NEWS,14.07.2013

Kenya raises price of petrol, diesel

Kenya's energy regulator raised retail prices for petrol and diesel on Sunday due to rising global oil prices and a weaker local currency, while decreasing the price of kerosene.

Fuel prices have a big impact on the rate of inflation in the east African economy. The rate rose to 4.91% in June from 4.05% a month earlier.

The economy heavily depends on diesel for transport, power generation and agriculture. Kerosene is used in many households for lighting and cooking.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) reviews domestic energy prices every month, with adjustments made depending on fluctuations in international energy prices and foreign exchange fluctuations.

The cost of importing super petrol and diesel in June rose, while that of kerosene fell, while at the same time the Kenyan shilling weakened to 85.65 per dollar from 84.30 per dollar in the previous month the ERC said in a statement.

The regulator raised the maximum price of a litre of super petrol in Nairobi by 1.34 shillings to 109.52 shillings, and increased the price of diesel by 3.70 shillings to 102.86 shillings per litre.

The price of kerosene will fall by 2.03 shillings to 79.49 shillings, the commission said.

The new prices will take effect on July 15, and will be in force for a month.

Hollande rules out shale gas exploration

French President Francois Hollande ruled out exploration for shale gas during his presidency on Sunday, dousing hopes that a ban on hydraulic fracturing could be reviewed following a legal challenge by a US firm.
France's top court said this week it will examine the challenge to the ban by Schuepbach Energy, which held two exploration permits that were cancelled when the law was passed in 2011.
Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg stirred debate when he suggested creating a state-backed company to examine exploration techniques. But he was promptly overruled by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
"As long as I am president, there will be no exploration for shale gas in France," Hollande told France 2 TV in a live interview after Bastille Day celebrations.
The International Energy Agency has named France as a European country with some of the most plentiful underground reserves of shale gas.
But Hollande's government, which comprises members of the Greens Party, has kept in place the 2011 ban and said it should remain in effect due to concerns that hydraulic fracturing can pollute underground water sources.
Scheupbach Energy challenged the ban in the local court of Cergy-Pontoise near Paris, which forwarded the case to France's highest administrative court, which then passed it on to the Constitutional Council.
"The debate on shale gas has gone on for too long," Hollande said.

EU to probe German energy law - report

The European Union plans an investigation into Germany's renewable energy law due to concerns that exemptions for some firms from charges levied on power users breaches competition rules, a German magazine reported on Sunday.
Without citing sources, Der Spiegel weekly said lawyers in Brussels had looked at the law which provides a framework for Germany's push to renewable energy, and that Commissioner Joaquin Almunia had concluded it may breach EU rules.
The Commission would open proceedings on Wednesday, it said.
The officials criticised exemptions made for energy intensive companies in Germany, reported the magazine, adding this may lead to companies having to pay millions of euros in back payments.
A spokesman for the Commission declined to comment on the report.
The EU said in March it would investigating power grid charge exemptions which have been granted to big steel, chemicals, glass, cement and building materials companies.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has set out ambitious goals for Germany to wean itself off fossil fuels, phase out nuclear power and switch to renewable energy sources but it is costly.
Households are paying for subsidies to renewable energy producers and have been hit by sharp increases in the last few years. Yet fears that German industry will become uncompetitive if it has to pay too much for energy has led to exemptions from these charges for many firms.
The debate about the cost of the energy transition and energy prices could become an issue in the September election.
Merkel has said she intends to rein in renewable subsidies and reduce the costs of the green revolution on consumers if she is re-elected in September.

Wind of austerity chills turbine industry

Wearing face masks and wielding sanders, two workers smooth the surface of a massive fan for a wind turbine at the Gamesa factory in Aoiz, a town in Navarre, northern Spain.
But in hard times, it will be winds in Finland, not Spain, that make the finished product spin.
Last year, the plant delivered a wind turbine park to Malaga in southern Spain and another to Burgos, in the north, said factory manager Javier Trapiella.
"Now we don't produce for Spain," he added.
"It has all stopped."
For green energy producers, Spain has changed from a paradise with generous public support to a markedly less agreeable home.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government is imposing an austerity regime to plug an accumulated energy sector deficit of €26bn ($34bn).
On Friday, the horizon darkened further with the approval of reforms cutting annual state aid for renewable energies by more than €1bn.
The change is enough to place at risk huge strides in the Spanish wind energy industry.
Spain ranks as number four globally in terms of installed wind energy but has dropped to seventh place in terms of new projects, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.
"For Spain, wind energy has really been an energy revolution. In 20 years we have gone from producing zero kilowatts to producing 20% of national demand today," said Heikki Willstedt Mesa, director of energy policy at the Spanish Wind Energy Association.
In the fourth largest economy of the eurozone, wind is often the main source of electricity.
"Unfortunately, since 2009 the government has slowed the development of wind energy in Spain with various regulatory measures," he said.
Cuts in state aid of 35%, removing subsidies for new turbines since the start of 2013, and then the latest changes announced on Friday: the sector has been hit hard and manufacturers are the first to feel the pain.
In February, French group Alstom closed two factories in Spain and laid off 373 employees.
"The economic crisis and the absence of a stable regulatory framework have slowed domestic demand," the group said, stressing the lack of activity in its Spanish sites.
Spain's Gamesa, which is among the industry's world leaders, gave the same reasons as it laid off 606 of its 4,800 staff in Spain and closed two blade factories in recent months.
Gamesa notably pointed to the "regulatory uncertainty" , the persistent economic crisis and financial problems in the sector, especially in southern Europe.
Making a wind turbine is almost a work of craftsmanship, said Gamesa's Trapiella. "You need good hands," he said. The fibreglass and carbon fibre blades measure 62.5 metres (205 feet) and weigh 15 tonnes each.
When finished they will leave by truck overnight for the port of Bilbao to be shipped by sea to Finland. About 40 blades are scheduled for delivery by February.
"If 90% of our sales were in Spain 10 years ago, it is the exact opposite today with 90% of sales coming from abroad," said Jose Antonio Cortajarena, Gamesa's corporate managing director.
"We are in more than 50 countries," he said, citing Mexico, Brazil and India as key markets.
"Even if our corporate headquarters are in Spain, the risk, our dependance on the Spanish market, is limited."
The Spanish Wind Energy Association is not so reassured.
"We have destroyed 25 jobs a day in the wind energy sector since the start of the year and the industry is on the borderline, it cannot take any more cuts," it said.
The industry has already suffered heavily.
"Of the 43 000 jobs we had in the wind industry in 2009, there are only 23 000 left, said Sergio de Otto, secretary general of the business group Fundacion Renovables (Renewables Foundation).

