NEWS,18.02.2013

JFK jacket sold for over $600

A leather bomber jacket that belonged to slain US president John F. Kennedy has been sold at auction for $665 500, far exceeding the initial estimate, a Massachusetts auction house said on Monday.The brown Air Force One jacket was one of 700 pieces put on the auction block on Sunday after the family of David Powers, a special assistant to Kennedy, discovered a treasure trove of JFK memorabilia in the Powers family home.The jacket was initially estimated at $20 000 to $40 000.Among the other JFK items up for sale, nearly 50 years after his assassination, were photographs, campaign posters, letters and books belonging to the president. The sale lasted more than six hours, the house said.

 

Horsemeat scare hits UK consumers hard

The discovery of horsemeat in products sold as beef has shocked many British consumers into buying less meat, a survey showed on Monday.The furore, which erupted in Ireland last month and then spread quickly across Europe, has led to ready meals being pulled from supermarket shelves and damaged people's confidence in the food on their plate.It raised concerns over food labelling and the complex supply chain across the European Union, putting pressure on governments to explain lapses in quality control.A fifth of adults said they had started buying less meat after traces of horse DNA were found in some products, according to the poll conducted by Consumer Intelligence research company."Our findings show that this scandal has really hit consumers hard, be it through having to change their shopping habits or altering the fundamentals of their diet," David Black, a spokeperson for Consumer Intelligence said.The online poll, conducted on February 14-15, questioned more than 2 200 adults on their spending habits following the horsemeat scandal. It gave no specific figures on how much meat people were buying, focusing only on broader trends.More than 65% of respondents said they trusted food labels less as a result."(Brands) will have to put in place really stringent ways of checking that what's being delivered and what's on the label is indeed what's in there," Black said. In the month since horsemeat was first identified in Irish beefburgers, no one is yet reported to have fallen ill from eating horse but many supermarkets and fast food chains are already struggling to save their reputations. Governments across Europe have stressed that horsemeat poses little or no health risk, although some carcasses have been found tainted with a painkiller given to racehorses but banned for human consumption. More than 60% of adults surveyed said they would now buy meat from their local butchers, the poll said, while a quarter of adults said they would now buy more joints, chops or steaks instead of processed meat. Michael Suleyman, who owns a family-run butchers shop in Brixton, London, said more customers appeared concerned although for now there had not been any difference in sales figures."We have seen people panicking and asking us lots of questions like 'where do you get your meat from?'," Suleyman, 51, told Reuters. "We assure our customers by showing them the meat and mincing it for them in front of their eyes. "But with inflation running above central bank targets and an uncertain job market, the spending power of British consumers has been eroded in recent years and, for some, buying more expensive meat is not an option. Nearly a fifth of respondents said they wanted buy less processed meat such as ready-meals, but could not afford to. At a London branch of Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, which found horse DNA in some of its own-brand frozen spaghetti bolognese meals last week, consumers were still buying meat products. "I've got nothing against horse meat," said Sean Cosgrove, 39, a local government employee. "I think you're being ambitious if you expect top quality meat in those products anyway."

ECB warns of low interest rates

The head of the European Central Bank on Monday outlined the risks of keeping interest rates low for a long period, suggesting the ECB is unlikely to slash rates further from already record lows.Speaking to members of the European Parliament in Brussels, Mario Draghi also reiterated the bank's view on the level of the euro on the foreign exchange markets, saying talk of a currency war was "really excessive". "Naturally, the ECB is aware of the challenges arising from a protracted period of low policy rates," Draghi said, a week after the bank decided to keep its main interest rate on hold at a record low 0.75%.He said that low interest rates for a long time could harm the returns for savers and investors as well as possibly fuelling bubbles in house prices. In a low interest rate environment, banks might also have less incentive to monitor credit risk properly "and may provide too many loans to non-profitable business," Draghi said.Draghi said current interest rates were "accommodative", which analysts often take to mean that the bank is unlikely to cut them further.Turning to the exchange rate, Draghi said: "I find really excessive any language referring to currency wars" amid concerns that the euro is too strong on the foreign exchange markets and worries over the weak Japanese yen.He referred to the statement made by the Group of 20 countries in Moscow over the weekend, where leading powers vowed they would not target specific forex rates or devalue currencies to make them more competitive."I urge all parties to exercise very, very strong verbal discipline. I think the less we talk about this the better," said Draghi.Some eurozone countries, notably France, have expressed concern that the level of the euro, which has risen recently on the foreign exchange markets, could hurt exports and dampen any nascent recovery in the eurozone.Paris wants the eurozone to arm itself with an exchange rate policy. The external value of the euro should not be left to market forces, French President Francois Hollande has argued.But Draghi hit back saying: "The exchange rate is not a policy target, but it is important for growth and price stability."He also denied that the euro was too strong, saying it was "around its long term average."On the economy, the ECB chief said: "We enter 2013 in a more stable financial environment than in recent years" and predicted "a very gradual recovery" later in the year as the 17-nation eurozone battles with recession.

