NEWS,22.02.2012

Venezuela's Chavez needs another operation

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks with workers at a tractor factory in Barinas 

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez will undergo another operation in the coming days after doctors in Cuba found a lesion in his pelvis where surgeons removed a large cancerous tumor last year, he said.The 57-year-old socialist leader confirmed he travelled to Havana for the tests on Saturday. Rumors of the unannounced trip had prompted a flood of speculation among the opposition and supporters alike that he was at death's door. Chavez’s health is the wildcard ahead of an October 7 presidential election, when he will seek a new six-year term. He has never given many details about his condition so the news he needs more surgery was bound to feed doubts about his recovery.” There is no metastasis, just this small lesion in the same place where they removed the tumor," the president said during a televised tour of a factory in his home state of Barinas on Tuesday.” Because of the growing rumors, I'm obliged to give this information now ... it's a small lesion, about two centimetres across, very clearly visible. This will need to be taken out, it needs more surgery, supposedly less complicated than before.” He said the next operation would take place in the coming days, but that it had not yet been decided where.” No one should be alarmed ... I'm in good physical condition to face this new battle," he said. "It has to be verified whether there is any link with the tumor that was there before.” In a phone call to state TV later, the president added: "No one can say if it (the lesion) is malignant, but there is a high probability because it is in the same place.” He had insisted he was completely recovered, although medical experts had said it was too soon to make such a call. Donning a bright red hard hat to stroll around the proposed site of the giant Veneminsk factory, the president joked with workers and looked to be in reasonable health.A US cancer doctor told  that with such little detail it was impossible to know his real condition, but that the latest turn of events did not look good.” They have always played their cards close to their chest, so you never really know," said the doctor, who has followed the case from afar but asked not to be named.” But a two centimeter lesion in the same space where he had cancer before means there is a high probability of malignancy. This is serious, very significant.” Venezuela’s information minister had earlier denounced a report that Chavez had been rushed back to Havana for emergency treatment as part of a "dirty war by scum," launched by the opposition ahead of the election.A prominent opposition-leaning Venezuelan journalist, Nelson Bocaranda, wrote on Monday that Chavez, who had two operations in Havana last June, had returned unexpectedly to Cuba over the weekend and that some of his relatives had flown there too. Chavez allies were scathing about Bocaranda after the president appeared on television. Deputy Foreign Minister Temir Porras joked on Twitter: "They'll have to take me for an emergency operation in Cuba. I'm dying of laughter!” Local political analyst Luis Vicente Leon said any new "sympathy" bounce in support linked to the president's illness would be lower and short-lasting the second time round."Clearly the tensions within Chavismo will grow because of the uncertainty generated by this announcement," he said.The public's reactions to Chavez's news were mixed."Maybe it's time for a change in the country. Everything points to that," said Elizabeth Gonzalez, a 42-year-old housewife in Caracas. Car park attendant William Perez said the president had looked alright, if a bit swollen-faced.” He didn't appear bad or tired. He's a fighter, and like his motto he'll live and he'll conquer!" he said. Barclays Capital noted that polls show more than three-quarters of Venezuelans believed Chavez had fully recovered."However, if that perception changes it could significantly affect Chavez's re-election chances, not only physically limiting his ability to campaign but also creating doubts about the viability of a new term in office," it said. The opposition is newly united behind one candidate - youthful state governor Henrique Capriles - and see the vote as their best chance to end Chavez's 13 years in power. Recent opinion polls have given Chavez an edge over Capriles, thanks partly to a huge program of new state spending on social projects. But about a third of Venezuelans remain undecided, and competition for their votes will be intense.One medical source close to the team treating Chavez in Venezuela said he had been suffering a tumor lysis, or cell breakdown, which carried symptoms including a high fever.Before Chavez's reappearance on Tuesday, Venezuelan analyst Diego Moya-Ocampos had suggested his absence could well be a strategy by Chavez's campaign team to put the focus back on him and not Capriles, who since winning the opposition primary had been at the center of media and political attention.He said the fact that the latest rumors had spread so fast just underlined the anxiety among loyalists each time Chavez vanished from view for more than a couple of days. Chavez apologised to his supporters on Tuesday, saying he knew the speculation about his health was upsetting for them.” Always these rumors ... There are people who want me dead, who hate me so much," he said. "I am very sorry, because I know that while some people are happy, the majority are suffering.” Venezuela’s widely traded debt was largely flat to slightly higher. Its 2027 Global bond was up 0.56 points in price to bid 80.563, yielding 12.041%, unchanged after Chavez spoke.

