NEWS,23.09.2013

Obama unlikely to name new Fed head soon

President Barack Obama is unlikely to unveil his pick to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairperson of the Federal Reserve this week, and the current Fed No. 2, Janet Yellen, remains the leading contender, a source familiar with the process said on Monday.
Bernanke's second four-year term at the helm of the US central bank comes to a close in January, and speculation has swirled around Obama's plans for the replacement.
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, considered the president's preference, withdrew his name from consideration a week ago, saying his confirmation would incite acrimony.
Besides Summers, Yellen and former vice chairperson Donald Kohn are among those Obama said he has been considering for the job. Yellen is still the top prospect, the source said.
The Senate needs to hold hearings and confirm the nominee, and with a compressed legislative schedule before the end of the year, time is growing tighter.
Lawmakers are currently preoccupied with measures to keep government funding going beyond Oct. 1 to keep the government from shutting down and to raise the nation's debt ceiling ahead of a mid-October date, or face the risk of default.
Yellen had been scheduled to speak to the Economic Club of New York on Oct. 1, but her speech has been postponed.

Lithuania urges push on EU farm reform

Lithuania, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, on Monday urged a final push on a major reform of the bloc's generous farm subsidy programme that is held up in talks with European lawmakers.
A reform of EU farm subsidies agreed by member states in June after three months of marathon talks favours young farmers and smallholders over big business and has been called a "paradigm shift" for Europe.
"This is the challenge we must meet," said Lithuanian Agriculture Minister Vigilijus Juknawho as he met fellow European Union ministers in Brussels.
The ministers are locked in a row with European lawmakers, who want the reforms to go further.
If a compromise is not found before the end of the month, the European Commission could choose to suspend payments to farmers.
The main sticking point is how the reform affects large-scale farmers, with lawmakers pushing for more redistribution of farm aid to small holdings and ministers maintaining the reform has gone far enough.
EU ministers were to discuss the matter further Monday with another session of talks with the Commission and lawmakers set for the evening.
Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who spearheaded the reform during the Irish EU presidency earlier this year, said there remained little room for more compromise from states.
But he said he was confident the Lithuanian presidency could find a deal in the coming weeks.
If approved, the CAP reform is due to be implemented starting in 2014.
Under the current rules, 80 percent of CAP payments go to the top 20 percent of intensive farm businesses since several countries still link the subsidies to production levels.
As the reform stands, member states would have to ensure that by 2019 each farmer receives at least 60 percent of the average national or regional subsidy per hectare. This would remove the advantage written into the current system for the more productive industrial farms.
The deal also states that 30 percent of EU members' farm payments will also be spent on "green" measures such as crop diversification.
The CAP accounts for about 38 percent of the EU's budget.

