the biggest loss is obama
when brown takes up his seat the democrats will retain hefty majority in the
senate but lose the crucial th vote allowing them to override republican
blocking of the white house agenda
the first big victim analysts say is likely to be obama cherished health
care reforms package which has been struggling to pass in congress even with
the democratic majority
brown who will become the st republican in the senate has promised to vote
against health care thereby derailing easy passage of the bill
think you can make pretty good argument that health care might be dead
democratic congressman anthony weiner told msnbc television
supporters at brown headquarters were jubilant shouting it miracle
and people seat people seat
think this very good sign this indicates people want something new in
government said one voter derek ho
analysts point to lackluster campaign by coakley and misreading by the
democrats of popular anger at washington in time of recession and at what
republicans say is an over expanding government
the white house admitted that obama who rushed to campaign alongside coakley on
sunday was surprised and frustrated and not pleased about the race but the
administration denied the election showed obama was out of touch with the
nation mood
beyond health care brown triumph will have wider implications for obama
agenda and political prestige and complicate his bid to pass items like cap
and trade climate legislation and immigration reform
republican win will also likely scare some conservative democrats from obama
side as they face mid term congressional polls in november with the
president approval ratings slipping and the economy in the mire
voters have had enough of the binge spending and government growing agenda
coming from washington democrats everywhere are officially on notice
republican national committee chairman michael steele said after the result came
in
steele democratic counterpart tim kaine said it goes without saying that we
are disappointed
there will be plenty of time to dissect this race and to apply the lessons
learned from it those to come this fall he said
meanwhile senior republican figure mitt romney heralded political sea change
this is really referendum on the barack obama agenda and think way of
working in washington which is kind of an arrogant approach to politics in this
country romney former presidential candidate told fox news
the white house disputes the idea that the massachusetts vote was referendum
on the president pointing out he still enjoys high approval in the state
aides also reject the idea voters are out to thwart his health care reform
which seeks to rein in health insurance companies cut costs and grant health
care to of the million americans currently without coverage
obama views the race as more evidence of the popular upset and anger at
incumbent politicians which powered his own election race spokesman robert
gibbs said
that not surprise to us in this administration because in many ways
we re here because of that upset and anger gibbs said
golf asian tour adds new tournament in taiwan
taipei jan afp
the asian tour wednesday announced new tournament the yeangder tournament
players championship to be held in taipei later this year
three year agreement was reached with the event being played from september
it will be the second asian tour tournament in taiwan with the mercuries
taiwan masters an established date on the calendar
we are delighted to return to taiwan for the staging of our second event here
said asian tour executive chairman kyi hla han
taiwan has very strong golfing culture due to its long history in the game
and the asian tour is always ready to support it by providing our players with
the opportunities to grow and develop their games
the tournament will offer us dollars in prizemoney and be played at the
linkou lnternational golf and country club
the asian tour which is battling the emergence of the rival oneasia tour will
host at least touraments this year with the season getting underway at the
asian tour international in bangkok from february
vietnam journalists must serve the nation pm
hanoi jan afp
the prime minister of vietnam country whose media ranks as one of the world
least free has compared journalists to soldiers who must serve the nation
report said wednesday
the press should not report information that harms the country interests
prime minister nguyen tan dung was quoted as saying by the vietnamnet online
news service
the truth is always the truth but we must choose the suitable time to tell the
truth to ensure the country interests the report quoted him as telling
weekend gathering of the ministry of information and communications
the over journalists must be loyal soldiers serving the nation
all media in vietnam which endured decades of war against france and the united
states are linked to the communist state
in reporter for the thanh nien newspaper was sentenced to two years in
prison for his role in revealing high profile graft case he was freed after
three months
reporters without borders global press freedom watchdog last year ranked
vietnam near the bottom at of nations in its latest annual press
freedom index
vietnam restrictions on the news media and internet sites such as facebook
threaten the country rapid economic progress western donors last month told
an annual meeting of world bank and other officials
india eiffel tower rises from coconut groves
chennai india jan afp
it been copied in las vegas and hangs on thousand keyrings now another
replica of the eiffel tower is to be built in former french occupied india
kilometres miles from the original
authorities in pondicherry the one time capital of french india have started
construction of metre feet model of the famous iron landmark to
attract tourists to the southeastern coastal region
