nassarawa gwom predominantly christian area where the fighting first erupted
on sunday over plans for mosque
it seems it all over for now it calm everywhere there no one on the
streets except lots of soldiers said mohammed anguarrogo speaking from his
house in northern jos
ezekiel dalyop plateau state information ministry director general told afp
from jos that the decision to ease the curfew was reached due to the relative
calm and peace that have returned to jos and to enable people to move about to
get food and water
jos situated between the muslim dominated north and the christian south has
been hotbed of religious violence in nigeria whose million people are
divided almost equally between followers of the two faiths
the violence erupted on sunday over plans to build mosque in mainly
christian district of the city
un chief ban ki moon has expressed alarm over the clashes and appealed for all
sides to use restraint and seek peaceful solutions to religious and other
differences in the country
but some nigerian cleric on wednesday said the fighting had little to do with
religion and was the failure of the political leadership to address ethnic
differences
two koreas to hold more talks despite fiery rhetoric
seoul jan afp
north and south korea agreed thursday to hold more discussions about
revitalising their joint business project despite recent tough talk by the
countries military chiefs
days after the north national defence commission ndc threatened possible
holy war against the south delegates from the two sides held what seoul
called serious and practical talks about developing the showpiece kaesong
industrial estate
the two day meeting ended without agreement when the communist state sought
early negotiations on pay rises for its workers at the seoul funded estate just
north of the border
but they agreed to meet again on february according to seoul chief delegate
kim young tak and pyongyang official news agency
the agency painted more acrimonious picture of the talks saying seoul had
viciously pursued the confrontation policy and opposed any negotiations on
increases to very paltry wages
it said the south delegation persisted in its poor excuses and groundless
assertions which pushed the contact to the crisis of rupture
the north side decided to give another chance to the south side now that it
proposed to discuss the issue of wages at next contact and agreed to have the
next contact on february the agency said
analysts say the north hit harder by international sanctions following its
nuclear and missile tests last year appears eager to push economic exchanges
with the south despite political tensions with its conservative government
in an angry broadside last friday the ndc chaired by leader kim jong il
threatened to cut all dialogue and cooperation unless the south apologises for
an alleged contingency plan to handle regime collapse in the north
it warned of holy war should there be any attempt to carry out the plan
the plan reported by south korean media has not been confirmed by the
government
on wednesday the south defence minister kim tae young reiterated that south
korea would launch pre emptive strike against the north should there be clear
signs of an imminent nuclear attack
we would have to strike right away if we detected clear intention to attack
south korea with nuclear weapons he told forum
kim made similar remarks in when he was military chief sparking an angry
response from across the border
despite the ndc unusually strong warning north korea is expected to continue
talks with south korea on economic cooperation and exchanges said cheong
seong chang of seoul sejong institute think tank
political and military tensions are expected to run high across the border as
the regime is still unhappy with south korea government north korea however
will try to maintain certain level of economic exchanges with south korea
cheong told afp
there will be response from north korea to strong remarks by the south korean
defence minister yet it may not seriously affect the current mood
in policy setting new year editorial the north put great emphasis on bringing
about radical turn in the people standard of living in the impoverished
nation by developing light industry and agriculture
last week pyongyang called for the resumption of south korean tours which earned
it tens of millions of dollars until they were suspended in
kaesong where north koreans work in south korean funded plants is
also valuable hard currency source it was hit hard by political stresses in
with the north expelling hundreds of south korean staff and intermittently
restricting access
last june pyongyang stunned seoul by demanding wage rise to dollars
month for the employees from around dollars currently it dropped that
figure last september as part of series of peace overtures which began last
summer
washington tries to win over eu on airport body scanners
toledo spain jan afp
washington would thursday try to overcome eu doubts about the installation of
aiport body scanners at talks in spain but european officials are seeking
privacy safeguards before agreeing to the measure
us homeland security secretary janet napolitano is attending an informal meeting
of eu interior ministers in toledo to try to strike deal deemed crucial
following last month failed bomb plot on flight from amsterdam to detroit
she began her talks with bilateral meeting with spanish interior minister
alfredo perez rubalcaba whose country holds the rotating presidency of the eu
the two are scheduled to give joint news conference at pm gmt
after napolitano and the interior ministers from the nation bloc wrap up
their talks
the gathering comes just one day after part of munich airport was closed for
three hours due to major alert sparked by man running away from security
check when his laptop tested positive for possible explosives which has fueled
concerns over airline safety
napolitano will try to rally the support of key interior ministers such as
