NEWS,25.10.2012

Eurozone business slump accelerates

Eurozone private sector business activity slumped deeper into the mire in October, falling at its fastest rate since June 2009 to 40-month lows, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday.The Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), a survey of 5 000 eurozone businesses compiled by the Markit research firm, fell to 45.8 points in October from 46.1 in September.The index is a leading indicator and any reading below 50 indicates a contraction in activity, with the eurozone getting off to a bad start for the fourth quarter as the debt crisis continues to undermine growth and jobs.The preliminary data showed the Services sector PMI at 46.2 points in October, edging up from 46.1 in September while the Manufacturing sector fell very sharply to 45.3 from 46.1.Markit said eurozone firms "continued to cut employment, adjusting capacity down in response to lower levels of demand for goods and services."Further declines in activity over the coming year were signalled by another deterioration in business optimism in the service sector, which also suggests that employment looks likely to be cut again," it added. Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said the data suggested the eurozone economy was shrinking at a rate of 0.5% on a quarterly basis, more than enough to count the eurozone as deep in recession."While gross domestic product may decline only modestly in the third quarter, a steeper fall looks to be on the cards for the fourth quarter," Williamson said."The financial markets may have cheered the positive developments from policymakers in seeking to resolve the region’s debt crisis ... but business appears to have been less impressed."Sentiment about prospects for the year ahead are now the gloomiest since early-2009, when the post-Lehman Brothers crisis was in full swing," he said.Analysts said the survey findings were cause for concern, with the eurozone falling deeper into recession.The figures "worryingly indicate that the eurozone downturn is, if anything, deepening rather than easing. Consequently, it already looks highly likely that the eurozone is headed for further economic contraction in the fourth quarter," said Howard Archer of IHS Global insight.Archer noted how austerity policies implemented to combat the debt crisis were hitting domestic demand while muted global growth undercut exports.The European Central Bank was now likely to cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.50% from 0.75% in December in an effort to boost growth, he said, although it could be delayed until early 2013.

EU, IMF insist no Greek creditor deal yet

 

Greece's finance minister announced he had agreed a new austerity deal with international creditors, but the EU and IMF insisted that while there had been progress, no deal had yet been thrashed out.Yannis Stournaras told parliament Wednesday the so-called troika had granted a long-sought extension in return for a €13.5bn austerity package needed to unlock funds vital to keep the country afloat.But officials at both the European Union and the International Monetary Fund were quick to make it clear that the troika had not yet reached any agreement with Athens."Substantial progress has been made in talks with Greece but a few outstanding issues remain before a staff-level agreement can be reached," a spokesperson for European economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said in a tweet.The International Monetary Fund issued a similar message soon after."There has been progress in recent days, but some outstanding issues remain to be agreed upon to reach full staff-level agreement," a spokesperson said."Furthermore, financing issues will be discussed between the official lenders and Greece."European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi also said that while there had been progress "the review is not finished yet".The EU has been negotiating alongside the ECB and the IMF on a new round of spending cuts and reforms by Greece to unlock a €31.2bn installment from its rescue loans.A finance ministry source had said earlier that the government hoped to present the deal to a Eurogroup meeting on Thursday, ending talks that have dragged on since July.But Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble of key paymaster Germany said: "As far as the German government knows there are no new findings."When the proposals (from the troika) are on the table, the Eurogroup will look at them. There is nothing more to add."Earlier Stournaras had said that he had finalised the agreement on cutbacks in talks with the troika's auditors."We have obtained the extension," he told parliament, announcing that two draft laws related to the package would be presented to parliament next week.The new measures, to be voted on by November 12, still have to be approved by Greece's three-party coalition government, with key allies remaining split over the painful reforms.According to the draft budget, Greece plans to cut the public deficit to 6.6 percent of output this year - still over twice the EU limit.'Greece will be saved by those who dare'European leaders have long maintained that extra time for Greece means more money from eurozone taxpayers.But Stournaras said: "Greece aims to cut its debt through lower interest rates and an extension in the repayment of loans it has received from the EU and the IMF."German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Greek media had reported that Athens would be given two more years to slash its public debt mountain and implement key labour reforms and privatisations.Greece, heading for a sixth straight year of recession, is desperately trying to unlock the new installment of loans from the troika.In exchange, Athens has to agree to tough economic reforms, but the measures are deeply unpopular among ordinary Greeks who have taken to the streets in sometimes violent protests.With unemployment topping 25%, the government has been pleading for more time to implement the austerity measures.Media reports had said Athens would be given to 2016 to cut its deficit to the EU limit of 3% of gross domestic product rather than the previous deadline of 2014. Its total debt stood at a whopping 150% of GDP at the end of the second quarter, according to Eurostat.The reported agreement also scaled back targeted privatisation revenue to €10bn by 2016 - effectively nine billion less over an extra year - while calling for a two-year rise in the statutory retirement age and fresh cuts to state salaries and pensions.Earlier Wednesday, ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen said that if Athens did get another two years to implement its reforms, other members of the 17-nation eurozone would have to lend it more money to bridge the deficit shortfall.Athens recently pledged €7.8bn in cuts next year, only to be told by the troika that an effort of €9.2bn was required to counterbalance the effects of the recession.Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's political allies, the socialist and moderate leftist parties, have baulked at calls to lower severance pay and facilitate layoffs while the country faces record unemployment."Greece will be saved by those who dare," Samaras said on Tuesday after a meeting of coalition leaders. "We have already modified many of the troika's original proposals - on labour issues and others - and the negotiation continues."

