NEWS,10.04.2012.

North Korea readies for controversial rocket launch

 

Isolated and impoverished North Korea says it is ready to go ahead with its proposed long-range rocket launch in a move that has sparked immediate condemnation from South Korea and Russia and a plea from China, its main ally, for calm.The launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which North Korea says will merely put a weather satellite into space, breaches UN sanctions imposed to prevent Pyongyang from developing a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead."We are expecting to complete the assembly by today," said Ryu Kum-chol, vice director of the space development department of the Korean Central Space Committee."The launch of Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite is the gift from our people to our great leader, comrade Kim Il-sung, on the occasion of his 100th birthday, so this cannot be a missile test," he added.The launch, due between Thursday and next Monday, will coincide with the anniversary celebrations of the country's founder and North Korea says that it is its sovereign right to launch the rocket.The West says it is a disguised ballistic missile test by a country which walked out of so-called six-party disarmament talks three years ago.South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North after their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce, not a treaty, warned Pyongyang it would deepen its isolation if it went ahead with the launch.Security sources in Seoul, citing satellite images, have said that North Korea is also preparing a third nuclear test following the rocket launch, something it did in 2009, a move bound to trigger further condemnation from the West."It is disappointing that the North is forcing its people to endure sacrifices with this provocative action and is bringing isolation and sanctions to itself from the international community," the South's Unification Ministry said in a statement. Russia, a former backer of North Korea which has boosted economic ties with Pyongyang recently, condemned the launch."We consider Pyongyang's decision to conduct a launch of a satellite an example of disregard for UN Security Council decisions," state-run news agency RIA quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich as saying.The rocket will bisect a sea that separates South Korea and China and its flight path will take it towards the Philippines where a second stage of the rocket is due to come down in waters close to the archipelago.China, which backs North Korea economically and diplomatically, reiterated its pleas for calm and said it had "repeatedly expressed its concern and anxiety about the developments", Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a press briefing in Beijing.The prospect of a North Korean rocket launch has alarmed Japan, which was overflown by an earlier rocket and said it would shoot it down if it crossed its airspace."If North Korea launches a missile, Japan will consider the next step in cooperation with international society including the UN Security Council," Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said.Airlines have re-routed flights to avoid the rocket's path.

France's economy grinding to a halt

France's economy posted no growth in the first quarter and there are no signs of a strong recovery in activity in the coming months, according to a Bank of France survey today.In its monthly report, the Bank of France indicated that the euro zone's second largest economy avoided a recession, after it grew by 0.2% in the fourth quarter.However, it said that activity was likely to remain stable in the coming months, a picture confirmed by soft manufacturing data today from the INSEE national statistics office.The Bank of France said that its business sentiment indicator for industry was unchanged in March at 95, a 3-month low it reached in February.It noted that industrial activity improved, with rises in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, transport equipment and hi-tech goods. "Forecasts suggest that activity will remain stable in the short term," the bank said.Economists said that w ith fiscal tightening across Europe weighing on external demand for French goods and with rising domestic unemployment likely to peak next year above 10%, it was no surprise the growth outlook was weak."The figures are a little bit disappointing," said Michel Martinez, economist at Societe Generale in Paris, who forecasts modest 0.5% growth in France for the year as a whole."They are in line with the cyclical picture of the French economy which stalled in the fourth- and the first-quarter and where the recovery will be weak," he said. "You cannot have a tough fiscal adjustment over two years and expect strong growth at the same time."President Nicolas Sarkozy, who trails his Socialist rival in polls ahead of next month's crucial presidential runoff, has made cutting France's deficit a top priority. His government cut the deficit to 5.2% of GDP last year, below its target of 5.7%, and has pledged to balance the budget by 2016.The Bank of France said industrial capacity utilization was unchanged in March and remained below its long-term average. Order books were close to normal levels while inventories were slightly above target.For the services sector, meanwhile, the business sentiment level was also unchanged at 93, while the Bank of France said activity here had grown at a faster pace on the back of transport and engineering.In a separate survey, INSEE said that manufacturing output fell by 1.2% in February after slipping a revised 0.1% in January.For industry as a whole, output increased by 0.3%, in line with economists' forecasts, helped by a rise in gas and electricity consumption amid a cold snap.Industrial output rose a revised 0.2% in month-on-month in January, in line with the euro zone average."Industrial production has been on a downward slope since mid-2011," wrote Fabrice Montagne, an economist at Barclays Capital."We will need to see stronger signs in terms of business sentiment, demand and competitiveness before we can expect a clear upswing in the French industrial sector," he said.Economists said that the data confirmed the picture of an economy in the doldrums."Today's industrial production data support our forecast for flattish GDP in the first quarter," wrote Tullia Bucco, an economist at Unicredit in Milan.Insee had also forecast last month that France's 2 trillion euro economy would post no growth in the first quarter.For the last three months as a whole, manufacturing output fell by 1.1%. It stood 1.6% below its level of a year earlier.Hit by the closure of the Petit-Couronne plant, owned by insolvent oil refiner Petroplus, refining activity plunged by 13% in February.The Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) data last week showed the biggest decline in factory activity for 33 months in March, after briefly stabilizing in February.