NEWS,23. AND 24.02.2013

Italians vote in cliffhanger elections

Voting was underway in Italy's general election on Sunday, amid uncertainty about who will prevail and signs of mounting support for a radical protest party which advocates a referendum on the country's eurozone exit.Polling stations opened at 8am (07:00 GMT) and were to close at 10pm. A second day of voting takes place on Monday, from 7am to 3pm, with exit polls due immediately thereafter.A total of around 50 million Italians are eligible to vote, but analysts predict abstention rates of around 30%. Snow in northern Italy was expected to hold some voters back.According the Ministry of Interior, voter turnout stood at 14.6% by noon, down from 16.3% at the last general elections in 2008.The frontrunner in the contest is centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, but his "Italy Common Good" coalition risks falling short of a majority in the upper house of parliament, the Senate.Negotiations to form a government may be complicated by the likely success of comedian Beppe Gril, whose anti-establishment Five Star Movement drew hundreds of thousands of people for its final rally on Friday in Rome.Pollsters say the movement could emerge as the third or second-largest single party in parliament. Grillo is not standing himself, but has pledged to act as the party's "spokesperson."The other main contenders are scandal-prone former premier Silvio Berlusconi, whose conservative coalition was trailing the centre-left before an opinion polls blackout came into force on February 8, and outgoing premier Mario Monti.Monti's centrist alliance is seen as the most likely coalition partner for Bersani were he not to secure a solid majority but the prospective deal is hindered by policy differences between Monti and Bersani's leftist ally, Nichi Vendola.All the leaders except Grillo had cast their vote by Sunday morning.

Britain clings to austerity

British finance minister George Osborne insisted on Saturday that he would not abandon his deficit-cutting drive after Moody's stripped the country of its coveted triple-A debt rating.The opposition lashed Osborne, saying his plan for the economy was shot through, while analysts said that although it was an embarrassment for him, the downgrade would have a limited impact in the markets.In an expected rebuff to London's hopes that sharp spending cuts would both gradually eliminate the deficit and revive growth, Moody's rating agency cut Britain's grade by one notch to Aa1 on Friday.Osborne said it was a "loud and clear message that Britain cannot let up in dealing with its debts, dealing with its problems, cannot let up in making sure that Britain can pay its way in the world."What is the message from the ratings agency? Britain's got a debt problem. I agree with that. I've been telling the country for years that we've got a debt problem, we've got to deal with it."What do they also say? That if we abandon our commitment to deal with that debt problem, then our situation would get very much worse and I'm absolutely clear that we must not do that."Asked if he had broken his commitment to protecting Britain's credit rating, he said the true test of credibility was whether Britain could borrow money."At the moment we can do that very cheaply with very low interest rates precisely because people have confidence that we have got a plan," he said.Moody's said government debt was still mounting and that growth was too weak to reverse the trend before 2016.It described the British economy as constrained both by turgid global growth and the drag from businesses and the government rapidly slashing their debt burdens.Calling it a "humiliating blow", Labour opposition finance spokesperson Ed Balls said Osborne had failed in his chief stated mission of retaining Britain's AAA status."The reality is an economy which is not growing, a deficit which is getting bigger, families in real stress and a government which is ploughing on regardless with a plan which is not working," he told BBC television."Saying 'the medicine is not working, let's increase the dose of the medicine' that is completely crazy economics."However, Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight research group, said that the market had been anticipating the downgrade for some time, though Britain's pound sterling currency may be vulnerable."It does focus attention on the UK economy's extended and ongoing serious problems," he said."The loss of the AAA rating certainly puts pressure on Mr Osborne to come up with more initiatives in the (March 20) budget to try and boost growth."While an embarrassment for the government and a cause for piqued pride, we suspect that the loss of the AAA rating will have only a limited negative impact for the UK economy." Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs free-market think-tank, said: "The damaging impact of ballooning national debt, public spending raging out of control and tax rises should not be underestimated."Taking immediate action to tackle the deficit must now be the priority. George Osborne should focus on making sufficient savings in public spending to implement a substantial programme of tax reductions."Meanwhile Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at stockbrokers BGC Partners, said the downgrade was not a reason for an economic policy change."Any amount of manipulation by attempted false stimulation of the economy in an attempt to create 'artificial' growth would in my view make an already bad deficit problem even worse," he said."We have all lived beyond our means for far too long."If the UK deficit is to be brought down and the task of reducing the debt mountain begun, Mr Osborne has no option but to stick to his guns."We are light years away from returning to growth."

