Fwd: Overseas Press Summary + Alex Cartoon

[arthur ndowora]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012 08:59:12 +0200
Subject: Overseas Press Summary + Alex Cartoon
To: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>

Zfn
Realtime financial intelligence
__________________________________________________________________________________




Headlines

Financial & Global Economy
*Dow gains more than 100 points - CNNMoney

*Britain's FTSE edges lower as U.S. budget talks slow - Reuters

*Gold rebounds on U.S. budget optimism, record investor holdings - Bloomberg

*Oil prices drop with focus on US - AFP

*Groupon CEO: I'm not surprised about firing rumors – CNNMoney

*"One Ford" strategy top focus, says incoming Ford COO - Reuters

*Starbucks selling Geisha Coffee for $7 a cup - Bloomberg

*Greece to begin bond buyback plan - AFP

*BHP says looking inside and out for CEO successor - Reuters

*Rio Tinto targets $5bn cost cuts as prices tumble – BBC News

*Marissa Mayer on God, family and Yahoo - CNNMoney

*Billionaire joins boomless Supersonic-Jet quest - Bloomberg

*SA Reserve Bank sees inflation risk - AFP

*BP faces temporary ban from new US contracts – BBC News


International
*Chinese police plan to board ships in disputed seas - Reuters

*New York City celebrates day without violent crime – BBC News

*Russian mafia whistleblower found dead in UK – Al Jazeera

*Assange’s health is back in focus - AFP

*Motivation guru Zig Ziglar dies at 86 – CNN News

*Man with world's biggest arms says he's clean – Sky News

*Japanese man's childhood dreams give birth to giant robot - Reuters

*Obama is proud of Rice’s work - AP

*Childhood obesity 'can be predicted by check at birth' - Bloomberg

*Romney to have lunch with Obama Thursday – CNN News

*Bangladesh fire protests rage, supervisors arrested - Reuters

*Quickfire RVP keeps Man United top – Super Sport


News from the Axis
*Chavez’s health scare renews speculation - AFP

*Car bombs kill 34 in pro-Assad Damascus suburb - Reuters

*Kabul Bank lost $900m in embezzlement – Al Jazeera

*Saudi diplomat and aide killed in Yemen – CNN News

*Iran "will press on with enrichment:" nuclear chief - Reuters

*Syrian villagers cheer downed jet; rebels display captured missiles – CNN News



Political and General
*Zimbabwean lands top UN job – Radio VoP

*Dead people will remain on voters' roll: ZEC – New Zimbabwe

*26 MDC-T activists to spend 2nd Christmas in custody – SW Radio Africa

*Kunonga threatens to shoot snapper – New Zimbabwe


Regional
*Five provinces are in Zuma’s corner - Reuters

*Anadarko Considering Joint Venture in Mozambique – Fox Business

*Lesotho: Sexual harassment a reality in universities – All Africa

*U.N. chief recommends "offensive military operation" in Mali - Reuters

*‘Revolution returns to Tahrir Square’ – AFP







Financial & Global Economy
Dow gains more than 100 points

CNNMoney

Wednesday November 28



New York-U.S. stocks ended on a high note Wednesday as investors
welcomed comments from President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner
on the fiscal cliff negotiations.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 107 points, or
0.8%. The index was supported by shares of HP (HPQ, Fortune 500),
which gained nearly 3%. American Express Co (AXP, Fortune 500) and
Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) were also strong performers, adding about
2%.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both gained 0.8%.

Trading has been choppy recently as investors react to
political developments in Washington, where lawmakers and the White
House have been at loggerheads over a slew of year-end tax increases
and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.

President Obama renewed his call for Congress to pass a bill he says
would provide a tax break for middle-class Americans, saying he's
"confident" an agreement to avert the crisis will be reached before
Christmas.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Boehner said
he's "optimistic" that a compromise will be reached "sooner rather
than later." But he added that it's time for Obama and the Democrats
"to get serious about the spending problem that our country has."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rattled investors late Tuesday when
he reported little progress in the talks.

The fear is that failing to resolve the fiscal cliff
before the Jan. 1 deadline could shock the economy and send it back
into recession. Investors have been paralyzed by this uncertainty and
many expect the stocks to remain volatile for the rest of the year.

"The fiscal cliff malaise is blanketing the market," said Jack Ablin,
chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of CEOs from top U.S.
companies will meet with President Obama as part of the "Campaign to
Fix the Debt."

On the economic front, the government said October new home sales fell
0.3% from the month before, although sales were up 17.2% versus
October of last year.

The Federal Reserve said economic activity across the
central bank's 12 districts expanded at a "measured pace" in recent
weeks, according to the latest edition of its Beige Book. The report
also said contacts in several Fed districts are concerned about the
fiscal cliff.

A report in the Wall Street Journal fueled speculation that the Fed
could extend its bond-buying program next year to help support the
economy.

Meanwhile, gold prices fell sharply as the U.S. dollar
strengthened against the euro and the British pound.

Oil prices were also pressured by the stronger greenback. In the
bond market, yields on U.S. Treasuries moved higher as prices
declined.

Fear & Greed Index

In corporate news, big box retailer Costco (COST, Fortune
500) announced a special dividend, which will pay shareholders a total
of $3 billion on Dec. 18. Shares rose 6%.

Costco becomes the latest company to move dividend payments to
calendar year 2012 as taxes on payments to shareholders are set to
rise on Jan. 1, due to the fiscal cliff. Costco rival Wal-Mart (WMT,
Fortune 500) is also speeding up those payments.

Shares of Knight Capital (KCG) surged 15% after the
troubled broker-dealer received a buyout offer from rival and partial
owner Getco.

The Fresh Market (TFM)stock plunged to a six-month low after the
specialty grocer missed earnings expectations and announced that its
CFO will step down next month.

American Eagle (AEO) shares were up 7% after the apparel
retailer reported strong quarterly results before the market open.

After the market closed, rival Aeropostale (ARO) said it earned 31
cents per share in the third quarter, topping analysts' expectations
for 29 cents.

Shares of troubled retailer JC Penney (JCP, Fortune 500),
which have been heavily shorted, rose 4.5%.

Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) jumped 26% after the
K-cup maker issued a better-than-expected outlook for the upcoming
fiscal year late Tuesday.

European markets closed higher, while Asian markets ended
lower on Wednesday.

The European Commission approved the restructuring plans of four
Spanish banks, clearing the way for long-anticipated bailout of those
institutions.



Britain's FTSE edges lower as U.S. budget talks slow

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



London - UK blue chips edged lower early on Monday as signs of
sluggish progress in crucial U.S. budget talks fueled some
profit-taking after recent, hefty gains.

Growth-dependent cyclical stocks lead the retreat after
U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, said there had been "little
progress" among lawmakers in negotiations to avoid a 'fiscal cliff' of
spending cuts and tax hikes that could stall the world's largest
economy.

At 0824 GMT, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 22.94 points, or 0.4 percent
at 5,776.03 points, shedding all of Tuesday's gains and a fraction of
last week's 213 points rally.

The FTSE has been trading in a range comprised between
5,600 and 5,900 since August as a boost from monetary stimulus from
the world's largest central banks was offset by concerns about a
recession in part of the euro zone and uncertainty over the U.S.
fiscal cliff.

"We're seeing short positions coming on board with a view to closing
at 5,600," Manoj Ladwa, head of trading at TJ Markets said.

"(If a deal on the fiscal cliff is reached) you'll start
seeing volumes returning back to the market and the index creeping up
towards the high end of the range around 5,900."

In a sign of the flight to safety on Wednesday, shares in defensive
United Utilities topped the FTSE 100 leader board, up 2 percent after
the multi-utility posted a rise in first-half revenues and said it was
on track to meet regulatory outperformance targets.

U.S. DEAL WOULD TRIGGER RALLY

Reid's comments weighed on U.S. stocks late on Tuesday,
with the U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 index, widely regarded as a global
benchmark for equities, recording its worst day in eight sessions as
it fell 0.5 percent to finish at 1,398.94.

"We might fluctuate around here over the next week or two," Gerry
Fowler, global head of equity Strategy at BNP Paribas, said, adding
the S&P 500 may dip back down to 1,350 points or, as a low
probability, 1,300 points.

"But as long as we get some agreement, even if it's just
the consensus postponement agreement, on the fiscal cliff, we'll
probably be back comfortably above 1,400 on the S&P before the
year-end."

Fowler recommended buying calls on the S&P 500 to position for a 5-7
percent upside, possibly selling put or put spreads option to pay for
that trade.

He added that the U.S. benchmark could rise as much as 10 or 15
percent if U.S. lawmakers produce an agreement on a long-term deficit
reduction plan, although he attached a mere 10-20 percent probability
to this scenario.



Gold rebounds on U.S. budget optimism, record investor holdings

Bloomberg

Thursday November 29



New York-Gold rebounded from the biggest drop in more than three weeks
as investor holdings expanded to a record and optimism returned that
the so-called fiscal cliff in the U.S. will be avoided, hurting the
dollar.

Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.2 percent to
$1,723.70 an ounce and traded at $1,720.35 at 11:58 a.m. in Singapore.
The price dropped 1.3 percent yesterday, the biggest fall since Nov.
2, on concern that a U.S. deal won’t be agreed. Bullion for February
delivery gained as much as 0.4 percent to $1,726 an ounce on the
Comex, and was at $1,722.50.

Holdings in exchange-traded products expanded to 2,615.89 metric tons
yesterday, according to data tracked by Bloomberg.

The Dollar Index (DXY) was little changed today after fluctuating
yesterday on the outlook for the $607 billion combination of tax
increases and spending cuts that may be implemented in January should
lawmakers fail to reach accord on the budget.

“We’re not seeing signs of any significant follow-through
selling,” said Nick Trevethan, a senior commodities strategist at
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. “The factors
supporting gold really haven’t gone away. You still have large amounts
of liquidity in the system, you’re seeing central banks trying to
support markets.”

Gold, little changed this month, has climbed 10 percent this year
after central banks from the U.S. to Europe took more steps to boost
growth, raising concern currencies may weaken. Gold rallied 70 percent
as the Federal Reserve bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of
quantitative easing from December 2008 through June 2011.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner said he is
optimistic officials can “avert this crisis sooner rather than later.”

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner meets today with
congressional leaders to discuss tax increases and spending cuts.

Silver for immediate delivery dropped as much as 0.3 percent to
$33.6687 an ounce and traded at $33.705, falling for a third day. Spot
platinum climbed as much as 0.5 percent to $1,613 an ounce and was at
$1,607.75. Palladium fell 0.7 percent to $670.50 an ounce.



Oil prices drop with focus on US

AFP

Wednesday November 28



London - Oil prices fell on Wednesday as investors focused on key
budget talks in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of
energy, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
for delivery in January, slipped 49 cents to $86.69 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for January lost 37 cents to $109.50 in London
midday deals.

“Following the agreement to provide further financial
assistance to Greece, market players are clearly turning their
attention to the next pressing problem, namely the budget dispute in
the US,” said Commerzbank oil analyst Carsten Fritsch.

US lawmakers are working to hammer out an agreement on the budget for
next year that requires painful compromises from both Republicans and
Democrats, but negotiations have been marked by bitter political
bickering.

If no deal is reached before the end of the year, a
“fiscal cliff” of tax rises and massive spending cuts, including
slashes to the military, comes into effect and would likely send the
world's biggest economy back into recession.

Initial euphoria over the debt deal reached between Greece and its
creditors has meanwhile died down as both sides move to implement its
terms.

Lingering concerns over the eurozone debt crisis cut short
a rally by the euro, which briefly got a boost from the Greek debt
deal announced on Tuesday.

A weaker euro makes dollar-priced oil more expensive, denting demand.

“As markets cautiously greeted news of a deal to release
emergency aid to debt-laden Greece, oil traders eyed the looming US
'fiscal cliff' as the latest sign struggling fuel demand could face
further headwinds,” Phillip Futures said in a market commentary.



Groupon CEO: I'm not surprised about firing rumors

CNNMoney

Wednesday November 28



New York-Rumors are swirling that Groupon's board is considering
replacing founder and CEO Andrew Mason with a more experienced leader,
but he's not surprised. Or even particularly upset.

"Our stock is down 80% [year-to-date] ... it would be
weird for the board not to be asking that question," Mason said at the
Business Insider Ignition conference in New York City on Wednesday.

"It would be more noteworthy if the board wasn't discussing it," Mason added.

Mason's Ignition appearance was scheduled long before
rumors of board members' discontent appeared in an All Things D
article Tuesday, later echoed by other media outlets. Moderator Henry
Blodget kicked off the discussion by asking about the rumors, and that
line of questioning continued throughout their talk.

Mason wiggled out of questions about whether he would "fight" to keep
his job, shifting the focus instead to the company overall.

"I care far more about the success of the business than I
do about my job as a CEO," Mason said at one point. Later, when pushed
specifically on whether he really does want to keep the CEO title,
Mason said simply: "I want what's best for Groupon."

Still, he insisted that "if I ever thought I wasn't the right guy for
the job, I'd be the first person to fire myself."

Blodget also grilled Mason on Groupon's flagging
reputation. The CEO has stayed relatively quiet while Wall Street and
the media piled on "an incredible amount of scorn," Blodget suggested.

Shares of Groupon are currently trading around $4, compared with their
IPO price of $20 in November 2011.

Mason replied: "Our stock is going to reflect our
long-term performance. I don't think you can talk the stock back up to
20 bucks. You have to deliver."

He acknowledged that Groupon (GRPN) has work to do on that front, but
he simultaneously downplayed the importance of critics' complaints.

"We've built up a resiliency to the external noise," he
said. "We'll look back at these war stories and be glad we went
through that ... there's something romantic about proving the
naysayers wrong."

Mason was far less impressed by Blodget's next question, which
devolved into a long diatribe about Blodget's own "fall from grace"
after being charged with securities fraud in 2003 for his actions as a
stock analyst. Blodget talked about how the accusations "hurt," and he
asked Mason how the firing rumor "feels ... you know, when you're at
home."

Mason held for an awkward beat, and when his answer came,
it was clear he found the question silly.

"I don't really know what you want me to say...." he trailed off.
"'Sure, Henry, it feels great'? I mean, obviously, no. It doesn't feel
good."



"One Ford" strategy top focus, says incoming Ford COO

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Los Angeles/Detroit-Ford Motor Co (F.N) has spent six years under
Chief Executive Alan Mulally developing its 'One Ford' global product
strategy. Building on this plan is Mark Fields' top priority when he
starts running the automaker's global operations next month.

"The priorities are almost exactly identical to the
priorities we've been working on," Fields told reporters during a
roundtable at the Los Angeles Auto Show. "First off is delivering the
'One Ford'. It's a timeless plan."

Fields' public comments on Wednesday were his most expansive on his
upcoming role as chief operating officer since the second-largest U.S.
automaker announced his promotion this month, effective December 1.

Fields, 51, who is often described as tenacious, has led
Ford's largest business unit, North America, for the last seven years
and is viewed as the front runner to succeed Mulally.

However, the automaker has stopped short of formally anointing the
23-year Ford veteran Fields as its next CEO, and has said Mulally will
stay on through 2014, about a year longer than analysts expected.

Mulally is closely identified with Ford's recent success.
Under his 'One Ford' plan, Mulally pushed Ford to build global models
that can be sold around the world with a few tweaks. Ford has
estimated the strategy helped make overall product development
two-thirds more efficient between 2006 and 2012.

Fields, who will be Ford's first COO since 2006, said he will look for
new opportunities to deploy the One Ford plan. In South America, for
example, Ford's lineup will be almost 100 percent global models by
2014. It was almost entirely regional in 2011.

"We are just starting to see the full potential of the
global scale and the operating margin benefits through the One Ford
plan," Fields said. "We are really still at the beginning stages of
operating truly as a global company."

FINDING A SUCCESSOR

In his new role, Fields said he will oversee Ford's
day-to-day global operations, while Mulally will shape the long-term
execution of his 'One Ford' plan and mentor top executives.

"We're so glad that Alan is going to be staying around and he's going
to be leading the long-term development of the 'One Ford' plan,"
Fields told reporters at a second event Wednesday.

Analysts said Ford's top executives, including Fields,
would benefit from Mulally's mentorship over the next two years.

The move allows Mulally to help steer Ford's overhaul of its
European operations as well as its expansion in China.

But other analysts said the move also muddied the waters, raising
questions about who is in charge, while heightening the risk that
Fields could be hired away.

"He knows he's being tested," University of Michigan
Professor Gerald Meyers, a former chairman of American Motors Corp,
said of Fields. "It's a matter of how much patience he has. Ford has
to be very careful about that."

Mulally is credited with turning around Ford while avoiding the
government bailouts needed to save its crosstown rivals General Motors
Co (GM.N) and Chrysler Group LLC (FIA.MI) in 2009.

Ford has also become a more open and collaborative place
during his tenure, a change from its previous internal culture of
"empire building and back-biting," Executive Chairman Bill Ford said
earlier this month.

Fields played a key role in ushering in this new internal culture,
Mulally and Bill Ford have said. As COO, Fields will lead the weekly
business review meetings that have been among the most visible signs
of cultural change at Ford.

On Wednesday, Fields said preserving this focus is essential.

"You don't change a culture in just a couple of years," he said. "We
are really dedicated to making sure that we root that in the
organization and that's living it every day."



Starbucks selling Geisha Coffee for $7 a cup

Bloomberg

Wednesday November 28



New York-Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) has started selling a specialty coffee
that costs $7 for a 16-ounce “grande” cup, making it the company’s
priciest brew, as customers demand more premium products.

The Costa Rica Finca Palmilera coffee costs $40 for a
half- pound bag and $6 for a 12-ounce “tall” cup, Lisa Passe, a
Starbucks spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. It’s made from a rare,
difficult-to-grow varietal called Geisha. The new coffee is available
at only 46 locations in the U.S. Northwest with expensive Clover
brewing machines.

Starbucks Corp. has started selling a specialty coffee that costs $7
for a 16-ounce “grande” cup, making it the company’s priciest brew, as
customers demand more premium products. Photographer: Peter
Foley/Bloomberg

“We have loyal reserve customers who are interested in any
opportunity to try something as rare and exquisite as the Geisha
varietal,” Passe said. “We are now offering more reserve coffees than
ever before because of customer demand.”

Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee-shop operator, competes in
specialty coffees with companies such as Chicago- based Intelligentsia
Coffee & Tea Inc. and Portland, Oregon- based Stumptown Coffee
Roasters, which rely on “single-origin” and “direct trade” coffee to
sell to discerning customers.

Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz has added
products such as instant coffee, energy drinks, juice, a single- serve
brewer and food to sell in the company’s shops and in grocery stores.

Starbucks rose 2.3 percent to $51.37 at the close in New York. The
Seattle-based company’s shares have advanced 12 percent this year.



Greece to begin bond buyback plan

AFP

Wednesday November 28



Athens - Greece will launch a bond buyback programme agreed with EU
and IMF creditors “early next week”, Greek Finance Minister Yannis
Stournaras said on Wednesday.

“The success of the operation is a patriotic duty, it is a
question of credibility” for Greece, Stournaras said, while adding
that the government had an alternative plan in case the operation,
meant to be completed by December 13, failed.

The scheme, tied to the latest rescue package for Greece, is expected
to involve the voluntary purchase of debt bonds issued by Greece and
held by private creditors, the source said.

The value of Greek bonds has plunged in value as the debt
crisis has risen in intensity and since a big debt write-off by
private bondholders at the beginning of the year.

By buying back debt at a heavy discount, Greece reduces the total
burden of debt.

Analysts at the Greek bank Eurobank said they expected the
operation to involve the purchase, at a discount, of half the debt
totalling 62.3 billion euros still held by private creditors.

In March, Greece's private creditors already agreed to write down debt
of about 107 billion euros.

Under the terms of the complex package of measures agreed in
Brussels early on Monday, the International Monetary Fund and the
eurozone agreed to release 43.7 billion euros ($57 billion) in four
instalments from the middle of December to March to enable Greece to
avoid bankruptcy towards the end of the year.



BHP says looking inside and out for CEO successor

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Sydney-BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) said it is looking inside and
outside the company as well as using external advisers to help with
succession plans for its chief executive, following reports the
world's biggest miner was preparing for changes at the top.

Chairman Jac Nasser told BHP's Australian annual general
meeting on Thursday that planning for a successor to CEO Marius
Kloppers had started the day he was appointed and was ongoing.

Kloppers oversaw phenomenal growth during the final boom years of the
last decade and, despite failing to complete at least three major
deals, won plaudits from investors for reining in costs and
maintaining shareholder payouts.

But BHP now faces a sharp drop in profits as it battles a
tougher environment after a slowdown in top customer China has knocked
commodities prices.

"If he is replaced, I only hope they choose someone from inside and
not someone that parachutes in, because we need a CEO that understands
this company," said Ian Mancovitch, a BHP shareholder attending the
meeting in Sydney.

"Sure, Marius Kloppers is yesterday's man, but that
doesn't mean he isn't needed anymore, he proved that during the global
financial crisis," he added.

Internally, four candidates are seen as frontrunners for the job:
petroleum division chief Mike Yeager, aluminum and nickel chief
Alberto Calderon, nonferrous chief Andrew Mackenzie and iron ore head
Marcus Randolph.

"As part of the executive development process we identify
high potential people at various levels both inside and outside the
company on an ongoing basis," Nasser said, adding BHP used its own
human resources people and external advisers.

Nasser praised Kloppers for his leadership during the financial crisis.

"This sort of performance doesn't happen by accident,"
Nasser said. "It is a credit to every one of our 100,000 people led by
Marius and his team," Nasser said.

The company has not said when it expected the 50-year-old South
African to leave, but identified succession planning for all its
senior executives as a top priority following a report that a search
for a replacement had begun.

FORFEITED BONUS

An analyst at a fund manager, who asked not be named,
played down the impact on Kloppers' position of the talk of succession
as a normal part of a company's leadership transition.

"One of the benefits that BHP has is it has great depth of senior
management, whereas you couldn't make the same comment about some of
the smaller companies in the market."

BHP could face stiff competition in any external hunt from
Anglo American (AAL.L), which is also searching for a new chief
executive after dropping Cynthia Carroll. Xstrata (XTA.L) is also
tipped to be in the market for a new chief executive soon, when
current head Mick Davis leaves.

Under BHP's dual Australian-United Kingdom listings, BHP's
headquarters must be in Australia, and its chief executive must spend
51 percent of his or her time in the country, further limiting the
field.

"Everything is possible, but a replacement for Marius
won't be easy," said a investment fund manager who has had contact
with the chief executive over some of his biggest deals.

"He is regarded as one of businesses' best managers, the one who very
aptly steered BHP through the financial crisis."

Kloppers faced criticism for failing to clinch three major
bids he launched -- a full takeover of rival Rio Tinto
(RIO.AX)(RIO.L), a merger with Rio Tinto's iron ore business and a bid
for Canada's Potash Corp (POT.N) -- and then splashing $17 billion on
two shale gas takeovers in the United States just before gas prices
slumped.

He gave up his bonus this year after BHP took a $2.8 billion charge on
the value of its shale gas assets.

An early exit would spare Kloppers the task of overseeing
a prolonged period of sliding profits. Based on estimates, BHP's
profit is not expected to get back to the high of 2011 for at least
another five years.

In 2012/13, BHP's bottom line is tipped to tumble by some $4 billion
to just under $15 billion due to lower minerals prices.

Kloppers' longevity is also under threat from a marked
shift mandated by Nasser away from revenue generation to cost control.

This was made evident by board decisions this year to suspend
expansions in copper at Olympic Dam and iron ore via the now-stalled
development plan at Port Hedland's outer harbor.

For his part, Kloppers told the meeting that BHP was in a
strong financial position.

"This despite the challenges of higher capital and operating costs,
stronger producer currencies and more regulation as well as volatility
in commodity prices," Kloppers said.

ELUSIVE TAKEOVERS

As an 18-year-old conscript in the South African army,
Kloppers reportedly carried his ailing German Shepherd tracker dog
through the Angolan desert rather than let it die.

In his business career, he has also tried to beat the odds, especially
when mounting takeovers, such as when he took on international
regulators -- and some of his own major customers -- in launching the
hostile bid for Rio Tinto in 2008.

He later dumped the deal, partly due to anti-trust
concerns and the global financial crisis.

BHP went back for another try, lining up an iron ore joint venture
with Rio Tinto that would have yielded $10 billion in savings. That
deal had to be pulled after regulators blocked it.

Undaunted, Kloppers turned his sights on Potash Corp, the
world's largest fertilizer-maker, but there too he was thwarted, this
time by the Canadian government.

Nonetheless, some shareholders may be thankful.

Before his tenure, BHP squandered billions of dollars in past
decades by making disastrous forays into U.S. copper mining and by
betting on new-fangled ways to make nickel and iron ore.



Rio Tinto targets $5bn cost cuts as prices tumble

BBC News

Wednesday November 28



Sydney-The world's second-biggest mining group, Rio Tinto, has
announced plans to slash its costs by $5bn (£3.2bn) over the next two
years. The cuts come as slowing global demand and a fall in commodity
prices have hurt profits at mining firms.

There have been concerns that demand for commodities may
dip further in wake of economic problems in the US and Europe and
slowing growth in China.

Other miners, including BHP Billiton, have also announced cost-cutting plans.

"We are taking further tough action to roll back the
unsustainable cost increases of the past few years and are maintaining
a relentless focus on improving productivity," said Tom Albanese,
chief executive of Rio Tinto.

China factor

Mining firms such as Rio Tinto have benefited from China's
rapid expansion over the past few years, which have seen the country
grow into one of the world's largest commodities markets.

Demand from China has become even more important for miners as growth
in the US and Europe, two of the biggest economic regions in the
world, has slowed down.

However, growth in China has also been slowing and hit a
three-year low in the July to September quarter.

That has led to concerns that demand for commodities from China may
tail off and further impact prices and hurt company profits.

However, Rio Tinto said it expects growth in China to
rebound in the coming months.

"I'm cautiously optimistic about the fact that we're beginning to see
green shoots in China," Mr Albanese said.



Marissa Mayer on God, family and Yahoo

CNNMoney

Wednesday November 28



Fortune-In her first public interview since taking on the CEO gig at
Yahoo, Marissa Mayeroutlined her priorities both inside and out of the
company.

"I think that for me, it's God, family and Yahoo—in that
order," said the new chief executive referencing the Vince Lombardi
trinity. (Her first son Macallister was born September 30). Mayer
spoke at a Fortune Most Powerful Women event, an invitation-only
dinner in Palo Alto that took place Tuesday evening.

