Radiation leaks hit a new deadly high at Fukushima, with the latest site outside the building housing stricken Reactor Four hot enough to kill after a 20-minute exposure.
Lots to cover, so straight ahead we roll. . .
We open with a statement of the obvious via Al Jazeera America:
World Bank president: Universal health coverage key for economic growth
Jim Yong Kim calls open-access health care ‘one of the best things’ to spur immediate, long-term economic growth
From the Japan Times, pressing hard for another one of those accords decried by Pope Francis:
TPP crunchtime talks may find deal elusive
As the proposed deadline for sealing a deal by year’s end looms, ministers from 12 countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks are tasked with making tough political decisions as they meet in Singapore from Saturday, with hard negotiations on outstanding issues lying ahead.
The four-day meeting is expected to be the last opportunity for Japan, the United States and 10 other countries bordering the Pacific Ocean to try to realize the ambitious economic initiative — encompassing roughly one-third of all world trade — on schedule.
Techdirt notes an anomaly:
European Commission Desperately Tries To Justify Inclusion Of Corporate Sovereignty In TAFTA/TTIP; Fails Dismally
from the is-that-really-the-best-you’ve-got? dept
And from the Economic Times, a done deal:
WTO reaches its first ever trade deal at Bali meeting
The World Trade Organization reached its first ever trade reform deal on Saturday to the roar of approval from nearly 160 ministers who had gathered on the Indonesian island of Bali to decide on the make-or-break agreement that could add $1 trillion to the global economy.
The approval came after Cuba dropped a last-gasp threat to veto the package of measures.
On to the U.S., and widely hailed numbers from the Los Angeles Times:
Economy adds 203,000 jobs in November; unemployment rate drops to 7%
The U.S. economy added a surprisingly strong 203,000 net new jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 7%, the lowest level in five years, the Labor Department said Friday.
The November figure, which beat analyst expectations of about 180,000 new jobs, along with slight revisions to the previous two months’ figures mean the economy has added an average of 204,000 jobs over the past four months.
CNBC catches one skeleton in the numeric closet:
Yes, more jobs, but wage growth holds up recovery
The job market may be gradually improving, but the gains aren’t showing up in worker’s paychecks.
And the resulting belt-tightening continues to weigh on an economy heavily dependent on consumer spending.
From The Guardian, the looters prepare:
State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax
State Policy Network co-ordinating plans across 34 US states
Strategy to ‘release residents from government dependency’
Revelations come amid growing scrutiny of tax-exempt charities
The strategy for the state-level organisations, which describe themselves as “free-market thinktanks”, includes proposals from six different states for cuts in public sector pensions, campaigns to reduce the wages of government workers and eliminate income taxes, school voucher schemes to counter public education, opposition to Medicaid, and a campaign against regional efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
China Daily USA covers a rising demographic [and see the Chart of the day]:
Asian Americans’ buying power is still on the rise
Asian American households outspend median US households by an average of 19 percent, and earn 28 percent more on average than the US median income, according to a consumer report released by Nielsen this week. As early adopters of new technologies, they also lead in high-speed Internet access, mobile connectivity, use of social media and in the number of internet pages viewed each month.
From Al Jazeera America, business as usual along the political divide:
Democrats press to extend emergency unemployment program
Congressional Republicans have indicated that they are willing to let the benefits expire on Dec. 28, which would immediately cut off aid to 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans, according to the White House.
And from The Hill, what happened to that guy preaching about growing inequality in the U.S.?:
White House: Obama won’t insist on jobless aid in budget deal
The White House will not insist that an emerging budget deal include an extension of the unemployment benefits program set to expire at the end of the year, press secretary Jay Carney said on Friday.
Carney said that it would be “terrible to tell more than a million families across the country just a few days after Christmas that they’re out of benefits,” but that the White House was agnostic on how the extension happened.
But by all means, pay the folks in the military/industrial complex. From Bloomberg:
U.S. Bomber Planes at $81 Billion Seen 47% More Than Plan
The U.S. Air Force’s new long-range bomber may cost as much as $81 billion for the 100 planes planned, 47 percent more than the $55 billion sticker price the service has listed.
