the euro rose to dollars after and to yen from
oil was higher new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery
in march rose cents to dollars barrel in afternoon trade while
brent north sea crude gained cents to dollars
hong kong gold closed at us dollars an ounce up from friday
close of dollars
in other markets
singapore closed or eight points lower at
local investors may well follow the lead from wall street players who are for
the time being ignoring good news on the earnings front said amfraser retail
research head najeeb jarhom
dbs bank was down cents at and singapore airlines dipped cents to
taiwan closed down points or percent at
wall street will continue to dictate the local trading amid weak sentiment
towards financial firms grand cathay securities analyst mars hsu said
taiwan semiconductor manufacturing co closed down percent at while
hon hai precision industry closed up percent at
jakarta lost points or percent to
the fall came despite fitch ratings upgrading indonesia sovereign credit
rating to one notch below investment grade reflecting the country resilience
to the global slump
foreign funds continued to sell dealers said bank danamon lost percent to
rupiah and car distributor astra fell percent to
kuala lumpur lost points or percent to
medical gloves manufacturer supermax rose percent ringgit
dollars but nestle fell percent to
bangkok lost points or percent to close at
coal producer banpu plunged baht to close at and energy firm ptt
plc fell baht to
new zealand was flat with the nzx index down points at
fletcher building rose five cents to dollars
manila closed percent lower the composite index fell points to
philippine long distance telephone co fell percent to pesos
dollars while energy development corp dropped four percent to pesos
mumbai fell percent or points to fifth straight
loss
rate sensitive stocks were hit by concerns the central bank may tighten monetary
policy friday
property firm dlf fell percent to while the country largest vehicle
maker tata motors fell percent to
auto and farm equipment maker mahindra and mahindra fell percent to
italy eni to invest billion dollars in ugandan oil
milan jan afp
italian oil group eni plans to invest billion dollars billion euros to
develop hydrocarbons in uganda after acquiring rights from canada heritage
group an italian daily reported monday
eni which will acquire half ownership of two hydrocarbon production sites in
northeastern uganda from heritage plans to build refinery and an electric
power station eni chief paolo scaroni told la repubblica
the italian group will also rehabilitate colonial era rail line between the
ugandan capital kampala and the kenyan port of mombasa and build new pipeline
to tanzania commercial capital dar es salaam scaroni said
the two sites in the lake albert basin are estimated to contain more than one
billion barrels of oil
eni and heritage signed contract in november under which eni will acquire
heritage half ownership of the two sites for billion dollars
euros plus possible additional million dollars in cash or assets
depending on certain conditions
british firm tullow oil owns the other half
the ugandan government will overrule bid by tullow to exercise its preemption
right energy minister hillary onek said last week
tennis federer williams sisters stride into open quarters
melbourne jan afp
dominant roger federer joined the williams sisters in the australian open
quarter finals monday while li na ensured china has two players in grand slam
last eight for the first time
the world number one swiss shattered the hopes of local fans by crushing lleyton
hewitt for his th consecutive win over the australian nd seed
it was an imperious display which set up the time grand slam champion with an
intruiging last eight showdown with the in form nikolay davydenko who has won
their last two meetings
the russian sixth seed ensured he stayed alive by coming through marathon
five setter against spanish ninth seed fernando verdasco prevailing
he beaten me the last two times but hoping with the best of five sets
play can get the better of him federer said of davydenko while paying
tribute to hewitt
have always had some great battles with lleyton he champion and has the
ability to make you nervous in match
third seed novak djokovic the winner also progressed with an emphatic
win over poland unseeded lukasz kubot and will next meet french
th seed jo wilfried tsonga who he beat in the final
tsonga won thriller against spanish th seed nicolas almagro
they join spanish defending champion rafael nadal british fifth seed andy
murray american seventh seed andy roddick and th seeded croat marin cilic in
the quarters
like federer women defending champion serena williams was class apart as
she devoured australia sam stosur
she will play either belarrussian seventh seed victoria azarenka or ninth seeded
russian vera zvonareva next as she guns for fifth title
it really good to match my game against her serve because she one of the
best servers on the tour williams said of stosur
it important when you re playing local girl to not let the crowd get too
involved or else they ll kill you she added that was the plan to not let
them get involved
