Very late, so we’ll skip the preambles and take the minimalist approach with preambles. . .
Numbers and hopes from Reuters:
Weak imports drive U.S. trade deficit to four-year lows
The U.S. trade deficit fell to its lowest level in four years in November as exports hit a record high and weak oil prices held down the import bill, the latest evidence of strengthening economic fundamentals.
Tuesday’s report left economists anticipating a far stronger growth pace for the fourth-quarter than previously expected, with some predicting trade could contribute as much as a full percentage point to output during the period.
“The report should dispel worries that fourth quarter growth will be really weak,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. “It may not be robust, but should set us up for even better growth this year.”
The Washington Post with a fine story:
Government extracts $2 billion in fines from JPMorgan in Madoff case
Years of high investment returns at Madoff Securities left bankers in the London office of JPMorgan Chase skeptical of the methods of company chief Bernard L. Madoff. While the bank reported its suspicions to British authorities in 2008, it never said a word to anyone in Washington, the Justice Department says.
On Tuesday, Madoff’s primary banker agreed to pay federal prosecutors and regulators more than $2 billion to resolve criminal charges that it failed to alert the government about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
From Al Jazeera America, chilling:
Deep freeze in eastern US places heavy burden on nation’s homeless
Shelters struggle to keep beds open as extreme cold brings potential for frostbite and even death
For a majority of Americans, the record low temperatures that descended across much of the United States on Tuesday were cause for little more than an annoyingly frigid morning commute. But for the nation’s often overlooked homeless population, the weather was more than just bothersome; it was potentially deadly for the 600,000 who find themselves without a place to call their own.
In small towns and large cities alike, homeless-service organizations grappled with unprecedented numbers of men and women seeking warmth and respite from the intense cold. Smaller organizations struggled not to turn people away from overcrowded shelters and churches, where some organizations began to pull out extra cots and blankets to meet the demand.
San Diego’s daily journalists take the hit from MediaWire:
Citing Obamacare, U-T San Diego cuts contributions to employee retirement accounts
In a memo to employees sent last Monday, U-T San Diego CEO John Lynch said the company would suspend matching contributions to employees’ 401(k) accounts. In the note, Lynch cites “the challenges of a difficult economic recovery.” But, he says, “The Company also has experienced significant additional expense due to Obamacare.”
Lynch hasn’t yet replied to a query about how the new healthcare law was affecting U-T San Diego specifically — David Nather reported in Politico last year that businesses employing more than 50 people will have to pay some per-employee fees. In a speech last summer, Lynch reportedly said it would cost the company a half-million dollars.
Class war from Al Jazeera America:
Classes clash as San Franciscans blame tech for rising rents
Evictions are up as longtime residents say they are being squeezed out by a new wave of Internet millionaires
Housing prices and rents here are on the rise, and they are the source of tension that is boiling over between classes.
The average price of buying a home now tops $1 million, and it costs more than $3,000 a month to rent an apartment, leading to one question dominating the minds of many who call this coveted city home: Who exactly can afford to live here?
The answer is starting to define a growing conflict among the city’s inhabitants that many are blaming on a tech-industry boom that is dramatically shifting the socioeconomic demographics of the city.
Booming business anticipation from Aerospace Daily & Defense Report:
U.S. Defense Contracting Rebound Seen In 2014
U.S. defense contracting opportunities once again make up the vast majority of overall potential federal contracting awards in fiscal 2014, with 73% of more than $160 billion across the government seen coming from the national security realm, according to consulting firm Deltek.
The $118 billion in defense opportunities is double the total for the previous year, and the percentage is above the five-year average of 69%. Within the defense sector, the Army dominates, with 57% of the total contract value.
Overall, Deltek, in its latest annual review of the top-20 federal award opportunities in the fiscal year ahead, sees other interesting trends, including U.S. government contracts making a rebound from 2013. Fiscal 2014, which ends Sept. 30, is the year of the agency-specific, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) follow-on awards, Deltek notes.
Canada next with CBC News:
Long-term rates may rise soon, Stephen Poloz says
Bank of Canada governor predicts pressure on bond yields as Fed continues tapering
Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz says he expects long-term interest rates to rise this summer as the U.S. Federal Reserve continues tapering, but he believes that would be a positive development.
Poloz, who was named Canada’s top central banker in May, said he believes that the U.S. Fed will continue to taper its bond-buying program throughout the year and that will create market pressure on bond yields.
Loonie loses from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
Sliding loonie a big adjustment for businesses and consumers
Businesses and consumers alike should prepare to readjust to life with a lower currency.
The Canadian dollar tumbled by more than a penny to 92.83 cents U.S. Tuesday, hitting its lowest level in more than three years, and several economists say it has further to fall.
