whether google cn not censoring its results will lead to more information
becoming available in china
google said it had decided to no longer censor web search results in china after
gmail accounts of chinese human rights activists around the world were targeted
by highly sophisticated cyberattacks originating from china
google chief legal officer david drummond also said google may be forced to
leave china
these attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered combined with the
attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web have led
us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations
in china he said
leslie harris president of the center for democracy amp technology praised
google for taking bold and difficult step for internet freedom in support of
fundamental human rights and noted that google microsoft and yahoo were all
members of the global network initiative gni formed in late
gni brings together internet companies human rights organizations academics
and investors and commits the technology firms to protect the freedom of
expression and privacy rights of their users
during visit to china in november us president barack obama pushed for an
unshackled internet saying he was strong supporter of open internet use and
big supporter of non censorship
deadliest year for afghan civilians un
kabul jan afp
the number of civilians killed in the afghan war jumped last year to
making the deadliest year for ordinary afghans since the us led invasion
the united nations said wednesday
the vast majority of the dead were killed in taliban attacks the un mission
for afghanistan unama said by comparison civilians were killed in
the intensification and spread of the armed conflict in afghanistan continued
to take heavy toll on civilians throughout the report said
last year was also the deadliest for foreign forces fighting the taliban with
troop deaths up from for the year before as the insurgency has
escalated and spread from the southern provinces where it began soon after the
taliban regime was overthrown in the invasion
the un 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
another civilians were killed in violence not attributable to the
conflicting parties it said
was the worst year in recent times for civilians affected by the armed
conflict the report said adding unama hr human rights recorded the
highest number of civilian casualties since the fall of the taliban regime in
civilian deaths caused by western troops fell percent last year compared to
the year before it said attributing the drop to measures taken specifically to
protect civilians
commander of the foreign forces in afghanistan us general stanley mcchrystal
has made minimising civilian deaths and injuries central tenet of his counter
insurgency strategy and has ordered reduced air strikes as one way of achieving
this objective
the un report said the change in nato forces command structure specific steps
to minimize civilian casualties and new tactical directive by the force
contributed to the reduction in non combatant deaths
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
recent incidents such as the deaths of civilians including eight teenagers
in eastern kunar province in an authorised but non military us operation have
seen afghans take to the streets to protest the presence of foreign troops
while taliban influence has been spreading to previously peaceful areas and
now has footprint across percent of the country according to the london
based international council on security and development the un said
percent of deaths were in the south where the insurgency is concentrated
another percent occurred in eastern western and central afghanistan it
said noting that the conflict has intensified and spread into areas that
were previously considered relatively secure
most of the civilians killed by pro government forces afghan national
security forces and the international troops leading the fight died in air
strikes usually conducted by nato and the us to back up ground operations
international military forces and afghan security forces also conducted
number of ground operations that caused civilian casualties including large
number of search and seizure operations the report said
these often involved excessive use of force destruction to property and
cultural insensitivity particularly towards women it said
more than foreign troops in afghanistan are fighting the insurgents
under us and nato command another are being deployed this year
google threatens to quit china over activist attacks
san francisco jan afp
google has vowed to defy chinese internet censors and risk banishment from the
lucrative market in outrage at highly sophisticated cyberattacks aimed at
chinese human rights activists
china based cyber spies struck the internet giant and at least other
unidentified firms in an apparent bid to hack into the email accounts of
activists around the world google said tuesday
us secretary of state hillary clinton called on beijing to explain the
cyberattacks
we look to the chinese government for an explanation the chief us diplomat
said in released statement
the ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in modern
society and economy
the online espionage has google reconsidering its business operations in china
and it said it will no longer filter internet search engine results in that
country
these attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered combined with the
attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web have led
us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations
in china google chief legal officer david drummond said in blog post
we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on google cn and so
over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the chinese government the
basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law if
at all he said
drummond said google realizes that defying chinese government demands regarding
filtering internet search engine results may mean having to shut down its
operations in china
human rights activists hailed google voicing hope it would lead western
companies to reconsider their compromises in doing business in china
through international pressure finally big business in the west has come to
realize its own conscience prominent chinese dissident wei jingsheng who
spent years in prison before entering exile in the united states told afp
kumar the washington based advocacy director of amnesty international urged
other internet companies to follow google lead
we re glad that at last international internet companies are waking up to the
reality that they cannot go along with oppressive nations like china kumar
said
google said it detected in mid december highly sophisticated and targeted
attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from china that resulted in