her sister venus seeded six found the going tougher against italian th seed
francesca schiavone losing the first set before bouncing back for
win
they join li justine henin nadia petrova maria kirilenko and zheng jie in the
last eight
venus is in her th australian open campaign but is yet to win the singles
crown in stark contrast to serena
but the elder williams is not beating herself up about her comparative lack of
success insisting major part of her game plan was staying positive
she said she could break her australian drought this year
yeah ready to go and feel very good said venus who has won five
wimbledons and two us open titles
she faces li next after the th seed upset danish fourth seed caroline
wozniacki
her victory broke new ground for chinese tennis with the year old joining
compatriot zheng in the last eight the first time two chinese players have
reached that stage of grand slam
li is looking forward to meeting venus who she beat in their only previous
match at the beijing olympics
it was good experience for me for my tennis she said of the olympic win
but just want to forget because play her again want to look forward
djokovic was impressive in his rout of kubot
he struggled with his form in the opening two rounds but has moved up gear
and is back with the touch he displayed in the second half of last year
think the first two sets was very dominant on the court then he lifted up
his level of the game little bit he said
in general was very happy with the way performed today
anti garbage campaigners plan mass internet led clean up
tallinn jan afp
fed up with seeing the environment strewn with garbage activists from around
the globe aim to muster million volunteers this year for mass clean up
piloted via the internet organisers said monday
the let do it operation is the brainchild of campaigners in estonia small
baltic state which is hub for nature lovers and one of the world most
internet wired nations
after successful operation at home in when volunteers removed thousands
of illegal rubbish dumps the estonians have shared their lessons with foreign
campaigners at conference that ended monday
since the campaign day in estonia in may we have been contacted by people
from dozens of states from japan to brazil setting up voluntary teams to
organise similar campaigns in their homelands toomas trapido lawmaker and
mastermind of the movement told afp
rainer nolvak an it entrepreneur board member of the estonian nature fund and
fellow mastermind told afp that activists from portugal to india plan events
aiming to draw total of million people
like the estonians campaigners elsewhere will use special software and mobile
phones to map and photograph illegal garbage dumps
having located the sites they will call for clean up volunteers
estonia landmark one day operation in mustered people in the
nation of million they collected tonnes of rubbish
we had no idea that so many people would turn out and that the campaign would
spread around the globe trapido said
the estonians set up website www letsdoitworld org with tips for others
voluntary clean up took place saturday in part of the indian capital delhi
pilot for larger operation planned across the city in september
in europe clean up is due in portugal in march
we hope to gather up to volunteers to follow estonia example
portuguese it professor and campaigner francisco moura told afp in tallinn
nara petrovic head of campaign in slovenia said she aimed to gather
people there in april
tennis classy federer rips through hewitt in straight sets
melbourne jan afp
roger federer emphatically extended his dominance over long time rival lleyton
hewitt to cruise into the australian open quarter finals on monday
the swiss top seed was at different level to the big hearted australian nd
seed in their th meeting as he rolled out win in one hour
minutes
federer further underlined the gulf existing between him and hewitt with his
th straight victory but his next opponent nikolay davydenko has beaten the
time grand slam champion at their last two meetings
it looms as federer first major challenge in the year opening grand slam
tournament
there was only momentary spark to fire up the willing home crowd when hewitt
broke federer service for the only time in the eighth game of the third set
but the swiss great unleashed sensational forehand cross court volley to
immediately break back in the next game
it lifted his imposing record over former world number one hewitt to
hewitt last victory against federer came seven years ago in davis cup tie
here when federer led two sets to love and in the third before the
australian stormed back to win in five sets
it was federer st match win at the australian open with seven defeats
the last time the swiss great failed to reach the quarter finals at grand slam
was at the french open where he lost in the third round to brazilian
gustavo kuerten
federer did as he pleased against hewitt rifling two service breaks in the
opening set in the fourth game of the second set and two more in the final set
the australian looked incapable of stopping the flow of winners off federer
racquet and his serve was under constant pressure