The latest drop, triggered by weak trade data, comes as the currency has shed about 7 per cent in the past year.
Bloomberg spots a bear:
Goldman to JPMorgan Say Sell Emerging Markets After Slide
Wall Street’s biggest banks say the slump in emerging-market assets that left equities trailing advanced-nation shares by the most since 1998 last year will prove more than a fleeting selloff.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommends investors cut allocations in developing nations by a third, forecasting “significant underperformance” for stocks, bonds and currencies over the next 10 years. JPMorgan Chase & Co. expects local-currency bonds to post 10 percent of their average returns since 2004 in the coming year, while Morgan Stanley projects the Brazilian real, Turkish lira and Russian ruble will extend declines after tumbling as much as 17 percent in 2013.
While the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China symbolized the increasing power of the developing world during the worst of the global financial crisis and delivered outsized returns, Morgan Stanley says some of the same nations may now prove to be laggards as the U.S. Federal Reserve scales back unprecedented stimulus and interest rates rise. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is down 3.1 percent this year, compared with a 0.8 percent drop in the developed-market index, and hit a four-month low yesterday as data from China showed weakness in manufacturing and services.
A rosy perspective from the London Telegraph:
IMF to revise up global growth forecasts, says Christine Lagarde
Christine Lagarde refuses to say how much IMF will raise growth forecasts by during visit to Kenya
The International Monetary Fund will revise upward its global growth forecast in about three weeks, Managing Director Christine Lagarde has revealed.
“We will be revising upwards the global forecast of the economic growth,” she told a press conference in the Nairobi, adding that it would be premature to say any more.
Ms Lagarde, who was wrapping up a two-day visit to Kenya, gave no reason for the revision.
Regionaly rosy with New Europe:
Markit: Eurozone economic recovery accelerates
The economic research firm Markit announced that the Eurozone economic recovery accelerates as the Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index rose at a three month high in December.
The PMI Index stood at 52.1 in December from 51.7 in November. According to Markit, the index rose to its second highest level during the past two and a half years, marking a signal that the Eurozone economic recovery accelerates. Manufacturing continued to lead Eurozone’s recovery in December as growth of production accelerated to its fastest since May 2011. Service sector business activity also increased further, although the rate of expansion cooled to a four-month low.
According to the news release, the economic recovery of the Eurozone Member States varied. Ireland and Germany were the best performers, while Spain was the biggest mover over the month with its PMI output index surging to a near six-and-a-half year record. Output in the third largest economy in Eurozone, Italy held steady while France was the only one of the big-four nations to report contractions of both output and new orders.
Less rosy, from the London Telegraph:
Eurozone losing ‘safety margin’ against deflation trap as core gauge falls to record low
Fall in inflation raises fears that eurozone is ‘sleepwalking into a deflation trap’
Eurozone losing ‘safety margin’ against deflation trap as core gauge falls to record low
Eurozone inflation has fallen to the lowest recorded under two key measures, raising the risk of a textbook deflation trap if recovery falters or there is an unexpected shock.
Core inflation – stripping out food and energy – fell to 0.7pc, lower than at any time following the Lehman crisis.
“It’s lower than when the European Central Bank was forced to cut rates in November,” said David Owen from Jefferies Fixed Income.
More from Reuters:
Surprise drop in euro zone inflation shows deflation risk
Euro zone inflation fell in December after a small increase the previous month, increasing the European Central Bank’s challenge of avoiding deflation as well as supporting the bloc’s recovery.
Sky News prepares to conclude a bailout:
Treasury Takes Step Towards £19bn Lloyds Sale
The taxpayer-backed bank has been asked to draw up plans for a sale of the Government’s remaining stake, Sky News learns.
The agency which manages taxpayers’ £19bn stake in Lloyds Banking Group has asked Britain’s biggest high street lender to work on plans for a share sale to the general public.
Sky News has learnt that UK Financial Investments (UKFI) wrote to the Lloyds board during the Christmas break to ask it to write a prospectus that would accompany a major retail offering.
The development underlines the Treasury’s intention to sell a large chunk of its remaining 33% shareholding in Lloyds this year, although an insider said the timing had not yet been decided.
The Independent grows insular:
Boris Johnson calls for two-year wait before migrants can claim benefits
David Cameron is under pressure to extend the Government’s three-month ban on migrants claiming state benefits when they arrive in Britain.
Only three weeks after the Prime Minister announced his crackdown, Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor of London, called for a two-year wait before new arrivals could claim social security.