france brice hortefeux at the gathering whose support for the measure could
prove to be decisive european official told afp
france and italy plan to try out the expensive scanners britain and the
netherlands have already installed the devices but other nations such as
germany and spain are more cautious and number have said they want the eu to
adopt bloc wide stance before they take decision
at toledo we are going to listen to sound out the capitals and the measures
which are adopted should provide guarantees for fundamental rights spanish
secretary of state for security antonio camacho said ahead of the meeting
napolitano wants quick response from europe but has taken care not to seem to
be imposing the measure on the bloc
but rubalcaba said immediate decision would not be taken on the use of the
scanners at the meeting in toledo even as he acknowledged the need to boost
airline security
if the detroit attack showed us anything it is that airplanes continue to be
the target of islamic terrorists he told reporters late on wednesday
year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab has been accused of trying to
detonate bomb on the flight to detroit and has been charged with the attempted
murder of people he has pleaded not guilty
the us request has the backing of the eu anti terror coordinator gilles de
kerchove
am in favour of the body scanners as long as there are rules in place it
useful very useful even for detecting cases such as the detroit case where
someone hid explosives around his private parts which were not searched by
hand he said earlier this month
the outgoing european commissioner in charge of justice and security france
jacques barrot will seek guarantees from napolitano that the images taken by
the scanners are immediately destroyed
the full body scanners which the united states has accelerated the use of at
its airports are equipped with memories and have the capacity of transferring
images to other devices according to online privacy group electronic privacy
information center
our need for privacy cannot justify invasion of privacy our citizens are not
just objects but they are human beings the incoming eu justice commissioner
viviane reding told the european parliament last week
indonesia eyes pet market for endangered tigers
jakarta jan afp
the indonesian government has hatched plan to save sumatran tigers from
extinction by allowing people to adopt captive born animals as pets for
dollars pair officials said
the forestry ministry said the plan could be put into practice as early as this
year despite reservations from environmentalists who say the focus should be on
protecting habitats for the remaining tigers in the wild
we re not selling or renting tigers we re only authorising people to look
after them forestry ministry conservation chief darori told afp
these people will have to follow certain conditions the tigers will still
belong to the government
he said interested owners would have to deposit billion rupiah
dollars for pair of tigers which he called guarantee towards
conservation
the minimum area required to keep pair would be around square metres
square feet although something the size of three football fields would be
better ministry officials said
the animals health would be monitored by government experts and mistreatment
would be punished by fines or jail terms
let think of the tigers new homes as mini zoos darori said
another ministry official didi wuryanto dismissed fears the scheme could put
price on the heads of the few remaining wild tigers which are nearing
extinction due to habitat loss on their native sumatra island
much of the jungle which the tigers call home has been destroyed by rampant
illegal logging overseen by the forestry ministry forcing the animals into
lethal competition with villagers
the chances of people trapping sumatran tigers alive in the wild and selling
them are very low because of the high risk of getting caught and people finding
out about it wuryanto said
also it very hard to look after tigers trapped in the wild they might
refuse to eat and die
he said there were about captive born tigers in indonesia
this idea of selling the tigers to the public came about after several wealthy
businessmen proposed buying them wuryanto said
they don just want to own horses they want to be acknowledged as special
people with prestige so they want to keep tigers
but we re not in it for the money we want to save the tigers
greenpeace southeast asia forest campaigner bustar maitar said the government
might not like to admit its plan amounted to selling critically endangered
tigers as pets but that was what would happen
whatever the term used this is the same as selling tigers the government
doesn care about tigers only about people with money he said
this isn the solution to save tigers the correct solution is to save the
forests first
activists also said the forestry ministry seen as one of the most corrupt
organs of the indonesian government could not be trusted to administer tiger
trade
who going to manage this money how do we know the money will go towards
animal conservation asked harito wibisono of tiger conservation society
harimau kita forum
london stock exchange announces drop in revenue
london jan afp
equities market operator the london stock exchange group on thursday reported
nine percent fall in quarterly revenues owing to drop in transactions amid
increased competition
the lse which operates the london stock exchange and italy borsa italiana
said total group revenue fell to million pounds million euros
million dollars in the three months to december the company third
quarter compared to year earlier
market conditions have not been easy in the last quarter particularly in cash
equities though the group has benefited from the breadth of its activities
lse chief executive xavier rolet said in trading update
we continue to focus on improving the shape of the business with actions
