while the un special representative to afghanistan kai eide called the result
political setback as it prolongs political stasis he acknowledged it was
good news for the development of democracy
there positive aspect that proves that the institution functions that
parliament has made full use of its authority on the constitution he told
reporters on sunday
it must be respected it certainly not the kind of rubber stamping parliament
that we see in other countries the parliament has taken its responsibility and
made full use of it he said
the parliament elected in is comprised of two chambers the powerful
seat upper house wolesi jirga or house of the people and the largely
symbolic seat lower house mishrano jirga house of the elders
the constitution guarantees women mps although two are known to have left
for asylum in europe and third woman was fired for making statements in the
chamber against war criminals
the legislature had not until now been regarded as balance on administrative
power allowing karzai government to achieve its goals without threatening the
foundations of the state
getting here has been rough road and some decisions have damaged its
reputation including the law passed in its first year giving amnesty to
warlords and former militia leaders
analysts say its development is hampered by afghanistan lack of political
party system leaving most mps operating as independents
the parliament is fragmented the mps vote on their own assessment there are
no political parties behind them said haroun mir director of afghanistan
centre for research and policy
accusations that mps take their jobs too lightly are tempered by the fact that
have been killed six in alone mostly in taliban attacks
think in general we have been doing well we have done our share in building
up democracy barakzai said
korea to spent percent of budget in first six months
seoul jan afp
south korea will spend about percent of its budget in the first half of this
year as part of efforts to accelerate the country economic recovery officials
said monday
president lee myung bak directed his cabinet to effectively and swiftly carry
out budget spending describing job creation as one of the country most
important tasks his office said
the government will spend trillion won billion dollars or
percent of the total in the first six months the finance ministry said after
cabinet meeting chaired lee
the first and the utmost mission is to revive the economy and the core of
that mission is to create jobs he said in new year address
lee suggested the government should end emergency measures imposed during the
global slump during the first half
asia fourth largest economy has made one of the quickest recoveries from the
downturn due in part to stimulus packages
government officials predicted the economy grew percent last year and five
percent in higher than its earlier projections
obama nuclear weapons plan runs into resistance report
washington jan afp
president barack obama plan to begin phasing out nuclear weapons has run up
against powerful resistance from officials in the pentagon and other us
agencies the los angeles times reported late sunday
obama laid out his vision of nuclear free world in speech in prague last
april
but citing unnamed officials the newspaper said the obama administration is now
locked in internal debate over top secret policy blueprint for shrinking the
us nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in country military
strategy
officials in the pentagon and elsewhere have pushed back against proposals to
cut the number of weapons and narrow their mission the report said
in turn white house officials unhappy with early pentagon led drafts of the
blueprint known as the nuclear posture review have stepped up their involvement
in the deliberations and ordered that the document reflect obama preference
for sweeping change the times noted
the pentagon has stressed the importance of continued us deterrence an
objective obama has said he agrees with the report said
but senior defense official who described the debate as spirited
acknowledged that some officials are concerned that the administration may be
going too far the paper pointed out
tennis relieved gasquet trying to stay relaxed
brisbane australia jan afp
controversial french tennis player richard gasquet said he was trying to stay
relaxed on his return to the court after he was last month cleared of serious
doping offence
gasquet beat finland jarkko nieminen in the first round of the brisbane
international on monday battling for tick over two hours before overcoming
the finn in three sets
the win came just three weeks after gasquet was given the all clear to play by
the court of arbitration for sport cas
the year old frenchman only found out on december that he had escaped
prolonged ban after testing positive for cocaine earlier in the year
gasquet served an initial three month ban from may to july but the
international tennis federation itf and the world anti doping agency wada
both appealed the length of the sentence and argued for tougher sanction
however the cas cleared gasquet and acknowledged that he was likely to have
been inadvertently contaminated with minute trace of cocaine after kissing
woman in miami night club
gasquet who finished out of the top for the first time in five years
said he had enjoyed being able to play without the threat of suspension
hanging over his head
could have won could have lost but it was most important to play
relaxed he said
gasquet said he was finding it hard to come back to the tour after missing three
months then playing with the prospect of lengthier ban
had hard story but not different player than was before the
ban he said
was so happy to win because it hard to come back for sure
he added he now wanted to make up for lost time