Snowden could cause 'more damage'

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden on Sunday marked three weeks stuck in an airport transit lounge since he arrived in Russia, as a supporter warned the fugitive possessed even more secrets that could damage the US government.

Snowden, wanted by the United States for revealing sensational details of its surveillance operations, flew into Russia from Hong Kong on 23 June and has languished ever since in the transit zone in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

Breaking cover for the first time since he arrived, Snowden told a group of activists on Friday that he was applying for asylum in Russia until he could travel on to Latin America.

But Russian officials have yet to confirm receiving such an application which, if approved, would risk further straining Russia's already tense relations with the United States.

Meanwhile, the journalist first who published Snowden's revelations based on the sweeping US surveillance programmes said he possesses data that could prove far more "damaging" to the US government.

Glenn Greenwald told Argentina's La Nacion paper that Snowden, aged 30, had chosen not to release this information.

Damaging information

Russian President Vladimir Putin had said last week that Snowden could claim asylum in Russia only if he stopped harming US interests, a remark that prompted the fugitive to withdraw a previous application for asylum in Russia.

"Snowden has enough information to cause more damage to the US government in a minute alone than anyone else has ever had in the history of the United States," Greenwald told the paper.

"But that's not his goal," said Greenwald.

Russia was still waiting on Sunday for the promised request for asylum from Snowden, who had said that application would be made on Friday. It was not clear whether the hold-up was simply due to the weekend.

The head of Russia's Federal Migration Service (FMS) Konstantin Romodanovsky said on Saturday that "there is for the moment no application from E Snowden". If one was made, it would be examined "according to normal legal procedures", he added.

"For the moment, we do not know anything" about an asylum application, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency.

Human rights in the transit lounge

The United States wants the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor returned to them to face trial over the leaks. Moscow has so far rejected that demand, saying it has no extradition treaty with Washington.

Washington has reacted sharply to the possibility that Moscow might offer Snowden a safe harbour.

"We would urge the Russian government to afford human rights organisations the ability to do their work in Russia throughout Russia, not just at the Moscow transit lounge," White House spokesperson Jay Carney said.

"Providing a propaganda platform for Mr Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality," he added.

US President Barack Obama spoke to Putin by telephone on Friday on issues including the Snowden affair, the Kremlin and White House both said, but no further details were forthcoming.

The United States has already rebuked China for allowing Snowden to leave for Russia from Hong Kong.

Asylum offers from the left

At his meeting with activists, Snowden vowed he did not want to harm the United States but it was not clear however whether this meant he was prepared to stop leaking intelligence in order to stay in Russia.

The leftist governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have all offered Snowden asylum, but Snowden said that Western governments would prevent him from travelling to the region.

A summit of the Latin American Mercosur trade bloc issued a statement on Friday reaffirming the right to asylum and rejecting "any attempt at pressure, harassment or criminalisation by a state or third parties".

The bloc, meeting in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, denounced four European countries that denied airspace to a plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales back from Moscow earlier this month.

They apparently suspected that Snowden was on board.

Mercosur leaders said they would recall their ambassadors from Spain, France, Italy and Portugal for consultations in protest at the incident.

In a statement, they rejected "any attempt at pressure, harassment or criminalisation by a state or third parties" in response to a decision to grant asylum.

Flight attendants praised for heroism

Before Asiana Flight 214 crash-landed in San Francisco, the last time the Korean airlines' flight attendants made news it was over an effort by their union earlier this year to get the dress code updated so female attendants could wear trousers.

