possible to avoid giving the impression that it sees the island as bona fide
diplomatic player
taiwan and china have been governed independently since the end of civil war
in but beijing considers the island part of its territory and has vowed to
get it back by force if necessary
taiwan china friendly government is eager to conclude the trade pact known as
the economic cooperation framework agreement ecfa which it says could lift
growth and boost employment
but the opposition democratic progressive party which favours independence from
china fears it would increase taiwan reliance on china and imperil the
island de facto separate status
relations have improved since taiwan current administration assumed power in
may pursuing programme of stepping up economic ties
tennis ninth seed verdasco battles to beat ball at open
melbourne jan afp
spanish ninth seed fernando verdasco progressed to the second round of the
australian open with hard fought win over
australian wildcard carsten ball tuesday
reconciliation with taliban leaders unlikely gates
aboard us military aircraft jan afp
us defense secretary robert gates on monday said it was unlikely taliban leaders
would reconcile with afghanistan government but that lower ranking insurgents
might be open to making peace with kabul
gates welcomed plans announced on sunday by president hamid karzai government
to launch new bid at making peace with islamist militants but said taliban
chief mullah omar and other leaders would be reluctant to lay down their arms
until circumstances changed on the battlefield
just speaking personally be very surprised to see reconciliation with
mullah omar gates told reporters aboard his plane en route to india
think it our view that until the taliban leadership sees change in the
momentum and begins to see that they are not going to win that the likelihood
of reconciliation at senior levels is not terribly great he said
but he added that we may see real growth of reintegration at the local
district and provincial level as insurgents come under pressure and know
they re not going to win
those who left the insurgency needed assurances that their families would be
protected from retaliation he said
gates and top commanders have said previously that reconciliation efforts stood
little chance of success without halting the momentum of the insurgents
karzai new reconciliation plan will be announced ahead of major
international conference on afghanistan due in london on january his
spokesman waheed omar said on sunday
conceding that past efforts at peace have failed omar said the new plan would
include economic incentives as many taliban fighters had joined for cash rather
than to support hardline religious ideology
president barack obama administration had not yet seen the details of kabul
new initiative but gates said wooing insurgents was vital to resolving the war
karzai has long called for peace talks with the taliban even offering
government posts to its leaders but the insurgents have refused dialogue
until the withdrawal of nato led troops on which kabul relies for security
omar said the new plan would reach out to militants in all ranks from the
political leadership to fighters on the ground
gates also expressed cautious optimism about the results of us military
operations in the southern helmand province where force of thousands of
marines has tried to push the taliban out of towns and villages
think people are heartened by the early signs of the success of the marines
in helmand but its early yet and don think anyone is prepared to go too far
in sort of talking about success down there
the marines in helmand are part of surge of reinforcements ordered by
president barack obama last month
the deployment of the additional troops was on schedule with about percent
of the additional forces due to be in place by the end of august he said
universal studios to build major theme park in korea
seoul jan afp
us film giant universal studios tuesday signed deal with south korean partners
to build its largest theme park in asia at cost of around three trillion won
billion dollars
universal parks and resorts and south korean partners including lotte group
and subsidiary of steel giant posco signed the framework agreement to develop
the park at hwaseong kilometres miles southwest of seoul by
the initial deal was announced in late but faced problems raising capital
until retail and hotels group lotte was persuaded to join the project
lotte asset development will have percent stake while posco
construction subsidiary posco and will be the second largest shareholder
with percent
work is due to start early next year on the park which will include water
park theme hotel condos golf course and other facilities
kim moon soo governor of gyeonggi province said the resort will create more
than new jobs culture minister yu in chon called it major opportunity
to develop the national tourism industry
universal parks and resorts chairman and ceo thomas williams said at the signing
ceremony that the project will play leading role in the growth and
development of the korean tourism industry
he said director steven spielberg consultant to universal parks and resorts
is expected to take part in the south korean project
universal studios also operates theme parks in hollywood orlando in florida and
japan and park on singapore sentosa island is nearing completion
us allows entry for thousands of haitian orphans
washington jan afp
the united states on monday said it would allow orphaned children from haiti to
enter the united states legally so they can receive care they need on the heels
of the killer earthquake in the caribbean nation
we are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in haiti
during this very difficult time homeland security secretary janet napolitano
said in statement
while we remain focused on family reunification in haiti authorizing the use
of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the united
states will allow them to receive the care they need here she said
the us move does not open the country doors to all haitian orphans