stopped playing for long time so want to come back and play good
matches to be relaxed and take pleasure from tennis and try to do my best
oil near dollars as russia cuts oil supply to belarus
singapore jan afp
oil prices raced toward dollars barrel on the first trading day of the year
monday after russia cut crude supplies to belarus analysts said
new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery in february
rose cents to dollars barrel
brent north sea crude for february delivery gained cents to dollars
crude prices rose on concerns over the implications of russia move which has
been effective since new year eve analysts said
oil is up reacting primarily to russia stopping oil supplies to belarus
said victor shum senior principal of purvin and gertz energy consultants in
singapore
that is the dominant factor and has added some momentum to oil
media reports said russia had stopped supplies to belarus from december
with ongoing negotiations to restart deliveries hampered by tariff
disagreements
the incident is the latest in the energy dispute between the two nations over
tariff arrangements moscow also severed supplies to belarus in january
following similar row
an analyst quoted by the financial times said the pipeline through belarus
supplied up to barrels of oil products day to germany and poland
however oil exports to europe were still flowing despite the russian move with
refineries in belarus holding week worth of stockpiles media reports said
eighth man killed in afghanistan was from jordan intelligence report
washington jan afp
the eighth man killed in suicide bomb attack on secret cia base in
afghanistan last week was captain in the jordanian spy service known as the
general intelligence department gid the washington post reported late sunday
the official jordanian news agency petra identified the man as ali bin zeid
saying that he was killed on wednesday evening as martyr while performing the
sacred duty of the jordanian forces in afghanistan
the agency provided no further details about his death in the bombing that also
claimed the lives of seven us intelligence operatives but the us newspaper said
it provided rare window into partnership between the us and jordanian
intelligence service in which jordan is playing an increasingly vital role in
the fight against al qaeda and other terrorist groups
jordanians are particularly prized for their skill in both interrogating
captives and cultivating informants owing to an unrivaled expertise with
radicalized militant groups and shia sunni culture jamie smith former cia
officer who worked in the border region in the years immediately after the us
led invasion of afghanistan is quoted by the post as saying
they know the bad guy culture his associates and more about the network
to which he belongs he said
current and former us intelligence officials said the special relationship with
jordan dates back at least three decades and has recently progressed to the
point that the cia liaison officer in amman enjoys full unescorted access to
gid headquarters according to the report
the close ties helped disrupt several known terrorist plots including the
thwarted millennium conspiracy to attack tourists at hotels and other
sites the paper pointed out
jordanians also provided us officials with communications intercepts in summer
that warned of terrorist plans to carry out major attack on the united
states the post said
after the september attacks jordan agreed to create bilateral
operations center with the cia and helped in interrogations of non jordanian
suspects captured by the us central intelligence agency and transferred to
jordan in now famous rendition flights the paper noted
chinese firms trading with iran evade us sanctions report
washington jan afp
chinese companies banned from doing business in the united states for selling
military equipment to iran are evading us sanctions the wall street journal
said late sunday on its website citing nonproliferation watchdog group
the chinese firms are continuing to do brisk trade with us companies and the
indications are that us sanctions have become so numerous and complex that they
have become difficult to enforce the wisconsin project on nuclear arms control
said
we spend lot of time convincing other countries that we need tighter
sanctions on iran when we need to better enforce our own laws already on the
books says wisconsin project director gary milhollin former pentagon
consultant on nuclear proliferation matters
the sanctions breach by chinese firms comes at time when president barack
obama considers fresh batch of sanctions against iran for harboring suspected
nuclear weapons ambitions
the wall street journal said it consulted some us companies who said they were
unaware they were doing business with banned entities
the treasury department office of foreign assets control tasked with policing
the sanctions regime has not fined any us companies for trading with chinese
companies banned in the wall street journal said
corrected asian markets begin on upbeat note
hong kong jan afp
asian markets kicked off the new decade on high on monday as dealers were
buoyed by upbeat manufacturing data from china while tokyo was boosted by news
of an extended credit line to japan airlines
and the new year saw the introduction of new trading system in tokyo as the
stock exchange tries to keep ahead of its regional rivals following series of
technical problems in recent years
by noon the nikkei was percent higher while sydney was up percent
hong kong was percent higher in early trade while shanghai began the day
percent up
there were also gains in seoul taipei and kuala lumpur
but singapore was percent off due to profit taking after hitting month
high last week
the mood on the first day of trading this year is good kenji shiomura market