the theft of intellectual property from google
the company said it was notifying at least other large companies of similar
attacks including finance internet media technology and chemical firms
we have no indication that any of our mail properties have been compromised
microsoft told afp declining to comment further
yahoo backed google decision
we condemn any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user
information yahoo said in response to an afp inquiry
we stand aligned with google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing
and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as
internet pioneers must all oppose
google said its investigation revealed that accounts of china human rights
activists who use gmail in europe china or the united states have been
routinely accessed using malware sneaked onto their computers
google believes the attack was mostly blocked and that only minor information
was stolen from two accounts
the decision to review our business operations in china has been incredibly
hard and we know that it will have potentially far reaching consequences said
drummond adding that the heart of the matter is freedom of speech on the global
internet
google was careful to stress that the decision was made by the california
company executives in the united states and not by workers within easy reach
of authorities in china
google was in no win situation silicon valley analyst rob enderle told afp
the choices they ve got are all bad but this one allows them to claim the high
ground at home by standing up to evil china
internet firms interested in access to china booming market have been
pressured to acquiesce to onerous government rules regarding online
censorship according to the analyst
china is hard market to walk away from enderle said it took lot of
guts capitulating wasn working so taking harder stance might work better
google unofficial motto don be evil became topic of derision after the
company in began censoring search results in china to appease officials
there
when google first launched filtered search engine in china eff was one of
the first to criticize it danny brien of the electronic freedom foundation
said in blog post
we now like to be one of the first to commend google for its brave and
forthright declaration to restore an uncensored chinese language version of its
search engine
heineken assumes total debt of mexico brewer
monterrey mexico jan afp
dutch brewer heineken is to assume the total debt of mexican drinks group
fomento economico mexicano some billion dollars billion euros after
agreeing to buy its beer unit its director said in mexico tuesday
chief executive jean francois van boxmeer told news conference that heineken
debt increases to around billion with the billion euros it acquires from
the mexican company
heineken announced monday it would buy femsa beer division in share deal
that values the company behind the dos equis and sol brands at billion euros
some billion dollars
femsa director general jose antonio fernandez said tuesday that the deal would
give latin america biggest brewer more flexibility in its remaining soft
drink and convenience store businesses with the freedom from its debt
van boxmeer said that femsa would start to produce heineken as soon as possible
for mexican and latin american markets
with this operation we are about to become much stronger and more competitive
player in latin america he said
under the terms of the deal femsa undertakes never to increase its holding in
heineken above percent and not to sell any heineken shares for five year
period
six children killed as train slams into pakistan school bus
multan pakistan jan afp
at least six children were killed and 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 near mian channun town about
kilometres miles east of the central city of multan in punjab province
which suffers from heavy fog in the early mornings
the lahore bound jaffer express collided with van carrying children
killing six of them and wounding others four of them critically senior
railway official bashir ahmad khan told afp
the accident happened at an unmanned crossing he added
the primary school children were aged around eight to ten years old and one
girl and five boys were killed officials said
mushtaq ahmad senior doctor at the government main hospital in mian
channun confirmed the number of casualties while prime minister yousuf raza
gilani ordered an enquiry 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
china rights activists elated by google
washington jan afp
human rights activists rejoiced tuesday over google vow to defy china internet
censors hoping it would be wake up call for businesses that make
compromises to enter the giant market
google said it will stop filtering internet search results in china and risk
banishment from the lucrative market in outrage at highly sophisticated
cyberattacks aimed at chinese human rights activists
us secretary of state hillary clinton called on beijing to explain cyberattacks
originating from china against google and other firms
we have been briefed by google on these allegations which raise very serious
concerns and questions clinton said in released statement
we look to the chinese government for an explanation the chief us diplomat
added
the ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in modern
society and economy she said
blogging sites including twitter were swarmed with messages of elation after the
internet giant shock announcement that it would reconsider its china business
in san francisco google said china based cyber spies struck the internet giant
and at least other unidentified firms in apparent bids to hack into email
accounts of activists around the world
the online espionage has google saying it will no longer filter internet search
engine results in china and is reconsidering the viability of doing business
there
through international pressure finally big business in the west has come to
realize its own conscience prominent chinese dissident wei jingsheng told afp
some western businesses thought that by making compromises with the chinese
communists regime they could do business as they wished however this is
impossible because the chinese government would not be satisfied said wei who
lives in exile in the united states after years in prison in china
international human rights group amnesty international called for other
companies to join google
we welcome google stand and urge other internet companies to follow through
and not be party to china state sponsored internet censorship said kumar
amnesty international washington based advocacy director
we re glad that at last international internet companies are waking up to the
reality that they cannot go along with oppressive nations like china kumar
said
human rights watch arvind ganesan said that google set great example and