Indian tycoon donates $2bn to charity

Indian software tycoon Azim Premji said Saturday he has given $2.3bn to an education charity that he controls, reportedly the biggest charitable donation in the country's recent history.It is his second recent big donation after giving almost $2bn to the charity in 2010, and came shortly after he joined the Giving Pledge club set up by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffet.In Saturday's donation, the chairman of software firm Wipro transferred shares worth $2.3bn from the company to a trust which controls the education charity Azim Premji Foundation, a company statement said.The billionaire, who inherited a cooking oil company and transformed it into India's third-biggest outsourcing services firm, said the trust will use the funds to scale up the foundation's activities "significantly". The charity seeks to boost the quality of India's overstretched education system by improving teacher quality and setting up model schools.The Business Standard newspaper and other media reported it was the biggest one-off donation to charity in India in modern times.The media-shy tycoon is India's third wealthiest individual with a net worth of some $16bn, according to a 2012 Forbes rich list.Premji, whose trust funds initiatives including rural education and teacher training, has long promoted education as a way to tackle India's deep poverty.He told a recent World Economic Forum in Davos that "education is perhaps the most powerful enabler of human life and equity".A few days ago, he became the first Indian to join the Giving Pledge club, which encourages the world's wealthiest to donate at least half their fortunes to charity.Those who are "privileged to have wealth should contribute significantly to try and create a better world for the millions who are far less privileged," Premji said when joining the club.The billionaire's donation comes amid growing disquiet in India about the yawning divide between the country's burgeoning wealthy class and the hundreds of millions still living in deep poverty.A 2012 report on philanthropy by global consultancy Bain noted a "striking imbalance" in India, noting it was home to one of the world's fastest-growing wealthy populations but also one in three of the world's malnourished children.While the report noted that philanthropy was on the rise, it added there was "significant room for improvement if India is benchmarked against the US, one of the world's leaders in private giving".With Premji's latest donation, his educational charitable trust's shareholding in Wipro will go up to nearly 20%.

Horsemeat scandal: Now health fears

Horsemeat containing a drug potentially harmful to humans has likely entered the food chain, France said on Saturday, adding health concerns to the food scandal raging across Europe.A spokesperson for the French agriculture ministry told AFP several horse carcasses containing the drug Phenylbutazone have probably ended up being eaten by consumers.Phenylbutazone is an anti-inflammatory treatment for horses which is potentially harmful to humans and by law is supposed to be kept off plates.Britain alerted Paris that six tainted carcasses had been exported to France in January, but the meat had already been processed by the time the warning came.Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said that although some of the meat had been recalled, the equivalent of three carcasses had "probably" made it to consumers, but added there was "no health risk" since the traces of phenylbutazone found in the meat were "extremely weak".The minister underscored that the find was in no way connected with the wider horsemeat scandal however, since the meat had not been disguised as beef.But the announcement still added a new dimension to the scandal over mislabelled meat that erupted in Europe in January after horsemeat was initially found in so-called beef ready-made meals and burgers in Britain and Ireland. Since then, supermarkets across the continent have pulled prepared meals from their shelves, with effects felt as far away as Hong Kong, where an imported brand of lasagne has been withdrawn from stores. On Saturday, Italy joined the long list of countries that have been hit by the fraud, reporting its first case of horsemeat-contaminated lasagne. The horsemeat was found in tests on six tons of mincemeat and 2 400 "lasagne bolognese" packages produced by a central Italian company that had used meat from suppliers based in the northern part of the country.The tests were carried out as part of sweeping checks by police on 121 brands across the country.French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday that he would push for mandatory labelling of meat in ready-made meals."I want there to eventually be mandatory labels on the meat contained in prepared meals," Hollande said while visiting an agricultural show in Paris."Until then, I will support... all initiatives for voluntary labelling" so that "consumers know the origin of the products they are consuming, especially meat".French firm Spanghero has been at the heart of the scandal after it allegedly passed off 750 tons of horsemeat as beef, with the product eventually finding its way into 4.5 million "beef" products sold across Europe.French authorities had initially suspended the company's sanitary license, but following protests from 300-odd workers allowed the company to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals.The company was banned, however, from stocking frozen meat.In Ireland, authorities on Friday suspended production at a meat processing plant after investigators found it was selling horsemeat labelled as beef.B&F Meats, a small company licenced to debone beef and horsemeat in Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary, was found to be sending horsemeat to a customer in the Czech Republic, the Irish agriculture ministry said in a statement.The label in the Czech language refers to beef, it added.

