greece eu economy finance
athens
greek officials are bracing for european union grilling next week over faulty
national statistics as the country awaits approval of national crisis plan on
its debt hit economy
words by john hadoulis
eu eurozone greece
brussels
it won leave it won be kicked out and yet it can be trusted the
budgetary mess greece has landed itself in has never looked more serious for
europe core continental economy
words by roddy thomson
us britain finance economy banks
london
british bankers have welcomed us president barack obama announcement of levy
to raise billion dollars to recoup the wall street bailout saying it
restores parity to the global banking sector
words by guy jackson
lifestyle france it toy military apple
paris
drones have become synonymous with us military strikes in hotspots like
afghanistan but now french firm has built mini version piloted by an iphone
that brings video games to the streets
words by rory mulholland picture
tajikistan economy energy society
dushanbe
the ten year old girl proudly waved her share certificate new young
shareholder in tajikistan giant rogun hydro electric dam and participant in
seemingly improbable privatization drive
words by akbar borisov
syria economy banking
damascus
syria is offering foreign investors majority stake in its private banks as the
country pushes ahead with efforts to boost economic reforms and move away from
its socialist legacy
words by roueida marbadi
japan airline company distress jal focus
tokyo
japan airlines ceo haruka nishimatsu cut his pay ate in the company cafeteria
and even took the bus to work to help cut costs but he couldn stop the once
venerable carrier financial tailspin
words by daniel rook file picture
business titan villar aiming for philippines presidency
manila jan afp
sitting in cafe in one of the many manila office buildings he owns mega rich
property developer manuel villar says it is about time the philippines has its
first business titan president
only resolute captain of industry can haul the fractious southeast asian
nation out of the economic turmoil it has suffered for so long the boyish
looking year old says as he offers himself as the nation saviour
am probably the only one in philippine history who has this kind of
experience villar declared in an interview with afp ahead of the may
national elections referring to his business credentials
people in government and in media do not understand when bank presidents and
chief executives of big corporations talk among themselves they look down on
politicians politicians can thrive on hot air alone
villar is the nation ninth wealthiest man with fortune of million
dollars according to the latest rich list from forbes magazine
he has famously risen from childhood spent in manila slum and he is trying
to convince his impoverished countrymen that he can take them on similar
journey if they vote for him
after failed brief venture supplying seafood to restaurants the now father of
three drove his own trucks to deliver construction materials in order to learn
about the property business
he studied to become an accountant but he made his big money from what he
described as his one big idea inspired by growing up in manila tondo slum
district building small cheap houses and selling them to the poor
it was quite shocking idea at the time he said and he had the entire
market segment to himself
thirty odd years later he has sold nearly units
but villar life story is not so clear cut and critics charge his rags to
riches story is too good to be true
for one he is veteran politician himself entering the house of
representatives in and his critics say he has improperly used his
political power to build his business empire
we cannot have nation run by thief senate colleague maria ana consuelo
madrigal has said repeatedly since first accusing him in of getting
manila road rerouted so it passed through his housing projects
but villar casually dismisses the corruption allegations pointing out senate
investigation exonerated him last year of any impropriety in the road project
dealings
aides describe villar as loyal but hard driving chief executive who calls
managers at midnight and whose only leisure is watching hollywood films at
shopping malls late at night with his youngest child year old daughter
my style is not the flashy type it more of plodding style quiet more
systematic all about making calibrated moves but get things gone he said
after pouring huge sums from his personal fortune into sustained advertising
campaign villar is running second in polls to succeed president gloria arroyo
villar is percentage points behind fellow senator benigno aquino son of
democracy icon corazon aquino in the polls
but he feels confident he can overwhelm aquino year old bachelor who rose
from virtual political obscurity to become presidential frontrunner amid an
outpouring sympathy for his mother when she died last year
villar portrayed aquino as babe in the woods who knew nothing about running
company or bureaucracy or even family
if you have not done anything you have not raised family you have not
been in position of leadership and then you tell me you want to be the leader
of million people it not fair to the people he said
villar declined to go into detail about how he planned to address the nation
maze of problems that include huge state debt decades old communist and muslim
rebellion political violence and corruption
to me what is more important than what we have to do is probably whether we
have the capability the leadership and experience to do it he said
nevertheless he said he did have plan for his first days in office that
would include borrowing more money even though the nation budget deficit
is expected to have topped billion pesos billion dollars
