NEWS,05.08.2013

U.S. Embassy Closings: State Department Says Posts In 19 Countries To Remain Closed

U.S. diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Mideast and Africa will remain closed for the rest of the week amid intercepted "chatter" about terror threats, which lawmakers briefed on the information likened to intelligence picked up before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
One lawmaker said the chatter was specific as to certain dates and the scope of the operation; others said it suggested that a major terrorist attack, akin to 9/11, was being planned by the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen.
Diplomatic facilities will remain closed in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, among other countries, through Saturday, Aug. 10. The State Department announcement Sunday added closures of four African sites, in Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius. The U.S. reopened some posts on Monday, including those in Kabul, Afghanistan and Baghdad.
Last week the State Department announced a global travel alert, warning that al-Qaida or its allies might target either U.S. government or private American interests. It said Americans should take extra precautions overseas and cited potential dangers involved with public transportation systems and other prime sites for tourists.
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the decision to keep certain embassies and consulates shuttered throughout the week was done out of an "abundance of caution" and to "protect our employees, including local employees, and visitors to our facilities."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday the briefings he has received "certainly emphasize these threats are specific and credible, equal if not more serious to the kind of chatter, as the intelligence called it, that was heard prior to 9/11."
But he added: "The average American should continue to be alert and vigilant and cautious but certainly not unduly alarmed or panicky." He spoke on MSNBC.
The intercepted intelligence foreshadowing an attack on U.S. or Western interests is evidence of one of the gravest threats to the United States in years, said several lawmakers said Sunday.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the conversation was "very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11." Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it was that chatter that prompted the Obama administration to order the closures and issue the travel warning.
Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC's "This Week" that the threat intercepted from "high-level people in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" was about a "major attack."
Yemen is home to al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliate, blamed for several notable terrorist plots on the United States. They include the foiled Christmas Day 2009 effort to bomb an airliner over Detroit and the explosives-laden parcels intercepted the following year aboard cargo flights.
Rep. Peter King, the New York Republican who leads the House Homeland Security subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence, told ABC that the threat "was specific as to how enormous it was going to be and also that certain dates were given."
The Obama administration's decision to close the embassies and the lawmakers' general discussion about the threats and the related intelligence discoveries come at a sensitive time as the government tries to defend recently disclosed surveillance programs that have stirred deep privacy concerns and raised the potential of the first serious retrenchment in terrorism-fighting efforts since Sept. 11.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has scoffed at the assertion by the head of the National Security Agency that government methods used to collect telephone and email data have helped foil 54 terror plots.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a House Intelligence Committee member, said while he takes the threat seriously he hasn't seen any evidence linking the latest warnings to that agency's collection of "vast amounts of domestic data."
Other lawmakers defended the administration's response and promoted the work of the NSA in unearthing the intelligence that led to the security warnings.
King, a frequent critic of President Barack Obama, said: "Whether or not there was any controversy over the NSA at all, all these actions would have been taken."
The State Department noted that previous terrorist attacks have centered on subway and rail networks as well as airplanes and boats. It suggested travelers sign up for State Department alerts and register with U.S. consulates in the countries they visit. The alert expires Aug. 31.
The intelligence intercepts also prompted Britain and Germany to close their embassies in Yemen on Sunday and Monday. British authorities said some embassy staff in Yemen had been withdrawn "due to security concerns." France said Monday it would keep its embassy in the Yemeni capital closed through Wednesday.
Interpol, the French-based international policy agency, has also issued a global security alert in connection with suspected al-Qaida involvement in recent prison escapes including those in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.

Turkey's Ergenekon Trial: Alleged 2002 Coup Plotters Convicted, Including Former Military Chief Ilker Basbug