Spain heads for record tourism year

Sunseekers spurning unrest in Egypt and Turkey flocked to Spain in record numbers last month, setting the country up for its best-ever year for visitors and giving a boost to the ailing economy.
"It is very likely that 2013 will be the best year historically for tourism," Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria told a news conference on Monday, adding that estimates for the fourth quarter were positive.
Tourism contributed over 5% of Spain's economy or GDP in 2012 and provided around 900 000 jobs, according to Euromonitor, in a country where one in four is out of work, meaning a boost to tourist figures should be good news as other sectors flag.
The number of international tourist arrivals in August rose to 8.3 million, figures from the tourism ministry showed, lifting the total for January through August by 4.5% on the year before to 42.3 million.
Those visitors spent a total of €40.4bn ($54.6bn), up 7% from 2012.
Political upheaval in other destinations has also benefited other Mediterranean countries, such as Greece.
But not everyone in Spain is celebrating the increase. Domestic travel fell by 6.9% between January and July, hitting destinations off the main tourist trail, so businesses and hotels reliant on city tourism suffered.
Two ends of the travel spectrum in particular are cashing in on the influx of international visitors - homeowners taking advantage of a growing preference for low-cost rents, and luxury stores whose clients are shielded from the worst of the economy's woes.
Many tourists have been choosing to rent private homes advertised on the Internet. And despite government efforts to tighten regulation around private renting, the trend is becoming more ingrained, with the number of rentals by tourists up 15% in August year-on-year to 1.3 million properties.
The unregulated rental industry has its risks since landlords and renters have little recourse if things go wrong, but it is worth it for homeowners who rent out year-round.
"What's happening ... because of the economic crisis is that people are preferring smaller airlines, smaller hotels and they are paying less," said Dimitrios Buhalis, a professor and director of the e-tourism lab at Bournemouth University.
Kept afloat
Spain's economy has been highly dependent on tourism since beach destinations took off in the 1960s. While Britain, France and Germany continue to send the most visitors, there has been a huge leap in the number of Russian visitors.
Some of the main beneficiaries are luxury retailers, as big spenders splash out at high-end accessory and jewellery stores. Department store El Corte Ingles for instance has offered a 10% discount to foreign shoppers since 2012 and has employed Chinese-speaking personal shoppers in a nod towards an important group of rich clients.
Value Retail, which has luxury outlets in Madrid and Barcelona, reported an increase in non-European visitors, especially Russian and Chinese, last year.
"Without a doubt, Spain's luxury sector is being kept afloat thanks to tourism," said Ana Franco, editor of Spanish luxury portal Deluxes.
Boosted by luxury, average spending by tourists rose by 2% in the first seven months of the year, from the same period of 2012, to 103 euros per day.
Regions attracting the most visitors are coastal Catalonia, the Balearic islands and southern Andalusia, home to the Costa del Sol. But Madrid saw a 22% fall in foreign visitors in August to 290 494, hit by a collapse in business travel and a decline in Italian and Latin American travelers.
There is little respite in sight for hotels operating in cities unless the domestic economy picks up, according to Ramon Estalella, secretary general of the Spanish Hotels Association (CEHAT).
NH Hoteles, which is focused mainly on city hotels, said in half-year results that Spain was its worst performing market. And Melia Hotels International reported a decline in prices and occupancy in Spanish cities in the first half, even though revenue from resort locations rose.
"There has been a strong fall in demand in Madrid because Iberia has cut flights and low-cost airlines have disappeared because of an increase in airport taxes," a Melia spokesperson said.
Spain's loss-making flag carrier Iberia, part of International Airlines Group (IAG), is undergoing a major restructuring, with dozens of routes canceled and thousands of staff being laid off.

Sudan almost doubles fuel, gas prices

Sudan almost doubled prices for fuel and cooking gas on Monday, struggling to bring its budget under control in an economic crisis that is stirring widespread discontent.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir went on television for two hours to announce the plan. He has avoided an "Arab spring" uprising of the sort that has unseated other rulers in the region, but many in Sudan complain about soaring food prices, corruption, violent conflicts and high unemployment.

"We've been just notified of the prices increases," said a petrol station worker, asking not to be named "It's huge leap and we worry that people will be angry."

The Arab African country lost three-quarters of its oil reserves - its main source of revenues and of dollars for food imports - when South Sudan became independent in 2011.

Petrol stations in the capital Khartoum raised the price of a gallon (3.8 litres) of petrol on Monday to almost $3 based on black market prices.

"The government...has no idea of what people are going through. I am ready to join any protest against the lifting," said 41-year old Ahmed Iassan, an unemployed worker.

The government started reducing some fuel subsidies in July 2012. Several weeks of small protests ended with a security crackdown.

It had hoped to sustain the remaining support by boosting gold exports to replace oil revenues, but was thwarted by the recent fall in global gold prices.

A gallon of gasoline now costs £14, up from £8.5, petrol station staff said. The prices for a cylinder of cooking gas rose to £25 from £15.

In a televised news conference, Bashir said late on Sunday Sudan was no longer able to afford the subsidies which he said cost the treasury $15.5bn every year based on the official exchange rate.

Sudan produces too little to feed its 32 million people. Even basic food imports arrive by ship in Port Sudan, before they get trucked for days across the vast country, spurring food price inflation.

The Sudanese pound is worth barely a third of its value against the dollar on the black market at the time of the south's succession.

Opposition activists have criticised the move to cut fuel subsidies but the weak opposition has yet to stir mass protest.

Singapore tightens rules for hiring foreigners

Singapore will require many companies operating in the city-state to consider Singaporeans for skilled job vacancies before turning to candidates from abroad, bowing to public pressure over a surge in foreigners over the past decade.