clearly underway to reduce underlying operational costs and improve business
efficiency and our competitive position he added
in bid to fight back against increasing competition the lse group in december
announced an agreement to buy smaller pan european trading platform turquoise
the lse which has faced competition from new share trading platforms such as
nasdaq omx europe since eu regulators opened the doors to them in is
taking percent stake in turquoise
tennis new aussie hope faces sanction after open whinge
melbourne jan afp
australia great new hope bernard tomic faces dressing down from the itf and
atp after blasting australian open organisers for scheduling him to play until
am thursday
the year old who has emerged as star in the making pushed big serving
th seeded croat marin cilic all the way in marathon five setter which went
almost four hours before fatigue caught up with him
tomic said it was ridiculous that player of his age was forced into that
timeslot primarily to satisfy australian television audiences
to finish at that time it tough he said
look have no excuses but think if have played during the day which
requested it could have been all changed think should have won
after am am for year old to go out and play it difficult for the
people requested to play during the day and it didn happen think it
ridiculous
his whinge put the spotlight back on late night matches at the opening grand
slam of the season which raised controversy in when lleyton hewitt finally
beat marcos baghdatis at am the latest finish in open history
hewitt was so wiped out he lost in the next round
however baghdatis who survived his own five set marathon on thursday said
tomic should just get on with it
my thoughts are that the way it is we have to deal with it he said
we don have to find excuses we have to find way to win every match we
play even if it in tough conditions that all
tournament organisers agreed ordering him to dressing down with open director
craig tiley tournament referee wayne mckewen plus grand slam supervisor and
atp tour manager
this needs to be learning experience for him if there doesn become
change in his behaviour it becomes extremely hard for him to excel at the top
echelons of the sport tiley told reporters
he added that it should have been an honour to play on rod laver arena and that
tomic churlish reaction had upset his peers
there going to be players who spend their whole professional careers never
playing on rod laver arena so they re all fighting to get that prime time
opportunity he said
tomic match started about pm on wednesday pushed back after justine
henin took almost three hours to beat fifth seed elena dementieva in the night
earlier match
the australian teen complained that in no other sport would competitors be
forced to play at such an hour
it is not the first time tomic has been in trouble
in tennis australia refused to fund his wimbledon junior campaign after
accusing him of not trying hard enough at the french open
then last march the international tennis federation suspended him for month
after he walked off court against countryman marinko matosevic at futures
event in perth
corrected china posts scorching growth but prices heat up
beijing jan afp
china red hot economy expanded by percent in but inflation surged
towards the end of the year according to government data released thursday that
laid bare the risks of overheating
gross domestic product in the world third largest economy which analysts say
is on track to overtake struggling japan returned to double digit growth in the
fourth quarter of at percent
and it surpassed the government target of eight percent for the year level
that is seen as crucial to foster job creation and stave off social unrest in
china urbanizing population of billion people
but china biggest rise in inflation in months underlined the broader
challenges of breakneck growth and came as the world bank and international
monetary fund warned anew that the country could face an economic bubble
ma jiantang commissioner of the national bureau of statistics credited
government stimulus package worth four trillion yuan billion dollars with
holding up growth in year when much of the global economy was in crisis
we need to prevent the overly fast increases in prices and keep close eye on
the trend in prices ma added at news conference but said he believed
inflation in should be mild and controllable
china consumer price index the main gauge of inflation rose percent
year on year in december authorities are already clamping down on bank lending
and hiking borrowing costs to keep lid on price pressures
on thursday the people bank of china raised the interest rate on its
benchmark three month treasury bills for the second time in two weeks in bid
to curb lending
fears of further tightening by beijing weighed on shares in shanghai and hong
kong
policymakers will need to move soon to stop the economy from overheating said
brian jackson hong kong based strategist at royal bank of canada
we have already seen some initial steps in the direction of tighter policy but
higher rates and stronger currency will also be part of the package
china urban fixed asset investment measure of government spending on
infrastructure and key driver of the economy rose percent in while
overall fixed asset investment rose percent thursday data showed
industrial output from china millions of factories and workshops rose
percent in the fourth quarter and percent for all of
retail sales jumped percent in
earlier this month the government said exports had surged percent in
december snapping month falling streak and new loans nearly doubled in
from year earlier to trillion yuan
this week premier wen jiabao said beijing was carefully monitoring the risks
associated with its hefty pump priming of last year although china top
banking regulator wednesday denied that banks had been ordered to stop lending
wen comments reinforced signs that china could exit its aggressive stimulus