In a landmark trial, scores of people including Turkey's former military chief, politicians and journalists were convicted on Monday of plotting to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government soon after it came to power in 2002.
Retired Gen. Ilker Basbug was the most prominent defendant among some 250 people facing verdicts after a five-year trial that has become a central drama in tensions between the country's secular elite and Erdogan's Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party.
The trial has sparked protests, and on Monday police blocked hundreds of demonstrators from reaching the High Criminal Court in Silivri, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Istanbul, in a show of solidarity with the defendants.
But Monday's verdicts were not expected to set off the kind of violent anti-government demonstrations that were recently sparked by a government plan to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks at a park near Istanbul's central Taksim Square.
In addition to Basbug, at least 18 other defendants were sentenced to life in prison, including 10 retired military officers and Dogu Perincek, leader of the left-wing and nationalist Workers Party. At least 64 other defendants received sentences ranging from a year to 47 years, according to state-run TRT television news.
At least 21 people were acquitted. The fully tally of verdicts and sentences was not immediately available.
The defendants were accused of plotting high-profile attacks that prosecutors said were aimed at sowing chaos in Turkey to prepare the way for a military coup. The prosecutions already have helped Erdogan's government reshape Turkey's military and assert civilian control in a country that had seen three military coups since 1960.
The trial, which began in 2008, grew out of an investigation into the seizure of 27 hand grenades at the home of a noncommissioned officer in Istanbul in 2007.
The defendants were accused of being part of an alleged ultranationalist and pro-secular gang called Ergenekon, which takes its name from a legendary valley in Central Asia believed to be the ancestral homeland of Turks.
In thousands of pages of indictments, prosecutors maintained that the gang was behind a series of violent acts, including one in 2006 on a courthouse that killed a judge. Prosecutors say that the incidents were made to look as though they were carried out by Islamic militants, in a bid to create turmoil and provoke a military intervention.
Prosecutors say the gang also plotted to kill Erdogan, Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk and other high-profile figures.
The defendants have rejected the accusations, and they are expected to appeal Monday's verdicts and sentences to the Court of Appeals in Ankara.
Representatives of Turkey's main pro-secular opposition party lashed out against the verdicts, accusing the government of influencing the justice system.
"A verdict that was decided five years ago was made public today," said Akif Hamzacebi, a legislator from the opposition Republican People's Party. "All principles of rights, justice, human rights, fair trial were trampled on here."
Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, said he would not comment on the specific rulings, but noted that the European Union has expressed concern before about defendants' rights in Turkey and indictments that are too general.
Prosecutors demanded life prison terms for 64 of the defendants, mostly on terrorism charges. Others were charged with possession of firearms or merely membership in Ergenekon.
Mehmet Haberal, a surgeon and founder of a university in Ankara, and Mustafa Balbay, the Ankara representative of pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper, both faced life prison terms but received sentences of 12 years and 34 years, respectively. The two men were elected to Parliament in 2011, while in prison, but were not able to take their seats. The court ordered Haberal released on time served because of health considerations.
Tuncay Ozkan, a prominent journalist who helped organize a series of anti-government protests in 2007, was given a life sentence.
The case has polarized the country between those who see it as an opportunity to unravel a shadowy network of ultranationalists known as the "Deep State" that allegedly acted behind the scenes with impunity, and those who believe it is a government attempt to muzzle Erdogan's secular-minded foes and undermine Turkey's secular legacy.
In a separate case, more than 300 military officers, including Turkey's former air force and navy chiefs, were convicted last year of other plots to bring down the government in 2003 and some were sentenced to 20 years in prison. Those verdicts are being appealed.

 

Gibraltar Entrance Fee: Chief Minister Compares Spain To North Korea Over Exit Charge

The chief minister of Gibraltar on Monday accused Spain of acting like North Korea after suggesting it could impose steep new entry and exit fees for the British territory.
Spain has long laid claim to Gibraltar, and the British territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula is the source of occasional diplomatic friction between Madrid and London.
The latest spat involves an artificial reef being built in Gibraltar that Spain says is hurting its fishermen. It has floated the idea of charging people entering and leaving Gibraltar 50 euros ($66) as compensation.
Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told BBC radio that such fees would violate European Union freedom of movement rules, and said "hell would freeze over" before the reef would be removed.
"What we have seen this weekend is saber-rattling of the sort that we haven't seen for some time," Picardo said, describing threats of border fees as "more reminiscent of the type of statement you'd hear from North Korea than from an EU partner."
Under Spain's former Socialist government, relations between Madrid, London and Gibraltar eased greatly.
But in an interview published Sunday in Spanish newspaper ABC, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the "playtime" of that era was over.
Britain's Foreign Secretary said late Monday that he had spoken to Picardo to express solidarity with territory's residents.
"The U.K. stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Gibraltar at this time of increasing Spanish pressure and rhetoric," William Hague said in a statement, repeating that the U.K. had pledged "not to compromise on British sovereignty over Gibraltar."
But he also nodded to the fact  so far the talk of sanctions had not amounted to real clampdown on the territory.
"We agreed that it was important to respond to actions, not rhetoric," he said.

North Korea Floods: Army Drills Cut Short To Provide Relief

North Korea has cut short summer military drills to mobilise troops for flood relief efforts after torrential rains left dozens killed and ravaged farmlands nationwide, according to a South Korean report.
The North's military ordered troops based in the country's west and southeast regions to hold "minimum" summer exercises and to instead focus on post-floods reconstruction, Yonhap news agency said.
It cited an unnamed Seoul government source.
"Many military units stopped the exercises and have mobilised troops for floods relief works," said the source quoted by Yonhap.
The communist state has staged summer military drills that partially coincided with the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise conducted by its rival South Korea and the United States, that usually takes place in August.
"But this year's summer drill in the North will be scaled back considerably because it needs to focus on repairing floods damages," the source was quoted as saying.
Floods caused by heavy rains that pummelled the North since early July have destroyed some 6,000 houses, displaced more than 23,000 people and washed away a large swathes of farmlands, the North's state media said late last month.
The death toll has reached 33 across the nation and some 13,300 hectares of farmlands have been damaged, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said last week, warning of "longer-term impact" on the country's food security.
Decades of deforestation and decrepit infrastructure have left the impoverished North vulnerable to floods, which led to some 170 deaths last summer.