"The measures might mean more hassle and paperwork for companies, and it might even lower the long-term economic growth rate," said Michael Wan, an economist with Credit Suisse in Singapore.

"But I don't think this will necessarily lower Singapore's attractiveness to companies because there are other factors that they take into account -- such as tax incentives, political stability and access to the Asean region."

Starting next August, firms with more than 25 employees must advertise a vacancy for professional or managerial jobs paying less than S$12 000 ($9 600) a month on a new jobs bank administered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency for at least 14 days, the Ministry of Manpower said in a statement.

Only after that period can the company apply for an employment pass to bring in a foreign national.

Singapore will also raise the qualifying salaries for employment pass holders to at least S$3 300 a month, up from the current S$3 000, starting in January 2014, reducing the competition for entry-level jobs that typically require tertiary education.

Singapore, a global financial centre and the Asian base for many banks and multinationals, is one of the world's most open economies. Foreigners account for about 40% of the island's 5.3 million population and take up many senior and mid-level positions as well as most of the low-paying jobs that locals shun.

The Association of Banks in Singapore, which represents financial institutions operating in the city-state, said banks will need to adjust their hiring processes to comply with the new rules.

"We need to assess the impact these rules will have," a spokesman for the association added.

Discrimination

Singapore, Asia's main centre for private banking as well as commodities trading, has seen a sharp increase in foreigners over the past decade, triggering a backlash from Singaporeans unhappy about congestion on roads and trains as well as competition for jobs.

There have also been complaints about foreign managers who prefer to hire their fellow countrymen rather than employ Singaporeans.

Earlier this year, several banks admitted to "hot spots" within their organisations "where clusters of employees from the same country appeared to have developed over time", according to advertisements taken up by an organisation backed by the manpower ministry.

The ministry said it will scrutinise all companies, including smaller firms, for signs of discriminatory hiring practices. Firms that fall into this category include those that "have a disproportionately low concentration of Singaporeans" in professional or management positions compared with others in the industry.

"Even as we remain open to foreign manpower to complement our local workforce, all firms must make an effort to consider Singaporeans fairly," Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin said in a statement.

"Singaporeans must still prove themselves able and competitive to take on the higher jobs that they aspire to," Tan added, as officials took pains to stress that the new framework is not aimed at forcing firms to hire Singaporeans first.

Singapore has already been making it harder for employers to recruit cheap workers from abroad in a bid to push up the pay of low-income Singaporeans. The measures include lowering the ratio of foreigners a firm can hire relative to the number of local employees and raising the levy firms must pay to hire lesser-skilled foreigners.

Bangladesh pay protests force factory closures

More than 100 Bangladeshi garment factories were forced to shut on Monday as thousands of workers protested to demand a $100 a month minimum wage and about 50 people were injured in clashes, police and witnesses said.
Garments are a vital sector for Bangladesh and its low wages and duty-free access to Western markets have helped make it the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China.
But the $20bn industry, which supplies many Western brands, has been under a spotlight after a series of deadly incidents including the collapse of a building housing factories in April that killed more than 1 130 people.
Workers took to the streets for a third day on Monday, blocking major roads and attacking some vehicles in the Gazipur and Savar industrial zones on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.
At least 50 people - including some policemen - were injured, witnesses and police said, as police fired teargas and rubber bullets, and workers responded by throwing broken bricks.
Some workers also vandalised factories, witnesses said.
"We had to take harsh actions to restore order as the defiant workers would not stop the violence," an Gazipur police officer said.
The monthly minimum wage in Bangladesh is $38, half what Cambodian garment workers earn.
The government is in talks with unions and factory owners on a new minimum wage.
Bangladesh last increased its minimum garment-worker pay in late 2010 in response to months of street protests, almost doubling the lowest pay.
Recently, factory owners offered a 20% pay rise which workers refused, calling it "inhuman and humiliating".
"We work to survive but we can't even cover our basic needs," said a protesting woman worker.
The recent string of accidents has put the government, industrialists and the global brands that use the factories under pressure to reform an industry that employs 4 million and generates 80% of Bangladesh's export earnings.
The April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza, a factory built on swampy ground outside Dhaka with several illegal floors, ranks among the world's worst industrial accidents and has galvanised brands to look more closely at their suppliers.
This month, a group of retailers and clothing brands failed to establish compensation funds for the victims of Bangladesh factory disasters, as many companies that sourced clothes from the buildings decided not to take part in the process.
Very low labour costs and, critics say, shortcuts on safety, makes the country of 160 million the cheapest place to make large quantities of clothing, with 60% of clothes going to Europe and 23% to the United States.