it is important to inspire your bureaucracy and the people within the first
days he said you have to be creative and some strategic borrowing has to be
done
key priority for the first days would be to spend half billion dollars
to modernise all hospitals
if you borrow that much it must have direct impact on the people he said
villar insisted the scale of the nation economic woes showed why there was no
time for on the job training in another dig at chief rival aquino
you must hit the ground running and immediately confront the problem he said
china confirms eight nationals dead in haiti quake
beijing jan afp
china said sunday the bodies of eight nationals buried in haiti devastating
earthquake had been found and would be repatriated as soon as possible
in short statement on its website the nation ministry of public security
said the victims were members of china police force but more detailed
report by the official xinhua news agency said some were peacekeepers
huge magnitude earthquake hit haiti on tuesday leaving tens of thousands
of dead in the capital port au prince and surrounding areas
the quake toppled buildings including the headquarters of the un mission which
has run peacekeeping operations in haiti since
xinhua said four of the victims were part of the un peacekeeping mission in
haiti and the other four were members of team sent to port au prince by the
public security ministry for peacekeeping consultations
the team had just arrived in haiti and was meeting un officials when the quake
struck the report said
china foreign ministry spokeswoman jiang yu said thursday that all other
chinese in haiti were safe including more than un peacekeepers
the bodies of the eight dead comrades will be repatriated back to china as soon
as possible the ministry said
china has sent chinese rescue personnel and load of relief supplies to
haiti amid mounting fears for the thousands still trapped under the ruins
china central government has also said the chinese red cross society will
donate one million dollars in aid supplies
corrected eight canadians killed by haiti quake missing
ottawa jan afp
eight canadians are confirmed dead and some are still unaccounted for
after this week devastating earthquake in haiti officials and media said
saturday
the number of canadians in the disaster zone who had yet to contact their
families provided by foreign minister lawrence cannon was slightly down from
the figure of he gave on friday when the death toll was just four
the canadian government estimates that canadians were in haiti when the
magnitude quake struck on tuesday leaving at least dead in the
capital port au prince and surrounding areas of western haiti
the first four canadian fatalities were missionary nurse policeman well
known writer of haitian origin georges anglade and his wife
added to these on saturday were two employees of the canadian international
development agency acdi who were on mission in port au prince guillaume
siemienski and helene rivard as well as the head of the police contingent in
haiti doug coates and university student from drummondville quebec
canadian authorities have confirmed all the deaths apart from that of student
denis bellavance whose family broke the sad news on the public television
station cbc
canada government was continuing efforts to bring aid to the haitian people
some canadian soldiers were now on the scene with tons of provisions
medication and rescue equipment said defense minister peter mackay
another canadian soldiers and more supplies reached port au prince on
saturday on board jumbo transport plane and hercules military
aircraft they were to be used to evacuate the remaining canadian nationals
some of whom have already been repatriated
the canadian government also announced saturday that it would fast track
immigration procedures for haitians affected by the earthquake who have family
in canada
it the government intention to facilitate as quickly as possible the
reunification of canadian citizens with haitians as well as members of their
family that have been very severely affected by the disaster said immigration
minister jason kenney
according to government figures some people of haitian origin live in
canada
tennis aussie grand slam wide open says rafa
melbourne jan afp
defending champion rafael nadal says this year australian open is lottery
with any one of dozen players capable of winning
the world number two spaniard who beat roger federer here last year in
gripping five set final admitted he was not the favourite this time after his
injury layoff but didn want to say who he thought was
we will see what happens don know he said
lot of players can win right now don want to say everybody but like
players players have good chance
federer is obviously one of them as is nadal andy murray and novak djokovic
with nikolay davydenko the form player having beaten the spaniard in the qatar
open final this month
nadal failure to win that tournament means he comes into the opening grand
slam of the season without title in eight months with the last one coming on
the barcelona clay in april
nadal said he hadn had bad results but was just struggling to get back to
winning tournaments
didn have bad results the last five months but didn have perfect
results he said
but played was there for all the tournaments sure it true playing
against the top players didn have very good results but wasn playing
bad just need little bit more
with injuries hampering the year old for much of last year he faces
telling time at the australian open which should provide guide as to his
current standing in men tennis
he insists the confidence is there it just question of once again winning
final
the confidence the only way to have confidence is winning matches winning
important matches did that in abu dhabi and did that in doha he said
