the indian firm said local demand for most of its petrochemical products
remained strong
exports of refined products grew percent to billion dollars in the
quarter from year earlier
reliance added it was still expanding its retail operations and that the company
now had more than stores in more than cities in india
the results announcement came as reliance awaits ruling by india supreme
court in lawsuit over the sale price for gas from the kg field that has
pitted mukesh ambani against his estranged brother anil ambani
russia us to resume disarmament talks in february lavrov
moscow jan afp
russian and us negotiators will resume talks on new nuclear weapons
disarmament treaty at the start of february foreign minister sergei lavrov said
on friday
the remaining questions hope will be pretty much resolved at an operative
level when the negotiations resume and they will resume at the start of
february lavrov told news conference
negotiators from both sides have so far failed to agree successor to the
strategic arms reduction treaty start signed in just before the break up
of the soviet union and which expired on december
despite intense negotiations in geneva officials were not able to overcome
before the christmas holidays range of disagreements on issues such as the
numbers of carriers and inspections
us national security adviser james jones and chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff mike mullen have taken part in the discussions in moscow with their
russian counterparts on start over the last days russian officials have said
lavrov said those talks would ease the task of the negotiators in geneva to
strike deal
hong kong shares lower on obama bank crackdown
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares dropped percent friday after us president barack obama
said he would crack down on the excesses of wall street big banks
the benchmark hang seng index gave up points to finish at
turnover was billion hong kong dollars billion us
chinese shares fell percent as bargain hunting in banks helped trim early
losses dealers said
the shanghai composite index which covers both and shares was down
points at on turnover of billion yuan billion dollars
hong kong stocks continued to be weighed by fears that china will move to
tighten credit after beijing said thursday that inflation was at month
high and the economy was growing at blistering pace
the index was also weighed by weakness on wall street overnight the dow jones
industrial average fell percent
the overall market sentiment remains weak and investors tend to read all news
leads negatively mark to of wing fung financial told dow jones newswires
resources companies fell because of recent us dollar strength cnooc lost
percent to hong kong dollars and chalco was down percent at
but bargain hunting pulled some banks out of their lows
icbc rose percent to after falling percent in the previous two
sessions and china construction bank rose percent to after losing
percent over the same period
morgan stanley said hong kong residential property prices may start falling
because liquidity overflows from the mainland could fall significantly this
year
sun hung kai properties was down percent at and henderson land
dropped percent to
shanghai investors dismissed thursday strong december macro economic data and
focused on the wall street losses traders said
the us and china are economically connected so the correction in their stock
markets will dampen investors confidence in global recovery li nian an
analyst at shenyin amp wanguo securities said
but bargain hunters pulled banks off their earlier lows and into the black
china merchants bank added percent to yuan while shenzhen development
bank rose percent at yuan
but metal stocks tumbled on pullback in commodity prices
jiangxi copper shed percent to yuan chalco slid percent to
yuan
haiti search teams start to go home un spokeswoman
geneva jan afp
un led teams in haiti are switching their focus away from searching for people
trapped in collapsed buildings and some teams are starting to go home
spokeswoman said friday
the rescue teams are concentrating more and more on humanitarian aid for those
who need it said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the un office for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha
some teams which are exhausted are starting to go home she told afp while
teams equipped with heavy equipment were continuing to pull out corpses
international search and rescue teams coordinated by the united nations had
managed to find people alive under the rubble by earlier this week record
number in such disaster according to ocha
the government of haiti estimates that some people have been injured and
one million are displaced following the quake on january while two million
need food assistance according to the un
an estimated to people are displaced in the capital port au
prince the un said
football hamburg eyeing up van nistelrooy report says
berlin jan afp
real madrid striker ruud van nistelrooy could be set for move to germany
bundesliga with title chasing hamburg bild reported on friday
the paper quoted unnamed sources as saying that hamburg currently fourth in the
bundesliga four points behind leaders leverkusen have expressed an interest in
the year old former manchester united star
the prolific dutchman who has also been linked to premiership clubs tottenham
hotspur and liverpool as well as turkish outfit galatasaray has struggled to
get into real first team this season due to injury
spanish media have said he has already received the green light to leave the la
liga giants
van nistelrooy has scored league goals for real since joining the club from
manchester united in
he was the top scorer in the spanish league for with goals in