the replica being built at cost of million rupees million dollars in
the enclave of yanam on india east coast will have restaurant viewing
gallery with telescopes and an elevator much like its sister in the french
capital
from the top visitors will have panoramic views over the bay of bengal
surrounding green coconut groves and the seaside town of kakinada promoters
say
yanam legislator and pondicherry minister for revenue and sports malladi
krishna rao told afp visits to france had inspired him
when first saw the eiffel tower was fascinated by its beauty and grandeur
and when again visited the tower last year thought should have similar
tower in my region
in colonial times france vied with fellow european powers portugal and the
netherlands for control of india before losing out to british domination
on november after long years of freedom struggle control of
pondicherry and the other enclaves was transferred to india the rest of india
gained independence from british rule in
today strong french influence can be felt in pondicherry and other former
french enclaves that have well maintained colonial architecture as well as
street signs and cobbled streets reminiscent of those days
the yanam enclave lies hundreds of kilometres to the north of pondicherry town
four separate areas of former french india dotted around southern india comprise
the union territory of pondicherry
so far about percent of the work on the tower including the massive
foundations has been completed
it will be about third of the size of the real thing which stands metres
high on the left bank of the river seine and smaller than the roughly half
scale model that towers above casinos in las vegas
the work is going on in full swing and we are planning to throw open the tower
to the tourists in november this year rao added
india biggest company reliance industries is funding more than half the cost
of the construction project with the central and local governments bearing the
rest of the expense
us surge tightens noose round taliban stronghold
camp fiddler green afghanistan jan afp
us marines participating in president barack obama surge in afghanistan are
slowly tightening the noose around an opium growing region described as the
taliban last bastion
some marines are strategically positioned in the southern province of
helmand preparing for an assault on marjah likely to be the first major
offensive since obama committed more troops in december aiming to push back
resurgent taliban
we re very very close now to marjah said lieutenant colonel calvert worth
commander of the marines st battalion th infantry which has started
approaching the outskirts of the town
if the taliban or the narco traffickers decide that they do not want to
willfully accept return of legitimate governance of the region they would
have to make decision they can choose to fight and resist or they can join
the legitimate government of afghanistan
the mission aims to re establish government and military presence in the area
under newly appointed district governor haji zair who has not yet been able to
live there worth said
we are here to facilitate the reintegration of zair as representative of the
government worth said
the marines are prepared to take casualties as they take the fight to the
taliban in marjah alongside afghan troops integrated into their ranks said
worth
he said platoons in areas near marjah had already engaged the taliban resulting
in enemy casualties
for security reasons no timeframe for the attack was given although some
military officials have said it could be launched by early february as troops
are now beginning to patrol peripheral areas
us troops will assist zair during the transition phase but he will have to come
up with his own plan to govern the impoverished region where subsistence
farmers are forced to plant poppy to survive
helmand is the world biggest opium growing region in country where drug
money has for years funded the taliban insurgency
if the military mission is success zair will have his work cut out
marjah was planned and built partly by the us government in the as model
agricultural area irrigated by network of canals
in recent years however it has mostly not been under direct government
control but instead territory of operations for drug traffickers and the
taliban often in tandem
marine offensive in flushed out taliban fighters in nearby areas and
they have since sought refuge in marjah
military officials said the taliban may also be preparing to dig in for what is
likely to be the first major operation of obama latest surge
the american people understand what we are doing here the marines too
understand the sacrifices that need to be made worth said if casualties
occur that is part and parcel of being participant in conflict like this
bankrupt japan airlines scrambles to reassure passengers
tokyo jan afp
japan airlines sought to reassure the travelling public wednesday that it will
keep flying despite declaring bankruptcy as its share price dropped to new
record low of just two us cents
the debt laden carrier apologised in full page newspaper advertisements for
causing tremendous worries to customers and promised that jal will keep
flying and that passengers air miles will remain valid
please be reassured and use us as before the company pleaded
the once iconic airline symbol of japan rise to prosperity filed for
bankruptcy protection tuesday with billion dollars in debt in the country
biggest post war corporate failure outside the financial sector
it is set to undergo painful overhaul under new corporate chief with more
than jobs to be cut reducing the workforce by third and many loss
making routes expected to be slashed
jal which carries more than million passengers year is set to receive
almost billion dollars in public funds and emergency loans under three year
turnaround plan
the tokyo stock exchange will delist jal shares by february move expected
