Heavy pressure continues to push for the full implementation of a corporateer-and-bankster-enabling free trade agreements, siege engines constructed from legalese to ensure the capture of all that exists, served by enfeebled consumerserfs.
The latest from BBC News:
WTO agrees global trade deal worth $1tn
Ministers from 159 countries have reached a deal intended to boost global trade at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
The World Trade Organization’s first comprehensive agreement involves an effort to simplify the procedures for doing business across borders.
There will also be improved duty-free access for goods sold by the world’s poorest countries. The deal, which could add about $1tn to world trade, gives developing nations more scope to increase farm subsidies.
A less enthusiastic view via The Guardian:
WTO agreement condemned as deal for corporations, not world’s poor
First global trade deal in 20 years to boost world commerce ‘favours big business at the expense of developing countries’
The agreement, which was criticised by anti-poverty charities, came after intense lobbying by India over measures to protect its poorest farmers. A last-minute compromise between the US and Cuba was also needed over references in the final draft to the continuing trade embargo of the Caribbean island.
Kyodo News covers another trade deal in the works:
Ministers aim to clinch TPP deal at key session in Singapore
Ministers from the countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks began a crucial session of negotiations Saturday in Singapore in a last-minute effort to strike a basic agreement by the year’s end.
The 12 Pacific Rim countries are seeking political solutions for contentious issues including tariffs, intellectual property rights and reform of state-owned companies at the gathering.
But Jiji Press finds a problem:
Japan, U.S. Still Apart over Farm, Auto Trade
Japan and the United States remained apart over farm and automobile trade Sunday as they seek to help conclude broader Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks by the end of this year.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, senior vice minister at Japan’s Cabinet Office, and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, who met on the sidelines of a TPP ministerial meeting in Singapore, agreed to continue bilateral talks.
And another questionable deal in the works from The Guardian:
The lies behind this transatlantic trade deal
Plans to create an EU-US single market will allow corporations to sue governments using secretive panels, bypassing courts and parliaments
Back to the U.S., with the unbelievable from International Business Times:
Rick Santorum Compares Nelson Mandela’s Fight Against Apartheid To His Fight Against Obamacare
Appearing on a segment of conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly’s show “The O’Reilly Factor,” Santorum argued that South Africa’s apartheid regime, which denied the country’s majority black population citizenship and basic human rights in favor of a ruling white minority, was directly comparable to President Barack Obama’s effort to extend health care coverage to more Americans.
The Guardian covers a song and dance move, given that the White House press secretary said Friday that no benefits extension wasn’t a deal-breaker:
Barack Obama urges Congress to extend benefits for long-term jobless
President says unemployment insurance, due to expire at end of year, is among most effective ways to boost economy
Meanwhile, his own party plays the heavy, via Reuters:
Democrats wouldn’t reject U.S. budget deal over jobless aid: senator
A senior Democrat said on Sunday he hoped an emerging deal on the U.S. budget would include an extension of unemployment benefits but added that his party would not necessarily walk away from an agreement that left it out.
From New Europe, another spectacular administration failure:
American majority now wants Obamacare scaled down or abolished
A majority of Americans would prefer the healthcare overhaul implemented by the Obama administration to be scaled back or even entirely repealed following two months of glitches, according to a Gallup poll released on Friday. Known as Obamacare, the overhaul was fiercely resisted by the Republican and was largely responsible for this autumn’s US government shutdown.
The latest Gallup poll found that 32 percent of Americans say they want the Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, while 20 percent of Americans favor a scale-back of the law. Twenty percent and 17 percent of Americans respectively want the healthcare overhaul to be expanded or remain the same.
From Project On Government Oversight, seeking truth:
Court to Consider Secret Regulation of Wall Street
The public has a right to know how the government polices an industry-funded self-regulatory group, according to an amicus brief filed this week by the Project On Government Oversight and its allies.
The brief calls for the reversal of a district court decision that would “shield almost all information shared between regulated financial institutions and their regulators” and undermine Congress’s intent for the government to operate with a “presumption in favor of disclosure.”
The case in question involves the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for the U.S. securities industry.
Canada next, with some folks doing quite well from the National Post:
Canadian banks deliver record $29-billion profit this year — but are the good times coming to an end?
Once again Canada’s big five banks have delivered a record performance, with total profit in the last fiscal year of $29.4-billion, up a healthy 5% from last year despite the weak economy, slower consumer lending and other headwinds.