rather it grants case by case humanitarian entry to those legally confirmed as
orphans eligible for intercountry adoption by the government of haiti and are
being adopted by us citizens and children who have been previously
identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for
intercountry adoption and have been matched to us citizen prospective adoptive
parents
that means that us parents adopting children from haiti will not have to wait
for final paperwork or passports from the haitian government which is
struggling to cope with humanitarian disaster after strength quake
flattened much of the capital and killed thousands
unaccompanied minors entering the country without parent or legal guardian
are subject to special procedures regarding their custody and care dhs
coordinates with the department of health and human services hhs office of
refugee resettlement on the cases of these unaccompanied minors napolitano
added
tennis nervy ivanovic works to get career back on track
melbourne jan afp
serbian glamour girl and th seed ana ivanovic overcame some late nerves to
advance to the second round of the australian open on tuesday as she works to
get her career back on track
the former world number one appeared set for the easiest of wins when she led
with two breaks but her serve dramatically deserted her when the match
was within reach
american shenay perry who struggled with her own serve broke back and then had
four break points to get the second set back on serve at
but she could not capitalise and it was relieved ivanovic that finally secured
win after minutes
despite the late lapse ivanovic was generally happy with her form
yeah it was very good said the serb who is dating australian golfer adam
scott
was pleased with the way played and very happy to have victory
because she has had lot of matches already and she dangerous opponent
she likes to come in and serve and volley and doesn give you much rhythm or
time
ivanovic who hit winners sent down three aces but also finished the match
with five double faults
she faced nine break points during the match but had against the perry serve
as both players battled blustery conditions
playing on the uncovered margaret court arena which will soon have roof under
plans announced tuesday ivanovic said the windy conditions made the match
tricky
the conditions were very tough she said it was very cold and windy and
lot different than at the brisbane international or what been used to
but just tried to work my way through just taking time and tried to stay
composed
thought played well and served good
beaten in the final here by russian maria sharapova in the year old is
looking to put disappointing behind her having battled injuries and
indifferent form
she slipped down the rankings to be outside the top for the first time in
five years finishing the season at
her best performances were reaching the fourth round at wimbledon and the french
open
she made solid start to the year in brisbane prior to the australian open
reaching the semi finals before losing to the returning justine henin
ivanovic will face either argentinian gisela dulko or slovak republic qualifier
zuzana kucova in the second round with potential quarter final against serena
williams to target
german cities chafe under merkel tax cuts
wuppertal germany jan afp
german cities complain they are bearing the brunt of deep tax cuts by chancellor
angela merkel government and nowhere is feeling the pain more sharply than the
rust belt town of wuppertal
cannot even get loan to buy new fire engine frets johannes slawig
wuppertal city treasurer
like his colleagues across europe biggest economic power slawig has been
scrambling to find budget savings in the face of dire shortfall
street lamps go off at pm indoor public pools are one degree cooler this
winter to save on heating bills and dog trackers are fanning out across
nearby aachen to pester owners about paying their canine tax
wuppertal plans to hike the dog tax and the price of burials shutter theatre
housing stage used by the late homegrown choreographer pina bausch as well as
pools and elementary schools and trim the social service budget
hit hard by the economic crisis germany worst since the war
municipalities say they are also under siege from tax cutting drive in berlin
that has robbed this city of people of millions in revenue
the prospects are particularly gloomy for wuppertal which boomed in germany
post war industrial heyday and now suffers unemployment of more than
percent
even key source of pride an elevated metro was out of service for several
hours on recent frigid day while its streets were caked with muddy snow
an austerity plan unveiled at the end of by city hall will have negative
effects on everyone daily life slawig admitted
he fears it will impinge on quality of life here in ways large and small likely
sparking flight of the wealthiest which will only exacerbate the revenues
crunch
already pay euros dollars per year for my daughter pre school
while it is free in duesseldorf the more prosperous state capital says
philipp thelen something father of two
so if move one day will go where it free and where there are still
swimming pools that are open
thelen is not only worried about his own belt tightening
he runs centre that offers language courses child care and tutoring to mainly
immigrant families in particularly run down neighbourhood of the city and
worries its public funding which accounts for three quarters of its budget may
dry up
he speaks of sleepless nights and wonders which members of his staff he can
keep on salary and which services he can continue to offer
in cities such as wuppertal the decline of industry began quarter century ago
but gathered pace with the financial and economic crisis over the last year
which slawig blames for about half the public deficit here
in other cash strapped urban centres the crisis has hit like bombshell
stripping their coffers of millions in commercial taxes their main source of
revenue
merkel government pushed through controversial stimulus package of
