NEWS,18.02.2013

JFK jacket sold for over $600

A leather bomber jacket that belonged to slain US president John F. Kennedy has been sold at auction for $665 500, far exceeding the initial estimate, a Massachusetts auction house said on Monday.The brown Air Force One jacket was one of 700 pieces put on the auction block on Sunday after the family of David Powers, a special assistant to Kennedy, discovered a treasure trove of JFK memorabilia in the Powers family home.The jacket was initially estimated at $20 000 to $40 000.Among the other JFK items up for sale, nearly 50 years after his assassination, were photographs, campaign posters, letters and books belonging to the president. The sale lasted more than six hours, the house said.

 

Horsemeat scare hits UK consumers hard

The discovery of horsemeat in products sold as beef has shocked many British consumers into buying less meat, a survey showed on Monday.The furore, which erupted in Ireland last month and then spread quickly across Europe, has led to ready meals being pulled from supermarket shelves and damaged people's confidence in the food on their plate.It raised concerns over food labelling and the complex supply chain across the European Union, putting pressure on governments to explain lapses in quality control.A fifth of adults said they had started buying less meat after traces of horse DNA were found in some products, according to the poll conducted by Consumer Intelligence research company."Our findings show that this scandal has really hit consumers hard, be it through having to change their shopping habits or altering the fundamentals of their diet," David Black, a spokeperson for Consumer Intelligence said.The online poll, conducted on February 14-15, questioned more than 2 200 adults on their spending habits following the horsemeat scandal. It gave no specific figures on how much meat people were buying, focusing only on broader trends.More than 65% of respondents said they trusted food labels less as a result."(Brands) will have to put in place really stringent ways of checking that what's being delivered and what's on the label is indeed what's in there," Black said. In the month since horsemeat was first identified in Irish beefburgers, no one is yet reported to have fallen ill from eating horse but many supermarkets and fast food chains are already struggling to save their reputations. Governments across Europe have stressed that horsemeat poses little or no health risk, although some carcasses have been found tainted with a painkiller given to racehorses but banned for human consumption. More than 60% of adults surveyed said they would now buy meat from their local butchers, the poll said, while a quarter of adults said they would now buy more joints, chops or steaks instead of processed meat. Michael Suleyman, who owns a family-run butchers shop in Brixton, London, said more customers appeared concerned although for now there had not been any difference in sales figures."We have seen people panicking and asking us lots of questions like 'where do you get your meat from?'," Suleyman, 51, told Reuters. "We assure our customers by showing them the meat and mincing it for them in front of their eyes. "But with inflation running above central bank targets and an uncertain job market, the spending power of British consumers has been eroded in recent years and, for some, buying more expensive meat is not an option. Nearly a fifth of respondents said they wanted buy less processed meat such as ready-meals, but could not afford to. At a London branch of Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, which found horse DNA in some of its own-brand frozen spaghetti bolognese meals last week, consumers were still buying meat products. "I've got nothing against horse meat," said Sean Cosgrove, 39, a local government employee. "I think you're being ambitious if you expect top quality meat in those products anyway."

ECB warns of low interest rates

The head of the European Central Bank on Monday outlined the risks of keeping interest rates low for a long period, suggesting the ECB is unlikely to slash rates further from already record lows.Speaking to members of the European Parliament in Brussels, Mario Draghi also reiterated the bank's view on the level of the euro on the foreign exchange markets, saying talk of a currency war was "really excessive". "Naturally, the ECB is aware of the challenges arising from a protracted period of low policy rates," Draghi said, a week after the bank decided to keep its main interest rate on hold at a record low 0.75%.He said that low interest rates for a long time could harm the returns for savers and investors as well as possibly fuelling bubbles in house prices. In a low interest rate environment, banks might also have less incentive to monitor credit risk properly "and may provide too many loans to non-profitable business," Draghi said.Draghi said current interest rates were "accommodative", which analysts often take to mean that the bank is unlikely to cut them further.Turning to the exchange rate, Draghi said: "I find really excessive any language referring to currency wars" amid concerns that the euro is too strong on the foreign exchange markets and worries over the weak Japanese yen.He referred to the statement made by the Group of 20 countries in Moscow over the weekend, where leading powers vowed they would not target specific forex rates or devalue currencies to make them more competitive."I urge all parties to exercise very, very strong verbal discipline. I think the less we talk about this the better," said Draghi.Some eurozone countries, notably France, have expressed concern that the level of the euro, which has risen recently on the foreign exchange markets, could hurt exports and dampen any nascent recovery in the eurozone.Paris wants the eurozone to arm itself with an exchange rate policy. The external value of the euro should not be left to market forces, French President Francois Hollande has argued.But Draghi hit back saying: "The exchange rate is not a policy target, but it is important for growth and price stability."He also denied that the euro was too strong, saying it was "around its long term average."On the economy, the ECB chief said: "We enter 2013 in a more stable financial environment than in recent years" and predicted "a very gradual recovery" later in the year as the 17-nation eurozone battles with recession.