North Korea ups readiness, tensions

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has overseen a military drill, state media said on Saturday, his third such inspection in as many days as tensions run high following Pyongyang's third nuclear test.Accompanied by top military commanders, Kim watched a flight exercise and a paratrooping drill by the Korean People's Army, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said."He called on the KPA service personnel to put spurs to making preparations for going into action, keeping themselves at maximum alert at all times."Once the enemies make a provocation, you should give full play to the inexhaustible combat capability to deal deadly blows at them ... and blow up their strongholds of aggression," he was quoted as saying by KCNA.The state news agency did not to give the date of the visit but it was believed Kim's latest trip was on Friday.KCNA said on Friday Kim had also inspected a tactical attack exercise combined with live shell firing.On Thursday, KCNA reported he had visited KPA Unit 323, which is believed to be an anti-air missile unit.North Korea on 12 February carried out its third nuclear test in seven years in what it says was a riposte to the US hostility shown in the widening of existing UN sanctions following its satellite launch in December last year.World powers on the UN Security Council united to condemn the nuclear test, and the US led calls for tougher sanctions.But Pyongyang has threatened still stronger action, defying warnings of United Nations measures.North Korea is already under international sanctions for conducting two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, which both came after long-range rocket launches.

Hundreds pray for Hugo Chavez

Hundreds of Venezuelans held a candlelight vigil Friday for President Hugo Chavez, praying for their leader while he remained in a hospital undergoing cancer treatment.Chavez's supporters gathered on a wide stairway in a hillside park near the presidential palace. They lit candles at sunset and sang along with a recording of a healthy Chavez belting out the national anthem.Some wiped away tears. Others closed their eyes and prayed.Some said they felt sad, yet still hopeful that Chavez might be able to survive."We're praying for the president, for him to get through all of this," said Ana Perez, a seamstress holding a candle and shielding her flame from the breeze with a piece of paper.Her eyes filled with tears as she talked about Chavez. "There is no other president like this one. He's unique," she said, wiping a wet cheek."He's going to come out of all of this, and he's going to get better," Perez said. "He's survived many hard things. He's strong."A group of indigenous people wearing colourful dresses, beads and feathers danced around a bonfire at the base of the stairs. One man blew on a conch shell, while others shook maracas as they danced around the flames.Chavez hasn't been seen since he returned to Venezuela on Monday from Cuba, where for 10 weeks he was recovering and fighting complications following his latest cancer surgery on 11 December.Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday night that he and other officials had met with Chavez at the military hospital. Maduro said Chavez is continuing to undergo treatment for "respiratory insufficiency" and is breathing through a tracheal tube, which hinders speech."He communicated with us through various written ways to give us his guidance," Maduro said, speaking on television alongside other aides at the hospital. Maduro said Chavez was smiling and in an energetic mood, "with an immense strength of will."He said they talked with Chavez in three sessions lasting about five hours. "We came out filled with his strength," Maduro said.During the vigil, some in the crowd held photos of Chavez while a preacher spoke from a stage, saying: "The president is going to be healthy!"Lissette Cordero, who stood holding a candle next to her 5-year-old son, said she's grateful to Chavez for creating government-funded neighbourhood councils and inexpensive state-run food stores.Her son, who also held a candle, looked up at the stage where the minister was speaking and asked, "Is that Chavez?""No," his mother replied with a smile."I have faith he's going to recover. It's hard," she added. "I love him."The government has not given details about the treatment Chavez is undergoing, and hasn't identified the type or exact location of the tumours that have been removed from his pelvic region.Venezuela's opposition has demanded the government provide more specific information about Chavez's condition, and has criticized a decision by lawmakers last month that indefinitely postponed his swearing-in ceremony for a new six-year term.Two prominent Venezuelan jurists asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to determine whether Chavez is fit to remain in office. Former Supreme Court President Cecilia Sosa Gomez and professor Jose Vicente Haro called for the court to appoint a board of medical experts to determine whether Chavez is in physical and mental shape to remain president.They argued that if Chavez is fit to be president, the court should proceed to hold a public swearing-in.Government officials insist Chavez remains in charge and has been communicating with government officials about policy decisions and signing documents.Foreign Minister Elias Jaua read a lengthy letter from Chavez on Friday to a gathering of African and South American leaders in Equatorial Guinea.In the letter, which ran for about 1, 00 words, Chavez said he was sorry not to be able to attend the meeting. Chavez denounced Western military intervention in countries such as Libya in recent years, and called for more "South-South co-operation."The letter ended with the words: "We will live and be triumphant!"Prayer gatherings for Chavez this week have included a ceremony where indigenous shamans danced on Thursday, attended by Guatemalan indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu.Menchu, who received the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, said she had come to Venezuela "as one of the Maya spiritual guides" with knowledge of medicinal traditions."I'm completely sure that President Hugo Chavez has received the cosmic energies. He has received the strength of our Mother Earth. ... He is going to overcome big obstacles," Menchu said Friday at a televised event where she spoke alongside Maduro.As for Chavez, she said, "He has to have sufficient rest so that he can recover the strength of his vital energies as soon as possible."