referring to his two warm up tournaments
so think am in the right way it needs little bit more time but am
ready to try to play my best tennis think am playing well think am
playing much better than what did in the last four months
he opens his tournament with first round match against australian peter
luczak with briton andy murray looming as possible quarter final opponent
nadal was not ready to look that far ahead
never talk about quarter finals before getting there he said there are
four matches until the quarter finals we will see what happen before that
figure skating us championships results
spokane washington jan afp
results here on saturday in the united states figure skating championships
qualifier for the vancouver winter olympics
pairs
final results
caydee denney jeremy barrett pts
amanda evora mark ladwig
rena inoue john baldwin
brooke castile benjamin okolski
keauna mclaughlin rockne brubaker
caitlin yankowskas john coughlin
free skate
caydee denney jeremy barrett pts
rena inoue john baldwin
amanda evora mark ladwig
brooke castile benjamin okolski
keauna mclaughlin rockne brubaker
caitlin yankowskas john coughlin
wounded in philippines bus ambush military
zamboanga philippines jan afp
gunmen ambushed bus in the southern philippines wounding people in
suspected extortion attempt the military said sunday
the vehicle was attacked late saturday on its regular route to the city of
pagadian said the regional military chief lieutenant general benjamin
dolorfino
the driver who was one of people wounded was listed in serious condition at
hospital in nearby ipil town the general told reporters
the army dispatched unit of infantry to seek at least two suspects who were
armed with an assault rifle and shotgun he added
dolorfino described the gunmen as suspected extortionists
first aid is small mercy at haiti quake epicenter
leogane haiti jan afp
first shipment of un food aid arrived on saturday in the ruined haitian town
of leogane where street after street of homes and businesses was torn apart and
up to are feared to have died
just kilometres miles west of the capital port au prince leogane was
close to the epicenter of tuesday magnitude quake and almost every
structure from the historic central church to seafront beer shacks was
damaged
but with the international rescue effort concentrated in haiti capital
leogane people have so far been left to fend for themselves in ad hoc squatter
camps
on saturday sri lankan united nations troops escorted in single truck load of
high energy biscuits for the world food program and small teams of
international aid workers made their first forays to inspect the damage
it the very epicenter of the earthquake and many many thousands are dead
said world food program spokesman david orr as peacekeepers raised the un sri
lankan and haitian banners for the television crews
nearly every house was destroyed here the military are talking about to
dead he said as wfp staff handed out packs of biscuits to crowd that
had gathered in front of leogane ruined city hall
the cheerful queues of mainly young men and women marshalled by the sri
lankans grinned playfully as youngsters tried to jump in front some filming
each other with their mobile phones as they awaited their emergency rations
for although locals welcomed the arrival of the aid effort as sign they had
not been abandoned the biscuit drop was of mainly symbolic value
barely metres yards from the truck stalls sold onions eggs and garlic and
mothers cooked steaming bowls of rice and beans under shelters of wood sheets
and un and usaid left behind from previous hurricane disasters
leogane is in desperate need but not of biscuits
with all public and health services out and the bulk of the population homeless
and living in cramped bivouacs the city needs medical supplies and clinics
and in the longer term it will need to be rebuilt
it small distribution that not worthy of the catastrophe that has
befallen us said year old events promoter maxime dumont
two jeeploads of foreign aid workers including one from save the children had
also come to leogane to see what they could do to help but all three city
hospitals were closed and one had entirely collapsed
us secretary of state hillary clinton who visited haiti saturday promised aid
would soon begin to be shipped outside the capital
the other thing we re trying to do is get our helicopters outside the
immediately affected area outside of port au prince because people are leaving
the city clinton said
they are seeking medical help they are trying to get to relatives she added
the countryside is relatively unaffected we re trying to get ahead of the
curve here
in the ruelle des fleurs flower lane once elegant residential street of two
and three story detached homes overlooked by palm trees and draped in red
blossoms elderly damelie maitre sat nursing her broken arm
on tuesday at pm she had been rehearsing with the ladies in her choir when
the quake struck masonry from an adjoining building smashed through the
corrugated tin roof of their hall and wiped out of the singers
damelie survived but her wounds have become infected and she seems stunned
sitting in her driveway holding an arm splinted with cardboard box and tears
in her eyes
the quake struck with such force ve never known anything like that said
damelie husband year old sugar plant worker fremy maitre pointing at the
house opposite where the first story was flattened by the second
year old girl known to neighbors by the nickname dautoutou died in the
house but her body has yet to be recovered
leogane must once have been an attractive town
on the road from the capital now partly blocked in fallen boulders from the
hills running up from the blue caribbean waters refugees are sleeping under
plastic sheeting amid banana groves and green fields of corn