 

Qatar spends over $15bn on new airport

Energy-rich Qatar will open on April 1 a new airport with a capacity to handle 30 million passengers, as the Gulf state vies to increase its share of transit air travel, an official said Monday."The annual capacity of Hamad International Airport will be 30 million passengers when it opens on April 1," the head of Qatar's Civil Aviation Authority Abdul Aziz al-Nuaimi told AFP.He said the cost of building the new hub over nearly eight years has "exceeded $15bn." Eleven foreign budget carriers will be the first airlines to use the new facility, while the emirate's flag carrier Qatar Airways, will be joining in the second quarter of 2013, he said.The new airport spreads over 29 square kilometres (11.2 square miles), and features two runways stretching 4.85 kilometres (three miles) and 4.25 kilometres (2.64 miles) respectively.The terminal has a total surface of 60 hectares.The new airport, which replaces the old Doha International, is expected to raise its capacity to 50 million passengers per year by 2020.Qatar Airway is one of the fast growing carriers which like neighbouring Gulf carriers, Dubai's Emirates and Abu Dhabi's Etihad, vies to increase its share of transit travel between Europe, Asia and Australia.He acknowledged that austerity in many countries was strangling economic growth but insisted it was "unavoidable" for nations, especially those labouring under high debt, to reduce their public deficits.He called for "properly designed fiscal consolidation as based more on expenditure cuts rather than on tax rises", noting that taxes in the eurozone were "indeed very high already."

Crisis-hit arms market shrinks

For the first time since the mid-1990s, sales of the 100 biggest arms dealers excluding China declined in 2011 as the economic crisis prompted budget cuts, a Stockholm-based think tank said on Monday. The 100 companies' total sales declined, including inflation, by five percent from the previous year, the first time a drop has been registered since 1994, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.Even excluding inflation, the total fell, to €307bn from €412bn in 2010."Austerity policies and proposed and actual decreases in military expenditure as well as postponements in weapons programme procurement affected overall arms sales in North America and Western Europe," SIPRI said in a statement.Troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan and sanctions on arms transfers to Libya also played a role in the decline, it added.Proposed austerity measures "have led some companies to pursue military specialisation, while others have downsized or diversified into adjacent markets" such as security and in particular cyber security, the think tank said.The SIPRI figures do not include China due to a lack of reliable data. Chinese companies supply a military that enjoys the world's second-biggest budget.The list of top 100 arms-producing companies is dominated by American and European companies, which respectively hold 60% and 29% of the global market and together hold the top 17 spots on the list.US group Lockheed Martin is number one, with sales of $36.3bn in 2011, ahead of another US group, Boeing, and BAE Systems of Britain in third place.The think tank, which is specialised in research on conflicts, weapons, arms control and disarmament, was created in 1966 and is 50% financed by the Swedish state. It defines arms sales as "sales of military goods and services to military customers, including both sales for domestic procurement and sales for export."

 

Thai economy soars in fourth-quarter

Thailand's economy enjoyed record growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 as industry recovered from the impact of the kingdom's worst floods in decades, official data showed Monday.Gross domestic product (GDP) soared 18.9% in the three months through December from the year-earlier period according to the government's National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).GDP rose 3.6% compared with the previous quarter.Strong domestic and international demand helped to drive the strong performance, said NESDB secretary general Arkhom Termpittayapaisith. "There has been a full recovery after the severe floods," he told a press conference. The Thai economy suffered a double-digit contraction in the wake of the months-long floods, which deluged vast swathes of the country in 2011, killing hundreds of people and causing widespread damage to factories. At their height the floodwaters affected 65 of the country's 77 provinces, swamping hundreds of thousands of homes and disrupting global supply chains.The NESDB forecasts economic growth of 4.5%-5.0% for 2013, after an expansion of 6.4% in 2012."An economic recovery in the United States, China and Europe will be good for Thai exports," Arkhom said, adding that an increase in the kingdom's minimum wage would also boost domestic demand.Rising car sales and production helped to lift GDP in the fourth quarter due to a government scheme to encourage new vehicle purchases.Thailand's central bank last month held its key interest rate steady at 2.75% citing a better-than-expected performance in the economy.

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.

NEWS,06.02.2012.