NEWS,01.03.2012.

passengers leave  Costa Allegra

 

Passengers board a ferry for other islands after disembarking from the Costa Allegra cruise ship at Mahe port in Seychelles Island

 

Weary passengers complained of unbearable heat and appalling hygiene for three days in the Indian Ocean aboard cruise ship Costa Allegra after a fire knocked out the vessel's main power supply.With no air conditioning, running water, lights or hot food, the 627 passengers were forced to sleep on deck in the stifling heat until the liner was towed into Seychelles capital Victoria on Thursday. One of the Costa Allegra's three diesel generators caught fire on Monday and although the blaze was extinguished within an hour two more generators in the engine room then failed, the ship's captain, Niccolo Alba, told a news conference. Alba said a general emergency was declared when the generator caught fire, the lifeboats were prepared and passengers were ready to abandon ship as the liner drifted in the Indian Ocean, where Somali pirates roam."It was terrible, as you can imagine. Hygiene conditions were absolutely deplorable. I have some photos that show the state of the toilets. We stayed for three days without electricity, it's very difficult to live in such conditions, especially in such heat," one passenger told. Alba said two people had fallen in the dark and hurt themselves, but he denied an earlier report from a Seychelles health ministry official that six people had broken limbs.” They were able to put the fire out and from that point on, it was just a matter of inconvenience, not having enough food, not being able to rest well at night...the heat is unbearable, so we had to spend most of our nights on the top deck of the ship," said another passenger. More than half the passengers took up the offer of a seven or 14-day holiday on the archipelago from the ship's owner Costa Cruises, the same company whose giant liner Costa Concordia smashed into rocks off Italy in January. At 29,000 gross tonnes, the ship is considerably smaller than the huge Costa Concordia which capsized, killing at least 25 people. A team from Costa Cruises, a unit of the US cruise line giant Carnival Corp., boarded the Costa Allegra on Wednesday to arrange hotel accommodation and onward flights for the passengers. It said more than 600 airline seats and 400 rooms had been reserved. A small generator was installed in the crippled vessel, but was only powerful enough to run its auxiliary communication system, not the air conditioning or cooking systems. With no lights working on board, the company said it had dropped hundreds of torches onto the ship to help passengers find their way around at night. A passenger from Germany praised the crew, saying they had tried their best to make those on board comfortable. Another passenger from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion said he felt tired and dirty and had been afraid of pirates, but there was never any shortage of drinking water or sandwiches. Norbert Stiekema, executive vice-president at Costa Cruises, told the news conference that all passengers were offered the option of a holiday or a flight home, and that all outstanding bills on the ship had been cancelled. The passengers were met in Victoria by ambulances, a Red Cross medical team and a fleet of small buses to take them to hotels on the country's main island of Mahe.One woman was rushed into an ambulance and another had to be supported as she walked off the ship. The passengers, including four children, are from 25 nations. The largest contingents are 127 from France and 126 from Italy. There were also 38 Germans, 31 Britons, 13 Canadians and eight Americans. The Costa Allegra left Diego Suarez in Madagascar on Saturday and, sailing northeast, had been due to dock in Mahe on Tuesday. While 376 passengers opted to stay on in the Seychelles, others had had enough” I am no longer in the mood for a holiday. I want to go home as soon as I can," said another passenger.

