NEWS,30.04.2012.

 

Obama and Clinton join forces for presidential campaign

Former United States President Bill Clinton gave a rousing endorsement of fellow Democrat Barack Obama in his first 2012 campaign appearance with the president today, and helped him raise more than $2 million.A white-haired and svelte Clinton, 65, pounded the podium and pointed at the crowd while addressing about 500 Obama supporters outside the Virginia home of his friend and Democratic adviser Terry McAuliffe."I think he's done a good job," he told the crowd in his signature raspy voice, warmly introducing the man who beat his wife, Hillary Clinton, to win the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and then made her US secretary of state. "We are going the right direction under President Obama's leadership."Clinton's support could be pivotal for Obama's efforts to raise money and to sell voters on his economic plans, which Republicans have denounced as fiscally reckless and rooted in populism instead of good business sense.Clinton oversaw one of the most prosperous times in recent American history and managed to balance the federal budget, something Democrats are keen to remind voters before the November 6 election.When he took the backyard podium, Obama, 50, noted Clinton's "remarkable" economic record in his two White House terms and referred frequently to the political powerhouse standing behind him, who stands to be a huge fundraising force in the final months of the presidential campaign."I didn't run for president simply to get back to where we were in 2007. I didn't run for president simply to restore the status quo before the financial crisis. I ran for president because we had lost our way since Bill Clinton was done being president," Obama said.The state of the US economy is expected to be the pivotal issue for voters in November.With unemployment still relatively high and growth showing signs of slowing, Obama is under pressure to defend his string of big budget deficits and prove the soundness of his proposals to keep spending on infrastructure, clean energy and education and to raise taxes on the very rich.Neither Obama nor Clinton referred to George W. Bush, the Republican who served two presidential terms in between their tenures, nor the presumptive Republican nominee for this year's White House race, Mitt Romney, by name in their outdoor remarks.But Clinton said Obama's likely White House opponent this year wanted to revert to the policies that plunged the United States into crisis, but "on steroids, which will get you the same consequences as before, on steroids."Clinton applauded Obama's efforts in healthcare, clean energy promotion and student loan reform, and argued that US employment levels were rebounding quickly from the financial and mortgage crises that took hold before Obama took office."Look, the man's not Houdini, all he can do is beat the clock. He's beating the clock," he said, comparing the pace of US recovery to Japan's extended weakness after its own crisis. "The last thing you want to do is to turn around and embrace the policies that got us into trouble in the first place."Fresh from the previous night's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where he took several digs at Romney, Obama was clearly in good humor at the Virginia event.Turning to foreign policy, Obama said he and Hillary Clinton had "spent the last three and a half years cleaning up other folks' messes," and made fun of Romney's recent comment that Russia was the United States' "No. 1 geopolitical foe.""I'm suddenly thinking, 'What? Maybe I didn't check the calendar this morning. I didn't know we were back in 1975,'" he said. The comment echoed Vice President Joe Biden's criticism last week of Romney as being stuck in a Cold War mindset.Clinton had not appeared with Obama this election cycle. But last week the Obama campaign released a video of Clinton praising Obama for approving the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May.Tickets to Sunday's outdoor reception cost $1,000 and up, and Obama and Clinton later addressed a more exclusive dinner at McAuliffe's home for 80 people who paid $20,000 each.The money went to a fund supporting Obama's re-election, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.

Aus billionaire to build Titanic II

Sydney - One of Australia's richest men, Clive Palmer, on Monday unveiled plans to build a 21st century version of the doomed Titanic in China, with its first voyage from England to New York set for 2016.Palmer, a self-made mining billionaire, said he had commissioned state-owned Chinese company CSC Jinling Shipyard to construct Titanic II with the same dimensions as its predecessor."It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems," Palmer said in a statement."Titanic II will sail in the northern hemisphere and her maiden voyage from England to North America is scheduled for late 2016."He added that he had invited the Chinese navy to escort the Titanic II to New York.The announcement comes just weeks after the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, which went down on April 15 1912 after striking an iceberg on its first voyage, from Southampton to New York.Palmer said the new ship would be a tribute to the spirit of the men and women who worked on the original, which sank with the loss of 1 514 passengers and crew."These people produced work that is still marvelled at more than 100 years later and we want that spirit to go on for another 100 years," he said.Titanic was commissioned by White Star Line and was the largest liner in the world at the time.Palmer said he has established his own shipping company, Blue Star Line, with the new vessel having the same specifications as its predecessor - 270m long, 53m high and weighing some 40 000 tonnes.It will have 840 rooms and nine decks with design work in conjunction with an historical research team underway. No figure was given on how much it would cost.The only changes to the original would be below the water line including welding and not riveting, a bulbous bow for greater fuel efficiency, diesel generation and enlarged rudder and bow thrusters for increased manoeuvrability."Titanic II will be the ultimate in comfort and luxury with on-board gymnasiums and swimming pools, libraries, high class restaurants and luxury cabins," Palmer said.The ship would also include an exhibition room which will be located in the space of the original's coal boilers which will showcase his home state of Queensland.Palmer is estimated to be Australia's fifth richest person, worth more than Aus$5bn, thanks to his vast coal and other mining assets in Queensland and Western Australia.He has also branched out into tourism and owns the luxury Coolum resort on the Sunshine Coast, while recently saying he wants to move into the media industry, a sector dominated byFairfax and Rupert Murdoch's News Limited.His decision to commission a Chinese shipbuilding yard, which will also construct other luxury liners for the tycoon, reinforces his ties to the country, which is a key buyer of his coal and iron ore."The Chinese are renowned for building commercial cargo and container ships," he said."China currently produces around 2 to 3% of the world's luxury ships but is looking to challenge the Europeans who have around 75% of this market."The Chinese ship building industry with our assistance wants to be a major player in this market."The original Titanic was built in Belfast.

