NEWS,19.08.2013

Rare diamond to go under the hammer

A rare round blue diamond will go under the hammer in Hong Kong in October, with auctioneers hoping the sale will fetch a record-breaking $19m despite fears over the slowing Chinese economy.

Auction house Sotheby's expect the 7.59-carat fancy vivid blue diamond, which is about the size of a shirt button, to set a new record for price-per-carat.

Quek Chin Yeow, Sotheby Asia's deputy chairperson, said Hong Kong was the natural venue to sell the gem, known as "The Premier Blue", with collectors expected to fly in from all over the world.

"While there is a slowdown (in Chinese economy), the number of top-level collectors are still there," he told AFP.

"We have been selling very well in Hong Kong."

Jewellery auctions

Hong Kong has become a centre for jewellery auctions thanks to growing wealth in China and other parts of the region, as well as the region's increasing taste for art.

But there are fears for the future of the Chinese economy, the world's second largest, where growth fell to 7.8% in 2012 - its slowest pace in 13 years.

Blue diamonds seldom hit the market and have been coveted by royals and celebrities for centuries, while a round cut is rarely used in coloured stones because of the high wastage.

The most famous example of a blue diamond is the "Hope Diamond", which was bought by King Louis XIV of France in the 17th Century.

The term "fancy" is used to describe a diamond of intense colour, while a gem's saturation grading ranges from light to vivid for coloured diamonds.

The Premier Blue will go up for auction on October 7. Quek said the owner wanted to remain anonymous.

In April, a rare 5.3-carat fancy deep-blue diamond was sold for £6.2m ($9.5m) at a London auction, then setting a record for price-per-carat at $1.8m.

China bans more dairy products

More New Zealand milk products sold to China have been banned after elevated levels of nitrates were found, raising further concerns over quality and testing in the world's largest dairy exporter in the wake of a contamination scare earlier this month.
New Zealand's agricultural regulator said on Monday it has revoked export certificates for four China bound consignments of lactoferrin manufactured by Westland Milk Products after higher  than acceptable nitrate levels were found by tests in China.
Two of the four consignments had been shipped to China but had not reached consumers, New Zealand's Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) said.
"Any food safety risk to Chinese consumers is negligible because the quantities of lactoferrin used in consumer products was very small, meaning the nitrate levels in those products would easily be within acceptable levels", Scott Gallacher, the acting director-general of the MPI, said in a statement.
The announcement comes just weeks after Westland's much bigger competitor, Fonterra, said some of its dairy ingredients were contaminated with a botulism-causing bacteria. This prompted a recall of infant formula products, sports drinks and other products in China, New Zealand and other Asia-Pacific nations.
"All of the product has been located, none of it has entered the retail food chain," Westland Chief Executive Rod Quin told . "We're well aware of the wider context of the issue and related concerns, so we've acted to make sure the product doesn't go any further."
China's top quality watchdog said it had halted all imports of the product from Westland and asked other New Zealand dairy companies exporting lactoferrin to provide nitrate test reports.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China urged the New Zealand government to thoroughly scrutinise its dairy companies as well as their products to ensure the safety of exports to China, New Zealand's top dairy market.
Affected batches
The four consignments were derived from two affected batches of lactoferrin, a naturally occurring protein found in milk, manufactured by Westland at its Hokitika factory on the country's South Island.
Initial investigations pointed to contamination by cleaning products which contain nitrates that were not property flushed from the plant, Quin said.
Privately owned Westland makes about 120 000 tonnes of dairy product each year, exporting the majority. Its production pales in comparison with that of Fonterra, which exports 2.5 million tonnes of product.
ANZ agricultural economist Con Williams said that the 390 kg of affected Westland product was much smaller than the 38 tonnes of contaminated product produced by Fonterra. As a result, he expected it would have limited impact on global demand for New Zealand dairy products.
"The timing isn't ideal. There's heightened concern around food safety issues at the moment especially in the dairy sector in light of the Fonterra issue two weeks ago," Williams said.
"But in terms of the actual issues, it doesn't seem to be substantial ... It looks like only a very small amount of product was affected and it doesn't seem to be a food safety issue."
The two batches of lactoferrin showed nitrate levels of 610 and 2 198 parts per million, respectively, above the New Zealand maximum limit of 150 parts per million.
Westland exported one batch directly to a Chinese distributor, which sold the product on as an ingredient for other dairy products. The second batch was supplied to New Zealand's Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company, and also exported to China.
"MPI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the companies concerned are working closely with the Chinese authorities on this issue," Gallacher said.
There was no affected lactoferrin used in products in New Zealand or exported elsewhere.
New Zealand relies on diary exports for about a quarter of its NZ$46bn ($37bn) in annual export earnings.