billion euros in tax relief from january and it plans much larger cuts in the
coming years
in wuppertal slawig says up to eight million euros in expected revenue will
simply dry up this year forcing cutbacks for its citizens
what the state gives away in the form of tax cuts it takes back by making
people pay more for everything he said
japan airlines set for bankruptcy filing
tokyo jan afp
japan airlines once venerable flag carrier now crippled by massive debts was
expected to file for bankruptcy protection tuesday in one of the country
biggest corporate failures in decades
asia biggest airline is set to keep flying with billions of dollars in new
official aid but japan centre left government has mandated painful
restructuring that will reportedly see one third of jal workforce depart
the carrier was believed to be on the verge of seeking court protection from
creditors and delisting its shares from the stock exchange becoming one of the
highest profile victims yet of japan economic woes
with estimated debts of about two trillion yen billion dollars jal
bankruptcy would be the biggest failure outside the financial sector since world
war ii according to tokyo shoko research an advisory firm
jal shares plunged to an all time low of just four yen four us cents tuesday
morning reducing the market value of the group to just million dollars
equivalent to about half the cost of new jumbo jet
while tokyo says jal will continue to operate flights during the restructuring
equity investors are expected to lose most or all of their money if the company
goes bust
the government has prepared various support measures transport minister seiji
maehara told reporters we want to help jal to recover while operating
safely he added
the government has tapped kazuo inamori year old entrepreneur and ordained
buddhist monk to run the stricken airline during its overhaul
inamori is one of japan most respected business executives and management
gurus having founded both high tech parts supplier kyocera corp and company
that later became part of kddi corp now japan number two telecoms firm
eyeing its lucrative asian landing slots us carriers american airlines and
delta air lines are now in bidding war for slice of jal
dutch carrier klm said on monday that talks involving air france klm and delta
on jal future were going well after reports that the japanese airline had
agreed to tie up with delta and switch to the skyteam alliance
the government was expected to announce tuesday new financial lifeline for
jal which has received series of public bailouts and lost about billion
dollars in the six months to september
jal is reportedly set to slash more than jobs about percent of its
payroll while withdrawing from unprofitable routes and selling assets such as
hotels in bid to return to profitability
experts say radical downsizing is long overdue at jal which has been hobbled by
high costs since its days as state owned flag carrier and is overexposed to
unprofitable domestic and overseas routes
the problem is that the government lacks clear vision on what to do with
jal international network said yasuhiro matsumoto credit analyst at
shinsei securities they are focused on assisting jal
according to japanese media the company is set to receive an injection of
government funds worth several hundred billion yen several billion dollars
under prepackaged restructuring plan that would see it file for bankruptcy
at the same time jal creditor banks are expected to be asked to forgive loans
worth several hundred billion yen
some analysts questioned whether japan needs two major airlines operating
international flights noting that smaller rival all nippon airways is more
efficient
ana has more solid management it would be better that the stronger company
takes charge of the job and less public help would be needed said matsumoto
jal has been hit hard by industry turbulence unleashed by the september
terror attacks in the united states the iraq war and the global financial
crisis as well as global health scares in the past decade
asian markets down nervous ahead of us bank earnings
hong kong jan afp
investors were subdued on tuesday ahead of us bank earnings reports this week
sending asian stocks down while japan airlines sank to fresh low just hours
before an expected bankruptcy filing
with wall street closed for public holiday on monday regional markets were
given little direction forcing dealers to look ahead to number of lenders
fourth quarter reports including that of citigroup
us giant jp morgan chase last week announced fourth quarter net earnings
quadrupled and profits doubled for the full year but the news was not as good
as had been expected by many analysts weighing on the stock on friday
sydney gave up percent hong kong dropped percent and tokyo was down
percent while singapore dropped percent
the market looks to have caved in over the last hour and it really the
financials sector that is dragging down the broader market said cmc markets
dealer matt lewis in australia
those big cap materials stocks are not providing much resistance
japan airlines dived percent or one yen to an all time low of just four yen
four us cents as dealers sold up prior to an announcement tuesday on state
backed restructuring package for the airline
jal is widely expected to seek court protection from creditors and may delist
from the tokyo index
shanghai bucked the regional trend adding percent with oil majors leading
the way amid rising crude prices dealers said
oil made some gains tuesday after suffering big losses at the end of last week
and on monday
new york main contract light sweet crude for february delivery was cents
higher at dollars barrel while brent north sea crude for february
delivery rose cents to dollars
the dollar edged down to yen in tokyo from in late european deals
monday the euro was at dollars from and to yen from
in hong kong gold opened higher at us dollars an ounce up
from monday close of dollars
china to take action to avoid japan style bust experts
beijing jan afp
china is expected to raise interest rates and let its currency appreciate in the
