Brazil to be fifth largest economy by 2016: Lula

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva talks to journalists during a breakfast at Planalto Palace in Brasilia on December 27, 2010. Da Silva said that Brazil would be the world's fifth biggest economy by 2016, as he laid the cornerstone of a new Fiat factory.

AFP - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that Brazil would be the world's fifth biggest economy by 2016, as he laid the cornerstone of a new Fiat factory.

"Fiat was right to set up in northeastern Brazil, and if it were up to me, whether I am president or not, other companies would set up in other states" in the region, Lula said Pernambuco state.

"Brazil will be the fifth largest economy in the world before the Olympic Games" to be held in Rio De Janeiro in 2016, he added.

The Italian auto group said earlier this month it would invest 1.3 billion euros (1.7 billion dollars) in the new plant.

The investment is part of the company's 2011-2014 strategic plan, which calls for expenditure of a total of 4.4 billion euros (5.8 billion dollars) in Brazil, where it has been the country's leading automaker for the last nine years.

The new plant will churn out around 200,000 vehicles a year and will provide jobs for 3,500 people, Fiat said.

"Brazil, where by 2014 we want to be selling more than a million vehicles a year, is a strategic zone in our expansion plans," Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne said earlier this month.

Lula has hailed his eight-year record leading Latin America's biggest nation as he prepares to hand the reins of power to anointed successor Dilma Rousseff, who was elected president in October and will assume office January 1.

The 65-year-old former metalworker and trade union leader leaves office with a popularity rating above 80 percent and a claim to having reduced social inequalities and presided over a long period of prosperity.

Paypal to help set up e-commerce hub in China mega-city

US online payment service Paypal has agreed to help set up an international e-commerce hub in southwestern China as more foreign companies cash in on the country's fast-growing Internet sales market.

AFP - US online payment service Paypal has agreed to help set up an international e-commerce hub in southwestern China as more foreign companies cash in on the country's fast-growing Internet sales market.

Paypal and the government of Chongqing have signed a deal to jointly develop a foreign exchange settlement platform in the mega-city to enable users to pay for cross-border online shopping transactions, they said in a joint statement.

They also agreed to set up five international e-commerce centres over the next few months for verification, investment promotion, national telesales, merchant training and regional business development.

Chongqing has become a popular destination for foreign companies wanting to set up operations away from coastal regions, where rising wages and a labour shortage have driven up their costs.

The city's mayor, Huang Qifan, said the deal with Paypal "will help Chongqing become China's settlement centre for international e-commerce".

"It will also contribute to the development of Chongqing into the financial services centre of west China," he said in the statement.

The transaction volume of China's online payment market totalled 725.5 billion yuan (109.5 billion dollars) in the first nine months of the year, boosted by the booming e-commerce market, according to Analysys International.

The value of online payments is expected to hit one trillion yuan for the full year, the Beijing-based research company said in a note.

PayPal, a subsidiary of US e-commerce giant eBay, has more than 84 million active users around the world and allows payment in 24 currencies.

Alipay, a unit of China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group, dominates the Chinese online payment market with a share of 50.5 percent, according to figures from Analysys.

Alibaba owns the country's dominant online auction site Taobao.com.

Chelsea's Ancelotti doesn't fear axe

Chelsea's Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba jumps for the ball during the English Premier League football match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, London, on December 27, 2010.

Chelsea's Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti gestures during their English Premier League football match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, London, on December 27, 2010. Ancelotti's side are on their worst run for over a decade and have gone six league matches without a win following Monday's woeful 3-1 defeat at title rivals Arsenal.

AFP - Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti insists he doesn't fear the sack even though his spluttering champions could slip out of the top four when they face Bolton on Wednesday.

Ancelotti's side are on their worst run for over a decade and have gone six league matches without a win following Monday's woeful 3-1 defeat at title rivals Arsenal.

Once again, the Blues were a pale shadow of the team that powered their way to the double last season and made such a formidable start to this campaign.

By the time Chelsea kick off at Stamford Bridge they will be nine points behind Manchester United if the leaders win at Birmingham on Tuesday.

Chelsea's title hopes are in severe danger of being extinguished before the New Year and even a top four place can't be taken for granted as sixth-placed Bolton and fifth-placed Tottenham could climb above them this week.

It is a miserable time for Ancelotti as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has sacked the likes of Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant for less, yet - publicly at least - the Italian remains confident of keeping his job.

"The table is not good. This is the reality. We have to do better but I am not worried (about being sacked). We have to stay in focus and continue to work," Ancelotti said.

"I am more worried because it is six games we have not won. I didn't see the team play how we want. This is my worry.

"I don't know what Abramovich thinks. Obviously he will not be happy for this moment. I have to take my responsbility for that.

"You cannot ask me how long he will be patient but we have to do better because Chelsea are not used to not winning for five or six games.

"Last year everyone would say I did a fantastic job, now they might say something difficult."

Ancelotti admitted he was shocked by the lacklustre nature of Chelsea's display at the Emirates Stadium as goals from Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott gave Arsenal their first win over the Blues or United in 12 attempts.

