said at news conference
the growth however was far more modest than percent annual jump in
when investment hit billion dollars
acquiring foreign advanced technologies distribution networks and energy and
resources became the new focus of acquisition investment the ministry said in
statement after the briefing
the pace of buying picked up sharply in the second half of as the worst of
the crisis seemed to be over after diving by percent year on year in the
first half previous official data showed
china has been keen to buy resources around the world as it seeks to take
advantage of falling prices in the global downturn and to secure energy supplies
for its economic expansion
urgent radical yemen cleric zendani renews call for jihad
sanaa jan afp
influential yemeni cleric sheikh abdulmajeed al zendani said on friday it would
be religious duty dictated by god to defend yemen through jihad or holy
war if it is occupied by foreign power
guinea acting ruler threatens to quit junta source
dakar jan afp
the interim head of guinea ruling junta has threatened to resign over the
proposed return to the country of junta leader moussa dadis camara recovering
from an assassination attempt in burkina faso
split emerged within the junta when interim leader sekouba konate and other
members met with camara thursday in ouagadougou to discuss his future on
thursday an unnamed junta member told afp from the burkina faso capital
camara flew into ouagadougou late tuesday from morocco where he had received
treatment after he was shot in the head in december assassination bid
interim leader general konate offered to resign when other junta members pressed
for camara return to conakry said the source contacted by telephone from
dakar
camara ally colonel moussa keita permanent secretary and minister in the
junta insisted that camara return
if that is what you want then offer my resignation the source quoted the
interim leader as saying
konate accused keita of looking to plunge guinea into war the source said
moussa are you looking for war in guinea you will get it he was quoted as
saying
he reportedly added yes you want the country to burn you know that dadis
betrayed us he tricked all the people let stop pretending abroad that we are
popular it not true the people are tired of us
the united states is hoping burkina faso president blaise compaore will
persuade camara not to return home senior state department official told afp
thursday
compaore has been mediating peace in guinea which has been mired in political
crisis sparked by military coup led by camara on december
unrest worsened when troops massacred more than people at an opposition
rally in september last year according to un figures hundreds more were
wounded and women and young girls were publicly raped
recent un report on the massacre in guinea capital conakry named camara as
suspect and accused the army of crimes against humanity
konate has offered to share power in transitional government with the
opposition in an effort to bring peace to the country
both france and the united states have expressed fear of civil war in guinea if
camara returns
william fitzgerald deputy assistant secretary of state for african affairs
told afp thursday that camara continued absence could provide an opening for
konate
we would hope that blaise compaore holds on to dadis allows him to convalesce
there because don think he fully recovered and konate be given the
opportunity to return and continue transition with civilians said fitzgerald
konate proposal is for the forces vives active forces coalition of
political parties trade unions and civil society organisations to present an
interim prime minister from the opposition who will oversee transition to
elections as soon as possible
guinea has been under military rule since bloodless coup on december
when camara became head of state within hours of the death of hardline ruler
lansana conte who took power in
taiwanese family lived with decomposing bodies spanish officials
madrid jan afp
four members of taiwanese family lived for several days with the decomposing
bodies of three of their loved ones at their home in spain local authorities
said friday
emergency services found the bodies that of father and two children on
wednesday at the house in the madrid suburb of san martin de valdeiglesias
the mother and three children of the family which had lived at house since
were found alive but in poor health and in squalid conditions
authorities were alerted by the children school after they failed to turn up
for class
we discovered tragedy but sure that if police and the system for
checking school absenteeism had not worked properly then the rest of the family
would also have died from hunger or filth said the local mayor pedro martin
the bodies showed no signs of violence and police ruled out foul play instead
theorising that three may have died from some disease
football bayern target goalkeeper handanovic
berlin jan afp
slovenia goalkeeper samir handanovic has been targeted by german giants bayern
munich it was reported on friday
german daily bild reported bayern have been closely watching the year old who
has won caps for slovenia and is worth approximately million euros
million us dollars on the transfer market
he has contract with italian side udinese until june but bayern have
made no secret they are looking for goalkeeper with veteran hans joerg butt
currently in goal for the munich side
watched him in an international against poland but that wasn the only time
have scrutinised his game bayern chief scout paul breitner told bild
and handanovic agent believes formal offer will be made by bayern munich
soon
think an official offer will be submitted by bayern munich later this month