policy and apply the brakes step that would have broader repercussions for
world economy increasingly reliant on chinese growth
the percent growth in the final quarter of was the best result since
the fourth quarter of
it followed revised growth of percent in the third quarter percent in
the second quarter and revised percent in the first three months of last
year
the full year figure exceeded analyst expectations but was down from
percent in and was the slowest full year increase in eight years
the latest data is expected to increase pressure on beijing to let its currency
effectively pegged to the us dollar since mid to appreciate this
year
ihs global insight economist ren xianfang said she expected china to grow by
percent in and overtake japan to become the world second biggest economy
think it will happen this year ren said
vietnam under fire over jailing of dissidents
hanoi jan afp
vietnam thursday came under fire from the united states and activists after
jailing group of dissidents for up to years for trying to overthrow the
communist regime
the accused had already been convicted in the pages of the newspapers before
the trial started said shawn mchale director of the sigur center for asian
studies at washington george washington university
after day long trial in ho chi minh city on wednesday human rights lawyer le
cong dinh french trained computer expert and blogger nguyen tien trung
internet entrepreneur tran huynh duy thuc and le thang long were
convicted of activities aimed at subverting the people administration
thuc received year sentence trung seven years while dinh and long each
got five years prompting swift criticism from britain and the us
nobody should be imprisoned for peacefully expressing their opinions freedom
of expression and the free flow of ideas are essential for flourishing economy
and society british foreign office minister ivan lewis said
verdicts like these only serve to harm vietnam international standing
us ambassador michael michalak expressed concern about the apparent lack of due
process in the conduct of the trials and urged the immediate release of the
four along with other prisoners of conscience
the convictions also raise serious questions about vietnam commitment to rule
of law and reform he said
months before the trial began state linked media reported that the accused had
all admitted their guilt
some observers see their case as linked to next year communist party congress
when high ranking leadership posts will be determined it was the most high
profile case in series of arrests and convictions of dissidents and bloggers
over the past year
london based human rights watchdog amnesty international said the convicted men
were prisoners of conscience and said they should be immediately released
the trial made complete mockery of justice disregarding fundamental human
rights such as the principle of presumption of innocence and the right to
defence said brittis edman amnesty vietnam researcher
the prosecution gave no evidence to support the indictment edman added
mchale in an emailed response to questions from afp said the indictment
strained belief
judge nguyen duc sau convicted the men of well organised non violent campaign
in collusion with overseas exile reactionary organisations aimed at
overturning the government with the help of the internet
trung supporters have set up website where they denounced this sham of
trial
the us based vietnam reform party which vietnam calls terrorist group
issued statement thursday which said the convictions showed vietnam was being
held back by its current system
in country where the legal system is an extension of the ruling communist
party charges and trials against democracy activists are nothing but
crackdown on political freedom and vietnam progress said the group also
known as viet tan
the case sends message that political pluralism outside of the ruling party
will not be tolerated mchale said but even though one party rule may continue
for long time more pluralistic environment is evolving
think that the government and in particular the communist party misfired on
this one he said
unlike in the the vietnamese government has hard time controlling what
its citizens read and think as they travel more widely and explore the internet
he said
hong kong gold closes lower
hong kong jan afp
hong kong gold closed lower thursday at us dollars an ounce
down from wednesday finish of dollars
it opened at dollars
china says google case not linked to sino us ties
beijing jan afp
google threat to leave china over censorship and cyberattacks should not be
overinterpreted or linked with sino us ties state media quoted vice foreign
minister he yafei as saying thursday
the brief reports from the china daily and xinhua news agency came as us
secretary of state hillary clinton was preparing to give major policy speech
on internet freedom in washington
last week google said it may abandon its chinese search engine and possibly
leave the country altogether over what it called highly sophisticated attack
by china based hackers and state censorship
the us has asked china for an explanation of the attack which google said had
hit its corporate infrastructure and was likely aimed at gaining access to the
gmail accounts of chinese human rights activists
if google has any problems in its business in china these must be resolved
according to chinese law and the chinese government is willing to help resolve
these problems the vice foreign minister was quoted as saying
the google matter is not an issue between the governments of china and the
united states his ministry said according to the china daily
china has said the incident would not affect sino us trade ties but has
vehemently defended its right to filter information available on the web and
repeatedly told foreign firms to obey the law
google is not an exception chinese foreign ministry spokesman ma zhaoxu said
on tuesday