Olympics lift Britain out of recession

Britain stormed out of its longest double-dip recession since the 1950s after its economy returned to growth in the third quarter with a robust gain of 1%, official data showed on Thursday.British gross domestic product, or combined value of produced goods and services, grew at the strongest rate for five years during the July-September period after contracting in the previous three quarters.Market expectations had been for the economy of Britain, which is not part of the eurozone, to have expanded by 0.6% in the third quarter compared with the second after falling into a double-dip recession in late 2011.British Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the data but warned against complacency amid global economic headwinds."There is still much to do, but these GDP figures show we are on the right track, and our economy is healing," Cameron said in a statement.Finance minister George Osborne echoed the cautious sentiment, saying that "yesterday's weak data from the eurozone were a reminder that we still face many economic challenges at home and abroad."Britain escaped from a deep downturn in late 2009 but fell back into recession at the end of 2011.The economy contracted by 0.4% in the second quarter of this year after shrinking by 0.3% in the first - and by 0.4% in the final quarter of 2011."GDP was estimated to have increased by 1% in Q3 2012 compared with Q2 2012," the Office for National Statistics said in a statement."The largest contribution to the increase came from the services sector. There was also an increase in activity in the production sector. Activity in the construction sector fell."Growth was also affected by one-off factors, including the London 2012 Olympic Games and rebounding activity after an extra public holiday for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, the ONS said."Not only did the UK pull out of its double-dip in Q3, but the one percent quarterly rise in GDP was a fair bit better than expected," said Vicky Redwood, senior economist at the Capital Economics research group." Admittedly, much of this reflected temporary factors. We think that the reversal of the Jubilee effect probably added about 0.5 percent, the Olympic ticket sales added 0.2% and there may have been a wider Olympic boost."But even accounting for this suggests that underlying output managed to rise by a small amount - an improvement on recent quarters. It won't be plain sailing from now on, though. There are still a number of constraints on the recovery."Output was meanwhile flat in the third quarter compared with the equivalent period in 2011, the ONS added.Despite emerging from recession, Britain was facing considerable difficulties, not least from tight credit conditions and worries about the impact of the debt crisis in the eurozone, a key trading partner.Other major headwinds include rising inflation on higher energy and food prices, an uncertain jobs market and ongoing austerity measures from Britain's coalition government.