Since arriving from Google (GOOG) last July, Mayer has taken several
steps to turn Yahoo (YHOO) around. She brought in a new chief
marketing officer and heads of sales and HR, among other executives.
She's also made efforts to boost employee morale by instituting free
lunches and handing out iPhones, Android devices and Windows-powered
phones to staffers.

Yahoo has over 700 million users and plenty of popular
products, including email and its sports and news sites.

The company's stock is up nearly 19% since Mayer took over last summer.

But the 37-year-old CEO has a long road ahead, and has
already said that a turnaround will take multiple years. To succeed in
making Yahoo a "growth company" again, she'll need to secure the
company's position as a leader in mobile apps and offerings--a tall
order for a company that doesn't own its own mobile browser, operating
system or hardware.

Unsurprisingly, Mayer is optimistic. "We have a terrific set of assets
on the web--all the things people want to do on their mobile phone,"
said Mayer. "The interesting thing is when you look at what people
want to do on their phone, it's mail, weather, check stock quotes and
news. That's Yahoo's business. This is a huge opportunity for us
because we have the content and all the information people want on
their phones."

The challenge now, said Mayer, is making it all easy to
use on a mobile device--being that must-download app people want to
get when they buy a new smartphone. Mayer has made it clear she wants
Yahoo to develop more mobile expertise, and said the company would
likely make more "acqui-hires" (a.k.a. acquisitions made purely for
talent, not technology) of mobile companies in the future.

But Yahoo's turnaround isn't solely about mobile, she noted. For
years, the Silicon Valley company has struggled with focusing its
business.

Previous CEOs have tried--and failed--to streamline Yahoo
and solve its identity complex.

"We really want to have a global suite of products that are truly
excellent," said Mayer, highlighting the popularity of Yahoo's search,
mail, news and sports pages--and in particular its Sports Fantasy
site. The company's fantasy football page was down recently (on a
Sunday, no less!), which Mayer addressed jokingly, saying "Twitter was
a little brutal that day."

Mayer has also made it a priority to make Yahoo a fun
place to work again.

The Silicon Valley company has seen many executives departures and
morale has suffered greatly over the last few years.

"The company's been through a turbulent period and a
distracting period," said Mayer. "I want Yahoo to be the absolute best
place to work, to have a fantastic culture. We're working really hard
right now to remind people about all the opportunities that are
there." Of course, that will likely take much more than free lunches
and iPhones. But Mayer knows a thing or two about corporate
culture--she spent the bulk of her career at Google after all.

The key to getting it all done, according to Mayer, is "ruthlessly"
prioritizing.

"That's one of the reasons I haven't been talking [to the
press]," said Mayer. "And I will go back to not talking after
tonight."



Billionaire joins boomless Supersonic-Jet quest

Bloomberg

Wednesday November 28



Dallas-Supersonic flight, a longtime dream for makers and owners of
private planes, is inching closer to reality.

Bombardier Inc.’s Global 7000 and 8000 jets retail for as
much as $65 million. The largest corporate planes already cost almost
as much as the smallest Boeing and Airbus SAS airliners, and can fly
about 90 percent as fast as sound. Source: Bombardier

Nine years after the last trip of the Concorde jetliner, the quest for
speed without window-rattling sonic booms is spurring research by
billionaire Robert Bass, General Dynamics Corp. (GD)’s Gulfstream,
Boeing Co. (BA), Lockheed Martin Corp., the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration and others.

The efforts signal that the time may finally be nearing
for corporate aircraft flying faster than sound, about 750 miles
(1,207 kilometers) per hour at sea level. Technological leaps since
the Concorde’s development in the 1960s are converging with the
willingness of globe-trotting chief executive officers to pay more for
ever-bigger and longer-range jets.

“Most all of the manufacturers have done size, have done luxury and
opulence,” said Andrew Hoy, a managing director at broker ExecuJet
Aviation Group in Zurich.

“Time is the biggest opportunity for them all and the only
differentiator left.”

High operating costs and scant demand for the Concorde’s
premium fares forced its retirement in 2003 after 27 years in service.
The 100-seat jets streaked from New York to London at twice the speed
of sound, slicing travel times in half to about three hours.

Planemakers took away a lesson in supersonic economics: It may be
easier to find CEOs and wealthy individuals who crave faster corporate
aircraft than to persuade airlines to invest in a Concorde successor.

‘More Sense’

“Given the amount of fuel you need to burn to achieve
supersonic speeds, it’s going to be a more expensive proposition that
only a sliver of the market is going to pay the price for,” said
George Hamlin, president of Hamlin Transportation Consulting in
Fairfax, Virginia. “When you’re talking about a supersonic business
jet, that begins to make more sense.”

The largest corporate planes already cost almost as much as the
smallest Boeing and Airbus SAS airliners, and can fly about 90 percent
as fast as sound. Gulfstream’s G650 lists for $58.5 million.
Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B)’s Global 7000 and 8000 jets retail for as much
as $65 million. Warren Buffett’s NetJets unit ordered 20 last year.

The chief obstacle to supersonic flight is the same one
that bedeviled the Concorde: the sonic boom. The U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration outlawed such flights by civilians over land in 1973
because of the noise, and other countries followed.

FAA Rules

Reversing that ban will be pivotal to any revival of
supersonic travel, because the planes would lose their business case
if they can’t fly at top speed, according to Savannah, Georgia-based
Gulfstream.

“That requires a solution to the sonic boom problem, and that’s where
our research efforts are focused,” Preston Henne, Gulfstream’s senior
vice president of engineering and test, said during an aviation
conference in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 29. “We continue to make
progress on that.”

NASA expects to start building a demonstrator plane in
2016 to show that disruptive booms can be minimized, and that jet may
fly after 2020, according to Peter Coen, chief of supersonic research.
In an industry in which Boeing’s Dreamliner took more than a decade to
go from the Sonic Cruiser concept to first delivery, that’s not a
long-range timeline.

“This is a high-value niche market; the winner here will be the first
to market,” said Brian Foley, an aviation consultant based in Sparta,
New Jersey. “That’s why there’s interest and that’s why there’s
motivation for these people to keep on trying.”

Risks Ahead

Success for a new generation of planes is hardly assured,
said Foley, who spent 20 years as marketing director at Dassault
Aviation SA (AM)’s Falcon business-jet unit.

No follow-on aircraft has emerged since Air France and British Airways
parked their Concordes, which were grounded for more than a year after
the 2000 crash in Paris that killed 113 people when one of the Air
France jets struck runway debris.

The planes slurped twice as much fuel as a Boeing 747
jumbo jet with only about a quarter of the passengers, and round-trip
tickets in 2003 fetched as much as $13,500, then the sticker price on
a Dodge Neon compact.

While new designs and engines may tame the roar billowing from a
supersonic jet in flight, engineers still must muffle the so-called
focused boom, the sharp crack that occurs as a plane first goes past
the sound barrier. Emissions and maintenance on high-performance
engines also remain challenges.

‘Magic Number’

“It doesn’t matter which manufacturer is working on it at
the time, when you ask them when it’s going to be a reality, they
generally all say, ‘Within 12 years,’” Foley said. “That seems to be
the magic number. It doesn’t matter if someone asks them in 1980, 1990
or 2000, there will be one within 12 years.”

Supersonic-flight boosters such as NASA’s Coen see reason for
optimism. Planemakers can employ more-powerful engines, use new
materials such as the lightweight composites on Boeing’s Dreamliner
and draw on years of aeronautical knowledge from the Concorde’s
operations and from making supersonic warplanes.

Gulfstream is experimenting with a telescoping rod
protruding from a jet’s nose to disrupt the sound waves that cause
sonic booms. Bass, founder of investment firm Oak Hill Capital
Partners LP, has hired a NASA research jet to test a high-speed wing
design from his Aerion Corp.

Boeing and Lockheed (LMT) have devised supersonic concepts with
slender fuselages and rear-mounted engines to damp drag that
contributes to the noise. NASA is testing models as long as 3 feet
(0.9 meter) in wind tunnels and studying nozzles from General Electric
Co. (GE) and Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc (RR/) for future engines, Coen
said.

‘Pretty Close’

“We were able to achieve both good aerodynamic elements
and low sonic boom simultaneously,” Coen said. “We think we’re there
or pretty close. That was a really exciting development over the past
year.”

After holding public meetings on supersonic flight from 2008 through
2011, the FAA is shifting to gather data from NASA and industry groups
as it weighs noise regulations.

“Current research has demonstrated enough progress on
reducing impact of sonic booms before they reach the ground for us to
revisit this issue,” the FAA said in an e-mailed response to
questions. No new public sessions are scheduled.

Bass’s Aerion doesn’t want to wait for any regulatory changes.

The Reno, Nevada-based company has a low-drag wing design that it
says will allow a jet to fly efficiently at subsonic speed over land
and at as much as Mach 1.6, or 1.6 times the speed of sound, over the
ocean.

Aerion was in “deep discussions” on a planemaker partner
to build the craft as the recession began in late 2007, Chief
Operating Officer Douglas Nichols said. Before the economy tanked,
Aerion had 50 commitments for an $80 million supersonic plane, Nichols
said. Bass declined to comment on Aerion through a spokeswoman, Marcia
Horowitz.

“We have a thoroughly committed and patient investor who believes
these things and is heavily involved in the business,” Nichols said.

“The next frontier is speed and the industry will get
there sooner or later.

Our wish is sooner.”



SA Reserve Bank sees inflation risk

AFP

Thursday November 29



Johannesburg - Wage strikes in South Africa, credit rating downgrades
and a widening current account deficit do not bode well for inflation,
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele said on Wednesday.

The central bank left its main interest rate unchanged at
5.0 percent last week, warning about the impact of above-inflation
wage settlements aimed at calming the worst mining unrest since
apartheid.

“Alongside a less favourable outlook for inflation, the domestic
growth outlook has deteriorated, not only due to developments in the
euro zone and US, but intensified further by labour market
instability,” Mminele said in the text of a speech posted on the
bank's website.

The strikes, which hit output in the world's biggest
platinum producer and triggered rating downgrades from Moody's and
S&P, were the main reason for third-quarter GDP growth slowing to 1.2
percent from 3.4 percent in Q2.

“The negative impacts of the strike action on growth have not fully
fed through and we are likely to see further weakness in the quarter
ahead,” Mminele said in the speech prepared for a business dinner.

“Both business and consumer confidence are far from robust
and it is unlikely that the demand side of the economy will provide
much support.”

Government bond yields edged higher on Wednesday after Reserve Bank
Governor Gill Marcus told a metal workers' conference that lower
interest rates were “not appropriate” for now.



BP faces temporary ban from new US contracts

BBC News

Wednesday November 28



Washington-BP has been temporarily suspended from new contracts with
the US government, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said.

While it is unclear how long the ban will last, it follows
BP's record fine earlier this month over the 2010 oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico.

The EPA said it was taking action due to BP's "lack of business
integrity" over its handling of the blowout.

But BP said it had spent $14bn (£8.8bn) on its response to
the spill.

"The BP suspension will temporarily prevent the company and the named
affiliates from getting new federal government contracts, grants or
other covered transactions until the company can provide sufficient
evidence to EPA demonstrating that it meets federal business
standards," said the EPA in a statement.

"Suspensions are a standard practice when a responsibility
question is raised by action in a criminal case."

'Resolve and lift' ban

The EPA and BP both said that the temporary ban would not
affect existing agreements BP has with the government.

The oil giant added that the suspension may in fact be lifted quite soon.

"The EPA has informed BP that it is preparing a proposed
administrative agreement that, if agreed upon, would effectively
resolve and lift this temporary suspension," BP said.

"Over the past five years, BP has invested more than $52bn in the
United States - more than any other oil and gas company, and more than
it invests in any other country where it operates. On top of this
business investment, BP has to date spent more than $14bn in
operational response and clean-up costs."

Since the Deepwater Horizon accident, the US has granted
BP more than 50 new leases in the Gulf of Mexico, where the company
has been drilling safely since the government moratorium was lifted.

For now, BP is to be excluded from the lease of new exploration fields
in the Gulf of Mexico, including some 20 million acres that was
auctioned on Wednesday.

'Reckless'

Congressman Ed Markey, a senior member of the Natural
Resources Committee in Congress, said: "When someone recklessly
crashes a car, their licence and keys are taken away."

"The wreckage of BP's recklessness is still sitting at the bottom of
the ocean and this kind of time out is an appropriate element of the
suite of criminal, civil and economic punishments that BP should pay
for their disaster," he added.

Deepwater disaster timeline

20 April 2010: Explosion of Deepwater Horizon oil rig, killing 11.
Rig burns for 36 hours, before sinking to seabed

30 May: Oil slick 9 miles off Louisiana coast, and US begins
criminal and civil investigation

16 June: BP agrees to put $20bn in an escrow fund to settle claims
by fisherman and others whose businesses suffered

1 July: The spill surpasses the 140m gallon mark, becoming the
biggest offshore oil spill

8 Sept: In a 193-page internal report into the disaster, BP
accuses well contractor Halliburton and rig owner Transocean. The pair
dismiss BP's claims. All three blame one another over the years

19 Sept: BP permanently "kills" leaking well

15 Dec: US launches legal battle against BP and its partners

12 Jan 2011: 380-page government-commissioned report says BP's
time and cost-saving decisions led to disaster

2 March 2012: A few days before trial was to begin, BP and lawyers
for plaintiffs reach a settlement

15 Nov: BP agrees to pay $4.5bn fine to US government, two BP
officials are charged with manslaughter and former executive charged
with lying to authorities

28 Nov: BP temporarily banned from new US contracts

BP's finance director Brian Gilvary told investors earlier this month
that the group would have to rethink its entire US strategy were a
blanket ban put in place.

"How big this is depends on how long it lasts," said Phil
Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research.

"It's a negative that they can't participate in (Wednesday's sale),
but it's not a big concern. If it happens two times, or three times,
or 10 times, it's a much bigger concern."

Pentagon contracts

The US is vital for BP, accounting for more than 20% of
its global daily production. It has ploughed more than $52bn (£32bn)
into US energy development projects since 2007, more than any other
country BP invests in.

The UK company was the biggest fuel supplier to the US Department of
Defense, which awarded it contracts valued at about $1.35bn in 2011.

BP's contracts with the US military jumped 33% over a year
in 2011, according to data from Bloomberg. The group was awarded a
fuel contract in May from the Pentagon while it faced mounting legal
costs over the disaster.

The Deepwater Horizon accident, in which an oil rig exploded killing
11 people, caused one of the worst oil spills in history.

BP has pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges over the accident.

The EPA is the lead agency for suspension and debarment matters
regarding BP and has the authority to disbar individuals and companies
under sections of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.



International

Chinese police plan to board ships in disputed seas

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Beijing-Police in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan will
board and search ships which enter into what China considers its
territorial waters in the disputed South China Sea, state media said
on Thursday, a move which could raise tensions further.

The South China Sea is Asia's biggest potential military
trouble spot with several Asian countries claiming sovereignty.

New rules, which come into effect on January 1, will allow Hainan
police to board and seize control of foreign ships which "illegally
enter" Chinese waters and order them to change course or stop sailing,
the official China Daily reported.

"Activities such as entering the island province's waters
without permission, damaging coastal defense facilities and engaging
in publicity that threatens national security are illegal," the
English-language newspaper said.

"If foreign ships or crew members violate regulations, Hainan police
have the right to take over the ships or their communication systems,
under the revised regulations," it added.

China's assertion of sovereignty over the stretch of water
off its south coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia has set
it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan
and Malaysia also lay claim to parts.

China occasionally detains fishermen, mostly from Vietnam, who it
accuses of operating illegally in Chinese waters, though generally
frees them quite quickly.

Hainan, which likes to style itself as China's answer to
Hawaii or Bali with its resorts and beaches, is the province
responsible for administering the country's extensive claims to the
myriad islets and atolls in the South China Sea.

The newspaper said that the government will also send new maritime
surveillance ships to join the fleet responsible for patrolling the
South China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and gas and straddling
shipping lanes between East Asia and Europe and the Middle East.

The stakes have risen in the area as the U.S. military
shifts its attention and resources back to Asia, emboldening its
long-time ally the Philippines and former foe Vietnam to take a
tougher stance against Beijing.

China has further angered the Philippines and Vietnam by issuing new
passports showing a map depicting China's claims to the disputed
waters.



New York City celebrates day without violent crime

BBC News

Thursday November 29



New York-For the first time in living memory, New York has spent a day
entirely without violent crime. The city police department's chief
spokesman said that Monday was the most bloodshed-free 24-hour period
in recent history.

Not a single murder, shooting, stabbing or other incident
of violent crime was reported for a whole day.

Despite a July spike in homicides, the city's murder rate is on target
to hit its lowest point since 1960.

Just a few months ago, residents were living through what
one tabloid newspaper called the "summer of blood".

Aggressive prevention tactics

Despite the fall in homicides, statistics point to a 3%
overall rise in crime. There has also been a 9% increase in larceny,
which police blame on a surge in smartphone thefts.

But killings are now down 23% compared with last year, which
represents a 50-year low.

There have been 366 murders so far this year in New York
City, compared with 472 at this time last year.

Experts say such a low number of homicides is highly unusual for a US
city of eight million people.

Gang-plagued Chicago, Illinois, has chalked up 462 murders
this year, despite having a population of about 2.7 million people.

There have been 301 murders in 2012 in the city of Philadelphia, which
has 1.5 million people.

Some experts are praising the New York police department's
aggressive crime-prevention tactics, notably the so-called Stop And
Frisk policy, which has rooted out dozens of illegal guns.

But critics argue that it has led to hundreds of thousands of young
blacks and Latinos being stopped without cause.



Russian mafia whistleblower found dead in UK

Al Jazeera

Wednesday November 28



Moscow-A Russian businessman helping Swiss prosecutors uncover a
powerful Russian fraud syndicate has died in mysterious circumstances
outside his mansion in Britain.

Alexander Perepilichnyy had collapsed on a road early on
the evening of 10 November, in the county of Surrey, southern England,
in a chilling twist to a Russian mafia scandal that has strained
Moscow's ties with the West.

Perepilichnyy, 44, sought refuge in Britain three years ago and had
been helping a Swiss investigation into a Russian money-laundering
scheme by providing evidence against corrupt officials, his colleagues
and media reports said.

Reports have connected Perepilichnyy to a scandal
involving Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for London-based Hermitage
Capital Management, who died in a Moscow prison three years ago after
allegedly uncovering a web of corruption involving Russian tax
officials.

Magnitsky had uncovered the alleged theft by Russian tax officials of
more than $200m.

Perepilichnyy is the fourth person linked to the Magnitsky
case to have died under strange circumstances.

'Unexplained death'

"It is being treated as unexplained," a UK police
spokeswoman said. "A post-mortem examination was carried out which was
inconclusive. So further tests are now being carried out."

British media reports said Perepilichnyy appeared to be in good health
when he collapsed in the evening outside St George's Hill, one of
Britain's most exclusive estates, where he was renting a house for
$20,000 a month.

William Browder, a former employer of Magnitsky and a
prominent London-based investor, said Perepilichnyy had come forward
in 2010 with evidence involving the Magnitsky case that subsequently
helped Swiss prosecutors open their investigation.

Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 on suspicion of tax evasion and fraud,
charges that colleagues said were fabricated by police investigators
he had accused of stealing from the state through fraudulent tax
refunds.

The Kremlin's own human rights council has said Magnitsky
was probably beaten to death.

In January 2011, Hermitage Capital Management filed an application to
the Swiss authorities seeking an investigation. It was announced in
March that the Swiss prosecutor's office opened an investigation and
froze the assets in a number of accounts.

Leaked secret diplomatic cables from the US embassy in
Moscow once described Russia as a "virtual mafia state", and London
has long been the chosen destination for Russians seeking refuge from
trouble at home.

But concerns have been growing in recent years that Britain might be
turning into a playground for Russian mobsters as gangland violence
seems to be spilling over Russian borders.

Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Moscow said: "There
will now be additional pressure on the UK and the US to question
Russia's Putin on its human rights record."



Assange’s health is back in focus

AFP

Wednesday November 28



Quito, Ecuador - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is suffering from a
chronic lung ailment that could worsen at any time and is being
checked regularly by doctors, the Andean country's ambassador to
Britain said on Wednesday.

Assange, 41, whose website angered the United States by
releasing thousands of secret diplomatic cables, has been holed up
inside Ecuador's embassy in London since June to avoid extradition to
Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.
Assange has denied any wrongdoing.

“He has a chronic lung complaint that could get worse any time. The
Ecuadorean state is covering Mr Assange's medical costs and we have
arranged for regular doctor visits to check on his health,” Ambassador
Ana Alban told a local TV network during a visit to Quito.

British authorities say Assange will be arrested if he
sets foot outside the embassy. The building, located just behind
London's famed Harrods department store, is under constant police
surveillance.

Ecuador said last month it is worried about Assange's health and asked
Britain to guarantee him safe passage to hospital from the embassy if
he needs medical treatment.

That would allow him to return to the embassy after
treatment with refugee status.

Assange is said to be living a cramped life inside the modest
diplomatic mission. He eats mostly take-out food and uses a treadmill
to burn off energy and a vitamin D lamp to make up for the lack of
sunlight.

In late August, the former computer hacker said he expected to wait
six months to a year for a deal that would allow him to leave the
embassy.



Motivation guru Zig Ziglar dies at 86

CNN News

Wednesday November 28



Dallas-Motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar died Wednesday in
Dallas "after a short bout with pneumonia," his spokesman said. He was
86.

The self-described "Undisputed King of Motivation" was
known for his seminars, which grew into large gatherings held in
packed arenas.

Ziglar wrote more than two dozen books on salesmanship and motivation
over five decades.

He spread his message of positive attitude, motivation and
success through stories punctuated with short quotes that became
legendary among his followers, such as:

• "Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street."

• "Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have."

• "Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is
bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis."

After suffering injuries in a fall in 2007, Ziglar
continued his tour schedule with fewer events and help from his
daughter onstage.

He was born Hilary Hinton Ziglar in Coffee County, Alabama. His family
moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, and later to New York City.

In his autobiography, Ziglar described a challenging
childhood that taught him to connect with people.

He began speaking in public as a salesman in the 1950s, although his
professional speaking career did not start until the 1970s.



Man with world's biggest arms says he's clean

Sky News

Wednesday November 28



Massachusetts-Moustafa Ismail has rejected accusations that he
artificially augmented his upper-arm muscles, saying: "I have nothing
unnatural". A bodybuilder who has set the record for the world's
biggest arms has dismissed accusations that he used banned or
artificial substances.

Moustafa Ismail's arms measure 79cm (31in) around - or as
much as the waist of a lean man - earning him recognition in the 2013
edition of the Guinness World Records.

"They call me Popeye, the Egyptian Popeye," said the 24-year-old, who
was born in Egypt but unlike the cartoon character he doesn't like
spinach.

Mr Ismail, who lives in Massachusetts, has been dogged by
accusations that he uses steroids, implants or other artificial means
to augment his muscles.

U.S bodybuilder Mustafa Ismail pictured here in the gym. Mr Ismail
says his muscles are the result of workouts and diet

But he insists his arms are the result of punishing
workouts and a diet of seven pounds of protein, nine pounds of
carbohydrates and three gallons of water each day.

"I did the tests - the ultrasound test, the x-ray test, I did a blood
test, which prove I have nothing unnatural," Mr Ismail said.

Still, Guinness appears to be having second thoughts.

It hastily removed references to Mr Ismail from its website. A
spokeswoman said in October that Guinness was conducting research with
medical specialists and reviewing Mr Ismail's category, according to
reports.



Japanese man's childhood dreams give birth to giant robot

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Tokyo-Like many Japanese, Kogoro Kurata grew up watching futuristic
robots in movies and animation, wishing that he could bring them to
life and pilot one himself. Unlike most other Japanese, he has
actually done it.

His 4-tonne, 4-meter (13 feet) tall Kuratas robot is a
grey behemoth with a built-in pilot's seat and hand-held controller
that allows an operator to flex its massive arms, move it up and down
and drive it at a speed of up to 10 kph (6 mph).

"The robots we saw in our generation were always big and always had
people riding them, and I don't think they have much meaning in the
real world," said Kurata, a 39-year-old artist.

"But it really was my dream to ride in one of them, and I
also think it's one kind of Japanese culture. I kept thinking that
it's something that Japanese had to do."

His prototype robot comes equipped with an operating system that also
allows remote control from an iPhone as well as optional "guns" that
shoot plastic bottles or BB pellets and are powered by a lock-and-load
system fired by the pilot's smile.

The robot, which took two years to pull together from
concept to construction, also comes with a range of customized options
from paint scheme to cup holders.

It isn't cheap. The sticker price for the most basic model alone is
around 110 million yen ($1.3 million).

Kurata said while he has received thousands of inquiries
about buying a robot, he's also received a large number of
cancellations and declined to specify how many people have actually
bought one.

But that's not so important.

"By my building this, I hope that it'll sort of be the
trailblazer for people who can do more than myself to make different
things," he said.

"They might be able to make a society that uses robots in a way I
can't even imagine. I expect more from the implications of building it
than from the robot itself."



Obama is proud of Rice’s work

AP

Wednesday November 28



Washington - United States President Barack Obama gave a show of moral
support to his embattled ambassador to the United Nations on
Wednesday, calling Susan Rice “extraordinary” and prompting applause
from his Cabinet during a meeting at the White House.

Rice, who is considered a top candidate to replace
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been meeting this week with
senators on Capitol Hill who have been critical of her initial remarks
about what prompted the September 11 attacks on a US diplomatic
compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Several Republican senators, including former 2008 presidential
candidate John McCain, have kept up their criticism of the ambassador
after their visits.

Asked whether he thought Rice was being treated fairly in
those meetings, Obama at first demurred.

“Susan Rice is extraordinary,” he then said, adding he “couldn't be
prouder of the job she's done”.

The rest of the assembled members of the Cabinet,
including Clinton, who sat next to Obama, broke out into applause.

Obama was holding his first Cabinet meeting since his re-election on November 6.

Several of the secretaries, including Clinton and Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner, are not expected to stay for his second
term.



Childhood obesity 'can be predicted by check at birth'

BBC News

Thursday November 29



London-Researchers say a baby's chance of being obese in childhood can
be predicted at birth using a simple formula. The formula combines
several known factors to estimate the risk of obesity.

The authors of the study, published in PLos One, hope it
will be used to identify babies at risk.

Childhood obesity can lead to many health problems, including Type 2
diabetes and heart disease.

Researchers from Imperial College London looked at 4,032
Finnish children born in 1986 and at data from two further studies of
1,053 Italian children and 1,032 US children.

They found that looking at a few simple measurements, such as a
child's birthweight and whether the mother smoked, was enough to
predict obesity.

Previously it had been thought that genetic factors would
give bigger clues to later weight problems, but only about one in 10
cases of obesity is the result of a rare gene mutation that affects
appetite.