As in the past, the main driver was the banks’ domestic retail operations which continue to benefit from Canadians’ love affair with real estate, cranking out more mortgages than ever before even as international observers raise red flags over a potential housing bubble.
On to Europe, first with the headline for an essay from Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz in The Guardian:
Only an inveterate optimist would say the worst must be over for the eurozone
Try telling people in countries that are still in depression, with per capita GDP below pre-2008 levels and youth unemployment at 50% that the austerity medicine has worked
From the London Telegraph, another sign of enduring crisis:
And TheLocal.fr sounds a european alarm:
EU chief sounds alarm over rise of extremism
EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso has made an impassioned plea for Europeans to resist mounting populism and extremism ahead of bloc-wide elections in May, as far-right political parties gain traction in several countries, including France.
The Mainichi discovers another anxiety:
Renewable energy sparking fears of price surges in Germany, Britain
Surging electricity prices are emerging as a worry for consumers in Germany and Britain as both countries put their weight behind renewable energy.
Concerns have emerged that the jump in prices could adversely affect the countries’ bullish economies, and government officials are scratching their heads to find a solution. Japan, which launched its own feed-in tariff system for renewable energy in July 2012, cannot distance itself from the issue.
And off to London with the Toronto Globe and Mail:
In London’s bubbling markets, something has to give
Bubble talk is bubbling away. Housing prices in some markets, such as London, are suspected of floating dangerously close to bubble territory, yet buyers keep buying and prices go ever higher. Ditto the stock markets, whether they are the tech-heavy Nasdaq, replete with companies with no profits – think Twitter – or Germany’s MDAX, which is laden with businesses that make real profits. Up, up, up they go.
But there is ample reason to be worried. While there are a thousand ways to measure the value of an asset – from the price-to-earnings ratio for stocks to rental yields for housing – one thing is fairly certain: When prices get seriously out of whack from their long-term trend, they tend to correct themselves. This is called reversion to the mean.
Tory twerking from The Independent:
‘Never a good time to increase MPs’ pay’: Jack Straw defends politicians’ 11% pay rise in face of public outrage
‘Inappropriate’ £7,600 salary increase should be reconsidered in light of economic climate, Treasury minister Danny Alexander says
MPs are set to receive an 11 per cent pay rise, taking their salaries to £74,000 from 2015, despite objections from all three major party leaders. Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, said the increase would be “wholly inappropriate” coming at a time when many public sector workers have had their pay frozen.
From New Europe, a government warned for helping citizens:
IMF warns Iceland about debt another writedown
Determined to keep his pre-election promise, Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson announced plans to write-off hundreds of billions of krona in mortgage debt for households that have fallen behind on their monthly payment.
On to Holland and an announcement from mil/ind giant European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. via TheLocal.de:
EADS to downsize defence business
EADS, the maker of Airbus, is set to announce a draconian restructuring plan to unions on Monday that may include thousands of job cuts and strain relations with shareholders Germany and France.
In the line of fire is not EADS’ successful Airbus business, but the company’s defence and space operations, both suffering a drop in orders that the company says requires urgent attention.
Germany next with BBC News:
Germany raises growth forecasts
Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, has raised its forecasts for economic growth in the country.
It announced it had raised its forecast for growth this year from 0.3% to 0.5% and for 2014 from 1.5% to 1.7%.
On on to France, with an ironic invasion, given that the government frequently deports Romanians — but only if they’re Roma. Via TheLocal.fr:
Romanian police help tackle crime in Paris
Twenty Romanian police officers are working in Paris to help their French colleagues tackle crime in the capital during the holiday season, Paris police said Saturday.
The officers arrived on Monday and will stay on until the end of the new year celebrations to help identify Romanian criminal networks in the French
capital.
Spain next, with a rosy glasses view from The Guardian:
Spain’s PM says his country has turned a corner
Mariano Rajoy believes his austerity efforts have made sense and that the country can hope for better things in 2014
thinkSPAIN covers a hope:
Mortgage-holders’ case against six banks strengthened in light of record fine for Euribor manipulation
SIX banks which have been ordered to pay a record fine for ‘manipulating’ the Euribor, or Eurozone interest rate, are based in Spain and where their mortgage customers were facing repossession for non-payment, these may now have legal grounds to challenge this decision.
JP Morgan, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, RP Martin and Société Générale have been hit with a total 1.7-billion-euro fine for flouting EU competition regulations – the highest in banking history.
