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arthur ndowora
Oct 18, 2012, 3:14:11 AM10/18/12
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From: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:46:49 +0200
Subject: Overseas Press Summary + Alex Cartoon
To: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>
Zfn
Realtime financial intelligence
__________________________________________________________________________________
Headlines
Financial & Global Economy
*US stocks barely budge as earnings roll in - CNNMoney
*FTSE climbs above 5,900 mark for first time in a month – Business Recorder
*Gold steady after China data, euro zone summit eyed - Reuters
*Oil trades near one-week high on bailout optimism, U.S. economy - Bloomberg
*China growth pace slows as global economy stays fragile – BBC News
*Why Apple will never bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. - CNNMoney
*Lenovo sees global PC slowdown as reason to sell smartphones - Bloomberg
*SA bonds remain firm - Sapa
*Citi insiders expect new CEO to promote from within - Reuters
*Japan economy: Prime Minster Noda eyes stimulus boost – BBC News
*American Airlines posts bankruptcy-related loss – CNNMoney
*Electric car battery maker A123 Systems files bankruptcy - Bloomberg
*Toyota may trim 2012 output plan on China row: paper - Reuters
*VW's brilliant new world car has one little problem - CNNMoney
International
*Obama knocks Romney on women’s issues - AFP
*For Benghazi diplomatic security, U.S. relied on small British firm – Reuters
*Dinosaur skeletons smuggler seized in US - PressTV
*Human trafficking to UK 'rising' – BBC News
*Amid much speculation, Cuba state media releases message from Fidel
Castro – CNN News
*Japan ministers visit Tokyo war shrine amid spat with China - Bloomberg
*Vitamins may reduce cancer risk in men, study finds – BBC News
*Support floods in for Malala - AFP
*Alleged 9/11 mastermind: America killed more people than hijackers
did - Reuters
*Uruguay legalises abortion – BBC News
*Mexican drug kingpin's daughter not talking to U.S. officials - Reuters
*Conjoined twins Rosie and Ruby Formosa separated – BBC News
*Brazil wants to learn other sports – Super Sport
News from the Axis
*Taking Iran channels off air is cultural terrorism, IRIB chief says - PressTV
*Yemen debates drones - DPA
*Syria envoy says bloodshed could engulf Middle East - Reuters
*People hold funeral in Bahrain for victim of toxic tear gas - PressTV
Political and General
*Mpofu lowers diamond earnings forecast – New Zimbabwe
*Strained Zim-US relations affecting hunt For Rwandan genocide
fugitive – Radio VoP
*Econet hires former M-PESA top talent for EcoCash - TechZim
*Activist and mother Manjoro gets bail in cop murder trial – SW Radio Africa
*Asiagate names set to be released on Friday – New Zimbabwe
Regional
*Malawi ready to resume border talks - AFP
*Zambian opposition MPs walk out of Parliament – Lusaka Times
*"You're fired" - or maybe not, S.Africa's mines say - Reuters
*Madagascar palm trees at risk of extinction, study finds – BBC News
*Teacher sacked for cutting girls’ hair: Egypt - Reuters
*Libya urged to probe Gaddafi’s death - AFP
Financial & Global Economy
US stocks barely budge as earnings roll in
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
New York-U.S. stocks closed little changed Wednesday, as investors
took in new housing data and another batch of corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced along the
breakeven, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 edged slightly higher.
Of the 30 stocks listed on the Dow, 24 traded higher, but IBM (IBM,
Fortune 500) dragged the index down. The tech giant, which has a
heavier weighting on the Dow, reported a dip in sales after the
markets closed Tuesday, sending the company's shares plummeting 5%.
"The most important thing we're looking at is earnings,
and so far, so good, but we're not ringing the bell yet," said Doug
Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management.
"But we're also really encouraged by what looks like a true housing
recovery, which is important to the consumer and bodes well for
corporate profits."
Housing starts, which tally the number of new homes under
construction, climbed 15% to an annual rate of 872,000 in September,
according to the Census Bureau. That's the highest level in more than
four years and better than what economists had expected. Building
permits for future construction also rose to the highest level in more
than four years.
Of the 37 S&P 500 companies that have reported third-quarter earnings,
23 have beat analysts' estimates, according to S&P Capital IQ. But
they still forecast that overall S&P 500 earnings will decline 0.7% --
the slowest growth in three years.
Early Wednesday, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500)
reported third-quarter earnings that beat forecasts, citing improved
lending and deposits.
JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs
(GS, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) have also all
topped expectations.
But not all corporate news was good news. Intel (INTC,
Fortune 500) reported lower profits and sales after the close Tuesday,
weighed down by weak PC sales. Shares fell nearly 3%.
Apollo Group (APOL), owner of the nation's largest for-profit college,
tumbled 22% Wednesday. The company reported an 11% drop in
fourth-quarter revenue on Tuesday, and said it would cut roughly 800
jobs and close 25 campuses.
Results from American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) are due
after the close.
Fear & Greed Index
World Markets: European stocks closed higher Wednesday.
Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.7%, the DAX in Germany rose 0.3% and
France's CAC 40 added 0.8%. Meanwhile, Spanish bonds climbed after
Moody's Investors Service affirmed Spain's investment grade credit
rating.
Asian markets closed higher. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.3%, the
Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 1%, and Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.2%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar slipped against the
euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil for November delivery fell cents 20 cents to $91.89 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery gained $6.70 to $1,753 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing
the yield up to 1.80% from 1.72% late Tuesday
FTSE climbs above 5,900 mark for first time in a month
Business Recorder
Thursday October 18
London-Britain's top shares hit their highest level in more than a
month on Wednesday, propelled by strength in risk-sensitive commodity
stocks ahead of economic growth data from top consumer China The FTSE
100 closed up 40.37 points, or 0.7 percent, at 5,910.91, having jumped
1.1 percent on Tuesday, ending back above the 5,900 level for the
first time since September 14.
Gains by miners and energy stocks accounted for nearly all
the FTSE 100 index's gains - adding 21 points and 16 points
respectively - on expectations that Thursday's third-quarter GDP data
from China will provide a boost to demand for commodities.
China's economic situation in the third quarter was relatively good,
Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted by local media as saying on Wednesday,
and the government is confident of achieving its 2012 growth target of
7.5 percent.
However, the third-quarter GDP, forecast at 7.4 percent,
would still undercut the slowest growth rate in three years seen in
the second quarter and leave the door open to more stimulus measures
from China which would provide a boost for commodities.
Among miners, BHP Billiton added 3.3 percent as the firm joined rival
Rio Tinto in pressing on with plans to boost iron ore output despite a
volatile market caused by China's uncertain economic outlook.
British oil major BP was the stand-out performer, alone
providing almost a quarter of the bluechip advance.
BP added 2.9 percent in solid volume of over double its 90-day daily
average as investors awaited news on the future of the group's Russian
joint venture, TNK-BP.
The AAR consortium of billionaires that owns half of
TNK-BP has agreed to sell its 50 percent stake to Russia's
state-controlled oil producer Rosneft for $28 billion, according to a
source familiar with the matter.
BP has put its 50 percent stake in the troubled partnership up for
sale, but a disposal by AAR would clear the way for the firm to forge
a strategic alliance with Rosneft.
"Although not a key technical level, 5,900 has a
psychologically important relevance for traders, and kicking above it
could prove important for sentiment going forward," said Mike Mason,
trader at Sucden Financial Private Clients.
"However, there are still plenty of hurdles ahead, with Spanish
bailout expectations remaining to the fore despite Moody's maintenance
of its credit rating," Mason added.
Moody's rating agency gave a conditional affirmation to
Spain's investment grade credit rating, as they claimed that the ECB's
support along with Spain's own efforts should allow Madrid to continue
to access the capital markets.
Spain is widely perceived to be edging closer to asking for financial
aid, potentially allowing the European Central Bank to begin buying
its bonds and backstop the euro zone debt crisis which has dogged
markets for over three years.
"Central banks have signalled that they are committed to
fostering recovery or avoiding total disaster, which has reduced the
fear of renewed recession or a banking collapse and allowed prices to
recover almost fully from last year's sell-off," said Andrew Bell,
chief executive of Witan Investment Trust.
After recent gains on upbeat economic data and positive corporate
earnings, US bluechips were flat by London's close, weighed by big
falls in technology stocks IBM and Intel after weaker than expected
results.
Gold steady after China data, euro zone summit eyed
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Singapore-Gold traded flat on Thursday, retaining gains from the
previous two days, as investors looked for fresh leads from a European
Union summit after shrugging off data showing China's economy slowed
for a seventh quarter as expected.
European leaders will gather for a two-day meeting amid
talks that Spain will seek a bailout next month, as the bloc continues
its struggle with the debt crisis.
Gold has closely followed the moves in the currency market, with
improving sentiment around the euro zone giving support to the euro
and weighing on the dollar, making dollar-priced commodities more
attractive for buyers holding other currencies. <USD/>
China's economy slid into its seventh straight quarter of
slowdown in July-September quarter, growing at 7.4 percent on the year
as expected, and Beijing said the country will be able to beat or
exceed the annual growth target of 7.5 percent.
Investors have expected more policy clarity from Beijing after the
leadership transition next month among speculation that China will
launch more stimulus measures to help boost growth.
Prices of bullion dipped to below $1,730 earlier in the
week under the pressure of uncertainty over Spain's bailout plan and
improvement in U.S. economic data which triggered concerns about the
extent of the latest stimulus measures.
"In the short term, the $1,730 support level will continue to feel a
lot of pressure as investors focus on the euro zone summit," said Chen
Min, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in the southern Chinese city of
Shenzhen.
"But beyond that, gold's outlook is still bullish thanks
to support from the easing measures by central banks."
Spot gold traded nearly flat at $1,750 an ounce by 0320 GMT.
U.S. gold also was little changed at $1,751.50.
"Some buyers are coming back, thinking the sell-off is over," said a
Hong Kong-based trader. "But we may see another correction since the
positioning in gold is still very high."
Net length in U.S. gold hit a 14-month high of 198,194
contracts last week, more than doubled from this year's trough in
late-July.
Holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds stood at 74.804 million
ounces, not far off a record of 75.03 million ounces hit last week,
suggesting strong investment demand in gold.
Oil trades near one-week high on bailout optimism, U.S. economy
Bloomberg
Wednesday October 17
New York-Oil traded near the highest level in a week in New York on
signs Germany may ease its resistance to a Spanish bailout and after
industrial production rose more than forecast in the U.S., the world’s
biggest crude consumer.
Futures were little changed after rising as much as 0.7
percent today.
Two German lawmakers said the country is open to Spain seeking a
precautionary credit line.
Output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities rose 0.4
percent in September, twice as much as the median forecast of
economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, data from the Federal Reserve
in Washington showed yesterday.
“All the measures taken to show some progress in the European debt
crisis should improve sentiment for commodities and for crude as
well,” said Hannes Loacker, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank
International AG in Vienna, who predicts Brent crude will trade at
about $114 a barrel at the end of the year.
Crude for November delivery was at $92.53 a barrel, up 44
cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at
1:44 p.m. London time.
The contract yesterday rose 24 cents to $92.09, the highest settlement
since Oct. 9. Prices are down 6.4 percent this year.
Brent for December settlement slipped 33 cents to $113.67
a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe. November futures
expired yesterday. The front-month European benchmark grade’s premium
to the corresponding West Texas Intermediate contract was at $20.76 a
barrel. It settled at $23.95 on Oct. 15, the widest gap since reaching
a record on Oct. 14, 2011.
U.S. Stockpiles
The comments in Germany by Michael Meister, a deputy
caucus leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic
coalition, and Norbert Barthle, a budget spokesman for her party, may
signal a reversal of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s public
position. Schaeuble cautioned Spain against seeking aid on top of its
bank bailout as recently as last month.
The European Union accounted for 16 percent of the world’s oil
consumption last year, according to BP Plc (BP/)’s Statistical Review
of World Energy.
The U.S. used 21 percent.
U.S. crude stockpiles rose 3.7 million barrels last week,
data from the American Petroleum Institute showed yesterday. They are
forecast to climb 1.5 million barrels, according to the median
estimate of nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey before an Energy
Department report today.
Gasoline inventories fell 1.2 million barrels, the API data showed.
They are projected to rise 500,000 barrels in the government report.
Distillate supplies, a category that includes diesel and heating oil,
gained 1.8 million barrels, according to the API, compared with an
estimated decline of 1.5 million in the survey.
Technical Resistance
The API collects stockpile information on a voluntary
basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines.
The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy
Department for its weekly survey.
Oil’s advance in New York may stall along its middle
Bollinger Band around $93.11 a barrel, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg.
Last week’s climb halted near this indicator, signaling technical
resistance, where sell orders tend to be clustered.
China growth pace slows as global economy stays fragile
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
Beijing-China's economic growth slowed further in the third quarter as
the European debt crisis and a weak recovery in the US economy hurt
demand for its goods.
The economic grew 7.4% in the three months to the end of
September compared with a year earlier, down from a 7.6% growth rate
in the previous quarter.
However, other data released showed a jump in factory output, retail
sales and investment in September.
Analysts said the data indicated that China's economy may
be stabilising.
"We think that with rebounding property markets, stabilising export
orders and resuming consumption, we probably have seen the bottom
[for] the economy," said Dong Tao an economist with Credit Suisse in
Hong Kong.
China's growth over the past few years has been led by the
success of its export and manufacturing sector, as well as by a
credit-fuelled investment boom in the country.
But demand for its exports has slowed from key markets lately, leading
to fears of a sharp slowdown in its economy.
However, figures released on Thursday indicated that
things may be starting to pick up again.
China's industrial production rose by a more-than-expected 9.2% in
September from a year earlier. That was up from 8.9% growth in August.
Meanwhile, retail sales during the month were 14.2% higher
than a year ago, indicating that domestic consumption was growing.
"The September data indicates economic momentum has picked up strongly
compared with July and August," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China
economist at Nomura in Hong Kong.
The latest numbers comes on the back of a 9.9%
year-on-year growth in exports during September, a big jump from the
2.7% growth recorded in the previous month.
Mr Zhang added the data "helps reinforce our view that growth will
rebound visibly in the fourth quarter".
Why Apple will never bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
New York-At the end of Tuesday night's presidential debate, CNN's
Candy Crowley asked both candidates a question that has plagued Apple
since the beginning of the year.
"IPad, the Macs, the iPhones, they are all manufactured in
China, and one of the major reasons is labor is so much cheaper
there," Crowley said. "How do you convince a great American company to
bring that manufacturing back here?"
Mitt Romney said the solution is "very straightforward." The United
States must pressure China to stop manipulating its currency, he said,
and the federal government needs to "make America the most attractive
place for entrepreneurs" by lowering taxes. He supports reducing the
top corporate tax rate to 25%, down from its current 35%.
President Obama offered a starker answer: "Candy, there
are some jobs that are not going to come back, because they're
low-wage, low-skill jobs."
Speaking strictly for Apple, Obama's assessment is likely correct.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) has said that it directly employs thousands
of its own workers in China, and about 700,000 assembly workers at
manufacturing contractors like Foxconn put together Apple products. It
would be almost impossible to bring those jobs to the United States.
Foxconn -- China's largest private employer and the
manufacturer of an estimated 40% half of the world's consumer
electronic devices -- pays its assembly workers far less than American
labor laws would allow. A typical salary is 2500 RMB (U.S. $400), or
about $18 a day.
But pay isn't the biggest obstacle. Various economists have estimated
how much an all-American labor force would add to the cost of an
iPhone and come up with figures ranging from $65 to $100 per device.
The real stumbling block is speed. Unlike U.S. plants,
Foxconn and other Chinese manufacturing operations house employees in
dormitories and can send hundreds of thousands of workers to the
assembly lines at a moment's notice. On the lines, workers are
subjected to what most Americans would consider unbearably long hours
and tough working conditions.
That system gives tech companies the efficiency needed to race
products out the door. Plus, most of the component suppliers for Apple
and other tech giants are also in China or other Asian countries. That
geographic clustering gives companies the flexibility to change a
product design at the last minute and still ship on time.
There's another catch, and it's one that politicians don't
like to talk about: China has many more skilled engineers than the
United States does.
Steve Jobs, Apple's late CEO, brought the issue up during an October
2010 meeting with President Obama. He called America's lackluster
education system an obstacle for Apple, which needed 30,000 industrial
engineers to support its on-site factory workers.
"You can't find that many in America to hire," Jobs told
the president, according to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. "If you
could educate these engineers, we could move more manufacturing plants
here."
In a May interview with AllThingsD, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he agreed
with Jobs' assessment.
"There has to be a fundamental change in the education
system to bring back some of this [labor]," he said.
When asked if the day would ever come when an Apple product is made in
the United States, he said: "I want there to be ... and you can bet
that we'll use the whole of our influence on this."
That's a much more upbeat tone than the one his
predecessor struck. During their meeting in 2010, Obama asked Jobs how
to bring all the iPhone manufacturing jobs back to the United States,
according to the New York Times.
"Those jobs aren't coming back," Jobs replied.
Lenovo sees global PC slowdown as reason to sell smartphones
Bloomberg
Thursday October 18
Hong Kong-Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) said slowing demand in the
personal-computer market, where it overtook Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ)
as the global leader last quarter, is good reason for the company to
expand into smartphones.
Lenovo is already the second-largest smartphone maker in
China and plans to seize the top spot from Samsung Electronics Co.,
Milko Van Duijl, president for the Asia-Pacific and Latin America
regions, said in Hong Kong today. “Our goal is definitely to get to
number one and not only to take smartphones into the China market but
also into emerging markets.”
Lenovo, founded in 1984 with the equivalent of $25,000, has swelled to
become a manufacturer valued at $8.4 billion, helped by takeovers
including International Business Machines Corp.’s PC unit in 2005.
The company, founded in China in 1984 with the equivalent
of $25,000, has expanded its market value to $8.4 billion, helped by
takeovers including International Business Machines Corp.’s PC unit in
2005. Van Duijl said Lenovo just began selling handsets in Indonesia
and India will follow, as Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing moves
closer to his goal of extending its PC dominance to smartphones and
tablet computers.
“Despite the challenges in the global PC market, Lenovo continues to
expand in both emerging markets and mature markets at the expense of
its competitors,” Miles Xie, a Hong Kong- based analyst with Bocom
International Holdings Co., wrote in a report today. Lenovo’s efforts
are allowing the company to “rapidly expand its market share in the
China smartphone market,” wrote Xie, who has a buy rating on the
shares.
Lenovo, whose headquarters are in Beijing and Morrisville,
North Carolina, fell 0.4 percent to HK$6.30 at 11:11 a.m. in Hong Kong
trading. The city’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6 percent.
Definite Easing
“There is definitely a slowdown in the market in all parts
of the world, however, we are so strong in China that was a good
reason for us to expand into smartphones,” Van Duijl said of the PC
market in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
In China, Lenovo has a smartphone market share of 11.5 percent,
surpassing that for the iPhone, Van Duijl said, without giving a
figure for the Apple Inc. (AAPL) device.
As Lenovo expands in mobile devices, the company will
build its own cloud-computing services and online store to create an
ecosystem for the products, he said. Lenovo won’t make its own mobile
operating system and will stick with Google Inc.’s Android and
Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 8, Van Duijl said.
Worldwide PC shipments fell 8.3 percent from a year earlier to 87.5
million in the third quarter, according to Stamford, Connecticut-based
Gartner Inc.
Temporary Slowdown
Lenovo sees the PC market slowdown as temporary, Van Duijl
said. Global PC shipments will rise to 530 million units within two to
three years, from 350 million units now, he said.
Lenovo accounted for 15.7 percent of global PC shipments last quarter,
overtaking Hewlett-Packard, with 15.5 percent, for the first time,
Gartner said Oct. 10.
The Chinese company narrowed Hewlett-Packard’s lead in the
quarter with a market share of 15.7 percent, compared with 15.9
percent for the Palo Alto, California-based maker, according to IDC,
another market researcher. IDC’s study included so-called
workstations, the more powerful desktop devices used for such tasks as
engineering, architecture and video-game development.
CEO Yang said Lenovo will take steps to become the “clear leader” in
PCs and leverage that dominance to head the market for mobile devices
in what he called the “PC-plus era.”
“Becoming the clear leader in global PC share of course
remains one of Lenovo’s aspirations, but it also only represents one
more milestone in our journey as a company and our mission to become
the leader in the PC+ era,” Yang said in e-mail on Oct. 11. “This
includes PCs, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, cloud and enterprise
computing.”
Lenovo is still at least two years away from making “meaningful
inroads” in mobile devices in the U.S. or Europe, said Jean-Louis
Lafayeedney, an analyst at JI Asia in Hong Kong.
“Undoubtedly, Lenovo’s market share gains against competitors has
been impressive” in PCs, Lafayeedney said in an e-mail. “In terms of
tablets and smartphones, the company has yet to prove it can extend
its reach beyond China and some periphery countries.”
SA bonds remain firm
Sapa
Thursday October 18
Johannesburg-South African government bond prices rose on Wednesday
after a well-received weekly auction and as the market speculated the
government will tighten spending after two ratings downgrades.
Bonds also tracked the rand currency, which rallied more
than one percent in line with a stronger euro after Spain avoided a
ratings downgrade by ratings agency Moody's, which would most likely
have triggered selling of Spanish bonds.
Local assets, however, remain vulnerable to a swing in sentiment as
investors fret about wildcat strikes that have hit South Africa's
mining sector, with companies reporting heavy losses in production
since August.
But on Wednesday the yield on the three-year government
bond closed five basis points lower at 5.36 percent and that for the
longer dated 14-year paper shed 12.5 basis points to 7.61 percent.
“After the success of yesterday's weekly bond auction, renewed
interest in South African bonds from offshore, coupled with a stronger
rand, has seen yields move lower across the board today,” said Steve
Arnold, a bond trader at Investec.
“One would have to wait for next week, when we have
inflation out on Wednesday and more importantly the midterm budget
speech on Thursday to give us some guidance as to how the government
finances are looking at the end of the first half-year. That will
drive us forward thereafter.”
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan hinted to parliament earlier this week
he would rein in spending in next week's midterm budget, which he will
present in the wake of ratings downgrades for South Africa by both
Moody's and S&P.
“We do not expect major adjustments to the Treasury's
issuance plans in the 2012 medium term budget policy statement,” Bank
of America Merrill Lynch analyst Matthew Sharratt said.
The rand hit a 1-1/2 week high of 8.5772/dollar and was at 8.5975 by
17h29 GMT, up more than 1 percent from Tuesday's New York close.
Citi insiders expect new CEO to promote from within
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
New York-Citigroup Inc (C.N) insiders expect new chief executive, Mike
Corbat, to promote executives from within the bank rather than hire
from outside, which could mean his having to fill as many as four
senior posts in the next several weeks.
Corbat, who became CEO on Tuesday following the sudden
departure of Vikram Pandit and Chief Operating Officer John Havens,
has spent nearly 30 years at Citigroup and its predecessors.
On Wednesday, he set up interim reporting lines for his executive
ranks, naming Bill Mills, the current CEO for the North America
region, to take on extra responsibilities as the temporary CEO for
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), according to an internal memo
seen by Reuters. Corbat held the top EMEA job before being promoted
Corbat has said he will take the next several weeks to
review the reporting structure, but names of potential candidates in
what could be a round of reshuffling atop the third largest U.S. bank
are already beginning to surface among insiders.
If Corbat decides to rely on people from within the bank, that would
be in contrast to Pandit, who filled some of the top roles at the bank
with people who had worked with him before at his hedge fund, Old
Lane, and Morgan Stanley. (MS.N)
Jim Cowles, who is currently chief operating officer of
Citi's EMEA unit, is seen within the bank as a leading contender for
Corbat's old job, according to sources at the bank.
Another contender, according to these people, is Francesco Vanni
d'Archirafi, the head of Citigroup's Global Transaction Services.
If d'Archirafi were chosen, Corbat would have to put
someone else in charge of that unit, which acts as a big treasury and
transactional hub for clients and contributes 25 percent of core
business earnings before taxes.
Corbat will also have to decide whether to name a new chief operating
officer to replace Havens. If he does, one candidate is James 'Jamie'
Forese, who currently runs the bank's securities and trading unit,
which contributes 29 percent of core business earnings before taxes,
the sources said.
Citigroup declined to comment.
QUICK ACTION NEEDED
Analysts said Corbat will likely have to move fast in
filling out the vacancies to end uncertainty at the bank created by
the abrupt departures of Pandit and Havens following a clash with the
board. Citigroup insiders and analysts expect more departures of
people who were seen as close to Pandit.
Putting a stable senior management team in place would be one of the
first steps that Corbat would need to take as he tries to improve the
company's profits in a tough economic and regulatory environment.
Citigroup employs 262,000 people.
Corbat has said he expects to set a lasting structure of reporting
lines by "very, very early into the New Year."
Mike Mayo, bank analyst at CLSA, said investors will give
Corbat that much time, but not much more. "The first 100 days is about
the limit," he said.
For now, Corbat said in the memo that business and function heads who
previously reported to Pandit or Havens will initially report to him.
Japan, an exception, will report to Gene McQuade, according to the
memo.
In the memo and in a conference call with managing
directors earlier on Wednesday, Corbat said he will use budget and
strategic reviews over the next several weeks to decide how to
organize managers.
Corbat said in the call, a recording of which was heard by Reuters,
that he does not want to make "one-off decisions" about his
appointments. He made that remark in response to a question about when
he would name someone to his former post in London, which he had held
for 10 months.
SYSTEM OVERHAUL
The London job is important to the company's standing as a
supplier of banking services around the world. The bank has been
pushing to recover market share in Europe while at the same time
controlling risks from debt crises there.
When Corbat had the job, he divided the EMEA region into four
clusters, split by sub-regions, and reinforced some senior investment
banking roles, naming James Bardrick and Manuel Falco as corporate and
investment banking heads.
Some of the top regional managers or investment bankers
could also be contenders for the senior EMEA job, though Citi insiders
added that Corbat could prefer to turn to someone he knows from
further back, such as former colleagues from Citi Holdings, which
Corbat ran for two years.
"It is very important that Michael Corbat has a team that is able to
execute well," said analyst Mayo, who wants to see the bank simplify
its global operations as well as a unit called Citi Holdings, which is
jettisoning businesses and assets. "Citigroup is too reliant on too
many individuals. I would like to see the systems better integrated."
Mayo said he was encouraged that Michael O'Neill, the
chairman of Citigroup's board of directors, is a champion of Corbat
and can guide his decisions. O'Neill, who turns 66 at the end of this
month, was an industry leader in the 1990s in rationalizing bank
structures to improve shareholder returns when he worked at what was
then Bank of America, said Mayo.
O'Neill has also won praise for overhauling Bank of Hawaii as chief
executive between 2000 and 2004.
"Corbat is joined at the hip with O'Neill" and O'Neill "is a
profitability builder," said Gerard Cassidy, analyst at RBC Capital
Markets.
Japan economy: Prime Minster Noda eyes stimulus boost
BBC News
Thursday October 18
Tokyo-Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has ordered his cabinet to
draw up fresh stimulus measures in a bid to spur economic growth.
Japan's growth has been hurt by falling demand for its
exports amid a slowdown in key markets such as the US, eurozone and
China.
At the same time, domestic consumption in Japan continues to remains subdued.
Mr Noda ordered the stimulus package to be compiled by
next month, but did not give details on how big it would be.
"Considering what the government and the central bank are forecasting,
I doubt we can simply stand by and let the economy continue as it is,"
Finance Minister Koriki Jojima was quoted as saying by the Reuters
news agency.
Elections
Japan's economy grew by 0.3% in the second quarter of the
year from the previous three months. That was down from 1% growth in
the first quarter.
And growth is expected to remain subdued amid continued economic
problems in its key markets.
The eurozone debt crisis continues to remain a threat to
overall global growth, while the recovery in the US economy has been
fragile and consumer confidence there remains low.
To make matters worse, China - Japan's biggest trading partner - is
also seeing a slowdown in its pace of growth.
That has led to concerns that Japan's growth may be hurt
further in the coming months.