Head of UN mission urges peace in Syria

The head of the UN observer mission in Syria on Sunday called on President Bashar al-Assad and the country's opposition to stop fighting and allow a tenuous cease-fire to take hold.Major General Robert Mood spoke after arriving in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to take charge of an advance team of 16 UN monitors trying to salvage an international peace plan to end the country's 13-month-old crisis.Under the plan, a cease-fire is supposed to lead to talks between Assad and the opposition on a political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 9 000 people.On Sunday, Syrian troops killed at least 28 civilians, including 14 in a village in the central Hama province, said an activist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Opposition fighters shot dead three Syrian soldiers in a clash and four soldiers were killed while handling explosives, the group said.The Observatory also said several explosions were heard in Damascus, but provided no details.Mood told reporters that the 300 observers the UN has authorised for the mission "cannot solve all the problems" in Syria, asking for co-operation from forces loyal to Assad as well as rebels seeking to end his rule."We want to have combined efforts focusing on the welfare of the Syrian people," he said, "true cessation of violence in all its forms".The cease-fire began unravelling almost as soon as it went into effect 12 April. The regime has kept up its attacks on opposition strongholds, while rebel fighters have continued to ambush government security forces. Defying a major truce provision, the Syrian military has failed to withdraw tanks and soldiers from city streets.Despite the violence, the truce still enjoys the support of the international community, largely because it views the plan as the last chance to prevent the country from falling into civil war — and because it does not want to intervene militarily.Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that while he is still hopeful, "unfortunately, I am also aware how much this plan is at risk"."That's why it's especially important for this mission to expand quickly," Kellenberger told the Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag. He met with Syrian leaders earlier this month.Most analysts say the plan has little chance of succeeding, though it could temporarily bring down the level of daily violence.That has largely been the case in Homs, Syria's third largest city, which has emerged as the heart of the uprising. Regime forces pounded parts of Homs for months, leaving large swaths of the city in ruins, before two UN monitors moved into an upscale hotel there last week.Since then, the level of violence has dropped, although gunbattles still frequently break out. "The shooting has not stopped in Homs," local activist Tarek Badrakhan said on Sunday.An amateur video posted online on Saturday showed the observers walking through a heavily damaged neighbourhood, where residents collected a body lying in the street and put it in the back of a pickup truck.Mood, a Norwegian, was appointed head of the observer mission by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. One hundred monitors should be in the country by mid-May, said mission spokesman Neeraj Singh. It is unclear when or if the full contingent of 300 monitors will deploy to Syria.Mood brings a wealth of Middle East experience to the job, including stints with UN peacekeepers in Lebanon in 1989-1990 and as the head of a UN peacekeeping mission known as UNTSO from 2009 to 2011. That mission was the UN's first-ever peacekeeping operation, starting after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to monitor a cease-fire. It now watches cease-fires around the Middle East.The Syrian state news agency said observers visited the embattled Homs neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh on Sunday but provided no further information.The Observatory, an activist group monitoring the situation in Syria, said government snipers shot and killed two people in the neighbourhood of Joret al-Shayah, which borders Khaldiyeh.The group said an additional 26 civilians were killed by troops across Syria, including 14 in the village of Hamadi Omar in the central Hama province and a child in the southern province of Deir el-Zour.Ban has blamed the regime for widespread violations of the truce - prompting Syria to fire back that his comments were "outrageous" and accuse him of bias.The spat has further stoked concerns among the Syrian opposition and its Western supporters that Assad is merely playing for time to avoid compliance with a plan that - if fully implemented - would likely sweep him out of office.

NEWS,29.04.2012

Strauss-Kahn makes dramatic return to French election

 Disgraced ex-IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, once tipped to win France's presidential vote, made a dramatic incursion into the campaign Saturday with a claim Nicolas Sarkozy orchestrated his downfall.The accusation came as the battle between Sarkozy and Francois Hollande grew ever more bitter, with the incumbent accusing the front-running Socialist of subjecting him to a "Stalinist trial" over his bid to woo the far right.Strauss-Kahn, in his first major newspaper interview since his disgrace a year ago, told Britain's The Guardian newspaper that his spectacular fall was orchestrated by opponents to prevent him standing as Socialist candidate.The ex-International Monetary Fund boss had been favoured to win the vote until May last year, when he was arrested in New York and accused of sexually assaulting hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo. The charges were later dropped.Strauss-Kahn said that although he did not believe the incident was a setup, the subsequent escalation of the event into a criminal investigation was "shaped by those with a political agenda"."Perhaps I was politically naive, but I simply did not believe that they would go that far -- I didn't think they could find anything that could stop me," he told the British daily.The Guardian said it was clear that the "they" refers to people working for Sarkozy and his UMP party.A New York lawyer representing Diallo in an ongoing civil lawsuit against Strauss-Kahn dismissed the claim as "utter nonsense", while Sarkozy himself flatly rejected the accusation."Enough is enough! I would tell Mr. Strauss-Kahn to explain himself to the law and spare the French his remarks," he said in central France while on the campaign trail to get himself re-elected on May 6.Opinion polls say Hollande will win the run-off against Sarkozy. Strauss-Kahn said he was sure he would now be in Hollande's shoes had it not been for the events at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan on May 14 last year."I planned to make my formal announcement on 15 June and I had no doubt I would be the candidate of the Socialist Party," said Strauss-Kahn, who refused to discuss with The Guardian a separate sex scandal that has erupted in France.Sarkozy said that when he thought of all the "scandalous, shameful episodes" that Strauss-Kahn had allegedly been involved in in the United States and France, he was shocked that the ex-IMF chief should dare to speak out now."Mr. Strauss-Kahn starts giving lessons in morality and saying I am the only one responsible for what happened to him, well, that really is too much!", he said.Sarkozy was again under pressure Saturday over the financing of his 2007 campaign after a news website reported late Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi's regime had agreed to fund the election bid to the tune of 50 million euros.His campaign spokeswoman Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet dismissed the latest report as "ridiculous" and a "clumsy diversion" orchestrated by Hollande's camp.She said Sarkozy's 2007 campaign funds had been cleared by the Constitutional Council after the elections with no queries.Hollande and Sarkozy were expected to call a brief truce later Saturday when both head for a soccer match at the Stade de France in Paris to watch third-tier outsiders Quevilly battle Lyon for the French Cup.But the gloves have come off in recent days, with Hollande accusing his rival of "transgression" in his bid to secure the votes of the 6.5 million who plumped for far-right leader Marine Le Pen in last Sunday's first round.

