NEWS,05. AND 06.03.2013

Prince to boycott Forbes billionaires list

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the richest man in the Arab world, is to boycott Forbes magazine's global billionaires list claiming that it underestimates his wealth, his Kingdom Holding Company announced Tuesday.Forbes' recently issued billionaires list puts Alwaleed at 26th place, with a net worth of $20bn.A statement posted on the company's website said that "Prince Alwaleed has taken this step as he felt he could no longer participate in a process which resulted in the use of incorrect data and seemed designed to disadvantage Middle Eastern investors and institutions."It said Forbes was using "differing standards of proof for different individuals and organizations resulting in an arbitrary and confusing set of standards that seems demonstrably biased against the Middle East".The Kingdom Holding Company statement included a recommendation for the rival Bloomberg Billionaires List which puts Alwaleed in 16th place worldwide and pegs his wealth at $28bn.An article posted on Forbes' website hit back at Alwaleed, saying that "Of the 1 426 billionaires on our list, not one ... goes to greater measures to try to affect his or her ranking".Forbes writer Kerry Dolan added that "former Alwaleed executives have been telling me that the prince, while indeed one of the richest men in the world, systematically exaggerates his net worth by several billion dollars".

EU delays bank bonus ban

European Union governments on Tuesday delayed a decision on controversial bank bonus caps after Britain offered hope of an overall deal if given more time to negotiate.EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to take another look at plans to cap bonuses at the same amount as is paid in a fixed annual salary, or twice that sum if shareholders approved the payment.British Finance Minister George Osborne told his peers during a public debate on Tuesday that "we can’t support the proposal currently on the table".However, he added, that "if we make progress in the next couple of weeks ... I would hope that the finance minister of the largest financial centre in Europe can support (an amended legislative text) wholeheartedly". The European Parliament is planning to vote in April on the accord drawn up with the Irish EU presidency which introduces new internationally agreed legislation to strengthen banks and make them better able to withstand any future crisis.Parliament insisted that a cap on bank bonuses be included at the same time so as to satisfy public anger over the issue.After last week's accord was worked out, Switzerland voted on Sunday strongly in favour of sharp curbs on executive pay, widely blamed for the excessive risk-taking which contributed to the 2008 global financial crisis.The new regulations called Basel III primarily tighten up bank capital requirements. They were due to take effect this January but next year now seems the most likely.Britain is home to some three quarters of the EU's finance industry and London has long maintained that bonus and salary caps would make Europe's banking sector uncompetitive.Osborne said, however, that he accepted and understood public anger at exorbitant remuneration that brought banks and then governments to their knees in the last five years.He told his counterparts that Britain was "absolutely clear that more and more of the pay paid to bankers should be tied to long-term performance".He pleaded that banking excesses had already been curbed, arguing that "bonuses in London are today 80% less than at the height of the irresponsibility in the banking system".And he warned that the plans agreed by the EU's Irish chair and the Parliament would leave taxpayers exposed once more."It will push salaries up, it will actually make it more difficult to claw back bonuses when things go wrong," Osborne said.An official said negotiations would now centre on how to steer permissible incentives more towards the long-term, with extra safeguards enabling "clawbacks" when things go wrong.Osborne won crucial backing during the meeting from Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said the "broad concensus" of support around the table was adequate but not sufficient."I think if we could achieve (an agreement) in the final decision, not only a qualified majority, it would be better" than isolating London in another backs-to-the-wall vote, he reasoned.Ireland's Michael Noonan, summing up, said officials and the European Parliament would work further on the proposed caps and timescales for banks to apply them."We will try to iron these out in the coming weeks," said Noonan.

BoE boss urges government to break up RBS

Bank of England governor Mervyn King said on Wednesday that the British government should split the Royal Bank of Scotland into "good" and "bad" bank divisions to return it more quickly to the private sector.King argued that state-rescued RBS needed a "decisive restructuring" in comments before the Parliamentary commission on banking standards, which was set up to report on professional standards and culture in Britain's banks.The BoE chief told lawmakers that RBS was holding the wider economy back, and added that it was "not beyond the wit of man" to split RBS into a "good" and "bad" bank to ensure it would aid recovery and boost lending."The lessons of history is that we should face up to it - it's worth less than we thought and we should accept that and get back to finding a way to create a new RBS that could be a major lender to the UK economy," said King, who will be replaced as the central bank's head by Canadian Mark Carney in July.RBS, which remains 81% state-owned after a vast state bailout, had last week posted a net loss of almost £6.0bn (€6.9bn, $9.0bn) for 2012. That was the bank's fifth successive annual loss.The lender was rescued at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008 with £45.5bn of taxpayers' cash.RBS chief executive Stephen Hester had insisted on Thursday last week that its return to the private sector was on track and could be completed within two years.However, King said on Wednesday that it was "nonsense" to think the government could run the bank at arm's length, adding that he had discussed the matter with Finance Minister George Osborne."Time has passed and aside from reducing the balance sheet, nothing has been achieved - we haven't managed to get it into the private sector," noted the BoE chief."It would be much better to accept that it should have been a temporary period only, and the longer this goes on, the more difficult it becomes."RBS was plagued last year by compensation payouts for mis-selling, Libor rate-rigging fines and a vast accounting charge.Losses after taxation widened to £5.97bn last year, compared with a shortfall of £1.997bn in 2011.RBS was sunk by its badly-timed consortium takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro at the top of the market in 2007, just before the financial crisis struck.