the transfer could then be made in the summer said federico pastorello
tennis alona bondarenko to play peer in hobart final
hobart australia jan afp
fourth seeded ukrainian alona bondarenko upset top seed anabel medina garrigues
on friday to set up hobart international final showdown with israeli shahar
peer
bondarenko recovered from set down to beat the spaniard while
second seed peer overpowered unseeded italian sara errani
peer holds career record over bondarenko heading into saturday wta
final
football league results
sydney jan afp
results of australian league matches played on friday
new zealand phoenix dadi ifill mckain north queensland fury
adelaide united dodd central coast mariners mrdja pen
china says google row will not affect trade ties with us
beijing jan afp
china said friday that google threat to stop operating in the country would
not affect sino us trade ties after washington pressed for an explanation of
china based cyberattacks on the internet giant
however china insisted that google must obey its laws after the company said
it would no longer bow to the communist country army of internet censors by
filtering search results available on google cn
the us firm whose unofficial motto is don be evil said it could
abandon its chinese search engine and perhaps shut its offices in the world
largest online market by users over theft of its intellectual property
no matter what decision google makes it will not affect overall trade and
economic relations between china and the united states commerce ministry
spokesman yao jian told reporters
the two countries have multiple communication channels we are confident in the
healthy development of economic and trade relations between china and the united
states
in beijing first official reaction thursday foreign ministry spokeswoman
insisted china internet was open but defended its censorship system and said
foreign firms must abide by the law
yao echoed those remarks saying foreign firms operating in china should
respect the laws public interest culture and traditions in host countries
and take on social responsibilities accordingly
china is transferring from traditional planned economy to socialist market
economy stability and development are our top priorities at the current stage
the commerce ministry spokesman said
he said google should make the right choice about its future noting that
china development would benefit both the country itself and offer companies
doing business there good market prospect
google said the cyberattacks were likely aimed at gaining access to the gmail
accounts of chinese human rights activists but has said it does not believe
that goal was achieved
the row has threatened to rattle ties between washington and beijing already
frayed over number of issues from the copenhagen climate change debacle to
the value of the chinese yuan and number of other trade disputes
earlier this week us secretary of state hillary clinton demanded answers from
china over the google case on thursday state department spokesman philip
crowley said chinese embassy and us officials had met in washington
crowley said the issue raises questions about both internet freedom and the
security of the internet in china home to more than million web users
according to latest chinese government figures
google said more than other unidentified firms were targeted in the highly
sophisticated attacks believed to have originated in china while other
reports have put the number of companies attacked at more than
officials in washington have been reluctant to comment on how the google case
could affect ties but one official warned of future diplomatic fallout
if this was part of deliberate strategy on behalf of china it has
implications said the official who asked not to be named
us lawmakers on thursday hailed google move and touted draft bill that would
prohibit us firms from storing users personal information in countries that
restrict the peaceful expression of political and religious views online
under the proposed global online freedom act companies would also have to
report to the state department which search terms countries were trying to
filter out
google sent thrill of encouragement through the hearts of millions of
chinese republican representative chris smith the bill chief sponsor told
news conference it is game changer
but it companies are not powerful enough to stand up to repressive government
like china said smith
without us government support they are inevitably forced to be ever more
complicit in the repressive governments censorship and surveillance
experts said the issue highlighted deep differences between china and the united
states despite mutual claims of solid relationship but added it was too
early to tell whether the google case would directly impact ties
the problems that google is running into are part of general squall line in
the larger storm of how china deals with the us said russell leigh moses
beijing based political analyst
web security firm mcafee said the attacks on google and other companies showed
level of sophistication beyond that of cyber criminals and more typical of
nation state
microsoft chief executive steve ballmer said the us software giant took
cyberattacks seriously but had no plans to pull out of china and would abide
by local law
cycling fall leaves kessler in critical condition
berlin jan afp
german cyclist matthias kessler is in critical condition after suffering
severe head injuries in training crash it was reported on friday
the year old suffered fall in training on wednesday after cat ran into
his path during training ride on the spanish island of mallorca
cyclingnews com reported
he was admitted to hospital in palma where he is in critical condition with
severe head trauma