matches
life getting harsher in korea un envoy
tokyo jan afp
living conditions in north korea marked by food shortages political
repression and now icy winter weather have deteriorated over the past year
united nations special envoy said friday
the situation is grave for various reasons said vitit muntarbhorn the un
special rapporteur on north korean human rights who pointed at very serious
food shortages and other shortages over the past few years
the food situation and the clampdown on people ability to trade the
revaluation of the won as well as the persecution and the punishments against
refugees and their families all these got worse in the past year
food shortages have been made more painful because it the elite that creams
off the food produce said muntarbhorn whose six year term expires this year
at press conference in tokyo
there also shortage of medicines particularly now the flu has
arrived said muntarbhorn who said he had interviewed many refugees from north
korea but never been allowed to visit the isolated country
and of course this winter is very cold he said with sub zero temperatures
serious problem in country with shortages of heating fuel
north korea regime in late november also dealt an economic blow to its people
when it knocked two zeroes off its currency for one revaluation seen as
aimed at clamping down on emerging market activity
the authorities restricted the amount of old notes that could be changed for new
ones sparking anger among those who stood to lose savings the government then
banned the use of foreign currency from new year day
in report to the un general assembly in october muntarbhorn described the
north rights record as abysmal and said more than one third of its
million people go hungry despite abundant natural resources
people are subject to persecution clampdowns collective punishment torture
arbitrary executions and public executions muntarbhorn wrote
he will submit final report to the un human rights council in march
bank economy fears weigh on global stocks
london jan afp
world stock markets dropped in confusion on friday at us president barack
obama vow to crack down on reckless big banks and on jitters over china
economy and soaring debts analysts said
president obama words are still very much hanging over the market said
equities dealer arifa sheikh usmani at british trading firm spreadex
obama laid out tough programme on thursday to limit excessive risk taking
and protect us taxpayers by preventing banks or financial institutions from
owning investing in or sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds
never again will the american taxpayer be held hostage by bank that is too
big to fail vowed obama
blaming the banks for causing the economic crisis he said my resolve to
reform the system is only strengthened when see return to old practices at
some of the very firms fighting reform
however experts and analysts on financial markets were varied in their views of
whether the measures proposed by obama were appropriate and would have the
desired effect
in early european trade frankfurt slid percent paris lost percent
while london was flat
the tokyo stock market closed down percent sydney shed percent and
hong kong recovered from early heavy losses to finish percent lower
investors followed the lead of wall street where the dow jones index suffered
its worst fall of the year on thursday
the dow jones industrial average slumped percent on thursday posting its
biggest drop for the year and extending losses after big fall on wednesday
obama words meanwhile capped tough week for markets which have taken hit
also from fears that beijing is set to tighten credit as it tries to rein in its
scorching economy
those worries were stoked on thursday after china said its economy expanded
percent in the december quarter while inflation reached month high
shanghai stocks dropped percent on friday
we had weak lead in asia from wall street on the potential moves from china
to slow things down and mr obama is going forward on bank regulation burrell
stockbroking director richard herring said
we had good run over the christmas period so maybe there just little
unwinding of some christmas excess
the concern with china came against backdrop of investor nerves over the
global economy as whole with the imf and the united nations this week both
warning of possible double dip recession this year
those worries have been heightened in europe where several governments are
struggling to cope with rising debt levels debt troubles in countries like
greece and portugal have also dragged down the euro against the dollar
there was some good news for the stock markets as influential us banking giant
goldman sachs on thursday reported higher than expected fourth quarter and full
year profit despite the downturn
china says steel output rose percent in
beijing jan afp
china crude steel output rose percent in official data shows which
analysts say could weaken the position of the nation steel mills in this
year iron ore contract price negotiations
production reached million tonnes last year according to figures released
by the national bureau of statistics on thursday partly due to massive public
spending on infrastructure projects
analysts said the figure was record and may increase pressure on beijing to
accept higher prices for iron ore the key ingredient used to make steel
during talks with the world major miners
in situation where the industry is expected to increase output and its demand
for iron ore this impacts the iron ore price talks fitch ratings analyst lim
su aik told afp
lim said steel output could reach million tonnes this year
the fiscal stimulus policy is still in place and the infrastructure projects