Mr Johnson said that he backed immigration but had a “problem” with the free movement of workers in an expanded, 28-nation EU much bigger than the club Britain joined in 1973. He told LBC 97.3 radio: “We don’t want to be slamming up the drawbridge being completely horrible to people. If you want to come and work here you can do that but there should be a period before which you can claim all benefits and it seems entirely reasonable to me that they should extend that to two years.”
RT keeps count:
Britain to fail government immigration target – Business Secretary
UK PM David Cameron’s pledge to cut net migration to below 100,000 has been branded impractical by the UK business secretary. He added the country will fail to meet the target of less than 100,000 migrants entering per year.
Cameron made the pledge in the lead up to the 2010 general election, and hoped that the figure would be reduced to ‘tens of thousands’ by 2015.
The government has been taking a progressively harsher stance against the issue. 2013 saw controversial measures such as sending vans bearing the sign ‘go home or face arrest’ into six London boroughs. In December, the UK government introduced measures that would force EU migrants to wait for three months before they could apply for benefits.
Ireland next, in bondage with CBC News:
Ireland raises $5.5B in triumphant return to bond markets
After exiting bailout program, country sees surge of demand for its 10-year bonds
There was a surge in demand Tuesday for Irish 10-year bonds, the first issued on debt markets since the country exited its international bailout program last month.
The Irish treasury said it sold 3.75 billion euros ($5.5 billion Cdn) in bonds, with an average yield of 3.54 per cent, considered low among EU’s crisis-hit countries such as Spain, Portugal and Greece.
Investors from around the world placed 14 billion euros of orders for the 10-year bonds, giving Ireland leeway to pick from what one analyst called “a who’s who of northern European real money investors.”
The Associated Press blows Swedish smoke:
Swedish minister spreads satire marijuana article
Sweden’s justice minister is facing ridicule for posting a spoof article about marijuana-linked deaths on her Facebook page along with comments about her zero-tolerance against drugs.
Beatrice Ask of Sweden’s ruling Conservative Party linked to the Daily Currant’s satire article, which claimed (falsely) that marijuana overdoses killed 37 people in Colorado on the first day of legalization.
Above the link she wrote: “Stupid and sad. My first bill in the youth wing was called Outfight the Drugs! In this matter I haven’t changed opinion at all.”
TheLocal.se shows grace:
Flowers cover swastikas after mosque attack
Several swastikas scrawled on the facade of the Stockholm mosque were covered by flowers on Monday, leading the Islamic Association’s chairman to hope “the quiet majority” is finally speaking up.
Last Thursday morning, members of the Stockholm Muslim congregation arrived at the mosque on Södermalm to find the doors were covered in Nazi graffiti. By Monday morning, however, a much more positive display had taken their place: bouquets of pink and white flowers were taped over the black swastikas, and a note of solidarity was tied to the door.
“For every hate crime there is a flower,” the sign read. “An attack on you is an attack on Sweden! We stand together!”
TheLocal.no spots a Norse quitter:
Anti-immigrant Progress Oslo head resigns
Christian Tybring-Gjedde, one of Norway’s most controversial anti-immigration politicians, has resigned his position as head of the Progress Party in Oslo.
He would not be drawn on the reasons for his departure, saying only that “many episodes have been arduous.”
“It’s tough being the head of the Oslo Progress Party,” he told Aftenposten newspaper. “It is natural that someone else should take the baton and run continue the race.”
Tybring-Gjedde has been one of Norway’s most outspoken critics of multiculturalism and Islamic fundamentalism. In contrast to Progress’s party leader Siv Jensen, he has refused to moderate his rhetoric following the twin terror attacks mounted by far-right Anders Breivik in 2011.
A Dutch plea with BBC News:
Dutch Foreign Minister calls for new EU policy on Cuba
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has urged the European Union to take a new look at its relationship with Cuba.
Mr Timmermans, who is on a visit to Cuba, said the best way to promote change on the Communist-run island was through dialogue, not isolation.
The EU restricts its political ties with the Cuban government to try to encourage multi-party democracy and an end to human rights violations.
Germany next, with PR from EUbusiness:
New German FM aims to ‘correct’ country’s poor image in Europe
New German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday said he hoped to rectify his country’s image in Europe, where Berlin is often accused of being behind tough belt-tightening economic policies.
“Communication is very important in politics and misunderstandings can be avoided if people speak to each other often,” he said after talks in Brussels with the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, who is also a member of the German Social Democrats.
Spiegel goes for the gold:
Super Subs: The German Defense Industry Discovers Asia
The German defense industry is increasingly looking to Asia as a growing market for its products. Conflicts in the Far East have led to a demand for the kind of giant — and expensive — submarines that come from shipyards in northern Germany.
The entire region is expected to become one of the world’s most important focal points for security policy. The conflicts that play out there relate to fishing areas, island groups and large mineral deposits believed to lie at the bottom of the ocean.