Syria derides UN chief

Syria has derided UN chief Ban Ki-moon as biased and called his comments "outrageous" after he blamed the regime for widespread cease-fire violations - the latest sign of trouble for an international peace plan many expect to fail.In new fighting on Saturday, activists said regime forces battled army defectors near President Bashar Assad's summer palace in a coastal village and shelled a Damascus suburb in pursuit of gunmen. State media said government troops foiled an attempt by armed men in rubber boats to land on Syria's coast, the first reported attempt by rebels to infiltrate from the sea.The regime's verbal attack on the UN secretary general raised new concerns that Assad is playing for time to avoid compliance with a plan that could eventually force him out of office.Under special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point road map, a ceasefire is to be followed by the deployment of as many as 300 UN truce monitors and talks between Assad and the opposition on Syria's political future. The head of the observer team, Norwegian Major General Robert Mood, is to arrive in Damascus on Sunday to assume command, said spokesman Neeraj Singh.Annan's April 12 ceasefire deadline has been widely ignored. The regime continues to attack opposition strongholds, while rebel fighters keep targeting security forces with roadside bombs and shooting ambushes. Defying a major truce provision, the Syrian military failed to withdraw tanks and soldiers from the streets.Ban and Annan have cited violations by both sides, but generally portrayed the regime as the main aggressor. On Friday, Ban said Syria's repression of civilians reached an "intolerable stage" and demanded that the regime "live up to its promises to the world." His comments came just hours after a suicide bombing the regime blamed on anti-government "terrorists" killed 10 people in Damascus.An editorial on Saturday in the state-run Tishrin newspaper said Ban has avoided discussing rebel violence in favour of "outrageous" statements against the Syrian government. The editorial said the international community has applied a double standard, ignoring "crimes and terrorist acts" against Syria and thus encouraging more violence, according to excerpts carried by the state-run news agency SANA.Mass protests against Assad erupted in March 2011, but gradually turned into an insurgency in response to a violent regime crackdown. Assad's regime denies it faces a popular uprising, claiming it is being targeted by a foreign-led terrorist conspiracy.Saturday's comments were the regime's harshest against the UN since Syria announced last month it would abide by the Annan plan. The Syrian opposition and its Western backers argue Assad is not sincere and just buying time to consolidate his hold on Syria.The regime "wants to make the UN a party to the conflict, rather than a mediator, and to stretch out the process to prevent any kind of serious change," Rami Khoury, an analyst at the American University of Beirut, said of Saturday's editorial.However, the regime and its supporters argue that the world intentionally ignores rebel ceasefire violations, such as targeted killings of security officials, said Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group think tank who has travelled in Syria."In the regime's narrative, its use of force is only a reaction to such assaults," he said. "Officials and sympathisers cling to the idea that they are fighting a legitimate struggle against a fifth column of extremists."Russia, Syria's main ally, repeatedly has demanded that more attention be paid to rebel violations of the Annan plan.In fighting on Saturday, government troops exchanged fire with about 30 soldiers after they defected at a military base near Assad's summer palace in the coastal village of Burj Islam, according to Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group.

NEWS,28.04.2012.

Dutch judge upholds foreigner pot ban

Long famous for "coffee shops" where joints and cappuccinos share the menu, the Netherlands' famed tolerance for drugs could be going up in smoke.A judge on Friday upheld a government plan to ban non-Dutch residents from buying marijuana by introducing a "weed pass" available only to residents.The new regulation reins in one of the country's most cherished symbols of tolerance - its laissez-faire attitude to soft drugs - and reflects the drift away from a long-held view of the Netherlands as a free-wheeling utopia.For many tourists visiting Amsterdam the image endures - and smoking a joint in a canal-side coffee shop ranks high on their to-do lists along with visiting cultural highlights like the Van Gogh Museum.The city's left-leaning Mayor Eberhard van der Laan is hoping to hammer out a compromise with the national government.Coffee shops also have not given up the fight. A week ago they mustered a few hundred patrons for a "smoke-in" in downtown Amsterdam to protest the new restrictions.A lawyer for owners, Maurice Veldman, said he would file an appeal against the ruling by a judge at The Hague District court, which clears the way for the weed pass to be introduced in southern provinces on May 1.The pass will roll out in the rest of the country - including Amsterdam - next year. It will turn coffee shops into private clubs with membership open only to Dutch residents and limited to 2 000 per shop.The most recent figures from the government's statistics bureau says the country has more than 650 coffee shops, 214 of them in Amsterdam. The number has been steadily declining as municipalities have imposed tougher regulations, such as shuttering ones close to schools.But the new membership rules are the most significant rollback in years to the traditional Dutch tolerance of marijuana use.The government argues that the move is justified as a way of cracking down on so-called "drug tourists", effectively couriers who drive over the border from neighboring Belgium and Germany to buy large amounts of marijuana and take it home to resell. They cause traffic and public order problems in towns along the Dutch border.Such issues do not exist in Amsterdam, where most tourists walk or ride bikes and buy pot purely for their own consumption.The weed pass "doesn't solve any problems we have here and it could create new problems", said city spokesperson Tahira Limon.It is not just hardcore potheads taking a toke in the city. Limon said four to five million tourists visit Amsterdam each year and around 23% say they visit a coffee shop during their stay.Amsterdam argues that the reasons coffee shops were first tolerated decades ago are still relevant today - they are well-regulated havens where people can buy soft drugs without coming into contact with dealers of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine.Coffee shops also are banned from serving alcohol and from selling drugs to people under 18.The government in The Hague said on Friday there would be no exceptions to the new rules."Amsterdam will also have to enforce this policy," said Job van de Sande, a spokespersonfor the ministry of security and justice.The conservative Dutch government introduced the new measures saying it wants to return the shops back to what they were originally intended to be: small local stores selling to local people.However the Dutch government collapsed this week and new elections are scheduled for September. It is unclear whether the new administration will keep the new measures in place.Coffee shop lawyer Veldman called Friday's court ruling a political judgment."The judge completely fails to answer the principal question: Can you discriminate against foreigners when there is no public order issue at stake?" he asked.Coffee shop owners in the southern city of Maastricht have said they plan to disregard the new measures, forcing the government to prosecute one of them in a test case.

Syria accuses UN chief of encouraging militants

 

 A Syrian government newspaper says UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon is encouraging militant attacks by focusing his criticism on the government.Saturday's editorial in the state-run Tishrin daily comes a day after Ban said Syrian President Bashar Assad's continued crackdown on protests has reached an "intolerable stage".Tishrin says Ban has avoided talks about rebel violence in favour of "outrageous" attacks on the Syrian government.The Syrian capital was hit by four explosions on Friday that left at least 11 people dead and dozens wounded.Assad's government blamed the blasts on "terrorists", the term the government uses to describe opposition forces that it says are carrying out a foreign conspiracy.

Israelis being fooled on Iran: ex-security chief

Israel's former security chief Yuval Diskin on Saturday accused top ministers of misleading the public about the chances any pre-emptive military action against Iran's nuclear facilities succeeding.Diskin singled out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak for criticism over their increasingly bellicose comments in the standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme."My major problem is that I have no faith in the current leadership, which must lead us in an event on the scale of war with Iran or a regional war," Diskin said in comments carried by army radio and the Haaretz newspaper."I don't believe in either the prime minister or the defence minister. I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings," he said."Believe me, I have observed them from up close ... They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off. These are not people who I would want to have holding the wheel in such an event."They are misleading the public on the Iran issue. They tell the public that if Israel acts, Iran won't have a nuclear bomb. This is misleading. Actually, many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the Iranian nuclear race."Diskin, who stepped down as head of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service last year after six years in the post, was addressing a public meeting in Kfar Saba in the Tel Aviv suburbs.In March, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan also spoke out publicly against a military option on Iran. He told US network CBS an Israeli attack would have "devastating" consequences for Israel and would, in any case, be unlikely to put an end to the Iranian nuclear programme.On relations between Israeli Jews and other groups, Diskin said: "Over the past 10-15 years, Israel has become more and more racist. All of the studies point to this. This is racism toward Arabs and toward foreigners, and we are also becoming a more belligerent society."Diskin also said he believed another political assassination, like that of then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 by a Jewish extremist, could occur in the future."Today there are extremist Jews, not just in the territories but also inside the Green Line - dozens of them - who, in a situation in which settlements are evacuated, would be willing to take up arms against their Jewish brothers," he said.