Now, with half of the 12-person cabin crew having suffered injuries in the accident and the remaining attendants receiving praise for displaying heroism during the emergency evacuation, the focus has shifted from their uniform looks to their heroic actions.
In the 6 July crash three members of the crew were ejected from the planes sheared off tail section while still strapped in their seats. Those who were able, meanwhile, oversaw the emergency evacuation of nearly 300 passengers using knives to slash seatbelts, slinging axes to free two colleagues trapped by malfunctioning slides, fighting flames and bringing out frightened children.
'Muscle memory'
"I wasn't really thinking, but my body started carrying out the steps needed for an evacuation," head attendant Lee Yoon-hye, 40, said during a news conference on Sunday night before federal safety investigators instructed the airlines not to let the crew discuss the accident.
"I was only thinking about rescuing the next passenger."
Such conduct has given a measure of pride to members of a profession who often are recognised only for their appearance and customer service skills.
"In the face of tremendous adversity and obstacles, they did their job and evacuated an entire wide-bodied aircraft in a very short period of time," said Veda Shook, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants and an Alaska Airlines flight attendant.
"It's such a shining reflection, not just of the crew, but of the importance of flight attendants in their roles as first responders," Shook said.
Along with training in first aid and firefighting, flight attendants every year are required to practice the moves needed to get passengers off a plane in 90 seconds or less, Shook said.
They go through timed trials, practicing skills that include shouting over pandemonium and engine noise, communicating with people frozen in fear and opening jammed doors and windows, she said. The goal is to make performing these tasks automatic.
"We have the muscle memory," Shook said.
It's a significant departure from the days when flight attendants were always women and known as stewardesses or air hostesses. In that era decades ago, members of the cabin crew weren't expected to play much of a role in emergencies.
Laura Brentlinger, who spent 31 years as a United Airlines flight attendant, recalled having no idea how much danger everyone was in during one of her first emergency landings in 1972. She didn't realise the severity of the situation until it was over and she saw the pilot's face.
"In those days, it was like pat you on the head, just go back and keep the people nice and smile. That's how far we've come, thank the Lord," Brentlinger said. "We were just little Barbie dolls back there."
Roles expanded
The role of flight attendants in the US expanded significantly in 1989 after Air Ontario Flight 1363 crashed after taking off in Canada. An investigation revealed that a flight attendant had seen ice on a wing but did not speak up, assuming the pilots knew and would not welcome the information from her.
Since then, FAA rules have required that cabin crew members be incorporated into the communications system known as "crew resource management" that empowers all airline personnel to voice concerns to the cockpit even if it means challenging senior pilots.
The philosophy also authorises flight attendants to order emergency evacuations.
Hearing that the pilots of Asiana Flight 214 told the flight attendants to delay an evacuation for 90 seconds after the crash landing in San Francisco, giving the order only after a flight attendant spotted flames outside, made Brentlinger wonder whether Asiana Airline's attendants have the same authority.
"I'm sure they have a very different hierarchy and can't do anything without the pilot's permission," she said. "There is no doubt in my mind I would have evacuated that aircraft immediately."
'After the dust settles'
Brentlinger said her heart aches when she thinks about what Asiana's flight attendants are going through now and are likely to go through in the months to come.
She was aboard a 747 that lost a cargo door at 6 600 metres, sucking nine passengers to their deaths over the Pacific Ocean in 1989.
After the disaster aboard United Flight 811, Brentlinger said she suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder and was unable to get back on a plane for more than four years.
Handling the emergency itself was "the easiest part of the whole process... because you train for it and you just do it", she said.
She went on to say that "after the dust settles, so to speak" and one tries to get on with life, "it's horrific, at least it was for me".
The Flight 214 cabin crew consisted of 11 women and one man, ranging in age from 21 to 42, according to the airline.
Spokesperson Lee Hyomin said Asiana is not sharing information on emergency training hours of its flight attendants because the National Transportation Safety Board asked it not to share any information related to the accident while it's being investigated.
Rigorous training
Jean Carmela Lim, 32, a Sydney-based travel consultant, spent a year working as an Asiana flight attendant eight years ago and posted pictures from her experience on her travel blog, Holy Smithereens, this week. She recalls her weeks-long safety training as rigorous.
"We needed to be able to swim while dragging another human - dead weight - in one hand, and hoist ourselves and the dead weight onto the safety raft," Lim said.
The appearance standards were almost as demanding. Lim, who was 23 when she applied for the job, initially was told she was too old. During the interview, she was required to wear a short skirt without stockings.
Flight attendant school included sessions on hair, makeup and comportment. During flights, the cabin manager inspected the attendants to make sure they were wearing the right colour of nail polish and had their aprons properly ironed.
Lim said that appearance is important, but seeing pictures of Flight 214's attendants outside the burned-out aircraft in skirts made her hope their union prevails on the pants issue.
"If there's evidence that wearing a skirt will enable you to save more lives than wearing pants, then by all means keep them in skirts," she said. "If I'm trapped in a burning aircraft , I doubt I'll notice if the cabin crew saving me had lipstick on her teeth or had a tuft of hair out of place."

NEWS,05 AND 06.04.2013

Obama to offer entitlement cuts in budget

President Barack Obama will make key concessions to Republican foes next week when he unveils his US budget that proposes cuts to cherished entitlement programs, the White House said on Friday.
Obama's fiscal blueprint slashes the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, in what a senior administration official described as a "compromise offer" that cuts federal spending, finds savings in Social Security, and raises tax revenue from the wealthy.
Republicans led by House Speaker John Boehner are widely opposed to any new tax hikes, after the president secured $600bn in increased tax revenue in a year-end deal.
But Obama's concession to conservatives in the form of reduced cost-of-living payouts for Social Security benefits could revive consideration of a deficit-reducing "grand bargain" that has proved elusive in recent years.
Such cuts to public pension programmes and public health insurance for the elderly - seen as sacred cows for Obama's Democrats  have been longstanding demands of Republicans.
"While this is not the president's ideal deficit reduction plan, and there are particular proposals in this plan like the CPI (consumer price index) change that were key Republican requests and not the president's preferred approach, this is a compromise proposal built on common ground," the administration official said.
The president is willing to "do tough things to reduce the deficit," but only in the context of a package that includes new revenues from the wealthy, the official added.
"This isn't about political horse trading; it's about reducing the deficit in a balanced way that economists say is best for the economy and job creation."
Obama's new revenues will draw in part from capping retirement savings plans for millionaires, and closing some loopholes that benefit the rich.
The annual budget deficit is projected at 5.5% of gross domestic product for the fiscal year ending in September. Under the Obama budget, that would decline to 1.7% of GDP by 2023.
Combined with the $2.5 trillion in savings already achieved since negotiations in 2010, the Obama budget would bring total deficit reduction to $4.3 trillion over 10 years, slightly higher than the overall goal agreed to by both parties for stabilizing the national debt.
Boehner offered a lukewarm reaction to the plan.
"One of the best things President Obama can do is follow the House and outline a balanced budget next week  one that includes entitlement reforms that are not conditional on enactment of more tax increases, which will suppress growth instead of encourage it," Boehner said in a statement.