voiced hope that more companies and governments would take policies that
safeguard rights
we condemn any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user
information california internet pioneer yahoo said in response to an afp
inquiry
we stand aligned with google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing
and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as
internet pioneers must all oppose
yahoo sold its china business in and while maintaining financial
investment no longer controls yahoo china
rights champions said that the turn around was especially welcome coming from
google which has faced the wrath of activists for cooperating with china
official censors
the internet giant in launched its google cn service with an explanation
that it had removed content from search results to conform with local law
it was quite public that google was making human rights trade off said
sharon hom executive director of new york based human rights in china
google decision came as china takes an increasingly hard line on domestic
dissent both by controlling the internet and clamping down on activists
intellectual liu xiaobo the author of landmark petition for democratic
reform was last month sentenced to years in jail despite vigorous protests
overseas
even with google pledging to stop filtering searches internet users in china
will have plenty of obstacles to finding sensitive content
share prices in homegrown chinese search engine baidu soared in after hours
following google announcement
china routinely blocks social networking and blogging sites such as facebook and
twitter although beijing struggled last year to enforce rules that all new
computers be installed with green dam filtering software
one major target of internet censorship in china is the falun gong spiritual
movement which was banned by china in
levi browde head of the falun dafa information center in new york said that
internet restrictions were way not only to identify and target falun gong
practitioners but to maintain public opinion
prohibiting people from having access to free information about what
happening is one of the biggest enablers not just in the persecution of falun
gong but any sort of large scale persecution he said
oil prices down in asian trade
singapore jan afp
oil prices were lower in asian trade wednesday on signs of softening energy
demand in the us the world biggest oil consumer analysts said
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
signs of weaker us energy demand emerged after the american petroleum institute
api reported tuesday crude stocks in the country rose million barrels
gasoline reserves increased by more than six million barrels in the past week
it said with distillate stocks including heating oil up million barrels
the distillates showed build of million barrels which is lot more than
people expected said clarence chu an oil trader with hudson capital energy in
singapore
the api figures come ahead of key weekly us department of energy due later
wednesday which is widely monitored for clues on demand
analysts polled by dow jones newswires expect the doe report to show one
million barrel increase in stocks in the past week and gasoline reserves to
increase by the same margin
tokyo stocks end down percent
tokyo jan afp
japanese stocks ended down percent on wednesday hit by overnight losses on
wall street worries about stronger yen and plunge in the shares of troubled
japan airlines dealers said
the tokyo stock exchange benchmark nikkei index dropped points to
day after its best finish since early october
the broader topix index of all first section shares declined points or
percent to
japan airlines shares plunged percent to just seven yen eight us cents hit
by flood of sell orders on fears the ailing carrier will be delisted from the
bourse and file for bankruptcy to aid its restructuring
the selling is unstoppable said hideaki higashi strategist at smbc friend
securities
event driven market players are hammering down jal it money game the
market is driving the company to go under he said adding that the share price
could fall to one yen
clinton gets no commitment from japan on ending air base row
honolulu hawaii jan afp
secretary of state hillary clinton pressed her japanese counterpart here tuesday
to stick by deal on moving controversial us air base but got no commitment
from tokyo during the meeting
at hastily arranged talks with foreign minister katsuya okada in honolulu
clinton said she had stressed the need to resolve the fate of the futenma base
on the southern japanese island of okinawa
but she also expressed confidence the row would be resolved saying tokyo
understands that the year old alliance with washington is fundamental to the
future of both japan and the region
the meeting with okada was added to the beginning of an asia tour by clinton
amid growing concerns of rift between washington and the new center left
coalition government in tokyo which includes elements opposed to the presence
of the us base on okinawa
have stressed again today that it is important to move on futenma
clinton said at press conference with okada in the garden of luxury hotel on
the pacific ocean
she reiterated the us view that base deal known as the realignment road
map is the way forward the accord was to move the base from an urban area on
the island of okinawa to coastal region
okada said the government of prime minister yukio hatoyama would decide by may
where to relocate the base even if the decision risks breaking up his
coalition
the government is considering alternative sites for the base with various
options including moving it off okinawa altogether
clinton said the us view is that agreement offers the best solution for
both the security of japan and the residents of okinawa
we want to get decision by may because much of the rest of the work around
the realignment roadmap has already proceeded the chief us diplomat said
the united states has already made decisions based on that roadmap which was
accepted by prior governments referring to the previous administration of
president george bush and the conservative government in japan
she did not answer question on whether she received an explicit commitment
from okada not to move the base off okinawa altogether
but clinton said she was confident the two sides would find solution that
reflects the very best of our alliance and provides the security guarantees
japanese want
okada said we must make the japan us alliance sustainable for the next or
years and further deepen this alliance
the security treaty signed on january has formed the bedrock of the
post war japan us alliance under which pacifist japan relies on massive us
military presence to guarantee its security
the united states which defeated japan in world war ii and then occupied the
country now has troops stationed there more than half of them on