Berlusconi: 'I Am Innocent'

Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi pledged his support for Italy's fragile coalition government to a gathering of thousands of supporters on Sunday, but he remained defiant in the face of a supreme court ruling confirming his tax fraud conviction and four-year prison sentence, declaring: "I am innocent."
The three-time ex-premier and media mogul, who also faces a ban from public office, said he would not resist criticizing the verdict against him, nor the judges who passed it, calling Italian magistrates "irresponsible."
Berlusconi looked energized and appeared to speaking off the cuff throughout the 15-minute rally in front of his Rome residence, in contrast to his nine-minute video address after last week's ruling in which he appeared shaken and on the verge of tears as he read a prepared statement.
The crowd, many of whom arrived on buses during the day, waved flags and posters urging Berlusconi, 76, not to give up and declaring support from cities and regions throughout Italy. Supporters repeatedly chanted: "Silvio."
"I don't believe that anyone can come and say to us that this is a subversive demonstration, as many have said," Berlusconi said. "And no one can come and say, as they have, that we are irresponsible. Because we have said loud and clear that the government needs to continue to approve economic measures that we have requested."
The confirmation of Berlusconi's conviction on final appeal has put more stress on Premier Enrico Letta's uneasy cross-party coalition government, which requires the support of both Berlusconi's conservative forces and the center-left to pass urgent economic measures.
Berlusconi said the last few days were "the most anguished and painful of my life," and he thanked supporters for demonstrating their affection.
"I am here. I am staying here. I won't give up," Berlusconi said.
Italy's highest court on Thursday upheld Berlusconi's four-year prison sentence, the first time that the media mogul was definitively convicted and sentenced in two decades of trials and other criminal probes.
A law to reduce prison overcrowding slashes his sentence to one year and since he is over 70, he can choose home confinement or perform social services instead of going to prison.
He also faces a public office ban, which would deprive him of his Senate seat and prevent him from running in elections for the duration of the ban. Another appeals court in Milan has been ordered to decide its length.

NEWS,02.03. AND 04.08.2013

BACK WITH VERY NICE POST 

Spanish jobless numbers continue to fall

The number of registered jobless in Spain fell in July from a month earlier, the fifth straight month of declines, the Labour Ministry said on Friday, boosted by seasonal factors including a strong tourist season.
Jobless numbers fell by 1.4% in July, or by 64 866 people, leaving 4.7 million people out of work, the data showed.
The follow a quarterly survey by the National Statistics Institute which reported an unemployment rate of 26.3% in the second quarter with 6 million people unable to find work.
"In annual terms, employment continues to be destroyed and unemployment continues to be generated, but less than before and this points to a change in trend. It suggests that the unemployment rate could be similar in the third quarter as the second," said Estefania Ponte, economy and strategy director at Cortal Consors.
Registered jobless numbers rose 2.4% in July from a year earlier, the ministry figures showed.
Spanish unemployment has soared to record levels since the property bubble burst in 2008 and is expected to remain high for years to come as the battered economy, in recession since the end of 2011, struggles to return to sustainable growth.
The Labour Ministry tends registered jobless figures tend to be lower than the statistics institute's estimates as the disillusioned long-term unemployed, who's benefits end after two years, stop signing on.
According to the statistics institute, some 1.9 million people who had previously held a job had been out of work for more than two years in the second quarter.
The number of people registering as out of work in July fell in all the main economic sectors, with the largest drop seen in the services industry, down 37 614 people, or 1.3%, boosted by a strong tourism season.
Spain's tourist sector, worth over 10% of economic output, has seen a boost this year as holiday makers avoid trouble spots in usually popular destinations in Northern Africa such as Egypt
Unemployed from construction dropped 16 310 people and was down 11 233 people from industry, the ministry said.

 