China to open energy to private investors

China will seek to encourage more private investment in its state-dominated energy sector, according to a new industry white paper published by official news agency Xinhua on Wednesday.China is preparing for a once-in-a-decade leadership transition in November, and its new leaders are widely expected to push for the sort of market-oriented reforms that will break up monopolies in sectors such as energy. The new policy document said China planned to “give full play to the fundamental role of the market in allocating resources” and would draw up new regulations designed to reform the energy sector.  Included in the list of possible private investment targets were the exploration and development of energy resources, coal processing, oil refining, renewables, the construction of oil and natural gas pipelines and the electricity sector.“All projects listed in the national energy program, except those forbidden by laws or regulations, are open to private capital,” the document said.Policy makers have struggled to bring market forces to bear on the energy industry, with dominant state-owned enterprises like the State Grid Corp. proving resistant to change. The white paper said China would also seek to improve legislation on, and regulation of, the industry, with plans to adopt a comprehensive new energy law and new provisions dealing with oil reserves, natural gas and nuclear reactor management. While China is committed to raising the share of renewables in its overall energy mix to 15% by 2020, it said it would also promote the clean development of fossil fuels and improve power generation efficiency.      

China slams money-making off religion

China's religious affairs ministry has lashed out at the rampant commercialisation of sacred places and temples in the country, including the practice of employing "fake monks" and fortune-tellers. In a statement posted online, the State Administration for Religious Affairs, which oversees the country's religious organisations, also criticised plans by some Buddhist and Taoist temples to raise funds by listing on the stock market." Temples shall not in any way engage in 'stock' or 'joint venture' activities," the administration said in the statement dated October 22.Policies by the Communist Party suppressing religion have been relaxed since the 1970s, leading to a rapid increase in pilgrimages and visits to temples. Religious organisationsare still required to register with the government. The State Administration for Religious Affairs picked out for particular criticism those "using the excuse of promoting traditional culture" to profit from devotees." There have been reports of non-religious sites employing fake monks... illegally setting up donation boxes to take religious donations, even threatening religious believers and tourists to cheat them out of money," the statement said."These phenomena seriously violate the party's policies towards religion, and national laws," it added, listing other abuses including pressuring tourists to buy expensive incense and illegal fortune-telling. The Famen temple in northwest China is set to list on Hong Kong's stock exchange next year, according to the Global Times daily, while Mount Putuo, a sacred Buddhist mountain, has announced plans to go public within three years.Two fake monks wearing orange Buddhist robes were detained in Beijing in April after they were caught drinking alcohol on the city's subway and checked into a luxury hotel with two women, local reports said at the time.

NEWS,13.08.2012

An Impediment or an Opportunity for Peace?

 