New Zealand plans tainted dairy probe

New Zealand on Monday announced plans for a government inquiry into how ingredients made by dairy giant Fonterra became contaminated with a botulism-causing bacteria, as the country tries to salvage its reputation as an exporter of safe agricultural products.
The inquiry, to be held alongside two internal Fonterra investigations and another by the country's agricultural regulator, will examine how the potentially contaminated products entered the international market and whether adequate regulatory practices were in place to deal with the issue.
"This will provide the answers needed to the questions that have been raised about this incident, both domestically and internationally," said Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, who is leading the inquiry along with Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye.
"It is also an important step in reassuring our trading partners that we take these issues seriously," he said in a statement.
The contamination announced earlier this month has led to product recalls in countries from China to Saudi Arabia.
Fonterra, the world's largest dairy exporter, has come under attack at home and abroad for dragging its feet in disclosing the discovery of the bacteria.
Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings welcomed the inquiry, saying in the statement that the company would provide all necessary information.
The inquiry will be expected to provide an interim report in around three months.
New Zealand depends on the dairy industry for a quarter of its total exports. China is a major export market for New Zealand's dairy products.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully is visiting Beijing this week in to smooth relations with the country's biggest milk powder customer, and Prime Minister John Key has said he plans to visit China later this year to discuss the contamination issue after the inquiry results are complete.

Greece sacks privatisation agency chief

Greece dismissed the chairperson of its privatisation agency on Sunday after a newspaper reported that he travelled on the private plane of a businessman who just bought a state company.
Stelios Stavridis is the second head of HRADF to leave in less than six months, reigniting controversy around Greece's ailing privatisation programme which is a key part of its international bailout.
Delays and privatisation receipt shortfalls are a constant headache for the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which bankroll Greece's €240bn rescue.
The lenders said last month that they would review the way HRADF was operating, after it emerged that the agency would miss its 2013 revenue target by about €1bn.
"Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras asked today for the resignation of HRADF chairperson Stelios Stavridis," the finance ministry said in a brief statement.
A finance ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told that Stavridis's resignation was effective immediately.
The official said the dismissal followed a report in Proto Thema on Saturday that Stavridis travelled last week on the private plane of shipowner Dimitris Melissanidis, a major shareholder of a Greek-Czech consortium which in May agreed to buy a 33% stake in state gambling firm OPAP.
Stavridis was not immediately available for comment.
According to the newspaper report, he admitted he used Melissanidis's plane to travel to his holiday home.
"Melissanidis, who was travelling to France, offered to take me with him to accommodate me," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Stavridis took the flight immediately the signing of an agreement to finalise the €652m OPAP deal, Proto Thema said.
HRADF chief executive Yannis Emiris told he was keeping his post and that Greece's ailing privatisation programme would not suffer from Stavridis's resignation.
"There will be absolutely no delays to the programme," he said, rejecting the idea that the OPAP deal might be reversed as a result of Stavridis's resignation.
The finance ministry official confirmed the OPAP deal would not be affected and the Stavridis's resignation was for "ethical reasons".
Stavridis's predecessor Takis Athanasopoulos stepped down after he was charged by a prosecutor with breach of duty over his former role as chairman of a state utility.

China wants fewer free trade zone curbs

China hopes to suspend its laws governing foreign investment in proposed free trade zones, the cabinet said, in a sign the world's second-biggest economy could open further to foreign competition.
The State Council, China's cabinet, will ask senior members of the National People's Congress, or parliament, for the power to suspend laws and regulations governing both foreign-owned companies and joint ventures between Chinese and foreign companies in free trade zones, including Shanghai, the cabinet said on its website.
The move is aimed at "accelerating transformation of the government's role ... and innovating ways of (further) opening up (to foreign investment)," according to the statement, seen on Sunday. It set no timetable, and gave no further details.
Foreign direct investment in China slowed in 2012 but reversed its decline in the first quarter of this year as confidence improved.
China attracted $38.3 billion in foreign direct investment in the first four months of 2013, up 1.2 percent from the same period in 2012.
China's financial centre, Shanghai, will test yuan convertibility and cross-border capital flows in the free trade zone pilot programme.
The country's new leaders have signalled they want to speed the process of making the yuan fully convertible over the next few years, as part of efforts to boost the currency's use in trade and support wider financial reforms.
Shanghai officials are keen to experiment with freeing up the capital account and yuan convertibility, fearing the city could be left behind as rival centres, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, move to develop cross-border yuan financial services.
Shanghai stepped up lobbying efforts after the 2012 creation of a special trade zone in Qianhai, near the southern boomtown of Shenzhen and across from Hong Kong, where yuan convertibility is being trialled.
The Qianhai zone, administered by the central bank, the People's Bank of China, lets banks from Hong Kong offer cross-border yuan-denominated loans to mainland firms.
Other initiatives announced in 2013 include trial programmes to smooth the way for foreign firms to move funds in and out of China, cutting the need for approvals and easing bank procedure.