Petrol price fixing probe ends - report

Prosecutors in Italy have wrapped up a probe triggered by suspicions that the country's steep petrol prices were the result of manipulation by several large oil firms, media reported Friday.
The results of the investigation into seven companies - ENI, Shell, Esso, Total ERG, Tamoil, Q8 and API - have been sent to legal authorities in Rome and Milan for possible further action.
Italian motorists pay the highest prices at the pump in the European Union, according to the European Commission's directorate general for energy.
The newspaper La Stampa said the Varese prosecutor's office in northern Italy, which conducted the probe at the urging of a consumer group, suspected the oil companies of "carrying out speculative moves to boost the price of fuel at the pump".
But the head of Italy's biggest oil company ENI, Paolo Scaroni, told reporters on Friday the probe was just the latest official scrutiny of what he described as unavoidably high petrol prices.
"There are several reasons fuel prices in Italy are higher than elsewhere in Europe. To name just one, there are 24 000 service stations in Italy compared with 9 000 in Britain with a total equivalent consumption, so these service stations, in Italy, need a bigger margin" to achieve profitability, he said.
He also cited reduced station opening hours, and noted that Italian service stations cannot sell other items, such as newspapers or cigarettes, to augment revenues.
"There is nothing underhanded," he said.
The average price for unleaded petrol in Italy at the end of 2012 was €1.75 per litre ($8.60 per gallon), according to the European Commission's directorate general for energy.
That compared with €1.50 per litre in France, €1.56 per litre in Germany, and €1.63 per litre in Britain, the data showed, according to the Commission's Eurostat statistics office.

Panicked Cypriots queue at banks

Panicked Cypriots queued outside banks on Friday on rumours that a new levy would be imposed on deposits as part of a bailout, but the authorities moved quickly to assure them this was not the case.
Cyprus wrapped up talks this week paving the way for the €10bn ($13bn) bailout from EU-led lenders, but fears swirled that it was still well short of the €5.8bn to fund its end of the deal.
As the speculation spread on Friday morning, customers formed long queues outside some of the larger branches of the Co-op bank, prompting the government to issue a denial of the reports as "unjustified" and "groundless".
"Such an issue was never tabled or discussed, therefore we categorically state that no such issue exists, not even as an intention," said the finance ministry.
"The memorandum has been agreed with the troika and it does not include any additional measure that leads to the need to implement any new haircut on deposits," it said, referring to the EU, European Central Bank and IMF.
The ministry said the measures agreed by the Eurogroup on March 25 for restructuring the Cypriot banking sector were being implemented and the system was "on track towards stabilisation and consolidation".
The central bank also denied reports of any plans to introduce a "general" haircut of deposits to pay for the conversion of uninsured deposits above €100 000 into shares in the island's biggest lender, the Bank of Cyprus (BoC).
"We refute this because such an action is not provided for in the policy decisions taken by the Eurogroup," it said in a statement.
The supervisory authority for the Co-op societies also warned anxious customers to ignore "slanderous rumours" being spread by text messages that a haircut on deposits was imminent.
Under the deal to downsize the banking sector, large BoC depositors could lose all of the remaining 60% of their balances over 100,000 euros depending on the costs of winding up and merging second-largest lender Laiki.
Savers in that bank will have to wait for years to see any of their cash over €100 000.
Banks have been operating under stringent capital controls since they reopened last week, after a near two-week lockdown prompted by fears of a run on deposits.

Global miners to hire more staff

Despite the unpredictability of the global mining industry, the prospect of hiring more staff is on the cards, according to a survey by Pedersen & Partners.

From the 160 companies surveyed across the sector, 33% indicated that they will be hiring more staff, while 50% said they will maintain their work force.

The results show that:

• 28% indicate they will be hiring new employees,
• 5% indicate they will be bringing back staff that were laid off,
• 50% will maintain their current staffing levels, and
• 15% suggest they will be restructuring.

The survey noted that the overall perception is that miners appear to be cautiously optimistic with most firms predicting that 2013 will be very similar to last year or improving somewhat.

However, it was not all good news, several small mining firms with market caps below $10m will not survive through the next year, the survey stated.

"Those with proven projects and strong management reputations may be subject to acquisitions or find more fluid funding through private equity, streaming, flow through shares and eventually, some institutional financing."

According to respondents 47% expect mergers and acquisitions to be a part of their growth strategy this year, while 31% said it will be considered for the right opportunity and 22% ruled it out altogether.

The last five years have been a turbulent time for mines with the global recession, operational restructurings, production cuts as well as expenditure reduction. This resulted in flagging confidence in the mining sector.

Mining in SA

The mining sector in South Africa, which is the backbone of the economy, has faced several challenges in recent months, including proposed job cuts, a series of wildcat strikes and the Marikana massacre in which more than 44 people died.

Data released by Statistics South Africa in March showed that total mining production was 3.1% lower in 2012 compared with 2011.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan stated in his National Budget speech in February that mine strife resulted in a revenue shortfall of R16.3bn, estimated to be 5.2% of the 2012/13 gross domestic product.

However, Mines Minister Susan Shabangu said in February that the country is committed to a strong mining industry, adding that the industry had grown from 993 mines in 2004 to almost 1 600 mines.

"We will continue to ensure that an enabling environment is created, while at the same time developing an environment that is responsive to the changing global economic environment and the dynamism of the contemporary mining industry," she said.