federer hit winners of them off the forehand and just unforced
efforts
it ended hewitt th consecutive australian open campaign and he is yet to get
beyond the fourth round in five years since he was losing finalist here to
russian marat safin in
football algeria send england world cup warning
luanda jan afp
up until sunday fabio capello england must have been rubbing their hands at
having been drawn with algeria in their world cup first round group
rabah saadane desert foxes had failed to make much of an imprint in their
three africa cup of nations first round games limping into the quarter finals
after dismal loss to malawi win over mali and contentious
goalless draw with hosts angola
but algeria silenced their critics in no uncertain fashion with superb
extra time win over cup favourites ivory coast on sunday night in cabinda to
send clear message to their world cup rivals underestimate us at your peril
the north africans are drawn in the same world cup first round group as england
the united states and slovenia and saadane former defender with french side
rennes believes this angola dress rehearsal is proving an invaluable experience
for south africa
algeria are not the first team to start competition like this slowly
gradually finding their stride as the competition progresses witness france at
the world cup
raymond domenech men looked down and out after goalless draw against
switzerland and draw with south korea but then produced performance
seemingly from nowhere to knock out spain in the second round followed by wins
over brazil and portugal to make it the final itself
the similarity does not end there
domenech injected bunker mentality in his squad in germany using all
the criticism directed at his team to motivate his players
saadane has done the same using the attacks by the algerian media to trigger
positive response from his men
algeria wait now to find out whether it will be bitter rivals egypt or cameroon
lining up alongside them in thursday semi final in benguela as they move to
within one game of making the final and shot at their first title since
the surprise winners fell behind on minutes to brilliant abdulkader
keita goal only for rangers defender madjid bougherra to level in stoppage time
and unmarked substitute hamer bouazza headed nd minute far post winner
saadane in his fifth spell as algeria manager was assistant coach at the
world cup and head coach at the world cup when algeria failed to make it
out of the first round after draw with northern ireland and losses to brazil
and spain
after sunday quarter final victory he said am really happy we came up
with what we wanted
wasn surprised by my team but more by the decline of the ivory coast side
the critics said after we beat mali that we only scored goals from dead
ball situations well here we scored three goals from open play
rangers defender bougherra added many people wrote our chances off this
victory is for the people of algeria all over the world
man of the match karim matmour who scored his country opening goal said
this wasn an easy match against great team but we have qualified and what
more qualified in style
saadane meanwhile played down fears of any repeat of the stormy and violent
scenes that were triggered by their last three encounters against egypt should
the defending champions emerge as their semi final rivals
in our three games against egypt everything passed off smoothly on the pitch
youo have to stop talking about that the animosity between the two countries
he insisted
the man who goes by the name of cheikh added know my algerian players are
motivated by the big matches we came here to win and we produced what we
wanted
karroubi recognises ahmadinejad as iran president son
tehran jan afp
iranian opposition leader mehdi karroubi who had refused to accept the re
election of president mahmoud ahmadinejad now recognises the hardliner as the
country president karroubi son told afp on monday
hossein karroubi quoted his father as saying am still of the same belief
that the election was unhealthy and massively rigged but since the supreme
leader ayatollah ali khamenei endorsed ahmadinejad victory believe that
he is the head of the government meaning he is the president
hossein spoke to afp when asked to confirm an earlier report by fars news agency
quoting his father in which he acknowledged ahmadinejad as the president
fars asked the opposition leader whether he now acknowledges ahmadinejad as the
president
the ex speaker of parliament who came fourth in the disputed june
presidential election replied still maintain that there were problems in
the election but with regard to your question should say that recognise
the president
bank of china shares down on fund raising plan
shanghai jan afp
bank of china shares slipped monday after it said it may tap the market for
tens of billions of dollars as concerns intensify over the risk of bad loans
following lending spree last year
the bank on friday said it was looking to issue up to billion yuan
billion dollars in bonds and added it could issue billions of shares the
equivalent of up to percent of its existing share base to raise funds
the announcement came as beijing presses china financial institutions to