Investors dump India as crisis deepens

Indian policymakers are looking increasingly panicky as they battle the worst currency crisis in more than two decades, and more worryingly there is no sign their remedies are working.
The rupee lurched to a new lifetime low of 62.03 to the dollar on Friday while the benchmark share index posted its biggest one-day fall since September 2011.
"None of the policymakers' Band-Aid measures (from capital controls to tightening liquidity) seems to be working. They have not been able to turn the tide," Rajeev Malik, economist at investment house CLSA, told AFP.
"The government and the Reserve Bank of India are taking fire-fighting measures."
The rupee has lost 57% of its value against the US currency since it peaked at 39.40 rupees to the dollar in February 2008.
The currency's strength began unravelling when Lehman Brothers collapsed later that year, triggering the global financial crisis.
But pressure on the rupee has mounted in the past two years as investor alarm over a slowing economy and a ballooning current account deficit - the widest measure of trade - has grown.
Part of the reason for the currency's most recent slide - it has fallen 13% this year against the greenback - lies outside Indian policymakers' remit.
The currencies of emerging markets globally have fallen on expectations that an increasingly buoyant United States will soon roll back stimulus responsible for funnelling big investments overseas in quest of high yields.
But other reasons for the rupee's drop are home-made - failure to move fast enough on economic reform, a series of government corruption scandals, perceptions of policy paralysis and the record current account deficit, analysts say.
Since June 1, overseas funds have pulled out $11.58bn from India's stock and debt markets.
Investors worry that despite the long-term growth potential of the country of 1.2 billion people, "things are not in shape in the interim period", said investment house IDBI research head Sonam Udasi.
As the rupee's woes have deepened, authorities have responded with a clutch of measures to try to stem its decline and avert a balance-of-payments crisis.
India has painful memories of its 1991 balance of payments crisis when it failed to attract enough foreign currency and was forced to fly 47 tonnes of gold as collateral for an International Monetary Fund loan in what was seen as a national humiliation.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was finance minister at the time, was moved Saturday to rule out a repeat, saying: "There is no question of going back to the 1991 crisis."
In the past few weeks, Indian policymakers have hiked short-term interest rates, announced plans to allow state firms to raise foreign funds abroad and curbed gold imports.
They have also threatened to imposed higher duties on imported electronic appliances such as fridges, which are made locally.
But it is their most recent step - stealthily announced late Wednesday on the eve of a national holiday - that has fanned the deepest consternation.
The central bank sharply tightened controls on the amount of money firms and individuals can send abroad.
The move looked to observers like a disturbing throwback to the days before India unleashed its economic liberalisation drive in the early 1990s when Indians' access to foreign exchange was strictly limited.
Confederation of Indian Industry president Kris Gopalakrishnan criticised the move as "retrograde".
While the capital controls only apply to local individuals and firms, the restrictions may raise worries among overseas investors that they could be extended to foreign companies operating in India, analysts say.
Under the new policy, Indian individuals can send just $75,000 out of the country annually, down from $200 000 - making it tougher to pay children's overseas university fees, for example.
Companies can invest abroad only 100% of their net worth, down from 400% - though the central bank says firms can ship out more money if they give authorities a good reason for doing so.
"While the authorities aim to reduce foreign-exchange volatility, we fear they may end up sending a panic signal," Nomura economist Sonal Varma said.
There have been no signs so far of domestic capital flight but analysts say the controls may have been tightened to avert one in the face of India's troubles.
The economy expanded last year at a decade-low of five percent and indicators this year have been grim with economists warning about "stagflation" - a combination of high inflation and low growth.
With an election to be held by May 2014 and pro-market reforms divisive, there is no way the Congress government can undertake root-and-branch reforms needed to put the economy back on track, economists say.
"There is a complete lack of faith in the markets" about India's outlook, said Param Sarma, chief executive at consultancy firm NSP Forex.

NEWS,13.07.2013

Morales says US hacked Bolivian e-mails

Bolivia's leftist president Evo Morales on Saturday accused US intelligence of hacking into the e-mail accounts of top Bolivian officials, saying he had shut his own account down.
Latin American leaders have lashed out at Washington over recent revelations of vast surveillance programs, some of which allegedly targeted regional allies and adversaries alike.
Bolivia has joined Venezuela and Nicaragua in offering asylum to Edward Snowden, the former IT contractor for the US National Security Agency who publicized details of the programs and is now on the run from espionage charges.
Morales said that he learned about the alleged US e-mail snooping at the Mercosur regional summit in Montevideo earlier this week.
"Those US intelligence agents have accessed the e-mails of our most senior authorities in Bolivia, Morales said in a speech.
"It was recommended to me that I not use e-mail, and I've followed suit and shut it down," he said.
Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told the same summit that more than 100 of his country's officials were under electronic surveillance from a nation he did not name.
Bolivia's Morales, who has long had a thorny relationship with the United States, speculated that Washington hoped to use the information in the e-mails to plan a future "invasion" of his country.
His allegations followed a diplomatic dust-up last week when, during a flight home from Moscow, European authorties diverted Morales's plane to Austria and searched it after rumours that he had Snowden on board.
Morales renewed his offer of asylum to Snowden on Saturday, saying La Paz would follow all "diplomatic norms and international accords" in the case.
The 30-year-old intelligence leaker has been stranded in an airport transit zone in the Russian capital since 23 June.
Snowden is seeking to avoid US espionage charges for revealing vast surveillance programs to collect phone and internet data.
US authorities say the revelations threatened national security, insisting the secret programs are fully legal and have helped foil dozens of terrorist attacks.