The new stimulus measures have been prompted by both political as well
as economic concerns, according to Masamichi Adachi, senior economist
at JP Morgan.
"The government's first motivation is that the economy is
close to a recession," he said.
"The second motivation is that an election is close, so the party in
charge is expected to show its competence."
However, Mr Adachi added that, since the government had not given
details on the size and specifics of the package, it was "difficult
for anyone to think this will be effective".
American Airlines posts bankruptcy-related loss
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
New York-American Airlines' efforts to emerge from bankruptcy caused
it to post another quarter of red ink Wednesday.
AMR (AAMRQ, Fortune 500), the airline's holding company,
reported a net loss of $238 million. During the same period last year,
it lost $162 million, which was the last full quarter before filing
for bankruptcy in November 2011.
But the company said it would have been profitable if not for various
charges related to the bankruptcy, including $211 million in severance
payments.
The airline is offering some of its unionized employees,
such as ground workers and flight attendants, voluntary buyout
packages as part of the labor deals reached with those unions.
American disclosed Wednesday that because 2,200 flight attendants took
a $40,000 buyout offer, it will need to begin hiring 1,500 replacement
flight attendants starting next month.
The airline was able to win new labor deals with the Association of
Professional Flight Attendants and the Transport Workers Union, which
represents its ground workers. But it is still trying to reach a new
labor deal with the Allied Pilots Union. When the bankruptcy court
allowed the airline to dump the pilots' contract last month, pilots
began calling in sick and filing maintenance reports on items that
airline management says were trivial. Flight cancellations increased,
and the airline's on-time performance fell to less than 50%.
The airline said those operational problems did not cause
a material hit to third-quarter earnings, even though the number of
passengers fell by 4% in September.
Management and the pilots are back at the negotiating table to reach a
new agreement.
American's on-time performance improved to 65%in October,
according to tracking service FlightStats, but the airline still
trails the industry average of 79%.
American unions are all on record backing a merger with US Airways
Group (LCC, Fortune 500).
Each has reached a tentative labor deal with US Airways
that would cover them should there be a deal. US Airways could use
this fact to argue to American's creditors that a merger is the best
course for making its labor happy and returning its operations to full
capacity.
American management has said it prefers to emerge from bankruptcy as
an independent airline, but it has entered into a nondisclosure
agreement with US Airways as it explores a possible deal. Tuesday it
asked the bankruptcy court for an extension until March 28 to present
a reorganization plan to the court. It said one of the reasons it
needs more time is to consider "strategic alternatives," which
frequently refers to mergers.
Electric car battery maker A123 Systems files bankruptcy
Bloomberg
Thursday October 17
Wilmington-A123 Systems Inc. (AONE), the electric car battery maker
that received a $249.1 million federal grant, filed for bankruptcy
protection and said it would sell its automotive business assets to
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI)
Machines are used to fabricate batteries at the A123
Systems lithium ion automotive battery manufacturing plant in Livonia,
Michigan.
The filing may fuel a debate over government financing of
alternative-energy and transportation businesses. Federal grants and
loans to companies including A123, Fisker Automotive Inc. and Tesla
Motors Inc. (TSLA) have drawn scrutiny from congressional Republicans
following the September 2011 bankruptcy filing of solar-panel maker
Solyndra LLC two years after it received a $535 million loan guarantee
from the U.S. Energy Department.
“This action is expected to allow the company to provide
for an orderly sale,” A123 said in a press release. Johnson Controls
plans to acquire A123’s automotive-business assets in a deal valued at
$125 million and will provide financing of $72.5 million to support
A123’s operations, according to the release. A deal to sell a majority
stake to a Chinese company fell through, A123 said.
The Energy Debate Continues at www.bloomberg.com/sustainability
The company listed assets of $459.8 million and debt of
$376 million as of Aug. 31 in Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company said yesterday it expected to
fail to make an interest payment due yesterday on $143.8 million of
notes expiring in 2016.
Largest Shareholders
A123’s largest shareholder is Heights Capital Management
Inc. of San Francisco, with 12.5 million shares, or a 7.3 percent
stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. IHI Corp., based in
Tokyo, has 8.45 million shares, or about 5 percent, and General
Electric Co., based in Fairfield, Connecticut, holds 7.37 million
shares, or about 4.3 percent.
The 30 largest consolidated creditors without collateral backing their
claims are owed a total of more than $161 million, according to court
papers. U.S. Bank NA, as trustee, is listed as the largest unsecured
creditor with a claim of $142.8 million, according to court papers.
Hudson Bay Capital Management LP has a claim of $2.8 million, Jabil
Circuit Inc. has a claim of $1.7 million and Hydro Quebec has a claim
of $1.5 million.
A123 fell 18 cents, or 74 percent, to 6 cents a share in
over-the-counter trading as of 2:38 p.m.
A123, which received a $249.1 million federal grant in 2009 to build
U.S. factory capacity, needed a financial lifeline after struggling
with costs from a recall of batteries supplied to Fisker, the plug-in
hybrid luxury carmaker. A123 announced in August that it was working
on a deal with Wanxiang Group Corp., China’s largest auto-parts maker,
for financing in exchange for a majority ownership stake.
‘Significant Challenges’
“We determined not to move forward with the previously
announced Wanxiang agreement as a result of unanticipated and
significant challenges to its completion,” David Vieau, A123’s chief
executive officer, said today in the company’s statement. Wanxiang had
planned to invest as much as $465 million in A123, giving the
Hangzhou, China-based company a stake of as much as 80 percent, A123
said in an Aug. 16 statement.
Johnson Controls plans to acquire A123’s automotive business assets,
including its facilities in Livonia and Romulus, Michigan. The
Milwaukee-based company also will obtain A123’s cathode powder plant
in China and its equity interest in Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery
Systems Co., A123’s joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry
Corp.
‘Good Complement’
“Our interest in A123 Systems is consistent with our long-
term growth strategies and overall commitment to the development of
the advanced battery industry,” Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson
Controls Power Solutions, said in today’s statement. “We believe that
A123’s automotive capabilities are a good complement to our existing
portfolio.”
A123 has used $132 million of the $249.1 million grant awarded by the
U.S. in 2009 toward building the two Michigan factories, the Energy
Department said today in a posting on its website. A123 was required
to spend up to one dollar of its funds for every incentive dollar
received from the government, according to regulatory filings. The
company also received a $6 million grant from the George W. Bush
administration in 2007.
A123 and its debtor and non-debtor affiliates,
collectively, have about 1,763 active employees, located in 10
facilities across the U.S., China and Germany, according to court
papers. Its businesses consist of three primary business segments:
transportation, grid-energy storage and commercial.
‘Sole Purpose’
A123 Securities Corp., a non-operating company that holds
a large portion of the company’s cash, and Grid Storage Holdings LLC,
a shell entity formed “for the sole purpose of facilitating certain
contemplated grid projects which ultimately were not completed,” also
sought protection, according to court papers. Units outside the U.S.
didn’t file for bankruptcy.
President Barack Obama called A123’s CEO Vieau and then- Michigan
Governor Jennifer Granholm during a September 2010 event celebrating
the opening of the plant in Livonia that the company received the U.S.
grant to help build.
“This is about the birth of an entire new industry in
America -- an industry that’s going to be central to the next
generation of cars,” Obama said in the phone call, according to a
transcript provided by the White House. “When folks lift up their
hoods on the cars of the future, I want them to see engines and
batteries that are stamped: Made in America.”
Vehicle Sales
Electric-vehicle sales since 2011 totaled fewer than
50,000 through September, just 5 percent of Obama’s target to have 1
million such vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015.
The debtors’ two largest customers are Fisker and AES Energy Storage
LLC and its affiliates, which accounted for about 26 percent and 24
percent of their total revenue during the year ended Dec. 31,
respectively, court papers show.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said last
month that Obama has picked “losers” for alternative-energy loans and
grants. His running mate, Paul Ryan, has called for all green-energy
subsidies to be eliminated.
A123 has posted at least 14 straight quarterly losses. Its shares had
fallen 85 percent this year to 24 cents as of yesterday’s close in New
York.
The case is In re A123 Systems Inc., 12-49658, U.S. Bankruptcy
Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
Toyota may trim 2012 output plan on China row: paper
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Tokyo-Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) is considering trimming its 2012
group-wide production plan by about 2 percent because of a drop in
sales in China after a territorial row, a Japanese newspaper reported,
but the company denied it had altered its target.
Asia's top automaker may cut its calendar-year production
forecast for 10.05 million vehicles by around 200,000 vehicles, the
Mid-Japan Economist newspaper said on its website on Thursday, without
citing sources. The regional daily is based in central Japan, where
Toyota's headquarters is located.
"The figure cited in the report is not based on anything announced by
us, and at this time there are no changes to the figures we presented
earlier," said Toyota spokeswoman Shino Yamada.
Shares in Toyota had risen 1.8 percent as of 0204 GMT to
3,115 yen, outperforming the Nikkei .N225 index, which was up 1.26
percent.
Tetsuro Ii, the Chief Executive Officer of Commons Asset Management,
said the shares rose because of a favorable dollar-yen exchange rate,
and that investors do not see a big dent in the firm's profits from
the possible production cut.
"Because Toyota is very aware of the global slowdown at
the moment, they're trying hard to control their inventory and so they
tend to put out very conservative estimates," he said.
The yen, which has been trading recently in the 78-yen range against
the dollar, weakened to about 79.1 yen in morning trade.
A strong yen makes it more expensive for Japanese automakers to export
cars from Japan.
Toyota's original production target, which includes output
at Daihatsu Motor (7262.T) and Hino Motors (7205.T), would make Toyota
the first automaker to produce more than 10 million vehicles in a
year.
Showroom traffic and sales across China have plunged at Japanese car
makers since mid-September when violent protests and calls for
boycotts of Japanese products broke out in China over a group of
disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Toyota and its two local Chinese partners saw sales drop
48.9 percent in September from a year earlier to 44,100 vehicles.
A source previously told Reuters that Toyota's production cutbacks in
China were likely to extend through November, a move that would almost
certainly put the company's goal of selling 1 million cars in China
this year out of reach.
Toyota, whose sales in China accounted for about 12
percent of its total global vehicle sales in 2011, is less exposed to
the world's biggest auto market than rivals Nissan Motor Co (7201.T)
and Honda Motor Co (7267.T).
Analysts have said that Japanese automakers could see a dent in sales
in China for months.
Takaki Nakanishi, an auto analyst at Bank of America
Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, said that the impact could last three months
in an optimistic scenario and up to six months in a pessimistic
scenario.
Toyota has forecast group-wide global sales of 9.76 million vehicles
in calendar year 2012. The automaker is set to announce its
July-to-September earnings results on November 5.
VW's brilliant new world car has one little problem
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
Fortune-The seventh generation Volkswagen Golf hatchback -- a car that
American baby boomers knew in its early days as the misbegotten Rabbit
-- goes on sale in Europe in two weeks, a year ahead of its debut in
the United States.
VW is hoping American carbuyers will be more receptive to
the new Golf, since hatchbacks have had to fight the outmoded
stereotype that they're little more than chopped-down gas misers. VW,
a carmaker in the midst of a growth spurt in the U.S., is aiming for
the new Golf to be a big seller, a respected member of a model lineup
anchored by the larger Jetta and Passat.
In the next few months VW also will reveal how and where it will
manufacture Golf for North American dealers.
The new model is the first to employ VW's modular MQB architecture,
developed to underpin a slew of models and vault the carmaker to its
goal of No. 1 worldwide in terms of sales, and perhaps in
profitability, by 2018.
Will it work? "Younger American buyers today are more
open-minded and skewed toward European tastes," says Jesse Toprak, an
analyst for the TrueCar automotive buying website. "Back in the 1970s
people saw hatchbacks as basic transportation. Cars like the Chevrolet
Chevette, Dodge Omni and the Rabbit won't bring back many positive
memories," he adds.
VW manufactured the Rabbit at a factory in New Stanton, Pennsylvania
between 1978 and 1984.
The automaker threw in the towel when sales of that variant lagged, a
victim of poor quality and cheap materials. But VW has persevered,
making Golf one of the best-selling global models of all time, a rival
to Toyota's (TM) Corolla, through six generations and 38 years of
production.
Joe DeMatio, senior editor of Automobile magazine, argues
that "your average American still equates hatchbacks with cheap
economy cars."
It is, he goes on, really difficult to erase this from the American psyche.
"Hatchbacks were something you drove in high school and
college until you became an adult and could afford a real car. It's a
shame, because they are so incredibly useful."
In fact, hatchbacks in recent years have accounted for 5% to 7% of the
U.S. market, according to Edmunds.com, an automotive website.
But the number of hatchback models has been rising to 42
in 2012 from just 27 in 2008.
The newcomers include alternative-fuel models such as Chevrolet (GM)
Volt and Nissan (NSANY) Leaf.
The latest generation Golf, though longer and wider than
the model it replaces, is 220 pounds lighter, which factors into a
fuel consumption saving of up to 23% when the vehicle is equipped with
the 1.4-liter turbo engine, producing 140 horsepower. VW offers
several advanced safety usually only available in luxury cars, such as
adaptive cruise control. Adaptive cruise control limits speed while
also preventing the car from gaining too quickly or colliding with a
slower-moving vehicle ahead.
The new model starts in price at 16,975 Euros, the same as the
starting price of the model it replaces even though the engine is more
powerful in the 2013 model.
If VW can figure out another clever U.S. marketing campaign for the
Golf, it could turn into one of the automaker's mainstream brands,
perhaps its strongest. Though VW's use of the German word "golf"
originally denoted what English speakers know as "gulf," today it's
also an elite sport that has grown globally and in terms of prestige,
especially among women. Ralph Lauren evidently knew what he was doing
when he chose Polo to sell clothing.
International
Obama knocks Romney on women’s issues
AFP
Thursday October 18
Mount Vernon-United States President Barack Obama bounced off a strong
debate performance to target women voters on Wednesday with a dig at
Republican Mitt Romney's comment that he received “binders full of
women” for cabinet jobs when he was governor of Massachusetts.
Obama and Romney are eager to win over women in swing
states such as Iowa and Ohio, where the Democratic incumbent was
campaigning a day after his energetic debating rejuvenated his
re-election campaign.
During the second presidential debate on Tuesday night, Romney noted
he had been given “whole binders full of women” when looking for
candidates for his cabinet. The awkward phrase quickly took off in
social media and critics suggested the remark showed Romney had few
women in his inner circle.
“We should make sure all our young people, our daughters
as well as our sons, are thriving in these fields (of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics),” Obama told a cheering crowd
of 2 000 people in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
“I've got to tell you, we don't have to collect a bunch of binders to
find qualified, talented, driven young women ready to learn and teach
in these fields right now,” he said. “And when young women graduate,
they should get equal pay for equal work.”
One of Romney's top aides during his governorship was Beth
Myers, who served as his chief of staff from 2003-2007 and has been a
key adviser in his presidential campaign.
Obama has delivered several high-profile jobs to women since taking
office, including Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Sonia
Sotomayor and Elena Kagan as US Supreme Court justices.
At the Iowa campaign rally, Obama also hammered Romney for
wanting to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, a women's health
organisation.
With his sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened, Obama seemed
energised by his own debate performance, which the campaign hopes will
erase memories of his listless appearance in the first debate that
gave a bounce to challenger Romney in opinion surveys.
A Reuters/Ipsos online poll on Wednesday showed 48 percent
of registered voters said Obama won Tuesday's debate, while 33 percent
say Romney prevailed.
However, Obama made it clear he was not on a victory lap as he
returned to the campaign trail.
“I'm still trying to figure out... how to get the hang of
this thing, debating,” he said. “But we're working on it. You know,
we'll keep on improving as time goes on.”
The last presidential debate before the November 6 election will be
held on Monday.
Obama also seized the opportunity to press his attack on
Romney over his economic proposals.
“Everybody here has heard of the New Deal. You've heard of the Fair
Deal. You've heard of the Square Deal. Mitt Romney's trying to sell
you a sketchy deal,” Obama said. “We are not buying it. We know
better.”
For Benghazi diplomatic security, U.S. relied on small British firm
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Washington-The State Department's decision to hire Blue Mountain Group
to guard the ill-fated U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya,
entrusted security tasks to a little-known British company instead of
the large firms it usually uses in overseas danger zones.
The contract was largely based on expediency, U.S.
officials have said, since no one knew how long the temporary mission
would remain in the Libyan city. The cradle of last year's uprising
that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, Benghazi has been plagued
by rising violence in recent months.
Security practices at the diplomatic compound, where Blue Mountain
guards patrolled with flashlights and batons instead of guns, have
come under U.S. government scrutiny in the wake of the September 11
attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens
and three other Americans.
Federal contract data shows that the Benghazi security
contract, worth up to $783,284, was listed as a "miscellaneous" award,
not as part of the large master State Department contract that covers
protection for overseas embassies.
"Blue Mountain was virtually unknown to the circles that studied
private security contractors working for the United States, before the
events in Benghazi," said Charles Tiefer, a commissioner at the
Commission on Wartime Contracting, which studied U.S. contracting in
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Several British government sources said that they were
unfamiliar with Blue Mountain, which is based in Wales. They said
British authorities used a different contractor for security
protection in Libya.
Fred Burton, vice president of intelligence at the Stratfor consulting
firm and a former U.S. diplomatic security agent, said he did not know
Blue Mountain, but it likely got State Department work because it was
already working in Libya.
"They may have been the path of least resistance," he said.
Blue Mountain was able to work in Libya because it forged a business
alliance with a local security firm, as required by Libyan
regulations.
Eric Nordstrom, former regional security officer for the
U.S. Embassy in Libya, testified at a congressional hearing last week
that contracting out for security in the eastern Libyan city "was
largely based on our concern of how long we would be in Benghazi. We
were concerned that if we retained or brought on board full-time
employees we would have to then find a position for them if that post
ever went away."
In describing the challenges of hiring private security at Benghazi,
he added: "It's my understanding that there was a very high turnover
with those people."
GUARDS OF BENGHAZI
Blue Mountain hired about 20 Libyan men - including some
who say they had minimal training - to screen visitors and help patrol
the mission at Benghazi, according to Reuters interviews.
Some of the guards sustained injuries and said they were ill-prepared
to protect themselves or others when heavily armed militants last
month stormed the rented villa that was serving as the mission.
They also described being hired by Blue Mountain after a
casual recruiting and screening process.
State Department security officials had their own concerns about some
of the guards at the mission months before the recent attack,
according to emails obtained by Reuters this week. One guard who had
been recently fired and another on the company's payroll were
suspected of throwing a homemade bomb into the U.S. compound in April.
They were questioned but not charged.
The State Department has declined to comment on the
company other than confirming it was the contractor in Benghazi. Blue
Mountain did not respond to numerous emails and phone calls, and a
person answering the phone at its office in Carmarthen, Wales, said
the company would not discuss the issue.
Previously known as Pilgrim Elite, Blue Mountain says on its website
that it offers security services and professional training and has
operated in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.
The website once listed General Motors as a client, and a
GM spokeswoman in Detroit told Reuters that Blue Mountain's work for
the company was "on a very limited basis and mostly in the UK."
A Blue Mountain recruiter posted a notice on a security website in
2011 seeking employees with visas to work in Libya.
The State Department contract for "local guard" services
in Benghazi took effect in March 2012. Several of Blue Mountain's
Libyan employees told Reuters that they had no prior security training
or experience.
"I was never a revolutionary or a fighter, I have never picked up a
weapon during the war or after it," said Abdelaziz al-Majbiri, 28, who
was shot in the legs during the September 11 assault.
The Libyan commander in charge of the local guards at the
mission was a former English teacher who said he heard about Blue
Mountain from a neighbor. "I don't have a background in security, I've
never held a gun in my life," he said, speaking on condition of
anonymity out of fear for his safety.
When hired, the commander said he was told "you have great English and
get along with everyone and are punctual; we want you to be a guard
commander."
The unarmed guards were told to sound the alarm over the
radio and then run for cover if there was an attack, a Libyan who
acted as a supervisor for the Blue Mountain local guard team at the
mission said during an interview with Reuters.
He also displayed a medal embossed with "Department of State" and a
horseman carrying Libyan and U.S. flags. "They thanked us for our help
and also gave us this medal as an appreciation," he said.
Despite their inexperience, the Blue Mountain guards said
they feared the Americans were not concerned enough about security.
"We used to tell the Americans who spoke to us on many occasions that
we needed more support in security, because it felt thin on the
ground. But they didn't seem to be so worried, and (were) confident
that no one will dare to come close to the consulate," one guard said.
'DOWN IN THE WEEDS'
Tiefer, who is also a government contracting law professor
at the University of Baltimore, said the Benghazi contract paled in
comparison to other State Department security awards.
"This is down in the weeds," he said in a telephone interview.
Most State Department work goes to eight large private
security firms with vast experience.
In the late summer of 2011, after Libyan rebels took control of
Tripoli, Blue Mountain guards were seen working security at the
Corinthia Hotel and its sister Palm City residential compound in the
Libyan capital.
A United Press International report indicated that Blue
Mountain and its local partner, Eclipse, also were competing for
contracts guarding oil fields.
Blue Mountain and Eclipse parted ways in the spring over problems with
Tripoli contracts, several sources familiar with the matter said.
The severed relationship may have prevented Blue Mountain
from getting additional work in Libya, which required the local
affiliation.
On a social network website earlier this year, a Blue Mountain
official described the firm as "one of the few companies certified and
legally allowed to work in Libya."
Blue Mountain Chief Executive Officer Nigel Thomas, a
former British special forces member, did not respond to emails or
phone calls.
NO EASY TASK
Setting up security in Libya after the anti-Gaddafi
revolution was not easy, documents show.
In a July 9 memo approved by the late ambassador Stevens, regional
security officer Nordstrom said his office hoped to shore up defenses
at U.S. compounds in Libya and would consider partial arming of some
local guard supervisors, without being more specific.
But Nordstrom described difficulties getting local gun permits,
noting it could take up to 60 days for "selection, training,
equipping, policy approvals and deployment" of armed guards.
Dinosaur skeletons smuggler seized in US
PressTV
Thursday October 18
Florida-A US man has been arrested on charges of stealing
70-million-year-old dinosaur skeletons and smuggling them into the
United States.
According to officials, Eric Prokopi, 38, was seized in
Florida on Wednesday, for smuggling and selling illegal goods,
including a toothy relative of the bigger Tyrannosaurus rex.
Prokopi is also accused of importing a Saurolophus angustirostris
skeleton from Mongolia and a Microraptor skeleton from China.
In May, police impounded a Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton,
which Prokopi was trying to sell at auction in New York and had been
illegally removed from Mongolia.
New York chief federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said the confiscation
was “merely the tip of the iceberg,” and called Prokopi “a one-man
black market in prehistoric fossils.”
According to Heritage Auctions, which tried to sell the skeleton
on Prokopi’s behalf, the Florida dealer spent a year restoring and
remounting bones to recreate the skeleton.
Human trafficking to UK 'rising'
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
London-The number of people being trafficked into the UK is rising,
latest government estimates suggest.
Last year the authorities learned of 946 victims, compared
with 710 in 2010, the inter-departmental ministerial group on human
trafficking said.
Crime gangs in China, Vietnam, Nigeria and eastern Europe now pose the
biggest threat to the UK on the issue, it said.
The government said better co-ordination between its
departments and with authorities abroad was key.
There is currently no official figure for the number of victims
trafficked into the country each year.
However, the group's report said that last year 712 adult
victims and 234 child victims were reported to the National Referral
Mechanism, the official body that identifies and looks after those
caught up in trafficking.
Of the victims referred in 2010, 524 were adults and 186 were children.
It is thought the increase could be explained by
improvements in identifying victims, although campaigners say the
figures of those being trafficked could be far higher as many victims
choose not to come forward for fear of being sent back to where they
came from.
The report detailed two cases of people being trafficked for illegal
organ donations but they were detected and stopped before the
donations were carried out. One involved the planned sale of a
victim's kidneys.
The report also said there had been an increase in the
number of children being forced into crime, including street begging.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre estimates there
are about 300 child trafficking victims in the UK every year.
'Better life'
Det Insp Kevin Hyland, of London's Metropolitan Police -
which sees the UK's highest rates of trafficking - said some victims
travelled to the UK in lorries or containers but the majority arrived
lawfully, often accompanied by their traffickers.
"The vast majority of them think they're coming to a better life in
the UK," he said.
Mr Hyland said it was often "almost impossible" for border
guards to spot victims because they often did not even know they were
being trafficked.
Many victims are promised jobs in the hotel or leisure industry, or as
interpreters, but when they arrive they are "groomed or threatened",
he said.
Once in the UK they are "moved on to the exploiters" to be
used for sexual exploitation or forced labour, or both, he said.
In London, police deal with more than 100 cases of trafficking a year.
Some will involve more than 400 victims but the majority involve about
10 to 15 people.
The group's report said that by far the largest number of
referrals of potential victims of trafficking were Nigerian nationals.
The largest number of referrals of victims from within Europe involved
Romanian nationals.
There are an estimated 92 organised crime groups in the UK known to
have an involvement in human trafficking, it said.
And 142 defendants were charged with offences related to
human trafficking in 2011/12.
The report said intelligence sharing with international police forces
was already "proving effective".
'No magic bullet'
Thousands of "front-line" workers, including border staff,
police and healthcare workers, have been trained to better identify,
support and protect victims over the past two years, it said.
Some airlines, including Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook, are also
training cabin crew to identify those who engaged in trafficking and
their potential victims.
And a 24-hour confidential line has been set up for crew
to report concerns to border officials before a plane lands in the UK.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper said trafficking was a "sizeable
problem" worldwide, with about 21m people either falling victim to
sexual assault or being forced into labour.
Mr Harper said there was no "single magic bullet" to
tackle the problem but the key was "cross-government and cross-agency
working".
He said it was vital to work with source countries to stop people
being trafficked in the first place but it was also important to look
at the demand for trafficked people "and how we cut down on that".
There had been some success with stopping people at the borders,
for example by training staff to spot signs of people being
trafficked, he said.
Amid much speculation, Cuba state media releases message from Fidel Castro
CNN News
Thursday October 18
Cuba-Cuban state media released a message from Fidel Castro, the first
communique said to be from the ex-leader since speculation over his
health reached a fever pitch last week.
There were no new images of Castro, 86, released Wednesday.
He has not been seen since publicly since March when he met with Pope
Benedict XVI during the pontiff's visit to Cuba.
Castro's usually frequent newspaper columns and musings
suddenly ended in June. But his silence after the re-election of close
ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in October prompted many of his
opponents to wonder whether Castro was again ailing or perhaps dead.
"The comandante is well, following his daily routine, reading,
exercising," Alex Castro, one of Castro's sons, told Cuban state media
after the reports of his ill health.
Still, a barrage of postings on Twitter and other social
media had Castro at death's door.
Castro never fully recovered after a botched surgery for a still
unknown intestinal illness in 2006. Two years later, his brother Raul
Castro officially succeeded him.
In the message on Wednesday, Castro reportedly
congratulated doctors graduating from a Cuban medical institute on the
50th anniversary of the institute's founding.
The message mentioned the 50th anniversary this week of the Cuban
missile crisis and the exodus of physicians from Cuba after the 1959
revolution.
On Tuesday, the Cuban government announced the lifting of some
restrictions for Cubans traveling abroad.
Japan ministers visit Tokyo war shrine amid spat with China
Bloomberg
Thursday October 18
Tokyo-Two Japanese cabinet ministers visited a shrine in Tokyo seen
throughout much of Asia as a symbol of wartime aggression, in a move
that may further inflame ties with China hurt by a maritime
territorial dispute.
Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party President
Shinzo Abe, center, leaves the Yasukuni Shrine after he paid homage to
the war dead in Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012.
Transport Minister Yuichiro Hata and Postal Reform Minister Mikio
Shimoji paid their respects at Yasukuni shrine during its autumn
festival today, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said. The visit
came a day after a similar visit by main opposition Liberal Democratic
Party leader Shinzo Abe sparked protests from China.
“As the ministers made their visit in a private capacity,
the government has no further comment,” Fujimura told reporters today
in Tokyo. “The government has long believed that visits made in a
private capacity relate to the freedom of personal beliefs, and we
shouldn’t interfere with that.”