kessler positive for testosterone in while riding for astana and his two
year suspension expired in july
football brazil to face ireland in london ahead of world cup
london jan afp
world cup favourites brazil will warm up for this year finals in south africa
with friendly clash against the republic of ireland at arsenal emirates
stadium on march
international sports event promoter kentaro who organise brazil friendly
fixtures around europe has confirmed that arsenal will once again host the
five time world cup winners
the north london stadium has become something of second home for brazil coach
dunga and his star studded squad in recent years after friendly fixtures against
argentina portugal and sweden at the emirates
brazil who have reached the world cup final seven times will face portugal
ivory coast and north korea in their world cup group when the tournament gets
underway in june
corrected hong kong shares end percent lower
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares closed lower on friday as investors remained wary of possible
further monetary tightening moves from beijing aimed at keeping economic growth
in check
the benchmark hang seng index reversed early gains to fall percent or
points to turnover was billion hong kong dollars
billion us
worries about more possible tightening measures from beijing and concerns over
chinese lenders fundraising needs are likely to weigh on local shares in the
near term alvin cheung an associate director at prudential brokerage said
oil companies led the blue chip fall as crude prices dropped cnooc fell
percent to hong kong dollars and petrochina was down percent at
at gmt february crude was down us cents at dollars barrel on
the new york mercantile exchange
bank of china rose on bargain hunting despite the concerns over monetary
tightening with the lender gaining percent to dollars after falling
percent in the past six sessions
technology supplier foxconn international was up however adding percent to
on expectations of recovery in the phone handset market this year
in china investors picked up bargains in the afternoon to send the market
percent higher after spending early trade in the red
the shanghai composite index which covers both and shares was up
points at on turnover of billion yuan billion dollars
property developers and banks rebounded on bargain hunting
however guoyuan securities analyst simon wang told dow jones newswires it
just technical rebound and the upside is likely limited as concerns over
monetary tightening are still lingering
shanghai pudong development bank added percent to yuan china vanke
rose percent at yuan
but steel makers fell as steel prices dropped
baoshan iron and steel fell percent to yuan wuhan iron and steel shed
percent to yuan
alert
radical yemen cleric zendani renews call for jihad
tennis dementieva defends sydney title serena injury fears
sydney jan afp
elena dementieva successfully defended her sydney international title on friday
leaving serena williams with injury concerns just days out from the australian
open
the russian fifth seed was always in control of the final winning in
just minutes but the american world number one was clearly inconvenienced by
troublesome left knee she had strapped for the match
williams who is going into next week opening grand slam as defending
champion favoured the knee and she was unusually subdued during the final
the match ended in an anti climax with dementieva holding three match points on
serena serve and thumping return winner for the championship
it was dementieva th career title and she became the first player to win
back to back titles here since martina hingis in
the russian has now won six of her last seven finals and it was her fifth
victory against williams in encounters she beat williams in the semi finals
of last year event
dementieva broke williams serve five times and dominated the points
it is dementieva first tournament of and this time last year she had won
her opening two tournaments going on to win her first matches of the season
the defeat continued williams run of outs at the sydney international it was
her first final here after three previous losing semi final appearances at the
tournament
both players are projected to retain their respective rankings over the next two
weeks of the australian open with williams to remain the number one for
weeks and dementieva staying at five
the australian open gets under way in melbourne on monday
hamas fighter killed while handling explosives medic
gaza city jan afp
member of the armed wing of the islamist movement hamas was killed while
handling explosives in the gaza strip overnight palestinian medic said on
friday
imad al selkawy suffered fatal injuries in the accidental blast which
occurred at deir el balah in the centre of the palestinian territory the medic
said
hamas armed wing the ezzedine al qassam brigades confirmed the death in
statement saying its activist had been killed during mission of jihad
phrase it uses to describe such incidents
france urges haiti debt cancellation
paris jan afp
france on friday urged countries to cancel millions of euros of debt owed to
them by haiti after the impoverished state was largely destroyed by massive
earthquake
economy minister christine lagarde called on the rich creditor countries of the
so called paris club to cancel all haiti outstanding debt to its members and
said she was also asking non members venezuela and taiwan to do the same
have asked the paris club for us to finalise cancelling haiti debt to it
she said adding that france has cancelled four million euros million
dollars leaving million euros of debt owed to it by haiti
france and the united states have called for an international conference on