Obesity in children is rising, with the NHS estimating that 17% of
girls and 15% of boys in England are now obese.

The risk factors for obesity are already well known, but
this is the first time these factors have been put together in a
formula.

Prof Philippe Froguel from Imperial College London, who led the study,
said that prevention was the best strategy. Once obese, a child can
find it difficult to lose weight.

"The equation is based on data everyone can obtain from a
newborn, and we found it can predict around 80% of obese children.

"Unfortunately, public prevention campaigns have been rather
ineffective at preventing obesity in school-age children. Teaching
parents about the dangers of overfeeding and bad nutritional habits at
a young age would be much more effective.

"The message is simple. All at-risk children should be
identified, monitored and given good advice, but this costs money."

Prof Paul Gately, a specialist in childhood obesity at Leeds
Metropolitan University, said a tool like this would help the NHS
target specific people at risk rather than the "scattergun
one-size-fits-all approach, which we know does not work".

"Rather than spending money on a huge number of people, we
can be more specific and spend appropriately. We may not save money in
the short-term but it will be spent more wisely and could reduce
[obesity-related] NHS bills in the future.

"We've done a great job of outlining that obesity is a serious issue
but we have made the general public paranoid that everyone is at risk.

"Tools like this will help change that attitude. Once we use the
tool, we need intervention programmes for children at a greater risk."



Romney to have lunch with Obama Thursday

CNN News

Wednesday November 28



Washington-President Barack Obama and his former rival Mitt Romney
will meet Thursday for their first get-together since the November 6
election, according to a statement from White House Press Secretary
Jay Carney.

"On Thursday, Governor Romney will have a private lunch at
the White House with President Obama in the Private Dining Room,"
Carney wrote.

"It will be the first opportunity they have had to visit since the election.

There will be no press coverage of the meeting."

In his acceptance speech on election night, Obama congratulated Romney
on his campaign, and said he was looking forward "to sitting down with
Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this
country forward."

And at his first post-election press conference, held
November 14, Obama said his goal was to set a meeting before the end
of the year.

"There are certain aspects of Governor Romney's record and his ideas
that I think could be very helpful," he said, specifically citing
Romney's leadership of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

Romney has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since his
Election Night remarks in Boston.

He was spotted taking in the latest installment of the "Twilight"
movie franchise with his family, and on Thanksgiving shared a photo
with his wife Ann on his official Facebook page.

Two Romney aides said Wednesday the former GOP nominee
will be subletting space at the offices of his son Tagg's investment
firm Solamere Capital in Boston. Mitt Romney won't be joining the firm
himself, the aides said.

While Romney hasn't made any public appearances after the election,
controversial comments he made on a post-election call with top donors
were immediately criticized by both Democrats and Republicans.

"What the president, president's campaign did was focus on
certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary
financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively
to turn them out to vote," Romney said on the call.

Romney, who lost to Obama by 126 electoral votes, said the president
courted voters by offering policies – some of them this election year
– that appealed to key constituencies.

"With regards to the young people, for instance, a
forgiveness of college loan interest was a big gift," Romney said.

Those remarks caused Republicans - including several who are
considered likely candidates for the 2016 GOP nomination - to put
distance between themselves and their party's former standard bearer.

While in Washington, Romney will also meet with his former
running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a senior adviser to the
former GOP nominee told CNN Wednesday.

In 2008, Obama met with Sen. John McCain after defeating him in the
presidential election. The pair met at Obama's transition headquarters
in Chicago, and issued a joint statement afterwards saying they hoped
to work together on challenges such as the financial crisis, creating
a new energy economy and protecting the country's security.



Bangladesh fire protests rage, supervisors arrested

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Dhaka/Chicago-Three supervisors of a Bangladeshi garment factory were
arrested on Wednesday as protests over a suspected arson fire that
killed more than 100 people raged on into a third day, with textile
workers and police clashing in the streets of a Dhaka suburb.

The government has blamed last weekend's disaster, the
country's worst-ever industrial blaze, on saboteurs and police said
they had arrested two people, who were seen on CCTV footage trying to
set fire to stockpiles of material in another factory.

The fire at Tazreen Fashions has put a spotlight on global retailers
that source clothes from Bangladesh, where wage costs are low - as
little as $37 a month for some workers. Rights groups have called on
Western firms to sign on to a safety program in that country, the
world's second-biggest clothes exporter.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, said
one of its suppliers subcontracted work to the now burned-out factory
without authorization and would no longer be used. But one of the most
senior figures in the country's garment industry cast doubt on that
claim.

"I won't believe Walmart entirely if they say they did not know of
this at all. That is because even if I am subcontracted for a Walmart
deal, those subcontracted factories still need to be certified by
Walmart," Annisul Huq, former president of the Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters following a
meeting of association members.

"You can skirt rules for one or two odd times if it is for
a very small quantity, but no decent quantity of work can be done
without the client's knowledge and permission," he said.

Wal-Mart, in a statement, reiterated that while it does have an audit
and notification system in place, in this case a supplier
subcontracted to the workshop without approval.

MOST FACTORIES CLOSED

Witnesses said that at least 20 people were injured on
Wednesday in the capital's industrial suburb of Ashulia as police
pushed back protesters demanding safer factories and punishment for
those responsible for the blaze, which killed 111 workers and injured
more than 150.

Thousands of workers poured out onto the roads, blocking traffic, as
the authorities closed most of the 300 garment factories in the area.
They were driven back by riot police using tear gas and batons.

Three employees of Tazreen Fashions - an administrative
officer, a store manager and a security supervisor - were arrested and
paraded in front of the media.

Dhaka District Police Chief Habibur Rahman told Reuters they would be
investigated for suspected negligence.

He said police were investigating complaints from some
survivors that factory managers had stopped workers from leaving the
multi-story building after a fire alarm went off.

Representatives of the Tazreen Fashions factory, including the owner,
were not available for comment.

CCTV SHOWS APPARENT ARSON ATTEMPT

The country's interior minister, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir,
has blamed saboteurs for the fire.

Adding to the case for arson, a news channel aired CCTV footage
showing two employees of another factory in the Ashulia area trying to
set fire to stockpiles of material.

Police chief Rahman said a woman and a man, who were
identified from the video, had been taken into custody.

The TV clip shows a lone woman wearing a mauve head scarf and
traditional loose garment passing through a room with clothes piled
neatly in various places on a table. She briefly disappears from view
beneath the table and then is shown again walking through the room and
out of camera range.

Smoke soon begins to billow, first slowly then more
rapidly, from the spot where the woman was seen ducking under the
table.

Workers come running in and try to douse the flames by various means.
The woman in the mauve scarf reenters the room and is seen helping
workers in their efforts to put out the blaze.

Two other incidents in the outskirts of Dhaka - a fire at
a factory on Monday morning and an explosion and fire at a facility on
Tuesday evening - have raised concerns among manufacturing leaders
that the industry may be under attack.

Talk of sabotage has also spread fear.

At least 50 garment workers were injured in a stampede as
they tried to flee from their factory after a faulty generator caught
fire in the city of Chittagong, the fire service said. Factory workers
quickly put out the flames.

Bangladesh has about 4,500 garment factories and is the world's
biggest exporter of clothing after China, with garments making up 80
percent of its $24 billion annual exports.

Working conditions in Bangladeshi factories are
notoriously poor, with little enforcement of safety laws. Overcrowding
and locked fire doors are not uncommon.

More than 300 factories near Dhaka were shut for almost a week earlier
this year as workers demanded higher wages and better conditions. At
least 500 have died in garment factory accidents in Bangladesh since
2006, according to fire brigade officials.



Quickfire RVP keeps Man United top

Super Sport

Thursday November 29



London-Robin van Persie scored the fastest goal of the Premier League
season - timed at 31 seconds - to keep leaders Manchester United a
point clear at the summit after a 1-0 home win over West Ham United on
Wednesday.

Second-half strikes from the recalled Mario Balotelli, his
first league goal of the season, and James Milner gave second-placed
Manchester City a 2-0 victory at Wigan Athletic.

The Manchester clubs, on 33 and 32 points respectively, have opened up
a notable gap on their title rivals after 14 games, with Chelsea seven
points off the pace in third.

Boos rang out again at Stamford Bridge where new Chelsea
interim manager Rafael Benitez, brought in last week to replace the
axed Roberto Di Matteo, was left waiting for his first goal and win
after a second successive 0-0 draw - Fulham securing a point in the
west London derby.

The jeers and abuse that greeted Benitez in his first game in charge
on Sunday were notably less vocal but the Spaniard did little to win
over the doubters.

"I am a little frustrated.

The team is well organised and created chances against a team that
works hard, so you can see us going forward, but still we have to
improve," Benitez told reporters.

Chelsea, on a run of six games without a league win, still leapfrogged
West Bromwich Albion into third place on goal difference after
Albion's impressive start to the campaign was checked by a 3-1 defeat
at Swansea City.

Tottenham Hotspur moved up to fifth by beating Liverpool
2-1 at White Hart Lane, rising above Everton and Arsenal who drew 1-1
at Goodison Park.

Dutch striker Van Persie needed little time to make his mark at Old
Trafford, his ninth league goal of the season coming inside a minute
when his shot deflected off James Collins and over the head of
helpless goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

United have never lost a Premier League game at Old
Trafford in which they have led at the break and although they failed
to add to their advantage, West Ham huffed and puffed with no end
product.

Unbeaten City kept tabs on their rivals with a workmanlike display at
the DW Stadium - securing a sixth successive win over Wigan.

Balotelli, who has found opportunities limited under
Roberto Mancini this season, drifted in and out of the game until he
broke the deadlock on 69 minutes.

GOAL DROUGHT

James Milner rifled in a second from outside the box three
minutes later but Mancini thought his side were lucky to win.

"It was important because it's always a difficult game because they
play very well and (Roberto) Martinez is a great manager. We were
lucky. I think I am lucky," he said.

At Stamford Bridge, Benitez kept faith with
underperforming Fernando Torres but the striker's league goal drought
has now extended beyond 10 hours.

The Spaniard was denied in the second half by goalline clearance from
Aaron Hughes but Fulham had their moments - John Arne Riise wasting
one glorious opportunity and also forcing Petr Cech into a fine save.

Chelsea fans again showed their dissatisfaction at the
popular Di Matteo's sacking - chanting his name throughout the 16th
minute - his former squad number.

Wayne Routledge scored twice for Swansea as they brushed aside West
Brom, while Gareth Bale had an eventful night for Spurs.

The Welshman's strong run and cross allowed Aaron Lennon
to net on seven minutes and Bale soon doubled the lead with a freekick
that deflected off the wall and past a wrongfooted Liverpool keeper
Pepe Reina.

Bale gifted Liverpool a lifeline 18 minutes from time - not that he
knew much about it as Lennon's goalline hack smacked him in the face
and flew in for a painful own goal.

Arsenal, who appeared jaded in a goalless draw with Aston
Villa at weekend, took just 52 seconds to make an impact at Everton
when the returning Theo Walcott shot home after exchanging passes with
Aaron Ramsey.

Marouane Fellaini's superb bending finish from around 20 metres hauled
the hosts level on 28 minutes and the points were shared.

Stoke City came from a goal down to defeat Newcastle
United 2-1, Jon Walters and Cameron Jerome scoring in the last 10
minutes, while improving Southampton, who have taken eight points from
their last four games, remain in the bottom three after a 1-1 draw at
home to Norwich City.

Referee Mark Clattenburg made an uneventful return to the middle at St
Mary's after he was cleared by London's Metropolitan Police and the
English FA of allegedly using "inappropriate language" towards
Chelsea's John Obi Mikel in a game against Manchester United.

"He is an excellent referee, and probably more than the
performance, I speak for most when I say we are delighted to see him
back," said Norwich manager Chris Hughton.



News From the Axis

Chavez’s health scare renews speculation

AFP

Thursday November 29



Caracas/Havana - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was back in Cuba on
Wednesday for cancer-linked medical treatment that revived questions
about the viability of his socialist rule and left Venezuelans again
guessing about his exact condition.

After weeks of scarce public appearances, Chavez, 58,
announced in a letter on Tuesday that he was going to Havana for
therapy known as “hyperbaric oxygenation” - a method used to reduce
bone decay caused by radiation therapy.

In Cuba, Chavez enjoys the friendship of past and present Cuban
leaders Fidel and Raul Castro, plus guaranteed privacy on the tightly
controlled Caribbean island.

Venezuelans, who have been endlessly speculating about
Chavez's cancer since it was diagnosed in mid-2011, were not sure what
to make of the latest twist - debating whether it was normal
post-radiation treatment or a serious downturn.

“I really don't know what he has,” Chavez's cousin, Guillermo Frias,
told Reuters from the president's rural hometown state Barinas. “But
anyway, I always pray for him every night. I stop at a shrine on the
corner and always remember him.

“I hope he recovers fine. I'm sure he will. The election
campaign was tough for him. He went too far.”

Though he had declared himself cured, Chavez appeared exhausted at the
end of his successful presidential re-election bid in October. He
later admitted radiation had taken its toll.

The normally garrulous and omnipresent leader has made
only a few, relatively short public appearances, mainly on state TV,
at his presidential palace since his victory on October 7.

One opposition newspaper dubbed him “The Invisible Man”.

Unlike multiple past trips to Cuba, during treatment for
three operations on two tumours in his pelvic area, state TV did not
show images of Chavez departing or arriving this time.

Chavez has open-ended authorisation from Congress to travel, but aims
to be back at least for the January 10 start of his new term, if not
for a couple of regional summits before.

His absence leaves newly appointed Vice President Nicolas
Maduro, 49 - a former bus driver and union leader - in a prominent
position amid speculation among Venezuelans over who could replace
Chavez should he leave power.

Congress head Diosdado Cabello, a former military comrade of Chavez,
is also often touted as a possible successor to lead the ruling
Socialist Party. Under the constitution, an election would have to be
held if Chavez were to leave office within the first four years of his
new six-year term.

Chavez's return to Cuba overshadowed the buildup to state
elections in Venezuela on December 16, where the opposition aims to
overcome disappointment at their failure to win the presidency.

A prolonged absence by Chavez could potentially postpone major policy
decisions, such as a widely expected devaluation of the bolivar
currency after heavy pre-election state spending.

The hyperbaric oxygenation therapy, or HBOT, he is due to
receive involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised chamber.

In addition to the bone-weakening side effects of radiation on cancer
sufferers, experts say HBOT is used to treat conditions including
infections, abscesses and decompression sickness - or the “bends” -
that can afflict deep sea divers.

Nelson Bocaranda, a prominent pro-opposition journalist,
said Chavez had been suffering intense pain in his bones and waist
area of late, forcing him to rest and take painkillers.

In his widely read “Rumours” column on Wednesday, Bocaranda published
a supposed medical report from Havana's Cimeq hospital, with a
relatively uninflammatory diagnosis.

“It is a matter of giving him therapy for pain and
stabilisation so he has a better quality of life,” said the report,
which could not be confirmed.

“His physical state is normal; loss of weight reasonable; high tension
constant; abdominal nausea and pains; good emotional state but with
variable depression; tolerable pain thresholds and reaction to
treatment applied. He's rested in recent days and had little pressure
from government functions.”

Venezuelan officials, who frequently denounce Bocaranda as
a gossip and liar, gave no details of Chavez's health. One medical
source with knowledge of his treatment said the HBOT may last several
months and was a common “palliative treatment”.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who ran against Chavez in the
presidential poll, sent him best wishes for a “long life” but also
urged greater transparency.

“Nobody wants to play the rumour game,” he told reporters.
“Venezuelans should be told with total transparency what the situation
is, what's the extent of this treatment. That's the way it should be
in Venezuela and how it is in other countries.”

Given investor hopes for a more market-friendly government,
Venezuela's widely traded bonds rose for a second day.

The benchmark Global 27 bond and state oil company PDVSA's
closely watched 2022 bond were both at year-high prices of $93.44 and
$111.75 respectively.

“If we reference the past price action to treatments in Cuba, there
was a pattern of buying on his departure to Cuba and selling on his
return to Venezuela,” Siobhan Morden, managing director at Jefferies &
Company, said in a research note.

On Venezuela's streets, there was both solidarity and
scepticism concerning Chavez's situation.

“That man doesn't have anything. He was never sick,” said motorcycle
taxi driver Omar Rivas, 55, surmising that the health saga was a ploy
by the president to win public sympathy.

Teacher Ana Maria Garcia, 26, had a kinder reading: “I don't
understand what he has, but I hope he recovers quickly. He's a
winner.”



Car bombs kill 34 in pro-Assad Damascus suburb

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Beirut-Two car bombs killed at least 34 people in a district of
Damascus loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday in the
deadliest attack on the Syrian capital in months.

The explosions struck the eastern neighborhood of
Jaramana, home to many of Syria's Druze minority as well as Christians
who have fled violence elsewhere, ripping through shops and bringing
debris crashing down on cars.

Once a bastion of security in Assad's 20-month campaign to crush an
uprising against his rule, Damascus has been hit with increasing
regularity as the rebels grow bolder.

State media said a bomb also detonated in the southern
town of Bosra al-Sham, near Deraa, where the revolt began with
peaceful street protests in March 2011.

It also said eight "terrorists" were killed near Damascus while
they tried to booby-trap a car with a bomb.

Authorities severely limit independent media in Syria and it was not
immediately possible to verify reports.

The government said 34 people were killed in Damascus but did not
give a casualty count for the Bosra al-Sham bombing.

The attacks followed two weeks of military gains by rebels
who have stormed and taken army bases across Syria, exposing Assad's
loss of control in northern and eastern regions despite the
devastating air power which he has used to bombard opposition
strongholds.

A resident of Jaramana said that rebels had been repeatedly forbidden
by local Druze elders to operate in the district, which borders the
capital's center where government offices are located.

"Tension have risen between Druze elders and rebels and
now there are 3 or 4 small explosions a week," she told Reuters on
condition of anonymity.

Underlining the growing military muscle of the rebels, bolstered by
weapons captured during raids on army facilities as well as supplies
from abroad, fighters shot down a war plane in northern Syria on
Wednesday using an anti-aircraft missile, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said.

Opposition groups subsequently posted a video clip on the
Internet that showed a man in a green jumpsuit being carried through
fields.

He was bleeding heavily from his head and appeared unconscious.

"This is the pilot that attacked the houses of civilians,"
said a voice off camera.

Another video showed doctors treating the limp body of apparently the
same pilot, who activists said ejected from his MiG 23 fighter jet
before it crashed near Darat Ezza, about 30 km (20 miles) from Aleppo.

The bloodshed came as Syria's new opposition coalition
held its first full meeting on Wednesday to discuss forming a
transitional government crucial to win effective Arab and Western
support for the revolt against Assad.

"The objective is to name the prime minister for a transitional
government, or at least have a list of candidates," said Suhair
al-Atassi, one of the coalition's two vice-presidents.

The two-day meeting in Cairo will also select committees
to manage aid and communications, a process that is becoming a power
struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood and secular members.

Rivalries have also intensified between the opposition in exile and
rebels on the ground in Syria, where the death toll has reached
40,000, including soldiers, civilians and rebels.

'TERRORIST' BOMBS

The Syrian state news agency, SANA, described Wednesday's
blasts as "terrorist bombings", a label it reserves for attacks by
mainly Sunni Muslim fighters battling to overthrow Assad, a member of
Syria's Alawite minority linked to Shi'ite Islam.

Two smaller bombs also exploded in Jaramana at about the same time as
the car bombs, around 7 a.m. (0500 GMT). In total at least 47 people
were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, giving a
higher toll than the government. Eighty three people were seriously
wounded, the British-based Observatory said.

"Who benefits from this? Tell me who benefits from this?
America, Israel, Qatar?" a man at the bomb site said to Syrian
television, which broadcast footage of firefighters hosing down the
blackened hulks of two vehicles and several cars crushed by debris
from neighboring buildings.

Pools of blood could be seen on the road.

Most foreign powers have condemned Assad. Britain, France
and Gulf countries have recognized the umbrella opposition group
meeting in Cairo, the Syrian National Coalition, as the sole
representative of the Syrian people.

But Assad has been able to rely on his allies, especially regional
powerhouse Iran, which is believed to be bank-rolling him and
supplying military support despite U.S. and European sanctions.
Russia, Syria's main arms supplier, says it has only sent weapons
already agreed to in previous deals.

International Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi is due to
brief the 15-member council on Thursday and the U.N. General Assembly
on Friday.

There is diplomatic deadlock between Western powers, who broadly
support the opposition and Assad's supporters Russia and China which
have blocked Security Council action.



Kabul Bank lost $900m in embezzlement

Al Jazeera

Wednesday November 28



Kabul-A new report commissioned by the Afghan finance ministry says
deliberate deception and systematic failure led to the embezzlement of
more than $900m from Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's largest bank.

The report, leaked on Wednesday, also says the scandal,
which saw a small group of well-connected Afghans become extremely
wealthy, will cost the country an estimated five per cent of its GDP.

Among the allegations facing 22 people put on trial are fraudulent
property deals, massive off-book loans to officials in the government
of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and loans to fake corporations.

The Independent Joint Anti-corruption Monitoring and
Evaluation Committee, which conducted the investigation, says airline
food trays were used as one means through which $861m was smuggled out
of the country and into banks in more than two dozen countries.

According to the 87-page report, 10 pilots working for Pamir Airways,
which the bank had a stake in, were paid annual salaries of over
$300,000. These costs, dated from March 2008 to November 2010, were
categorised as "pilots of cash delivery".

Bogus employees

Another $66m was said to have gone to cars, rent, bonuses,
salary advances and salaries for employees that did not exist.

Khalilullah Ferozi, CEO of the bank, was also reported to have gone on
shopping sprees at Louis Vuitton and Versace with money from the bank.

Najeeb Azizi, speaking to Al Jazeera from the Afghan
capital, said the accused, many of whom are closely connected to the
bank's former officials, showed "no sympathy towards this country or
the people of this country".

Though Karzai himself is not implicated in the report, his brother and
a brother of Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, first vice president, are
among the bank's shareholders listed as having taken out loans from
the bank.

Neither Mahmood Karzai, nor Zahid Fahim have been accused
of wrongdoing.

Sher Khan Farnoud, a world-class Poker player and the bank's founder
and chairman, and Ferozi, are listed among the nearly two dozen people
accused of involvement in the fraud that pushed the nation's
once-biggest private lender to the brink of collapse.

"The indictment did not include officials from accounting
firms that created false documents for Kabul Bank, airline employees
that smuggled money out of Afghanistan, or shareholders who received
funds from loans at zero interest, apparently without the intention of
repayment," the report said.

The scandal, which first broke in 2010, prompted the International
Monetary Fund to temporarily suspend hundreds of millions of dollars
of international aid to Afghanistan.

At its height, the privately-owned bank had more than one million
depositors and handled one-third of the Central Asian nation's banking
assets.



Saudi diplomat and aide killed in Yemen

CNN News

Wednesday November 28



Sanaa-A Saudi diplomat and his Yemeni aide were killed Wednesday in
the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, according to a senior official at the Saudi
Embassy there.

The diplomat, named as Khaled al-Onizi, and his assistant
were shot dead in an attack on their vehicle near the Saudi official's
residence in Bait Zabatan district, a suburb of the capital near Hadda
district.

Saudi Arabia is not yet accusing anyone over the attack, "but this was
planned and a group of gunmen were involved in the killing of the
Saudi official," according to the senior Saudi official, who asked not
to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The diplomat was an official in the Saudi military section
of the Sanaa embassy, he said.

At least five gunmen in a 4x4 truck chased the victims' vehicle for
about five minutes, the Saudi official said. More than 20 shots were
fired in the victims' direction.

The Saudi official's vehicle flipped as the driver tried
to escape, he said.

The attack is the latest in a series of violent incidents to shake Yemen.

In October, a security official with the U.S. Embassy in
Yemen was shot dead in his car on his way to work in Sanaa. Yemeni
security officials said that killing, which was carried out by men on
a motorcycle, bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

Yemen's security forces have been battling al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, which has been blamed for numerous attacks in the country.

Al Qaeda gained strength last year after taking control of several
towns in south Yemen. The militant group benefited from political
unrest sparked by the Arab Spring uprisings that led to longtime
Yemeni ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh stepping down from power in exchange
for immunity from prosecution.



Iran "will press on with enrichment:" nuclear chief

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Dubai-Iran will go on refining uranium "with intensity" and the number
of enrichment centrifuges it has operating will rise substantially in
the current year, the country's nuclear energy chief was quoted as
saying on Wednesday.

The comments by Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran's
Atomic Energy Organisation, signaled continued defiance in the face of
international demands that Tehran halt enrichment to the higher 20
percent fissile purity level, close down its Fordow enrichment plant,
and ship out its stockpile of the material.

But he also said Iran would continue and possibly raise its output of
reactor fuel using 20 percent enriched uranium - which suggests that
less of it might be available for use in what the West suspects is an
attempt to develop atom bombs.

Iran says it needs 20 percent refined uranium - as opposed
to the lower-grade enrichment to 3.5 percent level needed for nuclear
power plants - to turn into fuel for a medical research reactor in
Tehran.

It says its nuclear program has purely peaceful purposes.

Diplomacy between Iran and the world powers - the United
States, China, Russia, France, Germany, and Britain - has been
deadlocked since a June meeting that ended without breakthrough.

Both sides now say they want to resume talks soon, after this month's
re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Diplomats expect a new meeting in Istanbul later this year
or in January. One diplomatic source said the powers would propose the
first half of December but that the following month was more likely.

"We all recognize that there is a window of opportunity and that
window is not very big and it is not going to be open for very long,"
another diplomat said. "The hope is that there will be a meeting
(between the powers and Iran) in the near future."

Iran has faced a tightening of Western trade sanctions in
the past two years, with the United States and its allies hoping the
measures will force Iran to curb its nuclear program.

STOCKPILE

"Despite the sanctions, most likely this year we will have
a substantial growth in centrifuge machines and we will continue
enrichment with intensity," state television quoted Abbasi-Davani as
saying. The Iranian calendar year ends on March 20.

But Abbasi-Davani did not say whether Iran would increase the work
that most worries the West, the higher-grade enrichment of uranium to
20 percent purity.

Abbasi-Davani said Iran was continuing its production of
fuel to power the Tehran reactor - which uses fuel converted from 20
percent enriched uranium - and could possibly increase its production
from two "complexes" of fuel per month to three, according to state
news agency IRNA.

That could help ease concerns over a recent increase in Iran's
higher-grade uranium stockpile which Western countries fear could be
diverted for use in a possible weapons program.

A U.N. nuclear watchdog report issued this month showed
that Iran in late September suddenly stopped converting 20 percent
enriched uranium into oxide powder used at the Tehran reactor.