NEWS,28.02.2012.

Pirate risk for Costa Cruises liner

A crippled cruise ship owned by the company whose giant liner was wrecked off Italy last month is being towed by a French tuna boat to the main island in the Seychelles, its owners say.An engine room fire on the Costa Allegra knocked out the ship's main power supply in the Indian Ocean on Monday, leaving it adrift with more than a thousand people on board in waters vulnerable to pirates.It is being protected by nine members of an anti-piracy unit of the Italian navy, a precaution regularly taken on ships in the Indian Ocean which is prone to attacks by Somali pirates."The ship is not in a high-risk area, but we can't be 100% sure," said Costa Cruises' Giorgio Moretti.While yachts have been seized in the past near Seychelles, pirates have yet to successfully hijack a cruise liner in the Indian Ocean.The ship's Italian owner, Costa Cruises, a unit of US cruise line giant Carnival Corp, said a plan to tow it to the nearer island of Desroches had been aborted because it would have been harder to moor and disembark the passengers there.The Trevignon, a deep sea trawler which sails the oceans for tuna from the Atlantic port of Concarneau, is pulling the Costa Allegra, a vessel many times its size, on a 400-metre cable at a speed of only about six knots, the Trevignon's skipper Alain Dervout told his local French newspaper, Ouest-France.He was joined today by two tugs and a coastguard ship, all from Seychelles, the archipelago's government said. A military aircraft was also flying in support of the operation.The cruise ship was due to arrive at the Seychelles capital of Victoria on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning local time, depending on weather conditions, government spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic said. Clocks in the Seychelles are four hours ahead of GMT."Helicopters will ensure continuous supply of food, comfort items, flashlights in order to mitigate guests' discomfort given the difficult conditions on board," Costa Cruises spokesman Davide Barbano said in a statement.A team from the Italian coastguard is heading to the Seychelles to investigate the accident, but a spokesman for the agency it would be wrong to make analogies to the Costa Concordia disaster on January 13, in which at least 25 people died and over which a criminal investigation has been launched."They are two different situations, totally different conditions, so they are not related accidents," Cosimo Nicastro.Prosecutors in the Italian city of Genoa have opened an investigation into the fire on the Costa Allegra, judicial sources said.Nicastro said there was no question of the passengers being transferred to other vessels."The safest place for the people is on the ship. There is no reason to put them on another ship or a helicopter. They will remain on the Costa Allegra and we will keep monitoring the situation," he said.An evacuation off Desroches Island would have presented the ship owner and local authorities with a tricky and expensive logistical operation.The 636 passengers and 413 crew would have had to use the ship's lifeboats to land on the exclusive coral-fringed island, where Britain's Prince William and his then girlfriend, now wife, Kate Middleton, stayed a few years ago."Logistics and hotels on the island are not sufficient. It would require ... an immediate transfer from Desroches to Mahe," Barbano, the Costa Cruises spokesman, said.

NEWS,27.02.2012.