There is an ongoing debate in and outside of Israel as to whether or not this is the right time to forge peace with the Palestinians in light of the regional upheavals and instability. The peace process, at this juncture, is hopelessly frozen while the expansion of the Israeli settlements and the continued internal Palestinian strife and factionalism increasingly dims the prospect of reaching an agreement. That said, the Arab Spring, which has triggered the rise of the Arab youth against their governments and has been accompanied by uncertainty, is not an impediment but an opportunity to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution. The reality on the ground strongly suggests that maintaining the status quo will be particularly detrimental to Israel.Those inside the Netanyahu government who suggest that now is not the right time to seek a peace agreement with the Palestinians because of the regional turmoil and the existential threats that Israel now faces are both misguided and disingenuous. On the contrary, given the threats from Iran and its surrogate Hezbollah and the potential consequences of a failed state in Syria, it is a particularly critical moment for Israel to forge peace with the Palestinians. By doing so, Israel would be in a position to focus on the vastly more serious threats emanating from its real adversaries and would prevent the rise of a Palestinian fifth column, should Israel become mired in these regional conflicts. To enhance their positions, those who oppose peace now offer three faulty arguments to justify their stance.First, the Palestinians cannot be trusted and Israel "correctly" points to the precedents of the partial disengagement from the West Bank between 1993 and 2000, the complete withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. From the Israeli perspective, all of these moments attest to the Palestinians' inability or unwillingness to forge a permanent peace, despite having ample opportunities.Second, due to Palestinian factionalism and infighting, there is no credible partner with whom Israel can negotiate as the Palestinians have been unable to sustain a unity government. The Netanyahu government is convinced that even if an agreement is reached, it will still prove transient.Third, there are extremist Palestinian groups, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others, along with non-Palestinian factions, including Hezbollah and Al Qaeda, that are vehemently antagonistic toward Israel and remain committed to its destruction.However, none of the three arguments above can pass careful scrutiny. These types of arguments are used as excuses and a cover for the Netanyahu government's deep conviction that the Jews have an inherent right to whole "land of Israel". This remains an indefatigable nonstarter to reaching a peace agreement that requires significant territorial concessions, including the conversion of Jerusalem to the capital of Israeli and Palestinian states. From the Netanyahu government's perspective, the conditions of no peace and no war that currently prevail are preferable to a compromise of the Jews' historical rights and through a strong and determined will, Israel will eventually triumph.In light of the reality on the ground, which both the Israelis and the Palestinians alike must face by virtue of their inevitable coexistence, Israel must act now because the passage of time may well be to its detriment, if not its very existence. There are three critical issues that increasingly work against Israel.Considering Israel's demographic situation, its evolutionary path has shifted radically as emigration from Israel over the past two decades (about one million) is roughly equal to the immigration into Israel for the same period. This, along with low birth rates relative to the Palestinian population, continues to erode the sustainability of Israel's national character as a Jewish state. Should this growing demographic imbalance between the Jewish and Palestinian populations continue, Israel will be forced to either establish a single state (an unacceptable proposition for them as it will instantly make the Jewish population a minority) or resort to apartheid policies that will be vehemently rejected by the international community.In recent years Israel has been fortunate that Gaza and the West Bank were generally quiet with limited resistance to the occupation and only marginal rocket attacks from Gaza that the Israeli military was able to handle with ease. Maintaining the occupation, however, and the continuance of the creeping expansion of the settlements, coupled with the uprisings of Arab youth against their own governments, now make it only a matter of time before the Palestinians will be inspired, if not forced, to rise against the occupation. They will not remain indefinitely passive, as they clearly see that the longer they wait, the more their land will be consumed, resulting in an irreversible reality on the ground that will deny the rise of an independent and viable state.Moreover, Israel will continue to face intensifying pressure from the international community due to the perpetuation of the status quo, which will dramatically increase Israel's isolation. For the United States and the European Union, who continue to be steadfast supporters of Israel, the lack of progress has a destabilizing effect on the region, which directly and indirectly impacts their national strategic interests and undermines Israel's national security. Israel should not be surprised if its closest allies, especially the U.S., decide to advance their own frameworks for peace largely based on prior Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in an attempt to save Israel from charting its own disastrous path.In a broader context, Israel's current enemies, specifically Iran and Hezbollah, will continue to exploit the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to their advantage. To counteract this encroaching threat, Israel can at least begin to neutralize its antagonists' positions by taking steps that open the door for a negotiated solution and normalization of relations with the Arab states by accepting the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for negotiations. While this strategy may not initially and necessarily change the principle objection to Israel's very existence by actors such as Iran and Hezbollah, Israel could shift the geopolitical conditions in the region in its favor. As I was convincingly told time and time again by top Arab officials, the Arab states are prepared to move toward establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel once an Israeli-Palestinian peace is achieved. They cite the changing dynamics in the region in the wake of the Arab spring and the ensuing battle between Sunnis led by Saudi Arabia and Turkey and Shiites led by Iran who seeks regional hegemony.Despite the complex situation that Israel finds itself in, the basic question remains: how much longer can it sustain its present course without experiencing horrific and self-inflicted wounds? Israel must face the inevitable now while it is still in a strong position to negotiate an agreement with the Palestinians, a population that has, and can continue to, withstand the test of time. Unlike the precipitous withdrawal from Southern Lebanon and Gaza, any agreement with the Palestinians should be made with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and should be based on a quid pro quo that would involve phased withdrawals from the West Bank over a few years in order to foster mutual trust and normalization of relations while ensuring Israel's national security.Set against the context of the Arab Spring, Israel remains an oasis of stability with its economic, military and technological advantages continuing to strengthen over time. The inability of the Palestinians to change the dynamics in their favor has deepened the Israelis' complacency while removing any sense of urgency to solve the conflict, as they remain intoxicated by their military prowess and the deceptive calm before the storm. Simply put, passively waiting for the region to achieve a modicum of stability while Israel further entrenches itself in the territories is a non-starter as the Arab upheavals are not a fading phenomenon and will remain an engine of change for years, if not decades, to come. The Palestinian's turn will come sooner than expected.I must emphasize that the Palestinians, by their own violent actions and hostile public utterances, have directly contributed to the Israelis' skepticism and deepening of their conviction that the Palestinians are not partners to be trusted nor are they a population with whom they can negotiate a lasting peace. That said, it is up to Israel not to allow past experiences to blur its vision for the future and it must now chart its own future course by ending the occupation under specific "rules of disengagement" with the Palestinian Authority. Israel must never abandon the principles of equality and human rights regardless of race, color or religion, as they are the very basis on which the state arose from the ashes of the Holocaust.Netanyahu will eventually have to answer to the Israeli public as to what he has achieved over the past four years. The Israelis must now determine whether or not Netanyahu has made the conflict with the Palestinians considerably worse since he took office in 2009 and what price Israel will have to pay for his misguided and ominous policies.