US trade deficit shrinks to $43bn

The US trade deficit edged lower in February after a big jump in January, government data released Friday showed.
The commerce department reported the trade gap shrank to $43bn, down from the revised $44.7bn in January.
The decline, which came after a large 16.7% deficit increase in January, surprised analysts who had projected a deficit of $44.7bn.
US exports grew 0.8 percent to $186bn, strengthened by the exports of industrial goods (up 4.5%) and automobiles (up 1.6%).
Meanwhile, US imports held steady at $228.9bn.
US imports of crude oil, which represent more than 10% of imported goods by the US, dropped 5.6% to $23.6bn.
But US imports of foreign automobiles rose 4.6% between January and February to reach $24.8bn.
On a 12-month basis, the US trade deficit has dropped by 3.5%.

Ireland slowly recovering

Ireland's central bank said on Friday the country's gradual economic recovery was broadly on track, barely changing its growth forecasts but warning the government it could not afford to ease back on its austerity programme.
It predicted gross domestic product would expand by 1.2%, a touch below the 1.3% foreseen three months ago, and kept its 2014 growth forecast at 2.5%.
Bailed out in late 2010, Ireland has been one of the few eurozone economies to grow over the past two years and closed in on weaning itself off emergency assistance last month by raising €5bn ($6.42bn) in a landmark 10-year bond sale.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of Ireland's bailout lenders, struck a similar note on Wednesday when it said the economy would grow by 1.1% this year, the first time in six quarterly reviews it has not marked down its view for 2013.
However like the IMF, which cautioned that Ireland's gradual recovery remained highly uncertain, the central bank said its medium-term assessment for the export-focused economy relied on a pick-up in external demand from the second half of 2013.
"The gradual recovery of the Irish economy is continuing," the central bank said in its latest quarterly review.
"The prospects for such a recovery must be treated with some caution, however, given the high degree of uncertainty regarding the near-term outlook for world demand."
The bank said that while recent surveys, particularly in consumer sentiment, pointed to an easing in the rate of decline in the eurozone, the bloc was facing a delayed emergence from recession, and that would have knock-on effects for Ireland.
Export growth - driven completely by the booming services industry - would fall to 2.5% this year as a result, down on the 3% expected in January, while expansion in 2014 was marked down by just under the same amount to 5%.
That should be mostly offset by a lower than previously expected drop of 0.2% in consumer spending this year and slightly quicker rise of 0.4% in 2014. The fall in domestic demand may, finally, be nearing an end, the bank said.
With any growth in the domestic economy slight at best, unemployment is still forecast to fall only slightly, to 13.9% next year even though the estimated rate fell to 14% over the last two months.
The bank added that while unemployment rates for those with the lowest levels of education were around four times higher than those with third-level qualifications, in absolute terms the majority of the unemployed come from higher education.
It gave a cool reception to the government's promise to voters of a 20% reduction in the €5.1bn of austerity measures planned by 2015, following a deal struck with the European Central Bank to ease its the burden of its bank-assumed debt.
"Full implementation of the announced budget measures remains essential to preserve market confidence and to keep a buffer against negative shocks," the bank said.

Germans back Merkel's crisis management

A new poll shows Germans widely approve of Chancellor Angela Merkel's crisis management following a bailout deal for Cyprus, suggesting it remains a key asset for the leader as she prepares to seek a third term in elections in September.

The poll for ARD television published on Friday also showed Merkel's popularity riding high and that of centre-left challenger Peer Steinbrueck, who had a gaffe-strewn start to his campaign, sinking further.
But, although Merkel's conservative bloc is easily the biggest single party, it gave neither Merkel's current centre-right coalition nor the combination of Steinbrueck's Social Democrats and the Greens a parliamentary majority.
Merkel's hard-nosed handling of the debt crisis has long been popular at home, though many in the nations that have been bailed out resent the austerity and reform policies attached to the deals.
The poll of 1 002 people, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, found 65% agreed that Merkel has "acted correctly and decisively in the euro crisis”.
Only 33% thought that the German government thinks too little about the well-being of people in crisis-hit countries as it works to rescue the euro.
Fifty percent said it was right that investors and bank depositors in Cyprus had to contribute to the bailout for the small island nation.
Merkel's government was insistent that large depositors should help pay, but was criticised by Germany's opposition for initially accepting a short-lived plan that would have involved a levy on small deposits as well.
The survey found that 68% were satisfied with Merkel's work, unchanged from last month, and that Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was close behind, with 63%. But Steinbrueck's rating was down four points to 32%.
Still, the survey pointed to one risk for Merkel: It found that 75% of respondents believed the worst of the euro crisis is still to come.
Germany's economy so far has been relatively unscathed by the crisis, even as several countries suffer recessions.
A new group calling itself Alternative for Germany, which advocates scrapping the euro in its current form, plans to launch itself as a party on 14 April and run in the 22 September elections.
It's unclear whether it will be able to make any impact; another party, the Free Voters, has failed to make any inroads with a more moderate platform of opposition to the current bailout policies.
The ARD poll gave a margin of error of plus or minus up to 3.1 points.