Because Iran's enrichment work at the same time continued unabated,
the halt meant that its stockpile of the higher-grade uranium rose by
nearly 50 percent to 135 kg in November compared with the level in the
previous quarterly report in August.

Iran started producing 20 percent-enriched uranium at the
Fordow site, buried deep inside a mountain, in 2011 and has been
operating 700 centrifuges there since January. A U.N. report this
month said more centrifuges may soon be launched.

Abbasi-Davani said the Arak research reactor, which Western experts
say could potentially offer Iran a second route to material for a
nuclear bomb, faced "no problems" and was progressing towards a launch
as normal, the website of Iranian state television (IRIB) reported.

This month's U.N. report showed that Iran has postponed until 2014
the planned start-up of the Arak complex, which analysts say could
yield plutonium for nuclear arms if the spent fuel is reprocessed.



Syrian villagers cheer downed jet; rebels display captured missiles

CNN News

Thursday November 29



Damascas-Villagers in northern Syria picked pieces of a downed fighter
jet from an olive grove Wednesday after rebel fighters claimed to have
shot down three government aircraft in 24 hours.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government has relied
more on air power to battle the 21-month-old revolt against it, and
witnesses said a cheer went up when the jet went down near Aleppo.

"We want to take this ... to show them in the other villages," a man
who identified himself as Abu Dargham told CNN as he showed off two
twisted chunks of metal. "Let them see what happened to these planes."

The downed plane's tail was largely intact, but the
fuselage was in pieces and the type of aircraft was not immediately
identifiable. Locals picked it apart, with some stuffing pieces into
in bags as a tractor hauled away what appeared to be an engine.
Cheering children were piled on the tractor as it drove away.

Witnesses said two fliers ejected from the plane before the crash. One
was found unconscious and taken to a makeshift clinic, while villagers
said they were still searching for the other late Wednesday.

Rebels posted two videos online to support their claims.
One shows rebels carrying an unconscious man wearing what looks like a
military pilot uniform, while another includes footage of medics
bandaging a bloodied and moaning pilot.

"Here is the pilot who was shelling houses of civilians!" someone says
off-camera.

"The heroes of Darret Ezza shot down his plane!"

In addition to the jet brought down Wednesday, the rebels
say they have shot down two helicopters since Tuesday night. Rebel
video showed one helicopter exploding in midair, but CNN could not
independently confirm the authenticity of the footage.

The claims of success follow the capture of a key Syrian air force
installation last week. Rebel fighters who overran the base reported
finding more than 300 Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles, along with
heavy machine guns, rockets and even tanks.

About half the shoulder-fired missiles were inoperable,
but the rebels soon posted video instructing viewers how to handle the
ones that worked. Syrian commanders often kept the trigger components
separately to prevent the weapons from being used if they were
captured.

The installation housed troops from the Syrian army's 46th Regiment.
Rebel forces surrounded the base for two months, harassing the troops
inside with sniper fire and waiting for them to weaken, Hussein
al-Shule said.

"The government will try to airdrop supplies from
helicopter. They did not dare land," al-Shule said. "Most times they
would miss, and we would take the food. It was inedible."

Opposition says 157 killed Wednesday

The claims came on a day when opposition activists said
another 160 people were killed in the country's civil war, which dates
back to March 2011. Of those, 96 were killed in the Damascus area,
most of them in a single incident -- a pair of car bombings in the
town of Jaramana that killed 77 people, according to the Local
Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists.

Jaramana, a small town surrounded by fields, has provided a refuge for
pro-government Syrians displaced in the civil war. Its residents are a
mix of Christians and Druze, the latter a minority offshoot of Shiite
Islam. Women and children were among those killed there, the
London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Syria's Interior Ministry had conflicting numbers for the
bombings, reporting 34 dead and 83 injured.

At the same time the car bombs went off, two explosive devices
simultaneously detonated in the al-Nahda and al-Qerayyat
neighborhoods, both of which are in the Damascus suburbs. Officials
did not provide a casualty count in those areas.

Government officials blamed the attacks on terrorists, a
term Syria routinely uses for rebel fighters and extremist elements in
the country.

About 40,000 civilians have been killed since the first protests began
against al-Assad's government, according to the opposition Center for
Documentation of Violations in Syria. More than 380,000 Syrian
refugees have fled to neighboring countries, creating humanitarian
challenges abroad.

CNN cannot confirm claims by the government or the
opposition because of government restrictions that prevent journalists
from reporting freely within Syria.

Turkey's role

Turkey asked NATO Wednesday for Patriot missiles to
bolster its air defenses against its southern neighbor, with which it
shares an 822-kilometer (about 511-mile) border.

A letter to NATO included the "formal request" that the alliance send
"air defense elements," according to a Turkish government statement
that cited "the threats and risks posed by the continuing crisis in
Syria to our national security."

The statement added that the NATO Council would convene
"shortly" to consider the matter.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a Twitter post
that the request would be considered without delay. A fact-finding
team is on the ground in Turkey, according to Lt. Col. Jay Janzen, a
spokesman for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.

"The fact-finding teams include experts from the nations
that have shown their willingness to offer Patriots as well as Turkish
officials and a few NATO experts," he said.

Turkish officials have emphasized that any deployment of the Patriot
missiles would be purely for defensive measures.

President Abdullah Gul said earlier this month that Turkey has no
intention of going to war with Syria.

A NATO official who is not authorized to speak on record
to the media told CNN that the fact-finding team now in Turkey
includes military personnel from Germany, the United States and
Holland, the three countries that have available Patriot missile
batteries.

The official also indicated that those batteries could be deployed
dozens of kilometers away from the border fence.

"No decisions have been made about the location and
numbers of Patriot batteries in Turkey," the official said.

The official said he doesn't believe "there will be an imminent threat
from this deployment escalating the conflict between Turkey and
Syria."

"By contrast, I think it will demonstrate a deterrence effect,"
the official said, "and make it clear that NATO is prepared to defend
Turkish territory and Turkish population."



Political and General

Zimbabwean lands top UN job

Radio VoP

Wednesday November



Harare-Aeneas Chapinga Chuma, A Zimbabwean, has been appointed by
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, as his deputy special
representatives for recovery and governance of the UN mission in
Liberia (UNMIL).

Chuma will also serve as the UN resident coordinator,
humanitarian Coordinator and resident representative, a UN statement
said on Tuesday.

He will replace Moustapha Soumaré of Mali, who now serves as the
secretary-general’s deputy special representative in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.

“Chuma brings with him a wealth of development and
leadership experience,” the UN said.

“He is currently serving as the resident coordinator, humanitarian
coordinator and resident representative in Kenya.”

Prior to that appointment Chuma served as the resident
coordinator and resident representative of the UN in Zambia from 2003
to 2008, as well as the deputy resident representative in Mozambique
from 2000 to 2003 and in Uganda from 1996 to 2000.

He also held various positions with the United Nations Development
Programme in New York, Oman and Zimbabwe.

“In addition to Chuma’s extensive experience with the
United Nations, he also served as a macroeconomist and econometrician
with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,” the UN said.

Chuma holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from the University
of California.



Dead people will remain on voters' roll: ZEC

New Zimbabwe

Wednesday November 28



Harare-THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it cannot
guarantee that the voters’ roll will be free of names of dead people
before next year’s general elections.

Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll has been condemned by election
monitors and opposition parties for not being updated.

ZEC deputy chair Joyce Kazembe says because a record of deaths and
births is still not fully computerised, it is impossible to maintain a
credible voters’ roll.

“It’s true; our voters’ roll contains names of thousands
of dead people. This is because legally, the Registrar General’s
office removes such people only when there is documentary evidencing
confirming that so and so is dead,” Kazembe told a conference of
Christian students in Harare on Tuesday.

“This is not happening, especially in the country’s rural settings. So
you will find we have 109 year-olds in the voters’ roll, zvakaoma
nhai. You hear of people living that long in the Guinness Book of
Records, but this is what you see in our voters’ roll.”

Kazembe insists that the lack of a computerised record of
dead people means updating the voters’ roll will remain a manual
process for a long time.

“The registrar general can only act when relatives of the deceased
bring documentary evidence to that effect,” she added.

Last year, the independent Zimbabwe Election Support
Network (ZESN) said that the anomalies opened the way for “double
voting and other rigging intentions”.

In its research, the group found some 2,344 voters between the ages of
101 and 110 still on the voting rolls, despite the fact the average
life expectancy in the country is just 44.

The report also found that more than 500 dead voters had
all been given the same birth date - January 1, 1901.

“An accurate, credible voters' register is a prerequisite for free and
fair elections,” ZESN added.

Cleaning up the voters roll is one of the electoral reforms
Zimbabwe’s ruling coalition parties said must be completed before the
country holds elections, which President Robert Mugabe says could be
held as early as March.



26 MDC-T activists to spend 2nd Christmas in custody

SW Radio Africa

Wednesday November 28



Harare-Twenty-six of the 29 MDC-T activists who are facing murder
charges after the death of a police officer in Glen View last May will
spend another Christmas in custody, their second in a row.

The majority of the activists were picked up a few days
after the murder of Inspector Petros Mutedza and have been
incarcerated ever since, without convictions.

Defence lawyer Charles Kwaramba told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday the
activists are likely to spend another Christmas behind bars as the
courts close down for the festive season on Friday.

‘This case is far from over…the State still has about four
witnesses they wish to call to testify including a medical doctor.

When the State is done with its submissions our clients are entitled
to apply for discharge and if the judge decides otherwise, they will
be put to their defence.

‘This will mean calling more witnesses to give testimony
on their behalf.

Unfortunately for our clients this means spending another Christmas
and New Year in custody,’ Kwaramba said.

The trial of the activists was postponed from Monday to
Thursday and nothing much is expected from the bail hearing on
Thursday, while the ongoing trial is expected to be postponed to early
next year.

Two weeks ago, Youth Assembly chairman Solomon Madzore was granted a
$500 bail by High Court Judge, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu.

Also granted bail was Lovemore Taruvinga Magaya, while another
activist Cynthia Manjoro, was granted bail in early October.



Kunonga threatens to shoot snapper

New Zimbabwe

Wednesday November 28



Harare-THE shamed former Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga lashed out at
journalists on Wednesday and threatened to shoot a photographer as he
intensified his fight to keep church property.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling that Kunonga had been
illegally occupying Anglican property since 2007 when he announced a
breakaway during a row over homosexuality, his lawyers were back at
the High Court on Wednesday seeking to stop his eviction.

In two separate applications, Kunonga’s lawyer Jonathan Samukange is
trying to stop his eviction and also have the renegade bishop’s
Anglican Church of the Province of Zimbabwe declared the legitimate
owners of the church properties, including the Cathedral in Harare.

Kunonga arrived at the Cathedral early Wednesday and found
the Deputy Sheriff Andrew Chakanyuka shipping out movable property
from the cathedral’s pre-school.

The irate Kunonga – who once called President Robert Mugabe “the son
of God” – was met by hordes of journalists.

Literally frothing at the mouth, he shook his finger at the
gathered journalists who were shouting questions at him.

“Musatore mapictures angu please [Don’t take pictures of me please,”
he said as he advanced on the NewsDay photographer Hardlife Samuwi.

“I will shoot you,” Kunonga told the snapper.

Minutes later, as Kunonga walked off the premises with his aide, the
deputy sheriff Chakanyuka ran after him demanding keys to three
vehicles – a Toyota Hilux, a Toyota Fortuner and a Mazda 626.

Kunonga, visibly distressed, told the sheriff: “Handina
kuuya nemota ini ndisiyeiwo [I din’t bring a car, leave me alone].”

The Supreme Court order last week in favour of the Church of the
Province of Central Africa represented by Bishop Chad Gandiya
empowered the deputy sheriff to eject Kunonga and 10 others from the
cathedral offices, Paget House along Kwame Nkrumah Avenue and from 101
Central Avenue in Harare.



Regional

Five provinces are in Zuma’s corner

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



Johannesburg - South African President Jacob Zuma looks set for
re-election as head of the ruling African National Congress in
December, but the battle for the post of his deputy could thrust
millionaire businessman and former unionist Cyril Ramaphosa back into
political prominence.

Despite sluggish growth in Africa's biggest economy,
bloody labour strife that dented South Africa's image this year and a
slew of scandals during Zuma's three years in power, five of the
country's nine provinces are backing the president to stay on as
leader of the ANC.

This line-up suggests Zuma has seen off a campaign to replace him with
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, whose own silence on whether he is
in the running has opened up the chance of a political comeback by
business tycoon Ramaphosa.

Leadership of Nelson Mandela's 100-year-old liberation
movement would virtually guarantee Zuma another five years as state
president in a 2014 election, given the support the ANC can still
count on from South Africa's black majority.

Nominations for top ANC leadership positions for the December 16-20
party conference close on Friday.

Zuma, who ousted former President Thabo Mbeki in a fight
to head the party in 2007, has obtained wide endorsement from ANC
branches across five provinces, including his home KwaZulu-Natal,
which will have the largest number of voting delegates at the
conference in the central city of Mangaung.

The expectation that Zuma will carry the ANC leadership race has taken
some steam out of the contest and provides an element of political
continuity, even though many have been critical of his lacklustre
performance in office.

Zuma's reputation as president was tarnished by criticism
that his government mishandled a wave of violent mining strikes in
recent months that saw at least 50 people killed, 34 of them striking
miners shot by police in a single day in August.

It was the deadliest labour violence since apartheid ended in 1994.

Critics on the left within his own party accused the 70-year-old
president, who is proud of his Zulu origins and likes to present
himself as a genial “man of the people”, of abandoning poor and
working class South Africans.

Business leaders said Zuma's government did not move
quickly enough to halt the labour troubles that led to downgrades from
two credit ratings agencies for South Africa, whose deep social and
economic inequalities are seen as an Achilles Heel.

“His leadership has led to a myriad of conundrums around policies, and
investors expect more inaction from him,” Peter Attard-Montalto,
emerging market economist at Nomura International, told Reuters.

Since Zuma took office in 2009, protests about basic
services have become an almost daily occurrence in urban areas across
South Africa as the ANC struggles to fix a broken education system and
address chronic unemployment and poverty.

This has generated opposition to Zuma from elements within the party
who demand radical economic and social reforms to achieve a fairer
sharing out of the national wealth.

Two provinces have come out in favour of Motlanthe to be
party leader.

But sources in the camp of the bearded and bespectacled deputy
president, who is 63, said he was reluctant to challenge his boss in
next month's internal ANC election.

Motlanthe's silence on whether he will stand has also
forced Zuma's supporters to look elsewhere for a deputy president.

“Zuma's emissaries initially approached Motlanthe to stay on as deputy
president on condition that he will get their support for president in
the next ANC election (in 2017),” said one Zuma campaigner. “But his
silence, and subsequent support from some provinces to go it alone,
has made us decide to look elsewhere.”

This has opened the door for Ramaphosa, a respected and
influential member of the ANC's National Executive Committee, who has
been backed as candidate to be Zuma's deputy in the party by at least
four of the provinces.

Reuters spoke to official sources and lobbyists in all nine provinces
and although Ramaphosa, 60, appeared to have strong grassroots support
from local branches, it was not clear if he would in the end accept
the nomination.

“Cyril is the best man for the job, he brings integrity
but we can only hope that he accepts the nomination. He expects
guarantees that this will line him up to become the automatic choice
for president next time around,” said one ANC official from
KwaZulu-Natal.

Ramaphosa is hailed along with Mandela as a hero of the anti-apartheid
struggle.

As a founder leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, he led a
three-week strike against South Africa's white mining bosses in 1987
that gained him international renown.

But he left politics for business in 1997 three years
after the end of apartheid, and is now South Africa's second richest
black entrepreneur.

But his shareholding in Lonmin, the company at the centre of the
August 16 Marikana mine killings in which 34 strikers were shot by
police, has laid him open to accusations that he has betrayed his
original working class allegiances.

An ANC member from the Free State province, who asked not
to be named, said: “We really don't know if he will leave his high
life in business to come back to a position in the ANC.”

Ramaphosa's extensive business empire includes ownership of the
McDonald's South Africa franchise, he is the chairman of telecoms
giant MTN, and also sits on the board of Standard Bank, Africa's
largest bank by assets, and of brewer SABMiller.

In the ANC's closed political culture, open ambition is
frowned upon, so Ramaphosa, Mothlanthe, or any other candidates are
unlikely to go public with their intentions before the nomination
process closes on Friday.

The contest will be fought behind closed doors in a five-day
conference in Mangaung next month with 91 percent of voters being
ordinary rank and file members. The balance will come from national
and provincial leaders, the women's league, youth league and veterans
league.

Although Ramaphosa's nomination may go down well with the
business sector, insiders said he would not have carte blanche over
economic policy.

“Whatever his success in business was does not matter,” said a senior
ANC official from Mpumalanga province.

“The ANC discusses policies as a collective, it's not up to
individuals,” the official added.



Anadarko Considering Joint Venture in Mozambique

Fox Business

Wednesday November 28



Maputo-Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) is considering a joint venture
to monetize up to a third of its interests in Mozambique.

Anadarko's vice president for investor relations, John
Colglazier, told analysts at a conference Wednesday that a joint
venture would help the company share the costs of developing its
massive gas discovery off the coast of Mozambique.

"It's a pretty significant piece of the portfolio for something that's
not producing," Mr. Colglazier said. "We've said we'd consider
monetizing up to a third of our interest...to help us out and probably
minimize portfolio risk."

Large natural-gas discoveries off the coasts of
Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya have transformed East Africa into one
of the world's most promising energy provinces and attracted attention
from oil and gas companies that want to buy their way into the
discovery.

Earlier this year, Shell (RDSA) tried to access Mozambique gas by
attempting to acquire Cove Energy PLC, which had a stake in the
offshore Mozambique gas field, but was outbid by Thailand's PTT
Exploration and Production PCL (PTTEP.TH).

Mr. Colglazier said there are an estimated 35 trillion to
65 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas in the offshore
fields of Mozambique, and there is more potential for discovery.

The company anticipates it will begin selling gas from the area in 2018.



Lesotho: Sexual harassment a reality in universities

All Africa

Wednesday November 28



Maseru-I will never forget the excitement I had of going to university
and enrolling for an accounting degree. Little did I know that there
would be more challenges in an institution of higher learning.

I am currently a student at the University of Lesotho. I
am an only child from Leribe. My grandmother raised me. Growing up, I
had to balance selling fruits to raise school fees and studying. After
the market, I prepared meals for my grandmother and I.

I am a very intelligent and beautiful young woman aged 25.

It all started in my second year of study. Now I'm in
fourth year. The challenge came in the form of a good-looking young
lecturer with an attractive smile.

The lecturer is married to a beautiful and respected woman. They have
two children. He is well known for proposing to young women.

If he approaches you and you refuse to get into a
relationship with him, he will fail you and you have to repeat his
course for the whole year.

I respected the lecturer and somehow, I feared him. I never asked any
questions in class even if I had any, let alone go to his office to
seek clarification on something that I didn't understand. In fact, I
avoided him

My fellow students noticed something unusual about my
conduct with the lecturer. They complained about how he looked at me.
When I did not go for lecturers, he always demanded an explanation as
to why I had not attended his class. My colleagues asked why he gave
me so much attention and I would quickly change the topic.

One afternoon towards the end of his lecture, the lecturer called me
by my name. How did he even know my name? There were many students in
that class. I looked up and he told me to ask a question. I didn't
have any question but he demanded that I ask at least one question,
after all, he said, I always passed more than others. He asked me to
follow him to his office after his lecture and explain to him why I
never had questions but passed. He said maybe I copied.

I didn't follow his orders and in his next lecture with
our class, he could not hide his anger. He made several examples about
me and told other students that he did not intend to do anything to
me.

The time for the class test approached and we all wrote the test. I
failed the test but I did not go to him to complain. The second test
came and I failed again. I could not stand it so I went straight to
his office and complained.

Instead of hearing me out, he laughed my concerns off and
he said that he would treat me like any other student. He bragged that
he knew I would knock on his office door with a query.

I cried to him because I knew that I had not failed the test. His
intentions for failing me finally came out.

He said that I must be his girlfriend and sleep with him
if I wanted to pass my tests and examinations.

I told him that I do not date married people but he laughed at me and
asked me to leave his office. Clearly, he said, I did not know what I
wanted. I left the office in shock and angry with tears in my eyes.

Failure to sleep with the lecturer meant that I had to
repeat the whole year.

I had to raise the money to pay for my school fees and therefore had
to stay a year at home. I repeated the course, passed and proceeded to
third year of study. I just prayed and hoped that the lecturer had
given up and forgotten all about me but he had not.

Some students commit suicide due to sexual harassment in
institutions of higher learning. I remained strong, assured myself
that I'm a hard worker, and did not have to engage in a sexual
relationship with a lecturer in order to get marks.

In third year, my school performance somehow dropped because my
grandmother's health had deteriorated.

My parents did not help in any way as they have never been
part of my life and never cared about investing in my education. I do
not have a relationship with them.

I met my lecturer again and he failed me my first test. I did not
complain as he thought I would. He realised that he would not win the
battle with me.

I passed my third year, I'm now in fourth year and still excelling.

Sebolelo Lerata is a student at National University of Lesotho. This
article is part of the GL Opinion and Commentary Service series for
the Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender Violence.



U.N. chief recommends "offensive military operation" in Mali

Reuters

Wednesday November 28



United Nations-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday
recommended that the Security Council approve an African Union peace
enforcement mission be deployed to combat Islamist extremists in
northern Mali, but did not offer financial support from the world
body.

Diplomats and U.N. officials say that peace enforcement
missions allow the use of lethal force in serious combat situations,
while peacekeeping operations are intended to support and monitor an
already existing ceasefire.

The last U.N.-led peace enforcement mission approved by the 15-nation
Security Council was in Somalia in the early 1990s when 18 U.S. troops
were killed in the "Black Hawk Down" incident, an event that led to
U.S. withdrawal of combat troops from U.N.-commanded peacekeeping
operations.

Ban's cautiously worded recommendation made clear that the
world body is still wary of getting back into the peace-enforcement
business. He said that the council should ensure that political, human
rights, training and operational benchmarks be met before any military
offensive commences.

As planning for the mission continues, Ban said the 15-nation council
could "authorize member states of the African Union to establish
AFISMA for an initial period of one year, comprising 3,300
(international) personnel to take all necessary measures to assist the
Malian authorities."

AFISMA is the proposed acronym for the U.N.-mandated
African force in Mali.

"Fundamental questions on how the force would be led, sustained,
trained, equipped and financed remain unanswered," Ban said. "Plans
for both the international force and the Malian security and defense
forces need to be developed further."

One Security Council diplomat was furious at Ban's
recommendation against granting the AU request for U.N. funding for
the operation, which U.N. diplomats estimate will cost $300 million to
$500 million.

"I think it's quite insulting to a number of countries, in particular
to some AU countries," a Security Council diplomat said on condition
of anonymity.

Another diplomat said the council was under no obligation
to follow Ban's recommendations, although he added that it might be
hard to secure a majority in favor of overriding them in order to
provide U.N. funding to an AU operation in Mali.

Ban suggested that the funding for the initial military combat
operations could be through "voluntary or bilateral contributions" -
which diplomats said meant European Union member states would be asked
to cover costs.

"TARGETED MILITARY OPERATIONS"

The fall of Mali's north to Islamists, including AQIM, al
Qaeda's North African wing, has carved out a safe haven for militants
and international organized crime, U.N. officials say, stirring fears
of attacks in West Africa and in Europe.

African leaders are seeking a U.N. mandate to send a mainly West
African force to rebuild Mali's army and back operations to win back
the occupied desert zones.

Ban expressed reservations about the United Nations'
capacity to take on "terrorists and affiliated groups."

"Targeted military operations may be required to dislodge them from
northern Mali, in which case member states may decide to directly
support the military activity needed to combat these groups," Ban
said.

He added that once major combat operations the council
could consider authorizing an actual U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Council diplomats said that could take the form of special forces
units from individual U.N. member states.

Diplomats say they want to adopt a resolution authorizing
the mission before the end of the year.

African officials estimate there are 2,500-3,000 core fighters amongst
the Islamists coming from Africa, Europe and Asia. The U.S. estimates
the hard-core contingent of Islamists much lower at between 800 and
1,200. The conflict has forced 400,000 Malians to flee their homes.

Regional powerhouse Algeria says it prefers a negotiated solution.

U.N. diplomats and officials say the Algerians are concerned that a
military offensive against the Islamists in northern Mali could push
them across the border into Algeria, though Algiers has indicated its
cautious support for the undertaking.

Last week former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, the
U.N. envoy to the troubled Sahel region, which includes Mali, ruled
out imminent action, saying it would not be possible before September
or October next year.

The European Union is planning to send 200 troops to Mali to help with
training. But like the United States and former colonial power France,
which is the keenest of Western nations for military action, Brussels
has ruled out a combat role.

West Africa regional bloc ECOWAS agreed this month to
commit the 3,300 troops for the international force. The troops would
mostly come from Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso, but other West
African countries and two or three non-African states may also
contribute, said Ivory Coast President Alassane Outtara.

Once viewed as an example of progress towards democracy in Africa,
Mali fell into chaos after a coup in March that toppled the president
and left a power vacuum that was quickly exploited by rebels to take
over the north.



‘Revolution returns to Tahrir Square’

AFP

Wednesday November 28



Cairo - Egypt on Wednesday plunged deeper into its worst political
crisis since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi took office in June,
with massive opposition rallies nationwide signalling a new
“revolution” nearly two years after Hosni Mubarak was toppled.

Police early on Wednesday fired teargas into Cairo's
Tahrir Square, where several hundred protesters spent the night after
a mass rally to denounce Morsi's power grab.

Clashes that have been erupting on streets just off Tahrir near the US
embassy spilled into the square, with canisters falling into the crowd
forcing protesters to run and sending clouds of teargas over the tents
housing the demonstrators.

The outskirts of the square have seen sporadic clashes now
entering their ninth day, in what started as an anniversary protest to
mark one year since deadly confrontations with police in the same
area.

Clashes also raged through the night between supporters and opponents
of Morsi in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla and the canal city of Port
Said.

In Mahalla, 132 people were injured while 27 were hurt in
Port Said, medical sources told AFP. According to a security official,
calm in both towns had been restored by morning.

Tuesday's huge turnout for a protest rally in the iconic square in the
heart of Cairo, as well as in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and
most of Egypt's 27 provinces, marked the largest mobilisation yet
against the president.

“The revolution returns to the square,” headlined the
state-owned daily Al-Akhbar.

“Revolution to save the revolution,” said the independent daily
Al-Masry Al-Youm in a bold front-page headline.

Protesters are furious at the decree that Morsi announced
last Thursday allowing him to “issue any decision or law that is final
and not subject to appeal”, which effectively placed him beyond
judicial oversight.