are very much driven by government spending and that is one key driver for steel
demand lim said
china iron ore imports surged percent to million tonnes in
with the value falling percent as prices were hit by the global downturn
customs data shows
lim said he expected iron ore prices to rise to percent in from the
previous year due to stronger demand in china and the rest of the world
china relations with the world biggest miners bhp billiton rio tinto and
vale remain tainted by the arrest in july of four rio employees in shanghai
for alleged industrial espionage
the four australian passport holder stern hu and three chinese workers are
still in detention pending trial
australian media reported this week that substantive talks between the miners
and china were yet to take place
another analyst said there was no chance in the short term for china to take
the upper hand in annual price negotiations given its huge appetite for iron
ore
it is the huge demand from china that drives up prices said the analyst who
declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the talks
there are three major sellers but the chinese market is too fractured so it is
impossible for the buyers to have too much bargaining power
asia markets tumble on obama crackdown on banks
hong kong jan afp
us president barack obama vow to crack down on wall street reckless big
banks sent shockwaves through asian stock markets on friday with the region
financial centres suffering heavy losses
investors followed the lead of the dow jones index which suffered its worst
fall of the year after obama said he wanted to put limits on banks to avoid
repeat of the financial crisis that tore into the world economies
tokyo nikkei dived percent or points to while sydney
gave up percent or points to its biggest daily drop since
november
however bargain hunting later in the day pulled some markets off their intra
day lows
hong kong finished percent or points off at the hang
seng had fallen as much as percent by the break
singapore was percent or points down at
obama thursday unveiled plans to limit excessive risk taking and protect us
taxpayers by preventing banks or financial institutions from owning investing
in or sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds
never again will the american taxpayer be held hostage by bank that is too
big to fail vowed obama
blaming the banks for causing the economic crisis he said my resolve to
reform the system is only strengthened when see return to old practices at
some of the very firms fighting reform
he said he was also galvanised to act when see record profits at some of the
very firms claiming that they cannot lend more to small business cannot keep
credit card rates low and cannot refund taxpayers for the bailout
he vowed if these folks want fight it fight ready to have
his words sent wall street diving percent
president obama proposal to limit us banks risk taking increased
uncertainties leading investors to quickly move to safer assets jung seung
jae an analyst at mirae asset securities told dow jones newswires
the region was dragged lower after wall street fall with taipei closing down
percent or points to and seoul falling percent or
points to
financial groups were heavily hit in taipei cathay financial was down
percent and fubon financial percent lower
and in sydney anz banking group fell percent while the national australia
bank lost percent
seoul kospi saw kb financial group fall percent shinhan financial group
decline percent daewoo securities slide percent
dbs bank in singapore fell cents to united overseas bank declined
cents to and oversea chinese banking corp closed nine cents lower at
in tokyo nomura holdings shed percent
indian shares were one percent off with the country largest bank icici
percent down and state bank of india percent lower
the news capped tough week for asia markets which have been struggling due
to fears beijing is set to tighten credit as it tries to rein in its scorching
economy
those worries were stoked thursday after china said its economy expanded
percent in the december quarter while inflation reached month high
shanghai was percent or points lower at bargain hunting
helped the index finish off intraday lows near three percent
we had weak lead from wall street on the potential moves from china to slow
things down and mr obama is going forward on bank regulation burrell
stockbroking director richard herring said
we had good run over the christmas period so maybe there just little
unwinding of some christmas excess
despite the markets woes tiger airways made its debut in singapore becoming
the first asian carrier to list in five years
the budget airline one of the most actively bought stocks was at
singapore dollars us up from its initial public offering price of
dollars
in tokyo bankrupt japan airlines added one yen one us cent to end the day at
three yen
japanese stocks were also hit by stronger yen which led to new fears for
exporters
the dollar dropped to yen in tokyo afternoon trade from in new york
late thursday the euro gained to dollars from but dropped to
yen from
oil was also lower with new york main contract light sweet crude for march
delivery down cents to us dollars barrel while brent north sea crude
was off cents at dollars
hong kong gold finished at us dollars an ounce down from
thursday close of dollars
in other markets
jakarta lost percent or points to
in malaysia the kuala lumpur composite index lost points or
percent to close at
decliners included banking group cimb which lost percent at ringgit
while integrated infrastructure conglomerate ytl added percent at
wellington fell percent or points to
fletcher building lost cents to dollars and contact energy dropped
cents to
manila fell percent or points to
philippine long distance telephone fell percent to pesos