North Korea advises diplomats to leave

Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang huddled on Saturday to discuss a North Korean evacuation advisory as concerns grew that the isolated state was preparing a missile launch at a time of soaring nuclear tensions.
The heads of all EU missions had agreed to meet to hammer out a common position after Pyongyang warned embassies it would be unable to guarantee their safety if a conflict broke out and that they should consider leaving.
Most of their governments made it clear they had no plans to withdraw any personnel, and some suggested the advisory was a ruse to fuel growing global anxiety over the current crisis on the Korean peninsula.
"We believe they have taken this step as part of their country's rhetoric that the US poses a threat to them," a British Foreign Office spokesperson said in London.
Missiles
The embassy warning coincided with reports that North Korea had loaded two intermediate-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast.
"The North is apparently intent on firing the missiles without prior warning," the South's Yonhap news agency quoted a senior government official as saying.
They were reported to be Musudan missiles, which have never been tested, but are believed to have a range of around 3 000km, which could theoretically be pushed to 4 000km with a light payload.
That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam.
The White House said on Friday it "would not be surprised" by a missile test.
"We have seen them launch missiles in the past.... And it would fit their current pattern of bellicose, unhelpful and unconstructive rhetoric and actions," White House spokesperson Jay Carney said.
'Provocative act'
The Pentagon warned any such test would be "a provocative act", with spokesperson George Little urging Pyongyang to "follow international norms and abide by their commitments".
North Korea, incensed by UN sanctions and South Korea-US military drills, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.
The North has no proven inter-continental ballistic missile capability that would enable it to strike more distant US targets, and many experts say it is unlikely it can even mount a nuclear warhead on a mid-range missile.
Nevertheless, the international community is becoming increasingly skittish that, with tensions showing no sign of de-escalating, there is a real risk of the situation spiralling out of control.
The latest expression of concern came from Communist icon Fidel Castro, who warned the danger of a nuclear conflict erupting was higher than it had been at any time since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
If war broke out on the Korean peninsula, "there would be a terrible slaughter of people", Castro wrote in a front-page article in Granma, the Cuban Communist Party's newspaper.
UN won't withdraw
The United Nations said it had no plans to pull staff out after the North Korean warning message to embassies and NGOs in Pyongyang.
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky said UN chief Ban Ki-moon was "studying the message," and added that UN staff "remain engaged in their humanitarian and developmental work" throughout North Korea.
According to the British Foreign office, embassies and organisations were told to inform the Pyongyang authorities by 10 April what assistance they would require should they wish to evacuate.
"Our understanding is that the North Koreans were asking whether embassies are intending to leave, rather than advising them to leave," the spokesperson said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was consulting with China over the warning, as well as the United States and other members of the stalled six-party talks on North Korea.
In South Korea, a Navy official told Yonhap that two Aegis destroyers with advance radar systems had been deployed - one off the east coast and one off the west coast - to track any missile launch.
North Korea refused on Saturday to lift a ban on South Koreans accessing their companies in a joint industrial zone on the North side of the border.
Entry to the Seoul-funded Kaesong complex has been barred since Wednesday.

Castro urges calm in North Korean crisis

Communist icon Fidel Castro on Friday called on North Korea and the United States to avoid confrontation and reminded both sides of their "duties" towards peace.

"If a war breaks out there, there would be a terrible slaughter of people" in both North and South Korea "with no benefit for either of them”, Castro wrote in a front-page article in Granma, the Communist Party's newspaper.
Now that the North Korean government "has demonstrated its technical and scientific advances, we remind them of their duties with those countries that have been their great friends."
Castro urged North Korea to remember that "such a war would affect... more than 70% of the planet's population”, and decried "the gravity of such an incredible and absurd event" in such a densely populated region.
Castro said the present crisis presents the most serious risk of a nuclear war since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, a two-week standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union over placing nuclear missiles in Cuba.
The "duty" to avoid the conflict is also in the hands of Washington "and of the people of the United States”, Castro said.
If a war breaks out, President Barack Obama's second term "would be buried in a deluge of images that would portray him as the most sinister personality in the history of the United States."
Castro, 86, handed over power to his brother Raul in 2006 but remains influential in Cuba and among leftists worldwide.
Meeting Kim Il-Sung
In his article, the Cuban leader recalled "the honour" of meeting Kim Il-Sung, the founder of the North Korean regime and grandfather to current leader Kim Jong-un.
The late North Korean leader, who died in 1994, was a "historic figure, notably brave and revolutionary," Castro wrote.
Castro also wrote that North Korea "has always been friendly with Cuba, as Cuba has been always and will continue to be" friendly with North Korea.
Castro writes an occasional column titled "Reflections of Comrade Fidel" that runs in state media. This is his first column since June 2012.
North Korea, incensed by UN sanctions and South Korea-US military drills, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.
On Thursday the North Korean army said it had received final approval for military action, possibly involving nuclear weapons, against the threat posed by US B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers taking part in the joint drills.

NEWS,04.03.2013

EU looks to hi-tech sector for jobs

Even with unemployment at record highs, there are hundreds of thousands of jobs available in information technology that governments and companies must work together to fill, the European Commission said Monday.Launching a 'Grand Digital Coalition', Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said there would be 900 000 vacancies in Europe's Information and Communication Technologies industry between now and 2015 but the number of fresh ICT graduates and skilled workers is simply not keeping up."The Grand Coalition we launch today is an essential part of getting Europe's economy back on track and finding jobs for some of Europe's 26 million unemployed," Barroso said. Filling these jobs will have an impact across the whole economy, he said, and prepare "Europeans to fill the jobs that will drive the next ICT revolution".Among the larger companies signing up for the programme to provide among other things jobs, training and start-up funding are Spanish telecom's giant Telefonica, Cisco of the United States and Germany's SAP.