The Air Force based its estimate of $550 million per plane on the value of the dollar in 2010, and it represents only the production costs for an aircraft that won’t be deployed for at least 10 years. Including research and development, the bomber would cost as much as $810 million apiece in this year’s dollars, according to calculations by three defense analysts.
From Reuters, cui bono?:
Special Report: How Fed policy enriches private equity, if not workers
The Fed’s “real intention was capital investment would be stimulated, jobs would be created, incomes of the 99 percent would rise,” says Martin Fridson, a high-yield expert and chief executive of FridsonVision LLC, a financial research firm in New York. But, he adds, it’s “not clear how effective that has really been. It’s certainly clear that those who are wealthy enough to own a substantial amount of assets have been made even wealthier by the Fed policy.”
Across the Atlantic with New Europe and debt collectors unleashed:
Council agrees on cross-border recovery of debts
The European Commission welcomed the agreement by the EU Justice Ministers to adopt the proposal to help businesses and individuals on the cross-border recovery of debts.
On 6 December, the Commission said that the proposal on the cross-border recovery of debts will give creditors more certainty about recovering their debt, thereby increasing confidence in trading within the EU’s single market. The proposal is part of the Commission’s “justice for growth” agenda, which seeks to harness the potential of the EU’s common area of justice for trade and growth.
Britain next, with bad news for the working class from The Independent:
Britain’s poor ‘will die before they retire’ if pension reforms aren’t matched by health improvements
Stark disparity in healthy life expectancy ‘must be tackled’ for pension age to be raised fairly
Thousands of Britain’s poorest people “will be dead before they can retire” if sweeping pension reforms are not matched by urgent action on health inequalities between rich and poor, experts have said.
Plans to raise the basic state pension age to 70 for people currently in their twenties were laid out in the George Osborne’s Autumn Statement this week. But with male life expectancy at birth as low as 66 in some of the most deprived parts of the country, public health experts have warned that a “one size fits all” pension age risks condemning many to a life without retirement.
From the London Telegraph, a bubblin’ away:
House prices across the UK are rising at nearly ten times average earnings
Halifax reveals house price inflation running at 7.7pc as low interest rates and Government schemes trigger a £37-a-day jump over past year
Ireland next, with a warning from the Independent.ie:
Central Bank warns of recovery challenges despite positive developments
THE pace and effectiveness of dealing with the bad loans in the banks could hit domestic demand and stymie the ability of the economy to recover, the Central Bank has warned.
And it said the level of distress among small and medium borrowers is “particularly acute” endangering not only the profitability of the banking sector but has far reaching consequences for the viability of the businesses and jobs they generate.
On to Holland with grim news from DutchNews.nl:
Half of the unemployed over-55s don’t find another job
Many of the over-55s who lose their jobs are still without paid work once their unemployment benefits dry up, according to research by the state job centre organisation UWV.
The UWV looked at how many people had managed to find a job after the jobless benefits – which run for a maximum three years – had stopped, the Volkskrant said.
Almost 75% of the total jobless pool had found new employment, but youngsters are far more likely to succeed than older workers, the research showed.
Germany next, with the usual from Independent.ie:
Bundesbank raises growth outlook for Germany
GERMANY’S Bundesbank has hiked its growth projections for the country for this year and next year, highlighting the diverging fortunes of the Eurozone’s economies.
The bank said it expects the Eurozone’s biggest economy to grow 0.5pc this year and 1.7pc next year compared with June-forecasts of 0.3 pc and 1.5pc respectively.
France next, and a confused picture from ANSAmed:
Unemployment booms in France but 1 in 3 works off the books
10.5% jobless, highest rate in 15 years
The latest data released by statistics’ institute Insee showed unemployment registered a slight increase in the third quarter of this year to 10.5% – the highest level in 15 years though below record rates registered in 1994 and 1997 (10.8%). A first, positive sign was also recorded as far as youth unemployment is concerned as it remained stable at 24.5% in the same period. But the survey also found that illegal work has boomed from 13% to 33% in five years.