tighten their defences against any possible defaults and fostered speculation
that other banks may follow suit
other listed large banks such as china construction bank and industrial and
commercial bank of china icbc may also have refinancing plans said ye yunyan
beijing based analyst with galaxy securities
however he said bank of china had seen its loans growth surge faster than any
other bank and needed to bolster the amount of money it keeps in reserve against
rainy day
growth of new lending in bank of china last year was faster than other major
banks while its capital adequacy ratio is relatively low he said
bank of china and other chinese banks need funds to meet regulatory requirements
for capital after record lending last year prompted by government calls to
support the country massive economic stimulus efforts
the bank shanghai listed shares were down percent on monday at yuan
after dipping as much as percent to yuan in early trade
its hong kong listed shares lost percent to close at hong kong dollars
us cents
the proceeds from the issuance of the convertible bonds will be applied to
replenish the capital base and working capital of the bank the lender said in
statement to the shanghai stock exchange late on friday
china banking regulator has urged banks to raise their capital adequacy ratio
the amount of capital banks must hold against potential risks amid
concerns that rampant lending will lead to sharp rise in bad debts
new loans at chinese banks totalled trillion yuan last year nearly double
the figure and the banking regulator has set this year target at about
trillion yuan
the impact of the aggressive lending spree on loan quality will be reflected in
lenders ratio of non performing loans as early as the end of said yuk kei
lee of core pacific yamaichi international in hong kong
it not an imminent problem but will come to surface over the long term the
analyst said
bank of china said the share convertible six year bonds which have been
approved by the board of directors are subject to approval from its
shareholders at general meeting in march formality in china
it added it could sell up to billion shanghai listed shares as well as
up to billion hong kong listed shares or no more than percent of its
existing hong kong and shanghai listed shares
based on the closing price of yuan in shanghai on friday before the
statement was issued the bank is seeking general mandate to sell shares
worth billion yuan
the new shares that could be issued would be worth billion hong kong
dollars billion us based on friday closing price of hong kong
dollars
the bank capital adequacy ratio stood at percent at the end of
september slightly higher than the percent minimum required by china
government for large banks
that was lower than the capital adequacy ratio of bigger rivals china
construction bank and icbc at the end of september which were percent and
percent respectively
tennis australian open results day eight th update
melbourne jan afp
results from day eight of the australian open at melbourne park here monday
denotes seeding
men singles
th round
novak djokovic srb bt lukasz kubot pol
nikolay davydenko rus bt fernando verdasco esp
jo wilfried tsonga fra bt nicolas almagro esp
roger federer sui bt lleyton hewitt aus
women singles
th round
venus williams usa bt francesca schiavone ita
li na chn bt caroline wozniacki den
serena williams usa bt samantha stosur aus
afp animated graphics advisory
paris jan afp
we will move the following animated graphic
lebanon crash
interactive graphic on the crash of an ethiopian airlines boeing
bound for addis abeba which plunged into the sea minutes after taking
off from beirut rafik hariri international airport during thunder
storm
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slug lebanon plane crash ethiopia aviation
afp animated graphics
peter shard tel
dalai lama office says envoys to hold talks in china tuesday
dharamshala india jan afp
envoys of the dalai lama tibet exiled spiritual leader will re open talks on
tuesday with beijing after gap of months his office said monday
we are meeting the chinese and this is an important process of trying to find
mutually agreed solution the dalai lama spokesman tenzin taklha said
referring to the dispute over tibet autonomy within china
the agenda of his holiness the dalai lama is the same that the problem has to
be solved only through dialogue he said
taklha added that the venue of the talks had not been confirmed but said the
envoys would return to india by the beginning of february
afp animated graphics advisory
paris jan afp
we will move the following animated graphic
lebanon crash
interactive graphic on the crash of an ethiopian airlines boeing
bound for addis abeba which plunged into the sea minutes after taking
off from beirut rafik hariri international airport during thunder
storm
format adobe flash cs player px libancrashen gmt
slug lebanon plane crash ethiopia aviation
afp animated graphics
peter shard tel
afptv advisory
paris jan afp
we will file the following videos
ethiopia jet goes down off lebanon with aboard
beirut
an ethiopian airliner carrying people plunged into the sea off lebanon after