Japan-China relations are being hurt by rival claims to uninhabited
islands in an area of the East China Sea rich in gas, oil and fishing
grounds. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has called for
negotiations before the dispute further hurts Asia’s two biggest
economies and both countries have agreed to talks at an undetermined
date.
The visit by Abe, who will become prime minister if his
party prevails in an election that must be called by August, is a
“provocative” act that will “further poison bilateral ties,” China’s
official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday in an unsigned commentary.
Noda’s government last month reached a deal to purchase the islands,
called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, prompting violent
protests in China and putting at risk a $340 billion trade
relationship.
Japanese Symbol
The Yasukuni Shrine commemorates Japan’s war dead,
including World War II leaders convicted by an international tribunal
of war crimes. The shrine is viewed in China and Korea as a symbol of
military atrocities during Japan’s occupation of Asia in the first
half of the 20th century.
Hata made a similar visit to Yasukuni in August to commemorate the end
of the war.
Japan is also embroiled in a dispute with South Korea over separate
islands known as Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean.
Vitamins may reduce cancer risk in men, study finds
BBC News
Thursday October 18
Washington-Taking a daily multivitamin pill may lower the risk of
developing cancer in men, US researchers have claimed.
Their study followed nearly 15,000 men, aged over 50, for
more than a decade.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, reported a small reduction in cancer cases in men taking
vitamin pills.
But experts warned that other studies had found the
opposite effect and that eating a diet packed with fruit and
vegetables was a safer bet.
Vitamin supplements are recommended for some groups of people, such as
vitamin D in the over 65s.
However, the benefits of multivitamins on general health
have been mixed. Some studies suggest they cause more harm than good
when taken by healthy people while others have shown no benefit in
cancer.
Doctors at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
analysed data from men who were given either a multivitamin or a sugar
pill every day.
Diet emphasis
There were 17 cancers per 1,000 people taking
multivitamins per year compared with 18 cancers per 1,000 people
taking the dummy pills per year.
One of the researchers, Dr Howard Sesso said: "Many studies have
suggested that eating a nutritious diet may reduce a man's risk of
developing cancer.
"Now we know that taking a daily multivitamin, in addition
to addressing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, may also be considered
in the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men."
The researchers do not know if a similar effect would be seen in women
or in younger men.
Helga Groll, health information officer at Cancer Research
UK, said: "This study raises questions about whether there really is a
lower cancer risk among men who took multi vitamins or whether the
results are down to chance.
"Many other large studies tell us that vitamin and mineral supplements
don't protect against cancer - they either have no effect or can even
increase cancer risk.
"The best way to get a full range of vitamins and minerals is to
eat a healthy, balanced diet with a wide variety of fruit and
vegetables. Most healthy people shouldn't need to take supplements -
although some may be advised to do so by their doctor."
Support floods in for Malala
AFP
Wednesday October 17
London-The 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban
was in a stable condition in a British hospital on Wednesday as
well-wishers from around the world left her messages of support.
Doctors said Malala Yousafzai spent a second comfortable
night at the highly specialised Queen Elizabeth Hospital in
Birmingham, central England, which is accustomed to treating British
soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday she “remained in a stable condition and continued to
impress doctors by responding well to her care,” a hospital spokesman
said.
The teenager's family were still in Pakistan, he added.
Malala was shot on a school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of
the Swat valley last week as a punishment for campaigning for the
right of girls to an education, in an attack which outraged the world.
She came to prominence with a blog for the BBC
highlighting atrocities under the Taliban, the hardline Islamists who
terrorised the Swat valley from 2007 until an army offensive in 2009.
The teenager had a bullet removed from her skull during an operation
in Pakistan last week.
Donations towards her care, which is being funded by the
Pakistani government, are being received by the Queen Elizabeth
Hospital's charity while hundreds of people have left messages of
support on the hospital's website, lauding her campaigning and praying
for her recovery.
The well-wishers are from countries including Pakistan, Britain,
India, the United States, Libya, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Myanmar,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Rwanda and the Netherlands.
“We the Pakistanis are so sorry that a little girl like
you had to stand up for all of us. If we had shown some courage you
would have been safe and healthy today. Malala, get well please, we
need you,” wrote Durre Nayab.
“Please accept my and my family's gratitude for what you have stood
for. You are a true daughter of Pakistan. We are in your debt forever.
Get well soon,” said Munir Pervaiz.
Ajmal Khan wrote: “We salute your courage and your
commitment toward your cherished goal.
“I personally was in tears when I heard of your ordeal. But hopefully
you will get well soon and start your mission again with the same
spirit and agility.”
A message book has also been opened at Council House, the
headquarters of Birmingham's local authority.
Birmingham has a 100 000-strong ethnic Pakistani community - a tenth
of the city's population.
Cards, letters and gifts to Malala are being handled by the city's
Pakistani consulate.
Alleged 9/11 mastermind: America killed more people than hijackers did
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Guantanamo Bay-The alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks told
the Guantanamo courtroom on Wednesday that the U.S. government had
killed many more people in the name of national security than he is
accused of killing.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed was allowed to address the court at
a pretrial hearing focused on security classification rules for
evidence that will be used in his trial on charges of orchestrating
the hijacked plane attacks that killed 2,976 people.
"When the government feels sad for the death or the killing of 3,000
people who were killed on September 11, we also should feel sorry that
the American government that was represented by (the chief prosecutor)
and others have killed thousands of people, millions," said Mohammed,
who wore a military-style camouflage vest to the courtroom.
He accused the United States of using an elastic
definition of national security, comparable to the way dictators bend
the law to justify their acts.
"Many can kill people under the name of national security, and to
torture people under the name of national security, and to detain
children under the name of national security, underage children," he
said in Arabic through an English interpreter.
"The president can take someone and throw him into the sea
under the name of national security and so he can also legislate the
assassinations under the name of national security for the American
citizens," he said in an apparent reference to the U.S. killing and
burial at sea of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the U.S. use of
drone strikes against U.S. citizens accused of conspiring with al
Qaeda.
He advised the court against "getting affected by the crocodile tears"
and said, "Your blood is not made out of gold and ours is made out of
water.
We are all human beings."
The judge, Army Colonel James Pohl, gave Mohammed
permission to speak and did not interrupt him, but said he would not
hear any further personal comments from the defendants.
Mohammed's lecture to the court came during a week of pretrial
hearings at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba for him and
four other captives accused of recruiting, funding and training the
hijackers.
He did not indicate why he wore a camouflage vest, but his
wardrobe choice suggested he might try to invoke protections reserved
for soldiers.
Pohl had ruled on Tuesday that the defendants could wear what they
want to court, so long as it did not pose a security risk or include
any part of a U.S. military uniform like those worn by their guards.
Mohammed's lawyers had argued that he should be allowed to
wear a woodland-patterned camouflage vest to court because he wore one
as part of a U.S.-armed mujahideen force fighting against Russian
troops that occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s.
"Mr. Mohammed has previously distinguished himself on the battlefield
by wearing a military-style vest or clothing.
He did it in Afghanistan for the U.S. government during that proxy
war, he did it in Bosnia and he has a right to do it in this
courtroom," his defense attorney, Army Captain Jason Wright, argued on
Tuesday.
The United States is trying Mohammed and the other alleged
al Qaeda captives as unlawful belligerents who are not entitled to the
combat immunity granted to soldiers who kill in battle.
They could face the death penalty if convicted of charges that include
conspiring with al Qaeda, attacking civilians and civilian targets,
murder in violation of the laws of war, destruction of property,
hijacking and terrorism.
Under the Geneva Conventions, one of the things that
separate soldiers from unlawful belligerents is the wearing of
uniforms that distinguish them from civilians.
Soldiers must also follow a clear command structure, carry arms openly
and adhere to the laws of war.
Wright had argued that forbidding Mohammed from wearing
military-style garb could undermine his presumption of innocence in
the war crimes tribunal.
"The government has a burden to prove that this enemy prisoner of war
is an unprivileged enemy belligerent," Wright said.
Uruguay legalises abortion
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
Uruguay-Uruguay has become the second country in Latin America, after
communist Cuba, to legalise abortion for all women.
With a 17-14 majority, the Uruguayan Senate approved
legislation that allows women to have an abortion in the first 12
weeks of pregnancy.
The measure has divided opinion in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Pro- and anti-abortion campaigners have criticised the
compromise that sealed the deal expected to be signed into law by
left-wing President Jose Mujica.
The proposal had already been approved by the lower house of Congress
and the Senate, but politicians from both sides of the debate agreed
further changes and held another vote.
Abortions versus adoptions
Pro-abortion campaigners say many lives will be saved with
the end of clandestine, high-risk terminations.
"With this law, we are joining the ranks of developed countries that
have largely adopted a stance to liberalise, recognising the failure
of criminal laws to avoid abortions," said government Senator Luis
Gallo.
Pro-abortion campaigners reject changes to the proposal
that forces women to justify before a panel of experts why they wish a
termination.
After that, they will need to wait for several days - a period of
reflection - before being able to state their final decision.
Anti-abortion politicians said the government should have
adopted measures to encourage adoptions, rather than change the law.
"Abortion is not a medical act. It does not seek to protect and
preserve a patient's health," said opposition Senator Alfredo Solari.
Abortion is legal and available on request in Cuba.
Abortion is also allowed up to the 12th week of pregnancy in many
Mexican states and in the area of the capital, Mexico City.
In other Latin American countries, it is only allowed in cases of
rape or health risk for the woman.
Mexican drug kingpin's daughter not talking to U.S. officials
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Mexico City-The daughter of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpin was
being held in the United States after her arrest at the border last
week, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, while the woman's lawyer
declined to confirm her parentage and said she was not cooperating
with authorities.
Court documents showed that Alejandrina Gisselle
Guzman-Salazar was detained on Friday after authorities said she
attempted to cross from Tijuana, Mexico, into California on foot using
a counterfeit visa and a false name.
A federal official, who asked not to be identified because he was not
authorized to speak on the record, confirmed that Guzman-Salazar is
the daughter of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the leader of the powerful
Sinaloa cartel.
Immigration officials often use their discretion in
deciding whether to detain and charge those attempting to cross the
border using a false name or counterfeit papers. Sometimes offenders
are simply refused entry and released into Mexico.
"A false passport alone - she would have just been deported," the
federal official said of Guzman-Salazar. "Because ... she is related
to drug traffickers, that's why she's going to court."
Guzman-Salazar is being held pending a detention hearing
scheduled for October 25.
An attorney for Guzman-Salazar, who does not face drug trafficking
charges in either the United States or Mexico, also said the decision
to keep her in custody was likely because authorities believe her to
be the drug kingpin's daughter.
"What the government thought about her lineage was
probably a motivating factor in their decision to hold her," attorney
Jan Ronis of San Diego told Reuters, although he would neither confirm
nor deny that his client was related to the notorious drug kingpin.
U.S. authorities hoping to get information from Guzman-Salazar about
her father may be frustrated.
"Once you retain counsel you are not under any obligation
to speak with U.S. officials, and she has not. Any suggestion that she
is cooperating is untrue," said Ronis, who has represented major drug
cartel figures, including Benjamin Arellano-Felix, former leader of
the Tijuana cartel.
BILLION-DOLLAR MAN
El Chapo, whose nickname means "Shorty" in English,
escaped a Mexican prison in 2001 to become the country's
highest-profile trafficker. Authorities say he commands groups of
assassins ranging from the U.S. border into Central America.
Included on Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman has been indicted in
the United States on dozens of charges of racketeering and conspiracy
to import narcotics.
Washington has a $5 million reward for the capture of El
Chapo, who was born in Mexico's rugged western Sinaloa state where he
started out under Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who pioneered cocaine
smuggling routes into the United States.
In recent months, U.S. and Mexican agents have been closing in on
Guzman, and have arrested traffickers close to him and seized his
assets on both sides of the border. Those associates include close
family members, among them Guzman-Salazar's mother, Maria Alejandrina
Hernandez Salazar.
Guzman's fourth wife, Emma Coronel, made headlines last
year when she traveled to Los Angeles to give birth to twins.
Journalist Malcolm Beith, author of a book about Guzman, "The Last
Narco," said the two incidents could suggest a certain desperation on
the drug lord's part.
"I think Chapo's days are probably numbered and he knows
it and is seeking a fresh start for his kin," Beith told Reuters in an
interview.
Analysts say Guzman-Salazar holds out the tantalizing possibility of
fresh leads in the hunt for El Chapo.
"If she has a cell phone number, if she any kind of recent
interaction with her alleged father, that could be a very important
clue to law enforcement as to his whereabouts, his methods of
operation, and eventually his capture," said David Shirk, the director
of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.
However, the circumstances of Guzman-Salazar's arrest - trying to slip
into California unaided on a fake visa - suggest that she may not have
such close ties to her father, who is thought to control trafficking
through Tijuana.
"The Sinaloa organization has lots of means of getting people and
goods into the country," Shirk said. "The fact that someone who would
be very important to Chapo would come in this very pedestrian manner
suggests ... that it was something that Chapo may not have known
about."
Conjoined twins Rosie and Ruby Formosa separated
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
London-The mother of conjoined twins has described her joy after a
successful operation to separate them. Rosie and Ruby Formosa were
born joined at the abdomen and sharing part of the intestine.
The twins, now 12 weeks old, were operated on at London's
Great Ormond Street Hospital the day after they were born on 27 July.
Their mother Angela, from Bexleyheath in south-east London, said the
"smiling bubbly babies" were doing well.
The twins needed an emergency operation to separate them.
Mrs Formosa, 32, said finding out the twins were joined had been a
shock after her "textbook" pregnancy with first daughter Lily, now
aged five.
"At an early pregnancy scan they said the twins looked
very close together so I went to King's College for another scan," she
said.
"Between 16 and 20 weeks we found out that they were joined - I didn't
know what to think, I was shocked and I felt sad.
"We didn't know what to expect until they were born - the
doctors could not tell where they were connected.
"They decided to deliver them early at 34 weeks."
The twins were operated on the next day by a team led by
paediatric surgeon Prof Agostino Pierro.
He said the girls had been joined by the abdomen at the level of the
umbilicus and shared part of the intestine.
"The operation to separate the twins had to be performed
as an emergency because of an intestinal blockage," he said.
"We are delighted with the outcome of the operation.
"The babies will need further treatment in the future, but
we expect that they will both be able to lead happy and normal lives."
Mrs Formosa said she and husband David, 36, a taxi driver, were happy
and relieved to have the girls at home.
Angela and Daniel Formosa with surgeon Edward Kiely and
Prof Agostino Pierro holding their twins Rosie (left) and Ruby (right)
Formosa The twins were operated on by a team including surgeon Edward
Kiely and Prof Agostino Pierro
"They are really well, they are putting on weight," she said.
"They are normal bubbly babies who are starting to smile
and cry when they want something."
She added she was incredibly grateful to the hospital's staff.
"What they have done for my two girls is amazing. When I
was pregnant they were saying that the survival chances were quite
low.
"For them to have been operated on and doing so well - it is amazing."
Brazil wants to learn other sports
Super Sport
Thursday October 18
Brasilia-Can baseball, rugby and cricket fly in the land of soccer and
beach volleyball? If Brazilian sports officials have their way, they
just may.
Flush with cash from a recent decade of economic growth
and eager to broaden its athletic spectrum before hosting the 2016
Olympic Games, Brazil is on a hiring spree of foreign coaches for
sports that traditionally are not its forte.
In recent months, an American baseball player, an English cricketer
and rugby players from New Zealand have spread out over Latin
America's biggest country to teach their chosen sports. At least 30
coaches from 18 different countries are now working with Brazil's
Olympic teams to help raise their games.
The hires come as Brazil tries to make itself more
competitive in sports in the run-up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de
Janeiro.
Though all the new coaches are not working in Olympic disciplines -
cricket has not been played at the Games for over a century - the push
is part of Brazil's effort to both raise its medal count and improve
the country's abilities in non-Olympic sports.
"We've opted to bring in foreign coaches principally in
disciplines in which we have little history," says Marcus Vinicius
Freire, executive superintendent for sports at the Rio-based Brazilian
Olympic Committee. Shooting, archery, wrestling, and diving, he says,
are among those sports now getting a foreign boost.
At the recent London Olympics, Brazil won medals in nine disciplines,
including soccer, volleyball, sailing and judo, sports in which it is
traditionally strong. It hopes to jump from 22nd place on the London
medals table to within the top 10 in Rio, officials say.
The new coaches are attracted by the potential of a
country with almost 200 million people, a diverse culture, and rabid
interest in sport.
"You're not trying to take them away from other sports but give them
an alternative where they can have fun," says Barry Larkin, a baseball
Hall of Famer who made his name with the Cincinnati Reds in the 1980s
and '90s.
For the past two years, Larkin has run a training camp in
Sao Paulo for Major League Baseball as part of its attempts to
globalise the sport. Recently, Brazil's baseball confederation hired
him to lead it to next month's World Baseball Classic tournament in
Panama.
Larkin notes that baseball is popular within Brazil's large Japanese
community and that several Brazilians play professionally in Japan.
Earlier this year, Yan Gomes, a catcher and versatile infielder with
the Toronto Blue Jays, became the first Brazilian to play in the big
leagues.
With more development, Larkin believes Brazil could
produce genuine top players.
"If there is a kid that has tremendous ability, then maybe we can
create the Ronaldo or the Pele in baseball, an iconic figure that the
country gets behind," Larkin said.
PROVEN SUCCESS
Like Larkin, most of the foreign coaches hail from nations
with proven success in their sport. Brazil's cricket association, for
instance, hired Matt Featherstone, an Englishman, as its national
development officer. Archery coaches are from South Korea,
weightlifters are Romanian and canoers come from Hungary.
To beef up the country's rugby program, Brazil looked to world
champions New Zealand. Last year, Sami Arap, president of the
Brazilian Rugby Confederation, set up a partnership with the
Crusaders, a leading New Zealand rugby team.
An initial contract brought over three coaches - including
two former All Blacks - for three months as guest trainers. Afterward,
the federation signed a five-year deal with the Crusaders, and an
option for five more.
Under the terms of the agreement, the visiting coaches will help raise
awareness of the game and develop young players, coaches, and
referees. They will also provide physical and tactical training for
Brazil's more experienced rugby players.
Brazil's federation pays an annual fee to the Crusaders,
which covers the coaches' salaries and pays for training methods
developed by the team. "I am buying the Crusaders' know-how," Arap
says.
The federation did not disclose how much the agreement was worth.
VARYING AMBITIONS
Arap says the immediate aim is to establish Brazil as the
No. 2 team in South America behind Argentina, one of the world's rugby
powers.
The Rio Olympics - where rugby sevens, the seven-a-side variant of the
game, will be played for the first time since 1924 - may come too
early to accomplish that.
But qualification for the 2019 World Cup in Japan is an
achievable goal, he says. For Brazil's female squad, ranked 10th in
the world, the goal is to clinch a Rio medal.
Featherstone's goal for cricket is less ambitious.
There are currently only a handful of cricket players in
Brazil, even though many children in the country grow up playing a
similar game called taco. At a recent cricket championship in
Suriname, only eight members of Brazil's 13-strong team, captained by
Featherstone, were born in the country.
Now, his main task is to introduce the sport to schoolchildren and
hope they like it. The priority is making a sport known for its long
games attractive to short attention spans.
"If you don't do that then people lose interest straight away," he
says. "We wouldn't be telling them that it last five days, or even a
day."
News from the Axis
Taking Iran channels off air is cultural terrorism, IRIB chief says
PressTV
Thursday October 18
Tehran-The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)
has criticized the ban on Iranian TV and radio stations as “cultural
terrorism.”
Ezzatollah Zarghami made the remarks at the 49th General
Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in the South
Korean capital Seoul on Wednesday, Mehr news agency reported.
He called on international organizations, especially UNESCO, which do
not have “deterrent laws for this type of cultural terrorism”, to
adopt concrete laws to prevent such illegal actions.
Zarghami also said the ban on Iranian stations is meant to
silence alternative media despite the fact that “the era of news
censorship has come to an end.”
In a blatant violation of freedom of speech, European satellite
provider Eutelsat SA ordered media services company, Arqiva, to take
the Iranian satellite channels off one of its Hot Bird frequencies on
Monday.
The channels include Press TV, al-Alam, Jam-e-Jam 1 and 2,
Sahar 1 and 2, Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, Quran TV, and
the Arabic-language al-Kawthar.
The decision followed months of jamming of Iranian channels by
European satellite companies.
Following the move by Eutelsat, Press TV launched a
Facebook petition to protect the news channel across Europe.
Observers say the illegal move by Eutelsat SA is a step to silence all
alternative news outlets representing the voice of the voiceless.
Press TV has also contacted the French media regulation authority,
Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (French Broadcasting Regulatory
Body) (CSA) for comments regarding the ban. The CSA had said it would
provide the network with a response but has so far failed to do so.
Yemen debates drones
DPA
Wednesday October 17
Sanaa-Yemen's interim president has won U.S. praise for cooperating in
a war on al Qaeda, but his recent public support for drone strikes
that sometimes kill civilians could undermine his domestic popularity
and stir sympathy for militants.
Yemen, an Arabian Peninsula country where al Qaeda
militants exploited a security vacuum during last year's rising
against Ali Abdullah Saleh, has witnessed an escalated campaign of
U.S. missile strikes in recent months, often using the pilotless
aircraft known as drones.
In a departure from Saleh's policies, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu
Mansour Hadi spoke openly in favour of the drone strikes during a trip
to the United States last month. Praised by the U.S. ambassador in
Sanaa as being more effective against al Qaeda than his predecessor,
Hadi was quoted as saying that he personally approved every attack.
The comments came after a September strike that killed 12
civilians in Radaa, a small Yemeni town south of Sanaa, and the
storming of the U.S. Embassy in the capital by protesters angry over
an anti-Islam film made in California.
Youth activist Ibrahim Al-Mothana said Hadi, elected in February for a
two-year transitional period, was trying to win favour with
international donors but imperils support at home.
“He's trying to get international legitimacy, and he needs
American and European support, so I think that's what drove him,
rather than being more open and frank about it,” he said.
“Hadi's main task is the national dialogue, which will create a new
national contract. But if the process is undermined by drones, that
will be problematic.”
Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables said that Saleh had agreed
in 2009 to a covert U.S. war on Islamist militants and accepted to
take responsibility for attacks when necessary.
Bashraheel Hesham Bashraheel, chairman of the al-Ayyam newspaper
group, said Hadi had won short-term respect from some Yemenis for
being more open about drones than Saleh.
“He wants to make a clear distinction, he wants to say I
approved every raid. It gives the impression he is in control and not
the Americans,” Bashraheel said. “It impressed people and earned him
some respect. He's not lying like Saleh used to.”
However, with public anger rising, politicians are becoming more vocal
in their opposition to U.S. operations.
The Shi'ite Islamist Houthi movement and influential Sunni
cleric Abdul-Majeed al-Zindani - on a U.S. terrorism list - have
stepped up criticism of drones in the past month.
“At first people didn't talk, but after Radaa, things have changed,
said Ali Abd-Rabbu al-Qadi, a parliamentarian from Maareb where many
attacks have taken place. “These air strikes prepare the ground for al
Qaeda and terrorism.”
Yemenis complain the U.S. focus on militants is a
violation of sovereignty that is driving many towards al Qaeda and
diverting attention from other pressing issues such as unemployment,
corruption, water depletion and economic revival.
Hadi is under U.S. pressure to prioritise the war on militants, who
set up al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in 2007 by merging the
Yemeni and Saudi branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.
“The Americans only think of use of violence, they need to
think of using development,” said Mohammed al-Mutawakel, a political
science professor. “They failed in Afghanistan and Iraq. I hope they
don't make the same mistake again in Yemen.”
Parties in the post-Saleh interim government have been largely silent
or even expressed muted public support over drone strikes, in an
effort to win the favour of a country seen as the real source of
political power in Yemen, analysts say.
The United States, eager to see Yemen recover from
upheaval that put the impoverished state on the verge of collapse, has
said it would provide $345 million in security, humanitarian and
development assistance this year - more than double last year's aid
but much less than needed, one government official said.
Western diplomats say they believe most Yemenis support the
operations, but acknowledge that public opposition is rising.
“Nobody wants to see the drones (but) we have people who
are posing an imminent threat to the security and stability of Yemen
as well as threatening security throughout the world,” a senior
diplomat said. “The solution ultimately will be on the basis of
building up Yemeni capabilities.”
While Washington usually avoids comment, the UK-based Bureau of
Investigative Journalism, which tracks U.S. operations, says between
36 and 56 civilians have died this year.
At a recent funeral for those who died in the attacks in
Radaa, relatives suggested tribes would take revenge if Sanaa did not
do something to stop them.
“We are just farmers, in our homes, who are disturbed constantly in
the middle of the night by American planes above,” said Jamal Abdu
al-Sabouri, a relative of one of the Radaa victims. “We want a
solution and we demand that Hadi pay attention to this issue... We
want security and stability but if they're going to disturb us, we'll
disturb everyone too.”
In the chaos of the disintegration of Saleh's system of
tribal and religious alliances, tribes have taken steps to express
displeasure with Hadi's government. Electricity lines were attacked in
Maarib last month after a court issued death sentences against kinsmen
accused of al Qaeda militancy.
“A strike like this isn't a simple thing. It makes us lose hope in the
state or that there even exists a Yemeni state here,” said Muhammed
Muqbil, who lost three relatives.
Syria envoy says bloodshed could engulf Middle East
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Beirut-The international mediator on Syria said on Wednesday its civil
war risks spilling across borders to engulf the Middle East and
appealed for a temporary truce he said could mark a small step towards
defusing 19 months of conflict.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy, has proposed
that both President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebel fighters
seeking his overthrow hold fire during the Islamic feast holiday of
Eid al-Adha that starts next week.
Syrian authorities, who blame rebels for the failure of an April
ceasefire plan, guardedly welcomed Brahimi's proposal but said any
initiative must be respected by both sides. Turkey, one of Assad's
harshest critics, and Iran, one of his strongest allies, both backed
the plan, in rare agreement.
Thirty thousand people have been killed in the uprising,
which began with peaceful demonstrations and now pits mainly Sunni
Muslim rebels against an Alawite president. There are fears of broader
Middle East sectarian conflict between Sunni powers sympathetic to the
rebels and Shi'ites who back Assad.
"This crisis cannot remain within Syrian borders indefinitely. Either
it will be addressed or it will increase ... and be all-consuming,"
Brahimi told reporters in Beirut after talks with Lebanese leaders.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
at least 90 people had been killed in Syria by late afternoon on
Wednesday, after 150 people died the day before.
The death toll has topped 1,000 a week for at least two months as
divided world powers have condemned the bloodshed in what has become a
largely stalemated conflict, but failed to agree on a political
solution.
On Sunday, Brahimi appealed to leaders in Iran - Assad's
strongest regional ally - to support a proposal for a ceasefire to
mark Eid al-Adha, expected to begin at dusk on October 25.
"For us, there isn't any sacrifice too great if the blood stops
flowing in Syria even for a day, an hour," Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara, saying he had
discussed the plan with his Iranian counterpart.
"The Arab League, Turkey and Iran have declared their
support for this proposal," he said, adding he expected those who
backed the plan to make a statement on Friday.
Iran's state news agency quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as
saying Iran backed the temporary ceasefire plan and believed free
elections were the right way forward.
Syrian officials have questioned whether the disparate
rebels, who agreed on a joint leadership on Tuesday [ID:nL5E8LGRQ5] to
encourage supporters to provide them more powerful weapons, could
commit to or honor any ceasefire deal.
But Brahimi said opposition figures had told him any ceasefire by
Assad's forces would be reciprocated immediately.
"We heard from everyone we met in the opposition, and
everyone (else) we met that, if the government stops using violence,
'We will respond to this directly'," he said.
"We hope this will be a very small step that would save the Syrian
people ... because they are burying hundreds of people every day."
HELICOPTER DOWNED
Anti-Assad activists posted videos on Wednesday of what
they said was a Syrian military helicopter spiraling to the ground and
exploding in flames.
Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
said that the helicopter had been downed near Maarat al-Numan. "Some
rebels say they used anti-aircraft missiles," he told Reuters by
telephone from Britain.
Amateur footage of rebels using shoulder-mounted
surface-to-air missiles have emerged in the past few days, and
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that heavy weapons
acquired by the insurgents have forced Assad's air force to bomb
rebel-held areas from high altitude.
"In a certain number of these zones, Bashar al-Assad is bombarding
them with MiG fighter jets, and what is particularly horrible is that
he is bombarding them with TNT," Fabius said.
"But at the same time there are now weapons that are
forcing the planes to fly extremely high, and so the strikes are less
accurate," he said before meeting civilian members of rebel councils
that run areas outside government control.
France began channeling money and humanitarian aid to rebel-held parts
of Syria in August to support self-rule and try to create an
alternative to the Damascus government.
However, the French plan falls well short of the
foreign-protected safe havens the opposition says it needs and offers
little hope of relief to civilians fleeing the chaos.
Russia, which sold Syria arms worth $1 billion last year, and China
have vetoed three resolutions favored by Western powers condemning
Syrian authorities and opening the way to U.N. sanctions on Damascus.
Fabius said Moscow's stance would only cement chaos in
Syria, adding that he had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
that: "If you continue to oppose a change of regime, then the
extremists risk taking control."
Russia denies trying to prop up Assad, who allows Russia to maintain a
naval supply facility in the port of Tartus that is its only military
base outside the former Soviet Union.
But Moscow says Syria's crisis must be resolved without
foreign interference, particularly military intervention.
Turkey, which has led calls for international intervention, has
bolstered its military presence along its 900-km (560-mile) border
with Syria in recent weeks and has been responding in kind to gunfire
and mortar shells flying over the border.
It has warned of a more robust response if the spillover
continues and its armed forces fired back on Wednesday after a shell
landed 3 m (yards) inside its territory in the Hatay border province,
the local governor's office said.
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said Damascus hoped
Brahimi's talks in the region, including with countries which back the
rebels, could herald "something which leads to the success of a
constructive initiative".
Makdissi said Syria had previously committed to Arab and U.N.
initiatives but that they had been thwarted by "armed groups and the
countries that influence them".
People hold funeral in Bahrain for victim of toxic tear gas
PressTV
Thursday October 18
Manama-People in Bahrain have held a funeral procession for Haj Mahdi
Ali Marhun, who died due to inhalation of tear gas fired into his
house by Saudi-backed regime forces.
The funeral for Ali Marhun, who spent the last two months
of his life in hospital after the attack, was held in the village of
Ma’ameer on Wednesday.
In Bahrain, many have died after regime forces fired poisonous tear
gas into their homes to crush anti-regime protests.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the country people took to
streets to express solidarity with five imprisoned medics on hunger
strike.
The medics, who have been in prison since early October, went on
hunger strike on Sunday to urge international efforts for their
release.
The Bahraini revolution began in mid-February 2011, when
the people, inspired by the popular revolutions that toppled the
dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive
demonstrations.
The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the
peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring
Persian Gulf states.
Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and
the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and
nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.
A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in
November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used excessive
force in the crackdown and accused Manama of torturing political
activists, politicians, and protesters.
The protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime
demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a
democratically elected government is met.
Political & General
Mpofu lowers diamond earnings forecast
New Zimbabwe
Wednesday October 17
Harare-THE projected $600 million earnings from diamond sales is now
unachievable after miners cut production in response to a decline in
diamond prices on the international market, Mines minister Obert Mpofu
said Wednesday.
"The $600 million target has now been affected," Mpofu
told journalists.
Mpofu said that over the "past three to four months the diamond prices
have actually gone down".
"When the prices go down, producers also reduce their
production capacity. They cannot produce at a loss."
Mpofu did not give the new target for diamond sales.
In July, Finance Minister Tendai Biti complained about the
low revenue trickle from diamond sales saying by mid-year only $46
million had been realised against the year's anticipated $600 million.
That forced him to slash the 2012 budget spending target by 10 percent
to $3.6 billion.
He said earnings from key minerals such as gold and
diamonds were not making it into state coffers.
Natural resource extraction watchdogs have accused President Robert
Mugabe's ruling party of funnelling profits from Marange diamonds to
senior military officers and party leaders.
Diamond watchdog Kimberley Process has given the country
the green light to sell its gems despite opposition from rights groups
and Western nations.
Next month, Zimbabwe hosts a conference expected to attract hundreds
of traders, diamond experts and non-governmental organisations.
Mpofu said the conference would seek to manage world perception
of the Zimbabwean diamond industry and attract foreign investors.
Strained Zim-US relations affecting hunt For Rwandan genocide fugitive
Radio VoP
Wednesday October 17
Harare-Strained political relations between Zimbabwe and the United
States are compromising the chase for Rwandan genocide fugitive,
Potrais Mpiranya, believed to be holed up in the southern African
country.
Last month Zimbabwean police said they were looking for
Mpiranya, a former commander of the elite Presidential Guard during
the genocide in 1994.
He is accused of playing a key role in the slaughter of 800,000 ethnic
Tutsis and moderate Hutus during 100 days of bloodletting. Mpiranya’s
head carries a $ 5 million bounty pledged by the US government.
Security sources said what was complicating the matter was
the involvement of the US government because Harare was not willing to
cooperate with Washington.
Besides, the sources said, if Mpiranya was to be apprehended by
Zimbabwean police, there was no guarantee that the US government will
give the $5 million reward to the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
“The problem with this operation is that our political
relations with the US are so strained to the extent that no one really
believes that if we apprehend this Rwandan we will get the promised
money,” said one security source.
“It’s better to just ignore everything than for us to be used to
assist the Americans get their way.”
Last month the police showed what appeared to be vigour in
searching for the fugitive, believed to be wealthy and running several
businesses in Zimbabwe, Zambia, the DRC and in Europe.
"We want him dead or alive. We are looking for information to arrest
him; we don't know how long he has been in the country," chief
superintendent Peter Magwenzi of the police homicide section told the
AFP news agency.
But the verve has died down. Sources said they appear to
be no political will on the part of Harare to cooperate.
Relations between President Robert Mugabe are bad. The US
administration accuses President Mugabe of stifling democracy in
Zimbabwe.
On the other side, the veteran Zimbabwean ruler accuses
Washington of seeking to remove him and his party, Zanu (PF) from
power and installing a puppet regime in Harare.
The US government has slapped Mugabe and his lieutenants with an
assortment of punitive measures including travel bans.
Econet hires former M-PESA top talent for EcoCash
TechZim
Wednesday October 17
HARARE - Japhet Aritho, former Head of M-PESA Product Development and
Operations at Safaricom When we attended the EcoCash tour yesterday,
two developments at the company stood out:
A new hire, former Safaricom executive Japhet Aritho (Head of M-PESA
Product Development and Operations) has joined the EcoCash team as
Chief Operating Officer of Econet Services.
And yes, Econet Services. The company that we had not heard about
before yesterday was referred to. Its CEO is veteran Econet executive,
Darlington Mandivenga.
Bringing in expat talent to manage EcoCash operations is a big deal.
Bringing in former M-PESA product development and operations head is a
whole bigger deal. At a global level, M-PESA has been one of the
notabe success of mobile money on basic mobile phones.
The product virtually defined what mobile money is on the continent.
Even though not always successfully, mobile money implementations by
mobile operators across Africa have been modeled on M-PESA. Indeed
Econet’s EcoCash is a copy of M-PESA in many ways. It goes without
saying therefore how much wealth of experience and knowledge Aritho
brings. Whether this experience and knowledge will be applied
effectively to make EcoCash as wildly successful as M-PESA is ofcourse
anyone’s guess at this stage. Nothing under the sun is guaranteed.
Now to Econet Services. We are told the new ‘company’ has been set
up to manage strategic value added services. Information we have also
suggests that they’ll be doing this not just for Econet Wireless
Zimbabwe; but for the whole Econet Group, which points to it being a
Johannesburg initiative. In terms of which strategic VAS the new
company will manage, all that’s apparent right now is EcoCash, and
maybe Ecolife, if it ever comes back. Our guess here is that even
though it may expand into other services, Econet Services has been
setup for EcoCash. Otherwise why would Aritho, with his M-PESA resume,
be an Econet Services COO?
The CEO, Darlington Mandivenga has served as Marketing Director at
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and also more notably CEO for Econet Burundi
amoung other capacities at operations of the group outside Zimbabwe.
We had conversations yesterday with both Aritho and Mandivenga
focused specifically on EcoCash merchant services. Aritho, who is just
2 weeks old in his new job, sounded quite enthusiastic about EcoCash,
even saying that it’s exceeded his M-PESA experience in terms of
uptake of the services. He also said he was looking forward to the
experience with EcoCash Commuter, a type of implementation of mobile
money they didn’t go into at such a scale at Safaricom.
Activist and mother Manjoro gets bail in cop murder trial
SW Radio Africa
Wednesday October 17
Harare-The state prosecutor on Wednesday conceded that MDC-T activist
and mother of a three-year old, Cynthia Manjoro, should not be
detained further and agreed to have her bailed by the High Court.
The dramatic development followed testimony by the State’s
own witness who had clearly exonerated Manjoro, after which the judge
challenged the State to show why she should not be bailed. Prosecutor
Edmore Nyazamba returned to court in the afternoon and conceded that
Manjoro should not be kept in detention.
Defense lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa expressed great joy at the judge’s
decision to grant bail to one of the 29 MDC-T officials and members
accused in the murder of police officer Petros Mutedza. But she told
SW Radio Africa that many more should be bailed because there is
clearly no evidence implicating them in the murder.
The state witness, Cynthia’s brother Stephen Manjoro, had
testified that she was only being held as’ bait’ for the arrest of
Darlington Madzonga, who he claimed was using her car on the day
officer Mutedza died.
On Tuesday Mtetwa had shed tears in the High Court after the
Prosecutor requested that they adjourn after only 26 minutes into the
session.
Mtetwa told SW Radio Africa that her emotions became intense because
Cynthia Manjoro’s son was practically living like an orphan.
“I think the mother in me came out and I just couldn’t
take it. Unfortunately you are not supposed to behave like that in
court but emotions are emotions and being human is being human,”
Mtetwa explained.
Mtetwa criticized the slow pace of the trial, which she claims is
deliberate and meant to prolong the accused members’ stay in
detention. She said many were arrested days after the murder, simply
because they were wearing MDC t-shirts.
She added: “This trial has been going on for months now
and if you add up the hours in court they are less than 2 weeks.
There can be no question politics is at play. If you follow the
evidence you will have to ask yourself why these people are in court.”
The defense lawyer also criticized the MDC-T, saying the party could
have done more “to really stand up and use this case to show how the
judicial system is being used for political purposes and motives”.
Officer Petros Mutedza was killed at a Glen View pub in
May last year.
The police claim he was murdered by MDC-T members who held a meeting
there, a charge the party strongly denies.
A total of 29 MDC-T members were rounded up by police after the
incident, claiming they were investigating. The accused include the
Chairman of the National Youth Council, Solomon Madzore. Several MDC-T
councillors, National Council members and youth leaders are also among
the detainees.
The police arrested two more youth leaders from the
MDC-T’s Glen View structures last week, and charged them with murder
in the same case. Jackson Mabota and Tarisai Kusotera, both from Glen
View South constituency, appeared in court last Thursday and were
remanded in custody till October 26th.
Some of the accused members have been in jail for over a year, with
the courts repeatedly denying them bail as flight risks.
The trial continues Thursday at the High Court.
Asiagate names set to be released on Friday
New Zimbabwe
Wednesday October 17
Harare-THE Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) says names of the 93
individuals found guilty of match fixing will not be released until at
least Friday to give the board members time to study the findings of
an independent panel.
ZIFA vice president Ndumiso Gumede said going through the
report running into several hundred pages, 4,500 exhibits and the
evidence of 115 witnesses was an “arduous process which cannot be
finished overnight”.
Retired Judge Ahmed Ebrahim, head of the probe team which conducted
hearings into the scandal known as Asiagate, presented his findings on
Tuesday and recommended that 13 players and officials be banned for
life and 80 others face bans of six months to 10 years. Eight players
were exonerated.
They were accused of accepting money from a betting
syndicate to throw matches in Asia from 2007 to 2009.
Zimbabwe lost 2-0 to Jordan, 3-0 to Thailand and 6-0 to Syria in
Malaysia in tours arranged by former ZIFA chief executive Henrietta
Rushwaya, named as the mastermind in the match-rigging scams.
She appeared in court in February on corruption and fraud
charges in a case still pending.
Gumede said after receiving the report on Tuesday, the ZIFA board met
into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The board will meet again on Friday at which the decision
is likely to be taken to publish the report.
Some players testified in the initial ZIFA probe in 2010 how money
changed hands in dressing rooms at matches linked to betting agents of
Wilson Raj Perumal, a Singaporean who is in jail in Europe for
match-fixing.
Ebrahim said most of the players who were "young, innocent
and uneducated" were dragged into the scandal, "used and manipulated"
by Perumal and unnamed ZIFA officials.
"Some officials and players will undoubtedly have their football
futures ruined by these greedy, despicable, ruthless and unfeeling
miscreants," Ebrahim said. "It is doubtful if these people will ever
even have the slightest thought of recompensing these young football
players."
Ebrahim said he believed Perumal was introduced to the
Zimbabwe national team by "some existing ZIFA hierarchy" he did not
name several years ago, and posed as a ZIFA agent so he could
"manipulate match-fixing in whichever manner he so wished."
It was alleged in ZIFA's 2010 report that Rushwaya used feared secret
agents connected to the country's longtime ruler President Robert
Mugabe to manipulate players and coaches on the Asian tours.
"There is little doubt that some of the players were being
manipulated into something the majority were not fully aware of, and
as a result, will have to suffer the long-term consequences, albeit
through ignorance on their part," Ebrahim said.
During the course of the year-long probe, 44 players were cleared of
any wrongdoing but on Tuesday Ebrahim said at the completion of the
investigation it has emerged that some of the players whose
suspensions were lifted will be banned again.
He said his investigation unearthed "the tip of the
iceberg" as there was evidence that a lot more went on than was
revealed in testimony.
Official records of the Asian tours and fees paid to the players and
officials had disappeared from the ZIFA offices, which made it
difficult to ascertain what really transpired, Ebrahim said. Money
earned from the trips was never deposited into the national body's
coffers.
"The exact intricate details of how the Zimbabwe teams became
involved with a match-fixing and betting syndicate organised by a man
known to those close to him as Raj, involved in the birth of this
destructive and illegal activity, may never be known," he said.
Regional
Malawi ready to resume border talks
AFP
Thursday October 18
Blantyre-Malawi is preparing to re-open talks over a long-standing
border dispute with Tanzania, two months after diplomatic negotiations
stalled, Foreign Minister Ephraim Chiume said on Wednesday.
“We are ready for the resumption of the talks. Malawi will
soon be sending its delegation to Tanzania to chart the way forward,”
Chiume told the national news agency.
Last month Malawi cancelled a fresh round of talks after Tanzania
“came up with a new map which defined a new boundary, and to us this
suggested that they were not doing these negotiations in good faith”,
said Chiume.
Based on an 1890 colonial agreement, Malawi claims
ownership of the whole of Lake Malawi, which forms the border between
the two countries.
Tanzania has maintained that half the lake falls within its borders
and is already eyeing it for natural gas exploration.
Earlier this month, Malawian President Joyce Banda
announced her country would take the dispute to the International
Court of Justice for arbitration.
The two countries are bickering over a largely undeveloped swathe of
the lake, where Malawi has awarded a licence to British firm
Surestream to explore for oil in its north-eastern waters, near
Tanzania.
The 29 600-square-kilometre lake is Africa's third-largest
freshwater lake. In Tanzania, it is called Lake Nyasa, which is taken
from Malawi's colonial name.
The lake lies in the Great Lakes system stretching along the East African Rift.
Zambian opposition MPs walk out of Parliament
Lusaka Times
Thursday October 18
Lusaka-Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday walked out of
the House in protest that they have not been officially informed on
who is acting Finance Minister since the holder ALEXANDER CHIKWANDA
was acting President.
The MPs lead by MMD Nalikwanda MP GEOFREY LUNGWANGWA,
walked out at 16:58 hours despite Speaker of the National Assembly
PATRICK MATIBINI giving several rulings on the matter this week.
MMD Kabombo East DANNY CHINGIMBU remained in the House with UPND
Nangoma MP BOYD HAMUSONDE who was out at the time his counterparts
walked out, but remained in the House until adjournment at 17:489
hours.
However, all MMD appointed Deputy Ministers remained in
the House with Patriotic Front (PF) members, Cabinet and Deputy
Ministers with leader of Government business Vice President GUY SCOTT.
The walk-out followed Professor Lungwangwa who wondered whether it was
in order for Government not to inform the House on who the acting
Finance Minister in place of Mr Chikwanda was.
Professor Lungwangwa said Mr Chikwanda, as a mover of
motion on 2013 national budget presented last week was supposed to be
in the House to take down concerns raised by members during debates.
He wondered whether it was in order for the members to continue
debating in the absence of Mr Chikwanda or any acting Finance Minister
to take all pertinent issues on budget debates and respond.
But in his ruling, Speaker of the National Assembly
PATRICK MATIBINI said the leader of Government bu8siness Dr Scott was
in the House and that Cabinet Ministers and their Deputies were always
present to hear what other members debated
“I still consider the order unsubstantial because the Honourbale
Chikwanda is still Finance Minister and there is disfunctionality and
I don’t see any constitutional crisis and the debates can be
conducted,” he said
He said if members were not happy they could ignite the
process because there was parliamentary democracy and members had
right to do so.
Home Affairs Deputy Minister STEPHEN KAMPYONGO also raised on a
point of order whether opposition where in order toa walk out at the
expense of listening on behalf of their people, in respond, Dr
Matibini said it was not in order and all members needed to be present
in the House.
Several PF MPs said the budget would give a proper direction on where
the ruling party was delivering development to uplift people’s
welfare.
"You're fired" - or maybe not, S.Africa's mines say
Reuters
Thursday October 18
Johannesburg-According to his "final ultimatum" to wildcat strikers,
Gold Fields chief executive Nick Holland is hours away from firing
23,000 miners.
In the poisonous atmosphere of the worst industrial unrest
in South Africa since the end of apartheid, everything points to him
making good on his threat on Thursday, adding to the 15,000 men
already sacked by platinum mines in the last two weeks.
The numbers are dramatic, and have political implications for
President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress (ANC), since
each miner probably supports up to 10 dependents.
The reality, however, is that the mass dismissals are just
another tactic - albeit a hard-ball one - in the long standoff between
management and workers over pay and conditions. When a deal is finally
reached, most will get their jobs back.
Re-hiring thousands of miners may be a logistical nightmare for the
likes of Gold Fields, the world's fourth largest bullion producer, but
the bosses know - as do the workers - that the company has few other
options if it is to restart production.
"It's very common that the employer uses mass dismissal as
a way of changing the nature of the dispute," said one labour lawyer.
He asked not to be named because he is involved in talks to resolve
the strikes, which have hit growth and confidence in Africa's biggest
economy.
"It's largely a tactical move," he said. "They don't expect to be able
to run a mine with a completely new labour force."
AngloGold Ashanti, the world's No. 3 bullion producer,
said on Wednesday it would decide next week whether to follow Gold
Fields in its dismissal ultimatum, which falls due at 2 p.m. (1200
GMT) on Thursday.
Despite the fighting talk from chief executive Mark Cutifani in an
interview with Reuters in London , the mood among strikers at
AngloGold's mine in Carletonville, 40 km (25 miles) west of
Johannesburg, was one of defiance and disdain.
"Come on, fire us," one man, among a group of hundreds of
strikers on a hill near the mine, told Reuters Television as his
friends joked and capered around him, pulling 10 rand notes from their
wallets to wave at the camera.
"What are you going to do then?" he asked. "We know you're going to
have to rehire us in two weeks."
WORST SINCE 1987
The strikes that erupted in early August at platinum miner
Lonmin have pushed South African labour relations to their lowest ebb
since a mass uprising in 1987 that successfully brought the
white-controlled economy to its knees.
Some of the blame can be traced back to the police killing of 34
strikers at Lonmin's Marikana mine on August 16, the worst security
incident since apartheid ended in 1994 - and to the hefty pay hike
that eventually got miners back on the job.
However, it is also a consequence of the stress under
which much of the industry, in particular platinum, finds itself, as
well as grassroots disillusionment with the sluggish pace of economic
change under nearly two decades of ANC rule.
The unrest first flared in January, with a six-week walkout at Impala
Platinum, the world's No. 2 producer of the precious metal, as a
result of a turf war between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
and the upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU).
NUM, whose close relationship with the ANC was forged in
decades of struggle against white rule, was accused of being out of
touch with workers and enjoying too cosy a relationship with
management and the government.
Revelations that NUM leader Frans Baleni earns more than 1 million
rand a year only reinforced the point, and helped fuel walkouts at
Gold Fields by workers fed up primarily with NUM shop stewards they
saw as self-serving.
Zuma made a point this week of standing shoulder to
shoulder with its old friend in a bid to restore the NUM-led
"collective bargaining" that has ensured relative labour stability in
the mines over the last two decades.
But this misses the point that NUM are part of the problem, and may
not necessarily part of the solution.
"The NUM can't come to us. They say they are scared of
us," said Evans Ramokga, a representative for striking workers at an
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) mine near Rustenburg, 120 km (70
miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
"RESTRUCTURING"
Amplats announced the dismissal of 12,000 strikers on
October 5, causing a sharp fall in the rand due to fears it would
inflame unrest in which more than 50 people have been killed,
including several NUM officials shot or hacked to death.
But Ramokga - as with his gold mining colleagues - appears
unperturbed, secure in the knowledge that the world's largest platinum
producer will eventually have to come
"We're waiting patiently," he told Reuters. "That's why
you don't see us going to the management. We're just waiting for
them."
His confidence might be misplaced.
Analysts believe half of South Africa's platinum mines are
making a loss because of a fall in the price of the metal this year,
and Amplats parent company Anglo American has already placed its four
Rustenburg mines "under review" - management-speak for working out
whether to close them.
Gold Fields' Holland has also said that "restructuring" - again,
managerial shorthand for closing shafts and laying off miners - "may
become inevitable" as labour costs rise and South Africa's gold mines
head ever deeper underground.
The lessons from Impala are telling: having fired 17,200
miners in the depths of its January dispute, the company rehired only
15,000 when it restarted operations in March.
"Unquestionably, when it comes to re-hiring, there will be fewer
jobs," the labour expert said. "And this will be one of the points of
negotiation."
Madagascar palm trees at risk of extinction, study finds
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
Madagascar-A majority of Madagascar's palms face extinction due to
land clearing, an environment protection group says.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
said 83% of the 192 tree varieties had been added to its threatened
species list.
The group called the figures "terrifying", saying the tree loss also
endangered animals and put people's livelihoods at risk.
The findings bring the global number of species at risk of
dying out to 20,219.
The IUCN's global director for biodiversity conservation, Jane Smart,
said the latest study showed the situation could no longer be ignored.
"The figures on Madagascar's palms are truly terrifying,
especially as the loss of palms impacts both the unique biodiversity
of the island and its people," she said.
Domino effect
Madagascar is the world's fourth biggest island after
Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo.
Because of its isolation most of its mammals, half its birds, and most
of its plants exist nowhere else on Earth.
Palm trees represent an integral part of the island's
biodiversity, with many of its poorest communities relying on the
trees to provide housing and food.
The raw materials are used to build houses, utensils and crafts, as
well as to produce food, drinks and medicine.
But forests have been rapidly shrinking as land is being
cleared for agriculture and logging.
Excessive palm heart harvesting has also put the trees at risk.
"The majority of Madagascar's palms grow in the island's
eastern rain forests, which have already been reduced to less than one
quarter of their original size and which continue to disappear," the
IUCN's Dr William Baker said.
Animals like the lemur have fallen victim to the domino effect of
deforestation, which destroys essential habitat.
"The high extinction risk faced by Madagascar's palms
reflects the decline in these forests, which threatens all of the
remarkable wildlife that occurs there," Dr Baker said.
The worldwide number of animals and plants on the IUCN's Red List of
Threatened Species is now 65,518.
Teacher sacked for cutting girls’ hair: Egypt
Reuters
Thursday October 18
Cairo-An Egyptian school teacher was fired on Wednesday for cutting
the hair of two 12-year-old girls because they were not wearing
Islamic headscarves, an act condemned as an illegal violation of human
rights by a leading woman's organisation.
Iman Abu Bakr Kilany, a science teacher who wears a full
veil, said she had been dismissed from her school in the southern town
of Luxor following complaints by relatives of the girls - the only two
in her class who did not wear headscarves.
“It started as a joke with the girls when I told them I would cut
their hair if they don't wear headscarves,” Kilany told Reuters by
telephone.
“Last Wednesday, one of my boy students reminded me and gave me
scissors from his school bag and I used them and cut small amounts of
their hair.”
Though apparently a symbolic act, the incident was seen as
the latest example of hardline Muslims trying to impose their values
on others in Egypt - a country now governed by Islamists.
“Without exaggeration, we feel that many of the hardline Islamists
feel empowered by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power to
impose their strict views on society,” said human rights activist
Gamal Eid.
Many Egyptian women wear the headscarf, but the country's
Islamic scholars typically say it should only be out of free choice.
That view is shared by the Muslim Brotherhood - the group which
propelled President Mohamed Morsi to power in June.
Kilany said she had asked all her girl students to put on the
headscarf, saying it was required for girls older than 10 to do so - a
view not shared by many Muslims. “Our religious traditions makes it
obligatory,” she said.
The National Council For Women (NCW) condemned Kilany in a
statement on Wednesday, saying her act “violates Egyptian law, the
rights of humans and the rights of children”.
While Morsi and his administration have repeatedly said they will not
seek to impose strict Islamic codes on Egypt, the rise to prominence
of an array of Islamist groups is alarming more secular-minded
Egyptians and the country's sizeable Christian minority.
In one headline-grabbing incident, a young man out with
his fiancee was stabbed to death by three Islamist zealots in Suez in
July.
The killers were sent to 15 years in jail last month.
Kilany said she would be reassigned to a role in the bureaucracy
and docked one month's salary.
Libya urged to probe Gaddafi’s death
AFP
Thursday October 18
Washington - The United States on Wednesday renewed its call for Libya
to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of ousted
dictator Muammar Gaddafi, after a new probe by a US rights watchdog.
As the first anniversary of Gaddafi’s death looms, Human
Rights Watch said it had uncovered new evidence implicating militias
in summary executions and raising questions over Libya's explanations
of how he and one of his sons died.
The 50-page report, “Death of a Dictator: Bloody Vengeance in Sirte”,
said Misrata-based militias captured and disarmed 66 members of
Gaddafi’s convoy in his hometown of Sirte last October.
“They then executed at least 66 captured members of the
convoy at the nearby Mahari Hotel,” the report said.
“Our findings call into question the assertion by Libyan authorities
that Muammar Gaddafi was killed in crossfire, and not after his
capture,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights
Watch.
To document what happened on October 20, 2011, HRW said it
had interviewed officers in opposition militias who were at the scene
and surviving members of the Gaddafi convoy in hospital, in custody or
at home.
“We are urging the government of Libya to genuinely investigate all
these claims and to prosecute any perpetrators in a manner consistent
with Libya's international obligations,” State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland said.
Washington has also called on the Libyan government to
investigate Gaddafi’s death as “it's very important to hold those
responsible to account”.
“This is part of... not only the judicial maturation of Libya but also
part of the ground that they need to plow for national
reconciliation,” she said.
Nuland added the United States has been trying to
“strengthen the underpinnings” of the Libyan judiciary by helping to
train judges and lawyers.
“It's no secret that this is a fragile and very new democracy,” she said.
“They were operating within a transitional governing structure for
a very long time, and we need to now support them as they take the
next steps on all of these issues.”