Record number of billionaires in 2013

Forbes's 2013 list of the world's richest people includes 1 426 billionaires, a record number, with a total net worth of $5.4 trillion, up from $4.6 trillion in the previous ranking. Following are key facts from the ranking. There are 210 new billionaires from 42 countries, including 27 from the United States. The average net worth of those on full list has risen to $3.8bn from $3.7bn. Sixty people have dropped off the list and eight have died. The Asia-Pacific region saw the biggest number fall off the list with 29, followed by the United States, which lost 16. Most of the billionaires are self-made, 961, while 184 inherited their wealth and 281 inherited part of it and are increasing it. The oldest billionaires, on average, are in the Americas, with an average age of 67, with those in the United States slightly younger at 65. The United States had the most billionaires with 442, followed by Asia-Pacific with 386, Europe with 366, Middle East and Africa with 103 and the Americas, excluding the United States, with 129. The number of women billionaires rose to 138 from 104. The United States has 50 female billionaires, followed by 35 in Europe and 22 in Asia-Pacific. Saudi Arabia's 93-year-old Sulaiman Al Rajhi, the chairperson of the Al Rajhi Bank, who’s estimated net worth is $6bn, is tied for having the most children of those on the list with 23. Roman Avdeev, the owner of the Credit Bank of Moscow, also has 23 children, 19 of whom are adopted. The 45-year-old's fortune is valued at $1.4bn. 

Global 'petrol pain' indicator

The Bloomberg Gas Price Ranking sorts 60 countries by average price at the pump and by "pain at the pump", which is measured by the percentage of average daily income needed to buy a gallon of fuel.

See where different countries of the world stack up.

$9.89....Turkey........................  .#7
$9.63....Norway.....................  .#51
$9.09....Netherlands...............  #40
$8.87....Italy............................#31
$8.82....Portugal.....................#17
$8.62....Greece.......................#21
$8.50....Sweden......................#46
$8.41....Belgium..................... #41
$8.38....France....................... #37
$8.22....Denmark.................. .#48
$8.15....Hong Kong.................#36
$8.12....Finland.......................#44
$8.06....United Kingdom......... #39
$8.05....Ireland........................#43
$7.96....Germany.................... #42
$7.67....Israel.......................... #34
$7.61....Slovakia..................... #18
$7.60....Slovenia..................... #27
$7.44....Malta..........................#24
$7.21....Hungary..................... #13
$7.19....Switzerland................ #52
$7.06....Spain........................ #33
$7.03....Austria.......................#47
$6.97....Czech Republic.........  #23
$6.94....Lithuania....................#14
$6.88....Cyprus.......................#30
$6.83....Latvia.........................#16
$6.81....Luxembourg..............#55
$6.77....South Korea..............#32
$6.73....New Zealand............ #44
$6.70....Estonia......................#22
$6.70....Japan.........................#49
$6.70....Romania.....................#8
$6.67....Poland.......................#15
$6.53....Bulgaria......................#5
$6.31....Australia.....................#54
$6.29....Singapore...................#50
$6.20....Chile...........................#25
$5.40....Brazil..........................#20
$5.19....Argentina....................#19
$5.06....South Africa............... #11
$5.00....India............................#2
$4.87....Philippines..................  #3
$4.76....Canada......................  #53
$4.74....China...........................  #9
$4.72....Colombia.................... #12
$4.42....Thailand.....................  #10
$3.98....Pakistan.......................  #1
$3.68....Indonesia....................  #6
$3.47....Russia.......................  #35
$3.29....United States.............  #56
$3.22....Mexico........................  #29
$2.36....Malaysia.....................  #38
$2.34....Nigeria.........................   #4
$2.15....Iran............................. #28
$1.77....United Arab Emirates..   #57
$1.14....Egypt.......................... #26
$0.81....Kuwait........................ #59
$0.45....Saudi Arabia..............  #58
$0.06....Venezuela..................  #60