The move helped consolidate the long-divided opposition, with leading
dissidents former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and
ex-Arab League chief Amr Mussa uniting with former presidential
candidates in the face of Morsi and the powerful Muslim Brotherhood,
on whose ticket Morsi ran for office.

The Brotherhood and the secular-leaning opposition had
stood side by side in Cairo's Tahrir Square in 2011 as they fought to
bring down Mubarak and his regime.

But since the strongman's downfall in February last year, the Islamist
movement has been accused of monopolising politics after dominating
parliament - following vows not field candidates for a majority of the
seats - and backtracking on a promise not to nominate a presidential
candidate.

The movement went on to dominate a committee tasked with
drafting the country's new constitution, prompting a string of
walkouts by liberals, leftists and churches who say the panel fails to
represent all Egyptians.

Morsi's decree also bans any judicial body from dissolving the
controversial panel, putting him on a collision course with the
judiciary. Several courts have suspended work in protest.

The decree is temporary, valid only until a new
constitution is in place, and Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party says
the measures are aimed at speeding up a seemingly endless transition.

US officials said Washington was closely following the drama unfolding
in Egypt, with a warning that Cairo could put vast amounts of
international aid at stake if it veers off the democratic course.

The situation was evolving, State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said.

“I think we don't yet know what the outcome of those are going to be.
But that's a far cry from an autocrat just saying, my way or the
highway,” she said.

Nuland stressed that “we want to see Egypt continuing on a
reform path to ensure that any money forthcoming from the IMF truly
supports a stabilisation and a revitalisation of a dynamic economy
based on market principles.”

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said Egypt can still get
its $4.8 billion loan, agreed last week, despite the turmoil as long
as there is “no major change” in its reform commitments.



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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2012 08:35:52 +0200
Subject: Overseas Press Summary + Alex Cartoon
To: "Zfn (Zimbabwe)" <z...@yoafrica.com>

Zfn
Realtime financial intelligence
__________________________________________________________________________________




Headlines

Financial & Global Economy

*Dow, S&P rise, but Nasdaq sours with Apple in wild day – Reuters

*FTSE rises despite grim budget update - AFP

*Gold inches up, off 1-month low; ECB meet eyed – Reuters

*Oil trades near one-week low as U.S. gasoline stockpiles surge - Bloomberg

*British retailer gives up on U.S. supermarkets - CNNMoney

*Apple v Samsung patent verdict reconsidered in court – BBC News

*Wall Street job reductions seen persisting after Citigroup cuts - Bloomberg

*Exclusive: HSBC might pay $1.8 billion money laundering fine –
sources - Reuters

*Instagram kills its own pics on Twitter - CNNMoney

*Obama, Boehner talk; Geithner prepared to go off "cliff" - Reuters

*Fugitive John McAfee arrested in Guatemala – BBC News

*A Virgin deal makes no sense for Delta - CNNMoney


International
*China demands timetable to climate aid - DPA

*UK hospital divulges Kate's condition in radio hoax - Reuters

*Childlessness 'may increase likelihood of early death' – BBC News

*CNN Exclusive: McAfee comes out of hiding to talk about life on the
run – CNN News

*Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, dies at 104 – BBC News

*Rupert Murdoch's mother dies at 103 – CNN News

*Philippines hopes for survivors as strongest typhoon kills 325 - Reuters

*NY man arrested in fatal subway shove - AFP

*Alan Gross case: Cuba accuses US of lying about health – BBC News

*Divorce by text message sparks bizarre legal battle in Indonesia – CNN News

*Fertility treatment 'asthma link' – BBC News

*Chelsea out as Juve, Celtic reach last 16 – Super Sport


News from the Axis
*Clinton: NATO must 'step up' for Afghanistan – Al Jazeera

*Rape is shredding Syria's social fabric – CNN News

*Clinton says "desperate" Assad could use chemical arms - Reuters

*Deadly earthquake hits eastern Iran – Al Jazeera



Political and General
*Zimbabwean is Bermuda's top chef – New Zimbabwe

*Ex-CIO spy tortured in custody for exposing ZANU PF – SW Radio Africa

*Biti set for Manchester GNU review – New Zimbabwe

*Zim headman on the run after petrol bombing headmaster’s house – Radio VoP


Regional
*More gas found off Moz coast - AFP

*South Africa broadcaster cancels discussion show on ANC cover - Reuters

*Eight hurt in Nairobi bomb blast - Sapa

*Ghana poll tests Africa's "model democracy" - Reuters

*Malawi prostitutes accused of murder - AFP

*African Union appeals for U.N. funding for Mali force - Reuters







Financial & Global Economy
Dow, S&P rise, but Nasdaq sours with Apple in wild day

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



New York-A volatile trading session ended with U.S. stocks mostly
higher on Wednesday, even as Apple, the most valuable company in the
United States, suffered its worst day of losses in almost four years.

In a strange occurrence, Apple accounted for the entirety
of the Nasdaq 100's .NDX fall of 1.1 percent, while the Dow
industrials - which do not include Apple as a component - enjoyed the
best day since November 28.

With the drop, Apple shed nearly $35 billion in market capitalization,
its biggest one-day market-cap loss ever. The company's market value,
or market capitalization, now stands at $506.85 billion.

"Today's move is because of index weightings, with the
Nasdaq down because of Apple's decline," said Rex Macey, chief
investment officer of Wilmington Trust in Atlanta. "The S&P is up
because Apple isn't as big a weight in that index, and the Dow is up
even more because it isn't there at all."

The broad market seesawed, with the S&P 500 dropping into negative
territory before it rebounded off the 1,400 level, seen as a key
support point over the past two weeks. Investors cited comments from
President Barack Obama suggesting a potential near-term resolution to
the "fiscal cliff" wrangling in Washington as a catalyst for the
rebound.

Shares of The Travelers Cos Inc (TRV.N) rose 4.9 percent to $74.

The stock ranked as the Dow's top percentage gainer after the
insurance company said it intended to resume stock buybacks it had
temporarily suspended while it assessed its exposure to Superstorm
Sandy. The company also said a preliminary estimate of net losses from
Sandy was about $650 million after tax.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 82.71 points,
or 0.64 percent, to 13,034.49 at the close.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 2.23 points, or 0.16
percent, to 1,409.28. But the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC fell 22.99
points, or 0.77 percent, to end at 2,973.70.

Apple, the largest U.S. company by market capitalization
and a big weight in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, fell 6.4 percent
to $538.79. Apple is down more than 20 percent from an all-time high
reached in late September, putting the stock into bear market
territory.

Banking shares were led higher by a 6.3 percent jump in Citigroup
(C.N) to $36.46 after the company said it would cut 4 percent of its
workforce.

The S&P financial sector index .GSPF climbed 1.3 percent, and Bank of
America hit a 52-week high of $10.55 before pulling back slightly. The
stock, a Dow component, ended at $10.46, up 5.7 percent for the day.

Cyclical sectors, which are tied to the pace of economic
growth, rallied on optimism about progress on a solution to avoid the
fiscal cliff.

An S&P index of industrial stocks .GSPI rose 1.1 percent, buoyed by
Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), up 2.2 percent at $86.05, while an S&P index
of energy shares .GSPE climbed 0.7 percent. The Dow Jones
Transportation Average .DJT gained 0.9 percent, with CSX Corp (CSX.N)
jumping 2.7 percent to $20.16.

Still, Apple struggled throughout the session. Market participants
cited a host of reasons for the drop in the iPad maker's stock,
including a consultant's report about the company losing share in the
tablet market and reports that margin requirements had been raised by
at least one clearing firm, as well as year-end tax selling ahead of a
possible rise in capital-gains tax rates next year.

On the Washington front, Obama told the Business
Roundtable, a group of chief executives, on Wednesday that a fiscal
cliff deal was possible "in about a week" if Republicans acknowledged
the need to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Equities have struggled to gain ground recently because of concerns
over the fiscal cliff - a series of mandatory spending cuts and tax
increases effective in early January that could push the U.S. economy
into recession next year.

Recently equities have moved on any whiffs of sentiment from
Washington in headlines about negotiations.

"Obama's comments generated a lot of optimism, but to the
extent the market believes them, that's how much we're setting
ourselves up for a decline if that deadline passes with no progress,"
said Macey, who helps oversee about $20 billion in assets.

In an interview on CNBC after the market closed, U.S. Treasury
Secretary Tim Geithner said that uncertainty over the fiscal cliff was
standing in the way of stronger economic growth, and that there was no
prospect for an agreement if tax rates didn't rise on the wealthiest
taxpayers.

The stock of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N)
fell 16 percent to $32.17 and ranked as the S&P 500's biggest
percentage decliner. The company said it was acquiring Plains
Exploration & Production Co (PXP.N) and McMoRan Exploration Co (MMR.N)
in two separate deals for $9 billion in cash and stock in a major
expansion into energy.

McMoRan Exploration soared 87 percent to $15.82 and Plains surged 23.4
percent to $44.50.

About half of the stocks traded on the New York Stock
Exchange closed in positive territory, while about 54 percent of
Nasdaq-listed shares ended lower.

Volume was higher than it has been in recent sessions, with about 6.93
billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the
Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, above the daily average so far this year of about
6.48 billion shares.



FTSE rises despite grim budget update

AFP

Wednesday December 5



London-London shares closed higher on Wednesday despite Chancellor of
the Exchequer George Osborne delivering the grim news in his budget
update that Britain will prolong deep austerity measures by a year.

The FTSE 100 index of top companies added 0.39 percent to
close at 5,892.08 points.

Osborne updated his budget plans during his Autumn Statement to
parliament and released revised government growth and debt forecasts.

Osborne warned that the economy was expected to contract
by 0.1 percent this year owing to "deep-seated problems at home and
abroad" before growing again in 2013, and added that deep austerity
measures would be extended by one year to 2017-18.

"It is taking time but the British economy is healing after the
biggest financial crash in our lifetime," Osborne insisted.

The country's debt as a proportion of gross domestic
product (GDP) is now forecast to start falling in 2016-17, also a year
later than the government's previous forecast.

On the FTSE, miner Kazakhmys was the top blue chip riser, adding 3.71
percent to 740.5 pence, followed by British supermarket giant Tesco,
which added 3.31 percent to 337.45 after announcing it was likely to
withdraw from its struggling US business Fresh & Easy.

"It's likely, but not certain, that our presence in
America will come to an end," Clarke told reporters, as Tesco said it
was launching a strategic review of Fresh & Easy, which may lead to a
sale of the business.

Software firm Sage Group was the day's worst performer, shedding 3.47
percent to 300.4, followed by Tullow Oil, which slipped 2.94 percent
to 1,254.

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) was the most traded group,
seeing 84.85 million units change hands, followed by Vodafone, which
saw 75.68 million shares switch owners.

On the currency markets, sterling edged higher against the dollar to
$1.6104 at 5:26 pm from $1.6091 at the same time on Tuesday, while it
also rose to 1.2306 euros from 1.2296 over the same period.



Gold inches up, off 1-month low; ECB meet eyed

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



Singapore-Gold edged up on Thursday, pulling away from a one-month low
hit in the previous session when a weaker price forecast from Goldman
Sachs triggered a sell-off, while investors await a European Central
Bank meeting for clues on future policy path.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold inched up 0.1 percent to $1,695.36 an ounce by 0040 GMT,
hovering above a one-month low of $1,684.40 hit in the previous
session.

* U.S. gold was little changed at $1,692.20.

* Gold's current price cycle will likely turn next year as a rise in
real interest rates on the back of improved growth offsets any further
balance sheet expansion from the Federal Reserve, Goldman Sachs said
on Wednesday. Goldman cut its three, six and 12-month forecasts for
gold prices.

* The European Central Bank may give a guide to next year's policy
path when it delivers fresh forecasts for the euro zone economy on
Thursday at a meeting where it is expected to leave interest rates
low.

* Spain auctioned fewer bonds than it hoped to on Wednesday, prompting
markets to ditch the country's debt as investors fret over the timing
of an expected aid request by the government.

* U.S. private sector hiring took a heavy hit in November due to
the impact of storm Sandy that ravaged consumers and businesses in the
north east, but the huge service sector continued to expand albeit at
a modest pace.

* Republicans and Democrats dug in on "fiscal cliff" talks on
Wednesday, with both sides urging quick action but offering no
compromises in a political stare-down that shows no signs of breaking.

MARKET NEWS

* A volatile trading session ended with U.S. stocks mostly higher
on Wednesday, even as Apple, the most valuable company in the United
States, suffered its worst day of losses in almost four years.

* The euro held its ground in early Asian trade on Thursday after
slipping from a seven-week high against the dollar in the previous
session, as investors awaited the European Central Bank policy
meeting.



Oil trades near one-week low as U.S. gasoline stockpiles surge

Bloomberg

Thursday December 6



Tokyo-Oil traded near its lowest level in a week in New York after a
government report showed U.S. gasoline inventories increased the most
in 11 years.

West Texas Intermediate futures were little changed after
falling for a second day yesterday as the Energy Department said
gasoline stockpiles rose 7.86 million barrels, the most since Sept.
21, 2001. Demand for the motor fuel slid for a third week even as
refineries ran at the highest rate since August. Oil has declined this
week amid disagreement between President Barack Obama and Republican
leaders in talks to avert more than $600 billion in automatic tax

increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.

The inventory report “is a big negative factor for the gasoline
market,” said Ken Hasegawa, an energy trading manager at Newedge Group
in Tokyo. “Oil hasn’t succeeded at settling above $90 a barrel because
of a lot of uncertainty like the fiscal cliff.”

Crude for January delivery was at $87.82 a barrel, down 6
cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at
12:09 p.m. in Tokyo. Prices fell 62 cents yesterday to close at $87.88
a barrel, the lowest since Nov. 28. Futures have dropped 11 percent
this year.

Brent oil for January settlement on the London-based ICE Futures
Europe exchange was at $108.84 a barrel, up 3 cents, after sliding
$1.03 yesterday. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of
$21.02 to New York-traded WTI. It closed at $20.93 yesterday, the
narrowest gap since Nov. 2.

Gasoline Inventories

U.S. gasoline inventories in the week ended Nov. 30 were
forecast to increase by 1.55 million barrels, according to the median
of 12 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Demand for the motor
fuel declined 73,000 barrels a day and refineries ran at 90.6 percent
of capacity, the government report showed.

Supplies of distillate fuels, including heating oil and diesel,
climbed 3.03 million barrels, according to the figures. They were
predicted to gain 850,000 barrels.

Crude stockpiles slid 2.36 million barrels compared with a
forecast decline of 500,000, the report showed. Inventories have
dropped during December in the past six years, according to department
data. Companies in Texas can be taxed on the value of stored crude as
part of local property taxes, R.J. DeSilva, an Austin-based spokesman
for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, said in an e-mail.

Fiscal Cliff

“This is the time of year we start to get the purge of
crude supplies along the Gulf of Mexico,” said Stephen Schork, the
president of the Schork Group Inc. in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

The Obama administration is “absolutely” willing to go over the fiscal
cliff if Republicans don’t agree to raise tax rates on the
highest-income earners, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner
said yesterday in an interview on CNBC.

Obama and House Speaker John Boehner spoke by telephone
yesterday, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said without giving
details. A White House aide also confirmed the call, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the U.S. economy will
contract by as much as 0.5 percent next year if Congress fails to stop
the measures from taking effect. The U.S. accounted for 21 percent of
the world’s oil consumption last year, according to BP Plc (BP/)’s
Statistical Review of World Energy.

Brent crude will remain near current levels next year and
then slide to $105 a barrel in 2014 as halted supplies in the Middle
East and Africa resume, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Some of
the suspended output in Iran, Sudan, Syria and Yemen will be restored
within the next three years, Jeff Currie, Goldman’s head of
commodities research in New York, said in an e-mailed report
yesterday. Prices will be supported by “cyclically tight” market
conditions, he said.

The spread between Brent and WTI will shrink to an average of $4.50
next year and rebound to $6 in 2014, Goldman predicted. WTI will
average $105.50 a barrel next year and $99 in 2014, it said.



British retailer gives up on U.S. supermarkets

CNNMoney

Wednesday December 5



London-The Fresh & Easy chain has been put up for sale, as U.K. retail
powerhouse Tesco admitted defeat in its attempt to take on established
supermarkets in the United States.

Tesco launched Fresh & Easy in California in 2007, hoping
its chain of smaller stores would draw customers away from large
Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) or Safeway (SWY, Fortune 500)supermarkets.

But Tesco (TSCDF) underestimated the reluctance of shoppers to change
their buying habits, and has been forced to retreat after five years
of losses and a total investment of about $1.6 billion.

Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason, who has been with Tesco for 30
years, will leave the company.

"It is now clear that Fresh & Easy will not deliver acceptable
shareholder returns on an appropriate time frame in its current form,"
Tesco said in a statement.

Boutique investment bank Greenhill will conduct a
strategic review of the U.S. business. All options are being
considered.

"In recent months, we have had a number of approaches from parties
interested in acquiring either all or part of Fresh & Easy, or in
partnering with us to develop the Fresh & Easy business," the company
said.

The results of the review will be announced along with
full-year financial figures in April.

Fresh & Easy's woes have added to the problems Tesco faces in the U.K
and other international markets. Third-quarter sales at stores open a
year or more fell company-wide by 1.3%, as depressed consumer spending
in the U.K. and Europe outweighed an improvement in Asia. Tesco's
share of the U.K. market is also declining.

The U.S. chain reported same-store sales growth of 1.8%, down from
6.9% in the second quarter.



Apple v Samsung patent verdict reconsidered in court

BBC News

Thursday December 6



San Francisco-Apple and Samsung return to a San Jose, California court
later so a judge can review a jury's decision to award Apple $1.05bn
(£652m) in damages.

The South Korean firm wants the patent verdict overturned,
or the sum reduced.

By contrast, Apple is calling on the judge to increase the amount and
ban some of its rival's handsets.

If Samsung does not get its way, it can still challenge
the verdict in the US appellate court and the US Supreme Court.

The two tech giants' handsets account for about 44% of active US
smartphones, according to a recent study by ComScore.

Apple has said that its success depends on it being able
to protect its patents to offer "distinctive products that stand apart
from the masses".

Samsung has warned that customers face "fewer choices, less
innovation, and potentially higher prices" if it does not prevail.

Bankruptcy filing

Samsung's call for a retrial rests on a claim that the
jury foreman acted with "deliberate dishonesty" during jury selection.

A recent patent agreement between Taiwanese phone maker HTC and Apple
points to an alternative solution.

The two abandoned patent litigation against each other in
November announcing that they had instead agreed to a 10-year
licensing deal.

However, Apple has since said it has a "general policy against
licensing its patents" to others, while Samsung has said it has "no
intention" of reaching a similar settlement anyway.

But the South Korean firm is still interested in the terms
that were struck.

It has convinced the judge in the San Jose hearing to force Apple to
reveal the terms of the deal.

Samsung had pointed out that Apple had claimed in court
that it would never license some of its innovations - and if that is
not the case it might find it harder to secure a sales ban of
Samsung's devices.

It alleges that Velvin Hogan "deliberately concealed information"
about a lawsuit he had been involved in against hard drive-maker
Seagate nearly 20 years ago that resulted in him filing for
bankruptcy.

Samsung subsequently bought a minority stake in the company.

"This is the rare case where juror misconduct requires new trial
because the jury foreman withheld crucial information at the very
moment it was most important that he reveal it," Samsung's lawyers
have claimed, indicating that they would have stricken Mr Hogan from
service had they known of the case.

Mr Hogan told the BBC in August that the verdict might
have been different had be not been selected.

In another interview he told Bloomberg that court instructions had
said he only needed to disclose litigation within the previous 10
years - something Samsung disputes.

Samsung has also suggested Apple's lawyers might have
known of the case but kept quiet "to gain a tactical advantage".

But while Apple's legal team has acknowledged that it became aware
that Mr Hogan had filed for bankruptcy shortly after jury selection,
it said "no attempt was made to obtain or review" a court file
explaining why.

One legal expert said it was impossible to be sure what
the judge would make of all this.

"It is very unusual for a court to be willing to overturn a jury
verdict for any reason," said Andrea Matwyshyn, professor of legal
studies at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

"That said, in egregious cases of juror misconduct, courts
have been willing to revisit verdicts, both with respect to a juror
lying during voir dire - the process of selecting and empanelling the
jurors in open court - and with respect to juror misconduct during
jury deliberations."

'Double patenting'

Another Samsung strategy focuses on the two iPhone design
patents it was found guilty of infringing.

Both describe the exterior look of the handset, and Samsung says they
should have been treated as one invention which would have meant a
smaller damages award.

Apple denies "double patenting" a single design, but has
recently filed a "terminal disclaimer" notice.

This means it acknowledges that the validity of one of its
applications is dependent on the other, even though it still believes
the designs warrant two separate patents.

More money

Meanwhile, Apple is hoping the judge will boost the size
of the payment to $1.77bn.

The jury ruled that Samsung's infringement was "wilful" after learning
its executives had not ordered their engineers to make their designs
more distinctive despite a warning from Google.

In the US if a jury says infringement was wilful the
victim can ask for more money.

Apple is also asking the judge to ban several of Samsung's handsets
from sale in the US. These involve ageing devices such as the Galaxy
S2 and not the firm's current flagship models.

Even so, the judge's ruling on the matter will be closely watched.

"This case is the poster child case for many of the complexities and
uncertainties that exist in the current software patent ecosystem in
the United States," said Prof Matwyshyn.

"In particular, the question of whether computer code is even
patentable subject matter has divided the Federal Circuit."



Wall Street job reductions seen persisting after Citigroup cuts

Bloomberg

Thursday December 6



New York-Wall Street’s cost cuts and dismissals, which have helped
erase more than 300,000 financial- industry jobs in the past two
years, are far from over.

Citigroup Inc. (C)’s announcement yesterday of plans to
eliminate 11,000 positions in units spanning equities trading to
consumer banking is the latest sign of strain from a market slowdown,
stiffer capital rules and weak economic growth. Lenders around the
globe are likely to trim more jobs if revenue doesn’t rebound sharply
next year, analysts and recruiters said.

“The knives are sharpened and ready,” said Jason Kennedy, chief
executive officer of London-based search firm Kennedy Group. “These
institutions are too big for the business they are generating but they
are still quite bullish that the market will return by mid-2013.
Unless the markets picks up, there will be more cuts in the first
half.”

Bank of America Corp. and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) said
last year they would cut 30,000 jobs, and UBS AG (UBSN) announced in
October that it would fire 10,000 workers and largely exit
fixed-income trading. Banks are under pressure to cut costs as they
earn returns on equity that are lower than their cost of capital.

Cuts may continue as executives look to boost stock valuations amid
poor revenue growth in capital-markets businesses. Investment-banking
and trading revenue at the 10 largest global firms may climb 2.8
percent this year to $148 billion, 32 percent below 2009 and 13
percent below 2010, according to data from industry analytics firm
Coalition Ltd.

Industry Transition

“The financial-services industry has been, for a number of
years now, in a time of transition,” and firms are positioning
themselves for a different environment, Greg Fleming, president of
Morgan Stanley’s brokerage and asset-management businesses, said
yesterday at the Bloomberg Link Hedge Funds Summit in New York.
“That’s ongoing for everyone in the industry.”

Financial firms worldwide have announced more than 300,000 job cuts
since the start of 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Wall Street firms must slash pay and headcount and shed
almost a third of their trading-business assets to earn even half the
returns they once made, Sanford C. Bernstein analysts wrote in
November. “This implies that the industry is likely to shrink,” the
analysts wrote.

Global banking return on equity, or ROE, fell to 7.6 percent in 2011
from 8.4 percent a year earlier, “well below” the 10 percent to 12
percent average cost of equity, McKinsey & Co. said in an annual
review of the industry in October.

“You have to see meaningful improvement in their ROEs”
before the cost-cutting can abate, said Joo-Yung Lee, head of the
North American financial institutions group at Fitch Ratings.

Book Value

UBS is alone among the 10 largest global banks in trading
above book value, a level it reached after announcing job cuts. Firms
such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Barclays Plc traded at more
than twice their book value in 2007.

Citigroup said it expects the moves to save it $2 billion in expenses
over the next two years. Mike Mayo, an analyst at CLSA Ltd., said the
job reductions were a “tremor” and an “earthquake” was needed by
April. Nomura Holdings Inc.’s Glenn Schorr said some people may call
the number “light.”

Citigroup “is really catching up with a lot of the other
firms because most firms have done heavy restructuring in the last
year an a half,” said Jeanne Branthover, head of the
financial-services practice at Boyden Global Executive Search Ltd., a
New York-based recruiting firm. “This is very much Citi addressing
what they probably should have addressed a while ago but they had the
wrong leadership.”

Citigroup’s Chief

CEO Michael Corbat, 52, took the top job at Citigroup less
than two months ago with the departure of Vikram Pandit. The
reductions announced by Corbat yesterday add to the 5,000 Pandit
ordered earlier this year.

Other banks may wait until the new year to cut additional jobs. Morgan
Stanley trimmed 4,000 employees, or 6.7 percent of staff, in the first
nine months of the year, almost matching CEO James Gorman’s target of
a 7 percent reduction. The firm doesn’t plan on making any additional
cuts in 2012, a person briefed on the matter said.

“The cyclical pressures are real and we have responded by
reducing cost and proactively managing our capital, and if the
environment deteriorates further, we’ll take additional action,”
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, 58, said at an
investor conference on Nov. 13.

The six largest U.S. banks have reduced headcount by more than 24,000
over the 12 months ended in September. Deutsche Bank AG, UBS and
Credit Suisse AG (CSGN) have cut an additional 6,000 in that time.
Still, that amounts to just a 2.2 percent reduction in the group’s
total number of employees.

U.K. Firms

The four largest U.K. banks have eliminated more than
37,000 positions in the 12 months ended in June. That represented more
than 5 percent of their workforce. Branthover said she expects
reductions to continue, if at a slower pace than Citigroup’s.

“We keep thinking it’s going to get better, but then something else
happens,” Branthover said. “Nobody has said the worst is over, but
what we see is that every one of our clients that we talk to have a
strategy set for 2013 that’s essentially stay flat, replace as needed,
only add on in places that are generating revenue.”

Employment in London’s financial-services industry, which
is home to the European headquarters of global securities firms, may
tumble to a 20-year low in 2013 as a slump in equity and
foreign-exchange trading and mergers triggers job losses.

London Outlook

Positions in London’s City and Canary Wharf financial
districts may fall to 237,000 in 2013, compared with 256,000 predicted
six months ago, the London-based Centre for Economics and Business
Research has said. That would be the lowest number since 1993 and down
from 354,000 in 2007, the research firm said in November.