coming months as policy makers resort to more aggressive measures to prevent the
economy overheating analysts said
moves by the central bank in the past two weeks to rein in surge in bank
lending signalled policy shift that would help the world third largest
economy avoid japan boom bust experience of the late they said
believe we are at the beginning of new phase of policy tightening we
will see more tightening coming in the next few months peng wensheng head of
china research at barclays capital in hong kong told afp
after repeated calls for banks to moderate their lending activity the people
bank of china took action last week hiking the minimum amount of money that
banks must keep in reserve for the first time in more than year
it has also in recent days raised interest rates on one year and three month
treasury bills in bid to curb record lending
the fiscal tightening moves caught analysts by surprise and came after state
media reported banks had extended massive billion yuan billion
dollars in loans in the first week of january
that amount was not far off the combined billion yuan in new loans given
out in november and december new loans in china nearly doubled in from
year previously to trillion yuan government data showed
the central bank did not give reason for its moves but analysts said they
showed the government wanted to rein in credit expansion that has led to
concerns over inflation asset bubbles bad loans and economic overheating
growth was last year problem it is dealing with the consequences of growth
and the policies that china successfully reflated the economy with that are the
issues for eric fishwick hong kong based economist at clsa asia
pacific told afp
china no longer needs to have hyper stimulatory policy would argue that
it no longer needs stimulatory policy period
in addition to more bank reserve ratio hikes beijing is expected to raise
interest rates and allow the currency effectively pegged to the us dollar
since mid to appreciate in the coming months analysts said
as we have argued for several months now higher benchmark lending rates and
stronger yuan will need to be part of the package said brian jackson hong
kong based senior strategist at the royal bank of canada
we continue to believe that an initial move around the end of the first quarter
is likely
calyon credit agricole agreed saying in note that policy makers appeared to
have reached consensus on the pace of the monetary tightening and this may
open the door to move on the currency sooner rather than later
in the past year china adopted what it called moderately loose monetary
policy and embarked on an unprecedented four trillion yuan billion dollar
spending spree to keep the economy growing amid the global downturn
it also urged banks to pump up lending but after the amount of new loans
subsequently surged the government in recent months reversed course and called
for reasonable lending as inflation fears rose
the consumer price index key gauge of inflation rose in november after an
almost year long bout of deflation
ve never seen government stimulate an economy as aggressively as china has
done which means the need for reduction is more than anywhere else said
fishwick
preemptive policies stand the best chance of working
last year stimulus measures have borne fruit china grew percent in the
third quarter the fastest pace in year after expanding by percent in
the second quarter and percent in the first three months
economic data due to be released this week are expected to show the economy grew
by percent in
china strong growth and soaring asset prices have led to comparisons with
japan in the but analysts said beijing swift action to contain
inflation and cool the property market would help it avoid the boom bust
experience of its asian neighbour
think the chances of china repeating what happened in japan is not impossible
but it is unlikely pu yonghao head of asian economic and investment strategy
at ubs told afp
china is taking action to prevent such an asset bubble
peng said chinese policy makers were trying to strike balance between
controlling inflationary pressure and maintaining economic growth
they will tighten policy in phased manner he said they do not want to
threaten the sustainability of the recovery
urgent venezuela seizes three banks orders two others closed
caracas jan afp
the venezuelan government of president hugo chavez on monday seized control of
three small banks and ordered two other financial institutions closed bank
regulators said in statement
asia it parts makers struggle with demand boom
taipei jan afp
wrong footed by rocketing consumer demand asian technology suppliers are
scrambling to expand capacity before inventories run dry of everything from
semiconductors to flat panel screens
asian components makers betting on much longer economic downturn last year
ran down their stockpiles to very unhealthy levels according to nancy liu an
analyst at taiwan industrial technology research institute
but demand worldwide for gadgetry ranging from computers to smartphones and
liquid crystal displays is zooming ahead even if the west retail sales as
whole are still sluggish and china is boom market all by itself
jin sung hye an analyst with south korea shinhan investment corp said asian
component makers were now rushing to ramp up production after failing to
forecast the consumer recovery
however higher component prices will not lead to drastic increase in pc
prices as makers are under pressure to produce upgraded models she said
makers of computers and consumer electronics could instead see their profit
margins squeezed given cut throat industry competition with consumers used to
ever falling prices on the high street
and consumers themselves might have to get used to delays in procuring the
latest must have gadgets problem that has afflicted apple iphone as
taiwanese chip suppliers struggle to keep up
component shortages will linger with analysts saying it typically takes
months from the time manufacturer decides to boost capacity until production
actually picks up