Russia: No asylum application from Snowden

Russian immigration officials say they have not received an application from Edward Snowden, the US National Security Agency leaker who wants to get asylum in Russia.

Snowden came to Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport on 23 June from Hong Kong, apparently intending to board a flight to Cuba. But he did not get on that flight and is believed to have spent the last three weeks marooned in the airport's transit zone.

On Friday, he met there with human rights activists and said he would seek Russian asylum, at least as a temporary measure before going to Venezuela, Bolivia or Nicaragua, all of which have offered him asylum.

But the Interfax news agency quoted Russian migration service head Konstantin Romodanovsky as saying no asylum request had been received as of Saturday.

US Homeland Security chief resigns

US Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano said on Friday she was resigning to take up a job in academia, opening up a surprise vacancy in President Barack Obama's cabinet.
Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona, said she was being nominated as the president of the University of California, and had served as Homeland Security secretary since Obama took office in 2009.
"I thank President Obama for the chance to serve our nation during this important chapter in our history," Napolitano said in a statement.
"I know the Department of Homeland Security will continue to perform its important duties with the honour and focus that the American public expects."
Napolitano leaves at a crucial moment with a bid to reform the US immigration system under discussion in Congress.
The Homeland Security department plays a key role enforcing US border security, as well as protecting the United States from terrorist threats.
Obama said in a statement that Napolitano had met some of the "toughest challenges" facing the United States.
"The American people are safer and more secure thanks to Janet's leadership in protecting our homeland against terrorist attacks," he said.

Belfast Riots Injure 32 Police Officers

Hundreds of police reinforcements from Britain were deployed on Belfast's rubble-strewn streets Saturday after Protestant riots over a blocked march left 32 officers, a senior lawmaker and at least eight rioters wounded.
Northern Ireland's police commander, Chief Constable Matt Baggott, blamed leaders of the Orange Order brotherhood for inciting six hours of running street battles in two parts of Belfast that subsided early Saturday. He derided their leadership as reckless and said they had no plan for controlling crowds they had summoned.
The anti-Catholic fraternity's annual July 12 marches always raise tensions with the Irish Catholic minority. Over each of the previous four years, Irish republican militants in Ardoyne have attacked police after an Orange parade passed by that Catholic district in north Belfast, the most bitterly divided part of the capital.
This year British authorities ordered Orangemen to avoid the stretch of road nearest Ardoyne, an order that police enforced by blocking their parade route with seven armored vehicles. Orange leaders took that as a challenge and rallied thousands of supporters to the spot, where some attacked the vehicles and the lines of heavily armored officers behind them.
Baggott said the Orange leaders behaved recklessly and should not duck responsibility for the mayhem.
"Having called thousands of people to protest, they had no plan and no control," said Baggott, an Englishman who has commanded the Police Service of Northern Ireland since 2009.
Orange leaders insisted the blockade decision was the problem, not the alcohol-fueled fury of their own members. But they backed off their original threat to mount indefinite street protests across Northern Ireland and ordered a suspension of protests early Saturday. The order's leaders declined requests for interviews.
That climb-down came too late for north Belfast's Protestant member of British Parliament, Nigel Dodds. An Orangeman himself, Dodds had gone to the riot's front line to appeal for calm and ended up getting knocked unconscious by a brick that fell short of police lines. He was released from the hospital Saturday.
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it ferried eight wounded civilians from the riots. But other rioters undoubtedly nursed their wounds away from hospitals, because those admitted for riot-related injuries can be identified and arrested by police.
Britain's Cabinet minister for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, said it was "vitally important for the Orange Order to make clear now that their protests have come to an end. It would be disastrous if we were to see a recurrence of last night's violence over the next few days."
On Saturday, Baggott received 400 more officers from England, Scotland and Wales to boost his force's overall strength on the streets above 5,000, including more than 600 officers already imported from Britain.
This is the first time police from other parts of the United Kingdom have been deployed against Northern Ireland rioters. The approach stems from Northern Ireland's recent peaceful hosting of the Group of Eight summit, when officers from Britain received anti-riot training before that brief, uneventful assignment here last month.
But the sudden need for reinforcements also suggests that the Northern Ireland police, though riot-savvy and heavily armed, lack sufficient numbers to cope with their homeland's seasonal flare-ups of mob violence.
Since the Good Friday peace agreement of 1998, Northern Ireland police numbers have been cut nearly in half and, since 2007, British troops have stopped providing backup as part of wider efforts to make the country seem normal. Reform of the once-overwhelmingly Protestant force has, within a decade, produced an organization with 30 percent Catholic officers today.
Such rapid change has rattled Protestants and influenced their rising alienation from the police, most vividly demonstrated during widespread street blockades throughout December and January. The trigger then was a surprise decision by Catholic members of Belfast City Council to sharply reduce the flying of the British flag outside City Hall. As with the increasing restrictions on Orange parade routes, Protestants saw the public space for their British identity being challenged as never before.
During Friday's street fighting, rioters shouted anti-Catholic and anti-Irish epithets at officers and mocked their allegiance by draping their vehicles in the green, white and orange flags of the Republic of Ireland.
The Orange Order, founded in 1795 at a time of rising economic competition with Catholics, long served as an essential umbrella for politicians to unite Protestants from many bickering denominations into one powerful force. Without the order, Northern Ireland might have lacked the organizational muscle necessary for the territory's creation in 1921, months before the mostly Catholic rest of Ireland won independence from Britain.
Their July 12 parades officially commemorate a 17th-century battlefield victory over Catholics. But in practical terms, the mass military-themed mobilizations including 550 on Friday alone provide a graphic annual test of whether Protestants still wield control in a land where the government and police for decades were almost exclusively Protestant.
These days, most of Belfast has a growing Catholic majority and Protestant communities must hold their ground with high walls of brick, steel and barbed wire called "peace lines." The Northern Ireland unity government forged by the 1998 peace deal is half Catholic by design, with a former Irish Republican Army commander as co-leader. And a British-appointed Parades Commission, stubbornly boycotted by Orange leaders, wields the power to impose restrictions that police must enforce.