US wasted billions in Iraq

After invading Iraq ten years ago, the United States spent $60bn on a vast reconstruction effort that left behind few successes and a litany of failures, an auditor's report said on Wednesday. The ambitious plan to transform the country after the fall of Saddam Hussein has been marked by half-finished projects and crushed expectations, according to the final report of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen.The aid effort was plagued by in-fighting among US agencies and an improvised "adhocracy" approach, with no one clearly in charge of a massive investment that was supposed to put Iraq on a stable footing, said the report to Congress."Management and funding gaps caused hundreds of projects to fall short of promised results, leaving a legacy of bitter dissatisfaction among many Iraqis," it said.Some of the reconstruction money was stolen, with a number of US military officers and contractors now imprisoned for fraud, while other funds remain unaccounted for to this day, it said.Of $2.8bn in Iraqi oil revenues handled by the US Defence Department, officials could not produce documents accounting for the use of about $1.7bn, including $1.3bn in fuel purchases, it said.The lengthy report highlighted some of the worst examples of mismanagement and graft and included interviews with senior Iraqi and US officials who mostly regretted the outcome of the reconstruction programme."The level of fraud, waste, and abuse in Iraq was appalling," Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, was quoted as saying.She was "especially angry when she learned that some reconstruction money found its way into the hands of insurgent groups," the report said.Both Iraqi and US officials agreed that the Americans ignored the advice of Iraqis or never bothered to consult them before launching costly projects, with sometimes disastrous results.The litany of failures included a new police academy with raw sewage leaking through ceilings, a subcontractor charging $900 for a control switch valued at seven dollars and a project to build large prison in Diyala province that was eventually abandoned, despite an investment of $40m.

Memorable Chavez quotes

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died on Tuesday at the age of 58, was a garrulous public speaker whose words enchanted followers and angered foes. Here are some memorable phrases:

- "Comrades, regrettably, for now the goals we set were not achieved."

On 4 February 1992 when the then paratrooper lieutenant colonel took responsibility for the failure of a coup against Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez.

- "Marisabel, tonight I will give you what is yours."

On 14 February 2000 to his wife Marisabel Rodriguez, whom he later divorced.

- "Cuba is the sea of happiness. That's where Venezuela is going."

On 8 March 2000 as he received Cuban volunteer workers. Cuba's retired leader Fidel Castro was a key political ally of Chavez, who regarded him as "a father".

- "ALCA, ALCA... al carajo [Go to hell]!"

On 4 November 2005 on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in the Argentina as he opposed the creation of the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas, known by the Spanish acronym ALCA.

- "You are a donkey, Mr Danger."

On 19 March 2006 in his weekly television show Hello President, referring to then US president George W Bush, whom he also described as "a coward", "a killer", "a [perpetrator of] genocide" and "a drunk".

- "Yesterday, the devil was here. Right here, and it still smells of sulfur."

On 20 September 2006 in a speech to the UN General Assembly again referring to Bush, who had addressed the assembly a day earlier.

- "Don't mess with me, Condoleezza. Don't mess with me, girl."

On 19 February 2006, responding to then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who days earlier had slammed Venezuela as a threat to regional democracy and a "sidekick" of Iran.

- "Go to hell, shitty Yankees!"

On 11 September 2008, during a fiery speech as he expelled the US ambassador in Caracas in solidarity with Bolivia, which had taken a similar action days earlier.

- "I want to be your friend."

On 18 April 2009 to US President Barack Obama during the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

- "We will live and will win!"

On 30 June 2011 after he was diagnosed with cancer, dropping his gloomier slogan: "Socialist fatherland or death."

- "You have a pig's tail, a pig's ears, and you snort like a pig. You are a pig."

On 16 February 2012 to opposition rival Henrique Capriles ahead of the October presidential election.

- "Give me your crown of thorns, Christ, give it to me, so that I bleed; Give me your cross, 100 crosses, and I will carry them for you. But give me life, because I still have things to do for my people and my country. Don't take me yet."

On 5 April 2012 during a mass for his health during cancer treatment.

- "Choose Maduro as president of the republic. I am asking you this from all my heart."