NEWS,27.04.2012.

EU rebukes UK over freedom of movement laws

 

 

The European Commission gave Britain an ultimatum on Thursday to respect the freedom of movement of EU citizens, threatening court action should it fail to abide by EU laws within two months."As one of the EU's larger member states, the UK is home to around two million citizens from other EU countries. It is therefore important that UK laws respect their rights," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement.Under the rules, foreign family members of an EU citizen can travel to any country in the 27-nation bloc without an entry visa when they are accompanied by the citizen and hold a residence card issued by an EU state."The UK laws do not grant this important right which lies at the heart of free movement," the commission said.Another issue raised by the commission was the treatment of Bulgarian and Romanian workers.Britain is not issuing workers from Romania and Bulgaria the same residence documents given to those from the 25 other EU states during the first 12 months of living there, the EU executive said.London has yet to apply EU rules in two other areas, including on health insurance for EU citizens and residency applications for extended family members of EU nationals.EU states can face big fines if they lose cases before the European Court of Justice.

 

 

UN chief troubled by Syria's failing ceasefire

 UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the Syrian government has not complied with its commitment to a UN-backed peace plan because it has not withdrawn heavy weapons and troops from Syrian cities and towns."The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the continued presence of heavy weapons, military equipment and army personnel in population centers, as reported by United Nations Military Observers," Ban's press office said in a statement.It said Ban considered this a "contravention of the Syrian Government's commitments to withdraw its troops and heavy weapons from these areas" and demanded that Damascus comply with its pledge without delay.The Syrian government and rebels traded blame for a huge explosion which killed 16 people in the city of Hama, as the two-week-old UNceasefire looks increasingly fragile.Syria blamed "terrorist" bomb-makers for Wednesday's blast.Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud also accused rebel militiamen of repeated violations of the ceasefire and said Damascus was "reserving the right to respond to any violation or attack", state news agency SANA reported.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cause of the explosion was unclear, but also gave a death toll of 16.The Local Coordination Committees, a grassroots opposition group, said more than 50 people had been killed by what it said was a military rocket.The blast in Hama, a centre of unrest against President Bashar-al-Assad, has added to doubts about a ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has said Assad failed to order his troops and tanks back to barracks as promised.But outside powers are deeply divided on how to shore up the ceasefire, which has led to only a small reduction in violence in the 13-month uprising, during which the United Nations estimates Syrian forces have killed 9000 people.

NEWS,26.04.2012.

The man behind Sarkozy's tilt to the right

Paris - As French President Nicolas Sarkozy seeks to woo far-right voters ahead of the 6 May presidential polls, the spotlight falls on the man suspected of being behind his shift rightwards."Evil genius, prodigious strategist ... who really is Patrick Buisson?" the right-wing French weekly Figaro Magazine asked last month, as curiosity and controversy surrounding the aide began to mount.Referred to as Sarkozy's principal advisor by the French media, the former far-right journalist is said to have steered Sarkozy toward the anti-immigrant and borderline eurosceptic tactics at the centre of his campaign.Though the tough rhetoric failed to win Sarkozy enough votes to secure the top spot in the first round of the election on 22 April, he is now counting on it to give him an edge in the upcoming second and final round.As he goes head-to-head with Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande - who won round one by a thin margin of 28.6% to Sarkozy's 27.2% - Sarkozy believes he will have to reach out to National Front voters to win.With National Front candidate Marine Le Pen coming in third with a historic 18%, opinion polls suggest that Sarkozy must siphon away at least 70 to 75% of her votes to beat Hollande. Enter Buisson, the 63-year-old advisor and poll expert who was instrumental in Sarkozy's 2007 victory and who has since risen above the rest of the entourage to become Sarkozy's key confidant.As head of the polling firm Publifact, Buisson and his team conducted €1.5m worth of surveys for the Sarkozy government in 2008, according to the French court of auditors.Though he has no official position in Sarkozy's government nor in his re-election campaign, Buisson is nevertheless credited with having inspired several of Sarkozy's campaign tactics, according to French media.The aide who came from the strongest French far-right tradition is said to have been behind Sarkozy's speech on immigration, in which he vowed to halve the annual number of arrivals into France to 100 000 from 180 000.Buisson is likewise said to have inspired Sarkozy's vow to suspend the Schengen agreement allowing visa-free travel and to have convinced Sarkozy to present himself as "the people's candidate" against the elite.This oft-repeated credo - "I want to be the French people's candidate and not that of a small elite" - has almost become a campaign slogan since Sarkozy announced his candidacy in mid-February."I want to talk to the powerless. I want to talk to the rural folk who don't want to starve, I want to talk to workers who don't want the unemployed to earn more than them," Sarkozy said again on 23 April.Bald and with rimless glasses, Buisson is a discreet man who runs the television channel Histoire and honed his chops at the far-right weekly Minute, where he wrote from 1981 to 1987.There he criticised the Socialist government of President Francois Mitterand and celebrated the National Front's notorious founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who at the time was emerging from relative anonymity to a leading role.Now, under the leadership of Le Pen's daughter Marine, the far right is at the centre of political calculations ahead of the 6 May election run-off.But, though Buisson is considered the mastermind behind Sarkozy's tilt toward the National Front, the aide rejects the idea that Sarkozy has shifted."This idea of 'a move to the right' is the surest sign of the mental confusion that has taken hold of some minds," Buisson said in mid-March in the French newspaper Le Monde. "If 'a move to the right' consists of taking into consideration the suffering of the most at-risk and vulnerable French, it's because the old political categories no longer make any sense," he added.Buisson thinks that Hollande's Socialist Party has become "the mouthpiece of the new dominant classes" and that it follows an "ideology of globalisation" that the French people will reject.