On to Spain, with banking news from El País:
Broader powers for central bank in the works
Draft law hikes fines against bankers who break the rules
In an effort to prevent another national financial catastrophe, the government is to pass legislation giving the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Commission (CNMV) broader powers to prevent bank failures and fight illegal market speculation, sources said Thursday.
A denial from EUobserver:
Merkel denies pressuring Spain on bailout
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has “no memory” of allegedly pressuring Spain on taking a bailout in 2011, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday (6 December).
Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Rodriguez Zapatero last week published a book called “The Dilemma” about his last years in office, recalling how Merkel, as well as the heads of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approached him during 2010-2011 to ask his country to take a bailout.
And from TheLocal.es, failed hopes:
Bankruptcy epidemic slays Spain’s businesses
Washing machines, fish fingers and football teams: not even household names are safe from a Spanish bankruptcy epidemic ravaging big and small businesses alike.
The number of companies filing for bankruptcy in Spain rose from 1,147 in 2007, the year before Spain’s real estate bubble disastrously burst, to nearly 6,200 in 2009, according to the National Statistics Institute.
It topped 9,000 in 2012 and “I think that in 2013 we are going to get close to 10,000,” said Carlos Sancho, a lawyer and expert in financial management at IESE Business School.
New Europe takes us to Portugal and a protest:
Portugese teachers protest
Hundreds of teachers protested outside Portugal’s parliament building on Thursday against a new controversial exam for teachers imposed by the Portuguese government.
The protestors, all dressed in black, called for Education Minister Nuno Crato to step down while holding banners that read “You’ve failed.”
Italy next, and an exodus from TheLocal.it:
Over 100,000 people fled Italy in 2012
106,000 people left Italy in 2012 in search of work elsewhere, according to the latest figures from the Censis Institute.
In a report on Friday, Censis said the number of people leaving had jumped 115 percent since 2002, when 50,000 left the country.
ANSAmed covers another dressing down:
EC berates Italy on debt again after Letta clash
Rehn’s office says supplementary budget adjustment needed
The office of European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Thursday that Italy must do more to reduce its massive public debt, returning to an issue that has caused considerable tension between the European Commission and Rome in recent weeks.
TheLocal.it covers putt-putts:
Italians reduce scooter rides in bid to save cash
Italy’s economic crisis has cut the spending power of 69 percent of households and forced a growing number of young people to leave the country, a study by the Censis institute released on Friday found.
“Around 69 percent of families indicated a reduction or aggravation of their spending power,” said the report, which surveyed 1,200 families across Italy.
The study said 53 percent of respondents said they had reduced car or scooter travel to save on fuel, 68 percent had cut down on cinema and entertainment and 45 percent now spend less on restaurants.
While ANSAmed has more grim numbers:
One in 4 Italian households ‘struggling to pay bills’
Country ‘profoundly weakened’ by economic crisis
The study said “much of the country” was in a situation of “fragility”, with economic uncertainty causing “worry and unease” in many families, as Italy struggles to emerge from its longest recession in over two decades. It added that falling consumer spending was a symptom of a country that was “under stress”, “lost” and “profoundly weakened” by the economic crisis that started five years ago.
After the jump, Greek meltdown intensifies, Ukrainian conflict, an Indian WTO win, more Chinese neoliberal moves, Japanese Reaganomics, and the latest chapter of Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .
Our first Greek headline comes from Kathimerini English:
Despite reluctance of many coalition MPs, budget expected to pass
A vehement debate on next year’s budget is expected to culminate in another clash between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras on Saturday night ahead of a midnight vote in Parliament which is expected to push the blueprint into law despite the reluctance of many coalition MPs to back further economic measures.
While Capital.gr encourages:
Merrill Lynch: Believes in Greek banks’ turnaround story
Merrill Lynch in a report published today reinstates its coverage of the Greek banks. “We believe in their turnaround story, driven by macro recovery and the implementation of sector reforms”, the bank said.
The Associated Press tallies downsizing:
Greece: Public sector no longer too large
Greece’s coalition government says the country no longer has too many public servants and is already close to reaching staff reduction targets demanded by bailout lenders two years before the deadline.
Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the number of workers on the state payroll had been slashed from 913,000 at the end of 2009 to 681,392 on Nov. 30 this year, with annual spending on wage costs axed by just over one-third.
While Kathimerini English casts doubts:
Civil service overhaul fails to pick up steam
Just three weeks before the deadline expires for the government to complete 4,000 lay-offs from the civil service, most ministries appear to be dragging their feet over the evaluation of state organizations that come under their jurisdiction.
The government needs to find 1,000-1,500 employees to let go by the end of the year if it hopes to meet a target set by Greece’s international creditors. It will also need to start drawing up lists for an additional 11,000 dismissals in 2014 if its wants to honor its bailout commitments.
From To Vima, bad news ahead for health care:
Evaluation Committee completes EOPYY medical specialty review
Minister of Health does not rule out doctor dismissals, accuses EOPYY strikers of “1980s verbalism”
The evaluation committee which has been tasked with reviewing the medical specialties in EOPYY has completed its evaluation and will present their findings to the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis.
And Greek Reporter brings protest news:
Greek Umbrella Unions Announce New Demonstration
The umbrella unions, GSEE of the private sector and ADEDY of the public sector have called their members to gather outside the Greek Parliament this Saturday.
The demonstration will take place in the center of Athens in protest against the government’s 2014 draft budget, which will be put to vote in the Greek Parliament at midnight on Saturday.
More job cuts coming in academia, via To Vima:
University strike continues until Monday – NTUA reopens
Prime Minister fully supports Minister of Education – Rector Synod condemns government suspension policy
Despite not being able to resolve the university administrative employee strike that will enter its 14th consecutive week on Monday, the Minister of Education Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos has the full support of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Meanwhile, the strikers at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens decided to extend their strike until Monday.
And ANSAmed offers a prognosis:
Crisis: recession in Greece until 2015, says Citigroup
The recession in Greece will continue until 2015, while the Greek debt and the unemployment rate will increase, GreekReporter website writes quoting Citigroup’s new report. Citigroup mentions that only an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model can put Greece in a sustainable fiscal path
From To Vima, questionable cops cleared:
Court acquits DELTA police officers for assault against human rights NGO
Police officers were accused of assaulting refugee and migrant NGO offices in Exarchia back in 2010
The courts acquitted nine DELTA police officers who were accused of invading the premises of the Network for Political and Social Rights and the Network for Social Support of Refugees and Migrants in Exarchia, on the 5th of May in 2010.
While Kathimerini English hints at more charges to come:
New evidence emerges against Golden Dawn
Three Golden Dawn MPs who had been due to defend themselves on Saturday on charges of belonging to a criminal organization were given additional time – until January 11 – after a wealth of new evidence was unearthed regarding the neofascist party’s activities, Kathimerini has learned.
The investigating magistrates Ioanna Klappa and Maria Dimitropoulou summoned Stathis Boukouras, Giorgos Germenis and Panayiotis Iliopoulos on Friday and called for a postponement of their depositions in view of the new material which, judicial sources said, is extensive. The bulk of the new evidence is said to have been gleaned from an examination of the personal computers and cell phones of several GD lawmakers and officials who have been questioned as part of a broader criminal investigation into the party. The most valuable insights were gained from documents and photographs which had been erased but which police managed to recover, sources said.
From Cyprus. ANSAmed privatizes:
Crisis: Cyprus to start privatizing companies in two years
The Cypriot government says the privatization of state-owned companies will start in two years, when the bailed-out country’s economy is projected to start growing again. Government spokesman Christos Stylianides says first in line for privatization is the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta), as Kathimerini online reports. He says the government will retain some ownership stakes, workers’ rights will be safeguarded and that employees in companies up for sale may have the option to buy shares.
While BBC News covers a pact in the making:
Russia and Ukraine leaders seek partnership treaty
Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have held surprise talks on a “strategic partnership treaty”.
Mr Yanukovych flew from China to Sochi in southern Russia for the meeting. He also cancelled a visit to Malta.