Zfn Realtime financial intelligence
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From: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:46:49 +0200
Subject: Overseas Press Summary + Alex Cartoon
To: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>
Zfn
Realtime financial intelligence
__________________________________________________________________________________
Headlines
Financial & Global Economy
*US stocks barely budge as earnings roll in - CNNMoney
*FTSE climbs above 5,900 mark for first time in a month – Business Recorder
*Gold steady after China data, euro zone summit eyed - Reuters
*Oil trades near one-week high on bailout optimism, U.S. economy - Bloomberg
*China growth pace slows as global economy stays fragile – BBC News
*Why Apple will never bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. - CNNMoney
*Lenovo sees global PC slowdown as reason to sell smartphones - Bloomberg
*SA bonds remain firm - Sapa
*Citi insiders expect new CEO to promote from within - Reuters
*Japan economy: Prime Minster Noda eyes stimulus boost – BBC News
*American Airlines posts bankruptcy-related loss – CNNMoney
*Electric car battery maker A123 Systems files bankruptcy - Bloomberg
*Toyota may trim 2012 output plan on China row: paper - Reuters
*VW's brilliant new world car has one little problem - CNNMoney
International
*Obama knocks Romney on women’s issues - AFP
*For Benghazi diplomatic security, U.S. relied on small British firm – Reuters
*Dinosaur skeletons smuggler seized in US - PressTV
*Human trafficking to UK 'rising' – BBC News
*Amid much speculation, Cuba state media releases message from Fidel
Castro – CNN News
*Japan ministers visit Tokyo war shrine amid spat with China - Bloomberg
*Vitamins may reduce cancer risk in men, study finds – BBC News
*Support floods in for Malala - AFP
*Alleged 9/11 mastermind: America killed more people than hijackers
did - Reuters
*Uruguay legalises abortion – BBC News
*Mexican drug kingpin's daughter not talking to U.S. officials - Reuters
*Conjoined twins Rosie and Ruby Formosa separated – BBC News
*Brazil wants to learn other sports – Super Sport
News from the Axis
*Taking Iran channels off air is cultural terrorism, IRIB chief says - PressTV
*Yemen debates drones - DPA
*Syria envoy says bloodshed could engulf Middle East - Reuters
*People hold funeral in Bahrain for victim of toxic tear gas - PressTV
Political and General
*Mpofu lowers diamond earnings forecast – New Zimbabwe
*Strained Zim-US relations affecting hunt For Rwandan genocide
fugitive – Radio VoP
*Econet hires former M-PESA top talent for EcoCash - TechZim
*Activist and mother Manjoro gets bail in cop murder trial – SW Radio Africa
*Asiagate names set to be released on Friday – New Zimbabwe
Regional
*Malawi ready to resume border talks - AFP
*Zambian opposition MPs walk out of Parliament – Lusaka Times
*"You're fired" - or maybe not, S.Africa's mines say - Reuters
*Madagascar palm trees at risk of extinction, study finds – BBC News
*Teacher sacked for cutting girls’ hair: Egypt - Reuters
*Libya urged to probe Gaddafi’s death - AFP
Financial & Global Economy
US stocks barely budge as earnings roll in
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
New York-U.S. stocks closed little changed Wednesday, as investors
took in new housing data and another batch of corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced along the
breakeven, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 edged slightly higher.
Of the 30 stocks listed on the Dow, 24 traded higher, but IBM (IBM,
Fortune 500) dragged the index down. The tech giant, which has a
heavier weighting on the Dow, reported a dip in sales after the
markets closed Tuesday, sending the company's shares plummeting 5%.
"The most important thing we're looking at is earnings,
and so far, so good, but we're not ringing the bell yet," said Doug
Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management.
"But we're also really encouraged by what looks like a true housing
recovery, which is important to the consumer and bodes well for
corporate profits."
Housing starts, which tally the number of new homes under
construction, climbed 15% to an annual rate of 872,000 in September,
according to the Census Bureau. That's the highest level in more than
four years and better than what economists had expected. Building
permits for future construction also rose to the highest level in more
than four years.
Of the 37 S&P 500 companies that have reported third-quarter earnings,
23 have beat analysts' estimates, according to S&P Capital IQ. But
they still forecast that overall S&P 500 earnings will decline 0.7% --
the slowest growth in three years.
Early Wednesday, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500)
reported third-quarter earnings that beat forecasts, citing improved
lending and deposits.
JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs
(GS, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) have also all
topped expectations.
But not all corporate news was good news. Intel (INTC,
Fortune 500) reported lower profits and sales after the close Tuesday,
weighed down by weak PC sales. Shares fell nearly 3%.
Apollo Group (APOL), owner of the nation's largest for-profit college,
tumbled 22% Wednesday. The company reported an 11% drop in
fourth-quarter revenue on Tuesday, and said it would cut roughly 800
jobs and close 25 campuses.
Results from American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) are due
after the close.
Fear & Greed Index
World Markets: European stocks closed higher Wednesday.
Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.7%, the DAX in Germany rose 0.3% and
France's CAC 40 added 0.8%. Meanwhile, Spanish bonds climbed after
Moody's Investors Service affirmed Spain's investment grade credit
rating.
Asian markets closed higher. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.3%, the
Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 1%, and Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.2%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar slipped against the
euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil for November delivery fell cents 20 cents to $91.89 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery gained $6.70 to $1,753 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing
the yield up to 1.80% from 1.72% late Tuesday
FTSE climbs above 5,900 mark for first time in a month
Business Recorder
Thursday October 18
London-Britain's top shares hit their highest level in more than a
month on Wednesday, propelled by strength in risk-sensitive commodity
stocks ahead of economic growth data from top consumer China The FTSE
100 closed up 40.37 points, or 0.7 percent, at 5,910.91, having jumped
1.1 percent on Tuesday, ending back above the 5,900 level for the
first time since September 14.
Gains by miners and energy stocks accounted for nearly all
the FTSE 100 index's gains - adding 21 points and 16 points
respectively - on expectations that Thursday's third-quarter GDP data
from China will provide a boost to demand for commodities.
China's economic situation in the third quarter was relatively good,
Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted by local media as saying on Wednesday,
and the government is confident of achieving its 2012 growth target of
7.5 percent.
However, the third-quarter GDP, forecast at 7.4 percent,
would still undercut the slowest growth rate in three years seen in
the second quarter and leave the door open to more stimulus measures
from China which would provide a boost for commodities.
Among miners, BHP Billiton added 3.3 percent as the firm joined rival
Rio Tinto in pressing on with plans to boost iron ore output despite a
volatile market caused by China's uncertain economic outlook.
British oil major BP was the stand-out performer, alone
providing almost a quarter of the bluechip advance.
BP added 2.9 percent in solid volume of over double its 90-day daily
average as investors awaited news on the future of the group's Russian
joint venture, TNK-BP.
The AAR consortium of billionaires that owns half of
TNK-BP has agreed to sell its 50 percent stake to Russia's
state-controlled oil producer Rosneft for $28 billion, according to a
source familiar with the matter.
BP has put its 50 percent stake in the troubled partnership up for
sale, but a disposal by AAR would clear the way for the firm to forge
a strategic alliance with Rosneft.
"Although not a key technical level, 5,900 has a
psychologically important relevance for traders, and kicking above it
could prove important for sentiment going forward," said Mike Mason,
trader at Sucden Financial Private Clients.
"However, there are still plenty of hurdles ahead, with Spanish
bailout expectations remaining to the fore despite Moody's maintenance
of its credit rating," Mason added.
Moody's rating agency gave a conditional affirmation to
Spain's investment grade credit rating, as they claimed that the ECB's
support along with Spain's own efforts should allow Madrid to continue
to access the capital markets.
Spain is widely perceived to be edging closer to asking for financial
aid, potentially allowing the European Central Bank to begin buying
its bonds and backstop the euro zone debt crisis which has dogged
markets for over three years.
"Central banks have signalled that they are committed to
fostering recovery or avoiding total disaster, which has reduced the
fear of renewed recession or a banking collapse and allowed prices to
recover almost fully from last year's sell-off," said Andrew Bell,
chief executive of Witan Investment Trust.
After recent gains on upbeat economic data and positive corporate
earnings, US bluechips were flat by London's close, weighed by big
falls in technology stocks IBM and Intel after weaker than expected
results.
Gold steady after China data, euro zone summit eyed
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Singapore-Gold traded flat on Thursday, retaining gains from the
previous two days, as investors looked for fresh leads from a European
Union summit after shrugging off data showing China's economy slowed
for a seventh quarter as expected.
European leaders will gather for a two-day meeting amid
talks that Spain will seek a bailout next month, as the bloc continues
its struggle with the debt crisis.
Gold has closely followed the moves in the currency market, with
improving sentiment around the euro zone giving support to the euro
and weighing on the dollar, making dollar-priced commodities more
attractive for buyers holding other currencies. <USD/>
China's economy slid into its seventh straight quarter of
slowdown in July-September quarter, growing at 7.4 percent on the year
as expected, and Beijing said the country will be able to beat or
exceed the annual growth target of 7.5 percent.
Investors have expected more policy clarity from Beijing after the
leadership transition next month among speculation that China will
launch more stimulus measures to help boost growth.
Prices of bullion dipped to below $1,730 earlier in the
week under the pressure of uncertainty over Spain's bailout plan and
improvement in U.S. economic data which triggered concerns about the
extent of the latest stimulus measures.
"In the short term, the $1,730 support level will continue to feel a
lot of pressure as investors focus on the euro zone summit," said Chen
Min, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in the southern Chinese city of
Shenzhen.
"But beyond that, gold's outlook is still bullish thanks
to support from the easing measures by central banks."
Spot gold traded nearly flat at $1,750 an ounce by 0320 GMT.
U.S. gold also was little changed at $1,751.50.
"Some buyers are coming back, thinking the sell-off is over," said a
Hong Kong-based trader. "But we may see another correction since the
positioning in gold is still very high."
Net length in U.S. gold hit a 14-month high of 198,194
contracts last week, more than doubled from this year's trough in
late-July.
Holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds stood at 74.804 million
ounces, not far off a record of 75.03 million ounces hit last week,
suggesting strong investment demand in gold.
Oil trades near one-week high on bailout optimism, U.S. economy
Bloomberg
Wednesday October 17
New York-Oil traded near the highest level in a week in New York on
signs Germany may ease its resistance to a Spanish bailout and after
industrial production rose more than forecast in the U.S., the world’s
biggest crude consumer.
Futures were little changed after rising as much as 0.7
percent today.
Two German lawmakers said the country is open to Spain seeking a
precautionary credit line.
Output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities rose 0.4
percent in September, twice as much as the median forecast of
economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, data from the Federal Reserve
in Washington showed yesterday.
“All the measures taken to show some progress in the European debt
crisis should improve sentiment for commodities and for crude as
well,” said Hannes Loacker, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank
International AG in Vienna, who predicts Brent crude will trade at
about $114 a barrel at the end of the year.
Crude for November delivery was at $92.53 a barrel, up 44
cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at
1:44 p.m. London time.
The contract yesterday rose 24 cents to $92.09, the highest settlement
since Oct. 9. Prices are down 6.4 percent this year.
Brent for December settlement slipped 33 cents to $113.67
a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe. November futures
expired yesterday. The front-month European benchmark grade’s premium
to the corresponding West Texas Intermediate contract was at $20.76 a
barrel. It settled at $23.95 on Oct. 15, the widest gap since reaching
a record on Oct. 14, 2011.
U.S. Stockpiles
The comments in Germany by Michael Meister, a deputy
caucus leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic
coalition, and Norbert Barthle, a budget spokesman for her party, may
signal a reversal of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s public
position. Schaeuble cautioned Spain against seeking aid on top of its
bank bailout as recently as last month.
The European Union accounted for 16 percent of the world’s oil
consumption last year, according to BP Plc (BP/)’s Statistical Review
of World Energy.
The U.S. used 21 percent.
U.S. crude stockpiles rose 3.7 million barrels last week,
data from the American Petroleum Institute showed yesterday. They are
forecast to climb 1.5 million barrels, according to the median
estimate of nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey before an Energy
Department report today.
Gasoline inventories fell 1.2 million barrels, the API data showed.
They are projected to rise 500,000 barrels in the government report.
Distillate supplies, a category that includes diesel and heating oil,
gained 1.8 million barrels, according to the API, compared with an
estimated decline of 1.5 million in the survey.
Technical Resistance
The API collects stockpile information on a voluntary
basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines.
The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy
Department for its weekly survey.
Oil’s advance in New York may stall along its middle
Bollinger Band around $93.11 a barrel, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg.
Last week’s climb halted near this indicator, signaling technical
resistance, where sell orders tend to be clustered.
China growth pace slows as global economy stays fragile
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
Beijing-China's economic growth slowed further in the third quarter as
the European debt crisis and a weak recovery in the US economy hurt
demand for its goods.
The economic grew 7.4% in the three months to the end of
September compared with a year earlier, down from a 7.6% growth rate
in the previous quarter.
However, other data released showed a jump in factory output, retail
sales and investment in September.
Analysts said the data indicated that China's economy may
be stabilising.
"We think that with rebounding property markets, stabilising export
orders and resuming consumption, we probably have seen the bottom
[for] the economy," said Dong Tao an economist with Credit Suisse in
Hong Kong.
China's growth over the past few years has been led by the
success of its export and manufacturing sector, as well as by a
credit-fuelled investment boom in the country.
But demand for its exports has slowed from key markets lately, leading
to fears of a sharp slowdown in its economy.
However, figures released on Thursday indicated that
things may be starting to pick up again.
China's industrial production rose by a more-than-expected 9.2% in
September from a year earlier. That was up from 8.9% growth in August.
Meanwhile, retail sales during the month were 14.2% higher
than a year ago, indicating that domestic consumption was growing.
"The September data indicates economic momentum has picked up strongly
compared with July and August," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China
economist at Nomura in Hong Kong.
The latest numbers comes on the back of a 9.9%
year-on-year growth in exports during September, a big jump from the
2.7% growth recorded in the previous month.
Mr Zhang added the data "helps reinforce our view that growth will
rebound visibly in the fourth quarter".
Why Apple will never bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
New York-At the end of Tuesday night's presidential debate, CNN's
Candy Crowley asked both candidates a question that has plagued Apple
since the beginning of the year.
"IPad, the Macs, the iPhones, they are all manufactured in
China, and one of the major reasons is labor is so much cheaper
there," Crowley said. "How do you convince a great American company to
bring that manufacturing back here?"
Mitt Romney said the solution is "very straightforward." The United
States must pressure China to stop manipulating its currency, he said,
and the federal government needs to "make America the most attractive
place for entrepreneurs" by lowering taxes. He supports reducing the
top corporate tax rate to 25%, down from its current 35%.
President Obama offered a starker answer: "Candy, there
are some jobs that are not going to come back, because they're
low-wage, low-skill jobs."
Speaking strictly for Apple, Obama's assessment is likely correct.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) has said that it directly employs thousands
of its own workers in China, and about 700,000 assembly workers at
manufacturing contractors like Foxconn put together Apple products. It
would be almost impossible to bring those jobs to the United States.
Foxconn -- China's largest private employer and the
manufacturer of an estimated 40% half of the world's consumer
electronic devices -- pays its assembly workers far less than American
labor laws would allow. A typical salary is 2500 RMB (U.S. $400), or
about $18 a day.
But pay isn't the biggest obstacle. Various economists have estimated
how much an all-American labor force would add to the cost of an
iPhone and come up with figures ranging from $65 to $100 per device.
The real stumbling block is speed. Unlike U.S. plants,
Foxconn and other Chinese manufacturing operations house employees in
dormitories and can send hundreds of thousands of workers to the
assembly lines at a moment's notice. On the lines, workers are
subjected to what most Americans would consider unbearably long hours
and tough working conditions.
That system gives tech companies the efficiency needed to race
products out the door. Plus, most of the component suppliers for Apple
and other tech giants are also in China or other Asian countries. That
geographic clustering gives companies the flexibility to change a
product design at the last minute and still ship on time.
There's another catch, and it's one that politicians don't
like to talk about: China has many more skilled engineers than the
United States does.
Steve Jobs, Apple's late CEO, brought the issue up during an October
2010 meeting with President Obama. He called America's lackluster
education system an obstacle for Apple, which needed 30,000 industrial
engineers to support its on-site factory workers.
"You can't find that many in America to hire," Jobs told
the president, according to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. "If you
could educate these engineers, we could move more manufacturing plants
here."
In a May interview with AllThingsD, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he agreed
with Jobs' assessment.
"There has to be a fundamental change in the education
system to bring back some of this [labor]," he said.
When asked if the day would ever come when an Apple product is made in
the United States, he said: "I want there to be ... and you can bet
that we'll use the whole of our influence on this."
That's a much more upbeat tone than the one his
predecessor struck. During their meeting in 2010, Obama asked Jobs how
to bring all the iPhone manufacturing jobs back to the United States,
according to the New York Times.
"Those jobs aren't coming back," Jobs replied.
Lenovo sees global PC slowdown as reason to sell smartphones
Bloomberg
Thursday October 18
Hong Kong-Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) said slowing demand in the
personal-computer market, where it overtook Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ)
as the global leader last quarter, is good reason for the company to
expand into smartphones.
Lenovo is already the second-largest smartphone maker in
China and plans to seize the top spot from Samsung Electronics Co.,
Milko Van Duijl, president for the Asia-Pacific and Latin America
regions, said in Hong Kong today. “Our goal is definitely to get to
number one and not only to take smartphones into the China market but
also into emerging markets.”
Lenovo, founded in 1984 with the equivalent of $25,000, has swelled to
become a manufacturer valued at $8.4 billion, helped by takeovers
including International Business Machines Corp.’s PC unit in 2005.
The company, founded in China in 1984 with the equivalent
of $25,000, has expanded its market value to $8.4 billion, helped by
takeovers including International Business Machines Corp.’s PC unit in
2005. Van Duijl said Lenovo just began selling handsets in Indonesia
and India will follow, as Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing moves
closer to his goal of extending its PC dominance to smartphones and
tablet computers.
“Despite the challenges in the global PC market, Lenovo continues to
expand in both emerging markets and mature markets at the expense of
its competitors,” Miles Xie, a Hong Kong- based analyst with Bocom
International Holdings Co., wrote in a report today. Lenovo’s efforts
are allowing the company to “rapidly expand its market share in the
China smartphone market,” wrote Xie, who has a buy rating on the
shares.
Lenovo, whose headquarters are in Beijing and Morrisville,
North Carolina, fell 0.4 percent to HK$6.30 at 11:11 a.m. in Hong Kong
trading. The city’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6 percent.
Definite Easing
“There is definitely a slowdown in the market in all parts
of the world, however, we are so strong in China that was a good
reason for us to expand into smartphones,” Van Duijl said of the PC
market in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
In China, Lenovo has a smartphone market share of 11.5 percent,
surpassing that for the iPhone, Van Duijl said, without giving a
figure for the Apple Inc. (AAPL) device.
As Lenovo expands in mobile devices, the company will
build its own cloud-computing services and online store to create an
ecosystem for the products, he said. Lenovo won’t make its own mobile
operating system and will stick with Google Inc.’s Android and
Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 8, Van Duijl said.
Worldwide PC shipments fell 8.3 percent from a year earlier to 87.5
million in the third quarter, according to Stamford, Connecticut-based
Gartner Inc.
Temporary Slowdown
Lenovo sees the PC market slowdown as temporary, Van Duijl
said. Global PC shipments will rise to 530 million units within two to
three years, from 350 million units now, he said.
Lenovo accounted for 15.7 percent of global PC shipments last quarter,
overtaking Hewlett-Packard, with 15.5 percent, for the first time,
Gartner said Oct. 10.
The Chinese company narrowed Hewlett-Packard’s lead in the
quarter with a market share of 15.7 percent, compared with 15.9
percent for the Palo Alto, California-based maker, according to IDC,
another market researcher. IDC’s study included so-called
workstations, the more powerful desktop devices used for such tasks as
engineering, architecture and video-game development.
CEO Yang said Lenovo will take steps to become the “clear leader” in
PCs and leverage that dominance to head the market for mobile devices
in what he called the “PC-plus era.”
“Becoming the clear leader in global PC share of course
remains one of Lenovo’s aspirations, but it also only represents one
more milestone in our journey as a company and our mission to become
the leader in the PC+ era,” Yang said in e-mail on Oct. 11. “This
includes PCs, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, cloud and enterprise
computing.”
Lenovo is still at least two years away from making “meaningful
inroads” in mobile devices in the U.S. or Europe, said Jean-Louis
Lafayeedney, an analyst at JI Asia in Hong Kong.
“Undoubtedly, Lenovo’s market share gains against competitors has
been impressive” in PCs, Lafayeedney said in an e-mail. “In terms of
tablets and smartphones, the company has yet to prove it can extend
its reach beyond China and some periphery countries.”
SA bonds remain firm
Sapa
Thursday October 18
Johannesburg-South African government bond prices rose on Wednesday
after a well-received weekly auction and as the market speculated the
government will tighten spending after two ratings downgrades.
Bonds also tracked the rand currency, which rallied more
than one percent in line with a stronger euro after Spain avoided a
ratings downgrade by ratings agency Moody's, which would most likely
have triggered selling of Spanish bonds.
Local assets, however, remain vulnerable to a swing in sentiment as
investors fret about wildcat strikes that have hit South Africa's
mining sector, with companies reporting heavy losses in production
since August.
But on Wednesday the yield on the three-year government
bond closed five basis points lower at 5.36 percent and that for the
longer dated 14-year paper shed 12.5 basis points to 7.61 percent.
“After the success of yesterday's weekly bond auction, renewed
interest in South African bonds from offshore, coupled with a stronger
rand, has seen yields move lower across the board today,” said Steve
Arnold, a bond trader at Investec.
“One would have to wait for next week, when we have
inflation out on Wednesday and more importantly the midterm budget
speech on Thursday to give us some guidance as to how the government
finances are looking at the end of the first half-year. That will
drive us forward thereafter.”
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan hinted to parliament earlier this week
he would rein in spending in next week's midterm budget, which he will
present in the wake of ratings downgrades for South Africa by both
Moody's and S&P.
“We do not expect major adjustments to the Treasury's
issuance plans in the 2012 medium term budget policy statement,” Bank
of America Merrill Lynch analyst Matthew Sharratt said.
The rand hit a 1-1/2 week high of 8.5772/dollar and was at 8.5975 by
17h29 GMT, up more than 1 percent from Tuesday's New York close.
Citi insiders expect new CEO to promote from within
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
New York-Citigroup Inc (C.N) insiders expect new chief executive, Mike
Corbat, to promote executives from within the bank rather than hire
from outside, which could mean his having to fill as many as four
senior posts in the next several weeks.
Corbat, who became CEO on Tuesday following the sudden
departure of Vikram Pandit and Chief Operating Officer John Havens,
has spent nearly 30 years at Citigroup and its predecessors.
On Wednesday, he set up interim reporting lines for his executive
ranks, naming Bill Mills, the current CEO for the North America
region, to take on extra responsibilities as the temporary CEO for
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), according to an internal memo
seen by Reuters. Corbat held the top EMEA job before being promoted
Corbat has said he will take the next several weeks to
review the reporting structure, but names of potential candidates in
what could be a round of reshuffling atop the third largest U.S. bank
are already beginning to surface among insiders.
If Corbat decides to rely on people from within the bank, that would
be in contrast to Pandit, who filled some of the top roles at the bank
with people who had worked with him before at his hedge fund, Old
Lane, and Morgan Stanley. (MS.N)
Jim Cowles, who is currently chief operating officer of
Citi's EMEA unit, is seen within the bank as a leading contender for
Corbat's old job, according to sources at the bank.
Another contender, according to these people, is Francesco Vanni
d'Archirafi, the head of Citigroup's Global Transaction Services.
If d'Archirafi were chosen, Corbat would have to put
someone else in charge of that unit, which acts as a big treasury and
transactional hub for clients and contributes 25 percent of core
business earnings before taxes.
Corbat will also have to decide whether to name a new chief operating
officer to replace Havens. If he does, one candidate is James 'Jamie'
Forese, who currently runs the bank's securities and trading unit,
which contributes 29 percent of core business earnings before taxes,
the sources said.
Citigroup declined to comment.
QUICK ACTION NEEDED
Analysts said Corbat will likely have to move fast in
filling out the vacancies to end uncertainty at the bank created by
the abrupt departures of Pandit and Havens following a clash with the
board. Citigroup insiders and analysts expect more departures of
people who were seen as close to Pandit.
Putting a stable senior management team in place would be one of the
first steps that Corbat would need to take as he tries to improve the
company's profits in a tough economic and regulatory environment.
Citigroup employs 262,000 people.
Corbat has said he expects to set a lasting structure of reporting
lines by "very, very early into the New Year."
Mike Mayo, bank analyst at CLSA, said investors will give
Corbat that much time, but not much more. "The first 100 days is about
the limit," he said.
For now, Corbat said in the memo that business and function heads who
previously reported to Pandit or Havens will initially report to him.
Japan, an exception, will report to Gene McQuade, according to the
memo.
In the memo and in a conference call with managing
directors earlier on Wednesday, Corbat said he will use budget and
strategic reviews over the next several weeks to decide how to
organize managers.
Corbat said in the call, a recording of which was heard by Reuters,
that he does not want to make "one-off decisions" about his
appointments. He made that remark in response to a question about when
he would name someone to his former post in London, which he had held
for 10 months.
SYSTEM OVERHAUL
The London job is important to the company's standing as a
supplier of banking services around the world. The bank has been
pushing to recover market share in Europe while at the same time
controlling risks from debt crises there.
When Corbat had the job, he divided the EMEA region into four
clusters, split by sub-regions, and reinforced some senior investment
banking roles, naming James Bardrick and Manuel Falco as corporate and
investment banking heads.
Some of the top regional managers or investment bankers
could also be contenders for the senior EMEA job, though Citi insiders
added that Corbat could prefer to turn to someone he knows from
further back, such as former colleagues from Citi Holdings, which
Corbat ran for two years.
"It is very important that Michael Corbat has a team that is able to
execute well," said analyst Mayo, who wants to see the bank simplify
its global operations as well as a unit called Citi Holdings, which is
jettisoning businesses and assets. "Citigroup is too reliant on too
many individuals. I would like to see the systems better integrated."
Mayo said he was encouraged that Michael O'Neill, the
chairman of Citigroup's board of directors, is a champion of Corbat
and can guide his decisions. O'Neill, who turns 66 at the end of this
month, was an industry leader in the 1990s in rationalizing bank
structures to improve shareholder returns when he worked at what was
then Bank of America, said Mayo.
O'Neill has also won praise for overhauling Bank of Hawaii as chief
executive between 2000 and 2004.
"Corbat is joined at the hip with O'Neill" and O'Neill "is a
profitability builder," said Gerard Cassidy, analyst at RBC Capital
Markets.
Japan economy: Prime Minster Noda eyes stimulus boost
BBC News
Thursday October 18
Tokyo-Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has ordered his cabinet to
draw up fresh stimulus measures in a bid to spur economic growth.
Japan's growth has been hurt by falling demand for its
exports amid a slowdown in key markets such as the US, eurozone and
China.
At the same time, domestic consumption in Japan continues to remains subdued.
Mr Noda ordered the stimulus package to be compiled by
next month, but did not give details on how big it would be.
"Considering what the government and the central bank are forecasting,
I doubt we can simply stand by and let the economy continue as it is,"
Finance Minister Koriki Jojima was quoted as saying by the Reuters
news agency.
Elections
Japan's economy grew by 0.3% in the second quarter of the
year from the previous three months. That was down from 1% growth in
the first quarter.
And growth is expected to remain subdued amid continued economic
problems in its key markets.
The eurozone debt crisis continues to remain a threat to
overall global growth, while the recovery in the US economy has been
fragile and consumer confidence there remains low.
To make matters worse, China - Japan's biggest trading partner - is
also seeing a slowdown in its pace of growth.
That has led to concerns that Japan's growth may be hurt
further in the coming months.
The new stimulus measures have been prompted by both political as well
as economic concerns, according to Masamichi Adachi, senior economist
at JP Morgan.
"The government's first motivation is that the economy is
close to a recession," he said.