No change in Tibet stand: Dalai Lama

 The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, said on Wednesday he would not alter his non-violent quest for greater Tibetan autonomy, even after Beijing blamed him for inciting a wave of unrest.A total of 34 Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks and nuns, are reported to have attempted to kill themselves by setting themselves on fire in China's Tibetan-inhabited areas since the start of 2011 in protest at Chinese rule.Many of the protesters - who criticise Beijing for what they see as repression of their culture - have reportedly died from severe burns.Beijing has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of inciting the self-immolations in a bid to split the vast Himalayan region from the rest of the nation, a charge he denies."Recently things become very, very difficult but our stand - no change," the Dalai Lama told the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates."Independence, complete independence is unrealistic - out of [the] question," the Dalai Lama said, saying his non-violent "Middle Way" of seeking change from Beijing still has the support of 90% of Tibetans."So we can continue," he said in a press conference at the conclusion of the summit.Tibet's leadership-in-exile in India remains committed to "meaningful talk" with the Chinese government in order to establish "meaningful autonomy" for the Tibetan minority, he said.The latest self-immolations by a pair of young Tibetan men occurred last week in the prefecture of Aba in a rugged area of Sichuan province, overseas Tibetan rights groups said.China has imposed tight security to contain simmering discontent in Tibetan regions since 2008, when deadly rioting against Chinese rule broke out in Tibet's capital Lhasa and spread to neighbouring Tibetan-inhabited regions.Many Tibetans in China complain of religious repression and a gradual erosion of their culture blamed on a growing influx of majority Han Chinese to their homeland.China denies any repression and says it has improved the lives of Tibetans with investment in infrastructure, schools and housing and by spurring economic growth.Twelve Nobel laureates including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu have urged China's president to resume talks with the Dalai Lama, but the Buddhist monk said that up until now, negotiations had not been productive."Sometimes I describe totalitarian regimes as no ear, only mouth," he told the summit with a laugh.The Chinese officials "lecture us, never really listen" and are angry that "I am not acting like 'yes minister'," he said."Our approach failed to bring some concrete or positive result from the government, but the Chinese public, or Chinese intellectuals, or students who study in foreign countries - they are beginning to know the reality," he said."That, I think, is a positive side, a significant result."The Dalai Lama also expressed the need for patience in the decades-long struggle."Sometimes people have the impression [this is] some crisis very recently happened," he said."I meet some Chinese. They are frustrated. Very hostile. Then I tell them long stories... 60 years of stories. Then they understand, oh - the Tibetan issue is really a very, very complicated issue."

NEWS,25.04.2012.

Annan alarmed at Syria military action

 

 New York - International envoy Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the situation in Syria is "bleak" and expressed alarm at reports that government troops are still carrying out military operations in towns where the UN observers are not present.He expressed particular concern at media reports that government troops entered the central city of Hama on Monday after the UN observers departed, firing automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people. Activists said more than 30 people were killed."If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible," he said.Annan echoed the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called the current situation "unacceptable", and urged President al-Bashar Assad's government to immediately implement his six-point peace-plan, which would culminate with Syrian-led talks between the government and opposition aimed at reaching a peace settlement.The joint UN-Arab League envoy said the speedy deployment of the 300-strong UN observer force authorised by the council on Saturday is "crucial" to verify what is happening on the ground and potentially "change the political dynamics". The observer force also would provide the international community with "incontrovertible" information to increase pressure for a cease-fire by the government and opposition, he said.Annan briefed the Security Council by videoconference hours after his spokesperson, Ahmad Fawzi, told the UN Television in Geneva that satellite imagery and other credible reports show that, despite its claims, Syria has failed to withdraw all of its heavy weapons from populated areas as required by the cease-fire deal it accepted. Fawzi also cited credible reports that "people who approach the observers may be approached by security forces or Syrian army and harassed or arrested or even worse, perhaps killed".Annan did not mention either the satellite photos or the harassment and possible killing of people who talked to the observers in the text of his closed briefing, which was obtained by The Associated Press, but he stressed that "the government cannot cease action in one area to resume it in another".He told the council the Syrian foreign minister had informed him in a letter on 21 April of the withdrawal of troops and heavy equipment from populated areas and the handover of responsibility to police for maintaining law and order. He said he replied that this means troops should be back in barracks and weapons placed in storage "rather than operationally deployed," and that civilians should not be endangered by police actions.Annan said the minister's letter is "encouraging" and would make "a real difference ... if it is scrupulously applied". But he added pointedly, "It should be understood that the only promises that count are the promises that are kept."US Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after the briefing that "several council members expressed their skepticism on the Syrian government's intentions and the veracity of statements contained in the Syrian foreign minister's letter".Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, whose country is Syria's most important ally, noted that some council members said "they have information" that Syria has not withdrawn its troops and heavy weapons."If this is the case, if the promise in the letter has not really been carried out, that would mean it is a breach of the promise they have made on Saturday," Churkin told reporters. "I'm certainly going to bring it to the attention of Moscow that there is an issue that needs to be looked at."US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters in Washington that "the responsibility rests with Assad and with his supporters and his military to demonstrate a commitment to the Annan plan by silencing the guns"."Unfortunately, the Assad regime has broken its commitments time and again," she said. "So even as we work to help deploy the monitors, we are preparing additional steps in case the violence continues or the monitors are prevented from doing their work."Annan said that in addition to the reported military attacks, Syria's implementation of the other points in his peace plan — including unrestricted access for journalists and humanitarian workers and allowing peaceful demonstrations — "remains partial".Annan welcomed the council's initial authorisation of a 30-member advance team of the UN observers, and its approval of a 300-strong UN observer team, stressing the importance of getting "eyes and ears on the ground" with the ability to move freely and swiftly.Rice said the UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the council that 11 observers are currently in Syria including two in Homs and two in Hama. He predicted 30 observers will be on the ground by April 30 and 100 observers within a month, she said.Ladsous reported that the Syrian government refused at least one observer based on his nationality and stated that it will not accept any observers or civilians for the mission from countries that are members of the Friends of Democratic Syria, Rice said. The group includes more than 70 countries including the US, many European countries and a number of Mideast nations."He underscored that from the UN's point of view, this is entirely unacceptable," Rice said.Annan said available reports suggest the level of violence has decreased since 12 April  with the exception of the spike on Monday.He said the reported events in Hama on Monday "are a reminder of the risks that Syrians face if our effort to create a sustained cessation of violence does not succeed"."But we have also seen events change — at least temporarily — in Homs, where violence has dropped significantly in response to the presence of a very small number of observers," Annan said.

NEWS,24.04.2012.

North Korea's nuclear test ready 'soon'