indian airports on alert after hijack warning officials
new delhi jan afp
india has increased airport security and warned its domestic airlines about
possible hijack attempt after tip off from western intelligence services
officials said friday
the alert to india civil aviation ministry warned that flights of state run
air india and other private carriers could be targeted by islamist groups
aligned to al qaeda or the pakistan based lashkar taiba let rebel group
we have intelligence inputs that there could be hijack attempt of indian
planes bansal senior home ministry official in charge of internal
security said
we suspect that there can be an attempt to target one of our airlines
especially those which fly abroad
new security measures including additional checks on baggage and travellers at
airports and the deployment of sky marshals on planes were being put in place
statement from the civil aviation ministry said
the alert came after us defence secretary robert gates warned wednesday that
islamist south asian militant groups could trigger war between pakistan and
india through provocative act
he also said that the us would continue to share intelligence to prevent an
attack
tensions are running high between pakistan and india in the wake of the november
mumbai attacks that new delhi says were planned and executed by the let
we have alerted the ministry of civil aviation and bureau of civil aviation
security and tightened security in all airports in the country bansal added
the alert warns of flights from india or originating in countries neighbouring
india bangladesh bhutan myanmar nepal or sri lanka being specific
targets
civil aviation ministry spokeswoman moushumi chakravarty confirmed the alert
had been received
the information has been passed on to airport authorities and airline offices
she told afp
the last hijacking in india occurred on christmas eve in when islamic
rebels seized an indian airlines plane travelling from nepal to new delhi and
forced it to land in the then taliban stronghold of kandahar in southern
afghanistan
one passenger was stabbed to death by the hijackers before new delhi agreed to
release four islamic militants in exchange for the passengers and crew
india has been battling an islamic insurgency in its muslim majority region of
kashmir
prominent rebel groups fighting indian troops in the disputed region include the
let and the jaish mohammed founded by one of the militants freed in return
for the indian plane hostages
myanmar fighter pilot killed in crash official
yangon jan afp
myanmar fighter pilot was killed during training on friday morning when his
plane crashed in an airfield in the military ruled country an official said
the year old died when he overshot the runway landing chinese made plane
at mingaladon air field in the north of yangon city the official told afp
it happened because of technical problem he said asking not to be named
he could not give further details
myanmar which has been ruled by the military since mainly buys fighter
planes from china and russia although official statistics are difficult to
obtain
myanmar and russia signed contract worth nearly million dollars last month
to deliver mig fighter planes
cycling bold armstrong fails to break greipel grip
adelaide australia jan afp
an audacious lance armstrong attack failed to break andre greipel stranglehold
on the tour down under on friday as the german claimed his third stage win in
emphatic style
armstrong and radioshack team mate tomas vaitkus broke forward with about
kilometres miles to go but were caught by the pack in hot and windy
conditions near the end of the kilometre stage four
greipel the champion from germany put on trademark powerful sprint to
cross ahead of australians robbie mcewen and graeme brown and stretch his
overall lead to seconds
that was as hard as can go said an exhausted armstrong who finished some
seconds behind the winner
tomas went and kept going and kept going turned around and it was just the
two of us it was good effort maybe not the best outcome
greipel crashed into parked police motorbike during last year race
dramatically ending his title defence and condemning him to four months out with
shoulder surgery
he was jubilant after friday win but said it was too early to start
celebrating second tour down under victory with the event most challenging
climb the notorious willunga hill looming on saturday
today race is over but not tomorrow greipel said praising his htc
columbia team everyone is looking out for us but if the team works we can be
successful we deserve the wins because we always ride from the front
greipel now holds second advantage overall from mcewen with team sky
greg henderson four seconds further back and world road champion cadel evans
seconds adrift
armstrong who is th overall described the tall lean german as unbeatable
in straight sprint after he also pounced for victory on tuesday and wednesday
with portugal manuel cardoso the only other stage winner
the year old american who has drawn massive crowds as he bids to extend his
record seven tour de france wins said he progressing well in the second year of
his comeback
feel better than thought but still don think have the legs to go with
the best best guys tomorrow he said
think alejandro valverde cadel evans will be strong and few other
guys ll be just off that
it feels different than last year it feels more comfortable both pedalling but
also in the bunch positioning feeling the race feel my condition is more
advanced feel little lighter
he added that the tour down under which attracts hundreds of thousands of fans
and world class field seemed to be getting more competitive
think you ve got race that been around longer continues to get big