to wipe out shareholders investments
jal shares were trading at record low of two yen two us cents down three
yen or percent from tuesday close the price could theoretically fall to
rock bottom one yen
there are still people who are trading jal including those who are enjoying
one month game with the downside risk limited to one yen said hideyuki
higashi strategist at smbc friend securities
the company has made no announcement regarding its tie up talks with american
and delta air lines which are in bidding war for slice of the carrier
eyeing its lucrative asian landing slots
jal is understood to prefer switching its alliance from the american airlines
led oneworld grouping to skyteam with delta
but it is expected to take some time for jal and delta to clear anti trust
hurdles and get approval from us authorities for joint operations
the government has tapped kazuo inamori year old entrepreneur business
guru and ordained buddhist monk to run the stricken airline during its
overhaul replacing haruka nishimatsu who resigned as president tuesday
yasuhiro matsumoto credit analyst at shinsei securities voiced optimism jal
will successfully implement the restructuring plan but said the company still
lacks solid long term vision
he said the turn around plan involves getting rid of money losing businesses to
return to profit and is not based on unfounded optimism that travel demand will
grow in the future
however he said the government still has no growth strategy it doesn have
strategy on how jal should design its international network
the bankruptcy shocking to many japanese dominated newspaper front pages
the nikkei business daily said debt ridden jal failure should serve as
warning to other companies and the government in country where the public debt
now stands at about per cent of gross domestic product
if you shun the pain that is ahead of you greater pain will come someday the
nikkei warned the fall of jal which shone in the past sends this message to
the state and companies
nba football legend brown hopes james stays put
cleveland ohio jan afp
american gridiron legend jim brown says he hopes lebron james can sort out his
contract details and remain in the city of cleveland for long time
the cleveland browns hall of fame running back brown played his entire career in
the city
james can leave cleveland as free agent after this season
looking at the fact that it is business put that first brown said but
having said that would love to see him be here think it terrific
marriage
james and brown met each other before tuesday night national basketball
association game in cleveland
james says he looks up to brown
anytime you can be mentioned with great and be able to continue the legacy he
built here in cleveland is humbling for me james said
we both know how much the fans love sports and have had to learn to keep the
momentum going after he passed the torch
brown was inducted into the american football hall of fame in he was the
first round pick of the browns in and played in nine pro bowl games
tennis clijsters and kuznetsova march on in melbourne
melbourne jan afp
kim clijsters showed nerves of steel on wednesday to come through tough test
and make the australian open third round alongside svetlana kuznetsova
other top names also showed their mettle including caroline wozniacki vera
zvonareva victoria azarenka and li na who all made the second round as
organisers cleared rain delayed matches held over from tuesday
clijsters only conceded four games against her first round oppenent but she was
given more thorough examination by thai veteran tamarine tanasugarn
the year old belgian who won the lead up brisbane international eventually
triumphed but it was harder than the score suggested for the th
seed now back full time after break to start family
her serve was broken in each set before she dug deep to dispose of the thai
playing in her st grand slam
clijsters could meet fellow comeback queen justine henin in the quarter finals
although henin has major hurdle to clear in fifth seed elena dementieva on rod
laver arena later wednesday
unlike the high profile clijsters and henin russian third seed kuznetsova is
flying under the radar and looked impressive in her defeat of
countrywoman anastasia pavlyuchenkova
the french open champion whose best effort here has been the quarter finals
said she had prepared well in the off season and was ready to make an impact
think ve done good pre season ve worked hard and ve enjoyed it she
said
mean feeling good worked on new things
fourth seed wozniacki downed canada aleksandra wozniak to get her
campaign off to winning start
the dane who enjoyed breakthrough year in winning three titles and
finishing runner up to clijsters at the us open edged tight first set but
overpowered her opponent in the second
had tough opponent so was really happy to get through she said
was feeling confident on the court and comfortable
really happy about the way things are going and ve been practising hard
so really pleased about the way playing
belarussian seventh seed victoria azarenka blasted her way into the second round
by crushing france stephanie cohen aloro while china th seed li
coasted past new zealand marina erakovic in straight sets
ninth seeded russian vera zvonareva also pushed on deeper into the tournament
sending slovakia kristina kucova packing
maria sharapova remains the highest profile casualty on the women side and her
russian conqueror maria kirilenko marched into the third round with
romp against austria yvonne meusburger
in the men draw th seed fernando gonzalez was the first man into the third
round with his win over turkey marsel ilhan
scot andy murray resumes his quest to become the first briton to win grand
slam since fred perry in when he plays frenchman marc gicquel later
wednesday