North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test, a senior source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said, which will draw further international condemnation following a failed rocket launch if it goes ahead.The isolated and impoverished state sacrificed the chance of closer ties with the United States when it launched the long-range rocket on 13 April and was censured by the UN Security Council, including the North's sole major ally, China.Critics say the rocket launch was aimed at honing the North's ability to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States, a move that would dramatically increase its military and diplomatic heft.
Now the North appears to be about to carry out a third nuclear test after two in 2006 and 2009."Soon. Preparations are almost complete," the source said when asked whether North Korea was planning to conduct a nuclear test.This is the first time a senior official has confirmed the planned test and the source has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the 2006 test days before it happened.
The rocket launch and nuclear test come as Kim Jong-Un, the third of his line to rule North Korea, seeks to cement his grip on power.Kim took office in December and has lauded the country's military might, reaffirming his father's "military first" policies that have stunted economic development and appearing to dash slim hopes of an opening to the outside world.Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, which have most to fear from any North Korean nuclear threat, are watching events anxiously and many observers say that Pyongyang may have the capacity to conduct a test using highly enriched uranium for the first time.Defence experts say that by successfully enriching uranium, to make bombs of the type dropped on Hiroshima nearly 70 years ago, the North would be able to significantly build up stocks of weapons-grade nuclear material.It would also allow it more easily to manufacture a nuclear warhead to mount on a long-range missile.The source did not specify whether the test would be a third test using plutonium, of which it has limited stocks, or whether Pyongyang would use uranium.
South Korean defence sources have been quoted in domestic media as saying a launch could come within two weeks and one North Korea analyst has suggested that it could come as early as the North's "Army Day" on Wednesday.Other observers say that any date is pure speculation.The rocket launch and the planned nuclear test have exposed the limits of China's hold over Pyongyang. Beijing is the North's sole major ally and props up the state with investment and fuel."China is like a chameleon toward North Korea," said Kim Young-Soo, professor of political science at Sogang University in Seoul. "It says it objects to North Korea's provocative acts, but it does not participate in punishing the North."Reports have suggested that a Chinese company may have supplied a rocket launcher shown off at a military parade to mark this month's centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the state's founder, something that may be in breach of UN sanctions.China has denied breaching sanctions.
The source said there was debate in North Korea's top leadership over whether to go ahead with the launch in the face of US warnings and the possibility of further UN sanctions, but that hawks in the Korean People's Army had won the debate.The source dismissed speculation that the failed launch had dealt a blow to Kim Jong-Un, believed to be in his late 20s, who came to power after his father Kim Jong-Il died following a 17-year rule that saw Nort.Korea experience a famine in the 1990s."Kim Jong-Un was named first secretary of the [ruling] Workers' Party and head of the National Defence Commission," the source said, adding that the titles further consolidated his grip on power.North Korean media has recently upped its criticism of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who cut off aid to Pyongyang when he took power in 2008, calling him a "rat" and a "bastard" and threatening to turn the South Korean capital to ashes.Pyongyang desperately wants recognition from the United States, the guarantor of the South's security. It claims sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula, as does South Korea."North Korea may consider abandoning [the test] if the United States agrees to a peace treaty," the source said, reiterating a long-standing demand by Pyongyang for recognition by Washington and a treaty to end the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a truce.

NEWS,23.04.2012.

French vote - kingmaker Le Pen?

Paris - Socialist challenger Francois Hollande beat Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of France's presidential election on Sunday, with a resurgent far-right emerging as possible kingmakers in the run off.As expected, Hollande and the wounded right-wing incumbent will now face off in the May 6 second-round, but the big surprise of the night was the record score for anti-immigrant, anti-EU flag-bearer Marine Le Pen.Hollande won between 28 and 29% of the vote in the first round, to Sarkozy's 25.5 to 27%, and Le Pen won a best-ever 18 to 20%, according to estimates compiled from ballot samples by several polling agencies."Firstly, I am tonight (Sunday) in the lead among the candidates," Hollande declared before supporters in his rural political stronghold of Tulle. "I am today (Sunday) the best placed candidate to become the next French president."The second major lesson to draw from this election - and this is undeniable - is that the first round was a punishment and a rejection of the incumbent," he said to cheers.Sarkozy sought to put positive spin on the result and brandished his right-wing credentials in a clear nod to Le Pen supporters, despite being the first incumbent to lose a first round-vote in modern French history."We can enter the second round with confidence and I now call on all French people who put patriotism above partisanship or any special interests to unite and join me," Sarkozy told supporters at a rally in Paris.Explaining his poor showing as the result of a first round "vote of crisis" amid global economic chaos, he insisted: "These anxieties, this suffering, I know them, I understand them."They are about respecting our borders, the determined fight against job relocation, controlling immigration, putting value on work, on security," he said, hitting on a number of key right-wing themes.Sarkozy also called for three televised debates before the second round, but Hollande refused, saying the single planned encounter would be enough.A jubilant Le Pen addressed her supporters after her National Front party's best ever showing, saying: "The battle of France has just begun... we have exploded the monopoly of the two parties" - the Socialists and Sarkozy's UMP."I will give my opinion on May 1," Le Pen said when asked how her supporters should vote in the second round.The first opinion poll after the first round said that Hollande would beat Sarkozy by 54% to 46% the second round and that the attitude of Le Pen's supporters could be decisive.Polling institute Ifop said that 48% of her backers would switch to Sarkozy and 31% to Hollande, while an OpinionWay poll said 18% of her supporters would back the Socialist and 39% Sarkozy.The head of Sarkozy's UMP party, Jean-Francois Cope, said he looked forward to the second round."From tomorrow (Monday) morning, we will no longer be in a case of nine candidates against Nicolas Sarkozy, but we will be one-on-one, Nicolas Sarkozy against Francois Hollande ... then I think the match will be different."

Turnout was high at at least 80%, down on the 84% turnout of 2007 but up significantly on the 72% of 2002 and belying fears that a low-key campaign would be capped by mass abstention.Hollande says Sarkozy has trapped France in a downward spiral of austerity and job losses, while Sarkozy says his rival is inexperienced and weak-willed and would spark financial panic through reckless spending pledges.The eurozone debt crisis and France's sluggish growth and high unemployment have hung over the campaign, with Sarkozy struggling to defend his record and Hollande unable to credibly promise spending increases.Opinion polls and campaigning were banned from midnight on Friday, and will now resume on Monday in the build-up to the May 6 run-off.

NEWS,22.04.2012.

France votes as Sarkozy faces defeat after one term

France's incumbent President and right-wing ruling party Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) candidate for the French 2012 presidential election Nicolas Sarkozy smiles on April 22, 2012 as he leaves the polling booth before casting his vote for the first-round of the 2012 presidential election at a polling station in Paris.Tens of millions of French voters turned out Sunday for the first round of a presidential poll that is expected to see the left oust Nicolas Sarkozy after only one turbulent term in office.The left has not won a presidential election in a quarter of a century, but with France mired in low growth and rising joblessness, opinion polls predict Socialist challenger Francois Hollande will beat the right-wing incumbent.Turnout at 5:00pm (1500 GMT), with three hours of voting to go, was strong at almost 71 per cent, belying fears that a low-key campaign would be capped by mass abstentions in the vote itself.Polling organisation IFOP predicted an overall turnout of 80 per cent.Sunday's poll will whittle down the field from 10 to two and Hollande and Sarkozy are expected to face each other in the May 6 run-off to decide who runs France, a nuclear-armed power and Europe's second largest economy.Hollande says Sarkozy has trapped France in a downward spiral of austerity and job losses, while Sarkozy says his rival is inexperienced and weak-willed and would spark financial panic through reckless spending pledges.The eurozone debt crisis and France's sluggish growth and high unemployment have hung over the campaign, with Sarkozy struggling to defend his record and Hollande unable to credibly promise spending increases."I have never missed a vote, but this time I feel little enthusiasm for the election," said 62-year-old retired high school teacher Isabelle Provost as she emerged into bright Paris sunshine after casting her ballot."Economically there is little difference between the two main candidates," she said, echoning the sentiment of many other voters of the right and the left.If, as expected, Sarkozy polls second, he will be the only incumbent French president to lose a first round-vote in the history of the Fifth Republic, which came into being in 1958.Hollande voted in his stronghold, the country town of Tulle in the central Correze region, where he is the local member of parliament and heads the regional council. He was warmly greeted by officials and voters alike."I am attentive, engaged, but first of all respectful," he told reporters. "The day ahead will be a long one, this is an important moment."Sarkozy and his former supermodel wife Carla Bruni cast their ballots in Paris' plush 16th district, a stronghold of his right-wing UMP party.Hollande was to make a speech in Tulle minutes after polls close and official results estimates are announced on the prime-time 8:00 pm television news, while Sarkozy was to speak in Paris at around 9:00 pm.