Greek economy shrinks 6.2%

The Greek economy, struggling in a fifth year of recession, shrank 6.2% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, official data showed on Monday.The economy contracted 6.5% in the first quarter, worse than the initially given 6.2%, according to revised figures issued in June.The Bank of Greece expects the economy to shrink 4.5% for 2012 as a whole, following a 6.9% drop last year.The country is relying on two financial rescue packages backed by the EU, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank worth around €240bn for its economic survival.Last year, private creditors agreed to write-off more than €100bn in debt, roughly half the amount they were owed, as part of a second bailout programme.Harsh austerity measures and economic reforms linked to the aid agreements have taken their toll on the economy, with unemployment hitting record highs.The conservative-led coalition government has yet to finalise spending cuts of about €11.5bn in order to unlock its next aid installment worth some €31bn.

UK tourism slumps during Olympics

The Olympics brought less tourist money to recession-hit Britain than officials promised, a trade group said on Monday, with a majority of businesses reporting losses from last year A survey of more than 250 tour operators, hoteliers and visitor attractions found that tourist traffic fell all over Britain, not just London, said UK inbound, a leading trade association representing British tour operators said. The survey said 88% of British tourism-oriented businesses reported some losses during the games compared with the same period last year. Officials are still tallying up the total number of tourists who came to or avoided  London this summer. The capital normally sees about 1.5 million tourists on average in August, but UK inbound and other trade groups say a significant number have chosen to steer clear of London, and even the rest of Britain because they thought it would be too busy. The official visitor figures won't be available until September. Tourism officials say that international Olympics visitors to London, including athletes, officials and tourists, totalled about 300 000. Domestic spectators from Britain made up the majority of people visiting games venues Restaurants and shops have complained that these games visitors did not spend as much money on food and shopping as typical summer tourists. "The people who came to the Games really didn't do very much sightseeing, didn't do very much shopping, didn't do very much eating out,"said Miles Quest, a spokesperson for the British Hospitality Association.London's hotels have hit about 80% occupancy, not more than typical August rates, Quest added.Visa, the only credit card accepted at the Olympics, reported that international visitors to Britain spent more than £450m ($705m) on their cards during the first week of the games, up by 8% on the same time last year.Around £12.7ms were spent on Visa cards in London restaurants last week, an increase of almost 20% on a year ago.