Global unrest fuels armoured car demand

In a workshop in a dusty industrial area on the outskirts of Dubai, engineers are stripping down a Toyota Land Cruiser to install armoured plating, bullet resistant glass and run-flat tyres.In the aftermath of the Arab spring revolts and with the wealth gap and social unrest rising in many parts of the world, there is no shortage of rich individuals and governments who suddenly feel they need a little extra protection.For companies such as Canada's INKAS, Britain's Jankel and Germany's Transeco, it has been a lucrative decade. Even with the Iraq and Afghan wars the conflicts on which the industry grew winding down, there are still deals to be done.Newer entrant Ares Security Vehicles  founded in 2010 but largely staffed by industry veterans says it has a strong and growing order book."This batch of vehicles is going to Iraq," says Marc Rouelle, a Belgian engineer now chief executive officer of the Dubai-based firm. " And the one behind is going to Russia. We are awaiting delivery tomorrow of 30 ... destined for Libya."With spending cuts around the world, industry consultancy IHS Jane's says the market for conventional military vehicles is contracting by more than four percent a year. But the demand for armoured sports utility vehicles and limousines - visually indistinguishable from regular civilian vehicles but protected against small arms fire and grenades is on the up.The gold standard, perhaps unsurprisingly, is set by the US president. Barack Obama's Cadillac limousine dubbed "the beast" by the US media and Secret Service is believed to weigh several tonnes and include its own defensive weaponry and air supply in the event of chemical attack.Several major carmakers, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, produce their own armoured versions of key brands.Most of the industry, however, is made up of companies who fit armour to regular new or second hand vehicles. Not only are they often considerably cheaper, but sales of vehicles built outside Western Europe and the United States can be less constrained by complex export regulations.The conversion trade is far from new. Britain's Jankel which also builds armoured riot control vehicles for police and militaries has been fitting armour and rebuilding limousines for heads of state and other clients since the 1980s.But the scale and breadth of demand in recent years, industry watchers say, has been entirely new. Particularly in those countries affected by the "Arab spring" analysts say demand from government, individuals and firms is sharply up."It's a murky market and it's hard to get any exact figures," says Jon Hawkes, senior analyst for military vehicles at IHS Jane's. "But companies are talking about a 30%-40% increase in sales in the last four or five years. The big auto manufacturers are increasingly realising there is money to be made but the main area of growth is probably at the other end of the spectrum."Prices vary, but an armoured Land Cruiser can sell for $150 000 or more, more than three times the cost of a non-armoured vehicle. In the entrance of its Dubai workshop, Ares proudly displays one of its most heavily tested vehicles a Land Cruiser subjected to heavy gunfire on a test range in Germany. Given enough time, the company says it can convert almost any vehicle - but the Toyota Land Cruiser has emerged as far and away the favourite. The Dubai plant now produces two such vehicles a day, CEO Rouelle says, still primarily for shipment to Iraq and Afghanistan but increasingly also to other buyers elsewhere. The Middle East emerged as a major centre of the industry because of its proximity to those two war zones and other markets. At the height of the Iraqi and Afghan wars, more than a dozen companies were operating in the United Arab Emirates alone producing what industry insiders said could be 400 vehicles a month. That demand, industry insiders say, has fallen off somewhat lately. In part, the drawdown of Western troops has meant fewer foreign personnel on the ground. At the same time, workshops have sprung up in both Iraq and Afghanistan capable of doing their own conversions to add armour. Several companies, including Ares, have set up operations elsewhere. Jordan, with its land border with Iraq, is a particular favourite. For Rouelle, however, Dubai, still offers an appealing base. As well as an easily tapped migrant workforce, it charges little tax and is well located for the other growing markets of the Middle East, Africa and Asia. "The UAE is an attractive base for our main operations," he says. "European engineering, tested and certified in Germany, made in Dubai. "Multinational companies, particularly oil firms, are big buyers, finding such vehicles a useful tool to bring down rising insurance premiums. Rich people in emerging economies hope they will offer protection from kidnapping and street violence. But the real money, those in the industry say, still lies with large government contracts. At last week's IDEX arms fair in Abu Dhabi, Ares and several other companies exhibited their wares alongside more conventional defence suppliers. The bullet-riddled Land Cruiser, they say, attracted more than a little attention. "We've had a lot of interest," says John Lashmar, director of marketing and business development at Ares. "Interior ministries, presidential protection details, companies and individuals in the Gulf and beyond. "In the Middle East and North Africa in particular, secret police and government security forces have ramped up their resources. Saudi Arabia, one source said, had bought several dozen armoured land cruiser-type vehicles recently as it worries over potential trouble along its border with Yemen and minority Shi'ite dominated areas in its oil-rich east. Qatar had bought a similar number, suspected to be for delivery to rebels in Syria. Some manufacturers are also expanding into military-style riot control vehicles, another growing market where they believe they can compete with larger, established defence companies. With many nations seeing an uptick in riots and unrest since the financial crisis, such vehicles are in mounting demand. Jankel's armoured police vehicles were credited with helping restore order in London after its 2011 riots.The strangest request he has had so far, Rouelle said, was from somebody looking to armour a Porsche sports car. He declined, preferring to concentrate on the firm's existing strengths.Other firms, however, will offer just that service. One US-firm, Lasco Group, says it will armour a Ferrari for $100 000 plus the original cost of the vehicle. Its armoured aluminium, however, would only be proof against handguns."Sometimes it can be seen as a lifestyle item," says Hawkes at IHS. "These buyers are much less concerned about exactly how bullet-proof a vehicle might be."

 

Economic gloom overshadows EU meeting

Eurozone finance ministers meet on Monday against the backdrop of a weak economy and increased political uncertainty after inconclusive polls in Italy, the group's third largest economy.If there has been some relief as the debt crisis eased in recent months, the political impasse in Italy "will colour the perception of what ministers will be discussing," an EU official told a briefing.Data Friday showed eurozone unemployment at record highs and consumer demand in the doldrums, meaning the 17 euro nations will be anxious to know what damage has been done to the efforts to cut debt and stabilise public finances.There will be "a lively debate" on the economic outlook as the budget deficit numbers come in, the official said, with most attention focused on France and whether it will get another year from the EU to put its fiscal books in order."The issue will be in the back of many peoples' mind," the official said, stressing that the meeting was unlikely to make any immediate decision on this issue or the rest of the agenda. A mooted bailout for Cyprus would be left to allow its newly-elected president and ministers see what the position is on the key sticking points - debt sustainability, privatisation and anti-money laundering measures. Athens meanwhile has officials from the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank officials the 'Troika' reviewing its bailout programme while Ireland and Portugal want adjustments to their rescue loan packages.Ministers will also look at how the restructuring of Spain's struggling banks is progressing and discuss the criteria to apply from next year when member states can call on the new eurozone back-stop, the European Stability Mechanism, to directly inject money into failing lenders.They may also want to discuss last week's controversial accord in principle on new bank capital requirements and capping banker bonuses but they will have to wait until Tuesday when their 10 non-euro colleagues join them for a full EU meeting.Tuesday's gathering of all 27 European Union finance ministers promises to be livelier than usual given the hostile reaction in London to the plan to cap bank bonuses, an additional issue to pit an increasingly eurosceptic Britain against the rest.Another EU official recognised how important the City of London financial centre is to Britain but with the other 26 member states in favour of the accord, cautioned "we do not know what the British government is ready to accept."

Obama 'not bluffing' against Iran

US Vice President Joe Biden says President Barack Obama isn't bluffing when he says he'll use military action if ultimately necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Biden told a powerful pro-Israel lobby's annual conference on Monday that protecting Israel is in the United States' interest. Biden says the US still prefers a diplomatic option on Iran but that the window for that is closing.Biden is cautioning against acting too hastily. He says every other option must be exhausted to ensure the world community will be supportive if there's a need for a military intervention.Biden says efforts to delegitimise Israel as a Jewish state are the most dangerous change he's seen as it related to Israel's security. He says Israel's legitimacy is non-negotiable for the US