"I was surprised by this performance because I saw very good training sessions this week," said Ancelotti, who saw Branislav Ivanovic get one back for his side.

"We didn't focus 100 percent. We missed a lot of passes. The moment continues to be very difficult but now we have a game in two days and we have to win that one.

"Obviously if you watch the game we don't have confidence. We have lost confidence and now to come back and play like we did last season and the start of this season is not so easy.

"Now we are sleeping, that is the reality of this team. When you play against a good team like Arsenal you can lose if you are not awake."

Ancelotti conceded he has few options to freshen up a team that has completely lost its usual ruthless efficiency and he offered little response when asked if the title has already gone.

"I can't answer questions about the title because we have lost many points. We don't have a possibility to change a lot of players. Maybe we can change the shape," he said.

"For us it is important to win and recover our situation. We have to wake up. Maybe I have to be the first to wake up.

"I have confidence that the players, with fantastic confidence and character, can change everything."

The last thing Ancelotti needs at present is to face an in-form team like Bolton, who will travel to west London with nothing to lose.

Owen Coyle's men are the Premier League's surpise package this season and the Wanderer boss said: "We've played every team in the league and we are where we are on merit.

"I would even suggest we should have more points than we have. We'll be positive and look to try to win a game against the champions."

Beijing hikes minimum wage in capital by 20 pct

A construction worker is seen at a building site in Beijing. Authorities in the Chinese capital have hiked the minimum wage by about 20 percent for the second time in six months amid soaring food costs, rising property prices and China's widening wealth gap.

AFP - Authorities in Beijing have hiked the minimum wage in the capital by about 20 percent for the second time in six months amid soaring food costs, rising property prices and China's widening wealth gap.

The minimum monthly salary in the city will be increased to 1,160 yuan from 960 yuan on January 1, according to a statement posted on the government's website Tuesday.

In July, Beijing increased the minimum wage by 20 percent to 960 yuan.

China launched a round of minimum wage hikes this year after a spate of labour disputes and a string of employee suicides highlighted growing discontent among the country's millions of low-paid workers.

This latest increase in the nation's capital comes amid growing official and consumer anxiety over rising inflation, which topped five percent in November for the first time in more than two years.

Food costs soared nearly 12 percent year-on-year last month while property prices continued to rise, defying government efforts to cool the red-hot real estate market.

Ever-fearful of inflation's historical potential to spark unrest in China, top leaders have been pulling on a number of policy levers to rein in consumer prices and tame runaway house prices.

On Saturday, the central bank hiked interest rates for the second time in less than three months after ordering lenders to keep more money in reserve, effectively limiting the amount of funds they can lend.

Premier Wen Jiabao went on national radio at the weekend to reassure listeners that the government would be able to tackle inflation and house prices that have risen out of the reach of many ordinary Chinese.

Wen said Sunday he understood that recent price rises had "actually made life even more difficult for people on low and medium incomes".

But he stressed that thanks to government intervention, "we are fully able to control the general level of prices" and said he was confident that housing prices would come back down to a "reasonable level".

Henin not expecting miracles after elbow injury

Former world No.1 Justine Henin admits she is probably six months away from recapturing her best form, as she prepares for her second Antipodean comeback in as many years.

The seven-times Grand Slam winner, Belgium's Justine Henin, took almost two years off from tennis to grapple with her personal life before coming back at this year's Australian Open in January, amazingly reaching the final, where she was beaten by Serena Williams in three sets.

AFP - Former world No.1 Justine Henin admits she is probably six months away from recapturing her best form, as she prepares for her second Antipodean comeback in as many years.

The seven-times Grand Slam winner took almost two years off from tennis to grapple with her personal life before coming back at this year's Australian Open in January, amazingly reaching the final, where she was beaten by Serena Williams in three sets.

Just under 12 months on and this time Henin is preparing to return from a serious elbow injury that threatened to end her career for good.

The 28-year-old Belgian has not played competitively since injuring her right elbow in her fourth round loss to countrywoman Kim Clijsters at Wimbledon in June.

Now ranked 12th in the world, Henin will take her first steps in her latest return at the mixed teams Hopman Cup, starting in Perth on Saturday, ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Speaking in Perth Wednesday, Henin said she was a long way short of the fitness she needed to consistently win tournaments again.

"I hope I can build my condition this year by playing tournaments, and hope to be really ready around June-July, which would be great for me," she said.

"My elbow is getting better. It is six months since the injury and I can't say I am 100 per cent.

"I am working very hard on it and I spend two hours every day on my rehabilitation.

"Now step by step I can improve, but it will probably take a few more weeks and maybe months before I can be 100 per cent.

"I am not feeling free of all the pain, but I am going in the right direction."

Although she has not won a Grand Slam title since 2007 and does not expect to ever again reach the heights of that year, when she won both the French and US Opens, Henin believes she is still capable of adding to her tally, and would not totally rule herself out of contention in Melbourne.

"No one is dominating women's tennis, there are a lot of ups and downs, Serena is not going to be there so it is going to be wide open, but I don't consider myself one of the biggest favourites," she said of her Australian Open hopes.