NEWS,21.02.2012.

Medvedev hosts Russia’s protest leaders

President Dmitry Medvedev hosted leaders of Russia’s protest movement Monday, in a rare move after an outburst of rallies against Vladimir Putin’s likely return to the Kremlin.Medvedev discussed ideas for reforming Russia’s “far from ideal” political system at a meeting that would have been almost unthinkable before mass opposition protests broke out in the aftermath of December parliamentary polls. Leftist radical Sergei Udaltsov, ex-Cabinet Minister Boris Nemtsov and liberal politician Vladimir Ryzhkov – leaders of the movement that organized mass rallies against the authorities – were all present at the meeting.” Our political system is far from ideal and most of those present here subject it to criticism and sometimes very harsh criticism,” Medvedev said at the meeting at his Gorky residence outside Moscow. “There are people here with different political opinions and that is good because we have to understand in what direction our political system will develop,” he said in comments broadcast on state television.Udalstov, Nemtsov and Ryzhkov – whose faces were virtually invisible in state media in the last few years – were shown on state television attending the meeting along with other leaders of unregistered political parties. However state television had not by Monday evening broadcast any of their comments to the Russian president.Nemtsov said ahead of the meeting that he intended to press Medvedev for the release of 37 “political prisoners” and demand constitutional changes barring all presidents from serving three terms. Russian news agencies said that Medvedev discussed his proposals – already submitted to parliament – to bring back elections for regional governors and simplify the procedures for registering parties. However the demands for the protest movement go far beyond this and its leaders have called for the annulment of fraud-tainted Dec. 4 parliamentary election results and far-reaching political reforms.Putin, president from 2000-08, is seeking to reclaim the Kremlin in a March 4 vote after his four-year stint as prime minister. Medvedev would then become prime minister in a job swap vehemently criticized by the opposition. Opinion polls are predicting that Putin will win the election but the opposition has vowed to hold multiple protests afterward to protest his domination of Russian politics. According to a state pollster, Putin will be elected president in the first round of March’s election with more than half the vote, avoiding a run-off that would dent his authority on the eve of his planned return to the Kremlin’s top job.Putin is likely to win 58.6 percent of the vote, far ahead of his closest rival, said Russia’s Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), which has a history of accurately predicting the results of Russian elections.“Putin will gain victory,” the pollster’s general director, Valery Fedorov, told reporters in Moscow. The forecasts were based on a poll of 1,600 people carried out across Russia this month. Second place will go to veteran Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who is likely to win 14.8 percent, the pollster said. A mood change against Putin among voters in major cities has stoked speculation that the former KGB spy might face the humiliation of winning less than half of the vote, undermining his claims of majority support and triggering a second round.Putin even conceded this month that he may face a second round, though he warned such a step would stoke infighting and undermine Russia’s political stability. But the poll indicates that though Putin is facing the biggest protests of his 12-year rule, his aides believe the former KGB spy can still bring in enough votes to secure another six years as Kremlin chief.Putin’s former chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin, said the latest forecasts for the elections indicated Putin could win 59-61 percent of the vote. The news, he said on Twitter, would make many “sleep more soundly.”VTsIOM forecast that nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky would win 9.4 percent followed by billionaire financial whizz kid Mikhail Prokhorov with 8.7 percent and former upper house Speaker Sergei Mironov with 7.7 percent. Opponents such as Communist leader Zyuganov and blogger Alexei Navalny say that the election will not be legitimate as officials are bound to falsify the results in Putin’s favor.Putin was clearly taken aback by the scale of the protests against the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections, initially dismissing opponents as the pawns of the West and even branding them chattering monkeys. But as the seriousness of the challenge became evident, Russia’s most popular politician changed track, reshuffling his team and approving some planned changes to open up the tightly controlled political system he still dominates. During the parliamentary election, VTsIOM forecast Putin’s United Russia party would win 48.5 percent of the vote.