NEWS,28.07.2012

Olympics open with pageant for next generation

Queen Elizabeth declared the London Olympics open after playing a cameo role in a dizzying ceremony designed to highlight the grandeur and eccentricities of the nation that invented modern sport.Children's voices intertwining from the four corners of her United Kingdom ushered in an exuberant historical pageant of meadows, smokestacks and digital wizardry before an audience of 60,000 in the Olympic Stadium and a probable billion television viewers around the globe.Many of them gasped at the sight of the 86-year-old queen, marking her Diamond Jubilee this year, putting aside royal reserve in a video where she stepped onto a helicopter with James Bond actor Daniel Craig to be carried aloft from Buckingham Palace.A film clip showed doubles of her and Bond skydiving towards the stadium and, moments later, she made her entrance in person."In a sense, the Olympic Games are coming home tonight," IOC President Jacques Rogge told the crowd."This great, sports-loving country is widely recognised as the birthplace of modern sport."To underline the point, Bradley Wiggins, crowned five days earlier as Britain's first winner of the Tour de France and hoping to add more road cycling gold in London, tolled the world's largest tuned bell to begin the ceremony.In one moment of simple drama, the stadium fell silent as five giant, incandescent Olympic rings, symbolically forged from British steel mills, were lifted serenely out of the stadium by weather balloons, destined for the stratosphere.And at the climax of an evening that had children centre-stage, seven teenage athletes were given the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron that will burn for the duration of the Games, in keeping with the theme of "Inspire a Generation".More than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries will compete in 26 sports over 17 days of competition in the only city to have staged the modern Games three times.Most of them were there for the traditional alphabetical parade of the national teams, not least the athletes from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen competing in their first Olympics since their peoples overthrew autocrats in Arab Spring revolutions.Brunei and Qatar were led in by their countries' first ever female Olympians and so, along with Saudi Arabia, ended their status as the only countries to exclude women from their teams.At a reception, the queen spelled out the role played by her family after the Olympics were revived in Athens in 1896."This will be the third London Olympiad. My great grandfather opened the 1908 Games at White City. My father opened the 1948 Games at Wembley Stadium. And, later this evening, I will take pleasure in declaring open the 2012 London Olympic Games at Stratford in the east of London," she said."Over recent months, many in these islands have watched with growing excitement the journey of the Olympic torch around the United Kingdom. As the torch has passed through villages and towns, it has drawn people together as families and communities."To me, this spirit of togetherness is a most important part of the Olympic ideal. And the British people can be proud of the part they have played in keeping the spirit alive."The opening show, costing an estimated 27 million pounds, was inspired by William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, his late-life meditation on age and mortality.But it was children who set the tone, starting from the moment when live pictures of junior choirs singing in the landscapes of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were beamed into the stadium's giant screens, four traditional songs woven together into a musical tapestry of Britain.Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle began his sweep through British history by grassing over the arena in a depiction of the pastoral idyll mythologised by the romantic poet William Blake as "England's green and pleasant land".Idyll turned swiftly to inferno as the Industrial Revolution's "dark Satanic mills" burst from the ground, before those same mills forged the last of five giant Olympic rings that rose into the sky.At the end of a three-hour extravaganza, David Beckham, the English soccer icon who had helped convince the IOC to grant London the Games, stepped off a speedboat carrying the Olympic flame at the end of a torch relay that inspired many ordinary people around Britain.Past Olympic heroes including Muhammad Ali, who lit the cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and British rower Steve Redgrave, the only person to win gold at five successive games, welcomed the flame into the stadium.Yet it was not a celebrity but seven teenage athletes who lit a spectacular arrangement of over 200 copper 'petals' representing the participating countries, which rose up in the centre of the stadium to converge into a single cauldron.Moments later, a balloon-borne camera relayed live pictures of the earlier-released interlocked rings gliding through the stratosphere against the curved horizon of the planet below.The performance included surreal and often witty references to British achievements, especially in social reform and the arts, and ended with former Beatle Paul McCartney singing Hey Jude.Many sequences turned the entire stadium into a vast video screen made up of tens of thousands of "pixels" attached to the seats. One giant message, unveiled by Tim Berners-Lee, British inventor of the world wide web, read "This is for Everyone".Until the last few days, media coverage had been dominated by the security firm G4S's admission that it could not provide enough guards for Olympic venues. Thousands of extra soldiers had to be deployed at the last minute, despite the company's multi-million-dollar contract from the government.Suicide attacks that killed 52 people in London in July 2005, the day after it was awarded the Games, ensured that security would remain a worry. And this year the Games mark the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich massacre, when 11 Israeli Olympic team members were killed by Palestinian militants.Although no medals will be awarded until Saturday, the women's soccer tournament started on Wednesday, and on Friday South Korean archers set the first world records of the Games.Im Dong-hyun, who suffers from severe myopia and just aims at "a blob of yellow colour", broke his own 72-arrow world record with a score of 699 out of a possible 720, leading his two colleagues to a record combined score as well.The Games' first medals will be decided in the women's 10 metres air rifle final on Saturday, with the big action coming in the men's cycling road race, where world champion Mark Cavendish is favourite to become Britain's first gold medallist.In the evening, Americans Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are scheduled to line up for a classic confrontation in the men's 400 metres individual medley final.Phelps, competing in seven events after winning a record eight gold medals four years ago in Beijing, is bidding to become the first swimmer to win gold in the same discipline three times in a row."This is going to be a special race," said Gregg Troy, head coach of the American men's team. "I can't imagine a better way to promote our sport than a race like this on the first day."