analyst at daiwa securities told dow jones newswires
japan airlines jal shares soared percent after the government sunday agreed
to double state funded loan to the cash strapped carrier to billion yen
billion dollars
jal shares had plunged percent on the last trading day of sinking at
one stage to record low on fears asia largest airline might file for
bankruptcy protection
exporters were also helped by the yen weakening against the dollar
the greenback gained to yen in tokyo morning trade from yen in new
york late thursday
the euro fell to dollars from dollars and to yen from
in china sentiment was boosted by news that the purchasing managers index rose
to percent in december from in november according to the china
federation of logistics and purchasing
the tokyo stock exchange next generation trading platform called arrowhead
can process orders in seconds much faster than the previous technology
and on par with the systems in new york and london
gold opened lower in hong kong trading at us dollars an
ounce compared to thursday close of dollars
beijing digs out after major snow
beijing jan afp
schools were shut down flights delayed and traffic snarled in beijing on monday
following two days of heavy snow in north china with even more frigid weather
forecast
up to centimetres inches of snow fell in the capital and nearby tianjin
on saturday and sunday the central meteorological administration reported
the biggest snowfall in january in the region in more than years
although snow was not forecast in the capital in the coming days snowstorms
were expected in northeast china and eastern shandong province monday as people
returned to work following the new year holiday the administration said
siberian cold front meanwhile could bring historic low temperatures of between
minus and minus degrees celsius minus four and fahrenheit to hebei
province and inner mongolia on tuesday and wednesday it said
temperatures in beijing were expected to drop to minus degrees celsius on
monday the coldest in the capital in decades the china daily reported
in china coldest region of heilongjiang province the mercury has already
plummeted to minus celsius the paper said
more than schools in beijing and tianjin were forced to shut their doors
on monday giving more than million students an extra day of new year
holiday state media reported
at beijing international airport where nearly flights were cancelled
or delayed on sunday workers had cleared the runways and the situation was
returning to normal an airport spokesman told afp
more than flights on monday were delayed and two dozen cancelled as of
am gmt the spokesman said adding that workers needed to de ice the
snow covered planes that were unable to take off over the weekend
up to highways in beijing and the surrounding regions were still closed to
traffic or only partially opened on monday the china news service reported
inner city roads in the capital remained icy and covered with snow monday but
traffic was flowing albeit at slow pace the city has mobilised
people to clear the snow the china daily reported
the nation rail network was operating normally but long distance bus services
in north china were disrupted the paper said
the frigid air from the north was also expected to send temperatures plummeting
below the freezing mark in much of central china where heavy fog could cause
problems for air and road travellers the weather bureau said
korea seeks turning point in ties with north
seoul jan afp
south korea said on monday it was seeking turning point in relations with
north korea and again urged its communist nuclear armed northern neighbour to
disarm
president lee myung bak remarks followed call by north korea on friday for
an end to hostile relations with south korea key ally the united states and
nuclear free peninsula
this year south korea and north korea should create turning point in their
relations lee said in nationally television new year address suggesting
the establishment of an inter korean dialogue body
inter korean ties have been strained since the conservative leader took office
in and linked the south massive aid and economic cooperation to progress
in the north nuclear disarmament
lee also repeated his call for north korea to return as soon as possible to
the six party nuclear disarmament talks that pyongyang quit nine months ago so
that the two neighbours can improve their relationship
for this there needs to be standing dialogue organisation between the south
and the north lee said without elaborating on the proposed body
wish north korea can sincerely open their heart and walk on the path of
dialogue and cooperation
presidential official told afp lee had proposed in an interview with the
washington post in april that both koreas establish permanent high level
liaison offices in each other capital
but the official fell short of confirming whether lee meant the liaison offices
in his proposal for an inter korean dialogue body
on new year day north korea in policy setting joint editorial of its state
newspapers called for an end to hostile relations with the us and vowed to work
towards nuclear free peninsula
the fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the korean peninsula
and in the rest of asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between the
dprk north korea and the usa the editorial said
it is the consistent stand of the dprk to establish lasting peace system on
the korean peninsula and make it nuclear free through dialogue and
negotiations
north korea left six party nuclear disarmament talks in april last year in
protest at international censure over its launch of long range rocket in may
it staged its second nuclear test since
us envoy stephen bosworth visited the communist nation last month and reached