French winemakers eye China vintage

In a few remote corners of China, two of France's top winemakers have more on their minds than a trade row with their most promising export market.
In three far-flung provinces, a world away from Beijing's allegations of European wine dumping, makers of such lofty French brands as Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and Dom Perignon champagne are investing millions of dollars to produce vintages they hope will put Chinese wine on the world map.
In a country where cheap plonk and overpriced mediocre wines still define the domestic industry, the French are partnering with Chinese investors to produce super-premium wines for increasingly discerning drinkers at the market's top end.
They will likely charge hundreds of dollars per bottle when the wines start appearing in a year or two, turning out deeply rich reds and elegantly sparkling wines for wealthy Chinese drinkers who they hope will be proud to serve local vintages that are the equal of their imported collections.
"China deserves the production of great wines," said Christophe Salin, president of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (DBR), which owns the vaunted Chateau Lafite, Ch. Duhart-Milon and Ch. L'Evangile, among other French labels. "Without wanting to copy Lafite, we wish to produce a great wine on Chinese soil," he added in an interview.
"Shangri-La"
DBR is investing 100m yuan ($16.3m) with partner CITIC, a state investment firm, to develop 25 hectares (62 acres) of vineyards in eastern Shandong province to produce super-premium red wine for the Chinese market.
Moet-Hennessy, the wine and spirits arm of luxury group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, is also looking to make a top-end Chinese red and is planting 30 hectares (74 acres) of grapes in remote mountains of southern Yunnan province.
Moet-Hennessy studied climate and soil conditions at hundreds of locations around China before settling on an area the government calls "Shangri-La", abutting Tibet, to grow Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc and Merlot grapes.
Moet-Hennessy CEO Christophe Navarre won't divulge the investment there but says it is borne two-thirds by Moet-Hennessy and one-third by its Chinese partner, winemaker VATS.
"I dream one day to go back to France with a bottle of red wine produced in the region of Shangri-La and I can say it's the best wine in the world," Navarre said in announcing the venture last year.
Moet-Hennessy's wine portfolio includes the vaunted Ch. Cheval Blanc and Ch. d'Yquem, the world's most coveted dessert wine. Its champagnes include Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon and Krug - and it is developing vineyards in Ningxia Hui autonomous region in north-central China with a view to producing China's first ultra-premium sparkling wine.
Neither DBR nor Moet-Hennessy plans to market its Chinese wines under existing brands. Both say they want to give the wines a unique Chinese identity a strategy that is questioned by some within the Chinese wine industry.
"If they don't put their brand on it then people won't buy it at a very high price," says Monica He, who works with wine importer Menvis in Beijing.
Growing thirst
DBR's and LVMH's investments into China aim to capitalise on China's growing thirst for premium wines, but could also help their extensive line-ups of mid-priced wines and spirits.
Chinese consumers are drawn to either high-end or cheap wine, leaving a gap in the middle of the market. By producing a Chinese "halo" wine marque, the French winemakers could draw drinkers to their imported mid-range lineup.
The French investors do not have plans to produce still white wines in China, as red wine and champagne are more fashionable for upwardly mobile Chinese wine drinkers.
China is the world's fifth-largest wine consumer, according to a study last year for VINEXPO, an annual wine trade show that alternates between Bordeaux and Hong Kong. The study forecast annual consumption growth in China and Hong Kong at 54.3% between 2011 and 2015, or a billion more bottles every year.
China's wine market is dominated by a few large local producers that make bulk and mid-priced wine, and some premium-priced wines selling for more than $100 a bottle, but these are usually considered far inferior to much cheaper imported wines.
Can China produce something at the highest level?
"The potential there is to make something very, very good," says Jim Boyce, who follows China's wine industry on his blog Grapewallofchina. "There are a lot of people who've been telling me for years that Yunnan is where it's going to happen."
Meanwhile, Beijing and Brussels are in talks to end their trade dispute over wine, with a settlement seen as likely after the two sides struck a deal last week in a separate row over Chinese solar panel exports to Europe. Beijing had launched its investigation into European wine sales after the European Union moved to impose steep import duties on Chinese solar panels.

US hiring slows, but jobless rate falls

US employers slowed their pace of hiring in July but the jobless rate fell anyway, mixed signals that could make the Federal Reserve more cautious about drawing down its huge economic stimulus programme.
The number of jobs outside the farming sector increased by 162 000, the Labour Department said on Friday.
That was below the median forecast in a poll of 184 000. Compounding that miss, the government also cut its previous estimates for hiring in May and June.
At the same time, the jobless rate fell two tenths of a point to 7.4%, its lowest in over four years. Gains in employment fueled some of that decline, but the labor force also shrank during the month, robbing some of the luster from the decline in the unemployment rate.
The data reinforces the view that the job market is inching toward recovery, with the broader economy still stuck in low gear.
"The US economy is grinding along for the better, but it's going to be a long and slow grind," Tanweer Akram, an economist at ING US Investment Management in Atlanta, said ahead of the report.
The question is whether the pace of job gains is enough for the Fed to feel the US economy is ready to get by with less support. The US central bank currently buys $85 billion a month in bonds to keep borrowing costs low.
The stimulus program has lowered interest rates, spurring growth in the country's beleaguered housing market and boosting car sales. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month the U.S. central bank would likely reduce the level of monthly purchases by the end of the year, and end them by mid-2014.
The Fed's policymaking committee wrapped up a two-day meeting on Wednesday without any change to the program. The panel's statement, however, referenced new factors that could be seen as risks to growth: a recent rise in mortgage rates and persistently low inflation. Central bank policymakers next meet in September.
Structural concerns
The growth in payrolls left the three-month average gain at 175 000. Many economists believe even hiring around that level could lead the Fed to trim its bond buying in September.
But Friday's jobs report could also entertain darker views on the economy.
For one, analysts wonder if the pace of job creation can be sustained given slower-than-expected economic growth.
Gross domestic product, a measure of the nation's economic output, grew at a mere 1.4% annual rate in the first half of the year, down from 2.5% in the same period of 2012.
Most economists expect GDP will accelerate in the second half of this year, which would make it more plausible for the current hiring trend to continue.
But the fact that job creation has been relatively robust despite weak output might point to a frightening possibility: perhaps the economy's growth potential has fallen.
This would mean less output is needed to create jobs, but that incomes would grow at a slower pace over the long run. The prospect of such a structural shift worries economists and investors.
"It's something we have been talking about a lot," Jeffrey Cleveland, a Los Angeles-based economist at investment management firm Payden & Rygel, said ahead of the report.
Friday's report showed the average work week declined to 34.4 hours, while average earnings slipped 0.1%.