UK wants to ease sanctions on gas field

Britain could be close to agreeing a deal to ease sanctions that have stopped gas production from the North Sea's Rhum field, jointly owned by BP and the National Iranian Oil Company, the Mail on Sunday newspaper said.

Production from the field, which once supplied 5 percent of Britain's gas output, has been suspended since 2010 as a result of international sanctions against Iran.

But with signs of a thaw in relations between Iran and the West, the government now hopes to win agreement from the European Union and the United States for a sanctions waiver in the near future, the newspaper said, citing people close to the talks.

One stumbling block to a deal, however, could be concerns from companies involved in financing and servicing the field that any exemption for the producers would not fully protect them from legal action, it added.

A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman said: "We are working to ensure the long-term security of the Rhum gas field but no decision has been made at this time on a solution."

A spokesman for BP declined to comment on the possibility of a waiver being granted.

"As operator of the field our priorities are two-fold - to ensure the field remains safe and that we remain compliant with the law," he said. "It is up to the government to decide on the longer-term options."

Sudan to host German business conference

Sudan will host a business conference with German firms to boost economic ties with Europe's largest economy, state media said on Sunday, the second such event between Berlin and the isolated African country this year.

Sudan is trying to attract more investment to overcome an economic crisis after losing most oil reserves with South Sudan's secession in 2011. Most Western firms shun the country due to a U.S. trade embargo over Sudan's human rights record.

The Khartoum conference, from October 28 to 31, is likely to irk human rights activists who criticized Berlin for inviting top Sudanese officials to a similar forum in January.

The Berlin event had been open to South Sudan, but Juba only sent its ambassador in Berlin to avoid contact with arch foe Sudan at time of bilateral tensions, diplomats said. Sudan had sent a high-level delegation to Berlin.

The conference is organized by German and Sudanese business groups with support from both governments, according to the German-African Business Association.

While foreign investors in Sudan often complain of a massive dollar scarcity and shrinking state infrastructure projects, the Berlin-based association painted a much brighter picture.

"Sudan's economic perspectives have developed positively recently. ... The economy has been recovering since southern secession," the German-African Business Association said on its website. It cited opportunities for German firms as Sudan planned to expand its oil, gas and mining sectors.

Most Western countries have only limited ties to Sudan. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir faces charges of war crimes in Darfur at the International Criminal Court.