common understanding on the need to resume the talks which group the two
koreas japan china russia and the united states however no date has been
fixed
taiwan aims for china trade talks by mid january govt
taipei jan afp
taiwan aims to start formal negotiations with china on controversial trade
agreement by the middle of this month an economics ministry spokesman said
monday
the ministry hopes both sides will kick off official talks on the trade pact
with china in mid or late january after several rounds of informal talks the
spokesman told afp
an exact timetable and venue for the formal talks will be decided by the
negotiators he said referring to semi official bodies handling ties in the
absence of formal relations
taiwan china friendly administration hopes the negotiations will lead to
trade pact known as the economic cooperation framework agreement which it says
could lift growth and boost employment
but the opposition democratic progressive party which favours independence from
china strongly opposes the pact which it says would demote taiwan to the
status of local government in future talks with the mainland
taiwan premier wu den yih said in tv interview over the weekend he hopes the
agreement will be signed in may or june
he added the government will try hard to explain the merits of the agreement to
the opponents and clear their concerns before it is signed
taiwan and china have been governed separately 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
ties have improved since the island current administration assumed power in
may pursuing programme of stepping up economic ties
asian markets begin on upbeat note
hong kong jan afp
asian markets kicked off the new decade on high on monday as dealers were
buoyed by upbeat manufacturing data from china while tokyo was boosted by news
of an extended credit line to japan airlines
and the new year saw the introduction of new trading system in tokyo as the
stock exchange tries to keep ahead of its regional rivals following series of
technical problems in recent years
by noon the nikkei was percent higher while sydney was up percent
hong kong was percent higher in early trade while shanghai began the day
percent up
there were also gains in seoul taipei and kuala lumpur
but singapore was percent off due to profit taking after hitting year
high last week
the mood on the first day of trading this year is good kenji shiomura market
analyst at daiwa securities told dow jones newswires
japan airlines jal shares soared percent after the government sunday agreed
to double state funded loan to the cash strapped carrier to billion yen
billion dollars
jal shares had plunged percent on the last trading day of sinking at
one stage to record low on fears asia largest airline might file for
bankruptcy protection
exporters were also helped by the yen weakening against the dollar
the greenback gained to yen in tokyo morning trade from yen in new
york late thursday
the euro fell to dollars from dollars and to yen from
in china sentiment was boosted by news that the purchasing managers index rose
to percent in december from in november according to the china
federation of logistics and purchasing
the tokyo stock exchange next generation trading platform called arrowhead
can process orders in seconds much faster than the previous technology
and on par with the systems in new york and london
gold opened lower in hong kong trading at us dollars an
ounce compared to thursday close of dollars
nba bosh reaches team record in raptors win over spurs
toronto jan afp
chris bosh scored points and became the leading scorer in club history sunday
as he led toronto to nba victory over san antonio
bosh nailed jump shot from the top of the key with remaining in the third
quarter to surpass vince carter franchise record of of points
bosh who now has points was honored with video tribute and standing
ovation at the end of the quarter
was thinking it would be really nice to set the record and everything but
wanted to win that was the main focus of the whole game bosh said it makes
it that much better
bosh also grabbed rebounds while jarrett jack scored points andrea
bargnani had and demar derozan for the raptors who have won six of seven
and ended the spurs winning streak at five games
tony parker scored points and tim duncan had points and rebounds in
rare appearance off the bench
duncan came off the bench for just the second time in his career and the first
time since no reason was given before the game for the decision which
came after duncan scored points in minutes in saturday victory at
washington
he played lot of minutes spurs coach gregg popovich said he played more
than we wanted last night so we just wanted to have him in the fourth quarter
rather than the first not too much happens in the first quarter of nba games
duncan admitted that not starting was tough to swallow
pop asked me about it and it sounded like decent idea just to make sure
had my legs down the stretch duncan said it worked felt good in the
fourth quarter just couldn get anything to go in the hole
toronto took lead into the final period but duncan three point play
with remaining cut the gap to
jack and parker both scored before bosh driving layup made it
with seconds to play and keith bogans three pointer narrowed the gap to
with seconds remaining
bosh marco belinelli and antoine wright made two free throws apiece in the
final seconds to seal the win for toronto who avenged loss to the
spurs on november
manu ginobili scored points for san antonio in that game bas held to just
five points on sunday
dollar gains in asia on economic outlook
tokyo jan afp
the dollar rose against other major currencies in asian trade on monday
supported by growing optimism about prospects for the world largest economy