 

China opposed to US sanctions on Iran

China, Iran's largest trading partner and top oil customer, repeated its opposition on Friday to tougher US sanctions on Iran after the House of Representatives approved a bill aimed at halting Iran's oil exports.
The bill seeks to cut Iran's oil exports by a further one million barrels per day to near zero over a year, an attempt to reduce the flow of funds to Tehran's disputed nuclear programme. The legislation provides for heavy penalties for buyers who do not find alternative supplies.
"China has long advocated resolution through dialogue and negotiations and opposes unilateral sanctions from one nation based on its domestic laws," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a faxed statement .
"In particular, it opposes sanctions that will hurt the interests of a third party," it added, without elaborating.
The success of any toughening of the sanctions will depend on China, Iran's top customer, which has repeatedly said it opposes unilateral sanctions outside the purview of the United Nations.
China reduced oil purchases from Iran by 21% last year, but that was partly on account of differences in the first quarter over the renewal terms of annual contracts and shipping delays.
Chinese oil industry officials have said refiners are likely to cut shipments 5% to 10% this year from last. They cut imports 2% in the first six months of the year.
China has consistently advocated resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme through talks and has opposed what it views as unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union made outside the framework of the United Nations.

Japan policies involve risks - IMF

A failure of the economic policies promoted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would take a toll on the global economy, the International Monetary Fund said late Thursday.
Abe has advocated aggressive monetary easing steps to reinvigorate the world's third-largest economy and pull it out of the deflation that has lasted more than a decade.
The IMF has supported the policies, and said in a report released in Washington that Abe's economic programme, so-called Abenomics, "would have clear positive net growth spillovers on the global economy."
However, the report added that without structural reforms, fiscal consolidation, and the achievement of a new inflation target, output in Japan could decrease by 4% after 10 years.
The IMF simulations suggested that global output losses could reach 2% of GDP if investors in Japan were to reconsider the risk of their investments, leading long-term interest rates to rise 2 percentage points, the report said.

EU signs off on China solar deal

European Union officials endorsed a deal on Friday to settle a dispute with China over solar panels, the biggest trade row to date between the two powers, after winning almost unanimous backing from member states.
The agreement will be officially published on Saturday and takes effect on August 6. Chinese firms who agree to its terms will avoid duties that the 28-nation EU had planned to impose.
In a statement, the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said it had received almost unanimous support but declined to give details on any possible abstentions.
"We can't go into details. A huge majority of member states voted in favour. No member state voted against," a Commission spokesman said.
The EU trade chief and his Chinese counterpart agreed late last month to set a minimum price for panels from China near spot market prices.
European solar panel makers have accused China of benefiting from huge state subsidies, allowing them to dump about €21bn ($27.79bn) worth of below-cost panels in Europe last year.
The EU had planned to impose hefty tariffs from August 6 but, wary of offending China's leaders and losing business in the world's No. 2 economy, a majority of governments, led by Germany, opposed the plan, allowing for the compromise deal.
Europe is China's most important trading partner, while for the EU, China is second only to the United States. Chinese exports of goods to the bloc totalled €290bn last year, with €144bn going the other way.

Fukushima water rises above barrier

Radioactive groundwater at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has risen to levels above a barrier being built to contain it, highlighting the risk of an increasing amount of contaminated water reaching the sea, Japanese media report.
The Asahi newspaper, citing data from a meeting of a task force working on the Fukushima clean-up at Japan's nuclear regulator, estimated that the contaminated water could swell to the ground surface within three weeks.
The latest revelation underscores the hurdles facing Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) 2-1/2 years after a massive earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima plant, triggering the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
One of Tepco's biggest challenges is trying to contain radioactive water that cools the reactors as it mixes with about 400 tons of fresh groundwater pouring into the plant daily.
Tepco has been injecting a chemical into the ground to build barriers to contain the groundwater, but the method is only effective in solidifying the ground from 1.8m below the surface, whereas data from test wells shows the contaminated water has risen to one metre below the surface, the newspaper said.

NZ milk powder scare over botulism

China halted imports of all New Zealand milk powder, New Zealand's trade minister said on Sunday, after bacteria that could cause botulism found in some dairy products raised food safety concerns that threatened its $9.4bn annual dairy trade.
Global dairy trade giant Fonterra said on Saturday it had sold contaminated New Zealand-made whey protein concentrate to eight customers in Australia, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Saudi Arabia for use in a range of products, including infant milk powder.
Nearly 90% of China's $1.9bn in milk powder imports last year originated in New Zealand, so a prolonged ban could result in a shortage of dairy products in China.
Foreign-branded infant formula in particular is a prized commodity in China given consumer distrust of Chinese brands after a series of domestic food safety scandals.
New Zealand's neighbour Australia was caught up in the ban after some of the contaminated whey protein concentrate was exported there before being sent on to China and elsewhere.
"The authorities in China, in my opinion absolutely appropriately, have stopped all imports of New Zealand milk powders from Australia and New Zealand," said New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser.
Ingredient
"It's better to do blanket protection for your people and then wind it back when we, our authorities, are in a position to give them the confidence and advice that they need before doing that," he said.
There was no official word of a ban from Chinese authorities on Sunday.
Chinese state radio said on Saturday that Fonterra was notifying three Chinese firms affected by the contamination.
Some of China's biggest food and beverage companies are said to be customers of Fonterra, using its milk powder as an ingredient in everything from confectionery to cheese on frozen pizza.
Fonterra is a major supplier of bulk milk powder products used in formula in China but it had stayed out of branding after Chinese dairy company Sanlu, in which it had held a large stake, was found to have added melamine  often used in plastics  to bulk up formulas in 2008.
More than six children died in the industry-wide scandal and hundreds were made sick.