A directorial oration from El País:
Almodóvar seizes stage to berate Rajoy and Merkel for austerity policies
Pedro Almodóvar was one of the undisputed stars of the night at the 26th European Film Academy awards gala in Berlin Saturday. Spain’s most internationally acclaimed filmmaker, who won the Achievement in World Cinema Award, used his speech to harshly criticize the Mariano Rajoy government for its handling of the crisis. Before that, he had already upbraided German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her austerity policies.
From thinkSPAIN, one of those austerian policies:
Patients with cancer, HIV and diabetes complain about enforced payment for prescriptions
SOME of the most prominent support groups for chronically-ill patients in Spain have made formal complaints against the cost of prescription medication and moves to ensure all drugs from the hospital dispensary are purchased with a contribution from the person in treatment.
The Spanish Group for Cancer Patients (GEPAC) says that when the government ‘sold’ them and other associations the co-payment for medication, they were told it was a way to prevent too many drugs being prescribed and sold, as opposed to the exact quantities each person needs.
Italy and party time from Europe Online:
Italy’s New Centre Right party has big plans after Berlusconi split
The New Centre Right, which broke away from former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s party, was presented Saturday for the first time to the public with its leader saying it decided to turn away from the media mogul so Italy would not be cast “into darkness.”
“We are already a political movement that millions of Italians are ready to elect,” Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said at a convention to officially establish the party.
After the jump, Greek tragedies, Ukrainian dissent, Latin American numbers, Indian upset, Thai troubles, Chinese growth, Japanese downturn, and Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .
Our first Greek item from Kathimerini English:
Greek Parliament approves budget for 2014
The Greek Parliament early on Sunday voted a budget for 2014 into law with 153 MPs in the 300-seat House voting in favor despite reservations among many in the coalition to backing further austerity.
The budget was backed by all but one of the coalition’s 154 MPs — Aris Spiliotopoulos of conservative New Democracy was absent — with 142 MPs voting against the bill and one present.
Deutsche Welle calls a break:
Troika suspends Greek negotiations as Athens clears budget
Greece’s parliament has passed a 2014 budget continuing the country’s course of austerity measures. Meanwhile, international creditors have suspended a visit to Athens – and by extension the next tranche of loans.
Just what Greece needs, another party. From Kathimerini English:
New center-left movement to launch on Monday
A new center-left grouping dubbed Elia (Olive Tree) which brings together 58 personalities from the worlds of politics, academia and the arts is to be launched officially in Athens on Monday amid confusion about its political prospects.
Although PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos has expressed his support for the initiative, several current and former lawmakers of the socialist party, which is the junior partner in the ruling coalition, appear unconvinced of its prospects for success.
ANA-MPA covers an action’s end:
Classes to resume at Athens University Law School on Monday
Classes will resume at the University of Athens Law School on Monday, in spite of an ongoing strike by the university’s administrative staff, according to an announcement signed by its president.
“The classes of the winter semester 2013-2014 begin on Monday, December 9, in accordance with the timetable released,” the announcement said.
From Greek Reporter, Golden Dawning, rifle in hand:
Leaked Photo of Ilias Kasidiaris Holding a Kalashnikov Rifle
The Greek newspaper “Ethnos” published a photograph of the Golden Dawn MP, Ilias Kasidiaris, holding a kalashnikov rifle. The photograph has raised questions, concerning the action of Golden Dawn, as these weapons are illegal in Greece.
According to “Ethnos,” the counter terrorism police gave similar photographs and videos to the magistrates that are handling the Golden Dawn case.
The Ukraine next, with CBC News:
Ukraine sees largest anti-government protest since 2004
Crowd of 500,000 topples Vladimir Lenin statue in the nation’s capital
Angry anti-government protesters in Ukraine toppled a statue of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin in the centre of Kyiv on Sunday and blockaded key government buildings amid huge street protests, raising the stakes in an escalating standoff with President Viktor Yanukovych.
From Deutsche Welle, another issue:
Ukraine a thorn in the side of NATO-Russia ties
If not for disagreements over the situation in Ukraine, NATO and Moscow could be getting along quite well at the moment. At a meeting in Brussels, Russia has called on other nations “not to interfere” in Kyiv.
And BBC News covers near-agreement:
Russia-Ukraine ‘closer on gas price’ after Sochi talks
Russia says differences with Ukraine on reducing the price of Russian gas have been narrowed after talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said the talks would continue at a later date.
Off to Latin America and a much-watched vote via The Guardian:
Venezuela goes to polls in crucial test for Nicolás Maduro
President’s supporters mobilise vote with early morning bugle calls as inflation soars and economic problems hit ratings
Inflationary news from MercoPress:
Brazil inflation slows down in November to an annualized 5.77%
Brazil’s annual inflation cooled in November falling to 5.77%, reported the Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, on Friday. The November reading was the lowest since registering 5.84% in December 2012.