"The expectation is to give my best, stay healthy and win as many matches as I can.

"First round is going to be important for me and then we'll see, step by step. Kim (Clijsters) proved it and I proved it, that a comeback can be a very nice thing."

Henin said she believed the round robin format of the Hopman Cup, with a guarantee of six matches, including the mixed doubles, was a perfect way to ease back into tennis ahead of the first Grand Slam of the season.

China milk activist freed from jail, supporters worry

A woman is restrained while holding a portrait of her deceased grand-daughter Zhou Mengxin in Beijing whose death she blames on contaminated milk. A Chinese father jailed after campaigning for victims of a huge tainted milk scandal has said he was freed on medical parole and regretted his actions, but supporters say his words may have been coerced.

A woman carries her baby at a child hospital in Beijing. Zhao Lianhai - whose child was one of 300,000 made ill by milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine in 2008, during a scandal that saw at least six babies die - was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in November but has since been released say reports.

File photo shows Chinese enforcement officers checking tins of milk powder at a shop in Tongzi, southwest China's Guizhou region. China's dairy industry was rocked in 2008 by revelations that melamine was added to powdered milk to make it appear higher in protein, sickening babies and causing worldwide recalls of Chinese dairy goods.

AFP - A Chinese father jailed after campaigning for victims of a huge tainted milk scandal has said he was freed on medical parole and regretted his actions, but supporters say his words may have been forced.

A statement posted on Zhao Lianhai's blog, apparently written by the 38-year-old himself, said he was being treated in hospital and did not want to have contact with anyone anymore.

Zhao -- whose child was one of 300,000 made ill by milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine in 2008, during a scandal that saw at least six babies die -- was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in November.

At the time, he angrily denounced his conviction on charges of "creating a disturbance" through his advocacy activities and stated his intention to appeal, but his statement did not seem to match his previous indignation.

"I acknowledge the criminal penalty given to me by judicial authorities and hope other people won't talk much more about this issue," said the statement on his blog, posted late Tuesday.

"I support, acknowledge and thank the government, and express deep regret for my previous extreme opinions towards the government," it said.

"I hope my incident can quieten down as soon as possible. This will benefit the country and society, as well as my family."

The mobile phones of both Zhao and his wife were switched off on Wednesday. Calls to Beijing police and court officials for confirmation of Zhao's release were not answered.

Zhao's lawyer Li Fangping told AFP he could not confirm whether his client had been released as he too was unable to get in touch with him or his wife.

He has been cut off from Zhao since he received a note purportedly from the campaigner firing his defence team.

"Even if he wrote this (blog post), I think it's a result of pressure. I think this statement represents an official position. I don't think it's his true opinion," Li said.

"Within one month, the situation has dramatically worsened. A normal person cannot make such a big adjustment in such a small timeframe," he said.

"His family faced huge pressure, even his lawyers faced pressure, so under these circumstances, for this to happen is really not normal."

The Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an activist network based in Hong Kong, also suggested that Zhao had been pressured into conciliatory statements in exchange for his release.

"Zhao's apparent release... seems to confirm earlier suspicions that he had been pressured by officials into firing his lawyers and dropping his plans to appeal his conviction in exchange for this release," it said.

Patrick Poon, executive director of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, agreed.

"We just feel like it's only a kind of relief for his family but we have nothing to celebrate in terms of the rule of law system in China," Poon told Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK.

Wang Guangya, a senior Chinese official stationed in Hong Kong, said on RTHK that Zhao's case had been "properly resolved".

China's dairy industry was rocked in 2008 by revelations that melamine was added to powdered milk to make it appear higher in protein, sickening babies and causing worldwide recalls of Chinese dairy goods.

Zhao was arrested in December 2009 after rallying the relatives of the victims to protest and demand compensation.

He also ran a website providing information to the families whose babies suffered from melamine-induced kidney stones and urinary tract infections.

Sony to launch PlayStation smartphone in spring

A model displays a Sony PlayStation Portable in Chiba, suburban Tokyo. The firm's long-rumoured PlayStation Portable smartphone is set to be launched in North America and Europe as early as the spring, according to a Japanese newspaper report Wednesday.

AFP - Sony's long-rumoured PlayStation Portable smartphone is set to be launched in North America and Europe as early as the spring, according to a Japanese newspaper report Wednesday.

The device would likely be based on Sony's handheld PSP Go game console, would be made by Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and run Google's Android operating system, said the Asahi Shimbun's English edition, citing unnamed sources.

Sony hopes to take on Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Nokia devices by offering the first smartphone that is based on a portable game console, with a set of controls that allows very advanced gaming.

The PSP Go, launched in November 2009, already features software downloads through a wireless connection, allowing players to also browse the Internet, watch movies, play music and read books and comics.

The new PlayStation handset would similarly work with Sony's online media platform, the company's answer to Apple's iTunes.

Sony hopes the phone will stimulate sales in the sluggish videogame console market, said the Asahi.

Sony called the newspaper report "speculation" and declined to comment.