And The Guardian covers those opposed:
Growth in Kiev protests likely after Yanukovych visit to Putin
Ukraine leader’s meeting with Russian president in Black Sea resort precedes anti-government march at weekend
Latin American next, with inflation tracking inflation: from MercoPress
Brazil’s central bank expected to keep current pace of interest rate increases
Brazil’s central bank said its current pace of interest rate increases remains appropriate to rein in consumer prices, repeating language it used to justify previous half-percentage-point increases, according to the November 26/27 minutes released on Thursday.
Asia next with confidence regained from the Times of India:
India’s economic confidence revives: Study
MUMBAI: India’s economic confidence has revived substantially due to healthy farm output, a sharp boost in exports and narrowing of current account deficit, according to a report by global research firm Ipsos.
The study says India’s economic confidence jumped sharply by 11 points to 51% in November compared to October 2013. India now stands as 7th most economically confident country in the world after Saudi Arabia, Germany, Sweden, Canada, China, and Australia.
The Hindu covers a victory:
India’s stand prevails in Bali
India has had its way on the Bali Package at the Ninth Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation here. The draft Ministerial Decision put up for endorsement to the member-countries is the draft India submitted; it takes care of India’s position on both food security and trade facilitation. Ministers were expected to adopt it by early Saturday. As they do so, it would be the first major decision of the century on global trade after the WTO came into being, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here.
The draft proposes an interim mechanism to safeguard minimum support prices to farmers against WTO caps till a permanent solution is adopted.
More from the Times of India:
After four days of intense negotiations, India has its way at WTO
After four days of intense negotiations, World Trade Organization members are set to accept the government’s demand on food security that will protect India and other developing countries from penalties for breaching the domestic support cap of 10% of value of production. In return, the government agreed to a new agreement on trade facilitation, the first since WTO was set up nearly two decades ago, that will ease controls at ports and airports.
The endorsement of the draft ministerial remains a formality as trade ministers are set to approve plan after almost 24 hours of behind the scenes dialogue.
The Bangkok Post covers a putsch push:
Suthep calls ‘final battle’ for Monday Protest boss vows to go to jail if govt not ousted
Anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban declared last night that demonstrators will “blow the final whistle” on Monday to seize power from the Yingluck Shinawatra administration. Mr Suthep announced at the government complex, the main rally site, that he would not prolong the protest any longer but would make it clear on Monday that demonstrators will “win or lose”.
On to China, with The Guardian covering fat coffers:
China: the must-visit destination for cash-seeking world leaders
UK and other nations are keen to benefit from China’s economic power and seem prepared to push aside human rights concerns
From the Global Times, more bubbling:
Sharp rise in land sale income
The income from land sales in six first-tier cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Chongqing – reached a total of 589.72 billion yuan ($96.77) in the first 11 months this year, up 177.32 percent year-on-year, according to data calculated by Shanghai-based China Real Estate Information Co (CRIC) and e-mailed to the Global Times Thursday.
According to another report released Thursday by Centaline China Real Estate, land sales income in 40 major cities hit 1.4 trillion yuan in the first 11 months this year, a rise of 68 percent compared with the same period last year.
Want China Times covers decline:
Plans for China’s cities with industries in decline
China’s State Council or cabinet recently released a plan for the sustainable development of cities that depend on natural resources as their primary industry which are currently in decline, according to our sister paper Want Daily.
And South China Morning Post covers consequences of fuelishness:
Shanghai grinds to a halt as smog nears top of air pollution scale
Flights scrapped, roads closed and construction stopped as pollution hits east and south; no relief expected until tomorrow at earliest
Want China Times has media:
More than 1. bn microblog accounts opened in China
The number of Chinese microblog accounts had exceeded 1.3 billion as of the end of November, making this a major channel for disseminating information, according to the State Internet Information Office.
The microblogs of media institutions are developing at a rapid pace with about 37,000 accounts opened on popular microblog websites, such as Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, Liu Zhengrong, a senior official with the office, told the state-run People’s Daily.
And Want China Times isolates:
Territorial dispute sees Japan left behind in trilateral FTA talks
Free trade talks between China and South Korea are progressing ahead of talks between China and Japan, whose territorial dispute shows no signs of abating, reports the Guangzhou-based South Reviews.