Goldman, LME face legal challenge

The London Metal Exchange and Goldman Sachs have been named as co-defendants in a US class-action lawsuit alleging anti-competitive behaviour in aluminium warehousing, said Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx).
Goldman on Wednesday tried to diffuse years of frustration over long waiting times and inflated prices at metals warehouses across the world by offering immediate access to aluminium for end users holding metal at its Metro warehouses.
Criticism of banks that own commodity assets and trade raw materials has ratcheted up in recent weeks, with the US Department of Justice starting a preliminary probe into the metals warehousing industry, sources said.
Britain's financial watchdog is also investigating the LME's warehousing system.
The lawsuit alleges "anti-competitive and monopolistic behaviour in the warehousing market in connection with aluminium prices", LME owner HKEx said in a statement on Sunday.
The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed on Friday in the US District Court in Michigan, is Superior Extrusion  an end user of aluminium.
"LME management's initial assessment is that the suit is without merit and LME will contest it vigorously," HKEx said.
Customers and US lawmakers have accused Goldman and other warehouse owners of artificially inflating waiting times to boost rents for warehouse owners and lift metal prices.
London Metal Exchange aluminium for three months delivery closed at $1 809 per ton on Friday.

NEWS,31.07. AND 01.08.2013

UK bodies act to bolster consumer safety

Four British consumer and business bodies have taken legal steps that could compel the regulator to take swift action to end scams after years of financial product mis-selling.
In a bid to end the litany of mis-selling which stretches back to the 1980s with pensions and home loans, Britain's finance ministry said on Wednesday that four bodies have applied for "super complainant" status.
This means that if they collate enough documented evidence that consumers of financial services are being ripped off, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulator must say within 90 days what action, if any, it will take.
Banks have paid over £10bn ($15.26bn) in compensation so far for selling unsuitable loan insurance, a mounting bill that forced Barclays on Tuesday to announce plans to replenish its capital buffer.
One of the applicants for super complainant status, the Federation of Small Businesses, is representing companies who believe they were mis-sold interest rate protection by banks.
The FCA replaced the Financial Services Authority in April, which was scrapped partly because of mis-selling scandals. The FCA has a remit to protect consumers with its powers to ban products.
"By giving certain consumer and business groups the ability to make 'super-complaints' to the new regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, we can all help to tackle bad practice more rapidly and robustly than before," UK financial services minister Greg Clark said in a statement.
The other three bodies are the Citizens Advice Bureau, consumers association and Consumer Council Northern Ireland. Others are expected and a decision on who will be granted super complainant status will be taken later this year.
Britain passed a law in 2012 making it possible for consumer bodies to become super complainants and called in March for applicants.

'Obamacare' delay to hit US workers hard

President Barack Obama's decision to delay implementation of part of his healthcare reform law will cost $12bn and leave a million fewer Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance in 2014, congressional researchers said Tuesday.
The report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is the first authoritative estimate of the human and fiscal cost from the administration's unexpected one-year delay announced on  July 2 of the employer mandate - a requirement for larger businesses to provide health coverage for their workers or pay a penalty.
The analysts said the delay will add to the cost of "Obamacare's" insurance-coverage provisions over the next 10 years. Penalties paid by employers would be lower and more individuals who otherwise might have had employer coverage will need federal insurance subsidies.
"Of those who would otherwise have obtained employment-based coverage, roughly half will be uninsured (in 2014)," CBO said in a July 30 letter to Representative Paul Ryan, Republican chairperson of the House of Representatives Budget Committee.
Under Obama's healthcare reform law, employers with 50 or more full-time workers were supposed to provide healthcare coverage or incur penalties beginning on January 1. But the requirement will now begin in 2015.
The delay intensified doubts about the administration's ability to implement Obama's signature domestic policy achievement, and stirred Republican calls for a similar delay in another Obamacare mandate that requires most individuals to have health insurance in 2014.
The Republican-controlled House followed up the administration's decision by voting on July 17 for its own measures to delay the employer and individual mandates. Neither piece of legislation is expected to succeed in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
State and federal officials are racing to set up new online health insurance exchanges, where lower-to-moderate income families that lack health insurance will be able to sign up for federally subsidised coverage beginning on October 1. The poor will also be able to sign up for Medicaid coverage in 23 states that have opted to expand the programme.
Most large employers already offer health insurance and CBO said few are expected to drop coverage because of the delay.
But the change will still result in a $10bn reduction in penalty payments that some employers would have made in 2015 for failing to provide coverage next year, CBO said.
The change also means another $3bn in added costs for exchange subsidies. That is because about half of the one million workers who would have gained employer-sponsored coverage next year will now obtain insurance through the exchanges or via public programmes including Medicaid, CBO said.
Other changes, including an increase in taxable compensation resulting from fewer people enrolling in employment-based coverage, will offset those factors by about $1bn.
CBO now puts the net cost of Obamacare's insurance coverage provisions at around $1.38trn over the next 10 years, versus its May baseline projection of $1.36trn.