rebuilding haiti after the earthquake struck on tuesday destroying homes and
buildings the red cross said people may have been killed
afp gmt economics news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor dario thuburn
tel
iea commodities energy oil output price thlead
paris
oil demand in will be sluggish in the developed world with emerging
markets accounting for any increases and top producers switching supplies to
eastern growth markets the iea says
words gmt
commodities energy oil price rdlead wrap
london
oil prices extended losses falling below dollars on news of weak energy
demand analysts say
words gmt
forex europe wrap
london
the euro wilts giving back gains against the dollar as investors sell off the
single currency ahead of the ecb rate call
words gmt
stocks europe wrap
london
europe main stock markets rise in the wake of month high for tokyo and
overnight gains on wall street following well received us earnings news traders
say
words gmt
wfp says port au prince warehouses looted
geneva jan afp
the world food programme said friday that its warehouses in haiti capital
port au prince have been looted and that it would have to restock in order to
feed survivors of the devastating earthquake
our warehouses in port au prince have been looted we will have to restock
spokeswoman emilia casella said
in an emergency looting is something that is not unusual she added
wfp says port au prince warehouses looted
geneva jan afp
the world food programme said friday that its warehouses in haiti capital
port au prince have been looted and that it would have to restock in order to
feed survivors of the devastating earthquake
our warehouses in port au prince have been looted we will have to restock
spokeswoman emilia casella said
in an emergency looting is something that is not unusual she added
football torres wants liverpool owners to splash the cash
liverpool england jan afp
fernando torres has told liverpool owners to ease the pressure on under fire
manager rafael benitez by launching major spending spree
benitez faces fight to keep his job after liverpool woeful season hit rock
bottom at anfield on wednesday when the reds were knocked out of the fa cup by
championship strugglers reading
torres belives liverpool who are already out of the champions league and may
not even finish in the premier league top four desperately need an injection
of new blood to boost morale and strengthen squad that is weak in several key
positions
the spain striker out for six weeks with knee injury suffered against
reading hopes george gillett and tom hicks liverpool american owners will
show their support for benitez by giving him money to spend in this month
transfer window and then in the close season
torres said it frustrating we finished second last season this season
should have been turning point for us chance to do something great
but it hasn been it now the owners turn they have to sign players so
that this does not happen again
if we want to compete with united and chelsea we need much much more
complete squad we need more genuinely first class players and we can let our
best players leave
torres admits liverpool must now focus on winning the europa league to salvage
something from the club worst season in benitez six years on merseyside
he told four four two magazine we didn want to win the europa league at the
start of the season but it reality now
now we have to win it anything less than winning the tournament would be
terrible we need to improve we need to take responsibility and we need to get
into the top four and win something
we have virtually no chance of winning the title now now we need to make the
best of this situation
montenegro and kosovo establish diplomatic ties
podgorica jan afp
the montenegrin government announced friday that it had established diplomatic
relations with kosovo in move expected to anger neighbouring serbia
montenegro and kosovo today friday established diplomatic relations by
exchange of letters of respective foreign ministers milan rocen and skender
hiseni government statement received by afp said
however the exchange of ambassadors was delayed until an agreement about the
status of the montenegrin minority in kosovo the statement quoted rocen as
saying
podgorica wants the several thousand montenegrins living in kosovo to have
formal minority status giving them the right to be represented in parliament
and guaranteeing certain educational and cultural rights
the formal establishment of diplomatic relations is expected to anger serbia
which has rejected kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence and still
considers the breakaway territory its southern province
serbia has challenged the legality of kosovo independence before the
international court of justice and urged other states to postpone recognition
or establishing diplomatic relations until ruling by the un highest court
in montenegro recognition of kosovo independence prompted belgrade to
expel its ambassador in return thing were since patched up with new
montenegrin ambassador arriving in serbia last november
following the break up of communist yugoslavia in early serbia and
montenegro were allied in loose union until podgorica peacefully separated in
kosovo ethnic albanian majority proclaimed independence from serbia in
february the move has been recognised by countries so far including
the united states and most of the european union members
russia gives green light to european court reform
moscow jan afp
russian lawmakers voted friday to ratify key protocol on reforming the
european court of human rights clearing the way for the long delayed reform
after years of resistance from moscow
the lower house of russia parliament the duma ratified the protocol with an