"The second motivation is that an election is close, so the party in
charge is expected to show its competence."
However, Mr Adachi added that, since the government had not given
details on the size and specifics of the package, it was "difficult
for anyone to think this will be effective".
American Airlines posts bankruptcy-related loss
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
New York-American Airlines' efforts to emerge from bankruptcy caused
it to post another quarter of red ink Wednesday.
AMR (AAMRQ, Fortune 500), the airline's holding company,
reported a net loss of $238 million. During the same period last year,
it lost $162 million, which was the last full quarter before filing
for bankruptcy in November 2011.
But the company said it would have been profitable if not for various
charges related to the bankruptcy, including $211 million in severance
payments.
The airline is offering some of its unionized employees,
such as ground workers and flight attendants, voluntary buyout
packages as part of the labor deals reached with those unions.
American disclosed Wednesday that because 2,200 flight attendants took
a $40,000 buyout offer, it will need to begin hiring 1,500 replacement
flight attendants starting next month.
The airline was able to win new labor deals with the Association of
Professional Flight Attendants and the Transport Workers Union, which
represents its ground workers. But it is still trying to reach a new
labor deal with the Allied Pilots Union. When the bankruptcy court
allowed the airline to dump the pilots' contract last month, pilots
began calling in sick and filing maintenance reports on items that
airline management says were trivial. Flight cancellations increased,
and the airline's on-time performance fell to less than 50%.
The airline said those operational problems did not cause
a material hit to third-quarter earnings, even though the number of
passengers fell by 4% in September.
Management and the pilots are back at the negotiating table to reach a
new agreement.
American's on-time performance improved to 65%in October,
according to tracking service FlightStats, but the airline still
trails the industry average of 79%.
American unions are all on record backing a merger with US Airways
Group (LCC, Fortune 500).
Each has reached a tentative labor deal with US Airways
that would cover them should there be a deal. US Airways could use
this fact to argue to American's creditors that a merger is the best
course for making its labor happy and returning its operations to full
capacity.
American management has said it prefers to emerge from bankruptcy as
an independent airline, but it has entered into a nondisclosure
agreement with US Airways as it explores a possible deal. Tuesday it
asked the bankruptcy court for an extension until March 28 to present
a reorganization plan to the court. It said one of the reasons it
needs more time is to consider "strategic alternatives," which
frequently refers to mergers.
Electric car battery maker A123 Systems files bankruptcy
Bloomberg
Thursday October 17
Wilmington-A123 Systems Inc. (AONE), the electric car battery maker
that received a $249.1 million federal grant, filed for bankruptcy
protection and said it would sell its automotive business assets to
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI)
Machines are used to fabricate batteries at the A123
Systems lithium ion automotive battery manufacturing plant in Livonia,
Michigan.
The filing may fuel a debate over government financing of
alternative-energy and transportation businesses. Federal grants and
loans to companies including A123, Fisker Automotive Inc. and Tesla
Motors Inc. (TSLA) have drawn scrutiny from congressional Republicans
following the September 2011 bankruptcy filing of solar-panel maker
Solyndra LLC two years after it received a $535 million loan guarantee
from the U.S. Energy Department.
“This action is expected to allow the company to provide
for an orderly sale,” A123 said in a press release. Johnson Controls
plans to acquire A123’s automotive-business assets in a deal valued at
$125 million and will provide financing of $72.5 million to support
A123’s operations, according to the release. A deal to sell a majority
stake to a Chinese company fell through, A123 said.
The Energy Debate Continues at www.bloomberg.com/sustainability
The company listed assets of $459.8 million and debt of
$376 million as of Aug. 31 in Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company said yesterday it expected to
fail to make an interest payment due yesterday on $143.8 million of
notes expiring in 2016.
Largest Shareholders
A123’s largest shareholder is Heights Capital Management
Inc. of San Francisco, with 12.5 million shares, or a 7.3 percent
stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. IHI Corp., based in
Tokyo, has 8.45 million shares, or about 5 percent, and General
Electric Co., based in Fairfield, Connecticut, holds 7.37 million
shares, or about 4.3 percent.
The 30 largest consolidated creditors without collateral backing their
claims are owed a total of more than $161 million, according to court
papers. U.S. Bank NA, as trustee, is listed as the largest unsecured
creditor with a claim of $142.8 million, according to court papers.
Hudson Bay Capital Management LP has a claim of $2.8 million, Jabil
Circuit Inc. has a claim of $1.7 million and Hydro Quebec has a claim
of $1.5 million.
A123 fell 18 cents, or 74 percent, to 6 cents a share in
over-the-counter trading as of 2:38 p.m.
A123, which received a $249.1 million federal grant in 2009 to build
U.S. factory capacity, needed a financial lifeline after struggling
with costs from a recall of batteries supplied to Fisker, the plug-in
hybrid luxury carmaker. A123 announced in August that it was working
on a deal with Wanxiang Group Corp., China’s largest auto-parts maker,
for financing in exchange for a majority ownership stake.
‘Significant Challenges’
“We determined not to move forward with the previously
announced Wanxiang agreement as a result of unanticipated and
significant challenges to its completion,” David Vieau, A123’s chief
executive officer, said today in the company’s statement. Wanxiang had
planned to invest as much as $465 million in A123, giving the
Hangzhou, China-based company a stake of as much as 80 percent, A123
said in an Aug. 16 statement.
Johnson Controls plans to acquire A123’s automotive business assets,
including its facilities in Livonia and Romulus, Michigan. The
Milwaukee-based company also will obtain A123’s cathode powder plant
in China and its equity interest in Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery
Systems Co., A123’s joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry
Corp.
‘Good Complement’
“Our interest in A123 Systems is consistent with our long-
term growth strategies and overall commitment to the development of
the advanced battery industry,” Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson
Controls Power Solutions, said in today’s statement. “We believe that
A123’s automotive capabilities are a good complement to our existing
portfolio.”
A123 has used $132 million of the $249.1 million grant awarded by the
U.S. in 2009 toward building the two Michigan factories, the Energy
Department said today in a posting on its website. A123 was required
to spend up to one dollar of its funds for every incentive dollar
received from the government, according to regulatory filings. The
company also received a $6 million grant from the George W. Bush
administration in 2007.
A123 and its debtor and non-debtor affiliates,
collectively, have about 1,763 active employees, located in 10
facilities across the U.S., China and Germany, according to court
papers. Its businesses consist of three primary business segments:
transportation, grid-energy storage and commercial.
‘Sole Purpose’
A123 Securities Corp., a non-operating company that holds
a large portion of the company’s cash, and Grid Storage Holdings LLC,
a shell entity formed “for the sole purpose of facilitating certain
contemplated grid projects which ultimately were not completed,” also
sought protection, according to court papers. Units outside the U.S.
didn’t file for bankruptcy.
President Barack Obama called A123’s CEO Vieau and then- Michigan
Governor Jennifer Granholm during a September 2010 event celebrating
the opening of the plant in Livonia that the company received the U.S.
grant to help build.
“This is about the birth of an entire new industry in
America -- an industry that’s going to be central to the next
generation of cars,” Obama said in the phone call, according to a
transcript provided by the White House. “When folks lift up their
hoods on the cars of the future, I want them to see engines and
batteries that are stamped: Made in America.”
Vehicle Sales
Electric-vehicle sales since 2011 totaled fewer than
50,000 through September, just 5 percent of Obama’s target to have 1
million such vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015.
The debtors’ two largest customers are Fisker and AES Energy Storage
LLC and its affiliates, which accounted for about 26 percent and 24
percent of their total revenue during the year ended Dec. 31,
respectively, court papers show.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said last
month that Obama has picked “losers” for alternative-energy loans and
grants. His running mate, Paul Ryan, has called for all green-energy
subsidies to be eliminated.
A123 has posted at least 14 straight quarterly losses. Its shares had
fallen 85 percent this year to 24 cents as of yesterday’s close in New
York.
The case is In re A123 Systems Inc., 12-49658, U.S. Bankruptcy
Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
Toyota may trim 2012 output plan on China row: paper
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Tokyo-Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) is considering trimming its 2012
group-wide production plan by about 2 percent because of a drop in
sales in China after a territorial row, a Japanese newspaper reported,
but the company denied it had altered its target.
Asia's top automaker may cut its calendar-year production
forecast for 10.05 million vehicles by around 200,000 vehicles, the
Mid-Japan Economist newspaper said on its website on Thursday, without
citing sources. The regional daily is based in central Japan, where
Toyota's headquarters is located.
"The figure cited in the report is not based on anything announced by
us, and at this time there are no changes to the figures we presented
earlier," said Toyota spokeswoman Shino Yamada.
Shares in Toyota had risen 1.8 percent as of 0204 GMT to
3,115 yen, outperforming the Nikkei .N225 index, which was up 1.26
percent.
Tetsuro Ii, the Chief Executive Officer of Commons Asset Management,
said the shares rose because of a favorable dollar-yen exchange rate,
and that investors do not see a big dent in the firm's profits from
the possible production cut.
"Because Toyota is very aware of the global slowdown at
the moment, they're trying hard to control their inventory and so they
tend to put out very conservative estimates," he said.
The yen, which has been trading recently in the 78-yen range against
the dollar, weakened to about 79.1 yen in morning trade.
A strong yen makes it more expensive for Japanese automakers to export
cars from Japan.
Toyota's original production target, which includes output
at Daihatsu Motor (7262.T) and Hino Motors (7205.T), would make Toyota
the first automaker to produce more than 10 million vehicles in a
year.
Showroom traffic and sales across China have plunged at Japanese car
makers since mid-September when violent protests and calls for
boycotts of Japanese products broke out in China over a group of
disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Toyota and its two local Chinese partners saw sales drop
48.9 percent in September from a year earlier to 44,100 vehicles.
A source previously told Reuters that Toyota's production cutbacks in
China were likely to extend through November, a move that would almost
certainly put the company's goal of selling 1 million cars in China
this year out of reach.
Toyota, whose sales in China accounted for about 12
percent of its total global vehicle sales in 2011, is less exposed to
the world's biggest auto market than rivals Nissan Motor Co (7201.T)
and Honda Motor Co (7267.T).
Analysts have said that Japanese automakers could see a dent in sales
in China for months.
Takaki Nakanishi, an auto analyst at Bank of America
Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, said that the impact could last three months
in an optimistic scenario and up to six months in a pessimistic
scenario.
Toyota has forecast group-wide global sales of 9.76 million vehicles
in calendar year 2012. The automaker is set to announce its
July-to-September earnings results on November 5.
VW's brilliant new world car has one little problem
CNNMoney
Wednesday October 17
Fortune-The seventh generation Volkswagen Golf hatchback -- a car that
American baby boomers knew in its early days as the misbegotten Rabbit
-- goes on sale in Europe in two weeks, a year ahead of its debut in
the United States.
VW is hoping American carbuyers will be more receptive to
the new Golf, since hatchbacks have had to fight the outmoded
stereotype that they're little more than chopped-down gas misers. VW,
a carmaker in the midst of a growth spurt in the U.S., is aiming for
the new Golf to be a big seller, a respected member of a model lineup
anchored by the larger Jetta and Passat.
In the next few months VW also will reveal how and where it will
manufacture Golf for North American dealers.
The new model is the first to employ VW's modular MQB architecture,
developed to underpin a slew of models and vault the carmaker to its
goal of No. 1 worldwide in terms of sales, and perhaps in
profitability, by 2018.
Will it work? "Younger American buyers today are more
open-minded and skewed toward European tastes," says Jesse Toprak, an
analyst for the TrueCar automotive buying website. "Back in the 1970s
people saw hatchbacks as basic transportation. Cars like the Chevrolet
Chevette, Dodge Omni and the Rabbit won't bring back many positive
memories," he adds.
VW manufactured the Rabbit at a factory in New Stanton, Pennsylvania
between 1978 and 1984.
The automaker threw in the towel when sales of that variant lagged, a
victim of poor quality and cheap materials. But VW has persevered,
making Golf one of the best-selling global models of all time, a rival
to Toyota's (TM) Corolla, through six generations and 38 years of
production.
Joe DeMatio, senior editor of Automobile magazine, argues
that "your average American still equates hatchbacks with cheap
economy cars."
It is, he goes on, really difficult to erase this from the American psyche.
"Hatchbacks were something you drove in high school and
college until you became an adult and could afford a real car. It's a
shame, because they are so incredibly useful."
In fact, hatchbacks in recent years have accounted for 5% to 7% of the
U.S. market, according to Edmunds.com, an automotive website.
But the number of hatchback models has been rising to 42
in 2012 from just 27 in 2008.
The newcomers include alternative-fuel models such as Chevrolet (GM)
Volt and Nissan (NSANY) Leaf.
The latest generation Golf, though longer and wider than
the model it replaces, is 220 pounds lighter, which factors into a
fuel consumption saving of up to 23% when the vehicle is equipped with
the 1.4-liter turbo engine, producing 140 horsepower. VW offers
several advanced safety usually only available in luxury cars, such as
adaptive cruise control. Adaptive cruise control limits speed while
also preventing the car from gaining too quickly or colliding with a
slower-moving vehicle ahead.
The new model starts in price at 16,975 Euros, the same as the
starting price of the model it replaces even though the engine is more
powerful in the 2013 model.
If VW can figure out another clever U.S. marketing campaign for the
Golf, it could turn into one of the automaker's mainstream brands,
perhaps its strongest. Though VW's use of the German word "golf"
originally denoted what English speakers know as "gulf," today it's
also an elite sport that has grown globally and in terms of prestige,
especially among women. Ralph Lauren evidently knew what he was doing
when he chose Polo to sell clothing.
International
Obama knocks Romney on women’s issues
AFP
Thursday October 18
Mount Vernon-United States President Barack Obama bounced off a strong
debate performance to target women voters on Wednesday with a dig at
Republican Mitt Romney's comment that he received “binders full of
women” for cabinet jobs when he was governor of Massachusetts.
Obama and Romney are eager to win over women in swing
states such as Iowa and Ohio, where the Democratic incumbent was
campaigning a day after his energetic debating rejuvenated his
re-election campaign.
During the second presidential debate on Tuesday night, Romney noted
he had been given “whole binders full of women” when looking for
candidates for his cabinet. The awkward phrase quickly took off in
social media and critics suggested the remark showed Romney had few
women in his inner circle.
“We should make sure all our young people, our daughters
as well as our sons, are thriving in these fields (of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics),” Obama told a cheering crowd
of 2 000 people in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
“I've got to tell you, we don't have to collect a bunch of binders to
find qualified, talented, driven young women ready to learn and teach
in these fields right now,” he said. “And when young women graduate,
they should get equal pay for equal work.”
One of Romney's top aides during his governorship was Beth
Myers, who served as his chief of staff from 2003-2007 and has been a
key adviser in his presidential campaign.
Obama has delivered several high-profile jobs to women since taking
office, including Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Sonia
Sotomayor and Elena Kagan as US Supreme Court justices.
At the Iowa campaign rally, Obama also hammered Romney for
wanting to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, a women's health
organisation.
With his sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened, Obama seemed
energised by his own debate performance, which the campaign hopes will
erase memories of his listless appearance in the first debate that
gave a bounce to challenger Romney in opinion surveys.
A Reuters/Ipsos online poll on Wednesday showed 48 percent
of registered voters said Obama won Tuesday's debate, while 33 percent
say Romney prevailed.
However, Obama made it clear he was not on a victory lap as he
returned to the campaign trail.
“I'm still trying to figure out... how to get the hang of
this thing, debating,” he said. “But we're working on it. You know,
we'll keep on improving as time goes on.”
The last presidential debate before the November 6 election will be
held on Monday.
Obama also seized the opportunity to press his attack on
Romney over his economic proposals.
“Everybody here has heard of the New Deal. You've heard of the Fair
Deal. You've heard of the Square Deal. Mitt Romney's trying to sell
you a sketchy deal,” Obama said. “We are not buying it. We know
better.”
For Benghazi diplomatic security, U.S. relied on small British firm
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Washington-The State Department's decision to hire Blue Mountain Group
to guard the ill-fated U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya,
entrusted security tasks to a little-known British company instead of
the large firms it usually uses in overseas danger zones.
The contract was largely based on expediency, U.S.
officials have said, since no one knew how long the temporary mission
would remain in the Libyan city. The cradle of last year's uprising
that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, Benghazi has been plagued
by rising violence in recent months.
Security practices at the diplomatic compound, where Blue Mountain
guards patrolled with flashlights and batons instead of guns, have
come under U.S. government scrutiny in the wake of the September 11
attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens
and three other Americans.
Federal contract data shows that the Benghazi security
contract, worth up to $783,284, was listed as a "miscellaneous" award,
not as part of the large master State Department contract that covers
protection for overseas embassies.
"Blue Mountain was virtually unknown to the circles that studied
private security contractors working for the United States, before the
events in Benghazi," said Charles Tiefer, a commissioner at the
Commission on Wartime Contracting, which studied U.S. contracting in
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Several British government sources said that they were
unfamiliar with Blue Mountain, which is based in Wales. They said
British authorities used a different contractor for security
protection in Libya.
Fred Burton, vice president of intelligence at the Stratfor consulting
firm and a former U.S. diplomatic security agent, said he did not know
Blue Mountain, but it likely got State Department work because it was
already working in Libya.
"They may have been the path of least resistance," he said.
Blue Mountain was able to work in Libya because it forged a business
alliance with a local security firm, as required by Libyan
regulations.
Eric Nordstrom, former regional security officer for the
U.S. Embassy in Libya, testified at a congressional hearing last week
that contracting out for security in the eastern Libyan city "was
largely based on our concern of how long we would be in Benghazi. We
were concerned that if we retained or brought on board full-time
employees we would have to then find a position for them if that post
ever went away."
In describing the challenges of hiring private security at Benghazi,
he added: "It's my understanding that there was a very high turnover
with those people."
GUARDS OF BENGHAZI
Blue Mountain hired about 20 Libyan men - including some
who say they had minimal training - to screen visitors and help patrol
the mission at Benghazi, according to Reuters interviews.
Some of the guards sustained injuries and said they were ill-prepared
to protect themselves or others when heavily armed militants last
month stormed the rented villa that was serving as the mission.
They also described being hired by Blue Mountain after a
casual recruiting and screening process.
State Department security officials had their own concerns about some
of the guards at the mission months before the recent attack,
according to emails obtained by Reuters this week. One guard who had
been recently fired and another on the company's payroll were
suspected of throwing a homemade bomb into the U.S. compound in April.
They were questioned but not charged.
The State Department has declined to comment on the
company other than confirming it was the contractor in Benghazi. Blue
Mountain did not respond to numerous emails and phone calls, and a
person answering the phone at its office in Carmarthen, Wales, said
the company would not discuss the issue.
Previously known as Pilgrim Elite, Blue Mountain says on its website
that it offers security services and professional training and has
operated in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.
The website once listed General Motors as a client, and a
GM spokeswoman in Detroit told Reuters that Blue Mountain's work for
the company was "on a very limited basis and mostly in the UK."
A Blue Mountain recruiter posted a notice on a security website in
2011 seeking employees with visas to work in Libya.
The State Department contract for "local guard" services
in Benghazi took effect in March 2012. Several of Blue Mountain's
Libyan employees told Reuters that they had no prior security training
or experience.
"I was never a revolutionary or a fighter, I have never picked up a
weapon during the war or after it," said Abdelaziz al-Majbiri, 28, who
was shot in the legs during the September 11 assault.
The Libyan commander in charge of the local guards at the
mission was a former English teacher who said he heard about Blue
Mountain from a neighbor. "I don't have a background in security, I've
never held a gun in my life," he said, speaking on condition of
anonymity out of fear for his safety.
When hired, the commander said he was told "you have great English and
get along with everyone and are punctual; we want you to be a guard
commander."
The unarmed guards were told to sound the alarm over the
radio and then run for cover if there was an attack, a Libyan who
acted as a supervisor for the Blue Mountain local guard team at the
mission said during an interview with Reuters.
He also displayed a medal embossed with "Department of State" and a
horseman carrying Libyan and U.S. flags. "They thanked us for our help
and also gave us this medal as an appreciation," he said.
Despite their inexperience, the Blue Mountain guards said
they feared the Americans were not concerned enough about security.
"We used to tell the Americans who spoke to us on many occasions that
we needed more support in security, because it felt thin on the
ground. But they didn't seem to be so worried, and (were) confident
that no one will dare to come close to the consulate," one guard said.
'DOWN IN THE WEEDS'
Tiefer, who is also a government contracting law professor
at the University of Baltimore, said the Benghazi contract paled in
comparison to other State Department security awards.
"This is down in the weeds," he said in a telephone interview.
Most State Department work goes to eight large private
security firms with vast experience.
In the late summer of 2011, after Libyan rebels took control of
Tripoli, Blue Mountain guards were seen working security at the
Corinthia Hotel and its sister Palm City residential compound in the
Libyan capital.
A United Press International report indicated that Blue
Mountain and its local partner, Eclipse, also were competing for
contracts guarding oil fields.
Blue Mountain and Eclipse parted ways in the spring over problems with
Tripoli contracts, several sources familiar with the matter said.
The severed relationship may have prevented Blue Mountain
from getting additional work in Libya, which required the local
affiliation.
On a social network website earlier this year, a Blue Mountain
official described the firm as "one of the few companies certified and
legally allowed to work in Libya."
Blue Mountain Chief Executive Officer Nigel Thomas, a
former British special forces member, did not respond to emails or
phone calls.
NO EASY TASK
Setting up security in Libya after the anti-Gaddafi
revolution was not easy, documents show.
In a July 9 memo approved by the late ambassador Stevens, regional
security officer Nordstrom said his office hoped to shore up defenses
at U.S. compounds in Libya and would consider partial arming of some
local guard supervisors, without being more specific.
But Nordstrom described difficulties getting local gun permits,
noting it could take up to 60 days for "selection, training,
equipping, policy approvals and deployment" of armed guards.
Dinosaur skeletons smuggler seized in US
PressTV
Thursday October 18
Florida-A US man has been arrested on charges of stealing
70-million-year-old dinosaur skeletons and smuggling them into the
United States.
According to officials, Eric Prokopi, 38, was seized in
Florida on Wednesday, for smuggling and selling illegal goods,
including a toothy relative of the bigger Tyrannosaurus rex.
Prokopi is also accused of importing a Saurolophus angustirostris
skeleton from Mongolia and a Microraptor skeleton from China.
In May, police impounded a Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton,
which Prokopi was trying to sell at auction in New York and had been
illegally removed from Mongolia.
New York chief federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said the confiscation
was “merely the tip of the iceberg,” and called Prokopi “a one-man
black market in prehistoric fossils.”
According to Heritage Auctions, which tried to sell the skeleton
on Prokopi’s behalf, the Florida dealer spent a year restoring and
remounting bones to recreate the skeleton.
Human trafficking to UK 'rising'
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
London-The number of people being trafficked into the UK is rising,
latest government estimates suggest.
Last year the authorities learned of 946 victims, compared
with 710 in 2010, the inter-departmental ministerial group on human
trafficking said.
Crime gangs in China, Vietnam, Nigeria and eastern Europe now pose the
biggest threat to the UK on the issue, it said.
The government said better co-ordination between its
departments and with authorities abroad was key.
There is currently no official figure for the number of victims
trafficked into the country each year.
However, the group's report said that last year 712 adult
victims and 234 child victims were reported to the National Referral
Mechanism, the official body that identifies and looks after those
caught up in trafficking.
Of the victims referred in 2010, 524 were adults and 186 were children.
It is thought the increase could be explained by
improvements in identifying victims, although campaigners say the
figures of those being trafficked could be far higher as many victims
choose not to come forward for fear of being sent back to where they
came from.
The report detailed two cases of people being trafficked for illegal
organ donations but they were detected and stopped before the
donations were carried out. One involved the planned sale of a
victim's kidneys.
The report also said there had been an increase in the
number of children being forced into crime, including street begging.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre estimates there
are about 300 child trafficking victims in the UK every year.
'Better life'
Det Insp Kevin Hyland, of London's Metropolitan Police -
which sees the UK's highest rates of trafficking - said some victims
travelled to the UK in lorries or containers but the majority arrived
lawfully, often accompanied by their traffickers.
"The vast majority of them think they're coming to a better life in
the UK," he said.
Mr Hyland said it was often "almost impossible" for border
guards to spot victims because they often did not even know they were
being trafficked.
Many victims are promised jobs in the hotel or leisure industry, or as
interpreters, but when they arrive they are "groomed or threatened",
he said.
Once in the UK they are "moved on to the exploiters" to be
used for sexual exploitation or forced labour, or both, he said.
In London, police deal with more than 100 cases of trafficking a year.
Some will involve more than 400 victims but the majority involve about
10 to 15 people.
The group's report said that by far the largest number of
referrals of potential victims of trafficking were Nigerian nationals.
The largest number of referrals of victims from within Europe involved
Romanian nationals.
There are an estimated 92 organised crime groups in the UK known to
have an involvement in human trafficking, it said.
And 142 defendants were charged with offences related to
human trafficking in 2011/12.
The report said intelligence sharing with international police forces
was already "proving effective".
'No magic bullet'
Thousands of "front-line" workers, including border staff,
police and healthcare workers, have been trained to better identify,
support and protect victims over the past two years, it said.
Some airlines, including Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook, are also
training cabin crew to identify those who engaged in trafficking and
their potential victims.
And a 24-hour confidential line has been set up for crew
to report concerns to border officials before a plane lands in the UK.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper said trafficking was a "sizeable
problem" worldwide, with about 21m people either falling victim to
sexual assault or being forced into labour.
Mr Harper said there was no "single magic bullet" to
tackle the problem but the key was "cross-government and cross-agency
working".
He said it was vital to work with source countries to stop people
being trafficked in the first place but it was also important to look
at the demand for trafficked people "and how we cut down on that".
There had been some success with stopping people at the borders,
for example by training staff to spot signs of people being
trafficked, he said.
Amid much speculation, Cuba state media releases message from Fidel Castro
CNN News
Thursday October 18
Cuba-Cuban state media released a message from Fidel Castro, the first
communique said to be from the ex-leader since speculation over his
health reached a fever pitch last week.
There were no new images of Castro, 86, released Wednesday.
He has not been seen since publicly since March when he met with Pope
Benedict XVI during the pontiff's visit to Cuba.
Castro's usually frequent newspaper columns and musings
suddenly ended in June. But his silence after the re-election of close
ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in October prompted many of his
opponents to wonder whether Castro was again ailing or perhaps dead.
"The comandante is well, following his daily routine, reading,
exercising," Alex Castro, one of Castro's sons, told Cuban state media
after the reports of his ill health.
Still, a barrage of postings on Twitter and other social
media had Castro at death's door.
Castro never fully recovered after a botched surgery for a still
unknown intestinal illness in 2006. Two years later, his brother Raul
Castro officially succeeded him.
In the message on Wednesday, Castro reportedly
congratulated doctors graduating from a Cuban medical institute on the
50th anniversary of the institute's founding.
The message mentioned the 50th anniversary this week of the Cuban
missile crisis and the exodus of physicians from Cuba after the 1959
revolution.
On Tuesday, the Cuban government announced the lifting of some
restrictions for Cubans traveling abroad.
Japan ministers visit Tokyo war shrine amid spat with China
Bloomberg
Thursday October 18
Tokyo-Two Japanese cabinet ministers visited a shrine in Tokyo seen
throughout much of Asia as a symbol of wartime aggression, in a move
that may further inflame ties with China hurt by a maritime
territorial dispute.
Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party President
Shinzo Abe, center, leaves the Yasukuni Shrine after he paid homage to
the war dead in Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012.
Transport Minister Yuichiro Hata and Postal Reform Minister Mikio
Shimoji paid their respects at Yasukuni shrine during its autumn
festival today, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said. The visit
came a day after a similar visit by main opposition Liberal Democratic
Party leader Shinzo Abe sparked protests from China.
“As the ministers made their visit in a private capacity,
the government has no further comment,” Fujimura told reporters today
in Tokyo. “The government has long believed that visits made in a
private capacity relate to the freedom of personal beliefs, and we
shouldn’t interfere with that.”