And trade doors ease open, from MercoPress:
Brazil says Argentina will again open the doors to bilateral trade next week
Argentina will from next week open the doors for Brazilian imports held up on the border between the two nations, including footwear and motor vehicles, according to Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Fernando Pimentel.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore covers the sale of the commons:
Mexican Senate offers plan to open oil to private firms
A Mexican Senate committee unveiled a project on Saturday to reform the state-run oil sector, opening the door to private companies and investment for the first time in decades.
And from MercoPress, an intervention:
US government intervenes in favor of Argentina in defaulted-bonds ongoing case
The US government has asked the US Supreme Court to intervene over a hedge fund’s effort to gain information about Argentina’s non-US assets as part of an ongoing litigation, which is rapidly becoming a lead case regarding sovereign assets and sovereign debts rescheduling.
Off to Asia, staring in Pakistan with the Express Tribune:
‘Heartbreaking to see the spread of unemployment’: PM launches youth loan scheme
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Saturday launched the entrepreneur-friendly Youth Business Loans programme in a bid to control the spiraling unemployment in the country, Express News reported.
The Youth Business Loan programme, which is part of the larger ‘Prime Minister’s Youth Programme’ initiative, is designed to provide subsidised financing at 8% mark-up per annum for 100, 000 beneficiaries through the National Bank of Pakistan and First Women Bank.
India next, with a WTO salute from the Economic Times:
India Inc, exporters welcome WTO pact on trade
Hailing the trade facilitation agreement reached by the WTO members after hectic parleys, India Inc and exporters today said these will help developing countries like India to reduce transaction cost and improve competitiveness of domestic industry.
“The WTO Agreement on trade facilitation will make life much easier for Indian exporters since the pact will ensure uniform, transparent and efficient transactions at the customs and port operations across the world,” Chairman of engineering exporters’ body EEPC India Anupam Shah said.
From Channel NewsAsia Singapore, electoral blowback:
India’s Congress whipped in anti-graft poll backlash
A stunning performance by an upstart anti-corruption party helped topple India’s ruling Congress in elections to New Delhi’s state assembly on Sunday, only months before the country goes to the polls.
And the Economic Times covers a contentious economics:
Action against cos is attempt to ruin investment climate: Yashwant Sinha
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha today alleged that recent actions against some big corporates is a part of attempts by government to “completely ruin” the investment climate in the country.
“I see this as a gross attempt on the part of the government to completely ruin the investment atmosphere in the country,” he told of reporters here when asked about how he sees actions against some big corporates and top honchos.
On to Thailand with Deutsche Welle:
Thai protesters set another deadline for government push ahead of public holiday
Protest organizers in Bangkok have said they plan to hold a rally on Monday in another ‘final push’ to topple premier Yingluck Shinawatra. The movement’s leader has said he will surrender to authorities if unsuccessful.
The Japan Times covers a walkout:
Thai crisis deepens as opposition leaves Parliament in protest
Thailand’s main opposition party resigns from Parliament on Sunday to protest what it called “the illegitimacy” of a government with which it can no longer work.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore on preparations:
Thai police to rebuild barricades after protest warnings
Thai authorities said Saturday they would rebuild barricades around key state buildings in Bangkok after opposition protesters called for a final push to topple the government.
And Bangkok Post has the deadline:
PDRC: D-Day on Monday
The People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) is ready to end its anti-government protest if only a small number of people turn out on Monday, spokesman Akanat Promphan said on Saturday.
Protest leaders have described Monday’s marches as the “final battle” against the Yingluck Shinawatra government. On that day, starting at 9.39am, all protesters will rally in front of Government House in an attempt to seize power from Ms Yingluck, said Mr Akanat, a stepson of protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban.
South China Morning Post with the logjam:
Thai premier: No quick end to political impasse
Yingluck Shinawatra ready to resign and call elections following deadly street protests
Thailand’s prime minister said on Saturday that she will not cling to power and that she is ready to resign and dissolve Parliament if all parties agree to hold new elections.
China next, with Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
China exports power ahead on demand from US, Europe
China’s trade surplus expanded in November to $33.8 billion from $31.1 billion in October, official figures showed Sunday.
Want China Times covers neoliberal initiative:
China building 18 FTZ with 31 countries and regions
China has been building 18 free trade zones with 31 countries and areas and has signed free trade agreements with 12 countries so far. Beijing aims to set up a global FTA network covering neighboring regions and radiating across continents, reports the state-run China News Service and the English-language China Daily.