exploding in ball of flames just after takeoff in stormy weather early monday
defence ministry official said the boeing exploded into four pieces before
crashing shortly after takeoff at am gmt comment from lebanese
transport minister ghazi aridi and images from beirut airport images of search
operations in the mediterranean and of prime minister rafiq hariri meeting the
families of passengers
news
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haiti coverage
top world diplomats meet to coordinate haiti aid
montreal
us secretary of state hillary clinton and foreign ministers from host of
countries convene in montreal monday to hash out plans for the reconstruction of
haiti nearly two weeks after killer earthquake haitian prime minister jean
max bellerive canadian prime minister stephen harper and officials from the
united nations will attend the emergency talks which are expected to reaffirm
washington frontline role in coordinating the emergency response to the
january disaster which left more than dead comment from bellerive
and french foreign minister bernard kouchner at dinner late sunday attended by
conference attendees further news coverage on monday
news
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french warship offloads haiti aid and machinery
port au prince
french amphibious assault craft arrived off the coast of haiti today to begin
offloading tonnes of aid and reconstruction equipment the tonne
warship will spend four days offloading its cargo although the port at haiti
capital is still so damaged that the ship will have to stay some kilometres
offshore where it will use its medical facilities to operate as floating
hospital
news
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exodus seeking quake survivors face long wait at haiti port
port au prince
thousands of haitians sit by the sea on earthquake cracked mud surrounded by
bags and babies they re waiting for ferries to travel to countryside spared in
the recent devastating earthquake but damage to the port and lack of fuel
means the wait could be long
news special report
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mothers fight earthquake trauma to care for surviving babies
port au prince
as attention in haiti turns to caring for the survivors new mothers and babies
are among the most vulnerable stress and trauma means that many mothers can
produce milk to feed their children and malnutrition is major concern now
group of swiss doctors has set up makeshift childcare unit in the capital
devastated general hospital to help care for haiti youngest victims
special report
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in advance of the th anniversary wednesday of the liberation of auschwitz
birkenau death camp we will file the following reports
auschwitz survivors keep holocaust memory alive
warsaw
former auschwitz inmates kazimierz albin and marian turski are living
testament to what the world cannot forget the horrors of the holocaust and
the indomitable human will to survive their message about survival at the death
camp is call to younger generations never to forget
special report
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soviet soldier recalls liberation of auschwitz
moscow
on january the soviet red army marched into auschwitz to free the
death camp inmates as they lay on the brink of starvation ivan martynushkin was
one of the soldiers he shares his story with afptv
special report
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french authorites release kurdish refugees
marseille
scores of kurdish refugees discovered on the mediterranean island of corsica
last week have been freed from detention centres while their request for asylum
is being considered one hundred twenty three migrants who claim to be ethnic
kurds from syria were dropped off near the southern corsican town of bonifacio
on friday by boat which then departed ninety four were released from
detention on sunday evening following orders by judges in marseille nimes and
rennes images of refugees being released on sunday evening plus soundbites
from rights groups
news
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as part of our ongoing coverage of the african nations cup we will file the
following report
african players seeking european league find home in turkey
istanbul
with high pay and low taxes turkey has attracted top foreign talent to its
football leagues including stars roberto carlos of brazil and ivory coast
kader keita some african players see turkey as stepping stone to the european
football scene but not all make their goal
sport
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roll of yangon in myanmar
yangon bagan mandalay myanmar
afptv is filing rare stockshots from myanmar depicting everyday life file
images of market sule pagoda shwe dagon pagoda chinese ships loaded at
yangon port river traffic ferry students learning english young monks
walking along side of road file images of bagan temples udein bridge
south of mandalay village life outside yangon children playing football on the
outskirts of yangon mandalay street scenes children flying kites in mandalay
stockshots
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