On 8 December 2012 urging countrymen to vote for Vice President Nicolas Maduro in the next election should he become incapacitated as he revealed that he needed more cancer surgery.

- "We have arrived again to the Venezuelan motherland... Thank you, God. Thank you, my beloved people... I am holding on to Jesus Christ and trust my doctors and nurses... As always, see you in victory. We will live and we will win."

On 18 February breaking a weeks-long period of silence to announce his return to Venezuela after a final trip to Cuba for treatment.

Venezuela says goodbye to Chavez

Throngs of Venezuelans crowded the streets of Caracas on Wednesday, many clad in red, waving flags and weeping in a final goodbye to late president Hugo Chavez as he was taken through the capital. Some watched from apartment windows, others climbed fences to get a better view and many held up smartphones to take pictures of the flag-draped coffin adorned with flowers. Many shouted "I love you Chavez!""Viva my comandante! We love you Chavez," exclaimed Hector Carrasquel, 40, who came from Tejeria, west of Caracas, for the procession."I'm here to say my final goodbye to my president. There will never be another Chavez. He is the greatest man that this fatherland gave us," said Jose Gregorio Conde, 34, an education worker."I couldn't sleep all night thinking about what happened," he said outside the Caracas military hospital where Chavez lost his battle to cancer on Tuesday at the age of 58.A guard in red uniform led the procession, holding a sword, as Vice President Nicolas Maduro and other officials marched toward the military academy where Chavez will lie in state until Friday. "What can I say, I am very sad," said Isabel Febres, who cried as she stared at a photo of Chavez with his presidential sash.Many had spent the night outside the hospital while others arrived early under the Caribbean sun. Some read the official daily Ciudad Caracas, whose headline read "Onward to victory, always, Comandante Chavez!""I love him," said Iris Dicuro, 62, who came from the north-eastern city of Puerto La Cruz and wore a shirt with the words "Forward Comandante”. "I want to bid farewell because he was a good man who gave everything to the poor.""He did well for me. I am healthy thanks to him, for the Cuban doctors that he brought here," she said, referring to one of the many oil-funded social programs he brought to impoverished neighbourhoods.Amid the grief, many were sure that Chavez's 14-year legacy would continue and that they would vote for Maduro, his chosen successor, in elections expected to take place within 30 days."God willing, we will continue the last wishes of my president and we will vote for Maduro. We can't allow everything to be lost. What he did, giving us education, new homes, food, he did so much," said Mairis Briceno, 21, wearing a red shirt with an image of Chavez hugging and elderly woman and the words "love with love pays off”.Aldemar Castro, a 29-year-old bricklayer, said that if Chavez hand-picked Maduro, "it is because he knows that he can do something good for Venezuela.”

UN holds minute's silence for Chavez

The United Nations' main human rights forum observed a minute's silence on Wednesday for the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez whose record it has often criticised over the years.The UN Human Rights Council has voiced repeated concerns about freedom of expression, lack of independence of the judiciary, restrictions on activists, and arbitrary detentions in Venezuela under Chavez who died on Tuesday.The ambassador of Cuba which has declared three days of mourning for its ally Chavez - led diplomats in Geneva in observing the minute's silence."On behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean states, we wish to express our deep solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela, particularly the family members and friends of Commandante Chavez," Ambassador Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo said."Chavez was key in Latin America's advance towards its second independence. He worked tirelessly not only for his people, but for the betterment of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean," she said.Under Chavez, Venezuela achieved most of the ambitious UN targets for improving health and education, known as the Millennium Development Goals, Cuba's envoy said."Chavez has not died, he didn't enter history yesterday, he entered history a decade ago when he began the Bolivarian Revolution and the struggle for real Latin American integration," she said.Poland's Remigiusz Achilles Henczel, who holds the Council's rotating presidency, said: "We reiterate on behalf of the Council our condolences to the people and government of Venezuela at the death of Hugo Chavez."Venezuela became one of the council's 47 members this year, under a system where member countries are selected by the UN General Assembly. Western states expect it to vote along similar lines of Cuba on issues such as Syria and North Korea, now that its Caribbean ally is no longer a member.The Council, which is holding its main annual four-week session, on Tuesday discussed cases of arbitrary detention, including that of Venezuelan judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni Mora.Afiuni has been held since December 2009 and was raped in detention, independent UN experts said last month. She was jailed after allowing the release of a businessman charged with subverting currency controls, saying his pre-trial detention was longer than generally allowed under Venezuelan law."Judge Afiuni's situation is an emblematic case of reprisal for having co-operated with one of the UN's human rights organs," Margaret Sekaggya, UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, said in a 14 February statement.Venezuela's delegation on Tuesday denounced her "fraudulent activities and refusal to appear before the court".