NEWS,20.2.2012

Iranian ships reach Syria, Assad allies show support

Russia, China and Iran showed support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today, days before an international meeting likely to pile more pressure on him to step down in the face of an increasingly bloody uprising. Assad met a senior Russian politician in Damascus, who reiterated Moscow's support for his self-styled reform programme and spoke out against any foreign intervention in the conflict, Russian and Syrian news agencies reported. China accused Western countries of stirring up civil war in Syria, and two Iranian warships docked at a Syrian naval base, underscoring rising international tensions over the near year-long crisis. Government forces pressed on with their crackdown on the anti-Assad uprising, with opposition activists reporting five people killed in renewed shelling of an opposition-held district of Homs and troops and militia blockading Hama. Both cities have been in the forefront of the revolt.The crisis is entering an important week, with Western and Arab powers due to meet at a conference in Tunisia on Saturday to pressure Assad to give up power, while Assad forges ahead with plans for a referendum on Monday for a new constitution. The referendum, which would lead to multi-party elections within 90 days, is part of what Assad describes as a reform programme to address demands for more democracy. Syria's official SANA news agency said about 14,600,000 people are eligible to take part in the referendum. The West and Syrian opposition figures have dismissed the plan as joke, saying it is impossible to have a valid election amid the continuing repression. Alexei Pushkov, head of the international affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, met Assad in Damascus today and affirmed Russia's support for the plan. Moscow is Syria's main arms supplier and an ally dating back to the Cold War.Pushkov also stressed the need "to continue working for a political solution to the crisis based on dialogue between all concerned parties, without foreign intervention," SANA said.Assad, who shows no inclination to relinquish power, told Pushkov Syria was being targeted by armed terrorist groups supported by foreign elements aiming to destabilize Syria.China, which sent an envoy to Damascus this weekend, also backs Assad's idea of a political solution and has appealed to the government and opposition alike to halt the violence. China’s Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, took the West to task in a commentary today, saying: "If Western countries continue to fully support Syria's opposition, then in the end a large-scale civil war will erupt and there will be no way to thus avoid the possibility of foreign armed intervention.” The West has so far ruled out any Libya-style military action but the Arab League, led by Saudi Arabia, has indicated some of its member states were prepared to arm the opposition. A more immediate concern for the West is the plight of civilians caught up in the offensive against the opposition and a nascent rebel army. Activists in embattled cities such as Homs say food supplies are running out and doctors lack medicine to treat the wounded. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in Geneva it was negotiating with Syrian authorities and opposition fighters for a ceasefire to bring life-saving aid to civilians. Diplomatic sources said the ICRC was seeking a two-hour ceasefire in hotspots including Homs.Opposition activists said five people had been killed in government shelling of Homs's Baba Amro district today, adding to a reported death toll of several hundred since the operation began on February 3.Activists in the western city of Hama said troops, police and militias had set up dozens of roadblocks, isolating neighbourhoods from each other."Hama is cut off from the outside world. There are no landlines, no mobile phone network and no internet. House to house arrests take place daily and sometimes repeatedly in the same neighbourhoods," an opposition statement said. Rebel fighters have been attacking militiamen, known as shabbiha, while avoiding open confrontations with armoured forces that had amassed around Hama, a city north of Homs on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. The government restricts foreign media access in Syria, making it hard to independently verify the activists' reports.

BREAKING NEWS,19.02.2012.

Iran halts oil sales to Britain, France

 President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking on TV 

Iran has stopped selling crude to British and French companies, the oil ministry said today, in a retaliatory measure against fresh EU sanctions on the Islamic state's lifeblood, oil.” Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped ... we will sell our oil to new customers," spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying by the ministry of petroleum website. The European Union in January decided to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1 over its disputed nuclear programme, which the West says is aimed at building bombs. Iran denies this. Iran’s oil minister said on February 4 the Islamic state would cut its oil exports to "some" European countries. The European Commission said last week the bloc would not be short of oil if Iran stopped crude exports, as they have enough in stock to meet their needs for around 120 days. Industry sources told Reuters on February 16 Iran's top oil buyers in Europe were making substantial cuts in supply months in advance of European Union sanctions, reducing flows to the continent in March by more than a third - or over 300,000 barrels daily. France’s Total has already stopped buying Iran's crude, which is subject to fresh EU embargoes. Market sources said Royal Dutch Shell has scaled back sharply. Among European nations, debt-ridden Greece is most exposed to Iranian oil disruption. Motor Oil Hellas of Greece was thought to have cut out Iranian crude altogether and compatriot Hellenic Petroleum along with Spain's Cepsa and Repsol were curbing imports from Iran.Iran was supplying more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the EU plus Turkey in 2011, industry sources said. By the start of this year imports had sunk to about 650,000 bpd as some customers cut back in anticipation of an EU ban. Saudi Arabia says it is prepared to supply extra oil either by topping up existing term contracts or by making rare spot market sales. Iran has criticised Riyadh for the offer. Iran said the cut will have no impact on its crude sales, warning any sanctions on its oil will raise international crude prices. Brent crude oil prices were up $1 a barrel to $118.35 shortly after Iran's state media announced last week Tehran had cut oil exports to six European states. The report was denied shortly afterwards by Iranian officials."We have our own customers ... The replacements for these companies have been considered by Iran," Nikzad said. EU's new sanctions includes a range of extra restrictions on Iran that went well beyond UN sanctions agreed last month and included a ban on dealing with Iranian banks and insurance companies and steps to prevent investment in Tehran's lucrative oil and gas sector, including refining. The mounting sanctions are aimed at putting financial pressure on the world's fifth largest crude oil exporter, which has little refining capacity and has to import about 40% of its gasoline needs for its domestic consumption.