“I expect to see the global reduction in headcount in investment
banking to continue,” said Tom Kirchmaier, a fellow in the
financial-markets group at the London School of Economics. “There has
been a structural change in investment banking. The investors don’t
want it, the regulators don’t want it. Sales and trading is extremely
leveraged and asset quality is going down.”



Exclusive: HSBC might pay $1.8 billion money laundering fine - sources

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



New York-HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) might pay a fine of $1.8 billion
as part of a settlement with U.S. law-enforcement agencies over
money-laundering lapses, according to several people familiar with the
matter.

The settlement with Europe's biggest bank - which could be
announced as soon as next week - will likely involve HSBC entering
into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, said
the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The potential settlement, which has been in the works for months, is
emerging as a test case for just how big a signal U.S. prosecutors
want to send to try to halt illicit flows of money moving through U.S.
banks.

An HSBC spokesman said: "We are cooperating with
authorities in ongoing investigations. The nature of discussions is
confidential."

HSBC said on November 5 that it set aside $1.5 billion to cover a
potential fine for breaching anti-money laundering controls in Mexico
and other violations, although Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said
the cost could be "significantly higher.

In regulatory filings, HSBC has said it could face
criminal charges. But similar U.S. investigations have culminated in
deferred prosecution deals, where law-enforcement agencies delay or
forgo prosecuting a company if it admits wrongdoing, pays a fine and
agrees to clean up its compliance systems. If the company missteps
again, the Justice Department could prosecute.

A deferred prosecution agreement could raise questions over whether
HSBC is simply paying a big fine and nothing more, said Jimmy Gurule,
a former enforcement official at the U.S. Treasury.

It would make a "mockery of the criminal justice system,"
said Gurule, who is now a University of Notre Dame law-school
professor.

In his view, the only way to really catch the attention of banks is to
indict individuals.

"That would send a shockwave through the international
finance services community," Gurule said. "It would put the fear of
God in bank officials that knowingly disregard the law."

An HSBC settlement, long rumored, has been slow in coming. Inside the
Justice Department, prosecutors in Washington, D.C. and West Virginia
argued over how to best investigate HSBC. According to documents
reviewed by Reuters, the U.S. Attorney's office in Wheeling, West
Virginia, was prepared as far back as 2010 to indict HSBC and include
more than 170 money laundering counts.

Prosecutors in Washington ultimately took charge.

In July, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
released a report saying HSBC allowed clients to move shadowy funds
from Mexico, Iran, the Cayman Islands, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

The use of deferred prosecution agreements has surged in
recent years because Justice Department officials believe they give
prosecutors an option aside from indicting a company or dropping a
case.

According to a report in May by the Manhattan Institute for Policy
Research, a conservative-leaning think tank, there have been 207
deferred or non-prosecution agreements since 2004.

The agreements "have become a mainstay of white collar
criminal law enforcement," U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lanny
Breuer said in September during an appearance at the New York City Bar
Association.

"I've heard people criticize them and I've heard people praise them.
DPAs have had a truly transformative effect on particular companies
and, more generally, on corporate culture across the globe."

If U.S. prosecutors agree to a deferred agreement, they
still could wield a powerful legal tool by accusing the bank of
laundering money.

That would be a much more serious charge than if prosecutors, in a
deferred agreement, charged HSBC with criminal violations of the Bank
Secrecy Act, a law that requires banks to maintain programs that root
out suspicious transactions.

In March 2010, for example, Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N)
Wachovia entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to pay $160
million as part of a Justice Department probe that examined how drug
traffickers moved money through the bank. Wachovia was accused of
violating the Bank Secrecy Act, a decision that prompted criticism
from some observers who thought a money laundering charge should have
been employed and individual bankers prosecuted.

A charge of money laundering would be a rare move by the Justice
Department and would send a signal to other big banks that the agency
is intent on cracking down on dirty money moving through the U.S.
financial system.



Instagram kills its own pics on Twitter

CNNMoney

Wednesday December 5



New York-Instagram voluntarily pulled the plug on its Twitter photo
integration on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a growing turf war
between the rival social networks.

Previously, when Instagram users tweeted about their
latest Instagram photos, the image would appear inline with the tweet.
At the moment, those inline images are cropped and improperly
formatted in mobile apps. Going forward, the images will cease to
exist at all in any Twitter product, according to Instagram.

Early chatter speculated that this was the latest act of Twitter
revoking access, as it recently did with LinkedIn (LNKD) and several
other third-party apps. But Twitter posted a status update pointing
the finger straight at Instagram, and Instagram founder Kevin Systrom
defended the decision on stage Wednesday at the Le Web conference in
Paris.

In a statement emailed to CNNMoney, he was very blunt
about Instagram's reasoning.

"A handful of months ago, we supported Twitter cards because we had a
minimal web presence," he said. "We've since launched several
improvements to our website that allow users to directly engage with
Instagram content through likes, comments, hashtags and now we believe
the best experience is for us to link back to where the content
lives."

In plainer terms: Instagram, which just launched a Web
platform, wants to establish itself as an entity that exists outside
its smartphone apps. To do that, it's prepared to go head-to-head with
the current microblogging leader.

Systrom went out of his way to explicitly mention that Facebook's
acquisition of Instagram, which closed three months ago, had little to
do with the decision. That said, having Facebook (FB) in your corner
makes it decidedly less risky to cut back your Twitter exposure.

The two companies have been firing potshots at each other
all year. Facebook acquired Instagram in part because it knew Twitter
was eying the company. Soon after, Twitter revoked Instagram's ability
to locate a user's Twitter friends.

For consumers, the new spat is slightly inconvenient, but it's hardly
the end of the world. It just means Twitter users have to make one
extra click to view an image. Users will still be able to tweet links
from inside Instagram's apps, and those links will show up on Twitter
as they always have.

Chances are most of us power Instagram users will have already seen
our friends' images anyway while checking the app on our phones



Obama, Boehner talk; Geithner prepared to go off "cliff"

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



Washington-Republicans in Congress and President Barack Obama consumed
much of Wednesday talking up their positions on the "fiscal cliff" and
though Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner spoke by phone,
neither side offered any new compromises in public.

Nor was the phone call, a rarity, followed by any
immediate announcement of a face-to-face meeting that has been widely
anticipated all week and was explicitly requested early in the day by
House of Representatives Republican leader Eric Cantor.

Asked in an interview with CNBC if the administration was ready to go
over the so-called fiscal cliff if Republicans don't come around on
taxes, Obama's chief negotiator, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner,
responded: "Oh, absolutely."

Facing spending cuts and tax increases that start to take
effect in January unless Congress acts, Republicans on Capitol Hill
were privately acknowledging that they were taking a public relations
thrashing at the hands of the White House, which has marshaled a
campaign-style offensive that involves some of the very "job-creators"
Republicans say they are protecting.

Obama met with another such corporate group on Wednesday, The Business
Roundtable, renewing his call to include tax hikes on the wealthiest 2
percent of Americans as part of the final resolution and for including
an increase in the nation's borrowing limit.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after Obama also said a deal
to avert the fiscal cliff was possible within a week, though he
expressed it as a hope not a prediction.

The confrontation has become an endless loop of familiar talking
points and well-worn positions. Republican leaders have balked at
raising any tax rates, and Democrats have resisted Republican calls
for cuts in entitlements like the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare
programs.

Obama said there could be a quick deal if Republican
leaders dropped their opposition to raising tax rates for those making
more than $250,000 a year in exchange for spending cuts and
entitlement reforms.

"If we can get the leadership on the Republican side to take that
framework, to acknowledge that reality, then the numbers actually
aren't that far apart," Obama told The Business Roundtable.

"Another way of putting this is we can probably solve this
in about a week. It's not that tough, but we need that conceptual
breakthrough," he said.

Geithner reiterated that there would be no deal without higher tax
rates on the wealthy and without a change in congressional rules
making it harder to block an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling.

"There is no prospect (for) an agreement that doesn't
involve rates going up on the top 2 percent of the wealthiest
Americans," he told CNBC.

The two sides have submitted proposals to cut deficits by more than $4
trillion over the next 10 years, but differ on how to get there.
Republicans propose $1 trillion more in spending cuts than Obama,
while the president wants $800 billion more in tax increases and $200
billion to boost the sluggish economy.

Republicans have shown cracks in their solidarity on
taxes, however, with some saying they would be willing to let rates
rise on the wealthiest 2 percent in exchange for extending low rates
for the other 98 percent of taxpayers.

'WE HAVE TO RAISE REVENUE'

Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said he could
accept some higher tax rates as part of a long-term solution to the
threat posed by spiraling U.S. debt. He said the path to prosperity
would require at least a $9 trillion package of spending cuts and tax
increases over 10 years, rather than the $4 trillion being discussed
now.

"Personally I know we have to raise revenue. I don't really care which
way we do it. Actually, I would rather see the rates go up than do it
the other way because it gives us a greater chance to reform the tax
code and broaden the base in the future," Coburn said on MSNBC.

With no resolution in sight and the fiscal cliff looming,
the White House budget office has told all federal agencies to begin
planning for possible automatic spending cuts that will start taking
effect in January without a deal, the White House said.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Office of Management and
Budget needed to take certain steps to be ready if an agreement is not
reached and asked federal agencies for information so it could
complete calculations on the required cuts.

Economists have predicted that failure to reach an accord
could trigger another recession, and business executives and investors
in the financial markets have watched the back and forth anxiously.

Jim McNerney, chairman of the Business Roundtable and chairman and
chief executive officer of Boeing Co., called for non-stop
negotiations to break the stalemate.

"We encourage both sides to work around the clock, if
necessary, to avoid the severe repercussions that inaction would have
on U.S. economic growth and job creation," McNerney said in a
statement after Obama's appearance before the executives.

Obama's call for including an increase in the debt ceiling in a final
package seemed likely to complicate the negotiations.

In his speech to executives, Obama said it was a "bad
strategy" for Republicans to believe they would have more leverage
next year to extract concessions from the White House by threatening
to let the United States default.

A debt ceiling standoff between the White House and House Republicans
in 2011 brought the country perilously close to default and resulted
in an embarrassing debt rating downgrade.

"I want to send a very clear message to people here: We
are not going to play that game next year," Obama told the executives.

The focus on the debt ceiling is already raising concerns among market watchers.

"The more the Republicans talk about raising or not raising the
debt limit, that really makes the market nervous, and makes the White
House more nervous than Congress," said John Brady, managing director
at R.J. O'Brien & Associates in Chicago. "The cliff can be punted into
the future, but the debt ceiling can't be."



Fugitive John McAfee arrested in Guatemala

BBC News

Wednesday December 5



Belize-John McAfee, the founder of anti-virus software maker McAfee,
has been arrested in Guatemala, accused of entering the country
illegally. He crossed the border to seek political asylum, having been
on the run in Belize where police are investigating the death of his
neighbour.

Belize officials said the software pioneer was a "person
of interest" in the murder of Florida businessman Gregory Faull on 11
November.

Mr McAfee has protested his innocence.

He says on his blog that he has been "harassed" by police,
and that this was the reason he fled Belize. There is no international
arrest warrant for multi-millionaire fugitive.

Guatemalan Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla said Mr McAfee was
arrested at a hotel in an affluent area of the capital, Guatemala
City.

Bubble gum disguise

Appearing in public for the first time in weeks on
Tuesday, Mr McAfee and his lawyer had said he would petition the
Guatemalan government to stay there.

"Belize does not have a good track record of providing safety when
they ask to question you. I felt much more secure crossing the
border," said Mr McAfee.

He reportedly checked into the five star Villa Real hotel
in Guatemala City earlier on Wednesday having sneaked out of Belize.

The 67-year old revealed that in order to go unnoticed, he changed his
appearance by dying his hair and beard, sticking chewed bubble gum to
his upper gums to fatten his face and staining his teeth.

Gregory Faull was found dead with a single gunshot to the
head on 11 November. His Belize home sits next to Mr McAfee's compound
on a tropical island.

The US software creator is known to have had a long-running row with
Mr Faull about the guard dogs he used to protect his compound.

He denies any involvement in the businessman's death and
says he went into hiding so he could stay close to his Belize home and
conduct his own investigation into Mr Faull's death, adding that he
had little faith that the island's police would find the murderer.

In an interview with US TV station NBC, Mr McAfee offered a reward of
$25,000 (£15,700) for the capture of the "person or persons" behind
the killing.

McAfee has led an eccentric life since he sold his stake
in the anti-virus software company that bears his name in the early
1990s.

He moved to Belize about three years ago seeking lower taxes and has
lived in semi-seclusion on a heavily guarded compound until recently.



A Virgin deal makes no sense for Delta

CNNMoney

Wednesday December 5



Fortune-Delta could be making a big mistake pursuing Virgin Atlantic.
While investing in an airline is a risky venture at any time, a tie-up
with Virgin today looks particularly bad for the Atlanta-based
carrier. The deal could jeopardize Delta's marketing and anti-trust
agreements with its European partners, while burning up a bunch of
cash in the process. In addition, Delta would have to deal with the
twin threats of increased government scrutiny on one hand, and Virgin
founder Sir Richard Branson's larger-than-life ego on the other,
outweighing any benefit that could come from such a deal.

The markets weren't too surprised Monday when Singapore
Airlines released a terse statement that it has entered talks to sell
its 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic. The partnership that began in 1999
between the two airlines had become so unprofitable that Singapore was
forced to write down the value of its stake in Virgin from S$1.6
billion to basically zero this year.

There is plenty of blame to go around as to why Singapore wasn't able
to make its venture with Virgin work.

Singapore hoped the partnership would help it gain a foothold in the
most profitable segment in the airline business – the transatlantic
route between the U.S. and Europe. But both parties failed at
executing any meaningful partnership agreements to allow that to
happen; in fact, it was only last year that the two started
codesharing their flights, something that should have happened a
decade ago.

But after years of fruitlessly searching for a buyer,
Singapore's long, Richard Branson-fueled nightmare could be coming to
an end. Enter Delta Air Lines (DAL). Virgin's allure remains its
lucrative Trans-Atlantic routes, specifically the New York to London
route. Virgin has a number of extremely valuable landing "slots" at
Heathrow Airport, which Delta covets. The conventional view here is
that Virgin will transfer those slots to Delta, allowing it to expand
its empire in the only other major European player.

While some see this as a "no-brainer," for Delta, any deal actually
looks to be more trouble than it's worth.

First, if Delta wants greater access to Heathrow, it would be cheaper
and easier to just buy some slots from another airline, preferably one
that it doesn't compete against. Why would Virgin turn over any of it
slots to Delta, anyway? Contrary to most media reports, Virgin isn't
some Heathrow gold mine slot machine, it only controls around 3% to 5%
of them and uses all of them, mostly on routes that Delta already
serves, according to Deloitte. Just ask Singapore how many slots it
got from its deal with Virgin: zero. Indeed, when Singapore recently
needed a slot pair for a new flight out of Heathrow it was forced to
buy them from South African Airways.

But what about connecting passengers?

The thinking here is that Virgin Atlantic and Delta could codeshare
flights to let Virgin passengers connect to points in the US out of
JFK Airport on Delta, while Delta passengers could do the same on
Virgin flights out of Heathrow. Have you ever connected through
Heathrow to another destination? To save you the misery, the airport
is always stuffed to capacity, making connecting a terrible experience
for passengers. And if you think Sir Richard Branson is going to let
Delta passengers from Chattanooga into his exclusive "clubhouse"
lounge in Heathrow's Terminal 3, you better think again. Not even
first class passengers on Singapore Airlines can gain entry.

If Delta passengers need to connect to a destination not already
served by its extensive network, they could do so more easily through
one of its Skyteam partners' hubs in Europe, which, compared to
Heathrow, are a breeze to connect through. And when they land in
Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Rome or Milan, Delta passengers can take
thousands of flights serving hundreds of destinations. At Heathrow,
Virgin can take Delta passengers to 18 destinations, most of which it
already serves. Even if Virgin wanted to join Skyteam (it never joined
Singapore's Star Alliance), Virgin's limited route network would be of
little benefit to the alliance.

If that weren't enough, Virgin is also hemorrhaging cash.

The airline posted a pretax loss of 80.2 million pounds ($129 million)
for its fiscal year ending last February. In fact, the company's
losses for the last two fiscal years have wiped out all profits made
in the last five. Virgin's problem is that its business model at
Heathrow is basically broken. The airline relied on the British
airline BMI to feed up to 25% of its U.S. and international planes
with domestic travelers. BMI had a massive 11% share of Heathrow's
landing slots – two to three times as many as Virgin. But British
Airways blew up that cozy arrangement by recently acquiring bmi,
giving the flag carrier 51% of Heathrow's landing slots. While
regulators have forced BA to relinquish some domestic slots to Virgin,
they could never replicate BMI's heft at Heathrow, leaving it
scrambling for a domestic partner airline.

But Delta and its Skyteam partners are a poor substitute for BMI.

While Skyteam's European airlines could theoretically connect their
passengers through Heathrow, it wouldn't make sense as they could fly
them directly to almost everywhere Virgin flies and beyond both faster
and cheaper. Skyteam already operates the most flights over the
Atlantic, with over 250 daily departures, so there is little need to
add more flights, especially on the heavily traveled transatlantic
route. Skyteam was granted anti-trust immunity by the US and the EU,
allowing them to legally collude on prices. Regulators may not look
too kindly on Skyteam adding yet another airline to the heap and could
even go so far as to reject Virgin's entrance into the price setting
cabal. That would effectively kill any minute benefit that would come
from a tie up with Delta and its partners.

But probably the biggest reason Delta shouldn't get in bed
with Virgin Atlantic is Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic's
billionaire founder and largest shareholder. His Virgin holding
company owns the other 51% of Virgin Atlantic, giving Branson total
control of the airline. Steve Ridgeway, Virgin Atlantic's chief
executive, told Bloomberg News that Sir Richard is unlikely to
relinquish control of Virgin Atlantic as part of a possible sale of
Singapore's 49% minority stake. That should come to no surprise to
anyone who has ever flown Virgin Atlantic or knows anything about Sir
Richard at all. This is the man who recently commissioned four
designers to create lifelike ice cubes of his head for passengers'
drinks in Virgin Atlantic's tony "upper class" cabin.

It is hard to see Virgin operate without Branson at the helm.

The airline's perks and amenities, from its complimentary
chauffeured pickups for upper class passengers to generous baggage
allowances for passengers in coach, fits with Branson's whimsical
disregard for convention which has made Virgin such a hit with its
fiercely loyal customers. Without Branson at the helm, Virgin might as
well just liquidate.

Branson has said that Virgin would probably need to join one of the
big airline alliances in the wake of BA's takeover of BMI, but that
doesn't mean he is about to give up control of the airline – let alone
just give away landing slots to some Americans from Atlanta. Given all
this, it would be best if Delta just invites Virgin to join Skyteam
and saves its money for other things, like maintaining its new
refinery or for buying some badly needed new jets.



International

China demands timetable to climate aid

DPA

Wednesday December 5



Doha-China led developing nations on Wednesday in demanding rich
countries give details of a promised surge in aid to $100 billion a
year by 2020 to help the poor cope with global warming.

But most rich nations, facing economic slowdown at home
that cut overall development aid in 2011, said they were unable to
stake out a timetable for rising aid at deadlocked global climate
talks.

“The core issue is finance,” Xie Zhenhua, head of China's delegation,
told a news conference of a main track of the Nov. 26-Dec. 7 talks
among 200 nations in Doha, Qatar, that is a big block to a modest deal
to keep U.N. climate efforts on track.

He said a deal on finance would “create very good
conditions for the settlement of other issues” in Doha, which is also
seeking a symbolic extension of the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol for curbing
greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations beyond 2012.

“Without figures on the table we are not going to have a package,” Pa
Ousman Jarju of Gambia, who chairs the group of least developed
nations, said of calls for new finance.

Rich nations say they have kept a pledge made at a
Copenhagen summit in 2009 to provide $10 billion a year in aid to the
poor to help them curb their fast-rising emissions and cope with
floods, droughts and rising seas from 2010-12.

But the poor want a timetable towards another promise made at the
summit, of aid of $100 billion a year from 2020. World leaders did not
say what would happen between 2013 and 2019.

“There is every intention of continuing to support climate
finance,” deputy U.S. climate envoy Jonathan Pershing said.

“These are difficult financial times in Europe,” said Pete Betts, a
senior British negotiator representing the European Union. “I think
that we are not going to be in a position at this meeting to agree any
kind of target for 2015.”

Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on
Wednesday that he would convene a high-level meeting in 2014 to try to
find ways of injecting momentum into sluggish world efforts to tackle
climate change.

MONEY, MONEY

“Money, Money, Money,” a group of WWF conservation
activists sang outside the talks, from the ABBA hit of the same name,
and one danced in a polar bear suit. They said saving the climate was
free compared with trillions of dollars spent on banks.

Some developing nations want a doubling of aid in the years 2013-15,
to $20 billion a year.

Germany, Britain and Sweden have promised aid beyond 2012
but most nations have not made clear pledges.

Helen Clark, head of the U.N. Development Programme, also urged a
mid-term target for 2015 for rising aid. “There's not going to be a
magic cheque written in 2020,” she told Reuters.

Overall development aid fell 3 percent last year to $133.5
billion, breaking more than a decade of rises, according to the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Also at stake in Doha is the Kyoto pact, which obliges about 35
developed nations to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2
percent below 1990 levels in 2008-12.

But Kyoto has been hit by the pullout of Russia, Japan and
Canada who say that goals beyond 2012 are meaningless because major
emerging nations led by China and India will not have targets.
Washington never ratified Kyoto.

“The Doha caravan seems to be lost in a sandstorm,” said Ronny Jumeau
of the Seychelles, speaking for the Alliance of Small Island States.



UK hospital divulges Kate's condition in radio hoax

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



London-The London hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife
Kate for severe morning sickness admitted on Wednesday it had fallen
for a prank call from an Australian radio station, relaying personal
details about her condition.

Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, was admitted to the King
Edward VII Hospital in central London on Monday suffering from
Hyperemesis Gravidarum, very acute morning sickness which causes
severe nausea and vomiting.

News of her pregnancy and her hospitalization has generated a
worldwide media frenzy with journalists excitedly reporting any update
on her condition along with the facial expressions of William when he
arrives and departs.

However, two presenters from the Australian 2Day FM radio
station managed to go one step further after calling the hospital
pretending to be William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth and his father,
the heir-to-the throne Prince Charles.

Despite putting on unconvincing impressions of the royal duo, the
presenters were put through to the ward where Kate is being treated
and given intimate details about how she was faring.

"She is sleeping at the moment and she has had an
uneventful night," a flustered-sounding nurse told the presenters, who
called in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"Sleep is good for her. She's been given some fluids to rehydrate her
because she was quite dehydrated when she came in. But she's stable at
the moment."

The nurse tells the duo that they would be welcome to come
and visit after 9 a.m. when Kate has been "freshened up".

"She hasn't had any retching with me since I've been on duty and she
has been sleeping on and off. I think it's difficult sleeping in a
strange bed as well."

The Australian radio station issued an apology on Thursday
but said the call had been made with "light-hearted intentions".

"We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the inquiry to Kate's
hospital," a spokeswoman for the station said in a statement. "We wish
Kate and her family all the best and we're glad to hear she's doing
well."

However, the station still put the hoax call story high on
the front page of its website, calling it "Biggest Royal Prank Ever".

The two presenters, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, said they were
surprised that the call was put through.

"We thought we'd be hung up on as soon as they heard our
terrible accents," they said. "We're very sorry if we've caused any
issues and we're glad to hear that Kate is doing well."

The hospital said it deeply regretted the incident.

"This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore," John
Lofthouse, the hospital's chief executive said in a statement. "We
take patient confidentiality extremely seriously and we are now
reviewing our telephone protocols."

The prince's office said it would not be commenting on the prank call.



Childlessness 'may increase likelihood of early death'

BBC News

Thursday December 6



London-Involuntary childlessness may increase the likelihood of early
death, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports. The
Danish study looked at more than 21,000 couples seeking IVF treatment.

They found women who were unsuccessful in having a child
were four times more likely to die prematurely than women who had been
mothers.

Critics stress that the risk of early death was low - with just 316
people in total dying over the 11 year study.

The authors of the paper also point out that their
research suggests a link between childlessness and premature death and
not a cause. They wrote: "Mindful that association is not the same
thing as causation, our results suggest that the mortality rates are
higher in the childless."

The researchers based their findings on data obtained from various
population registers in Denmark on births, deaths and IVF procedures
from 1994 to 2005.

During this time 21,276 childless couples registered for
IVF treatment, 15,149 children were born and a total of 96 women and
220 men died.

Childless women were four times more likely to die early from
circulatory disease, cancers, and accidents than those with children-
and men were about twice as likely.

Critics stress it is hard to determine the underlying
cause of the results seen.

Ingrid Collins, a consultant psychologist, said: "This is a very
specific situation of people who are trying to have children - the
study's findings cannot be used to generalise across the whole general
population.

"People having IVF tend to be desperate for a child, if
they are unsuccessful they may be depressed- it may even be this
rather than childlessness that is playing a part. One can only guess.

"It is complicated and many factors play a part in death rates- people
with deep spiritual belief, being married, having a higher social
class - these can all help in living longer."

People 'hang on'

Others point out that a family can psychologically help
and support those that are dying.

Dr Helen Nightingale, a clinical psychologist, said: "Being childless
without a doubt reduces your fight for life.

"If you draw on cancer as an example - the support of a
family, the focus on your children - your grandchildren and the desire
to watch how they will turn out drives your psychological resistance
to survive.

"You fight for them, people hang on - it shows the power of relationships."



CNN Exclusive: McAfee comes out of hiding to talk about life on the run

CNN News

Wednesday December 5



Belize-The journey to interview Internet security guru John McAfee
began with a secret phrase, a mysterious driver and a circuitous route
full of left turns, right turns and U-turns.

It concluded at a safe house on a tropical island
paradise, where the 67-year-old was waiting in disguise --as an old
man with salt and pepper hair -- to tell his bizarre tale.

"It hasn't been a lot of fun. I miss my prior life. Much of it has
been deprivation. No baths, poor food," McAfee told CNN Friday in his
first on-camera interview since going on the run from Belize
authorities who want to question him in the killing of his neighbor.

Three people have been detained for questioning in the
killing, police have said, and investigators are pursuing multiple
leads.

Belize authorities say they only want to talk to McAfee about the
November 11 shooting death of American businessman Gregory Faull, who
was found dead in his home near San Pedro, on the Caribbean island of
Ambergris Caye.

The case began to unfold on November 9, when McAfee told
police someone poisoned four of his dogs. To put them out of their
misery, he shot each in the head and buried them on his property, a
former girlfriend said.