Protests in Spain

 

 Thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of Barcelona on Saturday a day after the government announced cuts to public spending in health and education.Education unions which organised the demonstration said 30 000 turned out to voice their opposition to the cuts, to be carried out at the national and at the level of the local region, Catalonia. Police put the figure at 2 000.Rosa Canyadell, of the education USTEC said the authorities were in the process of dismantling state education."Education is the best way of overcoming the economic and social crisis, and public education is the only way we can guarantee social cohesion," said a statement by parents, unions and educational associations.Spain's ruling conservative Popular Party has vowed to cut the country's deficit, which reached 8.51% of GDP in 2011.On Friday it adopted an austerity budget designed slash spending by 10 billion euros ($13 billion) a year: three billion euros of those cuts will come from education.The measures include letting regional governments expand class sizes by 20% and raising university fees to an average 1 500 euros from 1 000 euros.Spain's main unions have called for a day of protests against the cuts in health and education spending on April 29.

NEWS,21.04.2012.

France goes to first round of poll

 

After hectic months ot the hustings, France’s presidential contenders go to the first round ofelections on Sunday to whittle down the field of 10 to two frontrunners.The chances of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy winning look increasingly bleak as Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has notched up a commanding lead over UMP ruling party, according to the latest polls conducted in France ahead of the first round. The polls showed Hollande had opened a five-point lead for the first round of voting and a 16-point lead in voting intentions for the May 6 run-off. With those poll results, the Sarkozy camp was hit with the most damning opinion poll for weeks, but somehow Sarkozy briefly overtook Hollande in polls for round one following the Toulouse murders by an Islamist gunman. All in all, however, Hollande has made steady gains in recent days in most polls, with one survey giving him 29 per cent of the first round vote against 24 per cent for Sarkozy.As if the poll showings were not daunting enough, Sarkozy’s campaign was also hit by a potentially damaging revelation when it was revealed that his top donors met last Sunday at the Hotel Crillon, one of Paris’s most expensive and select venues. That meeting was in many quarters considered a major public relations gaffe given the incumbent’s recent attempts to shed his “president of the rich” tag.“That sums up his presidency,” sneered a jubilant Hollande. “He started in a top restaurant, Le Fouquet’s, and ends up in a grand hotel with the same guests.”Even as Sarkozy’s hopes appeared to crumble, some of his closest right-wing ministers openly came out against him, with Fadela Amara, the former town planning minister and a one-time star of Sarkozy’s ethnically diverse “rainbow” cabinet, becoming the latest leading political figure to desert the embattled incumbent.The incumbent’s popularity had earlier dropped dramatically following assertions that Jacques Chirac would vote for Hollande, a development that reportedly made Sarkozy’s popularity rating drop lower than any other French president seeking re-election.After Amara’s desertion other former ministers close to Chirac followed suit, including Brigitte Girardin, the former overseas minister, who said she wished to “end policies that for five years have weakened the country and divided the French”. At the same time Corinne Lepage, an ecologist environment minister in a previous centre-right government, announced that she would back Hollande, arguing that Sarkozy had veered too far to the right. The avalanche of desertions continued with Azouz Begag, the equal opportunities junior minister and Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the former culture minister joining the list of those jumping ship.

Mass rally against Czech regime

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered for an anti-government rally in Prague’s central Wenceslas Square on Saturday as the centre-right ruling coalition was teetering on the verge of collapse.Unions, pensioners, student associations and others angered by austerity cuts and graft scandals teamed up for what they said would be the biggest protest yet against the cabinet of right-wing leader Petr Necas.“The police estimate about 80-90,000 people are in Wenceslas Square right now,” Prague police spokeswoman Eva Kropacova.Union leader Jaroslav Zavadil put the number of protesters at 120,000 before lambasting the cabinet for “humiliating the powerless with its anti-social reforms.”“They promised budgetary responsibility but instead the government debt is growing. They promised to fight graft but corruption has gripped their parties and the entire society,” he told the crowd.The government — comprised of Necas’s right-wing Civic Democrats and the rightist TOP 09 and centrist Public Affairs parties — has vowed to cut the public deficit under 3.0 per cent of GDP in 2013 from 3.5 per cent expected this year.“As the prime minister... I feel responsible for keeping our country out of the debt trap,” Necas said on Saturday as protesters waved banners saying “down with the government,” “no to corruption,” or “an end to thieves and liars.”But Necas’s plans might vanish into thin air soon as the cabinet has lost its majority of 118 in the 200-seat parliament to find itself scrambling for 101 votes following the split-up of Public Affairs earlier this week.Necas gave the Public Affairs faction still backing his cabinet until Monday to secure the votes, and warned of early elections possibly in June.Recent surveys showed the leftist opposition Social Democrats would dominate an early vote ahead of the Communist Party, while Necas’s Civic Democrats would slump to the third place.Marching to Prague’s centre, Jana Sizlingova, a visibly angry pensioner from Prague, said she was fed up with the government that “doesn’t do anything for ordinary people.”“I’m upset with corruption, non-transparent procurement, the health system, the social system — simply, there’s nothing good about this government,” she said.

NEWS,20.04.2012.