And SINA English eases off:
English test to be removed from China’s college exam
The English test will be removed from China’s college entrance exam by 2020, according to details of exam and admission reform revealed by the Ministry of Education.
Instead, tests will be held several times a year to allow students to choose when and how often they sit the exam so as to alleviate study pressure and change China’s once-in-a-lifetime exam system.
Environmental ails from the Global Times:
China issues higher alert for worsening smog
Lingering smog in the country’s central and eastern regions is expected to end on December 9, according to the China Meteorological Center (NMC).
The NMC has upgraded the alert from a yellow alert to the more serious orange alert for worsening smog in these regions.
More from People’s Daily:
Shanghai pollution figures hit record highs
The city’s PM2.5 density surged past 600 micrograms per cubic meter yesterday afternoon, more than eight times the nation’s limit of 75, making the tiny particles the main pollutant.
From SINA English, symbolic austerity:
Shark fin, bird’s nest soup taken off the menu at official dinners
Chinese authorities have banned shark fin and bird’s nest soup from official receptions and told lower level officials they cannot stay in suites on business trips in the latest step in a crackdown on extravagance and waste.
Cigarettes and expensive alcoholic drinks are also banned from official receptions, according to a document issued by the Party’s Central Committee and the State Council.
While South China Morning Post has sales:
China passenger vehicle sales gain 14.9 pct in November
Passenger vehicle sales for the first 11 months climbed 17.1 per cent to 15.4 million units, meaning full year growth will be at least 15 per cent, China Daily reported, quoting the association’s data, released on Friday.
On to Japan and reassurance from Jiji Press:
Japan Can Overcome Deflation: BOJ Kuroda
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Saturday that the quantitative and qualitative monetary easing the central bank introduced in April can pull the country out of deflation.
The monetary easing “has steadily produced the anticipated effects so far,” Kuroda said in a speech at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy.
But Bloomberg cautions:
Japan Posts Slower Growth, Surprise Current-Account Deficit
Japan’s growth slowed more than an initial estimate in the third quarter while the country posted an unexpected deficit in its broadest trade gauge in October, underscoring headwinds to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to cement a recovery.
Gross domestic product expanded an annualized 1.1 percent from the previous quarter when it rose 3.6 percent, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo, lower than a preliminary reading of 1.9 percent. Japan’s current account registered a 128 billion yen ($1.2 billion) shortfall, the first deficit since January, according to the finance ministry. The median forecast was for a surplus of 149 billion yen.
And on a shorter than usual edition of Fukushimapocalypse Now!
Jiji Press has the dirt:
Panel OKs Tainted Soil Storage Construction in Fukushima
A Japanese Environment Ministry panel said Saturday that it is possible to build interim facilities in three proposed Fukushima Prefecture towns to store soil contaminated due to the March 2011 nuclear accident.
On-site surveys show that the three towns of Okuma, Naraha and Futaba have ground solid enough to build such a facility, the panel said.
From Jiji Press again, fault-finding:
Survey of Faults under Mihama N-Plant Begins
Inspectors from Japan’s nuclear safety watchdog started a two-day on-site survey Saturday to determine whether crush zones beneath the Mihama nuclear power plant in central Japan are active faults or not.
If they are found active, operator Kansai Electric Power Co. <9503> will be forced to decommission reactors at the plant in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan.
Aussie nuclear woes from The Guardian:
Kakadu traditional owners sound alarm over spill of radioactive material
Mining company plays down claims that spill at Ranger uranium mine involved 1m litres of radioactive slurry
A burst tank at the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu national park has released what traditional owners say is up to 1m litres of acidic radioactive slurry, in what they describe as one of the biggest nuclear accidents in Australian history. The site could be closed for up to two months as mine operators seek to contain it.
CBC News has another energy source with other problems:
Potentially damaging Jackpine oilsands mine expansion OK’d by Ottawa
Environment minister says negative environmental effect is ‘justified in the circumstances’
Shell Canada’s Jackpine oilsands mine expansion plan has received the go-ahead from Ottawa, despite the environment minister’s view that it’s “likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.”
As does RT, for our final item:
Anti-fracking clashes in Romania as activists break into Chevron site
Hundreds of protesters have broken into a Chevron site after the US oil giant resumed its search for shale gas in northeast Romania. RT’s Lucy Kafanov reports from the scene, where clashes ensued as riot police started streaming in.