for every peasant shack and waterfront snack bar destroyed there is an imposing
villa or ambitious commercial venture in ruins
what can we say about the future nothing we can say nothing we are reduced
to nothing declared year old it worker pierre desrosiers
obama surprises michelle with birthday dinner
washington jan afp
us president barack obama gave his wife michelle birthday surprise on
saturday treating the first lady to slap up meal at restaurant nora
celebrated organic eatery in washington
there was no sign of the couple daughters malia and sasha as michelle who
turns on sunday arrived with the president wearing black long sleeved
dress to table full of family and close friends
restaurant nora which describes itself as america first certified organic
restaurant has chef tasting menu at dollars and main courses that
include sauteed amish veal scalloppine and shichimi crusted tofu hot pot
tintin embarks on new adventure in china
beijing jan afp
beloved belgian cartoon reporter tintin is getting makeover in china thanks to
new more faithful mandarin translation of his adventures
wang bingdong who first discovered herge comic strip hero in at the age
of spent three years penning the new version of tintin books
painstaking task he says was pure delight
really found myself feeling happy as was translating felt younger with
tintin and the other members of the tintin family by my side every day wang
told afp with grin
the new chinese edition includes nearly all of tintin stories tintin in
the land of the soviets was deemed too anti communist by the country censors
for its criticism of the soviet union
the plucky character and his canine pal snowy first appeared in china in the
when some of the stories were published in so called little book
format but the first official set of books only came out in
more than two million books were sold but the translation was far from perfect
having been done from the english not the original french which first appeared
in
wang fluent french speaker immersed himself in herge work paying careful
attention to the names and places
he received bit of help from pierre justo year old frenchman and avid
collector of foreign tintin editions who lives in beijing and has an
encyclopedic knowledge of the globe trotting journalist
incompetent detectives dupond and dupont became dubang and dupang not
thompson and thomson
captain haddock famously colourful insults are given new life ten thousand
thundering typhoons becomes tian da lei pi or may the heavens punish you
and thunder strike you down
tintin fans in china the only country that the character visits twice say
they are thrilled with the new book
this is the first time that the original text has been respected the
translator worked hard to remain faithful to it said year old han ziwen
one of the leaders of china tintin fan club
discovered tintin in the little books in at the time only few
books had been translated but was always waiting impatiently for the next
one he said
china was opening up to the world and was discovering the world with
tintin
the new edition each adventure is available in small and large format at
cost of and yuan and three dollars will benefit from massive
advertising campaign which should bring tintin hordes of new fans
japanese manga cartoons dominate china comic book market but publishers say
they are confident that the belgian hero reintroduction will offer golden
sales opportunity
this is sizeable market there is of course commercial aspect to all
this but this is also about paying tribute to herge in place that he loved
explained louis delas managing director for belgian publishers casterman
we and the chinese publisher paid close attention to the print quality the
translation and the price to ensure this was quality item with mass market
appeal especially in the run up to steven spielberg tintin film in
there are also sentimental reasons for the chinese to be fond of the young
reporter in the first tintin book set in china the blue lotus herge took
the side of the chinese over their japanese occupiers in shanghai
at the time that was not an easy thing the japanese protested against
tintin pro china stance it was daring publication said wang
big fat indian weddings slim down in tough business times
mumbai jan afp
preeti punamiya is young and excited bride to be preparing to get married in
traditional indian wedding which usually features days of lavish celebrations
but the impact of the global economic downturn has caused her to rethink the
extravagance following trend that has seen many indian families scale down
their celebrations over the past months
it our families who wanted to make it grand affair said punamiya
biotechnology researcher in her early who is marrying us based software
engineer
have wanted it simple keeping costs under check said punamiya who has cut
back the days of festivities to three from the five customary in her family and
also slashed the number of ceremonies to three from nine
india wedding seasons from mid october to january and april to july bring with
them street drummers and musicians processions and open air ceremonies where
the statement often seems to be the bigger and louder the better
the industry is estimated to be worth trillion rupees billion dollars
year one leading wedding website shaadi com put the average cost of high
end marriage at dollars
but wedding planners say that as the effect of the worldwide recession hits
exports imports and the service industry india wealthier urban upper classes
are cutting back on costs
people are curbing expenses said tejal kadakia who founded knot forever
mumbai based wedding management firm
for indians wedding is one time event people want stylish quality
event but they are trimming catering costs and even those on the guest list