Spain's Running Of The Bulls: 23 Injured During Stampede

The penultimate bull run of Spain's San Fermin festival left at least 23 people injured Saturday, when thrill-seekers fleeing the beasts were crushed at the narrow entrance to the bullring, officials said. Two of the injuries were gorings.
As the huge animals thundered into the entrance of the tunnel, they were blocked by a mound of dozens of people who had fallen and were piled on top of one other.
One bull that had fallen before the entrance got up and charged into the clogged passageway. Two steers jumped over the pile of people as they began to get up and flee.
A gate normally used to let regional police into ringside positions was pushed wide open by a flood of runners, causing an obstruction for others trying to enter the main arena, Interior Ministry regional spokesman Javier Morras said.
"We all know that alley is a funnel and a critically dangerous point at the entrance to the ring," Morras said. "Pileups there are one of the biggest risks that can occur in the running of the bulls," he said.
The blockage ended after attendants managed to let the beasts escape through a side door normally reserved for matadors.
Javier Sesma, a health spokesman for Navarra province, said two of the 23 injured people were gored by bulls and that the others were hurt in the stampede.
Sesma said one runner, a 19-year-old Spaniard from Vitoria city, was seriously injured when his thorax was crushed at the bull ring entrance. An Irish citizen also suffered asphyxia.
"His situation remains very grave, but he appears to be evolving favorably," Sesma said of the Spaniard. "We are hopeful. His life was at risk, but he is now more stable."
One person was gored in his buttock and another in an armpit during the 928-yard (850-meter) dash through Pamplona's narrow streets, the official said. Neither injury was serious, said the Navarra government, which organizes the annual festivities. One of those gored had received treatment in one of the two operating rooms at the bullring, Sesma said.
The rest of the injured sustained cuts and bruises.
Sesma said one spectator had a heart attack while watching the stampede. By early afternoon, nine of the injured had been discharged from hospitalization, Sesma said.
On Friday, the festival drew widespread attention when an American college student and two Spaniards were gored, and videos and photos of the attacks were seen around the world. Sesma said the American patient was "evolving favorably" in a hospital Saturday.
The number of revelers attending the festival tends to swell at weekends, causing the narrow streets of Pamplona to be thronged with runners, increasing the risk of pileups and injuries.
The festival in this northern city dates back to the late 16th century and also is known for its all-night street parties.
The runs, eight in all, are the highlight of a nine-day street festival to honor Pamplona's patron saint, San Fermin.
Each morning, six fighting bulls and six bell-tinkling steers that try to keep the beasts together head from stables to the ring where matadors will star in late afternoon bullfights.
The festivities, which end Sunday, were made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."
The fiesta attracts tens of thousands of young people, many from abroad, eager to mix alcohol with the adrenaline of running alongside the massive bulls at 8 o'clock every morning.
Dozens of people are injured each year, with gorings often producing the most dramatic injuries.
The last fatal goring happened in 2009.