okinawa the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war
senior state department official told reporters later that clinton told okada
that washington understands tokyo desire to understand the history of some of
these so called secret nuclear agreements
in december japanese media reported that secret deal under which japan
allowed the us military to bring nuclear weapons to the asian nation had been
uncovered despite years of denial of its existence by conservative governments
some of these documents are over years old the us official said
in then us president george bush announced that us vessels would no longer
carry tactical atomic arms rendering any pact with japan allowing us nuclear
armed ships to visit obsolete
our primary interest is making sure that what we do going forward in no way
calls into question or jeapordizes the strong american commitment to extend the
deterrence over japan and other allies in the asia pacific region he said
washington he said is trying to show that president barack obama aims to
reduce the role of nuclear weapons in us foreign policy while underscoring that
deterrence is critical feature of current us security guarantees in asia
clinton will travel wednesday to papua new guinea for talks on climate change
and economic development before heading to new zealand and australia where she
will discuss similar issues as well as international security
making her fourth tour of asia since she became secretary of state year ago
the first stop of her first tour was in japan clinton is due back in
washington on january
urgent looting in haiti after quake afp reporter
port au prince jan afp
looters raided supermarket near the earthquake devastated haitian capital
early on wednesday an afp reporter witnessed
philippines says un staff to the rescue after haiti quake
manila jan afp
philippine peacekeepers are taking part in efforts to rescue united nations
staff after massive quake in haiti destroyed un mission headquarters in the
capital an official said wednesday
we were told by the un they were first on scene of the collapsed un
headquarters elmer cato spokesman for the philippine mission to the united
nations told reporters from new york
the foreign ministry in manila had said earlier it was concerned for the safety
of its military and police peacekeepers in haiti after failing to reach them
following the magnitude quake in the impoverished caribbean nation
but news later filtered through that all personnel were safe
the good thing is that none of our filipino peacekeepers have been harmed by
the earthquake military spokesman colonel romeo brawner said over local
television
he said the filipino mission commander borrowed satellite phone to call
manila and asked his wife to relay the good news to the authorities here
cato said the filipino peacekeepers were based in building across the street
from the headquarters of the united nations stabilisation mission in haiti
minustah which was reduced to rubble
alain leroy the head of the un department of peacekeeping operations which
oversees the world body various missions around the world said large number
of personnel remain unaccounted for in haiti
they are assigned to guard the headquarters of the united nations stabilisation
mission in haiti minustah about metres yards down the road he added
the un said that building collapsed and that large number of un staff were
unaccounted for
the foreign ministry said number of nationals remained unaccounted for
the department of foreign affairs is deeply concerned over the conditions of
filipinos in haiti it said in statement
aside from the peacekeepers the ministry said there were an estimated
members of the filipino community in haiti and that the filipino mission to the
un in new york has had difficulty in establishing contact with the
peacekeepers as well as the filipino workers
singapore tiger airways launches share offer
singapore jan afp
singapore budget carrier tiger airways on wednesday launched an initial public
offering ipo with the aim of raising million singapore dollars
million us to fund its expansion plans
tiger kicked off the share sale soon after registering its prospectus with the
monetary authority of singapore fixing maximum price of dollars share
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 the move would make it the first budget carrier to list on the
singapore stock exchange
tiger airways which is percent owned by flag carrier singapore airlines
said it would set aside million dollars from the proceeds to pay for the
planned purchase of new airbus jets
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
the carrier wants to expand its current fleet of airbus jets to by
december as it plans to fly to more destinations within the region and in
australia
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
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
carriers
indonesia back tracks on china trade pact
jakarta jan afp
indonesia has asked to re write new regional trade pact with china citing
fears of job losses due to flood of cheap chinese imports across various
sectors officials said wednesday
the government has sought to maintain tariff lines for another two years
rather than cut them as required under the asean china free trade area acfta
which jakarta first signed in and which took full effect on january
the letter of notification on negotiations to discuss modifications to the
tariff items was submitted on december trade ministry official gusmardi
bustami said
trade minister mari pangestu has refused to comment on the pact and would not
confirm that formal request for further protection had been sent to the
association of southeast asian nations asean
won comment on the notification letter ve informally discussed the
tariff items with asean she told reporters in response to repeated requests
for clarification of indonesia position
she had previously said only that indonesia would honour its commitments under
the free trade pact
industry ministry spokesman muhdori said two year reprieve from zero tariffs
was required in sectors including machinery furniture steel textiles and
chemicals
asean officials have said it would be strange for indonesia which has the
biggest economy in southeast asia to try to back out of its commitments at such
late date
any such request for delay in tariffs reductions would go against asean
long standing drive toward more open regional markets and would require the
agreement of the nine other asean members which is unlikely
the acfta comprises market of billion people making it the largest trade
pact in the world in terms of population size
it has combined gross domestic product of some six trillion dollars and
total trade volume of trillion dollars according to asean figures
golf schwartzel longs for soggy joburg open
johannesburg jan afp
long hitting south african golfer charl schwartzel believes soggy conditions at