NEWS,07.08.2013

BoE looks forward to help UK recovery

The Bank of England overhauled its policy strategy on Wednesday, saying it planned to keep interest rates at a record low until unemployment falls to 7% or below, something unlikely for another three years.
Barely a month after Canadian Mark Carney took over as governor, the central bank said it would keep interest rates at 0.5 percent unless inflation threatened to get out of control or there was a danger to financial stability.
Carney said a recovery in Britain's fragile economy was underway and it appeared to be broadening but he warned that it had a long way to go before it was on solid ground.
"This remains the slowest recovery in output on record," he told his first news conference since taking over at the Bank. "We're not at escape velocity right now."
The pound rallied after an initial fall on the announcement and British government bond prices were lower as the BoE's commitment on interest rates fell short of some expectations of a more aggressive plan to revive growth.
"It looks like rates are not going to rise in the next three years, though they could, as Carney has stressed they are not pre-committed, so again this is a rather valueless bit of 'forward guidance' as is the case with the ECB," said Mark Ostwald at Monument Securities.
The Bank of England followed the US Federal Reserve's approach by setting an unemployment target rather than committing to keeping rates low for a set period of time but included get-out clauses.
BoE policymakers said they stood ready to buy more government bonds if additional stimulus was needed and would not reverse existing purchases while unemployment was too high.
The central bank said inflation was forecast to stay above its 2% target until the second half of 2015 based on market rate expectations.
"Attempting to return inflation to the target too quickly risks prolonging the period over which the nation's resources are underutilised," it said.
A growing number of major central banks are providing so-called forward guidance to help nurse their economies back to health after the damage of the financial crisis.
For the BoE, the challenge is to hold off a premature rise in British borrowing costs at a time when signs of economic recovery at home and the US Federal Reserve's decision to phase out stimulus are pushing up market interest rates.
Last month its Monetary Policy Committee took a step towards guidance by saying that a rise in British market rates was not justified by economic fundamentals, and it reiterated that point on Wednesday.
Markets already did not expect the BoE to start to raise interest rates until late 2015 at the earliest.
Three years' grace?
The BoE said Britain's economy had strengthened over the past three months. But output still remains more than 3 percent below its pre-crisis peak, a much weaker recovery than in the United States or Germany.
It now forecasts the economy will grow 0.6% during the current quarter  the same as between April and June, and that growth will reach an annual rate of 2.6% in two years' time, compared with 2.2% forecast three months ago, assuming interest rates stay on hold.
Unemployment is forecast to fall only slowly from its current level of 7.8% of the workforce, with the central bank expecting it to average 7.1% in the third quarter of 2016, the end of its forecast horizon.
This implies that the BoE expects to keep interest rates unchanged until at least that time, unless one of three conditions is breached before then.
The BoE will consider raising interest rates if their low level poses a threat to financial stability, if the public's medium-term inflation expectations rise dangerously high or if it forecasts that inflation in 18-24 months will be at 2.5% or higher.
It said that if those thresholds or the 7% unemployment rate are reached, the MPC would consider the case for interest rate rises on a month-by-month basis.
"There is therefore no presumption that breaching any of these knockouts would lead to an immediate increase in Bank Rate or sale of assets," it said.
Inflation is forecast to average 2.9% in the last three months of this year  close to its current level and a lower peak than previously thought  and then to fall roughly as predicted three months ago.
Finance minister George Osborne named Carney in November to succeed King, impressed by the Canadian's reputation for innovative thinking and applying forward guidance while he led Canada's central bank.
Osborne welcomed the plan and said it was consistent with the government's "absolute commitment" to Britain's 2% inflation target.
Carney has previously stressed the importance of reassuring ordinary people and businesses that their debt costs are not going to rise any time soon in order to give them more confidence about spending which would help the economy.
The new governor also signalled he was not concerned about signs of a fast recovery in the housing market in some parts of Britain, especially London.
"The housing market is starting to recover and actually the overall level of housing activity relative to GDP is a couple of percentage points lower than where it was prior to the crisis," Carney said at the news conference.

China fines baby formula makers $110m

China fined six companies including Mead Johnson Nutrition, Danone  and New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra a total of $110m following an investigation into price fixing and anti-competitive practices by foreign baby formula makers.

The other three penalised were Abbott Laboratories, Dutch dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina and Hong Kong-listed Biostime International Holdings, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Wednesday.

The fines, announced just over a month after the NDRC said it was conducting the antitrust review, coincide with separate pricing investigations into foreign and local pharmaceutical firms as well as companies involved in gold trading. Those probes have yet to conclude.

The official Xinhua news agency said the fines were a record for China, although it did not elaborate.

Foreign infant formula is coveted in China, where public trust was damaged by a 2008 scandal in which six infants died and thousands of others were sickened after drinking milk tainted with the toxic industrial compound melamine. 

Foreign brands account for about half of total sales and can sell for more than double the price of local formula. The infant milk market in the world's second biggest economy is set to grow to $25bn by 2017.

The NDRC said in a statement the fines were for restricting competition, setting curbs on minimum prices for distributors and for using a variety of methods to disrupt market order. 

Swiss giant Nestle, Japan's Meiji Holdings  and Zhejiang Beingmate Scientific Technology Industry and Trade Co were not punished because "they cooperated with the investigation, provided important evidence and carried out active self-rectification", Xinhua said, citing the NDRC.

The commission fined Mead Johnson 203.8m yuan ($33.29m); Danone 172m yuan; Biostime 162.9m yuan; Abbott 77m yuan; FrieslandCampina 48m yuan and Fonterra m yuan.