she told afp
traditional asian wedding is lengthy and elaborate starting with trip to
the astrologer or family priest who chooses the auspicious day and time of the
ceremony considering phases of the moon
rings are exchanged at the engagement followed by the mehndi ceremony where
the bride arms and legs are intricately painted with brown henna dye to ward
off evil and strengthen love
the next day sees an elaborate sangeet musical dance or even bollywood
style extravaganza the wedding itself usually comes hours later followed by
cocktails and lavish evening meal
moroccan or turkish style weddings with billowing tents vast pavilions
hookah smoking pipes and finely upholstered low slung divans have proved
popular with expat indians who travel home to tie the knot
but tejal said these themes are vanishing people prefer rajasthani or
luckhnowi themes which are traditional and cheaper
until three years back there was certain childishness an urge to show
wealth that has gone now it is not who beats whom would say we all seem to
have been beaten by recession
candice pereira creative head of marry me wedding consultants said some
people do prefer to combine the mehndi and sangeet events
tejal also said families are choosing to skip the music and dance altogether
earlier there was demand for only well known singers or bands she added
the musical event is becoming optional or is personally choreographed lively
family dance is considered enough
nevertheless bollywood song and dance events remain hugely popular with
overseas indians particularly those from the united states and canada
compared with many western countries wedding planners like tejal and pereira
whose firm charges upwards of one million rupees per event are new breed in
india
wedding management firms have mushroomed in recent years across india big
cities attracting clientele from medical doctors like punamiya family to
industrialists and construction firm bosses
but this year tejal said she has organised weddings for just six to eight
clients compared with to in
many overseas based indians or people of indian origin choose to get married in
india due to cheaper costs and its cultural significance overseas the cost of
hiring venues catering and ethnic indian wedding wear quickly adds up
india salaried urban middle classes are also learning to streamline costs
amid concern for their jobs
one recently married mumbai media consultant who asked not to be identified
said he had been under pressure to have traditional multi function marriage
but was conscious of the cost
at one point considered court civil marriage but the process is
complex he told afp we finally did two day event skipping the mehndi
and sangeet
the couple printed few cards sending out most invitations on email or through
mobile phone text messages
my honeymoon will have to wait had to be back at work he added
us french troops share airborne training in pyrenees
la teste de buch france jan afp
under the steady thumping of rotors the french caracal and american pave hawk
helicopters race off towards the snow covered french pyrenees
the location is well chosen the southern french mountains resemble the rough
landscape troops will face in afghanistan here both countries troops can get
used to working together on their mission to stabilise the country
the terrain is incredible here it very realistic to afghanistan said the
commander of the us contingent lieutenant colonel neil eisen we can get the
realistic conditions terrain and altitude for trying to land in afghanistan
the th rescue squadron of the us air force in europe has joined its french
counterparts the pyrenees helicopter squadron and french parachutist commando
unit for the exercise code named red devil
officers involved said the us forces visit to southwest france marks the first
time us combat rescue squadron has been invited to train on french soil since
then president charles de gaulle asked us forces there to leave in
the us squadron recently home from iraq and based in england has brought three
helicopters two planes and troops including pave hawk pilots and team
of elite parajumpers for three weeks of pre combat training
in afghanistan all of the soldiers involved in red devil will share similar
mission rescuing their comrades and providing emergency medical treatment for
the injured in hostile areas
we rescue anybody from fighter pilot who punches out to marines on the
ground said master sergeant louis distelzweig recently returned from iraq
and veteran of seven tours in afghanistan during his year career as
para rescuer
as more american troops pour into afghanistan more joint missions with the
french troops who form part of the us and nato led international security force
there are certainty
we are in the same theatre same mission under the same commander so
quite sure we will be engaged in the same conflicts said the french commander
for red devil lieutenant colonel olivier celo
with the conflicts increasing as soon as you have more people on the ground
more fights on the ground more injured soldiers we ll have to evacuate more
people
with the americans at bagram airbase and the french just down the road at the
kabul airport there are times when we are flying in the exact same zone said
eisen
it won be planned it will simply just happen he explained and when
we re down range there aren any americans any english any french we re all
together so why shouldn we train that way
joint missions however create new risks it would be detrimental for the
french and americans to work together on real world war mission unless they
work together here and both learn each other language said distelzweig
the challenge is the language barrier and different tactics and techniques
said eisen the reason we are training together is to figure out how to work