seventh seed andy roddick is also in action against brazilian thomaz bellucci
while fourth seed juan martin del potro the us open champion faces american
james blake
tennis clijsters battles past gritty tamarine
melbourne jan afp
belgium kim clijsters battled for over minutes before beating gritty thai
veteran tamarine tanasugarn to reach the third round of the australian
open on wednesday
clijsters went into the match as the overwhelming favourite against the year
old thai but was made to work hard for every point on the rod laver arena
tamarine has the distinction of being the most experienced grand slam campaigner
at the australian open competing this year in her st tournament three more
than nearest challenger venus williams
she made her grand slam debut at the australian open and used all her
experience to keep pace with clijsters for most of the match
however the year old belgian was able to convert the points that mattered in
both sets to ease her way to narrow win
nobody expected close match when clijsters broke tamarine first service game
and opened lead
but the thai refused to give in and she gradually worked her way back into the
match holding her next two service games then breaking clijsters to get back to
clijsters struck right back however breaking tamarine then holding her own
serve to claim the first set in minutes
the thai was playing with enormous confidence and she broke clijsters early in
the second set to jump to lead
but she was unable to sustain the pressure and the reigning us open champion
fought back breaking the thai three times as she won the next six games
straight to claim her third win over tamarine but her first since
up to haitians in us could seek temporary asylum
washington jan afp
up to haitians living in the united states may be eligible to obtain
temporary asylum following the massive earthquake that devastated their country
one week ago senior us official said tuesday
our preliminary estimate is between and people said alejandro
mayorkas director of the us citizenship and immigration services uscis told
afp
the us government on friday offered haitians living in the united states without
proper immigration documents protection under program known as temporary
protected status tps
person with tps status can be in the country for months without fear of
deportation and following review of their case can obtain temporary work
permit
the immigration chief however warned that only haitians living in the united
states before the earthquake struck are eligible
those who try to enter the country illegally will not succeed and they will be
repatriated mayorkas said
some million haitian immigrants currently live legally in the united states
tps requests will be received starting thursday said mayorkas who on wednesday
will be in miami to meet members of the haitian community to explain the
application process
the immigration services office will hold similar events in other us cities with
large haitian communities such as new york and orlando florida
mayorkas said that his office opened new web page in english and french to
explain the process and was preparing to handle an expected flood of
applications
those who cannot afford the dollars application fee dollars for those
seeking work permit can ask for fee waiver said mayorkas
separately south florida member of congress returned from visit to haiti
tuesday and said he wants to personally inform president barack obama of what he
saw
congressman kendrick meek represents district that includes section of miami
known as little haiti where many haitians live
he is the first member of the us congress to visit haiti after the earthquake
and said he wants to give obama first hand account of what saw in the last
two days
communications and security issues would top his agenda in any talks with the
president meeks said
you can get full appreciation of the devastation unless you walk down the
streets of port au prince into the neighborhoods downtown think it
important that the people who make the decision have the full appreciation of
what happening meeks said
if the right decisions are not made right now it going to make this recovery
process lot more difficult and we will see the first effects of the
international failure to meet the need of these very desperate individuals he
added
tennis sharapova conqueror kirilenko marches on
melbourne jan afp
russian maria kirilenko who ended former world number one maria sharapova
australian open in the first round continued her winning ways by beating
austria yvonne meusberger in the second round wednesday
china baidu sues us web firm over hacker attack
beijing jan afp
china top internet search engine baidu said wednesday it had filed lawsuit
in the united states against the firm that manages its us domain registration
following hacking attack last week
the announcement came one week after google which trails baidu in market share
in china said it could abandon its chinese search engine and perhaps leave the
country entirely over cyberattacks and censorship
today baidu filed lawsuit against its domain name registration service
provider register com inc in us court in new york seeking damages over the
incident of baidu service interruption last week the chinese firm said
nasdaq listed baidu said its site went down for hours after the january
attack by group identifying itself as the iranian cyber army the name used
by hackers who briefly shut down the twitter microblogging site last month
baidu spokesman victor tseng said at the time that service had been interrupted
due to external manipulation of its dns domain name server in the united
states
in its statement wednesday baidu said the software behind its domain name was
unlawfully and maliciously altered as result of the gross negligence of
register com
this led to users from many places around the world being unable to access the