NEWS,19.2.2012

Greek cabinet backs extra austerity measures

      

A make-shift devise explodes during an anti-austerity demonstration in central Athens

 

Greece's cabinet has approved a final set of austerity measures sought by the EU and IMF as a condition for a 130-billion euro ($171 billion) rescue package, raising the chances of a deal next week to avert a chaotic default on its debt. The approval was largely a formality after Athens last week unveiled details of the extra budget and public sector wage cuts worth 325 million euros to euro zone partners. Lingering doubts over whether Greece can bring its mountain of debt down to more manageable levels in coming years could still hold up the rescue package. Some officials in the 17-nation currency union warn chances of a deal at a euro zone meeting on Monday are little higher than 50-50."The 325 million euros worth of measures were approved unanimously," said one minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, about the cuts, part of a 3.3-billion-euro package of austerity measures that have triggered riots in Athens. A government official said cabinet had also agreed to launch by March 8 a debt swap for private creditors with the aim of completing it by March 11. The swap is intended to accompany the rescue deal and will mean that creditors take a 70% cut in the real value of their holdings. After months of often acrimonious negotiations, Greek hopes are rising that Monday's meeting in Brussels will endorse the rescue which Athens needs to avoid bankruptcy on March 20 when major debt repayments fall due.” The Greek people have done everything they can and we are determined to make good on our commitments," Public Order Minister Christos Papoutsis said before the meeting. In a statement, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos regretted that extra pension cuts could not be avoided, but said the impact was limited because it would only affect the part of the pension above a monthly threshold of 1,300 euros.” We all agree the immediate support of economic activity is a priority of the government's economic policy," he added, while not detailing what growth measures were under consideration. A survey by pollster MRB for Sunday's Realness newspaper showed 72.7 percent of Greeks want the country to stay in the euro, but only about half believe it will manage to do so. On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Papademos all voiced optimism about a Greek accord during a three-way conference call, Monti's office said. However, Jean-Claude Juncker, who will chair Monday's meeting of the Euro group in Brussels, made clear that urgent work was still needed to get a programme to reduce Greece's crippling debts back on track. At stake is a target of lowering the debt from the equivalent of 160 percent of annual Greek economic output now to a more manageable 120% by 2020."All the discussions I will have ... until Sunday night will try to move the figure nearer to the target," Junker said. At the moment, EU and IMF officials believe that target - which assumes that Greece will run a budget surplus next year, excluding the massive cost of its debts - will be missed. Under the main scenario of an analysis by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Greek debt will fall to only 129 percent of gross domestic product in 2020, one official said. The euro zone is therefore looking at modifying the deal negotiated over many months with private creditors under which they would accept a cut of around 70 percent in the real value of their Greek bond holdings. Senior euro zone finance officials meet on Sunday to discuss the analysis and find ways to bring the debt closer to the 120% target before the finance ministers gather on Monday.” If you do a number of things you can bring the 129 close to 120," one euro zone official familiar with the document said. These might include changes to interest accrued on privately held bonds, but the EU and its national institutions might also play their part, the official said. Interest rates on EU loans to Greece could be cut, and those national central banks in the euro zone which hold Greek bonds might accept similar terms to the private creditors on some of their holdings. The national central banks own an estimated 12 billion euros of Greek debt. The European Central Bank has refused to take part in the complex deal for the private creditors - involving swapping old bonds for new ones with a lower face value, lower interest rates and longer maturities - and would need to approve the national central bank decision. Officials are also considering a cut in the cash "sweetener" which would be offered to the private creditors in return for accepting the cut in the value of their bond holdings. With Greek morale near rock bottom, the national mood darkened further after armed thieves looted a museum on Friday in Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games. They stole bronze and pottery artefacts weeks after the National Gallery was burgled. A Greek newspaper suggested the state could no longer look after the nation's immense cultural heritage. "The Greek state has gone bankrupt, let's face it," the daily Kathimerini said."If the state cannot guard the country's great cultural heritage for financial or other reasons it must find other ways to do it," the conservative daily said."It could, for example, turn to large foundations and ask them to assume the cost of security at the country's important museums in the next two to three difficult years."