 

Iran expands oil tanker insurance

Iran is expanding its insurance on its fleet of 47 oil tankers through a multi-billion-dollar line of credit as it seeks to get around EU sanctions crimping its crude exports, reports said on Saturday."Iran is ready to give total insurance for the transport of its oil... and the commitments by Iranian insurers are no different from those by Western insurers and therefore all risks and dangers are insured," Iran's Opec representative, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, was quoted as saying by the state-run newspaper Iran.The Fars news agency cited an "informed source" it did not identify as saying that the government had given the central state insurance agency, Bimeh Markazi, a line of credit worth several billion dollars to insure the tankers. It said 10% of the money had already been transferred.The measure, apparently aimed at any buyer of Iranian crude worldwide, expands on a promise of insurance for deliveries of its oil using Iranian tankers to major customers China and India. South Korea is also mulling joining the offer.Iran is suffering a cut in oil sales abroad of up to 40%, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), because of an EU embargo on Iranian crude imports and a related ban on European insurers providing cover for deliveries of Iranian oil anywhere in the world.European insurers accounted for 90% of coverage for Iran before the EU sanctions took effect on 1 July.Iran, which is striving to maintain a semblance of business as usual over its oil exports, is attempting to fill the insurance gap itself, but it faces several obstacles.US sanctions targeting Iranian financial transactions make it unclear how Iran could pay out any claims arising from accidents involving its tankers.Oil tankers are typically insured for up to $1bn because of the risk of oil spills.A European analyst in Tehran noted that the 40 tankers in Iran's fleet owned by the NITC, formerly known as the National Iranian Tanker Company, each had a long-distance capacity of up to two million barrels of oil.Iran, before the EU sanctions, exported around 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. The IEA estimates that has now been cut to around 1.5 million barrels per day.Several of the NITC vessels were being used in June to store Iranian offshore crude that Tehran has not been able to sell because of the sanctions, according to industry specialists.Iran has announced plans to quickly expand its onshore storage capacity, which has been saturated, including by subcontracting to private firms. Tehran has also ordered 12 new supertankers from China and should receive the first in December.

Pass tax proposal - Obama urges

US President Barack Obama urged Republicans in the House of Representatives on Saturday to pass his proposal calling for extending tax cuts for everybody but the richest Americans."Now it comes down to this," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "If 218 Members of the House vote the right way, 98% of American families and 97% of small business owners will have the certainty of knowing that their income taxes will not go up next year."On 1 January, a tax cut adopted under former president George W Bush and extended under Obama is set to expire. But Democrats and Republicans strongly disagree over how to extend it.While Obama favours higher taxes for the rich, Republicans argue it would undercut the nation's fragile economic recovery.This past week, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed a tax cut extension for American families earning less than $250 000 a year, but Republicans in the House are staunchly opposed to this bill, arguing that all Americans, including the wealthy ones, should benefit from the extension.The president noted that he fundamentally disagreed with those who believed that the best way to create prosperity in America was to let it trickle down from the top."I know they're wrong because we already tried it that way for most of the last decade. It didn't work," Obama said."We're still paying for trillions of dollars in tax cuts that benefited the wealthiest Americans more than anyone else; tax cuts that didn't lead to the middle class jobs or higher wages we were promised and that helped take us from record surpluses to record deficits."The president said the country could not afford more of top-down economics. He said America needed policies that would grow and strengthen the middle class, help create jobs and make education and training more affordable.