Singapore Suicide Rate Hit Record High In 2012

Suicides in Singapore hit an all-time high of 487 in 2012 as more young people bogged down by stress and relationship woes took their own lives, a charity group dealing with the problem said Friday.
The tally, a 29 percent increase from the 2011 total, was boosted by an 80 percent rise in the 20-29 age bracket, the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) said in a statement.
"Common problems presented by this group of people involved stressful life events, and interpersonal relationship issues," said SOS, which aims to prevent suicides by providing emotional support through private counselling and a 24-hour telephone hotline.
"These include unemployment, stress with studies or work, financial worries, family life, and struggles with social interactions and feelings of loneliness."
Christine Wong, executive director of SOS, said young people under stress "tend to hide their pain behind a facade, not knowing where, how or who they can approach for help".
"People around them may not be aware of their distress and are hence unable to provide the support needed," she said in the statement.
Wong added that the community should play an important role in "de-stigmatising" suicide by encouraging those under stress to talk about their struggles and suicidal feelings.
SOS received 39,994 calls on its telephone hotline in 2012, down from 40,025 in 2011.
Suicides cases have consistently hovered around two percent of total deaths in Singapore, an affluent city-state of 5.3 million residents known for its pressure-laden school system.
Despite a virtually full employment rate, Singapore also has a highly competitive work environment.
Suicide is an offence in the compact island-state, and anyone who survives an attempt faces a jail term of up to a year, a fine or both.
The World Health Organisation last year said one million people commit suicide every year worldwide, accounting for more deaths than wars and murders put together.
The number of suicide attempts is five times higher, it said, with five percent of the people in the world having tried to kill themselves at least once during their lifetime.

NEWS,24.06.2013

Iraq oil exports dip on weather, sabotage

Iraq's oil exports fell in May as poor weather hits its southern ports and saboteurs blew up a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the oil ministry said on Sunday.
Iraq exported 76.9 million barrels of oil, equivalent to an average rate of 2.48 million barrels per day (bpd), representing a five percent decline from daily export levels in April.
Average oil prices were $97.23 (€74.10) per barrel, meaning the country took in $7.477 billion from crude sales in May.
"There was a small reduction in exports during the month because of bad weather in the southern ports, and sabotage to the pipeline between Kirkuk and Ceyhan in Turkey," ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said in a statement.
Militants have repeatedly targeted the export pipeline which runs through northern Iraq, sometimes killing members of the oil police and the facilities protection service.
At least two attacks hit the pipeline in May.
Iraq is dependent on oil exports for the lion's share of its government income, and is seeking to dramatically ramp up its sales in the coming years to fund reconstruction of its battered infrastructure.
Officials are aiming to increase production capacity to nine million bpd by 2017. Oil output currently stands at 3.4 million bpd.
Earlier this month, Iraqi officials unveiled an ambitious energy strategy that aims to raise $6 trillion from oil and gas sales by 2030.

Snowden's HK exit shows Chinese anger

Officially, admitted leaker Edward Snowden was able to leave Hong Kong because US authorities made a mistake in their arrest request, but the semiautonomous Chinese city also indicated displeasure over Snowden's revelation that the former British colony had been a target of American hacking.

Beijing, meanwhile, says it had nothing to do with allowing the former National Security Agency contractor to fly to Russia on Sunday. But analysts believe the move was orchestrated by China to avoid a prolonged diplomatic tussle with the US over his extradition.

Snowden slipped out of Hong Kong on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow and was expected to transit through Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador. His journey illustrates how the United States finds itself with few friends as it tries to apprehend the former CIA technician, who disclosed information on top-secret surveillance programmes.

Snowden, who had been hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks, had also revealed to a local newspaper details about the NSA's hacking of targets in Hong Kong. The revelations ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Beijing, which for months has been trying to counter US accusations that its government and military are behind computer-based attacks against America.

The Hong Kong government said it allowed Snowden to leave because the US request to provisionally arrest Snowden did not comply with legal requirements. At the same time, however, it mentioned that it asked the US for more information on the hacking, suggesting the issue played some role in its decision.

While Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy from the rest of China, experts said Beijing orchestrated Snowden's exit to remove a minor irritant in Sino-US relations.

Heading off a crisis

"The central government had to have intervened since this is an issue of international relations and national security," said Shen Dingli, director of the Centre for American Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University.

Ultimately, Shen said, China compromised by deciding to neither grant Snowden protection nor hand him over as the US requested. That approach has the advantage of heading off a crisis in relations with the US and demonstrating to Washington that Beijing values the overall relationship over any advantage it might gain from keeping Snowden, Shen said. He said handing Snowden over would have been an unpopular move within China.

The Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial that Snowden "has performed a service" by uncovering "the sordid tale of how the US government violates the rights of its citizens and conducts cyber spying throughout the entire world".

China's Foreign Ministry distanced itself from any role in Snowden's departure from Hong Kong, saying the territory had the right to make its own decision.

"We have read reports but got no details. We will continue to follow up on relevant developments," spokesperson Hua Chunying was quoted as saying Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Hua said Beijing had "always respected" Hong Kong's ability to deal with such matters through its robust legal system.

Beijing might be calling the shots

Writing on the ministry's website, Hua also raised the issue of cybersecurity.

"We are gravely concerned about the recently disclosed cyberattacks by relevant US government agencies against China," she wrote. "It shows once again that China falls victim to cyberattacks. We have made representations with the US."

Hong Kong lawmaker and lawyer Albert Ho said he suspects authorities in Beijing were calling the shots.

He said his firm had been representing Snowden in an effort to clarify his legal situation with the government. Snowden wanted to know what his circumstances would be like in the event he was arrested and whether he would be able to leave the city if he wanted. Ho said an intermediary who claimed to represent the government relayed a message to Snowden saying he was free to leave and should do so.

Ho said he didn't know the identity of the intermediary and wasn't sure whether the person was acting on Hong Kong's or Beijing's behalf.

"The entire decision was probably made in Beijing and Beijing decided to act on its best interests," Ho told reporters. "However, Beijing would not want to be seen on stage because it would affect Sino-US relations. That's why China has somebody acting in the background."

Computer access

Under Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the city is allowed a high degree of autonomy from mainland Chinese authorities until 2047, although Beijing is allowed to intervene in cases involving defence and foreign affairs. The city has its own legal and financial system, a holdover from the British colonial rule that ended in 1997.

Ho also revealed a few more details about Snowden's life in hiding in Hong Kong, saying he had been living in a "private place" after he was forced to check out of the hotel where he was staying once he was discovered by journalists.

"Most of the time he did not leave the place where he was living, though once or twice he changed locations," Ho said.

"He only left at night, very carefully. He didn't want anyone to see him. He was very cautious."

Ho said Snowden lived in a "very small place. Fortunately he had a computer. He could contact anyone in the world".

Obama: US will apprehend Snowden legally

President Barack Obama said on Monday the United States was using all appropriate legal channels to apprehend fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who fled Hong Kong and landed in Moscow.

"What we know is that we are following all the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that the rule of law is observed," Obama told reporters at the White House.
The president then deferred to the US justice department, as American authorities seek to persuade Russia to expel Snowden, and not let him flee elsewhere, likely to asylum in Ecuador.
Earlier the White House warned that the decision to let Snowden leave Hong Kong has damaged efforts to rebuild trust in US-China relations, and said it expected Russia to hand him over.

Nuke terror - more talk, less action

More than 100 states meeting next week will warn of the threat of nuclear terrorism but without deciding on any concrete new steps to counter the danger, a draft ministerial statement showed on Monday.
The document, which member states of the UN nuclear agency have been negotiating since March, looked unlikely to satisfy those who advocate stronger international action to ensure that potential nuclear bomb material does not fall into the wrong hands.
Still, Vienna-based diplomats said it would form a basis for future measures to improve global nuclear security, and stressed that the responsibility was mainly national.
To get all countries on board, "you are not going to have a document as ambitious" as some may have wanted, one envoy said.
Analysts say radical groups could theoretically build a crude but deadly nuclear device if they have the money, technical know-how and the amount of fissile material needed.
They say groups such as al-Qaeda have been trying to get the components for such a nuclear bomb. Obtaining weapons-grade fissile material - highly enriched uranium or plutonium - poses their biggest challenge, so keeping it secure is vital, both at civilian and military facilities, experts and officials say.
Experts describe the threat of a crude fissile nuclear bomb technically difficult to manufacture and requiring hard-to-obtain bomb-grade uranium or plutonium, as a "low probability, high consequence act" that is, with the potential to cause massive harm to life and property.
On the other hand, a "dirty bomb", where conventional explosives are used to disperse radiation from a radioactive source, is a "high probability, low consequence act" with more potential to terrorise than cause large loss of life.
Diplomats say many countries regard nuclear security as a sensitive political issue that should be handled primarily by national authorities, and this was clearly reflected in the language of the ministerial statement.
Radiological terrorism
The statement, to be formally adopted at a 1 - 5 July conference hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said substantial progress has been made in the past few years to strengthen nuclear security, but that more is needed.
Ministers "remain concerned about the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism and other malicious acts or sabotage related to facilities and activities involving nuclear and other radioactive material", said the document, obtained by Reuters.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told Reuters last week that he saw "persistent risks" of nuclear terrorism. The information the UN watchdog receives about illicit nuclear-related trafficking may be the "tip of the iceberg", he said.
The international nuclear security regime "is not sufficiently robust" to protect against this kind of threat, an expert group said in a report this year.
An apple-sized amount of plutonium fashioned into a nuclear bomb and detonated in a highly populated urban area could instantly kill or injure hundreds of thousands of people, the Nuclear Security Governance Experts Group said.
"Preventing one of the world's major threats deserves bold action and new thinking," they added.
One of them, former Danish ambassador to the IAEA John Bernhard, said on Monday he believed the UN agency should have both more powers and resources to help enhance nuclear security.
US President Barack Obama last week said he would host a summit in 2016 on securing such materials and preventing nuclear terrorism. He put on such a summit in 2010, a second was held in Seoul in 2012 and a third will be in The Hague next year.
Unlike those meetings, attended by leaders from around 50 countries, next week's conference in Vienna is open to all members of the 159-nation IAEA, which says it expects officials from some 112 countries as well as 20 organisations.