Palestinians take step toward unity

After months of wavering, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took a decisive step Monday toward reconciliation with the Islamic militant group Hamas, a move Israel promptly warned would close the door to any future peace talks.In a deal brokered by Qatar, Abbas will head an interim unity government to prepare for general elections in the Palestinian territories in the coming months. The agreement appeared to bring reconciliation — key to any statehood ambitions — within reach for the first time since the two sides set up rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007.Monday's deal, signed in the Qatari capital of Doha by Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, put an end to recent efforts by the international community to revive long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the terms of Palestinian statehood. Abbas appears to have concluded that he has a better chance of repairing relations with Hamas, shunned by the West as a terror group, than reaching an agreement with Israel's hardline Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.Netanyahu quickly condemned the Doha deal. "It's either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. You can't have them both," he said in a warning to Abbas, who has enjoyed broad international support. In moving closer to Hamas, Abbas risks losing some of that backing and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid.Qatar, awash with cash from vast oil and gas reserves, assured the Palestinians that it would help limit any political and financial damages, according to Palestinian officials close to the talks.Qatar is willing to spend as much as $10 billion to help repair the damage of the rift, including settling mutual grievances by supporters of Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement who at the height of tensions fought bloody street battles, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closed-door meetings with reporters. The figure could not be confirmed independently. Whether the Palestinian Authority loses any of the roughly $1 billion in foreign aid it received each year may partly depend on the interim government's political platform and Hamas' willingness to stay in the background.The new government is to be made up of politically independent experts, according to the Doha agreement. If headed by Abbas, devoid of Hamas members and run according to his political principles, it could try to make a case to be accepted by the West. Abbas aides said they were optimistic they could win international recognition.The Quartet of international Mideast mediators — the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia — has said it would deal with any Palestinian government that renounces violence, recognizes Israel and supports a negotiated peace deal. Abbas has embraced these principles, while Hamas rejects them.Top Abbas aides Nabil Shaath and Azzam al-Ahmed said they are confident the new government will be based on the Quartet principles. In any case, they said, the interim government's focus will be to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections, not to negotiate with Israel. Such elections won't be held in May, as initially envisioned, they said, but could take place several months later.In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. was seeking more information about what was agreed, and that reconciliation was an internal matter for Palestinians.” What matters to us are the principles that guide a Palestinian government going forward, in order for them to be able to play a constructive role for peace and building an independent state," Nuland said.” Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to non-violence," she said. "It must recognize the state of Israel. And it must accept the previous agreements and obligations between the parties, including the road map. So those are our expectations."Nuland declined to say if the Fatah-Hamas arrangement would advance or hurt peace talks with Israel. She also appeared hesitant to address Netanyahu's warning to Abbas that the Palestinians can have "peace with Hamas or peace with Israel.""We maintain that both of these parties ought to stay committed to this process," Nuland told reporters.The European Union offered qualified support Monday, saying it considers Palestinian reconciliation and elections as important steps toward Mideast peace. The EU, a major financial backer of Abbas' Palestinian Authority, "looks forward to continuing its support," provided the new government meets the Quartet demands, said Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Last year, Abbas and Mashaal struck a reconciliation deal that later became bogged down in disagreement over who would head an interim government. Hamas strongly opposed Abbas' initial choice of Salam Fayyad, the head of his Palestinian Authority. Fayyad, an economist who is widely respected in the West, said Monday he welcomed the new deal even though it would cost him a job he has held since 2007.The breakthrough came after two days of meetings between Abbas and Mashaal, hosted by Qatar's emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. After the signing, Abbas said that "we promise our people to implement this agreement as soon as possible."Mashaal also said he was serious "about healing the wounds ... to reunite our people on the foundation of a political partnership, in order to devote our effort to resisting the (Israeli) occupation."Abbas and Hamas have had bitter ideological differences, with Abbas pursuing a deal with Israel and the violently anti-Israel Hamas dismissing such talks as a waste of time. The rift deepened with Hamas' 2007 takeover of Gaza, which left Abbas with only the West Bank.However, some of those differences seem to have narrowed in recent months.Abbas has lost faith in reaching a deal, at least with Netanyahu. Low-level Israeli-Palestinian border talks last month — an attempt by the international community to revive formal negotiations after more than three years of paralysis — only highlighted the vast gaps.The Palestinians want the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, with minor border adjustments, for their state. Israel's outline of a border deal, presented last month, meant it wants to keep east Jerusalem and large chunks of the West Bank, not enough concessions to keep Abbas engaged.Mashaal, meanwhile, has been prodding Hamas toward a more pragmatic stance that is closer to that of the group's parent movement, the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood scored election victories in Egypt and Tunisia in the wake of the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring, and has urged Hamas to moderate and reconcile with Abbas.However, Mashaal represents Hamas in exile and appears to have had differences with the movement's more hardline leadership in Gaza, which stands to lose influence and jobs in a reconciliation deal. Some of the Gaza leaders have resisted Mashaal's push for unity and moving closer to the Brotherhood, Hamas officials have said privately.It remains unclear how much resistance Mashaal will now face from the Gaza leaders of the movement. One of the biggest challenges of reconciliation — how to blend the two sides' separate security forces — remains unresolved.Still, a delegation from Gaza was present in Doha for the signing, a possible sign of Qatari pressure on the hard-liners. Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister of Gaza, said he welcomed the agreement.The agreement calls for rebuilding Gaza, which has been largely cut off from the world as part of an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade imposed after the Hamas takeover. The blockade was eased in the past year, but not enough to revive the Gaza economy, including the vital construction industry, and many large-scale projects remain on hold.Al-Ahmed and Shaath, the Abbas aides, said they expect the composition of the new government to be announced during a Feb. 18 meeting of Palestinian political factions in Cairo.They said Abbas would set an election date 90 days after the Central Elections Commissions has updated voter records in Gaza, a process that could take several weeks. The initial reconciliation pact envisioned elections in May, but this is no longer realistic, the aides said. Shaath said he believes the voting could take place by July.