Obama offers 'grand jobs bargain'

President Barack Obama proposed a "grand bargain for middle-class jobs" on Tuesday that would cut the US corporate tax rate and use billions of dollars in revenues generated by a business tax overhaul to fund projects aimed at creating jobs.
The goal, as outlined in his speech to an enthusiastic audience at an Amazon.com Inc facility in southeastern Tennessee, was to break through partisan gridlock in Congress with a formula that satisfies Republicans and Democrats alike.
But there was no sign that congressional Republicans who have fought nearly every facet of Obama's domestic agenda would look favourably upon the president's proposal.
The president's plan combined a proposed corporate tax rate cut desired by Republicans with new spending on infrastructure projects like roads and bridges as well as education investment desired by his fellow Democrats.
"I've come here to offer a framework that might help break through the political logjam in Washington and get some of these proven ideas moving," Obama said.
Despite the olive branch, Obama's proposal immediately drew fire from the top Republicans in Congress. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said: "It's just a further-left version of a widely panned plan he already proposed two years ago - this time, with extra goodies for tax-and-spend liberals."
Bickering broke out as the White House said it had tried to tell aides to John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, about the plan on Monday but, according to Obama spokesperson Jay Carney, "never heard back" from them.
The president in his speech also jabbed at Republicans over their support for a proposed oil pipeline from Canada and their continual opposition to his ideas.
The contretemps reflected the hyperpartisan environment that has made negotiations nearly impossible in Washington. Efforts to reach a "grand bargain" between Democrats and Republicans on deficit reduction have been at an impasse for months.
New showdowns over spending are expected in the fall, as Congress confronts an October 1 deadline to pass a bill funding the government and then a White House request to raise the federal borrowing limit, known as the "debt ceiling".
Senior administration officials said Obama is not giving up on a big deficit-cutting package, but since no agreement appears imminent, he is offering a new idea to try to follow through on his 2012 re-election campaign promises to help the middle class.
But his narrow proposal on corporate taxes suggested that Obama had all but abandoned a big deal with Republicans on deficit reduction. He argued the deficit was rapidly declining anyway and no deal seemed near with his political opponents.
'The white flag'
The president cast his latest tax proposal as part of a menu of items he is offering to help the United States pick up its economic game in a competitive world economy.
"If we don't make these investments and reforms, we might as well throw up the white flag while the rest of the world forges ahead in a global economy," he said. "And that does nothing to help the middle class."
Obama wants to cut the corporate tax rate of 35% to 28% and give manufacturers a preferred rate of 25%. He also wants a minimum tax on foreign earnings as a tool against corporate tax evasion and the use of tax havens.
In exchange for his support for a corporate tax reduction, Obama wants the money generated by a tax overhaul to be used to fund such projects as repairing roads and bridges, improving education at community colleges and promoting manufacturing, senior administration officials said.
For his part Obama, who will need Republican backing for any budget deal, had scathing words for Republican proposals on economic growth.
He spoke dismissively of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, which Republicans have urged him to approve because of its economic benefits. The president said it would create only 50 permanent jobs, adding: "That's not a jobs plan."
Obama's plan to cut corporate taxes while also curtail some existing tax benefits would result in a one-time source of revenue. The White House did not say how much money would be raised, but Obama called for $50bn for infrastructure spending in his State of the Union speech in February.
Republicans contended that by spending the revenue, it would violate Obama's previous commitment to a "revenue-neutral" overhaul of corporate taxes.
Administration officials said they recognise that the climate is difficult in Congress, with Republicans adamantly refusing anything that is seen as increasing spending and Democrats in no mood to cut taxes and get nothing for it.
The president, who has failed in several tries to reach a comprehensive fiscal accord with Republicans, accused them of holding a personal grudge against him and called for a good-faith exchange of ideas.
"If folks in Washington really want a grand bargain, how about a grand bargain for middle-class jobs?" Obama said.
"I don't want to go through the same old arguments where I propose an idea and the Republicans just say: 'No,' because it's my idea. So I'm going to try offering something that serious people in both parties should be able to support," he added.
Boehner's spokesperson, Michael Steel, criticised the proposal even before Obama's speech, saying: "Republicans want to help families and small businesses, too.
"This proposal allows President Obama to support President Obama's position on taxes and President Obama's position on spending, while leaving small businesses and American families behind."