Mead Johnson, Biostime, Abbott and Fonterra said they would not contest the penalties. Officials at French food group Danone and FrieslandCampina were not immediately available to comment. 

After the NDRC probe was announced, a number of companies including Mead Johnson, Danone and Nestle cut prices on their baby formula in China by up to 20%.

Analysts said the probe was possibly part of a broader Chinese plan to boost consumption of local infant milk products.

But they said the fines were unlikely to damage the reputation of the affected companies. If anything, foreign infant formula makers might increase their market share because of the price cuts.

"It will have an impact on domestic brands over the long term as the prices of high-end premium brands come down. Customers will tend to buy the foreign brands as the price gap between domestic and foreign brands narrows," said Jacqueline Ko, an analyst at Maybank Kim Eng Research.

Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, said it would give additional training to sales staff and review its distributor contracts in the wake of its fine. 

"We believe the investigation leaves us with a much clearer understanding of expectations around implementing pricing policies," Kelvin Wickham, president of Fonterra Greater China and India, said in a statement.

Fonterra is embroiled in a separate milk powder contamination scare that has led to product recalls in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia. 

    

Powerful commission

A source with direct knowledge of the China investigation said the NDRC was concerned with manufacturers suggesting retail prices to distributors and then offering incentives if these were met, believing this was tantamount to dictating retail prices.

The agency also told the firms they had inhibited fair competition by setting up regional distributors and discouraging them from selling outside their territories, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.

The commission is one of China's most powerful government bodies, with a role in overseeing prices as well as broad economic policies.

The milk sector is still relatively young in China, with consumption of dairy products growing at an annual compound rate of 20%, a contrast to US and European markets where demand has been shrinking in the past decade.

Some analysts also said the pricing investigation could result in tougher rules governing imports.

Indeed, the China Food and Drug Administration is proposing tightening conditions for the granting of licences for milk powder production, including requiring producers to have their own controlled milk sources and research and development capabilities. 

In a statement late on Tuesday, the regulator said it was seeking public comment on the proposals, which also include requirements for license holders to strengthen hygiene practices and management standards.

Mead Johnson said its fine would reduce its full-year earnings by about 12 cents per share, but it reiterated its 2013 earnings forecast for profit, excluding one-time items, of $3.22 to $3.30 per share. 

Shares of Biostime, which has a market value of $3.3bn, were up 5.3% at midday, beating a 0.3% drop in the benchmark index. It shares resumed trading after being suspended the day before. 

Obama cancels Putin meeting over Snowden

US President Barack Obama is cancelling a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for next month in Moscow, the White House said on Wednesday.
The Obama administration has repeatedly expressed disappointment after Moscow granted temporary asylum to former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, rejecting US pleas to hand him over to face criminal charges including espionage.
The White House, in a statement, said it valued "achievements made" between Russia and the United States, but cited a "lack of progress" on a host of other issues "such as missile defence and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security issues, and human rights and civil society."
"Russia's disappointing decision to grant Edward Snowden temporary asylum was also a factor that we considered in assessing the current state of our bilateral relationship," the statements said.
Obama plans to add a stop in Sweden as part of this travels to the G20 summit in early September, a White House official said.
On Tuesday, Obama confirmed that he would go to Russia this autumn for a G20 summit in St Petersburg, Russia, but said he was "disappointed" with Moscow's decision on Snowden.
Senator Charles Schumer praised Obama's decision to cancel the bilateral summit with Putin.
"The President clearly made the right decision. President Putin is acting like a school-yard bully and doesn't deserve the respect a bilateral summit would have accorded him," the New York Democrat said in a statement.