 

Qatar spends over $15bn on new airport

Energy-rich Qatar will open on April 1 a new airport with a capacity to handle 30 million passengers, as the Gulf state vies to increase its share of transit air travel, an official said Monday."The annual capacity of Hamad International Airport will be 30 million passengers when it opens on April 1," the head of Qatar's Civil Aviation Authority Abdul Aziz al-Nuaimi told AFP.He said the cost of building the new hub over nearly eight years has "exceeded $15bn." Eleven foreign budget carriers will be the first airlines to use the new facility, while the emirate's flag carrier Qatar Airways, will be joining in the second quarter of 2013, he said.The new airport spreads over 29 square kilometres (11.2 square miles), and features two runways stretching 4.85 kilometres (three miles) and 4.25 kilometres (2.64 miles) respectively.The terminal has a total surface of 60 hectares.The new airport, which replaces the old Doha International, is expected to raise its capacity to 50 million passengers per year by 2020.Qatar Airway is one of the fast growing carriers which like neighbouring Gulf carriers, Dubai's Emirates and Abu Dhabi's Etihad, vies to increase its share of transit travel between Europe, Asia and Australia.He acknowledged that austerity in many countries was strangling economic growth but insisted it was "unavoidable" for nations, especially those labouring under high debt, to reduce their public deficits.He called for "properly designed fiscal consolidation as based more on expenditure cuts rather than on tax rises", noting that taxes in the eurozone were "indeed very high already."

Crisis-hit arms market shrinks

For the first time since the mid-1990s, sales of the 100 biggest arms dealers excluding China declined in 2011 as the economic crisis prompted budget cuts, a Stockholm-based think tank said on Monday. The 100 companies' total sales declined, including inflation, by five percent from the previous year, the first time a drop has been registered since 1994, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.Even excluding inflation, the total fell, to €307bn from €412bn in 2010."Austerity policies and proposed and actual decreases in military expenditure as well as postponements in weapons programme procurement affected overall arms sales in North America and Western Europe," SIPRI said in a statement.Troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan and sanctions on arms transfers to Libya also played a role in the decline, it added.Proposed austerity measures "have led some companies to pursue military specialisation, while others have downsized or diversified into adjacent markets" such as security and in particular cyber security, the think tank said.The SIPRI figures do not include China due to a lack of reliable data. Chinese companies supply a military that enjoys the world's second-biggest budget.The list of top 100 arms-producing companies is dominated by American and European companies, which respectively hold 60% and 29% of the global market and together hold the top 17 spots on the list.US group Lockheed Martin is number one, with sales of $36.3bn in 2011, ahead of another US group, Boeing, and BAE Systems of Britain in third place.The think tank, which is specialised in research on conflicts, weapons, arms control and disarmament, was created in 1966 and is 50% financed by the Swedish state. It defines arms sales as "sales of military goods and services to military customers, including both sales for domestic procurement and sales for export."

 

Thai economy soars in fourth-quarter

Thailand's economy enjoyed record growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 as industry recovered from the impact of the kingdom's worst floods in decades, official data showed Monday.Gross domestic product (GDP) soared 18.9% in the three months through December from the year-earlier period according to the government's National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).GDP rose 3.6% compared with the previous quarter.Strong domestic and international demand helped to drive the strong performance, said NESDB secretary general Arkhom Termpittayapaisith. "There has been a full recovery after the severe floods," he told a press conference. The Thai economy suffered a double-digit contraction in the wake of the months-long floods, which deluged vast swathes of the country in 2011, killing hundreds of people and causing widespread damage to factories. At their height the floodwaters affected 65 of the country's 77 provinces, swamping hundreds of thousands of homes and disrupting global supply chains.The NESDB forecasts economic growth of 4.5%-5.0% for 2013, after an expansion of 6.4% in 2012."An economic recovery in the United States, China and Europe will be good for Thai exports," Arkhom said, adding that an increase in the kingdom's minimum wage would also boost domestic demand.Rising car sales and production helped to lift GDP in the fourth quarter due to a government scheme to encourage new vehicle purchases.Thailand's central bank last month held its key interest rate steady at 2.75% citing a better-than-expected performance in the economy.