overwhelming majority of votes in favour and opposed reversing its
previous rejection of the protocol in
russia was the last member of the nation council of europe not to have
ratified protocol of the european convention on human rights aimed at
streamlining the court work and reducing its backlog of cases
officials in moscow have frequently complained about the strasbourg based court
which has often ruled against russia in cases concerning atrocities in chechnya
and conditions in russian prisons
the ratification of the protocol is important for the european court said
vladimir pligin head of the duma constitutional law committee and member of
the ruling united russia party
we deeply respect the work of the european court and think that many of its
decisions will find an appropriate reflection in the work of russian courts
pligin added
some lawmakers complained that the court was anti russian when the duma
initially rejected the protocol in
russian officials said they had dropped their opposition after the council of
europe agreed to provision stating that russian judge would participate in
any decisions concerning russia
ratification was all but assured after united russia the party chaired by prime
minister vladimir putin said earlier this week that it would back the protocol
russia is the biggest source of pending cases at the court some cases
out of the cases awaiting review by the court originated from russia
according to the russian foreign ministry
besides complaints from chechens about abuses committed by the russian army
moscow has also been irked by cases concerning the yukos oil company and its
jailed billionaire founder mikhail khodorkovsky
this week the court delayed hearing billion dollar billion euro case
brought against the russian government by yukos which contends it was unfairly
prosecuted and driven into bankruptcy
the kremlin reversed its stance on the court reform because it needs closer
economic cooperation with europe as it seeks to modernise the crisis battered
russian economy said independent political analyst dmitry oreshkin
in the near future russia will need to cooperate more with europe oreshkin
said
one of the eu principal complaints against russia was protocol and
president dmitry medvedev wanted to demonstrate his engagement with europe on
democracy and human rights
russia also had nothing to lose by ratifying the protocol because the reform
will simply help the court become more efficient said sergei davidis lawyer
for the memorial human rights organisation
it was no longer possible to delay this simplification of european justice
without seeming like saboteur davidis said
the refusal to ratify did not make sense because this had no effect on the
number of cases against russia that is independent of the reform
protocol must still be passed by the upper house of russia parliament the
federation council in order to be ratified but that vote is largely seen as
formality
blazing ring eclipse races across africa asia
thiruvananthapuram india jan afp
solar eclipse that reduced the sun to blazing ring surrounding sombre disk
plunged millions of people in africa and asia into an eerie semi darkness on
friday
the spectacle visible in roughly kilometre mile band running
kilometres miles across the globe set record for the longest annular
eclipse that will remain unbeaten for more than thousand years
an annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the sun but
does not completely obscure it thus leaving ring an annulus of sunlight
flaring around the lunar disk
the moon shadow first struck the southwestern tip of chad and western central
african republic at gmt and then reached uganda kenya and somalia before
racing across india bangladesh myanmar and china
local media in the affected areas issued warnings about the dangers of looking
directly at the sun but fascinated onlookers thronged streets to witness the
celestial phenomenon
it getting interesting birds are singing it actually getting cold here
said john saitega year old father of six in olte tefi kilometres
miles south of nairobi
in india where the eclipse was visible from the southern most tip astronomers
and curious spectators watched in awe using sunglasses and even ultra dark
welding masks as day turned into darkness
there were cheers and applause in the city of bangalore when clouds cleared just
in time to show the moon glide into position to cover about percent of the
sun
veteran eclipse chaser daniel fischer from german astronomy magazine
interstellarum picked vantage spot on cliff in varkala kilometres
miles north of the city of thiruvananthapuram in the indian state of kerala
thrilled my first eclipse was indonesia in said fischer who has
witnessed eclipses in total
the bangalore based indian space research organisation isro launched three
small rockets on thursday and another five on friday to study the effects of the
event on the atmosphere
we will compare the data obtained on normal days with data during and
immediately after the eclipse to study the difference project director
ratnakar rao told afp from thiruvananthapuram
the eclipse which was followed live on cable television in india and china
temporarily put halt to the world biggest religious gathering in northern
india
temples in haridwar site of the kumbh mela which sees millions of hindus bathe
in the holy river ganges were closed for the duration of the eclipse because
the phenomenon is considered inauspicious an organiser told afp
residents in the ugandan capital kampala got good view although some were
afraid of the intensity of the light with many sharing dark glasses to gaze up
at the sky
can it burn someone you can even look direct because fearing for my
eyes fearing it can burn me said angela namukwaya shopkeeper in