asia markets give mixed reaction to china economic data
hong kong jan afp
news of china blistering economic growth was tempered by looming inflationary
risks and fears of further tightening by beijing as asian shares put in mixed
performance thursday
chinese data out earlier in the day showed gross domestic product in the asian
powerhouse returned to double digit growth in the fourth quarter of at
percent while the full year figure of percent beat expectations
but china biggest rise in inflation for months underlined the broader
challenges of breakneck growth amid warnings from the world bank and
international monetary fund that the country could face an economic bubble
china consumer price index the main gauge of inflation rose percent
year on year in december prompting some risk aversion among investors focusing
on the possibility that beijing will again move to put the reins on lending
hong kong shares dropped percent with the hang seng index down
points at sydney closed percent down
policymakers will need to move soon to stop the economy from overheating said
brian jackson hong kong based strategist at royal bank of canada
shanghai saw volatile trade but closed up percent with financial
companies leading the gains on expectations interest rates will rise to curb
inflation the index was up points at
on wednesday beijing top regulator said that china will rein in credit this
year
comments from liu mingkang chairman of the china banking regulatory commission
followed the central bank earlier move to hike the minimum amount of money
that banks must keep in reserve and increase borrowing costs
further policy tightening measures over and beyond what have already been
implemented are needed in order to control inflation in the coming months
goldman sachs economists said in note according to dow jones newswires
the euro fell to new five month low against the dollar in asia thursday as
worries that china will take fresh steps to cool its economy reduced demand for
risk sensitive currencies
the european unit dropped to dollars at one point the weakest since
august in late tokyo trade it stood at down from late
wednesday in new york
the dollar gained to yen from the euro rose to yen from
local markets followed the biggest drop of the year so far for us stocks as
wall street dived percent on china liquidity fears and mixed earnings from
key american banks
bank of america and morgan stanley missed analysts expectations while wells
fargo posted an unexpected profit goldman sachs was due to report thursday
japanese stocks nevertheless shrugged off wall street disappointment with the
nikkei closing up percent at
shares in japan airlines were flat at two yen day after sinking to new
record low following the carrier bankruptcy filing and announcement it would
delist its shares next month wiping out shareholders investments
sydney closed down points at after hitting three week low
intraday materials and energy stocks led the fall
bhp billiton fell percent to australian dollars and rio tinto shed
percent to
south korean shares closed percent higher on expectations for positive
business outlook for technology firms the kospi gained points to
singapore eased percent
oil rose ahead of key us inventory report thursday with new york main
contract light sweet crude for march delivery up cents to dollars
barrel reversing earlier losses
brent north sea crude advanced cents to dollars
hong kong gold closed lower at us dollars an ounce down from
wednesday finish of dollars
in other markets
taipei dropped points or percent to after overnight
declines on wall street
the market was also weighed by the government decision to sell shares that
state funds purchased last year to stabilise the market dealers said
wellington closed flat as lower local currency and stronger than expected
retail sales figures offset falls in overseas markets
the nzx fell points to
the market is holding up quite well considering what happened in overseas
markets overnight hamilton hindin greene broker grant williamson said
manila was flat after weak opening the composite index added points
to
philippine long distance telephone dropped percent to pesos
first glimpses of lost metropolis film in berlin
berlin jan afp
film buffs got their first glimpse on thursday of parts of the groundbreaking
german silent classic metropolis thought to have been lost forever with new
exhibition ahead of triumphant homecoming next month
full version of fritz lang expressionist epic was found in argentina in
and after months of painstaking work what is possibly germany best
known movie has now been restored to its original state
it will be beamed onto berlin brandenburg gate on february as part of the
th berlin film festival with simultaneous gala screenings in berlin and
frankfurt with an orchestra playing gottfried huppertz original score
the film is set in teeming towering city of the future where downtrodden
working class slaves away on huge machines while the sons of the rich idle away
their time in luxury and decadence
but the son of the city boss rebels and falls in love with proletarian
prophet while scientist called rotwang causes mischief with frankenstein
like maschinenmensch machine person
at the time the most expensive movie ever made lang two and half hour
futuristic vision of st century dystopia was flop when it first came out
panned by critics and moviegoers alike
around quarter of the film ended up on the cutting room floor in failed
attempt to make it success on both sides of the atlantic and sections that
were cut subsequently went missing until
the exhibition at berlin film and television museum the complete
metropolis also shows some of the ground breaking techniques used to make the
film it runs until april
muslim anger over us military jesus scopes
washington jan afp
muslim groups reacted angrily wednesday after it emerged that the us military in
iraq and afghanistan were using rifle sights inscribed with coded biblical
references