NKorea lifts ban on joint factory ops

North Korea said Wednesday it is lifting a ban on operations at a jointly run factory park shuttered since Pyongyang pulled out its 53,000 workers in April amid tensions with South Korea, and the rivals agreed to meet next week for talks meant to restart the complex.
The agreement revives hope for the resumption of production at the Kaesong complex, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation from an earlier period of detente.
The industrial park combined South Korean initiative, capital and technology with cheap North Korean labour.
It was also a rare source of hard currency for North Korea, though the economically depressed country chafed at suggestions that it needed the money Kaesong generated.
North Korea said it will lift its ban on operations at the complex, including restrictions on the entry of South Korean managers.
But the two countries must reach a formal accord on their differences before production can resume, and six past meetings on the park's fate remained deadlocked.
The statement by the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which is responsible for dealings with Seoul, appeared to accept a demand that South Korean negotiators had made in the deadlocked sessions: That North Korea won't unilaterally close the industrial complex, just north of the heavily armed border, should tensions between the rivals rise again.
The fate of Kaesong
Ahead of Wednesday's statement, which North Korea described as "bold and magnanimous", there was unease in Seoul about the fate of Kaesong. The statement came after 10 days of silence from Pyongyang on a South Korean demand for "final talks."
It also came about an hour after Seoul said it would begin insurance payments to 109 South Korean businesses shut out of Kaesong, which some saw as a step toward closing the park.
South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, accepted the North's proposal for talks on 14 August, a day before a holiday in both Koreas that celebrates independence from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.
Seoul expressed hope the meeting would resolve differences on Kaesong.
South Korean businesses with operations at Kaesong welcomed the development. The park had survived previous periods of tension between the rivals, including attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010, and the shutdown of other big cooperation projects.
North Korea banned South Korean managers from crossing the border to their jobs in Kaesong and then withdrew its workers from the park during a torrent of warlike threats it made in March and April, including vows of nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul.
Military drills
Pyongyang said it was angry over annual US-South Korean military drills and UN sanctions over North Korea's February nuclear test - the country's third such test since 2006.
There have been recent attempts at tentative diplomacy by the Koreas, but tensions could rise again this month as South Korea and the United States are scheduled to begin a joint military exercise on 19 August.
Starting on Thursday, South Korean companies that had signed up for insurance were to receive payments to help cover investments in constructing production lines and buildings at Kaesong.
Both countries should ensure that operations at the complex continue normally regardless of external matters, the North's statement said.
North Korea also said it will guarantee the safety of the South Korean managers and property at Kaesong, and start sending North Korean workers to the park once South Korean businesses are ready to resume operations.
After breaking ground in 2003, earlier South Korean governments paved roads and erected buildings at Kaesong, which lies in a guarded, gated complex on the outskirts of North Korea's third-largest city.
By the end of 2012, South Korean companies had produced a total $2bn worth of goods during the previous eight years.
Pyongyang needs to reach out to Seoul and resume operations at Kaesong to resolve its huge economic problems, said Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea studies professor at Korea University in Seoul.
North Korea is estimated to have received $80m in workers' salaries in 2012, an average of $127 a month per person, paid in US dollars, according to the Unification Ministry.
For South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, the complex was more than a business opportunity and a source of cheap labour it was a symbol representing the possibility of eventual unification.
Before April, the Kaesong industrial complex was the only place for South Korean entrepreneurs to collaborate with North Korean workers.

Talks will fail, say most Israeli Jews

Israel's Jewish population is overwhelmingly of the opinion that negotiations with the Palestinians will fail to achieve peace, according to a poll published on Wednesday.

About 80% of Israeli Jews said the chances of success of US-brokered talks, which resumed on 29 July after a three-year hiatus, were "low", against only 18% who said they were "high".

The survey, conducted by Tel Aviv University, interviewed 602 Israelis between 28 and 30 July and has an error margin of 4.5%.

Most of those interviewed  64%  believed Palestinian leaders were not genuine in wanting to resume talks, but 63% believed the Israeli government did want peace.

They were mostly unwilling, however, for the government to concede on issues deemed crucial to achieving an agreement.

Almost 63% opposed a return to the 1967 lines that existed before Israel occupied the West Bank - a key Palestinian demand  and 58% opposed the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory, even if the largest settlements were allowed to remain.

Arab population more optimistic

The previous round of talks in September 2010 collapsed when Israeli refused to stop its settlement building.

About 77% on those interviewed also opposed the right of return for Palestinian refugees exiled after the Jewish state's creation in 1948 and the 1967 Six Day War.

And half the Jewish respondents opposed the partition of Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as capital of their future state.

Israel's Arab population were more optimistic about the chances of peace.

Around 47% of Israeli Arabs thought talks were likely to achieve a peace agreement, against 41% who said the chances were low.

A vast majority 85%  believed the Palestinians genuinely wanted talks to succeed.

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.