Pakistan to try Musharraf for treason

Pakistan's new government said on Monday it would put former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason, charges punishable by death or life imprisonment.

The retired general, who returned from four years of self-imposed exile in March, has been under house arrest at his villa on the edge of Islamabad since 19 April.

Any trial could put the civilian government at loggerheads with the powerful army, which vehemently opposes the prospect of its former chief facing the courts in Pakistan.

It also threatens to sabotage the chances of a quiet deal that Musharraf's legal team had hoped would allow the 69-year-old to win bail and quietly leave the country.

Once the most powerful man in the country, Musharraf faces a slew of charges relating to his 1999-2008 rule after seizing office from then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who won landmark elections in May.

"Musharraf's actions came under the purview of high treason," Sharif told parliament.

"He should face trial... and will have to answer for his guilt before the court," he added.

‘Unwarranted’ charges

Attorney General Munir Malik delivered the same statement on behalf of the government in the Supreme Court. A treason trial can be initiated only by the state.

"Those who aided or abetted holding the constitution in abeyance will also be brought to justice," Malik said.

Pakistan's highest court has for months been hearing a petition from lawyers demanding that Musharraf be tried for subverting the constitution by imposing emergency rule and sacking judges in 2007.

Judge Jawad Khwaja ordered the attorney general to inform the court on Thursday about the precise steps required to bring those guilty of treason to justice.

Musharraf's office accused the Sharif government of "demonstrating recklessness" in pursuing "unwarranted" treason charges, which it warned could destabilise the country.

"The former president has served Pakistan with selfless devotion and perseverance. The people of Pakistan will not tolerate this circus, which is primarily meant to create a diversion," it said.

‘Pandora’s box’

On Saturday, Islamist gunmen dressed as police killed 10 foreign tourists and a Pakistani at a remote base camp in the Himalayas, an unprecedented attack on mountaineers and the worst attack on foreigners in around a decade.

Musharraf's defence lawyer told reporters that putting Musharraf on trial would open "Pandora's box" in the country, which sits on the frontline of al-Qaeda and Taliban violence.

"Those who were collaborators are equally responsible, they should also be put on trial," Ahmed Raza Kasuri told reporters outside the Supreme Court.

"Whatever he did was in the interest of the state. I am confident, God willing, he will be exonerated," he said.

Pakistan's 11 May elections marked the first time that a democratically elected civilian government has served out a full five years in office and handed over at the ballot box.

It was an astonishing comeback for Sharif, who was deeply unpopular as prime minister in 1999 and whose replacement by Musharraf was widely welcomed.

Constitution violations

In April, a caretaker government guiding Pakistan through the elections refused to initiate the trial against Musharraf, saying it was beyond its mandate and up to the new government.

Sharif did not mince his words.

"Musharraf violated the constitution twice. He overthrew an elected government in 1999 and put everything into jeopardy. He sacked judges and imprisoned them," said Sharif.

"We will follow the process of law and all political forces will be taken into confidence," he added.

The two main opposition parties, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by politician Imran Khan welcomed Sharif's remarks.

"This house should have another resolution against all dictators so that no one can cast an evil eye on this house," said Syed Khurshid Shah, PPP opposition leader in the national assembly.

House arrest

PTI's Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party would support the prime minister on "every move towards supremacy of the constitution and law".

Musharraf faces three other cases dating back to his rule.

He has won bail for sacking judges and over the 2007 murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but remains under house arrest over the 2006 killing of a Baluch rebel leader.

On Monday, courts in south-western province Baluchistan adjourned until 10 July a petition seeking to move the Baluch trial to Islamabad for security reasons and the hearing on the killing to 15 July, lawyers said.

Musharraf is serving his house arrest at his luxury villa in the upmarket suburb of Chak Shahzad on the edge of Islamabad. He is currently barred from leaving the country.