Iran sanctions bill to slash oil exports

The House of Representatives easily passed a bill on Wednesday to tighten sanctions on Iran, showing a strong message to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program days before President-elect Hassan Rouhani is sworn in.
The vote also highlighted a growing divide between Congress and the Obama administration on Iran policy ahead of international talks on the nuclear program in coming months. Iran insists the nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.
The bill, which passed 400 to 20, would cut Iran's oil exports by another 1 million barrels per day over a year to near zero, in an attempt to reduce the flow of funds to the nuclear program. It is the first sanctions bill to put a number on exactly how much Iran's oil exports would be cut.
The legislation provides for heavy penalties for buyers who do not find alternative supplies, limits Iran's access to funds in overseas accounts and penalizes countries trading with Iran in other industrial sectors.
Existing US and EU measures have already reduced Iran's oil exports by more than half from pre-sanction levels of about 2.2m barrels per day (bpd), costing Tehran billions of dollars in lost revenue a month.
Most of the OPEC member's exports head to Asia, where the United States has worked with Iran's top four customers China, India, Japan and South Korea to push them towards alternative suppliers. The four have cut purchases from Iran by more than a fifth in the first half of this year, over and above the reductions made last year.
China
The success of any toughening of the sanctions will depend on China, Iran's top customer, which has repeatedly said it opposes unilateral sanctions outside the purview of the United Nations, such as those imposed by the United States.
The country reduced oil purchases from the Middle Eastern nation by 21% last year, but that was partly on account of differences in the first quarter over the renewal terms of annual contracts and shipping delays.
Chinese officials have said refiners are likely to cut shipments 5% to 10% this year from last. They cut imports 2% in the first six months of the year.
"I don't think the Chinese government will give in to this kind of pressure," said an official with a Chinese refinery that processes Iranian crude. "There is no chance that Iranian supplies would come to a halt."
For now, relatively steady oil prices have allowed the efforts to continue, but analysts say further sanctions risk pushing up prices and damaging the economies of US allies.
"This is almost like an embargo on Iranian oil imports. It is like giving Iran an ultimatum," a Seoul-based refining source said, after the vote. "I think we can find alternatives but we prefer Iranian crude as the economics are better. If very little Iranian crude is available, overall oil prices would rise."
The bill still has to be passed in the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama before becoming law. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to introduce a similar measure in September, though it is uncertain whether the language to cut exports by 1 million barrels a day will survive.
Critics of the bill said it shows an aggressive signal to Iran that last month voted in Rouhani, a cleric many see as more moderate. He will be sworn in on Sunday.
No higher priority
Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican and Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who introduced the bill with Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, said the United States has no higher national security priority than preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.
Royce said the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's drive to develop a nuclear arsenal was evident. "New president or not, I am convinced that Iran's Supreme Leader intends to continue on this path," he said.
The vote showed a growing disagreement between the White House and Congress on Iran policy. A senior administration official said on Wednesday the White House is not opposed to new sanctions in principle, but wants to give Rouhani a chance.
The Treasury Department last week partially eased sanctions on Iran by expanding a list of medical devices that can be exported there without special permission.
One of the 20 lawmakers to vote against the bill, Jim McDermott, a Washington-state Democrat, said shortly before the vote that the rush to sanction Iran before Rouhani takes office could hurt efforts to deflate the nuclear issue.
"It's a dangerous sign to send and it limits our ability to find a diplomatic solution to nuclear arms in Iran," McDermott said.
A supporter of harsher sanctions disagreed.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "doesn't see our flexibility and good faith efforts as a sign of good intentions, he sees it as a sign of weakness," said Mark Dubowitz, the head of Foundation of Defense of Democracies, an advocate of sanctions.
"If anything, it's only going to be massively intensified sanctions that get him to blink."
But Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American council, said the House action undermines the US strategy which has long been one of good cop - bad cop.
The White House has taken a softer stance toward Iran's nuclear program and Congress has taken a tougher one. But now there are signs that the good cop cannot control the bad cop, he said.
"The impression on the Iranian side is not that it's good cop bad cop, but complete chaos and mayhem," Parsi said.
'Too much'
The bill also further denies Iran's government access to foreign currency reserves, and targets Iranian efforts to circumvent international sanctions against its shipping business.
"I think it's too much. Asian countries don't have much oil resources and they need to import a lot from the Middle East," said a trader with a North Asian buyer of Iranian crude. "If the United States keeps pushing further, it would be a big burden for Asian refineries."
While the bill has more steps to clear before becoming law, other buyers, apart from China, have already begun voicing their inability to reduce dependence on Iranian oil much further.
"Cuts in our imports from Iran have been the maximum as compared to other Asian countries," an Indian industry executive said. "At this moment there is no scope for further reduction."
India cut its Iranian oil imports by 43% over the first half of the year. That's more than the 27% cut by South Korea and 22.5% by Japan.
Turkey would also struggle to cut its crude oil imports from Iran any further, a Turkish official said. 

Snowden leaves Moscow airport

Fugitive former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden left Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday after Russia granted him refugee status, ending more than a month in limbo in the transit area.

A lawyer who has been assisting Snowden said the young American, who is wanted in the United States for leaking details of secret government intelligence programmes, had left the airport for a secure location which would remain secret.

"Edward Snowden has successfully acquired refugee status in Russia," the anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks, which is also assisting Snowden, confirmed on Twitter.

His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told state television: "I have just seen him off. He has left for a secure location ... Security is a very serious matter for him."

Snowden, aged 30, arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on 23 June. He had hoped to fly to Latin America, where three countries have offered to shelter him, but was concerned that the United States would prevent him reaching his destination.

Snowden's case has caused new strains in relations between Russia and the United States which wants him extradited to face espionage charges.

According to reports, Snowden, who has left the airport for an undisclosed location, will be allowed to live in Russia for a year.

US dept 'horrified' by WikiLeaks release

Prosecutors in the case of US soldier Bradley Manning are focusing on the damage done by his release through WikiLeaks of more than 250 000 US diplomatic cables.

The first witness on Thursday at Manning's sentencing hearing was former deputy assistant secretary of state Elizabeth Dibble.
She says agency officials reacted with "horror and disbelief" when WikiLeaks began publishing the leaked cables in the autumn of 2010.
The former army intelligence analyst faces up to 136 years in prison for sending the cables and more than 470 000 Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports to the anti-secrecy website.
The government opened its sentencing case on Wednesday with testimony that WikiLeaks' publication of the leaked battlefield reports fractured US military relationships with foreign governments and silenced some friendly Afghan villagers.