Officials say the dogs' barking and aggressive behavior was a frequent
source of friction between McAfee and Faull, a 52-year-old contractor
who retired to Belize from Florida and lived next door.

Two days later someone shot Faull in the head in his own
living room. A 9 mm shell was found on the second step on the first
floor, and Faull was found dead on the second floor.

During the interview, McAfee said he did not kill Faull and did not
pay anybody to kill the man.

So why not surrender to police for questioning? "I will
not," McAfee said, adding his priority is to clear his name.

To hear McAfee, who is not a suspect, tell it: He's a man on the run,
afraid for his life, from authorities who he has been at odds with
since refusing to pay a bribe to a politician months earlier.

McAfee is so fearful, he says, that he carries up to a
dozen disposable cell phones at one time. He estimates he has gone
through 200 since he fled more than three weeks ago.

In fact, he only agreed to an interview with CNN after a number of
conversations that involved middle men, telephone calls with ever
changing numbers and, finally, a cloak and dagger meeting complete
with a secret phrase and response.

The phrase: "Sorry I'm late."

The response: "That's OK, we are waiting for our co-worker."

McAfee's near daily "catch me if you can" game is wearing
thin with investigators, who are baffled and angered by the
allegations.

Recently, he began a blog -- www.whoismcafee.com -- to chronicle his
time on the run, the media's portrayal of him and what he describes as
harassment by the Belize government.

The longer it all goes on, the more suspicious police become.

McAfee doesn't know how the story will play out. "I don't have a
crystal ball. I'm going to fight until something changes," he said.

"I will certainly not turn myself in, and I will certainly
not quit fighting. I will not stop my blog."

For the software security pioneer, the end will come only if he's
arrested or he gets away from corrupt officials.

"Get away doesn't mean leave the country. It means they
will, No. 1, find the murderer of Mr. Faull and, No. 2, the people of
this country -- who are by and large terrified to speak out -- start
speaking out," he said.

McAfee founded his namesake computer security software in 1987,
running it initially out of his home in California. He sold his stake
in McAfee Associates in 1994.

A 2009 story in the New York Times indicated his fortune
had plunged to $4 million from its $100 million peak, due largely to
the real estate and stock market crashes that hit his investments.

McAfee moved to Belize in 2008. And in February 2010, he started
QuorumEx, which claims on its website to be trying to "re-invent the
way modern medicine combats and disarms pathogenic bacteria."



Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, dies at 104

BBC News

Wednesday December 5



Brasilia-Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who designed some of the
20th Century's most famous modernist buildings, has died just before
his 105th birthday.

He rose to international fame as the architect of the main
government buildings in the futuristic Brazilian capital, Brasilia,
inaugurated in 1960.

He also worked with Swiss-born modernist architect Le Corbusier on the
UN building in New York.

He continued to work on new projects until earlier this
year. He died on Wednesday at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro.

A memorial service will be held in the presidential palace in Brasilia
on Thursday.

Niemeyer's family was informed of the honour in a phone
call from President Dilma Rousseff. "Brazil has lost today one of its
geniuses, It is a day to lament his death. It is a day to acclaim his
life."

Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Eduardo Paes has declared three days of
mourning in Niemeyer's home city.

It is thought he will be buried there on Friday.

Oscar Niemeyer started his career in the 1930s, when Brazil was still
copying neoclassical European architecture and designing ornate
palace-like buildings.

His bold futuristic designs in Brasilia made the new
capital a dramatic statement of confidence in the future of Brazil,
and an icon of modern architecture.

A student of Le Corbusier, he developed a distinctive style defined by
stark concrete and sweeping curves.

He famously once said the stylized swoops in his buildings
were inspired by the curves of Brazilian women.

"When you have a large space to conquer, the curve is the natural
solution," he said.

"I once wrote a poem about the curve. The curve I find in
the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the
waves of the ocean and on the body of the beloved woman."

A firm communist - and a personal friend of Cuban leader Fidel Castro
- Niemeyer fled the country during Brazil's military dictatorship and
forged an international career while in exile in France.

In 1988, he was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize.

His style was not to everyone's taste, and for a communist some people
say his work was not very people-friendly - focusing more on the
architecture's form than on its inhabitants or functionality.

Niemeyer went on to create more than 600 buildings around
the world. His legacy endures in museums, monuments, schools and
churches in Brazil and beyond.

Many of the designs were initially sketched on a table overlooking his
beloved Rio de Janeiro and its famous Copacabana beach, replete with
the women, waves and hills from which he drew such inspiration.



Rupert Murdoch's mother dies at 103

CNN News

Wednesday December 5



Sydney-Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, mother of media mogul Rupert Murdoch,
died Wednesday at the age of 103. She "died peacefully tonight,
surrounded by her family," a statement from Rupert Murdoch's
representative said.

"We have lost the most wonderful mother but we are all
grateful to have had her love and wisdom for so many years,"
81-year-old Rupert Murdoch said.

She was at Cruden Farm, a site in Australia which Keith Murdoch,
Rupert's father, gave his wife when she was 19 years old.

She had four children -- Rupert, Anne Kantor, Janet
Calvert-Jones, and eldest daughter Helen Handbury, who died in 2004.

"Dame Elisabeth is survived by 77 direct descendants, including 50
great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren," the statement
said.

Rupert Murdoch said his mother will be mourned by thousands of
Australians whose lives she touched.



Philippines hopes for survivors as strongest typhoon kills 325

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



New Bataan-Dozens of soldiers and rescue workers pulled out bodies
from mud-drenched debris after the strongest typhoon this year killed
at least 325 people in the southern Philippines, with hundreds still
missing.

Hundreds of residents left homeless in Compostela Valley,
the worst hit province decimated by flash flooding and destructive
winds, were being evacuated by trucks to crowded shelters in town
centers on Thursday.

Typhoon Bopha, with central winds of 115 kph (75 mph) and gusts of up
to 145 kph (93 mph), was moving west-northwest of the central
Philippines and was expected to be over the South China Sea on Friday.

Based on tallies from the national disaster agency, 325
people were killed and 379 were missing after Bopha triggered
landslides and floods along the coast and in farming and mining towns
inland in the southern Mindanao region.

The death toll could rise further, with local government officials
reporting higher numbers of missing and dead.

About 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often
causing death and destruction. Almost exactly a year ago, Typhoon
Washi killed 1,500 people in Mindanao.

Arturo "Arthur" Uy, governor of Compostela Valley, said latest
estimates show 200 died and almost 600 remained missing in his
province. Official tally by the disaster agency show 184 died and 356
missing in Compostela Valley.

Uy said search and rescue operations were continuing,
particularly in far-flung areas in New Bataan town, where a three-year
old child was plucked from under a crumpled house on Wednesday, more
than 24 hours after the typhoon hit land. The child's mother and a
sibling are missing.

"I believe we can rescue more people," Uy said.

"This is the first time a typhoon with signal number 3
crossed our province. We evacuated people from riverbanks and
shorelines. But the floods and strong winds battered not just the
riverbanks but also places where residents where supposed to be safe."

Uy said a village hall, health center and covered court in New Bataan,
where residents took shelter ahead of the typhoon, were completely
washed away by floods and mud.

Hundreds of thousands of people remained in shelters in
more than a dozen provinces in the southern Philippines, as officials
appealed for food, water and clothing.

Some residents in Compostela Valley started repairing their houses,
while housewives washed mud-drenched clothes and used fallen trees for
cooking in makeshift stoves outside homes.



NY man arrested in fatal subway shove

AFP

Wednesday December 5



New York-A New York man was arrested on Wednesday in the death of a
subway passenger who was shoved onto the tracks ahead of an oncoming
train at a station near Times Square earlier this week, police said.

Naeem Davis, a 30-year-old street vendor from Queens, was
charged with one count of attempted murder, second degree, and one
count of murder with depraved indifference, second degree, police
said.

He is accused of pushing the victim, a 58-year-old man, onto the
tracks as the southbound Q subway pulled into the station at 49th
Street, police said.



Alan Gross case: Cuba accuses US of lying about health

BBC News

Thursday December 6



Havana-Cuba has accused the US of lying about the health and detention
conditions of an American man jailed in Havana for smuggling illegal
internet equipment.

The US State Department this week marked the third
anniversary of Alan Gross's sentencing by calling his 15-year sentence
unjustified.

It said Mr Gross had lost more than 40kg (100 lb) and called for him
to be seen by a doctor of his own choosing.

The Cuban foreign ministry denied Mr Gross was getting
inadequate care.

Spokeswoman Josefina Vidal said a biopsy on a mass that had appeared
on his shoulder showed he did not have cancer, as his family had
feared.

She added that there was no need for an independent
doctor's report, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Havana.

"He receives systematic attention from an excellent world class
medical team; the best specialists of our country have been put at his
disposal, when required," said Ms Vidal.

She emphasised Cuba's rejection of US complaints about Mr
Gross's arrest.

"There is sufficient evidence... that prove he was a contract worker
for USAID... working to implement a programme with subversive aims, to
create instability in Cuba... in a clandestine fashion," she said.

Straining relations

Mr Gross was detained in December 2009 while he was
delivering computers and communications equipment to the Jewish
community in Cuba.

The 62-year-old had been working for a company, Development
Alternatives Inc (DAI), under contract with the US Agency for
International Development.

He was sentenced in March 2011 for "crimes against the state".

He is currently suing DAI and the US government for $60m (£38m),
saying he was not adequately trained or told about the risks he was
incurring when he went to Cuba to do development work.

Repeated requests by US government officials to free Mr
Gross, such as that by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, have been
rebuffed by the Cuban government.

The case is seen as a major obstacle to attempts to improve US-Cuban relations.

In September, Cuba said it was prepared to negotiate with
Washington to find a solution to his detention.

But Ms Vidal said the US government kept refusing to sit down with
Cuban officials to resolve the issue.

"The US government has been lying about the causes that
led to the detention of Mr Gross with the sole purpose of avoiding its
direct responsibility for the situation that Mr Goss and his family
are going through," she added.

"The Cuban government invites the US government to talk seriously
about the issue to achieve a humanitarian solution acceptable to both
countries."



Divorce by text message sparks bizarre legal battle in Indonesia

CNN News

Thursday December 6



Jarkarta-The marriage lasted four days and ended in divorce via text
message, from the 40-year-old local politician to his 17-year-old
wife.

Aceng Fikri claimed his young bride Fani Oktara was not a
virgin, as she had claimed, so he decided to end the union, his lawyer
Ujang Suja'I said.

She denied it, and in turn accused Aceng -- who is the head of the
district of Garut in West Java -- of spreading baseless accusations
against her. Her lawyer Danny Suliwisjaya told CNN that Aceng had
deceived his client into marriage.

Aceng caused a stir after his July wedding to Fani.
Although 16 is the legal age for marriage in Indonesia, Aceng was
already married with children. Few Muslims practice polygamy, and
while it is not against the law, Indonesian civil servants are also
prohibited from taking on second spouses under strict regulations
governing their private lives.

A photo of the alleged wedding ceremony was posted on the Internet.
Religious weddings are common in Indonesia but marriages need to be
civilly and legally registered.

Aceng claimed divorcing his wife through text messaging is
allowed under Islamic Sharia law, his lawyer said.

Public outrage over the marriage, and subsequent divorce, came after
Fani reported Aceng to the police on Monday, asking that he be charged
with falsifying his marital status, fraud, defamation and unpleasant
conduct.

Police are still investigating Fani's complaint; as yet,
there are no charges against Aceng.

There have since been daily protests in Garut, calling for his resignation.

The girl's lawyer, Danny Suliswijaya, told CNN she and her
family decided to go public only after months of asking Aceng for an
apology.

Suliswijaya said Aceng told Fani that he was a widower.

"He said he married Fani as his only wife, so he cheated
and failed to tell the truth," Suliswijaya said. The lawyer claims
Aceng also reneged on promises to send her to university and to the
minor Hajj in Mecca.

The embattled official apologized late Monday but stood by his version
of the story. "If what I did was wrong, even though it was allowed by
Islamic law, then I deeply apologize to my family and my ex-wife," he
told reporters. Ujang told CNN they will report Fani and her family to
the police, seeking charges of fraud and extortion.

"Aceng accused her of not being a virgin on the second day
of their marriage and she didn't deny it. That's why Aceng decided to
end the marriage and send her back to her parents," Aceng's lawyer
said. Fani's attorney insists the accusations are baseless.

According to his lawyer, Aceng gave the girl's family 43 million
rupiah (roughly $4,000) for her university fees and the minor Hajj
trip. He says the girl's family agreed to the settlement but continued
to contact Aceng for more money, "blackmailing the district head."
Fani's attorney denies Aceng's claims, and says all his client wanted
was an apology.

Indonesian President Susilo has ordered the Home Affairs
Ministry to summon Aceng and investigate the matter. On Wednesday,
Garut's local legislative council also decided to create a special
committee to look into Aceng's case.

His lawyer said the case needed "to go through legal channels," and
that his client's potential removal as district chief was not
imminent: "the council has to wait for the results of the police
investigation before making a decision on Aceng's dismissal."

Women and children's rights activists, however, welcome
the investigations and the public outcry over the case.

Muhammad Ihsan, secretary of the Commission for the Protection of
Indonesian Children or KPAI, told CNN the regent head may be held
liable for a sexual offense, if it is proven that the regent head
deceived the teenage girl.

The commission says human trafficking, the illegal sex
trade and the exploitation of women are rampant, particularly in the
province of West Java.

In not a few cases, parents or relatives give up their teenage
daughters for marriage, in exchange for money.

Ihsan said that when the facts of this case become
clearer, it could highlight well-known and common practices of
exploiting young women.

"If a public official is allowed to get away with behavior like this,
then the public will think this is acceptable", said Ihsan.



Fertility treatment 'asthma link'

BBC News

Wednesday December 5



London-Children born after fertility treatments, such as IVF, may have
a slightly higher chance of developing asthma, research suggests.In a
study of more than 13,000 UK children, five-years-olds were about
twice as likely to have asthma if they were not conceived naturally.

The children were also more likely to need medication,
which could be an indication of more severe asthma.

The findings were published in the journal Human Reproduction.

The researchers, at the Universities of Oxford and Essex,
analysed data from children born between 2000 and 2002.

Researcher Dr Claire Carson said 15% of all the children in the study
had had asthma at the age of five, but this proportion had risen to
24% among the 104 of them born through assisted-reproduction
technologies.

She said it was interesting that the pattern had emerged,
but far too soon to say if IVF treatment resulted in higher rates of
asthma. Other explanations, such as genetics, may explain the
association.

Dr Carson told the BBC that parents should not be put off IVF.

"Assisted reproduction technologies offer a chance to
become a parent when there isn't another option," she said. "For the
majority of children asthma is quite manageable."

Malayka Rahman, from the charity Asthma UK, said: "This study suggests
that there might be an association between IVF treatment and asthma
developing in children, but the sample size for this study is small
and currently the research in this area generally is not conclusive.

"Those considering IVF should speak to their GP about the benefits
and health risks in order to make an informed decision."



Chelsea out as Juve, Celtic reach last 16

Super Sport

Thursday December 6



Champions League-Chelsea became the first Champions League holders to
exit at the group stage after a 6-1 rout of Nordsjaelland proved
irrelevant with Juventus reaching the last 16 thanks to a 1-0 win over
Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

A second-half own goal was enough for Juve to secure top
spot in Group E and progress alongside Shakhtar, while Chelsea,
winning for the first time under interim manager Rafael Benitez, are
heading into the Europa League.

Galatasaray and Celtic claimed the other two knockout stage places
decided in the final round of group matches.

Fernando Torres scored twice for Chelsea in an
entertaining Stamford Bridge clash that featured three penalties, all
awarded for handball and two of which were saved, in six first-half
minutes.

Chelsea needed to win and hope Juventus lost, but the Italians ended
Shakhtar's long unbeaten home run with Olexandr Kucher putting through
his own net for the only goal on 56 minutes.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi was stretchered off with what
appeared to be a serious knee injury near the end of the Group G
winners' 0-0 draw at home to Benfica.

The Argentine World Player of the Year collapsed to the ground
clutching his left knee after colliding with Benfica goalkeeper Artur.

Benfica were beaten to a knockout stage place by Celtic
who beat Spartak Moscow 2-1 in Glasgow to finish two points ahead of
the Lisbon club.

A penalty nine minutes from the end by Kris Commons put Celtic through
to the last 16 for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Second-half goals from Burak Yilmaz and Aydin Yilmaz
helped Galatasaray come from behind to win 2-1 at Braga and go through
as Group H runners-up behind Manchester United.

The Turkish side denied Romania's CFR Cluj, whose consolation for an
upset 1-0 victory over former champions United at Old Trafford, is a
Europa League place.

Last season's beaten finalists Bayern Munich finished top
of Group F after a 4-1 rout of BATE Borisov, finishing level on points
with Valencia but with a better head-to-head record against the
Spaniards who beat Lille 1-0 in France

Xherdan Shaqiri scored one and set up another for Bayern, who exacted
revenge for a shock defeat in the reverse fixture in Belarus.



News From the Axis

Clinton: NATO must 'step up' for Afghanistan

Al Jazeera

Wednesday December 5



Brussels-Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has called on
NATO allies to stand by their funding commitments to Afghanistan
following the December 2014 international troop withdrawal.

Speaking at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in
Brussels on Wednesday, Clinton reminded austerity-hit European nations
of their commitments to the $4.1bn pledged annually to the Central
Asian nation after foreign forces end their combat role.

"It will be crucial for every nation to follow through on their
commitments, and for those who haven't yet committed any funding to do
so," Clinton said at the meeting of countries contributing to the
NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan.

With 35 per cent unemployment and an impending April 2014
presidential election, Clinton also stressed the importance of
economic and political transition in Afghanistan.

Thus far, donor nations have pledged $16bn to support the political
transition and stabilising the economy.

Clinton went on to say that regional support will be
important to a successful transition in Afghanistan.

"Every nation in the region has a stake in Afghanistan's future and a
responsibility to step up and help secure it," she said.

The Afghan government has often blamed neighbouring
nations, particularly Pakistan and Iran, for security and political
stumbles.

'Investment'

Guido Westerwelle, German foreign minister, said even
struggling European nations must follow through on their promises to
the Kabul leadership.

"Of course that is not easy during times of tightening purse strings," he said.

"But it is in the interest of European citizens. That is
why I am making sure that the commitments made are kept."

Janan Mosazai, Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, said though Kabul
understands the financial strain these pledges may place on donor
nations, it will be "an investment".

"In our view, that is an efficient, a cost-effective
investment in the long-term security that the people of Afghanistan
and the people of the wider region and the international community
share with each other and we will count on the continued full support
of the international community on those pledges," he said.

The calls for further financial commitments come on the same day as a
report by the Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Afghanistan as the
most corrupt nation on earth.

The annual report from the Berlin-based group saw Afghanistan tie
with Somalia and North Korea for last place.



Rape is shredding Syria's social fabric

CNN News

Wednesday December 5



Damascas-A woman approached me as I was rushing toward the D.C. Metro
after giving a talk on rape in Syria last month. She asked in a low
voice if she could share some information. She had DVDs, she said. On
them were testimonies of Syrian women who'd been raped; in particular,
a mother, a daughter and a sister all in one family.

In a taxi recently en route to Heathrow Airport, I was
told another startling story. The driver turned to me and said, "I am
Syrian. And I have a story to tell you that I keep wishing is not
true."

His eyes welled up as he relayed what his neighbor said happened to a
friend. The neighbor described being stopped in his car at a Syrian
checkpoint on the road from Zabadani to Damascus. He said army
officers told him to leave his daughter with them. My driver said he
knew no other details than this, that the man had been given a
horrific choice to make: leave his daughter behind, or his wife and
other children would be killed in front of his eyes.

The man made a decision, the driver said. He left his
daughter at the checkpoint and drove on.

I keep wishing it is not true, too, but what I told the driver that
day is that his story sounds all too familiar: Of the hundreds of
cases of sexualized violence against Syrian women and men I have heard
and documented as the director of the Women Under Siege project at the
Women's Media Center, many fit this pattern of women and girls being
raped at checkpoints.

And the story from the woman in Washington falls all too
neatly into the pattern of ripping apart families -- rape and other
forms of sexualized violence have long been used as a tool of war to
destroy not only individual bodies but entire communities. What is
happening in Syria is no exception.

In an attempt to not lose a single story that could be used as
possible evidence for future war crimes trials, we are documenting
reports of sexualized violence on a live, crowd-sourced map on Syria.
We know, however, that evidence of crimes is being destroyed every
day: More than 20% of the women in our reports are found dead or are
killed after rape.

Broken down by type of crime and perpetrator, each case is
marked as a red dot on the map and contains up to dozens or even
hundreds of victims. Each dot is a life or lives potentially ripped
apart by a horrific act of violence, an act that is particularly
powerful as a weapon in Syria, where honor is so highly prized.

Rape is tearing Syrians apart. The concept of purity is destroying
their lives on top of it.

The International Rescue Committee, referring to Syria,
reported in August that "girl-child survivors of rape are frequently
married to their older cousins or other male members of the community,
to 'save their honor.' " Participants in adolescent girl groups told
the IRC that if a girl is raped, "Sometimes she might be killed by her
family. She might kill herself. ... She knows that she will be
dishonored for the rest of her life."

Honor killings, forced marriages and divorce are just a few of the
ways shame is destroying lives in Syria. There is also suicide when
the shame becomes too much to bear, such as the story on our map
telling of a girl in Latakia who reportedly killed herself by jumping
off a balcony after rape.

But the concept of honor is failing Syrian women in another way.

"What I always think about is how women have tried to persuade the
perpetrators not to attack them by asking to think of them as their
sisters," said one of the Syrian researchers on our mapping project.

"In Arab culture, a real man will protect his sister at
any price. He is expected to take revenge if someone dishonors her.
His sister is his responsibility even if she is married because blood
relation is stronger than marriage. The women were appealing to
whatever remnant of manhood and Arab honor these attackers might still
have. Unfortunately, they had none."

The unending "dishonor" and manipulation of Syrians through sexualized
violence is committed by all sides, although the majority of our
reports indicate government perpetrators. It is creating an entire
nation of traumatized people: not just the survivors of the acts, but
their children as well.

It is time to stop it all. There are measures the world
can take to bring these horrors to an end. Shame should never fall on
victims, but should be used to compel Russia to join a U.N. Security
Council call for the Syrian government's alleged crimes to be referred
to the International Criminal Court.

Governments can help humanitarian groups that offer medical and
psychosocial services for survivors. Syrian women's rights
organizations are already taking action to combat and respond to
gender-based violence, including organizing family-based care for
displaced children of survivors. The international community can and
should support Syrian civil society in this work.

Shame is a powerful feeling that causes retreat. It causes
us to lower our heads and look away.

But we have a chance to lift up the survivors of sexualized violence
in Syria and honor them by paying attention, by caring enough to bring
their suffering to an end, by telling them that we do not accept the
violence against them.



Clinton says "desperate" Assad could use chemical arms

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



Beirut-Washington fears a "desperate" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
could use chemical weapons as rebels bear down on Damascus, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, repeating a vow to take
swift action if he does.

Rebels fighting to overthrow Assad said they had
surrounded an air base near Damascus, a fresh sign the battle is
closing in on the Syrian capital, a day after NATO agreed to send air
defense missiles to Turkey.

The Western military alliance's decision to send U.S., German and
Dutch Patriot missile batteries to help defend the Turkish border
would bring European and U.S. troops to Syria's frontier for the first
time in the 20-month-old civil war.

Heavier fighting erupted around Damascus a week ago,
bringing a war that had previously been fought mainly in the provinces
to the centre of Assad's power. Fighters said on Wednesday they had
surrounded the Aqraba air base, about 4 km (2.5 miles) outside the
capital.

"We still do not control the air base but the fighters are choking it
off. We hope within the coming hours we can take it," said Abu Nidal,
a spokesman for a rebel force called the Habib al-Mustafa brigade.

He said rebels had captured a unit of air defense
soldiers, killing and imprisoning dozens while others escaped.

Syria's state news agency said the army was still firmly in control of
the base, but did not comment on rebel claims that they were
surrounding the area.

Accounts like this from Syria are impossible to verify, as
the government has restricted media access to the country.

For several days, Western officials have repeatedly focused on what
they say is a threat that Assad could use poison gas.

After meeting other NATO foreign ministers in Brussels,
Clinton said: "Our concerns are that an increasingly desperate Assad
regime might turn to chemical weapons, or might lose control of them
to one of the many groups that are now operating within Syria.

"We have sent an unmistakable message that this would cross a red line
and those responsible would be held to account," she added.

U.S. officials have said this week they have intelligence
that Syria may be making preparations to use chemical arms.

Syria, which has not signed the international chemical weapons treaty
banning the use of poison gas, says it would never use such weapons on
its own people. Those comments were reiterated by Deputy Foreign
Minister Faisal Maqdad in a television interview with Sky News.

"ASSAD WILL NEVER LEAVE"

Maqdad made the first appearance by a government official
for over a week, since fighting around the capital intensified.

He laughed off media reports that he had passed on a letter from Assad
exploring the possibility of asylum during his recent trip to
Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

"This is funny, this is laughable," he said. "I assure you
100 percent that President Assad will never ever leave his country."

But the rebels have been making advances across the country in recent
weeks, despite punishing air raids, and have stepped up fighting
outside Damascus. Wednesday saw fighting in a semi-circle of suburbs
on the capital's eastern outskirts.

"The shelling is so loud, it feels like every other minute
there is an air raid or an artillery shell hitting. We were woken up
early by the sounds of the shelling in the eastern suburbs today,"
Ayman, who lives near the suburb of Jaramana, said by Skype.

Most of the areas being shelled are pro-opposition, apart from
Jaramana, seen as a pro-government or neutral area, where town elders
have refused rebel requests to pass through.

A rebel unit said fighters had attacked a checkpoint on
the outskirts of Jaramana. Heavy fighting was also reported in the
suburbs of Saqba, Irbeen, and Zamalka, according to the pro-opposition
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The army's strategy has been to divide Damascus, Assad's seat of
power, from the countryside where rebels are increasingly dominant.
Air raids and artillery have pounded rebel-held suburbs near the city
for more than a week, in what activists call the worst shelling yet in
the area.

A Syrian government source said the army had pushed rebels
back 9 km (5 miles) from the capital.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the government, the opposition
and their foreign allies to end the bloodshed, which he said had
killed more than 40,000 people.

"I am urging again that the parties immediately stop the
violence and those countries who may have influence on both parties
should be exerting their utmost efforts to influence them to stop," he
said at a news conference in Kuwait.

"And those countries that may be providing military equipment and
other assistance should stop."

MISSILE DEFENCE

NATO's decision to send air defense missiles to the
Turkish frontier is a first military step into the region by an
alliance that has so far refused to repeat the kind of armed
intervention that helped toppled Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year.