dealers said
the dollar gained to yen in the tokyo morning trade from yen in new
york late on thursday before the new year holiday weekend
the euro fell to dollars from dollars and to yen from
the greenback remained firm after ending on an upbeat note in the wake of
government data indicating that new us claims for jobless benefits fell to the
lowest level since july
the seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in
the week ending december stood at decrease of from the
previous week revised figure of the us labor department said
the dollar will remain upbeat for while even if not sharply higher as
domestic exporters are selling the currency said masatsugu miyata foreign
exchange dealer at hachijuni bank
wouldn be surprised to see the dollar test higher level ahead of the
upcoming economic data in the united states he said
market players will closely watch us economic reports on manufacturing activity
and december unemployment slated for release this week dealers said
think the us jobless data will improve and send the dollar higher miyata
said
but he also thinks it will be some time before the us federal reserve moves to
raise its key interest rate
the federal reserve has held the key rate at virtually zero percent since
december and rate rise was expected to push the dollar higher
the us jobless rate stood at percent in november down from percent in
october
nba bobcats shock cavs thanks to murray game winner
cleveland ohio jan afp
the charlotte bobcats pulled off another surprise sunday as ronald murray
three pointer with seconds left helped them post nba victory over the
cleveland cavaliers
less than hours after they shocked the heat in miami the bobcats snapped
cleveland seven game winning streak and ended the cavs game home winning
streak
we hung in and got win on the road against great team charlotte coach
larry brown said we re all happy
murray basket snapped an tie after charlotte had led for most of the
second half
the shot clock was running down and had chance to go one on one murray
said was able to knock it down that was momentum changer it put the
pressure on them
stephen jackson two free throws with seconds to play again saw charlotte
take three point lead leaving the cavs with one final opportunity
but lebron james missed potential tying three pointer as time expired
definitely felt like had good look at it said james whose shot hit the
rim and bounced up brown said charlotte newfound success on the road is
good sign in miami they scored points in the fourth quarter en route to
victory
we haven been able to close out games brown said we lost two games on the
road where we got bombed other than that we ve been in most games especially
late we just haven figured out way to finish tonight we finished last
night we finished it makes this trip phenomenal and we ll enjoy another plane
ride
james said he wasn surprised by the bobcats performance
honestly it really talented team he said they have some really good
pieces and they match up well with us they play us tough every time
james finished with points mo williams scored but shaquille neal was
the only other cleveland player in double figures with
the cavaliers hadn lost at home since november when they fell to
chicago
tennis brisbane international results
brisbane australia jan afp
results from the second day of the brisbane international tennis tournament on
monday denotes seed
first round
men
richard gasquet fra bt jarkko nieminen fin
women
roberta vinci ita bt sara errani ita
powerful quake strikes near solomon islands
honiara solomon islands jan afp
powerful magnitude earthquake struck near the solomon islands in the
western pacific on monday triggering panic but causing no major tsunami
disaster officials said
the us geological survey said the quake struck about kilometres from the
earthquake prone island town of gizo at about am gmt sunday and was
measured at depth of about kilometres miles
it was the largest of swarm of tremors centred on the area ignited by
magnitude quake at am and followed several hours later by quakes of
magnitude and
on the tiny island of rendova near gizo several houses collapsed but there
were no other reports of damage julian makaa of the national disaster
management office told afp
the earthquake caused small wave and few people suffered minor injuries as
they ran away from the shore in panic he said
an magnitude earthquake in the same area nearly three years ago killed more
than people destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced thousands
the hawaii based tsunami warning centre said the latest earthquake was powerful
enough to have been destructive along coasts near the epicentre but there was no
wider threat
no tsunami threat exists for other coastal areas in the pacific although some
other areas may experience small non destructive sea level changes lasting up
to several hours the centre said in bulletin
gizo on ghizo island is the second largest town in the solomon islands
archipelago with population of around
it is about kilometres northwest of the capital honiara on the island of
guadalcanal where residents said they felt shakes but there was no damage
honiara is kilometres from where the nest of earthquakes was centred
geoscience australia seismologist clive collins said the main quake which was
estimated at magnitude by australian seismologists was probably about
kilometres from the nearest land
further south in earthquake prone new zealand tremors of and were
recorded over the past hours
like much of the pacific the solomons regularly experiences large earthquakes
in april magnitude earthquake in the western solomons centred near
gizo triggered tsunami that killed people and displaced thousands
gizo harbour lost most of it wharves and jetties in the quake and subsequent