international exposure and has new teams new sponsors that have high
expectations so when you have that guys train harder he said
back in the day guys started training in january now they start training
harder and harder in november think it good preparation but wouldn
want it to get any harder
the tour down under the southern hemisphere biggest race is held over six
stages on kilometres of road around adelaide and closes on sunday
tennis del potro passes another test to reach last
melbourne jan afp
us open champion juan martin del potro survived another searching examination to
make his way into the last at the australian open on friday
the argentine fourth seed emerged from two hour minute dogfight with
florian mayer to down the th ranked german on rod laver
arena
del potro will play either th seeded croat marin cilic or th swiss seed
stanislas wawrinka in the fourth round
he said he expected tough encounter after mayer eliminated th serbian seed
viktor troicki in the previous round
felt very confused with my game especially in the second set del potro
said
but after that improved little bit and then finished the match playing
some very good points
it has been rugged work for the argentine giant at the year opening grand
slam
he needed four sets to get past american michael russell in the first round and
five sets to overcome another american james blake in the second round
he has now spent almost hours on court in his three matches and should he
get past the next round he could face american seventh seed andy roddick in the
quarters
del potro who won the us open in his th grand slam appearance last september
broke mayer serve five times twice in the opening set once in the third and
twice in the final set
but he found mayer determined customer and only had one point to spare over
the german at the end to
he beat mayer in straight sets in the second round at last year australian
open but lost to him in their first meeting in stuttgart in
think he playing better this year del potro said of mayer
his forehand has improved lot as has his serve he was focused until the last
point
he said in the past mayer would lose concentration during his matches
he felt maybe confused with the game he goes south for two or three games but
today it didn happen think he could have very good season
del potro utilising his superior reach cracked winners and aces but
that was offset by unforced errors
the argentine year old looked to be heading for comfortable afternoon
work on centre court when he twice broke mayer opening three service games
but hit rut when he failed to win game in the second set
del potro gained some measure of control in the third and fourth sets to see off
mayer challenge
mayer was bidding to reach the round of at grand slam for the first time
since wimbledon
del potro became hero in argentina when he became the first south american to
win us open since compatriot guillermo vilas in
his accomplishment was all the greater for ending roger federer five year us
open title run
kremlin ideologue defends us rights role
moscow jan afp
shadowy kremlin ideologue criticised for eroding democracy in russia on friday
defended his appointment to head joint council with the united states on civil
society ahead of its first meeting
the group set up by presidents barack obama and dmitry medvedev last year will
hold its first meeting in washington wednesday said vladislav surkov who
formally holds the post of kremlin first deputy chief of staff
in comments likely to disappoint rights activists surkov told the izvestia
newspaper that the meeting will tackle stereotypes in relations between the cold
war foes but will skirt fractious issues
surkov coined the phrase sovereign democracy to explain russia post soviet
political system and his appointment to co chair the council caused bewilderment
amongst russian rights activists
the russian edition of newsweek magazine this week posted letter from us
congress members sent to obama protesting the human rights situation in russia
and demanding that surkov be replaced
everyone has right to their opinion surkov responded icily
think that this criticism largely belongs to the whole complex of
prejudices and negative stereotypes it is possible that we will allay this in
the course of our joint work
surkov major behind the scenes figures in russian politics has held his post
since and is seen as the main theorist of the kremlin strong government
ideology
the letter to obama from the mainly republican congressmen published by newsweek
described surkov as reportedly one of the masterminds behind russia
authoritative policies of the past years
it said that the united states should not participate in any such working group
unless the russian government takes concrete steps to improve political and
media freedoms
having the russian government replace mr surkov with someone who has not been
involved in establishing oppressive and undemocratic policies in russia would be
positive starting point in that regard
along with corruption and violence against children the first meeting of the
working group we will discuss the myths and stereotypes that exist in our
relations said surkov
but he indicated that the meeting would avoid the most contentious rights
issues we have tried to avoid those questions on which we are hardly going to
agree at the moment surkov said
we are going to approach them gradually taking into account how deep our
mutual understanding has grown he added
rights activists have expressed worry the reset in us russian relations under
medvedev and obama would see washington scale down its pressure on russian
rights issues but us officials have denied that this is the case
surkov acknowledged there had been some bumpy moments in the run up to the