NATO says the Patriot missiles are purely defensive. Syria and allies
Russia and Iran say the move increases regional instability and could
set the stage to impose a no-fly zone.

Turkey, a NATO member hostile to Assad and hosting
thousands of refugees, says it needs the air defense batteries to
shoot down any missiles that might be fired across its border. The
German, Dutch and U.S. batteries would take weeks to deploy.

"What it does do, of course, is send a very powerful signal,"
Lieutenant General Frederick Hodges, commander of NATO's new land
command headquarters in the Turkish city of Izmir, told Reuters.

"The Assad regime, the father and now the current Assad,
have in desperate times taken desperate steps, so this is a very clear
signal about what is not going to be allowed. NATO is not going to
allow an expansion of what the Assad regime is doing."

A Turkish foreign ministry official said: "The Patriots were requested
to create a counter-measure to every possible kind of threat, first
and foremost short-range ballistic missiles, because we know they have
them."

Cengiz Candar, a veteran commentator at Turkey's Radikal
newspaper who travelled with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to
Brussels this week, said the government was worried about some of
Syria's 500 missiles falling into the wrong hands.

"The minister and his team were of the view that Syria was not
expected to use them against Turkey, but that there was a risk of
these weapons falling into the hands of 'uncontrolled forces' when the
regime collapses," Candar wrote on Wednesday.

Fighting continued for a seventh day near the highway
leading to Damascus International Airport, which opposition activists
say has become an on-off battle zone.

Fighting around Damascus has led airlines to suspend flights and
prompted diplomats to leave, adding to a sense the fight is closing
in. Hungary said on Wednesday it would shut its embassy.



Deadly earthquake hits eastern Iran

Al Jazeera

Thursday December 6



Tehran-An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale has hit
eastern Iran, killing at least eight people and injuring 12 others,
Iranian media reports.

Iran's Fars news agency said people ran out of their homes
after the tremor struck the district of Zahan, in South Khorasan
province, on Wednesday.

Walls and buildings collapsed, and several people were left trapped
under the rubble.

"Eight people have been killed in the earthquake area and
one person is missing. Unfortunately a number of those injured have
lost their lives in the last few hours," Mehr news agency quoted South
Khorasan's crisis management director Mohammad Ali Akhundi as saying.

"Homes have sustained damage and people are out in public places and
they need the means to keep themselves warm because of the cold," he
said.

Officials said the death toll could rise as rescuers
reached the affected areas.

Two villages appeared to have sustained the worst of the damage
including the village of Sharaj where five people were killed, Mehr
news agency quoted district governor Farhad Falahati as saying.

"We have what we need to help but landslides especially on
the route to Sharaj have stopped the relief supplies from getting
there," he said.

Five villages were "destroyed or damaged" in the earthquake, Mohammad
Ali Akhoundi, head of the South Khorasan provincial crisis management
service, told state media.

At least 12 aftershocks have been registered since the
quake struck at 20:38 local time (17:08 GMT), the Iranian
Seismological Centre reported.

Iran is situated on major fault lines and has suffered several
devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude
quake in 2003 which flattened the southeastern city of Bam and killed
more than 25,000 people.

In August, more than 300 people were killed when two earthquakes
struck in the northwest.



Political and General

Zimbabwean is Bermuda's top chef

New Zimbabwe

Wednesday December 5



Harare-A ZIMBABWEAN man has been named Bermuda’s second best cook in
the national Rising Chef contest.

Takemore Mukazika, from Chinhoyi, cooked his way into the
hearts of a panel of judges in the five-day competition run by the
Bermuda Hospitality Institute last month.

Carmin Viola, who arrived on the small island in the North Atlantic
Ocean off the east coast of the United States from the Philippines,
was named Rising Chef of the Year 2012 with what the judges described
as a “technically challenging dish”.

She grilled and smoked one piece of flank steak and paired
it with earthy shiitake mushrooms and caramelised cranberries, then
pan seared another piece of meat with squash purée.

For the third component of the meal, she created a beef roll with a
shiitake mushroom and tomato ragout, sweet dumpling squash fondant and
shiitake mushroom layers, called Mille-feuille.

Mukazika, one of four finalists, took home the Audience
Favourite gong thanks to his well seasoned flame grilled flank steak
with cranberry butter and ginger balsamic braised beef shiitake roll.

He paired the dish with thinly grated squash, which was lightly fried
and crispy.

Mukazika, who honed his cooking skills while working at
the Pamuzinda Safari Lodge in Harare, now works for the Fairmont Hotel
in Hamilton – the capital of Bermuda.

He trained at the Bulawayo Polytechnic’s School of Hospitality and Tourism.

“I’ve been doing this for 11 years and I have gained a lot
of experience. I had a lot of fun in the competition but I also saw it
as a chance to establish myself as a chef in Bermuda,” Mukazika said.

“I’m a passionate chef, I’m very passionate about food.”

Mukazika now wants to go a step further and study hotel
management, which would allow him to leave the kitchen and assume a
managerial role in the hospitality industry.

Meanwhile, a unique website offering a repository of Zimbabwean and
international recipe tutorials has been launched.

ZimboKitchen.com is “designed to ease the pain of
Zimbabweans, local and abroad, who love to cook but lack the
know-how”, said the website’s owners.

The website carries traditional recipes and clear instructions on how
to cook international cuisines using locally sourced ingredients.

Aurther Shoko, the managing editor of the website, said:
“Unlike many international sites and cook books that offer
out-of-context and no similar walk-by-the-hand tutorials,
ZimboKitchen.com recognised that many people are often frustrated by
these hard to follow cooking recipes.

“The cooking tutorials are offered in a relaxed non-formal context by
the site’s Resident Cook working with other home cooks, professional
cooks and chefs.”

He said they were looking to “reach every Zimbabwean – male or
female – who loves cooking”.



Ex-CIO spy tortured in custody for exposing ZANU PF

SW Radio Africa

Wednesday December 5



Harare-A former CIO operative, who is now a lecturer at Bindura
University, is allegedly being tortured in custody after he jointly
produced a scholarly report on violence that claimed police were under
instruction not to arrest ZANU PF perpetrators during the 2008
disturbances.

39 year old Obediah Dodo was arrested on 19th November
along with his student, police Assistant Inspector Collen
Musorowegomo, for releasing a report that was published on the website
of the American International Journal of Contemporary Research in
June.

The two are expected to appear in the High court on Thursday for a
bail application hearing. Elizabeth Dodo, Obediah’s sister, told SW
Radio Africa on Wednesday that her brother was being tortured by
members of the CIO and is being kept in solitary confinement. She said
close family members who have been able to see him describe him as
looking subdued and fearful.

Obediah is a lecturer for peace and governance studies,
while Musorowegomo is a Masters degree student in the same department.
Both teacher and student have admitted authoring the document, adding
it was based on real reports obtained from police records.

They are both seeking immunity under the Academic Act, saying the
report was purely for academic purposes.

According to the report titled: “Political Intolerance, Diversity
and Democracy: Youths Violence in Bindura Urban Zimbabwe,” the two
revealed that many cases of violence went unreported because police
had been disempowered.

The duo has since been charged under Section 31of the
criminal law act which outlaws publication of ‘false information
prejudicial to the State.’

The report is based mainly on information obtained through a survey
that included questionnaires and interviews with identified samples in
Bindura.

Dodo and Musorowegomo said respondents cited state
security agents such as the army, police, prison guards and the CIO,
as having played a key role in inciting youths to engage in acts of
violence in the last decade and have stressed the information in the
report is a true reflection of what was happened in the area.

Since his arrest last month Dodo has been denied access to lawyers and
visits by family members and, although these restrictions have
lessened, access to him is still being strictly monitored. Dodo and
Musorowegomo are being represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights.

‘We understand he’s being subjected to ill treatment and
psychological torment.

All he did was compile an academic report detailing how ZANU PF
recruited youths in Bindura and set up torture bases throughout the
district and went on an orgy of violence against MDC-T supporters,’
Elizabeth said.

She added: ‘If it was for any other sinister plot would
you think they would release the report into the public domain.

It was purely for academic reasons and it shows how intolerant the regime is.’



Biti set for Manchester GNU review

New Zimbabwe

Wednesday December 5



Harare-MDC-T secretary general and Finance Minister Tendai is, on
Friday, expected to present a paper on the experience of working with
President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party in unity government at
the University of Manchester.

Biti has been in charge of the country’s finances since
his MDC-T party joined Zanu PF in a coalition government following
violent but inconclusive elections in 2008.

A top Harare lawyer before joining politics, Biti is praised
world-wide for his stewardship of the country’s economy over the last
three years, a view not shared, however, by Zanu PF which accuses him
of refusing to support the key agriculture sector.

In a statement, Manchester University said: “He (Biti) is
especially noted for reducing inflation from an estimated 500 million
percent in December 2008 to single digits within three months of
taking over the ministry.

“In 2009, he officially launched a controversial report by BWPI which
among other policy recommendations urged the Government to set aside
tax credits to compensate the mainly white farmers who lost their
land.”

Dr Admos Chimhowu of the university’s Brooks World Poverty
Institute added: “Tendai Biti has played a major part in presiding
over this economic stabilisation and growth.

“Following the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in
March 2009, Zimbabwe is emerging from a decade of socio-economic
decline.

“Conditions have improved markedly now. Although poverty
levels are still high, welfare conditions continue to improve and life
expectancy has risen to 50 years and inflation fallen just above 3.5
per cent

“But more importantly, the economy has recorded four years of growth.”

Fresh polls are expected next year to end the shaky
coalition government which, despite helping ease political tensions
and stabilising the economy, has been riven by deep divisions between
Zanu PF and the MDC formations.

Both Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai agree the arrangement
is no longer workable because of policy differences but the MDC-T
leader wants political reforms completed to ensure free and fair
elections.

A referendum on the country’s new constitution is expected to be
held early next year leading to the fresh polls in March.



Zim headman on the run after petrol bombing headmaster’s house

Radio VoP

Wednesday December 5



Musengezi-A headman and self confessed Zanu (PF) supporter, Richard
Chikwasha is still missing almost two weeks after he petrol bombed a
Musengezi Secondary School headmaster's house amid allegations police
have failed to act on the matter.

The headman had been trying to oust the headmaster,
Ignatius Chimbidzika, from the school for allegations of ill-treating
school children and that he does not belong to the area as well as to
Zanu (PF).

The headman, believed to be on the run, had failed to mobilise parents
to support him in ousting Chimbidzika from the school.

In an interview with the Crisis Report Team, Isaac Gatsi,
a local in the Ndire area confirmed the incident.

Gatsi said Headman Chikwasha publicly threatened the headmaster at
Musengezi Secondary School with death in January.

Gatsi alleged at that meeting Headman Chikwasha vowed to
get rid of Chimbidzika before elections in 2013.

According to Gatsi, headman Chikwasha issued the death threats at a
meeting held with parents where he allegedly said the following:

“Ignatius Chimbidzika is not from this area so are his
colleagues. It is in my authority as the headman of these 27 villages,
whose jurisdiction was granted to me by Chief Kristain Chirume, Mambo
Matsiwo, that I may empower youths from my area to take up teaching
jobs to replace those who are not from this area.

"I intend to make sure that Chimbidzika is relieved of his duties, if
no other measures are taken. He is not from this area and more so he
is the root planting MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) activism in
Ward 5 and this is not acceptable. We are a Zanu (PF) stronghold and
his existence has brought us more disgrace than peace.”

According to Gatsi, Chimbidzika reported the threats and
harassment to Chidodo Police Station and the Ministry of Education,
but no action was taken by both parties.

Gatsi also lamented the inaction from Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC), which despite having been sensitised
on the increasing cases of political violence in Musengezi, had not
taken the initiative to engage the victims and the accused.

Meanwhile JOMIC co-chairs have called for civil society
organisations, including women’s groups, to address perpetrators of
Gender Based Violence (GBV) as a strategy to end sexual violence
against women and girls.

Addressing members of civil society, diplomats, traditional leaders
and government officials at a women and Peace Conference hosted by
Musasa Project at Wild Geese in Harare, the JOMIC co-chairs also urged
traditional chiefs to support the campaign against GBV in homes and
communities.

JOMIC Co-chairperson, Tabitha Khumalo, said women should
take their issues to the streets so as to amplify their voices.

“We are telling these stories to ourselves; we must take them to
Africa Unity Square and address the perpetrator. Gone are the days
when the issue of rape was taboo”, said Khumalo.

Khumalo commended Zimbabwe’s gender sensitive laws, but
said the greatest challenge was silence on the demand for use and
implementation of the laws and policies by the people.

She shared similar experiences from Kenya and Rwanda on how issues to
do with violence are discussed while isolating sexual violence against
women and girls.

“In the cases of the Kenya and Rwanda, many women were
raped but the attitude was that rape is normal and when you are raped
do not tell,” said Khumalo.

Khumalo also expressed disappointment at the continued use of
traditional culture in muzzling the voices of sexual violence victims.
She added that sexual victimisation is often shrouded by social myths
and is continuously perpetuated by cultural practices.

“Time has come, for the truth to be told and we have to do
away with cultural norms that violate our rights as women,” added
Khumalo.

JOMIC co-chairperson, Oppah Muchinguri shared how issues of perception
and culture disadvantaged women especially during the land reform
program.

“The women who were in the land reform committee were
reduced to only serve tea and pray during the meetings. In the end we
were not properly represented and did not acquire the land,” said
Muchinguri.

She also added that in order to address the issues of culture, women
should also play a proactive role.

“We are mothers, it is the responsibility of a mother to
socialise her children into the community. The challenges that our
girls face in this world are that sometimes we don’t impart life
skills in them so that they have the confidence necessary in life.”

“Traditions are hard to die, and culture should not remain in the
hands of our traditional chiefs. We should interrogate cultural
practices that violate human rights and influence our traditional
leaders,” added Muchinguri.

Ellen Shiriyedenga, who stood in for smaller MDC faction
minister, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, urged women to take the
stand to discuss issues of sexual violence freely and address the
unequal power relations between men and women.



Regional

More gas found off Moz coast

AFP

Wednesday December 5



Maputo-Italian energy company ENI announced on Wednesday new gas finds
off the eastern coast of Mozambique - the third this year -
entrenching the country's position as an emerging gas power.

“The new discoveries add six trillion cubic feet (tcf) of
gas... to Area 4, confirming at least 68 tcf (1.9 trillion cubic
metres) of gas already discovered,” ENI said in a statement.

The total deposit is roughly equal to global production for two years,
or the known reserves of Kuwait.

ENI has a controlling share in the Mozambican gas venture
with Portugal's Galp Energia, South Korea's KOGAS and Mozambican state
Hydrocarbon Company (ENH), each holding 10 percent.

Recent gas finds by ENI and Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum in the
Rovuma Basin have increased Mozambique's prospects as a major natural
gas exporter.

Authorities say the country could earn as much as $5
billion per year in gas exports by 2025, but exports have yet to
begin.

Anadarko said it will begin selling gas from Mozambique in 2018.

Mozambique lies at the southern tip of a fault line
running along the east African coast to Somalia, forming a
geologically inviting region for natural gas that has become the focus
of an exploration boom in recent years.

The country is currently considering a new legislative framework for
the gas sector and lacks a concrete plan to manage its potential
windfall.

Mozambique's reserves are believed to be enough to justify
the construction of at least 10 Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants,
but no plant has yet been built.

In September ENI and Anadarko were said to be discussing building an LNG plant.



South Africa broadcaster cancels discussion show on ANC cover

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



Johannesburg-South Africa's public broadcaster canceled the appearance
of three prominent journalists on a radio show to discuss coverage of
an upcoming ANC leadership conference, drawing accusations from
critics of censorship to protect the ruling party.


Minutes before the journalists - two from local newspapers
and one from the British-based Financial Times - were to go on air on
Tuesday night, they were told by broadcaster SABC's staff, who
received instructions from top brass, that their views would no longer
be needed.

Show host Sakina Kamwendo held back tears as she told listeners the
segment to discuss how the media was covering the run-up to the ANC's
party elections later this month was canceled. Music was played in the
show's scheduled slot.

The head of the SABC told journalists on Wednesday the
broadcaster stopped the show because there was no representative from
the ANC on the program, which would be unfair to the ruling party.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is Africa's richest
broadcaster by revenue.

It was set up to be independent but has faced criticism
from within its ranks and beyond of being a mouthpiece for the
government of the day - from the apartheid regime that ended in 1994
to the African National Congress which has ruled since.

Several media watchdog groups and the ANC Youth League, which is often
at odds with the mother body, said the cancellation of the segment
showed the public broadcaster was a tool of President Jacob Zuma's
government.

"The SABC consistently fails to uphold objectivity in the
execution of its mandate and has become a ridiculous pawn in the
political theatre they are expected to impartially report on," the
Youth League said in a statement.

The SABC relies heavily on TV taxes paid by the public and government
funding for revenue but has faced mounting debt that analysts blame on
a bloated staff and incompetent management.

Media watchdogs have said its news reports are often tilted in
favor of Zuma, who is on track to be re-elected to the ANC's top post
this month with widespread approval from party branches. The SABC says
the reports are fair and balanced.



Eight hurt in Nairobi bomb blast

Sapa

Wednesday December 5



Nairobi-A roadside bomb in the Kenyan capital wounded at least eight
people, the latest in a string of attacks, police said Wednesday.

“We have confirmed eight casualties who have all been
rushed to hospital,” Nairobi police chief Moses Nyakwama told AFP.

“The explosion was caused by a roadside bomb which had been placed in
a hole in the ground by the roadside,” he added.

The blast, which occurred at around 7:30pm local time
(1630GMT) with the streets crowded as people returned home from work,
reportedly happened near a supermarket in the largely ethnic Somali
neighbourhood of Eastleigh.

Three of those wounded are in a critical condition, Kenya Red Cross
officials said.

“No arrests have been made yet, and investigations are
already under way,” Nyakwama added.

Just last month at least seven people were killed and many more
wounded in a bomb attack on a bus in the same district.

Kenya has suffered a string of attacks often blamed on
Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants since it sent its troops, now
integrated into an African Union force, into Somalia.

The troops seized the Shebab bastion of Kismayo in September, a key
southern Somali port, prompting warnings of retaliation from both the
insurgents and their Kenyan supporters.

No one had claimed responsibility immediately for the attack Wednesday.



Ghana poll tests Africa's "model democracy"

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



Accra-Ghana's cliff-hanger presidential election on Friday will test
the country's reputation as a bulwark for democracy and economic
growth in Africa's so-called coup-belt.

The stakes are high with rivals jousting for a chance to
oversee a boom in oil revenues that has brought hopes of increased
development in a country where the average person makes less than $4 a
day.

"Ghana getting it right again will provide real mentorship and a
signal for others," Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, director of Accra-based
consultancy Centre for Democratic Development, said.

Ghana is expected to keep up growth of about 8 percent
next year and is increasingly cited by investment bankers and fund
managers as an example of Africa's rise in contrast to the woes of
Europe and the United States.

President John Dramani Mahama - who replaced the late John Atta Mills
after his death from an illness in July - will face top opposition
candidate Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and six
others.

Opinion polls point to a tight race between the two main
candidates, raising the prospect of a repeat of the near deadlock in
2008 elections, in which Mills defeated Akufo-Addo with a margin of
fewer than 100,000 votes.

U.S. President Barack Obama called Ghana a "model of democracy in
Africa" for stepping back from the brink during those polls, when
others might have tipped into conflict.

A disputed election in neighboring Ivory Coast in 2010
triggered a civil war. Other regional neighbors Mali and Guinea Bissau
have been thrown into chaos by military coups.

Ghana, by contrast, has seen five constitutional transfers of power
since its last coup in 1981. The years of peace - along with its rich
natural resources - have made it a darling for international
investors.

THE SMELL OF MONEY

This election has been colored by hopes of greater
prosperity as output rises from Tullow Oil's offshore Jubilee field,
where production began less than two years ago.

Rival billboards in Ghana's sprawling capital, Accra, boil down the
campaigns: Nana Akufo-Addo is "The man to trust with Ghana's money".
Mahama, meanwhile, is "trusted, decisive and action-driven towards a
better Ghana".

"The elections in 2008 were about the smell of oil - now
in 2012, it is about the reality of oil," Gyimah-Boadi said.

Tullow's production is expected to rise to 120,000 barrels per day in
2013 from between 60,000 and 90,000 bpd this year while more big
deposits have been found.

Akufo-Addo says he would use the oil wealth to pay for
free primary and secondary education.

"We are calling for a change now, a change that will take Ghana into
economic transformation through value addition and no more excessive
borrowing and donor dependence," he told cheering supporters at a
rally on Wednesday, the last day of campaigning.

Mahama, meanwhile, says he aims to put Ghana on the path
to becoming a middle-income country with a per capita income of $2,300
by 2017 - double that in 2009. He dismisses criticism that the oil
industry has created few jobs for Ghanaians.

"We believe we have done our bit in the last four years in bringing
economic development to our people," he told thousands at a rally in
Accra's seaside Labadi suburb on Wednesday.

"We are confident of winning another four years in order
to consolidate the achievements," he said.

On Friday, voters will also elect 275 legislators. There are 45 more
seats in parliament than at the 2008 election, in which Mahama's
National Democratic Congress (NDC) won a small majority.

The World Bank is upbeat on Ghana, expecting growth to be
driven by investment in resources, infrastructure and agriculture in a
country that also produces cocoa and gold.

ETHNIC LINES

But in a country where campaign messages rarely influence
voting choices, many believe more than half of the 14 million voters
will cast their ballot based on ethnic and social affiliation, or
regionalism.

Twenty-seven year old Jacob Djaba, a car-wash attendant in the Osu
suburb of Accra, said he and friends would vote for Mahama, "our
kinsman". Mahama is from northern Ghana while his party has also
traditionally done well in parts of the east.

"He is our own and our thumbs belong to him," Djaba said,
to cheers from three colleagues nearby.

Papa Nkansah, a coconut vendor, said he normally voted for the NPP,
whose heartland of support is among the Ashanti people with roots in
the ancient kingdom of the same name.

"I like Mahama ... but again something tells me I must
keep to the Ashanti tradition," Nkansah, 31, said as he rammed a sharp
cutlass through a coconut pod at a construction site in Accra's Ridge
neighborhood.

In an effort to smooth over ethnic tensions that have bubbled over
into scuffles in recent weeks, presidential candidates signed a peace
pact last week.

Mass prayers have been organized in churches and mosques.

"There is no doubt Ghana is an icon of political stability on the
continent, but there is need to put in place early warning signs
against potential electoral violence," head of the national peace
council Emmanuel Asante said.



Malawi prostitutes accused of murder

AFP

Wednesday December 5



Blantyre-Prostitutes in the northern Malawian city of Mzuzu are
accused of killing two clients by drowning them in a dam after they
failed to pay for sex, police said on Tuesday.

“After a long time of drinking, the deceased had sexual
intercourse with the sex workers and failed to settle the bill,”
police spokesperson Norah Chimwala told AFP.

“The sex workers drowned them in a dam... they failed to swim.”

Chimwala could not say how much the bill for sex was, but
prostitutes in urban centres charge around six dollars.

Police identified the deceased as Mlumbo Chamvula and Osward Tembo,
both 20 and hailing from Mzimba district.

The prostitutes, only identified as Flora and Mphatso, are on the
run and police said they were tracking them.



African Union appeals for U.N. funding for Mali force

Reuters

Wednesday December 5



United Nations-The African Union appealed on Wednesday for U.N.
funding for a military operation to combat Islamist extremists in
northern Mali after U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon cautiously recommended the
Security Council approve the force without U.N. financing.

Mali descended into chaos in March when soldiers toppled
the president, leaving a power vacuum that enabled Tuareg rebels to
seize two-thirds of the country. But Islamist extremists, some allied
with al Qaeda, have hijacked the revolt.

The AU observer to the United Nations, Antonio Tete, told the
15-member Security Council that the deployment and operations of an
African force of 3,300 troops would need "a U.N. support package
funded through assessed contributions to ensure sustained and
predictable support to the mission."

"Experience in the Darfur region of Sudan, with AMIS, and,
currently, in Somalia, with AMISOM, has clearly shown the limitations
of, and constraints linked to, support provided on a voluntary basis,"
Tete said.

AMIS was the African Union's force in Sudan before it became a joint
U.N.-AU force, which was renamed UNAMID, while in Somalia an AU
peacekeeping force is known as AMISOM.

Diplomats said the African Union and France - the most
vocal Western backer of a plan for African troops to retake northern
Mali - were angry that Ban had not offered U.N. funding. Seven French
nationals are being held hostage in the desert region.

The fall of Mali's north to the Islamists, including AQIM, al Qaeda's

North African wing, has carved out a safe haven for militants and
international organized crime, U.N. officials say, stirring fears of
attacks in West Africa and in Europe.

"The terrorists have stepped up their activities and are
seeking reinforcements to carry out a jihad from Mali," Mali's
minister for Malians abroad and African integration, Traore Rokiatou
Guikine, told the Security Council. "Mali is on the way to becoming a
breeding ground for terrorism."

French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said he was expecting a report
from the United Nations on what support it could provide for a Mali
mission. "There is no reason why we shouldn't have logistical support
provided by the U.N.," Araud said, adding that any assistance would
have to be endorsed by the council.

LIMITED U.N. ABILITY

In a report to the Security Council, Ban suggested funding
for the initial combat operation could be through "voluntary or
bilateral contributions," which diplomats said meant the European
Union would be asked to pay.

U.N. Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told
the council on Wednesday that the African Union and Malian forces
would need "a significant amount of support by international partners
including general and specialized equipment, logistics and funding."

"The United Nations has limited ability to deliver a
support package in the near term to a combat force," he said. "Once
their objectives have been achieved, the council could consider the
option of the United Nations providing a logistics package for
stabilization operations undertaken by the force."

"Consideration could also be given to the deployment of a peacekeeping
operation following the completion of combat operations," Feltman
said.

He said Ban shared the "profound sense of urgency" to deal
with the Mali crisis but there were still questions about how the
African Union and Malian forces would be led, sustained, trained,
equipped and financed.

Feltman added that Ban's caution over the operation was not intended
to delay action but ensure a successful intervention.

U.N. diplomats said France was drafting a resolution to
approve the intervention force for Security Council adoption later
this month.

But, in light of Ban's cautious report, diplomats said negotiations
were likely to center on whether the entire operation should be
mandated in one resolution or whether approval should be split into
two phases.

"We need one resolution, I don't think we need two
resolutions," Araud said.

Mali's government and the two rebel groups that took control of the
northern half of the country in April met for the first time on
Tuesday and agreed to negotiate an end to the crisis, a minister from
mediator Burkina Faso said.