shortages are expected to continue throughout this year and possibly into early
next year if the global economy maintains the current pace of recovery jin
said
us giant intel the world biggest chipmaker last week reported its net profit
soared nearly nine fold to billion dollars in the last quarter of
its booming sales came as industry tracker idc reported that us computer
shipments topped million in the fourth quarter record figure while global
pc shipments jumped percent year on year
idc identified two key factors abundant deals on low priced netbook
computers and pent up demand as consumers upgraded their pcs after the
financial crisis
industry shortages mean the semiconductors needed for an average computer are
likely to be percent more expensive this year than last marking the first
rise since according to analyst firm gartner
the average selling price for one gigabyte of dram or computer memory will
still decline by eight percent this year but that compares with much steeper
falls of percent in and percent in gartner said
if we look at how bad it was in the first quarter of last year no one could
have predicted that the economy would recover this fast taiwan based gartner
analyst ben lee said
there was financial turbulence and companies went bankrupt he said
this has changed with government stimulus plans plus loose monetary
situation money is flooding into the market everyone can borrow
the chinese government implemented stimulus spree worth billion dollars
and consumers in the world third largest economy have played major role in
stoking demand according to observers
the fast recovery in the chinese market appears to be the main reason for the
global technology boom said shinhan investment jin
taiwan innolux display corp is one technology company being forced into
drastic reappraisal of its plans as it battles to keep up with the demand
the firm recently announced merger with rival chi mei optoelectronics corp as
it vies to take on the big japanese and south korean suppliers of flat panel
displays
the deal was originally expected to be completed in may but has now been
hastily brought forward to march
innolux hopes to integrate the two companies capacity and ensure steady
supply of panels as soon as possible said nancy liu
china markets set for new phase in
shanghai jan afp
shanghai stock market is set for major changes in that could help close
the gap with london and new york as the chinese city strives to become global
financial centre analysts say
china began the year with strong signal that it is serious about its goal of
turning shanghai into leading finance hub by approving raft of
measures that give investors more sophisticated investment options
previously mainland investors were only able to bet on stocks going up but the
state council or cabinet has approved trials of short selling and margin
trading that would allow investors to profit from falling markets as well
the ultimate introduction of the new investment options is without doubt
revolutionary move for china capital markets said zhang jian beijing
based analyst with boc international bank of china brokerage unit
margin trading allows investors to borrow money from financial institutions to
buy shares they expect to rise
if the share price goes up they can easily pay back the borrowed money if the
price goes down investors must still pay back the full amount borrowed
short selling allows investors to sell borrowed shares when they expect the
price to decline if the price falls they can buy the shares at the lower price
and return them to the lender
it opens new chapter for china domestic equity market with these new
rules the share market will no longer be one way street as shorting and
hedging become possible deutsche bank economist jun ma wrote in note
it is also major step towards the internationalisation of the chinese
market he added
the central government has also approved stock index futures market that will
also give investors opportunities to profit when the market falls and help them
hedge risks
preparations for the index futures market began years ago with mock trading
already running for three years margin and short trading systems tests began in
late
now that beijing has given the green light the new trading options could begin
within three months analysts said
these steps will speed up the pace for shanghai to become an international
financial centre said peng yunliang of shanghai securities
the changes come on top of expectations that the shanghai stock exchange will
see its first foreign listing in hsbc has said it hopes to be the first
with listing that could come as early as march according to reports
the developments combined with the launch on october of china nasdaq
style chinext board which aims to boost start ups as well as small and medium
sized companies mark huge strides for chinese capital markets and show
growing confidence
both shorting and margin trading magnify risks but experts say the practices
could help reduce volatility over the long run by increasing liquidity
shanghai market has seen huge swings in recent years the benchmark shanghai
composite index soared percent last year but that came after percent
plunge in so far this year the index is down percent
but china asset prices are expected to continue to take off in with the
economy expected to expand at roughly percent and investors will want to
keep profiting from growing earnings macquarie bank said in note
what impact will index futures trading have on the market
goldman sachs studied the mock trading in china which has seen eligible
brokerages and the general public practising in simulations that involve no
money since
the simulations suggest maturing market with bias towards long positions or
bets prices will rise the us investment bank said in research note adding
volatility declined as the mock trading progressed
the developments bring china step closer to being ready to start foreign
listings and attract world renowned foreign companies to list in market that
is getting more mature and international shanghai securities peng said