Costa Cruises liner adrift after fire on board

 

A liner owned by the same company as the Costa Concordia, on which at least 25 people died when it ran aground off Italy last month, is adrift in the Indian Ocean after a fire in the engine room left it without power. The company, Costa Cruises, said the fire on the 29,000-tonne Costa Allegra had been put out and none of the passengers or crew were hurt. The giant Costa Concordia capsized on January 13 after hitting rocks off the island of Giglio. Divers and rescue workers are still searching for the bodies of seven people who remain missing. The much smaller Costa Allegra, with 636 passengers and 413 crew on board, was sailing some 320 kilometres southwest of the Seychelles when the fire broke out and it sent a distress signal, the company said. The Italian coastguard said in a statement it had alerted authorities on the Seychelles, which was sending rescue vessels. An aircraft had spotted the ship's position. Lieutenant Massimo Maccheroni of the coastguard said two fishing boats had been diverted towards the liner and the first was expected to arrive around 2300 GMTmidday Seychelles tugs were also on the way and would arrive tomorrow afternoon.Maccheroni said the ship had no engine power but was able to steer.Seas in the area were moderate with winds gusting at 25 knots, the coastguard said in their statement. Shares of Carnival Cruises fell slightly in London trading after news of Costa Allegra's difficulties and were down 2%.A spokesman for Costa said the passengers included 130 each from Italy and France, 100 from Austria and 90 from Switzerland.” It’s a fairly positive picture that we are nevertheless continuing to monitor, until the hopefully positive and swift outcome," Italian coastguard spokesman Cosimo Nicastro said. A Seychelles coastguard official confirmed that support vessels were "on their way" but said they would give no further information until authorised by Costa Cruises. The company said the passengers were "all in good health and, having been promptly informed of the situation, were assembled at the muster points as a precaution."Costa Cruises was accused by some passengers of long delays and a lack of organisation in the evacuation of the Costa Concordia.That vessel's Italian captain is under house arrest near Naples accused of multiple manslaughter and abandoning the ship before the 4,200 passengers and crew were evacuated.The Costa Allegra left Diego Suarez in Madagascar on Saturday and had been due to dock in the Seychelles capital of Victoria on Tuesday.

NEWS,18.02.2012.

Iran deploys warships to the Mediterranean

 

Iran's Navy Commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari

Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean Sea after crossing the Suez Canal on Saturday to show Tehran's "might" to regional countries, the navy commander said, amid simmering tensions with Israel."The strategic navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has passed through the Suez Canal for the second time since the (1979) Islamic Revolution," Admiral Habibollah Sayari said in remarks quoted by the official IRNA news agency.He did not say how many vessels had crossed the canal, or what missions they were planning to carry out in the Mediterranean, but said the flotilla had previously docked in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.Two Iranian ships, the destroyer Shahid Qandi and supply vessel Kharg, had docked in the Red Sea port on February 4, according to Iranian media.Sayari said the naval deployment to the Mediterranean would show "the might" of the Islamic republic to regional countries, and also convey Tehran's "message of peace and friendship.” The announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, fuelled by the longstanding dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme and rising speculation that Israel might launch pre-emptive strikes against Iranian facilities. Israeli officials are also accusing Tehran of orchestrating anti-Israeli bombings in India and Georgia as well as blasts in Thailand. Iran denies the allegations. The first Iranian presence in the Mediterranean in February 2011 provoked strong reactions from Israel and the United States, with the Jewish state putting its navy on alert. During the 2011 deployment, two Iranian vessels, a destroyer and a supply ship, sailed past the coast of Israel and docked at the Syrian port of Latakia before returning to Iran via the Red Sea.Israeli leaders denounced the move as a "provocation" and a "powerplay."Iran's navy has been boosting its presence in international waters in the past two years, deploying vessels to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden on missions to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates. And Iran sent submarines to the Red Sea last June to "collect data," its first such mission in distant waters, while its naval commanders say they plan on deploying ships close to US territorial waters in the future. Iranian naval forces are composed of small units, including speedboats equipped with missiles, which operate in the Gulf and are under the command of the Revolutionary Guards. The navy, using small frigates, destroyers, and three Russian-made Kilo class submarines, oversees high seas missions in the Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aden. It now permanently has at least two vessels in those areas to escort merchant ships, and has been involved in more than 100 confrontations with armed pirates, according to the navy commander in December.