A five-point checklist to help you prepare for another global crisis

The IMF just downgraded growth in Europe and projects a recession of -0.3 per cent in 2012. Imagine you are minister for finance in an average developing country. You survived the 2008-2009 global crisis, presided over more than five years of respectable economic growth, a boom in commodity prices fills your treasury with cash, and your central bank does not quite know how to keep your currency from appreciating. Old problems persist — too many young people are unemployed, your industrial sector is small and aging, and plenty of public money is wasted or simply missing. But, all in all, you feel pretty good about how things are going under your watch. Suddenly, you learn that a new global crisis may be looming on the horizon. Think of another rich country defaulting on its debt, pulling other rich countries’ banks into trouble. East Asia can no longer find avid consumers in the West for its exports, so it cuts back on its own consumption of raw materials. Commodity prices begin to fall, and your politicians start to worry aloud. What do you do then? Or better, what can you do now to prepare for all that? Five key measures may help. First, secure your financing — for at least the next 24 months. The last thing you want in the middle of a storm in international finance is to default on your payments. If you do, already-nervous investors — foreign and local — will rush for the door. Not to speak of what soldiers, teachers and civil servants would do if they were unpaid. So, calculate your cash needs as if all your expenditures were untouchable, and sign today the loans you know you will need tomorrow. (With interest rates currently at rock-bottom, this is smart debt management anyway.) While you are at it, assume that a good 10 per cent of those grants that developed nations regularly give you will no longer come in. It would also be nice if public companies that manage your oil, gas or minerals could buy insurance against their prices falling too much (this is called “hedging” in financial jargon); unfortunately, if they have not done it before, it is probably too late now. Second, prioritise your investments. Decide now which project you will slow down, postpone or drop, if you were to run out of money. In a way, you are looking for projects that are not “shovel ready”, that is, those that cannot be quickly implemented. Rule of thumb: if it involves massive, never-done-before, pride-of-the-nation construction, it probably can be put on hold. Remember, cutting investment expenditures is always tricky — the interest of the politically-connected are usually affected. You don’t want to have that discussion during a crisis. Third, audit your social safety nets. There will be plenty of people in need as jobs disappear and incomes fall. Poor families will respond in ways that may hurt them, and your country, in the long run — pulling teenagers from high school is the typical example. You will then be called upon to fund temporary employment programmes, feed children in schools, and pay for direct cash transfers. Fourth, stress test your banks. Your financial system is probably small and isolated from the sub-prime sophistication of Wall Street. It is made up mostly of banks that hold the deposits of the urban middle class and handle the remittances of the Diaspora. What would happen to your banks if, all of a sudden, foreign currency became expensive and scarce? Are their loans concentrated on a few construction or trading companies that would go belly up if the commodity boom came to an end? And are banks lending to each other? To each others’ owners? Your central bank should be able to answer all these questions — it is supposed to supervise banks in real time. So it can alert you early. And, fifth, identify who will suffer when crisis strikes. Who are the winners and losers? (Yes, there are winners in this.) Will the impact be felt in a single, remote rural area where your commodities are produced or extracted, or will it be primarily an industrial affair, hurting middle classes across cities? Will the affected belong to a specific racial, religious or regional group? Whose consumption will get more expensive? And whose assets will lose most value? This kind of “political economy analysis” is invaluable because it will highlight the roadblocks in your decision-making. One final point that may not depend entirely on you as finance minister. It would help to decide who, when the time comes, will speak for the government and what the message will be. Typically, in days of turbulence, cabinets tend to become dissonant and perceptions of policy paralysis — if not incompetence — make things worse. That would be a pity. All told, it is possible — and not too difficult — to get ready, at least for the first wave of impacts from a potential new global crisis. And if the crisis never comes, so much the better.

NEWS,19.04.2012.

India tests missile capable of reaching China

India test-fired a long range missile capable of reaching deep into China and Europe, thrusting the emerging Asian power into an elite club of nations with intercontinental nuclear weapons capabilities.A scientist at the launch site said the launch was successful, minutes after television images showed the rocket with a range of more than 5,000 km blasting through clouds from an island off India's east coast."It has met all the mission objectives," S.P.Dash, director of the test range. "It hit the target with very good accuracy."The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a now-mothballed missile programme developed primarily with a possible threat from neighbouring China in mind.Only the UN Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons.Fast emerging as a world economic power, India is keen to play a larger role on the global stage and has long angled for a permanent seat on the Security Council. In recent years it has emerged as the world's top arms importer as it rushes to upgrade equipment for a large but outdated military."It is one of the ways of signalling India's arrival on the global stage, that India deserves to be sitting at the high table," said Harsh Pant, a defence expert at King's College, London, describing the launch as a "confidence boost".The launch, which was flagged well in advance, has attracted none of the criticism from the West faced by hermit state North Korea for a failed bid to send up a similar rocket last week.But China noted the launch with disapproval."The West chooses to overlook India's disregard of nuclear and missile control treaties," China's Global Times newspaper said in an editorial published before the launch, which was delayed by a day because of bad weather."India should not overestimate its strength," said the paper, which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party's main mouthpiece the People's Daily.India has not signed the non-proliferation treaty for nuclear nations, but enjoys a de facto legitimacy for its arsenal, boosted by a landmark 2008 deal with the United States.On Wednesday, NATO said it did not consider India a threat. The US State Department said India's non-proliferation record was "solid," while urging restraint.India says its nuclear weapons programme is for deterrence only.It is close to completing a nuclear submarine that will increase its ability to launch a counter strike if it were attacked.India lost a brief Himalayan border war with its larger neighbour, China, in 1962 and has ever since strived to improve its defences. In recent years the government has fretted over China's enhanced military presence near the border.

Thursday's launch may prompt a renewed push from within India's defence establishment to build a fully fledged intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programme capable of reaching the Americas, though some of India's allies may bridle at such an ambition."Policy-wise it becomes more complicated from now on, until Agni V, India really has been able to make a case about its strategic objectives, but as it moves into the ICBM frontier there'll be more questions asked," said Pant.The Agni V is the most advanced version of the indigenously built Agni, or Fire, series, part of a programme that started in the 1960s. Earlier versions could reach old rival Pakistan and Western China."India can now deter China, it can impose maximum possible punishment if China crosses the red line," Srikanth Kondapalli, professor in Chinese studies at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University told Reuters.The rocket is powered by easier-to-use solid rocket propellants and can be transported by road.

Too early to tell on Kim Jong-Un: Clinton

Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered some hope on Wednesday that North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong-Un, may yet change course despite the reclusive Communist state's recent rocket launch and the threat of a new nuclear test.Clinton said it was too early to tell what to make of the surprise remarks to soldiers on Sunday by the youngest son of the late Kim Jong-Il, who saw North Korea fall into deep poverty and developed a nuclear weapons programme during his 17-year rule.Without elaborating, Clinton said Jong-Un's speech was analysed as "some of the old - same old stuff" and "some possible new approach"."We really are waiting and watching to see whether he can be the kind of leader that the North Korean people need."If he just follows in the footsteps of his father, we don't expect much other than the kind of provocative behaviour and the deep failure of the political and economic elite to take care of their own people," Clinton said."But he is someone who has lived outside of North Korea, apparently, from what we know. We believe that he may have some hope that the conditions in North Korea can change. But again we're going to watch and wait," she said. Jong-Un is in his late 20s.North Korea said on Wednesday it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation of last week's failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood it will push ahead with a third nuclear test.The United States and others said the launch was a test for a long range missile, while North Korea has insisted it was meant to put a satellite into orbit.