white wedding dress the china daily said without
specifying who was the bride
zeng said the couple feared discrimination and had thus moved to small town
near chengdu where they were unknown to avoid unwanted attention
according to chinese experts cited in press reports there are an estimated
million homosexuals in china and million of them are men
guinea junta chief convalescing in ouagadougou minister
ouagadougou jan afp
guinea junta chief moussa dadis camara injured in an assassination attempt
is recuperating in ouagadougou burkina faso foreign ministry said wednesday
camara arrived in ouagadougou late tuesday from morocco where he had been
treated for head wound following the assassination attempt on december
after month of treatment in morocco and considering the evolving state of
his health moussa dadis camara arrived in ouagadougou where he will continue
his convalescence said foreign ministry statement
the statement added that he intended to stay for some time in ouagadougou
the junta leader had not appeared in public since being evacuated to rabat for
medical treatment after being shot in the head by his aide de camp on december
during dispute allegedly over bloody crackdown on an opposition rally
troops under camara command massacred at least people at an opposition
rally at stadium massacre in guinea capital conakry on september
korea lg targets million phone sales this year
seoul jan afp
south korea lg electronics said wednesday it plans to sell million mobile
phones worldwide this year up percent from
the company currently the world number three for mobile phones after finland
nokia and south korea samsung electronics said it intends to become number
two by by exploiting the rising popularity of smartphones
lg said it plans new lineup of models this year based on the operating
systems of google android microsoft windows mobile and linux to help
achieve the business goal
we are facing another revolutionary change in the mobile industry thanks to
the rapid growth of smartphones and demand for more content and better
services skott ahn president of lg mobile communications division told
reporters
lg had percent share of the overall global mobile handset market last year
selling million units
lg is latecomer in the fast growing global market for smartphones which
includes personal computer like functions such as email wireless internet and
book services
dow jones newswires contributed to this story
chinese peacekeepers missing in haiti quake state media
beijing jan afp
eight chinese peacekeepers were buried in rubble and others 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
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