The eighth round of FTA talks between China and South Korea concluded in Incheon on Nov. 22, while third-round talks among China, Japan, and South Korea took place in Tokyo on Nov. 26-29.
On to Japan, and Reaganomics from Jiji Press:
Japan Enacts Special Zone Bill
Japan’s House of Councillors Saturday passed into law a bill to designate special zones where drastic deregulatory steps will be carried out.
The law is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to fuel growth in the country.
Abe plans to form an advisory panel of about five experts as early as this year to designate the special zones and decide specific deregulatory measures to be taken there.
JapanToday covers a banksters behaving badly bust:
Deutsche Bank employee in Tokyo arrested over wining and dining scandal
Police on Thursday arrested a salesman at a Deutsche Bank unit on suspicion of bribery over claims he lavishly wined and dined a senior pension fund manager, officials and reports said.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Shigeru Echigo, a 36-year-old employee at Deutsche Securities, the investment banking arm in Tokyo of Germany’s biggest lender.
On to Fukshimapocalypose Now!
NHK WORLD drops a bombshell:
Highest radiation levels measured outside reactor
Tokyo Electric Power Company says radiation levels are extremely high in an area near a ventilation pipe at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
TEPCO found radiation of 25 sieverts an hour on a duct, which connects reactor buildings and the 120-meter-tall ventilation pipe.
The estimated radiation level is the highest ever detected outside reactor buildings. People exposed to this level of radiation would die within 20 minutes.
Another grim story from Reuters:
Fukushima water tanks: leaky and built with illegal labour
Storage tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant like one that spilled almost 80,000 gallons of radioactive water this year were built in part by workers illegally hired in one of the poorest corners of Japan, say labour regulators and some of those involved in the work.
The Asahi Shimbun has American advice:
U.S. top nuke regulator urges storage solution
The top U.S. nuclear regulator on Dec. 6 said nuclear energy users, including Japan, must figure out how to ultimately store radioactive waste.
Allison Macfarlane, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in Tokyo that finding an underground repository remains a challenge despite a global consensus on the need for such a facility to deal with high level waste coming out of nuclear power plants.
And NHK WORLD depopulates:
70% of Fukushima evacuees: won’t return home
Japan’s Reconstruction Agency has found that nearly 70 percent of people who evacuated from towns hosting the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant do not plan to return.
The agency surveyed evacuees from Okuma and Futaba towns in October. All residents of the towns left after the plant’s nuclear accident.
From NHK WORLD, good intentions abandoned:
Motegi: Govt. to abandon nuclear-free energy plan
Japan’s economy and industry minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, has repeated his view that the government plans to end the nuclear-free energy policy to maintain nuclear power generation.
Motegi told reporters on Friday about the government’s draft of Japan’s basic energy policy that will be submitted to a ministry panel later in the day.
More from Jiji Press:
Draft Energy Plan Seeks to Restart N-Reactors in Japan
Japan will put at least some nuclear reactors back into operation because nuclear energy is an important base-load electricity source, a draft basic energy policy plan said Friday.
But Japan will limit its reliance on nuclear energy to the minimum by increasing the use of renewable energy sources such as solar power, according to the draft worked out by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
From Xinhua, a power partnership:
China, France to jointly target nuclear power markets
China and France on Friday vowed to expand their three decades of nuclear energy cooperation to target markets in other countries.
“We agreed to jointly exploit third-party nuclear energy markets. China hopes the two countries can find broader space in the markets,” said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang while meeting reporters after his hour-long talks with visiting French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Li described their discussion as “candid and friendly.”
And for our final item, death in the oceans via The Guardian:
Large fishing nations fail to agree to deep cuts in Pacific tuna quotas
Conservationists and small Pacific nations warn overfishing is threatening the species
Major fishing nations have failed to agree to deep cuts in the amount of tuna caught in the Pacific Ocean, angering conservationists who claim unsustainable fishing is threatening the species.
A week-long meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, held in Cairns, has seen large fishing nations, such as the US and China, refuse to drastically reduce the amount of tuna they take from the Pacific.