baidu website for number of hours and causing serious damages to baidu
register com is leading domain registration service that manages more than
million domain names according to the company website
baidu spokeswoman said the company would not provide any further information
on the lawsuit
baidu had percent of china search engine market in the final quarter of
last year followed by percent for google china according to internet
research firm analysys international
china liquidity fears unsettle investors
hong kong jan afp
fears over bank lending halt in china overshadowed strong lead overnight
from wall street as asian shares saw mixed trade wednesday while worries over
the european economy hit the euro
in shanghai shares fell percent on liquidity concerns following report
that chinese regulators have told major commercial banks to put stop on new
lending for the rest of january dealers said
hong kong hang seng index where mainland lenders are also listed dived
percent
some major banks have received verbal orders from authorities that they must
stop lending for the rest of this month the official china securities journal
reported citing unnamed banking sources
the report said chinese commercial banks may have already lent more than one
trillion yuan billion dollars so far this year
however other markets gained on wall street percent rise as news that
british confectioner cadbury had agreed to sweetened billion dollar
takeover bid from us giant kraft foods buoyed confidence in the dealmaking
climate
tokyo shrugged off japan airlines bankruptcy with the nikkei climbing
percent in morning trade
shares in jal were dumped hitting record low of two yen two us cents down
three yen or percent from tuesday close
still there was some caution in the tokyo market particularly before flurry
of chinese data due thursday
profit taking will limit the market upside before the chinese economic
indicators and japanese earnings mizuho securities market analyst yukio
takahashi told dow jones newswires
record iron ore production results from major miner bhp billiton helped
australian shares edge percent higher bhp rose percent to
australian dollars us after reporting half year production records for
petroleum iron ore nickel and zinc
in singapore shares were percent higher
mounting worries over the outlook for the european economy in light of weak
german data and greece fiscal woes hit the euro in asian trade
the european currency slid to dollars in tokyo noon trade its lowest
level against the greenback this year from in new york late tuesday
the euro weakened to yen from the dollar strengthened to
yen from
oil was lower new york main contract light sweet crude for february
delivery was down cents to dollars barrel
brent north sea crude for delivery in march dipped cents to
hong kong gold opened lower wednesday at us dollars an ounce
down from tuesday close of dollars
tennis gonzalez through to third round
melbourne jan afp
former finalist and th seed fernando gonzalez of chile reached the third round
with win over turkey marsel ilhan at the australian open on
wednesday
obama congratulates republican over us senate win
washington jan afp
president barack obama on tuesday congratulated massachusetts republican scott
brown after he stunned his democratic rival to win election to the us senate
the white house said
the president congratulated senator brown on his victory and well run
campaign white house spokesman robert gibbs said in statement adding that
obama also called defeated democratic candidate martha coakley
the president told senator brown that he looks forward to working with him on
the urgent economic challenges facing massachusetts families and struggling
families across our nation
euro slides in asia
tokyo jan afp
the euro tumbled in asian trade wednesday as worries mounted over the outlook
for the european economy in light of weak german data and greece fiscal woes
dealers said
the euro slid to dollars in tokyo noon trade hitting its lowest level
against the greenback this year from in new york late tuesday
the european currency weakened to yen from the dollar
strengthened to yen from
the euro until recently favoured as high yielding currency is now being
shunned in favour of the dollar despite persistent weakness in the us economy
said hachijuni bank strategist masatsugu miyata
due to the uncertain economic outlook in europe markets are in no mood to buy
the euro he said noting increasing worries over greece fiscal health and
german survey that showed drop in business confidence
although the united states has its own problems at least it is in control of
its fiscal policies relative to europe he added
international rating agency moody on tuesday said it was maintaining
negative outlook on greece because it was unclear whether the government could
implement plan to shore up public finances
the greek government which last month suffered credit downgrade from all
three leading ratings agencies is struggling to overcome huge debt and public
deficit that have sparked concern among its eurozone partners
in germany investor sentiment fell for fourth month running in january as
europe biggest economy braced for burdensome and long recovery the zew
economic research institute said
the zew indicator of german economic sentiment fell more steeply than forecast
to an indexed points its lowest level since july
investors were waiting for us economic data due out later in the day bracing
for expected drops in producer prices and housing starts
although recovery in the us housing sector remains on track the rebound
appears fragile said calyon analyst mitul kotecha
markets will also be focused on fourth quarter us earnings reports including
bank of america and wells fargo after citigroup on tuesday posted net losses of
billion dollars for the final quarter of
tennis clijsters battles past gritty tamarine