Japan-China relations are being hurt by rival claims to uninhabited
islands in an area of the East China Sea rich in gas, oil and fishing
grounds. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has called for
negotiations before the dispute further hurts Asia’s two biggest
economies and both countries have agreed to talks at an undetermined
date.
The visit by Abe, who will become prime minister if his
party prevails in an election that must be called by August, is a
“provocative” act that will “further poison bilateral ties,” China’s
official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday in an unsigned commentary.
Noda’s government last month reached a deal to purchase the islands,
called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, prompting violent
protests in China and putting at risk a $340 billion trade
relationship.
Japanese Symbol
The Yasukuni Shrine commemorates Japan’s war dead,
including World War II leaders convicted by an international tribunal
of war crimes. The shrine is viewed in China and Korea as a symbol of
military atrocities during Japan’s occupation of Asia in the first
half of the 20th century.
Hata made a similar visit to Yasukuni in August to commemorate the end
of the war.
Japan is also embroiled in a dispute with South Korea over separate
islands known as Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean.
Vitamins may reduce cancer risk in men, study finds
BBC News
Thursday October 18
Washington-Taking a daily multivitamin pill may lower the risk of
developing cancer in men, US researchers have claimed.
Their study followed nearly 15,000 men, aged over 50, for
more than a decade.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, reported a small reduction in cancer cases in men taking
vitamin pills.
But experts warned that other studies had found the
opposite effect and that eating a diet packed with fruit and
vegetables was a safer bet.
Vitamin supplements are recommended for some groups of people, such as
vitamin D in the over 65s.
However, the benefits of multivitamins on general health
have been mixed. Some studies suggest they cause more harm than good
when taken by healthy people while others have shown no benefit in
cancer.
Doctors at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
analysed data from men who were given either a multivitamin or a sugar
pill every day.
Diet emphasis
There were 17 cancers per 1,000 people taking
multivitamins per year compared with 18 cancers per 1,000 people
taking the dummy pills per year.
One of the researchers, Dr Howard Sesso said: "Many studies have
suggested that eating a nutritious diet may reduce a man's risk of
developing cancer.
"Now we know that taking a daily multivitamin, in addition
to addressing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, may also be considered
in the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men."
The researchers do not know if a similar effect would be seen in women
or in younger men.
Helga Groll, health information officer at Cancer Research
UK, said: "This study raises questions about whether there really is a
lower cancer risk among men who took multi vitamins or whether the
results are down to chance.
"Many other large studies tell us that vitamin and mineral supplements
don't protect against cancer - they either have no effect or can even
increase cancer risk.
"The best way to get a full range of vitamins and minerals is to
eat a healthy, balanced diet with a wide variety of fruit and
vegetables. Most healthy people shouldn't need to take supplements -
although some may be advised to do so by their doctor."
Support floods in for Malala
AFP
Wednesday October 17
London-The 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban
was in a stable condition in a British hospital on Wednesday as
well-wishers from around the world left her messages of support.
Doctors said Malala Yousafzai spent a second comfortable
night at the highly specialised Queen Elizabeth Hospital in
Birmingham, central England, which is accustomed to treating British
soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday she “remained in a stable condition and continued to
impress doctors by responding well to her care,” a hospital spokesman
said.
The teenager's family were still in Pakistan, he added.
Malala was shot on a school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of
the Swat valley last week as a punishment for campaigning for the
right of girls to an education, in an attack which outraged the world.
She came to prominence with a blog for the BBC
highlighting atrocities under the Taliban, the hardline Islamists who
terrorised the Swat valley from 2007 until an army offensive in 2009.
The teenager had a bullet removed from her skull during an operation
in Pakistan last week.
Donations towards her care, which is being funded by the
Pakistani government, are being received by the Queen Elizabeth
Hospital's charity while hundreds of people have left messages of
support on the hospital's website, lauding her campaigning and praying
for her recovery.
The well-wishers are from countries including Pakistan, Britain,
India, the United States, Libya, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Myanmar,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Rwanda and the Netherlands.
“We the Pakistanis are so sorry that a little girl like
you had to stand up for all of us. If we had shown some courage you
would have been safe and healthy today. Malala, get well please, we
need you,” wrote Durre Nayab.
“Please accept my and my family's gratitude for what you have stood
for. You are a true daughter of Pakistan. We are in your debt forever.
Get well soon,” said Munir Pervaiz.
Ajmal Khan wrote: “We salute your courage and your
commitment toward your cherished goal.
“I personally was in tears when I heard of your ordeal. But hopefully
you will get well soon and start your mission again with the same
spirit and agility.”
A message book has also been opened at Council House, the
headquarters of Birmingham's local authority.
Birmingham has a 100 000-strong ethnic Pakistani community - a tenth
of the city's population.
Cards, letters and gifts to Malala are being handled by the city's
Pakistani consulate.
Alleged 9/11 mastermind: America killed more people than hijackers did
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Guantanamo Bay-The alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks told
the Guantanamo courtroom on Wednesday that the U.S. government had
killed many more people in the name of national security than he is
accused of killing.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed was allowed to address the court at
a pretrial hearing focused on security classification rules for
evidence that will be used in his trial on charges of orchestrating
the hijacked plane attacks that killed 2,976 people.
"When the government feels sad for the death or the killing of 3,000
people who were killed on September 11, we also should feel sorry that
the American government that was represented by (the chief prosecutor)
and others have killed thousands of people, millions," said Mohammed,
who wore a military-style camouflage vest to the courtroom.
He accused the United States of using an elastic
definition of national security, comparable to the way dictators bend
the law to justify their acts.
"Many can kill people under the name of national security, and to
torture people under the name of national security, and to detain
children under the name of national security, underage children," he
said in Arabic through an English interpreter.
"The president can take someone and throw him into the sea
under the name of national security and so he can also legislate the
assassinations under the name of national security for the American
citizens," he said in an apparent reference to the U.S. killing and
burial at sea of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the U.S. use of
drone strikes against U.S. citizens accused of conspiring with al
Qaeda.
He advised the court against "getting affected by the crocodile tears"
and said, "Your blood is not made out of gold and ours is made out of
water.
We are all human beings."
The judge, Army Colonel James Pohl, gave Mohammed
permission to speak and did not interrupt him, but said he would not
hear any further personal comments from the defendants.
Mohammed's lecture to the court came during a week of pretrial
hearings at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba for him and
four other captives accused of recruiting, funding and training the
hijackers.
He did not indicate why he wore a camouflage vest, but his
wardrobe choice suggested he might try to invoke protections reserved
for soldiers.
Pohl had ruled on Tuesday that the defendants could wear what they
want to court, so long as it did not pose a security risk or include
any part of a U.S. military uniform like those worn by their guards.
Mohammed's lawyers had argued that he should be allowed to
wear a woodland-patterned camouflage vest to court because he wore one
as part of a U.S.-armed mujahideen force fighting against Russian
troops that occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s.
"Mr. Mohammed has previously distinguished himself on the battlefield
by wearing a military-style vest or clothing.
He did it in Afghanistan for the U.S. government during that proxy
war, he did it in Bosnia and he has a right to do it in this
courtroom," his defense attorney, Army Captain Jason Wright, argued on
Tuesday.
The United States is trying Mohammed and the other alleged
al Qaeda captives as unlawful belligerents who are not entitled to the
combat immunity granted to soldiers who kill in battle.
They could face the death penalty if convicted of charges that include
conspiring with al Qaeda, attacking civilians and civilian targets,
murder in violation of the laws of war, destruction of property,
hijacking and terrorism.
Under the Geneva Conventions, one of the things that
separate soldiers from unlawful belligerents is the wearing of
uniforms that distinguish them from civilians.
Soldiers must also follow a clear command structure, carry arms openly
and adhere to the laws of war.
Wright had argued that forbidding Mohammed from wearing
military-style garb could undermine his presumption of innocence in
the war crimes tribunal.
"The government has a burden to prove that this enemy prisoner of war
is an unprivileged enemy belligerent," Wright said.
Uruguay legalises abortion
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
Uruguay-Uruguay has become the second country in Latin America, after
communist Cuba, to legalise abortion for all women.
With a 17-14 majority, the Uruguayan Senate approved
legislation that allows women to have an abortion in the first 12
weeks of pregnancy.
The measure has divided opinion in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Pro- and anti-abortion campaigners have criticised the
compromise that sealed the deal expected to be signed into law by
left-wing President Jose Mujica.
The proposal had already been approved by the lower house of Congress
and the Senate, but politicians from both sides of the debate agreed
further changes and held another vote.
Abortions versus adoptions
Pro-abortion campaigners say many lives will be saved with
the end of clandestine, high-risk terminations.
"With this law, we are joining the ranks of developed countries that
have largely adopted a stance to liberalise, recognising the failure
of criminal laws to avoid abortions," said government Senator Luis
Gallo.
Pro-abortion campaigners reject changes to the proposal
that forces women to justify before a panel of experts why they wish a
termination.
After that, they will need to wait for several days - a period of
reflection - before being able to state their final decision.
Anti-abortion politicians said the government should have
adopted measures to encourage adoptions, rather than change the law.
"Abortion is not a medical act. It does not seek to protect and
preserve a patient's health," said opposition Senator Alfredo Solari.
Abortion is legal and available on request in Cuba.
Abortion is also allowed up to the 12th week of pregnancy in many
Mexican states and in the area of the capital, Mexico City.
In other Latin American countries, it is only allowed in cases of
rape or health risk for the woman.
Mexican drug kingpin's daughter not talking to U.S. officials
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Mexico City-The daughter of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpin was
being held in the United States after her arrest at the border last
week, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, while the woman's lawyer
declined to confirm her parentage and said she was not cooperating
with authorities.
Court documents showed that Alejandrina Gisselle
Guzman-Salazar was detained on Friday after authorities said she
attempted to cross from Tijuana, Mexico, into California on foot using
a counterfeit visa and a false name.
A federal official, who asked not to be identified because he was not
authorized to speak on the record, confirmed that Guzman-Salazar is
the daughter of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the leader of the powerful
Sinaloa cartel.
Immigration officials often use their discretion in
deciding whether to detain and charge those attempting to cross the
border using a false name or counterfeit papers. Sometimes offenders
are simply refused entry and released into Mexico.
"A false passport alone - she would have just been deported," the
federal official said of Guzman-Salazar. "Because ... she is related
to drug traffickers, that's why she's going to court."
Guzman-Salazar is being held pending a detention hearing
scheduled for October 25.
An attorney for Guzman-Salazar, who does not face drug trafficking
charges in either the United States or Mexico, also said the decision
to keep her in custody was likely because authorities believe her to
be the drug kingpin's daughter.
"What the government thought about her lineage was
probably a motivating factor in their decision to hold her," attorney
Jan Ronis of San Diego told Reuters, although he would neither confirm
nor deny that his client was related to the notorious drug kingpin.
U.S. authorities hoping to get information from Guzman-Salazar about
her father may be frustrated.
"Once you retain counsel you are not under any obligation
to speak with U.S. officials, and she has not. Any suggestion that she
is cooperating is untrue," said Ronis, who has represented major drug
cartel figures, including Benjamin Arellano-Felix, former leader of
the Tijuana cartel.
BILLION-DOLLAR MAN
El Chapo, whose nickname means "Shorty" in English,
escaped a Mexican prison in 2001 to become the country's
highest-profile trafficker. Authorities say he commands groups of
assassins ranging from the U.S. border into Central America.
Included on Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman has been indicted in
the United States on dozens of charges of racketeering and conspiracy
to import narcotics.
Washington has a $5 million reward for the capture of El
Chapo, who was born in Mexico's rugged western Sinaloa state where he
started out under Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who pioneered cocaine
smuggling routes into the United States.
In recent months, U.S. and Mexican agents have been closing in on
Guzman, and have arrested traffickers close to him and seized his
assets on both sides of the border. Those associates include close
family members, among them Guzman-Salazar's mother, Maria Alejandrina
Hernandez Salazar.
Guzman's fourth wife, Emma Coronel, made headlines last
year when she traveled to Los Angeles to give birth to twins.
Journalist Malcolm Beith, author of a book about Guzman, "The Last
Narco," said the two incidents could suggest a certain desperation on
the drug lord's part.
"I think Chapo's days are probably numbered and he knows
it and is seeking a fresh start for his kin," Beith told Reuters in an
interview.
Analysts say Guzman-Salazar holds out the tantalizing possibility of
fresh leads in the hunt for El Chapo.
"If she has a cell phone number, if she any kind of recent
interaction with her alleged father, that could be a very important
clue to law enforcement as to his whereabouts, his methods of
operation, and eventually his capture," said David Shirk, the director
of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.
However, the circumstances of Guzman-Salazar's arrest - trying to slip
into California unaided on a fake visa - suggest that she may not have
such close ties to her father, who is thought to control trafficking
through Tijuana.
"The Sinaloa organization has lots of means of getting people and
goods into the country," Shirk said. "The fact that someone who would
be very important to Chapo would come in this very pedestrian manner
suggests ... that it was something that Chapo may not have known
about."
Conjoined twins Rosie and Ruby Formosa separated
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
London-The mother of conjoined twins has described her joy after a
successful operation to separate them. Rosie and Ruby Formosa were
born joined at the abdomen and sharing part of the intestine.
The twins, now 12 weeks old, were operated on at London's
Great Ormond Street Hospital the day after they were born on 27 July.
Their mother Angela, from Bexleyheath in south-east London, said the
"smiling bubbly babies" were doing well.
The twins needed an emergency operation to separate them.
Mrs Formosa, 32, said finding out the twins were joined had been a
shock after her "textbook" pregnancy with first daughter Lily, now
aged five.
"At an early pregnancy scan they said the twins looked
very close together so I went to King's College for another scan," she
said.
"Between 16 and 20 weeks we found out that they were joined - I didn't
know what to think, I was shocked and I felt sad.
"We didn't know what to expect until they were born - the
doctors could not tell where they were connected.
"They decided to deliver them early at 34 weeks."
The twins were operated on the next day by a team led by
paediatric surgeon Prof Agostino Pierro.
He said the girls had been joined by the abdomen at the level of the
umbilicus and shared part of the intestine.
"The operation to separate the twins had to be performed
as an emergency because of an intestinal blockage," he said.
"We are delighted with the outcome of the operation.
"The babies will need further treatment in the future, but
we expect that they will both be able to lead happy and normal lives."
Mrs Formosa said she and husband David, 36, a taxi driver, were happy
and relieved to have the girls at home.
Angela and Daniel Formosa with surgeon Edward Kiely and
Prof Agostino Pierro holding their twins Rosie (left) and Ruby (right)
Formosa The twins were operated on by a team including surgeon Edward
Kiely and Prof Agostino Pierro
"They are really well, they are putting on weight," she said.
"They are normal bubbly babies who are starting to smile
and cry when they want something."
She added she was incredibly grateful to the hospital's staff.
"What they have done for my two girls is amazing. When I
was pregnant they were saying that the survival chances were quite
low.
"For them to have been operated on and doing so well - it is amazing."
Brazil wants to learn other sports
Super Sport
Thursday October 18
Brasilia-Can baseball, rugby and cricket fly in the land of soccer and
beach volleyball? If Brazilian sports officials have their way, they
just may.
Flush with cash from a recent decade of economic growth
and eager to broaden its athletic spectrum before hosting the 2016
Olympic Games, Brazil is on a hiring spree of foreign coaches for
sports that traditionally are not its forte.
In recent months, an American baseball player, an English cricketer
and rugby players from New Zealand have spread out over Latin
America's biggest country to teach their chosen sports. At least 30
coaches from 18 different countries are now working with Brazil's
Olympic teams to help raise their games.
The hires come as Brazil tries to make itself more
competitive in sports in the run-up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de
Janeiro.
Though all the new coaches are not working in Olympic disciplines -
cricket has not been played at the Games for over a century - the push
is part of Brazil's effort to both raise its medal count and improve
the country's abilities in non-Olympic sports.
"We've opted to bring in foreign coaches principally in
disciplines in which we have little history," says Marcus Vinicius
Freire, executive superintendent for sports at the Rio-based Brazilian
Olympic Committee. Shooting, archery, wrestling, and diving, he says,
are among those sports now getting a foreign boost.
At the recent London Olympics, Brazil won medals in nine disciplines,
including soccer, volleyball, sailing and judo, sports in which it is
traditionally strong. It hopes to jump from 22nd place on the London
medals table to within the top 10 in Rio, officials say.
The new coaches are attracted by the potential of a
country with almost 200 million people, a diverse culture, and rabid
interest in sport.
"You're not trying to take them away from other sports but give them
an alternative where they can have fun," says Barry Larkin, a baseball
Hall of Famer who made his name with the Cincinnati Reds in the 1980s
and '90s.
For the past two years, Larkin has run a training camp in
Sao Paulo for Major League Baseball as part of its attempts to
globalise the sport. Recently, Brazil's baseball confederation hired
him to lead it to next month's World Baseball Classic tournament in
Panama.
Larkin notes that baseball is popular within Brazil's large Japanese
community and that several Brazilians play professionally in Japan.
Earlier this year, Yan Gomes, a catcher and versatile infielder with
the Toronto Blue Jays, became the first Brazilian to play in the big
leagues.
With more development, Larkin believes Brazil could
produce genuine top players.
"If there is a kid that has tremendous ability, then maybe we can
create the Ronaldo or the Pele in baseball, an iconic figure that the
country gets behind," Larkin said.
PROVEN SUCCESS
Like Larkin, most of the foreign coaches hail from nations
with proven success in their sport. Brazil's cricket association, for
instance, hired Matt Featherstone, an Englishman, as its national
development officer. Archery coaches are from South Korea,
weightlifters are Romanian and canoers come from Hungary.
To beef up the country's rugby program, Brazil looked to world
champions New Zealand. Last year, Sami Arap, president of the
Brazilian Rugby Confederation, set up a partnership with the
Crusaders, a leading New Zealand rugby team.
An initial contract brought over three coaches - including
two former All Blacks - for three months as guest trainers. Afterward,
the federation signed a five-year deal with the Crusaders, and an
option for five more.
Under the terms of the agreement, the visiting coaches will help raise
awareness of the game and develop young players, coaches, and
referees. They will also provide physical and tactical training for
Brazil's more experienced rugby players.
Brazil's federation pays an annual fee to the Crusaders,
which covers the coaches' salaries and pays for training methods
developed by the team. "I am buying the Crusaders' know-how," Arap
says.
The federation did not disclose how much the agreement was worth.
VARYING AMBITIONS
Arap says the immediate aim is to establish Brazil as the
No. 2 team in South America behind Argentina, one of the world's rugby
powers.
The Rio Olympics - where rugby sevens, the seven-a-side variant of the
game, will be played for the first time since 1924 - may come too
early to accomplish that.
But qualification for the 2019 World Cup in Japan is an
achievable goal, he says. For Brazil's female squad, ranked 10th in
the world, the goal is to clinch a Rio medal.
Featherstone's goal for cricket is less ambitious.
There are currently only a handful of cricket players in
Brazil, even though many children in the country grow up playing a
similar game called taco. At a recent cricket championship in
Suriname, only eight members of Brazil's 13-strong team, captained by
Featherstone, were born in the country.
Now, his main task is to introduce the sport to schoolchildren and
hope they like it. The priority is making a sport known for its long
games attractive to short attention spans.
"If you don't do that then people lose interest straight away," he
says. "We wouldn't be telling them that it last five days, or even a
day."
News from the Axis
Taking Iran channels off air is cultural terrorism, IRIB chief says
PressTV
Thursday October 18
Tehran-The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)
has criticized the ban on Iranian TV and radio stations as “cultural
terrorism.”
Ezzatollah Zarghami made the remarks at the 49th General
Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in the South
Korean capital Seoul on Wednesday, Mehr news agency reported.
He called on international organizations, especially UNESCO, which do
not have “deterrent laws for this type of cultural terrorism”, to
adopt concrete laws to prevent such illegal actions.
Zarghami also said the ban on Iranian stations is meant to
silence alternative media despite the fact that “the era of news
censorship has come to an end.”
In a blatant violation of freedom of speech, European satellite
provider Eutelsat SA ordered media services company, Arqiva, to take
the Iranian satellite channels off one of its Hot Bird frequencies on
Monday.
The channels include Press TV, al-Alam, Jam-e-Jam 1 and 2,
Sahar 1 and 2, Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, Quran TV, and
the Arabic-language al-Kawthar.
The decision followed months of jamming of Iranian channels by
European satellite companies.
Following the move by Eutelsat, Press TV launched a
Facebook petition to protect the news channel across Europe.
Observers say the illegal move by Eutelsat SA is a step to silence all
alternative news outlets representing the voice of the voiceless.
Press TV has also contacted the French media regulation authority,
Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (French Broadcasting Regulatory
Body) (CSA) for comments regarding the ban. The CSA had said it would
provide the network with a response but has so far failed to do so.
Yemen debates drones
DPA
Wednesday October 17
Sanaa-Yemen's interim president has won U.S. praise for cooperating in
a war on al Qaeda, but his recent public support for drone strikes
that sometimes kill civilians could undermine his domestic popularity
and stir sympathy for militants.
Yemen, an Arabian Peninsula country where al Qaeda
militants exploited a security vacuum during last year's rising
against Ali Abdullah Saleh, has witnessed an escalated campaign of
U.S. missile strikes in recent months, often using the pilotless
aircraft known as drones.
In a departure from Saleh's policies, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu
Mansour Hadi spoke openly in favour of the drone strikes during a trip
to the United States last month. Praised by the U.S. ambassador in
Sanaa as being more effective against al Qaeda than his predecessor,
Hadi was quoted as saying that he personally approved every attack.
The comments came after a September strike that killed 12
civilians in Radaa, a small Yemeni town south of Sanaa, and the
storming of the U.S. Embassy in the capital by protesters angry over
an anti-Islam film made in California.
Youth activist Ibrahim Al-Mothana said Hadi, elected in February for a
two-year transitional period, was trying to win favour with
international donors but imperils support at home.
“He's trying to get international legitimacy, and he needs
American and European support, so I think that's what drove him,
rather than being more open and frank about it,” he said.
“Hadi's main task is the national dialogue, which will create a new
national contract. But if the process is undermined by drones, that
will be problematic.”
Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables said that Saleh had agreed
in 2009 to a covert U.S. war on Islamist militants and accepted to
take responsibility for attacks when necessary.
Bashraheel Hesham Bashraheel, chairman of the al-Ayyam newspaper
group, said Hadi had won short-term respect from some Yemenis for
being more open about drones than Saleh.
“He wants to make a clear distinction, he wants to say I
approved every raid. It gives the impression he is in control and not
the Americans,” Bashraheel said. “It impressed people and earned him
some respect. He's not lying like Saleh used to.”
However, with public anger rising, politicians are becoming more vocal
in their opposition to U.S. operations.
The Shi'ite Islamist Houthi movement and influential Sunni
cleric Abdul-Majeed al-Zindani - on a U.S. terrorism list - have
stepped up criticism of drones in the past month.
“At first people didn't talk, but after Radaa, things have changed,
said Ali Abd-Rabbu al-Qadi, a parliamentarian from Maareb where many
attacks have taken place. “These air strikes prepare the ground for al
Qaeda and terrorism.”
Yemenis complain the U.S. focus on militants is a
violation of sovereignty that is driving many towards al Qaeda and
diverting attention from other pressing issues such as unemployment,
corruption, water depletion and economic revival.
Hadi is under U.S. pressure to prioritise the war on militants, who
set up al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in 2007 by merging the
Yemeni and Saudi branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.
“The Americans only think of use of violence, they need to
think of using development,” said Mohammed al-Mutawakel, a political
science professor. “They failed in Afghanistan and Iraq. I hope they
don't make the same mistake again in Yemen.”
Parties in the post-Saleh interim government have been largely silent
or even expressed muted public support over drone strikes, in an
effort to win the favour of a country seen as the real source of
political power in Yemen, analysts say.
The United States, eager to see Yemen recover from
upheaval that put the impoverished state on the verge of collapse, has
said it would provide $345 million in security, humanitarian and
development assistance this year - more than double last year's aid
but much less than needed, one government official said.
Western diplomats say they believe most Yemenis support the
operations, but acknowledge that public opposition is rising.
“Nobody wants to see the drones (but) we have people who
are posing an imminent threat to the security and stability of Yemen
as well as threatening security throughout the world,” a senior
diplomat said. “The solution ultimately will be on the basis of
building up Yemeni capabilities.”
While Washington usually avoids comment, the UK-based Bureau of
Investigative Journalism, which tracks U.S. operations, says between
36 and 56 civilians have died this year.
At a recent funeral for those who died in the attacks in
Radaa, relatives suggested tribes would take revenge if Sanaa did not
do something to stop them.
“We are just farmers, in our homes, who are disturbed constantly in
the middle of the night by American planes above,” said Jamal Abdu
al-Sabouri, a relative of one of the Radaa victims. “We want a
solution and we demand that Hadi pay attention to this issue... We
want security and stability but if they're going to disturb us, we'll
disturb everyone too.”
In the chaos of the disintegration of Saleh's system of
tribal and religious alliances, tribes have taken steps to express
displeasure with Hadi's government. Electricity lines were attacked in
Maarib last month after a court issued death sentences against kinsmen
accused of al Qaeda militancy.
“A strike like this isn't a simple thing. It makes us lose hope in the
state or that there even exists a Yemeni state here,” said Muhammed
Muqbil, who lost three relatives.
Syria envoy says bloodshed could engulf Middle East
Reuters
Wednesday October 17
Beirut-The international mediator on Syria said on Wednesday its civil
war risks spilling across borders to engulf the Middle East and
appealed for a temporary truce he said could mark a small step towards
defusing 19 months of conflict.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy, has proposed
that both President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebel fighters
seeking his overthrow hold fire during the Islamic feast holiday of
Eid al-Adha that starts next week.
Syrian authorities, who blame rebels for the failure of an April
ceasefire plan, guardedly welcomed Brahimi's proposal but said any
initiative must be respected by both sides. Turkey, one of Assad's
harshest critics, and Iran, one of his strongest allies, both backed
the plan, in rare agreement.
Thirty thousand people have been killed in the uprising,
which began with peaceful demonstrations and now pits mainly Sunni
Muslim rebels against an Alawite president. There are fears of broader
Middle East sectarian conflict between Sunni powers sympathetic to the
rebels and Shi'ites who back Assad.
"This crisis cannot remain within Syrian borders indefinitely. Either
it will be addressed or it will increase ... and be all-consuming,"
Brahimi told reporters in Beirut after talks with Lebanese leaders.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
at least 90 people had been killed in Syria by late afternoon on
Wednesday, after 150 people died the day before.
The death toll has topped 1,000 a week for at least two months as
divided world powers have condemned the bloodshed in what has become a
largely stalemated conflict, but failed to agree on a political
solution.
On Sunday, Brahimi appealed to leaders in Iran - Assad's
strongest regional ally - to support a proposal for a ceasefire to
mark Eid al-Adha, expected to begin at dusk on October 25.
"For us, there isn't any sacrifice too great if the blood stops
flowing in Syria even for a day, an hour," Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara, saying he had
discussed the plan with his Iranian counterpart.
"The Arab League, Turkey and Iran have declared their
support for this proposal," he said, adding he expected those who
backed the plan to make a statement on Friday.
Iran's state news agency quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as
saying Iran backed the temporary ceasefire plan and believed free
elections were the right way forward.
Syrian officials have questioned whether the disparate
rebels, who agreed on a joint leadership on Tuesday [ID:nL5E8LGRQ5] to
encourage supporters to provide them more powerful weapons, could
commit to or honor any ceasefire deal.
But Brahimi said opposition figures had told him any ceasefire by
Assad's forces would be reciprocated immediately.
"We heard from everyone we met in the opposition, and
everyone (else) we met that, if the government stops using violence,
'We will respond to this directly'," he said.
"We hope this will be a very small step that would save the Syrian
people ... because they are burying hundreds of people every day."
HELICOPTER DOWNED
Anti-Assad activists posted videos on Wednesday of what
they said was a Syrian military helicopter spiraling to the ground and
exploding in flames.
Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
said that the helicopter had been downed near Maarat al-Numan. "Some
rebels say they used anti-aircraft missiles," he told Reuters by
telephone from Britain.
Amateur footage of rebels using shoulder-mounted
surface-to-air missiles have emerged in the past few days, and
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that heavy weapons
acquired by the insurgents have forced Assad's air force to bomb
rebel-held areas from high altitude.
"In a certain number of these zones, Bashar al-Assad is bombarding
them with MiG fighter jets, and what is particularly horrible is that
he is bombarding them with TNT," Fabius said.
"But at the same time there are now weapons that are
forcing the planes to fly extremely high, and so the strikes are less
accurate," he said before meeting civilian members of rebel councils
that run areas outside government control.
France began channeling money and humanitarian aid to rebel-held parts
of Syria in August to support self-rule and try to create an
alternative to the Damascus government.
However, the French plan falls well short of the
foreign-protected safe havens the opposition says it needs and offers
little hope of relief to civilians fleeing the chaos.
Russia, which sold Syria arms worth $1 billion last year, and China
have vetoed three resolutions favored by Western powers condemning
Syrian authorities and opening the way to U.N. sanctions on Damascus.
Fabius said Moscow's stance would only cement chaos in
Syria, adding that he had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
that: "If you continue to oppose a change of regime, then the
extremists risk taking control."
Russia denies trying to prop up Assad, who allows Russia to maintain a
naval supply facility in the port of Tartus that is its only military
base outside the former Soviet Union.
But Moscow says Syria's crisis must be resolved without
foreign interference, particularly military intervention.
Turkey, which has led calls for international intervention, has
bolstered its military presence along its 900-km (560-mile) border
with Syria in recent weeks and has been responding in kind to gunfire
and mortar shells flying over the border.
It has warned of a more robust response if the spillover
continues and its armed forces fired back on Wednesday after a shell
landed 3 m (yards) inside its territory in the Hatay border province,
the local governor's office said.
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said Damascus hoped
Brahimi's talks in the region, including with countries which back the
rebels, could herald "something which leads to the success of a
constructive initiative".
Makdissi said Syria had previously committed to Arab and U.N.
initiatives but that they had been thwarted by "armed groups and the
countries that influence them".
People hold funeral in Bahrain for victim of toxic tear gas
PressTV
Thursday October 18
Manama-People in Bahrain have held a funeral procession for Haj Mahdi
Ali Marhun, who died due to inhalation of tear gas fired into his
house by Saudi-backed regime forces.
The funeral for Ali Marhun, who spent the last two months
of his life in hospital after the attack, was held in the village of
Ma’ameer on Wednesday.
In Bahrain, many have died after regime forces fired poisonous tear
gas into their homes to crush anti-regime protests.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the country people took to
streets to express solidarity with five imprisoned medics on hunger
strike.
The medics, who have been in prison since early October, went on
hunger strike on Sunday to urge international efforts for their
release.
The Bahraini revolution began in mid-February 2011, when
the people, inspired by the popular revolutions that toppled the
dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive
demonstrations.
The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the
peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring
Persian Gulf states.
Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and
the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and
nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.
A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in
November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used excessive
force in the crackdown and accused Manama of torturing political
activists, politicians, and protesters.
The protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime
demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a
democratically elected government is met.
Political & General
Mpofu lowers diamond earnings forecast
New Zimbabwe
Wednesday October 17
Harare-THE projected $600 million earnings from diamond sales is now
unachievable after miners cut production in response to a decline in
diamond prices on the international market, Mines minister Obert Mpofu
said Wednesday.
"The $600 million target has now been affected," Mpofu
told journalists.
Mpofu said that over the "past three to four months the diamond prices
have actually gone down".
"When the prices go down, producers also reduce their
production capacity. They cannot produce at a loss."
Mpofu did not give the new target for diamond sales.
In July, Finance Minister Tendai Biti complained about the
low revenue trickle from diamond sales saying by mid-year only $46
million had been realised against the year's anticipated $600 million.
That forced him to slash the 2012 budget spending target by 10 percent
to $3.6 billion.
He said earnings from key minerals such as gold and
diamonds were not making it into state coffers.
Natural resource extraction watchdogs have accused President Robert
Mugabe's ruling party of funnelling profits from Marange diamonds to
senior military officers and party leaders.
Diamond watchdog Kimberley Process has given the country
the green light to sell its gems despite opposition from rights groups
and Western nations.
Next month, Zimbabwe hosts a conference expected to attract hundreds
of traders, diamond experts and non-governmental organisations.
Mpofu said the conference would seek to manage world perception
of the Zimbabwean diamond industry and attract foreign investors.
Strained Zim-US relations affecting hunt For Rwandan genocide fugitive
Radio VoP
Wednesday October 17
Harare-Strained political relations between Zimbabwe and the United
States are compromising the chase for Rwandan genocide fugitive,
Potrais Mpiranya, believed to be holed up in the southern African
country.
Last month Zimbabwean police said they were looking for
Mpiranya, a former commander of the elite Presidential Guard during
the genocide in 1994.
He is accused of playing a key role in the slaughter of 800,000 ethnic
Tutsis and moderate Hutus during 100 days of bloodletting. Mpiranya’s
head carries a $ 5 million bounty pledged by the US government.
Security sources said what was complicating the matter was
the involvement of the US government because Harare was not willing to
cooperate with Washington.
Besides, the sources said, if Mpiranya was to be apprehended by
Zimbabwean police, there was no guarantee that the US government will
give the $5 million reward to the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
“The problem with this operation is that our political
relations with the US are so strained to the extent that no one really
believes that if we apprehend this Rwandan we will get the promised
money,” said one security source.
“It’s better to just ignore everything than for us to be used to
assist the Americans get their way.”
Last month the police showed what appeared to be vigour in
searching for the fugitive, believed to be wealthy and running several
businesses in Zimbabwe, Zambia, the DRC and in Europe.
"We want him dead or alive. We are looking for information to arrest
him; we don't know how long he has been in the country," chief
superintendent Peter Magwenzi of the police homicide section told the
AFP news agency.
But the verve has died down. Sources said they appear to
be no political will on the part of Harare to cooperate.
Relations between President Robert Mugabe are bad. The US
administration accuses President Mugabe of stifling democracy in
Zimbabwe.
On the other side, the veteran Zimbabwean ruler accuses
Washington of seeking to remove him and his party, Zanu (PF) from
power and installing a puppet regime in Harare.
The US government has slapped Mugabe and his lieutenants with an
assortment of punitive measures including travel bans.
Econet hires former M-PESA top talent for EcoCash
TechZim
Wednesday October 17
HARARE - Japhet Aritho, former Head of M-PESA Product Development and
Operations at Safaricom When we attended the EcoCash tour yesterday,
two developments at the company stood out:
A new hire, former Safaricom executive Japhet Aritho (Head of M-PESA
Product Development and Operations) has joined the EcoCash team as
Chief Operating Officer of Econet Services.
And yes, Econet Services. The company that we had not heard about
before yesterday was referred to. Its CEO is veteran Econet executive,
Darlington Mandivenga.
Bringing in expat talent to manage EcoCash operations is a big deal.
Bringing in former M-PESA product development and operations head is a
whole bigger deal. At a global level, M-PESA has been one of the
notabe success of mobile money on basic mobile phones.
The product virtually defined what mobile money is on the continent.
Even though not always successfully, mobile money implementations by
mobile operators across Africa have been modeled on M-PESA. Indeed
Econet’s EcoCash is a copy of M-PESA in many ways. It goes without
saying therefore how much wealth of experience and knowledge Aritho
brings. Whether this experience and knowledge will be applied
effectively to make EcoCash as wildly successful as M-PESA is ofcourse
anyone’s guess at this stage. Nothing under the sun is guaranteed.
Now to Econet Services. We are told the new ‘company’ has been set
up to manage strategic value added services. Information we have also
suggests that they’ll be doing this not just for Econet Wireless
Zimbabwe; but for the whole Econet Group, which points to it being a
Johannesburg initiative. In terms of which strategic VAS the new
company will manage, all that’s apparent right now is EcoCash, and
maybe Ecolife, if it ever comes back. Our guess here is that even
though it may expand into other services, Econet Services has been
setup for EcoCash. Otherwise why would Aritho, with his M-PESA resume,
be an Econet Services COO?
The CEO, Darlington Mandivenga has served as Marketing Director at
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and also more notably CEO for Econet Burundi
amoung other capacities at operations of the group outside Zimbabwe.
We had conversations yesterday with both Aritho and Mandivenga
focused specifically on EcoCash merchant services. Aritho, who is just
2 weeks old in his new job, sounded quite enthusiastic about EcoCash,
even saying that it’s exceeded his M-PESA experience in terms of
uptake of the services. He also said he was looking forward to the
experience with EcoCash Commuter, a type of implementation of mobile
money they didn’t go into at such a scale at Safaricom.
Activist and mother Manjoro gets bail in cop murder trial
SW Radio Africa
Wednesday October 17
Harare-The state prosecutor on Wednesday conceded that MDC-T activist
and mother of a three-year old, Cynthia Manjoro, should not be
detained further and agreed to have her bailed by the High Court.
The dramatic development followed testimony by the State’s
own witness who had clearly exonerated Manjoro, after which the judge
challenged the State to show why she should not be bailed. Prosecutor
Edmore Nyazamba returned to court in the afternoon and conceded that
Manjoro should not be kept in detention.
Defense lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa expressed great joy at the judge’s
decision to grant bail to one of the 29 MDC-T officials and members
accused in the murder of police officer Petros Mutedza. But she told
SW Radio Africa that many more should be bailed because there is
clearly no evidence implicating them in the murder.
The state witness, Cynthia’s brother Stephen Manjoro, had
testified that she was only being held as’ bait’ for the arrest of
Darlington Madzonga, who he claimed was using her car on the day
officer Mutedza died.
On Tuesday Mtetwa had shed tears in the High Court after the
Prosecutor requested that they adjourn after only 26 minutes into the
session.
Mtetwa told SW Radio Africa that her emotions became intense because
Cynthia Manjoro’s son was practically living like an orphan.
“I think the mother in me came out and I just couldn’t
take it. Unfortunately you are not supposed to behave like that in
court but emotions are emotions and being human is being human,”
Mtetwa explained.
Mtetwa criticized the slow pace of the trial, which she claims is
deliberate and meant to prolong the accused members’ stay in
detention. She said many were arrested days after the murder, simply
because they were wearing MDC t-shirts.
She added: “This trial has been going on for months now
and if you add up the hours in court they are less than 2 weeks.
There can be no question politics is at play. If you follow the
evidence you will have to ask yourself why these people are in court.”
The defense lawyer also criticized the MDC-T, saying the party could
have done more “to really stand up and use this case to show how the
judicial system is being used for political purposes and motives”.
Officer Petros Mutedza was killed at a Glen View pub in
May last year.
The police claim he was murdered by MDC-T members who held a meeting
there, a charge the party strongly denies.
A total of 29 MDC-T members were rounded up by police after the
incident, claiming they were investigating. The accused include the
Chairman of the National Youth Council, Solomon Madzore. Several MDC-T
councillors, National Council members and youth leaders are also among
the detainees.
The police arrested two more youth leaders from the
MDC-T’s Glen View structures last week, and charged them with murder
in the same case. Jackson Mabota and Tarisai Kusotera, both from Glen
View South constituency, appeared in court last Thursday and were
remanded in custody till October 26th.
Some of the accused members have been in jail for over a year, with
the courts repeatedly denying them bail as flight risks.
The trial continues Thursday at the High Court.
Asiagate names set to be released on Friday
New Zimbabwe
Wednesday October 17
Harare-THE Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) says names of the 93
individuals found guilty of match fixing will not be released until at
least Friday to give the board members time to study the findings of
an independent panel.
ZIFA vice president Ndumiso Gumede said going through the
report running into several hundred pages, 4,500 exhibits and the
evidence of 115 witnesses was an “arduous process which cannot be
finished overnight”.
Retired Judge Ahmed Ebrahim, head of the probe team which conducted
hearings into the scandal known as Asiagate, presented his findings on
Tuesday and recommended that 13 players and officials be banned for
life and 80 others face bans of six months to 10 years. Eight players
were exonerated.
They were accused of accepting money from a betting
syndicate to throw matches in Asia from 2007 to 2009.
Zimbabwe lost 2-0 to Jordan, 3-0 to Thailand and 6-0 to Syria in
Malaysia in tours arranged by former ZIFA chief executive Henrietta
Rushwaya, named as the mastermind in the match-rigging scams.
She appeared in court in February on corruption and fraud
charges in a case still pending.
Gumede said after receiving the report on Tuesday, the ZIFA board met
into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The board will meet again on Friday at which the decision
is likely to be taken to publish the report.
Some players testified in the initial ZIFA probe in 2010 how money
changed hands in dressing rooms at matches linked to betting agents of
Wilson Raj Perumal, a Singaporean who is in jail in Europe for
match-fixing.
Ebrahim said most of the players who were "young, innocent
and uneducated" were dragged into the scandal, "used and manipulated"
by Perumal and unnamed ZIFA officials.
"Some officials and players will undoubtedly have their football
futures ruined by these greedy, despicable, ruthless and unfeeling
miscreants," Ebrahim said. "It is doubtful if these people will ever
even have the slightest thought of recompensing these young football
players."
Ebrahim said he believed Perumal was introduced to the
Zimbabwe national team by "some existing ZIFA hierarchy" he did not
name several years ago, and posed as a ZIFA agent so he could
"manipulate match-fixing in whichever manner he so wished."
It was alleged in ZIFA's 2010 report that Rushwaya used feared secret
agents connected to the country's longtime ruler President Robert
Mugabe to manipulate players and coaches on the Asian tours.
"There is little doubt that some of the players were being
manipulated into something the majority were not fully aware of, and
as a result, will have to suffer the long-term consequences, albeit
through ignorance on their part," Ebrahim said.
During the course of the year-long probe, 44 players were cleared of
any wrongdoing but on Tuesday Ebrahim said at the completion of the
investigation it has emerged that some of the players whose
suspensions were lifted will be banned again.
He said his investigation unearthed "the tip of the
iceberg" as there was evidence that a lot more went on than was
revealed in testimony.
Official records of the Asian tours and fees paid to the players and
officials had disappeared from the ZIFA offices, which made it
difficult to ascertain what really transpired, Ebrahim said. Money
earned from the trips was never deposited into the national body's
coffers.
"The exact intricate details of how the Zimbabwe teams became
involved with a match-fixing and betting syndicate organised by a man
known to those close to him as Raj, involved in the birth of this
destructive and illegal activity, may never be known," he said.
Regional
Malawi ready to resume border talks
AFP
Thursday October 18
Blantyre-Malawi is preparing to re-open talks over a long-standing
border dispute with Tanzania, two months after diplomatic negotiations
stalled, Foreign Minister Ephraim Chiume said on Wednesday.
“We are ready for the resumption of the talks. Malawi will
soon be sending its delegation to Tanzania to chart the way forward,”
Chiume told the national news agency.
Last month Malawi cancelled a fresh round of talks after Tanzania
“came up with a new map which defined a new boundary, and to us this
suggested that they were not doing these negotiations in good faith”,
said Chiume.
Based on an 1890 colonial agreement, Malawi claims
ownership of the whole of Lake Malawi, which forms the border between
the two countries.
Tanzania has maintained that half the lake falls within its borders
and is already eyeing it for natural gas exploration.
Earlier this month, Malawian President Joyce Banda
announced her country would take the dispute to the International
Court of Justice for arbitration.
The two countries are bickering over a largely undeveloped swathe of
the lake, where Malawi has awarded a licence to British firm
Surestream to explore for oil in its north-eastern waters, near
Tanzania.
The 29 600-square-kilometre lake is Africa's third-largest
freshwater lake. In Tanzania, it is called Lake Nyasa, which is taken
from Malawi's colonial name.
The lake lies in the Great Lakes system stretching along the East African Rift.
Zambian opposition MPs walk out of Parliament
Lusaka Times
Thursday October 18
Lusaka-Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday walked out of
the House in protest that they have not been officially informed on
who is acting Finance Minister since the holder ALEXANDER CHIKWANDA
was acting President.
The MPs lead by MMD Nalikwanda MP GEOFREY LUNGWANGWA,
walked out at 16:58 hours despite Speaker of the National Assembly
PATRICK MATIBINI giving several rulings on the matter this week.
MMD Kabombo East DANNY CHINGIMBU remained in the House with UPND
Nangoma MP BOYD HAMUSONDE who was out at the time his counterparts
walked out, but remained in the House until adjournment at 17:489
hours.
However, all MMD appointed Deputy Ministers remained in
the House with Patriotic Front (PF) members, Cabinet and Deputy
Ministers with leader of Government business Vice President GUY SCOTT.
The walk-out followed Professor Lungwangwa who wondered whether it was
in order for Government not to inform the House on who the acting
Finance Minister in place of Mr Chikwanda was.
Professor Lungwangwa said Mr Chikwanda, as a mover of
motion on 2013 national budget presented last week was supposed to be
in the House to take down concerns raised by members during debates.
He wondered whether it was in order for the members to continue
debating in the absence of Mr Chikwanda or any acting Finance Minister
to take all pertinent issues on budget debates and respond.
But in his ruling, Speaker of the National Assembly
PATRICK MATIBINI said the leader of Government bu8siness Dr Scott was
in the House and that Cabinet Ministers and their Deputies were always
present to hear what other members debated
“I still consider the order unsubstantial because the Honourbale
Chikwanda is still Finance Minister and there is disfunctionality and
I don’t see any constitutional crisis and the debates can be
conducted,” he said
He said if members were not happy they could ignite the
process because there was parliamentary democracy and members had
right to do so.
Home Affairs Deputy Minister STEPHEN KAMPYONGO also raised on a
point of order whether opposition where in order toa walk out at the
expense of listening on behalf of their people, in respond, Dr
Matibini said it was not in order and all members needed to be present
in the House.
Several PF MPs said the budget would give a proper direction on where
the ruling party was delivering development to uplift people’s
welfare.
"You're fired" - or maybe not, S.Africa's mines say
Reuters
Thursday October 18
Johannesburg-According to his "final ultimatum" to wildcat strikers,
Gold Fields chief executive Nick Holland is hours away from firing
23,000 miners.
In the poisonous atmosphere of the worst industrial unrest
in South Africa since the end of apartheid, everything points to him
making good on his threat on Thursday, adding to the 15,000 men
already sacked by platinum mines in the last two weeks.
The numbers are dramatic, and have political implications for
President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress (ANC), since
each miner probably supports up to 10 dependents.
The reality, however, is that the mass dismissals are just
another tactic - albeit a hard-ball one - in the long standoff between
management and workers over pay and conditions. When a deal is finally
reached, most will get their jobs back.
Re-hiring thousands of miners may be a logistical nightmare for the
likes of Gold Fields, the world's fourth largest bullion producer, but
the bosses know - as do the workers - that the company has few other
options if it is to restart production.
"It's very common that the employer uses mass dismissal as
a way of changing the nature of the dispute," said one labour lawyer.
He asked not to be named because he is involved in talks to resolve
the strikes, which have hit growth and confidence in Africa's biggest
economy.
"It's largely a tactical move," he said. "They don't expect to be able
to run a mine with a completely new labour force."
AngloGold Ashanti, the world's No. 3 bullion producer,
said on Wednesday it would decide next week whether to follow Gold
Fields in its dismissal ultimatum, which falls due at 2 p.m. (1200
GMT) on Thursday.
Despite the fighting talk from chief executive Mark Cutifani in an
interview with Reuters in London , the mood among strikers at
AngloGold's mine in Carletonville, 40 km (25 miles) west of
Johannesburg, was one of defiance and disdain.
"Come on, fire us," one man, among a group of hundreds of
strikers on a hill near the mine, told Reuters Television as his
friends joked and capered around him, pulling 10 rand notes from their
wallets to wave at the camera.
"What are you going to do then?" he asked. "We know you're going to
have to rehire us in two weeks."
WORST SINCE 1987
The strikes that erupted in early August at platinum miner
Lonmin have pushed South African labour relations to their lowest ebb
since a mass uprising in 1987 that successfully brought the
white-controlled economy to its knees.
Some of the blame can be traced back to the police killing of 34
strikers at Lonmin's Marikana mine on August 16, the worst security
incident since apartheid ended in 1994 - and to the hefty pay hike
that eventually got miners back on the job.
However, it is also a consequence of the stress under
which much of the industry, in particular platinum, finds itself, as
well as grassroots disillusionment with the sluggish pace of economic
change under nearly two decades of ANC rule.
The unrest first flared in January, with a six-week walkout at Impala
Platinum, the world's No. 2 producer of the precious metal, as a
result of a turf war between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
and the upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU).
NUM, whose close relationship with the ANC was forged in
decades of struggle against white rule, was accused of being out of
touch with workers and enjoying too cosy a relationship with
management and the government.
Revelations that NUM leader Frans Baleni earns more than 1 million
rand a year only reinforced the point, and helped fuel walkouts at
Gold Fields by workers fed up primarily with NUM shop stewards they
saw as self-serving.
Zuma made a point this week of standing shoulder to
shoulder with its old friend in a bid to restore the NUM-led
"collective bargaining" that has ensured relative labour stability in
the mines over the last two decades.
But this misses the point that NUM are part of the problem, and may
not necessarily part of the solution.
"The NUM can't come to us. They say they are scared of
us," said Evans Ramokga, a representative for striking workers at an
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) mine near Rustenburg, 120 km (70
miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
"RESTRUCTURING"
Amplats announced the dismissal of 12,000 strikers on
October 5, causing a sharp fall in the rand due to fears it would
inflame unrest in which more than 50 people have been killed,
including several NUM officials shot or hacked to death.
But Ramokga - as with his gold mining colleagues - appears
unperturbed, secure in the knowledge that the world's largest platinum
producer will eventually have to come
"We're waiting patiently," he told Reuters. "That's why
you don't see us going to the management. We're just waiting for
them."
His confidence might be misplaced.
Analysts believe half of South Africa's platinum mines are
making a loss because of a fall in the price of the metal this year,
and Amplats parent company Anglo American has already placed its four
Rustenburg mines "under review" - management-speak for working out
whether to close them.
Gold Fields' Holland has also said that "restructuring" - again,
managerial shorthand for closing shafts and laying off miners - "may
become inevitable" as labour costs rise and South Africa's gold mines
head ever deeper underground.
The lessons from Impala are telling: having fired 17,200
miners in the depths of its January dispute, the company rehired only
15,000 when it restarted operations in March.
"Unquestionably, when it comes to re-hiring, there will be fewer
jobs," the labour expert said. "And this will be one of the points of
negotiation."
Madagascar palm trees at risk of extinction, study finds
BBC News
Wednesday October 17
Madagascar-A majority of Madagascar's palms face extinction due to
land clearing, an environment protection group says.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
said 83% of the 192 tree varieties had been added to its threatened
species list.
The group called the figures "terrifying", saying the tree loss also
endangered animals and put people's livelihoods at risk.
The findings bring the global number of species at risk of
dying out to 20,219.
The IUCN's global director for biodiversity conservation, Jane Smart,
said the latest study showed the situation could no longer be ignored.
"The figures on Madagascar's palms are truly terrifying,
especially as the loss of palms impacts both the unique biodiversity
of the island and its people," she said.
Domino effect
Madagascar is the world's fourth biggest island after
Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo.
Because of its isolation most of its mammals, half its birds, and most
of its plants exist nowhere else on Earth.
Palm trees represent an integral part of the island's
biodiversity, with many of its poorest communities relying on the
trees to provide housing and food.
The raw materials are used to build houses, utensils and crafts, as
well as to produce food, drinks and medicine.
But forests have been rapidly shrinking as land is being
cleared for agriculture and logging.
Excessive palm heart harvesting has also put the trees at risk.
"The majority of Madagascar's palms grow in the island's
eastern rain forests, which have already been reduced to less than one
quarter of their original size and which continue to disappear," the
IUCN's Dr William Baker said.
Animals like the lemur have fallen victim to the domino effect of
deforestation, which destroys essential habitat.
"The high extinction risk faced by Madagascar's palms
reflects the decline in these forests, which threatens all of the
remarkable wildlife that occurs there," Dr Baker said.
The worldwide number of animals and plants on the IUCN's Red List of
Threatened Species is now 65,518.
Teacher sacked for cutting girls’ hair: Egypt
Reuters
Thursday October 18
Cairo-An Egyptian school teacher was fired on Wednesday for cutting
the hair of two 12-year-old girls because they were not wearing
Islamic headscarves, an act condemned as an illegal violation of human
rights by a leading woman's organisation.
Iman Abu Bakr Kilany, a science teacher who wears a full
veil, said she had been dismissed from her school in the southern town
of Luxor following complaints by relatives of the girls - the only two
in her class who did not wear headscarves.
“It started as a joke with the girls when I told them I would cut
their hair if they don't wear headscarves,” Kilany told Reuters by
telephone.
“Last Wednesday, one of my boy students reminded me and gave me
scissors from his school bag and I used them and cut small amounts of
their hair.”
Though apparently a symbolic act, the incident was seen as
the latest example of hardline Muslims trying to impose their values
on others in Egypt - a country now governed by Islamists.
“Without exaggeration, we feel that many of the hardline Islamists
feel empowered by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power to
impose their strict views on society,” said human rights activist
Gamal Eid.
Many Egyptian women wear the headscarf, but the country's
Islamic scholars typically say it should only be out of free choice.
That view is shared by the Muslim Brotherhood - the group which
propelled President Mohamed Morsi to power in June.
Kilany said she had asked all her girl students to put on the
headscarf, saying it was required for girls older than 10 to do so - a
view not shared by many Muslims. “Our religious traditions makes it
obligatory,” she said.
The National Council For Women (NCW) condemned Kilany in a
statement on Wednesday, saying her act “violates Egyptian law, the
rights of humans and the rights of children”.
While Morsi and his administration have repeatedly said they will not
seek to impose strict Islamic codes on Egypt, the rise to prominence
of an array of Islamist groups is alarming more secular-minded
Egyptians and the country's sizeable Christian minority.
In one headline-grabbing incident, a young man out with
his fiancee was stabbed to death by three Islamist zealots in Suez in
July.
The killers were sent to 15 years in jail last month.
Kilany said she would be reassigned to a role in the bureaucracy
and docked one month's salary.
Libya urged to probe Gaddafi’s death
AFP
Thursday October 18
Washington - The United States on Wednesday renewed its call for Libya
to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of ousted
dictator Muammar Gaddafi, after a new probe by a US rights watchdog.
As the first anniversary of Gaddafi’s death looms, Human
Rights Watch said it had uncovered new evidence implicating militias
in summary executions and raising questions over Libya's explanations
of how he and one of his sons died.
The 50-page report, “Death of a Dictator: Bloody Vengeance in Sirte”,
said Misrata-based militias captured and disarmed 66 members of
Gaddafi’s convoy in his hometown of Sirte last October.
“They then executed at least 66 captured members of the
convoy at the nearby Mahari Hotel,” the report said.
“Our findings call into question the assertion by Libyan authorities
that Muammar Gaddafi was killed in crossfire, and not after his
capture,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights
Watch.
To document what happened on October 20, 2011, HRW said it
had interviewed officers in opposition militias who were at the scene
and surviving members of the Gaddafi convoy in hospital, in custody or
at home.
“We are urging the government of Libya to genuinely investigate all
these claims and to prosecute any perpetrators in a manner consistent
with Libya's international obligations,” State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland said.
Washington has also called on the Libyan government to
investigate Gaddafi’s death as “it's very important to hold those
responsible to account”.
“This is part of... not only the judicial maturation of Libya but also
part of the ground that they need to plow for national
reconciliation,” she said.
Nuland added the United States has been trying to
“strengthen the underpinnings” of the Libyan judiciary by helping to
train judges and lawyers.
“It's no secret that this is a fragile and very new democracy,” she said.
“They were operating within a transitional governing structure for
a very long time, and we need to now support them as they take the
next steps on all of these issues.”
Zfn Realtime financial intelligence
Box CY1214
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Tel: 0733 016 576
email: z...@yoafrica.com
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