NEWS,18.02.2012.

Iran deploys warships to the Mediterranean

 

Iran's Navy Commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari

Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean Sea after crossing the Suez Canal on Saturday to show Tehran's "might" to regional countries, the navy commander said, amid simmering tensions with Israel."The strategic navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has passed through the Suez Canal for the second time since the (1979) Islamic Revolution," Admiral Habibollah Sayari said in remarks quoted by the official IRNA news agency.He did not say how many vessels had crossed the canal, or what missions they were planning to carry out in the Mediterranean, but said the flotilla had previously docked in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.Two Iranian ships, the destroyer Shahid Qandi and supply vessel Kharg, had docked in the Red Sea port on February 4, according to Iranian media.Sayari said the naval deployment to the Mediterranean would show "the might" of the Islamic republic to regional countries, and also convey Tehran's "message of peace and friendship.” The announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, fuelled by the longstanding dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme and rising speculation that Israel might launch pre-emptive strikes against Iranian facilities. Israeli officials are also accusing Tehran of orchestrating anti-Israeli bombings in India and Georgia as well as blasts in Thailand. Iran denies the allegations. The first Iranian presence in the Mediterranean in February 2011 provoked strong reactions from Israel and the United States, with the Jewish state putting its navy on alert. During the 2011 deployment, two Iranian vessels, a destroyer and a supply ship, sailed past the coast of Israel and docked at the Syrian port of Latakia before returning to Iran via the Red Sea.Israeli leaders denounced the move as a "provocation" and a "powerplay."Iran's navy has been boosting its presence in international waters in the past two years, deploying vessels to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden on missions to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates. And Iran sent submarines to the Red Sea last June to "collect data," its first such mission in distant waters, while its naval commanders say they plan on deploying ships close to US territorial waters in the future. Iranian naval forces are composed of small units, including speedboats equipped with missiles, which operate in the Gulf and are under the command of the Revolutionary Guards. The navy, using small frigates, destroyers, and three Russian-made Kilo class submarines, oversees high seas missions in the Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aden. It now permanently has at least two vessels in those areas to escort merchant ships, and has been involved in more than 100 confrontations with armed pirates, according to the navy commander in December.

NEWS,17.02.2012.

Dutch prince buried in avalanche in critical condition

Dutch prince Johan Friso 

Dutch Prince Johan Friso is in critical condition in hospital after he was buried in an avalanche while skiing off piste in the Austrian Alps Friday, authorities said.Queen Beatrix's middle son was pulled unconscious from the snow 20 minutes after the accident and resuscitated, the mayor of the upscale western resort of Lech told the Austria Press Agency (APA).The prince was skiing with one companion away from marked ski runs when the mass of snow, 30 metres wide and 40 metres long, hit them around midday, APA said. The 43-year-old prince, who gave up his right to the throne a decade ago, was flown to the university clinic in the western city of Innsbruck. His condition was "stable but life threatening," and the queen and his wife were at his side, the Dutch government said in a statement. The Dutch royal family often spends winter holidays in Lech in the province of Vorarlberg - which like other parts of Austria has been blanketed with heavy snow in recent weeks. Many parts of the country have avalanche alerts in effect, but some adventurous skiers still venture off piste. In Lech, the alert level was four on a scale of five at the time."It was in open space, not on a secured piste," a Lech police official said about the place where the accident took place.A second Dutch government statement suggested it could take days before doctors would have a clearer picture of the prince's medical prognosis."The rescue chain functioned perfectly and worked within a short time," the police official in Lech. "After the emergency call, rescue crews were on the scene with rescue helicopters. He could be located immediately and freed," he said, adding the prince had been skiing with a group. A tourism official in Lech told APA the prince was wearing a beeper that helped rescue crews find him quickly and that the companion was able to free himself and call for help. Prince Johan Friso's older brother is Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his younger brother is Prince Constantijn.Johan Friso gave up his right to the Dutch throne when he married a commoner whose past was considered too tainted for her to become a member of the Dutch royal house. When he asked for official permission in 2003 to marry Mabel Wisse Smit, Dutch media published details of her relationship with mobster Klaas Bruinsma, who was shot and killed in 1991 in front of the Amsterdam Hilton hotel. Following the revelations, the couple decided not to get official permission for their marriage. The London-based royal joined URENCO, a uranium enrichment company, in 2011 as chief financial officer after earlier working at investment bank Goldman Sachs.