It is a state of affairs that promises big business for the German defense industry. Next to the Gulf region, the Pacific is increasingly becoming one of the few global growth markets for defense firms. According to a 2013 report published by the Swedish research institute SIPRI, three of the worlds five biggest arms importers are West Pacific states: China, South Korea and Singapore. For the German economy, the sale of large submarines is especially lucrative. Each vessel costs €400-800 million, depending on size.
The German government supports the business with benevolence. Each contract is given its own federal export guarantee. In the case of Singapore, the German state guaranteed the value of the submarines. It’s a risk that pays off: In the end, the state also profits off global exports through tax revenue. In addition, long-running jobs for the North German HDW shipyard, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp, means secure jobs for the otherwise structurally weak region at the Kiel Fjord.
France next, and a pseudo-socialist neoliberal twist from RFI:
Hollande says French public sector too expensive
French president François Hollande told a gathering of civil servants on Tuesday that he hoped to make savings of 50 billion euro in the state sector by 2017.
On Tuesday Hollande told his audience of public sector workers that they must all play their part, and that for services to be “more efficient” the state must “spend less”.
Xinhua springs eternal:
French consumer sentiment slightly improves in Dec.
At the end of December 2013, French consumer confidence recovered slightly as people became more optimistic over the country’s economic prospects and expressed less concerns on unemployment, the French national statistics institute Insee said Tuesday.
Insee data showed consumer confidence rose by one point to 85 in December from a month earlier with economic situation outlook moving up to minus 49, up by four points.
TheLocal.fr liberates:
Goodyear workers free ‘kidnapped’ French execs
After spending more than 24 hours being held hostage by their angry employees, two executives from a doomed Goodyear tyre plant in northern France were set free on Tuesday afternoon.
Workers at a French tyre factory facing closure released two executives on Tuesday a day after the pair were taken hostage as part of an effort to win better pay-off terms for employees.
Some of the 1,173 workers facing layoff at the Goodyear factory in Amiens locked the bosses in an office at the site on Monday morning, but by Tuesday afternoon the executives were set free, French daily L’Express reported.
And the London Telegraph fumes:
Gallic uproar over ‘Fall of France’ Newsweek article
Newsweek article ignites media storm in France over claims country is being choked by sky-high taxes and prices, costly perks such as free nappies for mothers
Milk costs a sky-high six euros a litre, mothers receive free nappies and the nation’s brightest brains are fleeing a sinking ship — such are the claims about France made in a recent Newsweek article, unleashing a storm of outrage in the country’s media.
For the French, to see their punitive taxes and costly social model mocked at home and by the “Anglo-Saxon” press, particularly with the economy at a near standstill and record unemployment, is nothing new.
However, an article entitled The Fall of France, by journalist Janine di Giovanni, has proved beyond the pale even for the most sanguine of Gallic commentators, who this week have unleashed their fury against “le French bashing” and heaped ridicule on some of the piece’s more questionable claims.
Spain next with El País:
Foreign investors pile into Spanish sovereign debt
Overseas investors increased their holdings by a record 21 billion euros in November
Foreign investors’ holdings of Spanish government bonds and bills increased by a record of almost 21 billion euros in November to 273.172 billion, the biggest figure in absolute terms since 2011, according to the latest Treasury figures.
As a result of increased investor confidence, in relative terms foreigners’ holdings of sovereign debt increased by three percentage points to over 40 percent, a level last seen in the middle of 2012.
The main driving force behind this development is the liquidity provided to lenders by the main central banks and the search for higher-yielding debt instruments, which has particularly favored euro-zone peripheral countries such as Spain.
euronews charges:
Spanish princess in the dock rocks the country
The decision by Judge Jose Castro to charge Princess Christina of Spain, the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos, with money laundering and tax evasion has sent shockwaves through every strata of Spanish society.
After a lengthy investigation, Judge Castro believes that there is evidence that crime has been committed. Miquel Roca, a lawyer for the princess, is not so sure: “ I am totally convinced Judge Castro has carried out his duties, but I have to disagree with the decision.”
Her husband, former Olympic handball player Inaki Udangarin, was earlier charged with embezzlement of six million euros among other charges, all of which he denies.
El País relents:
Cracks in PP begin to show as third baron comes out against abortion legislation
Regional premier in Castilla y León says government should have awaited Constitutional Court ruling
A day before the Popular Party’s top officials were due to hold their first meeting of the year, a third PP “baron” on Tuesday came out against the government’s proposed controversial changes to the abortion law, which indicates growing rifts inside the ruling party.
Juan Vicente Herrera, the regional premier in Castilla y León, said that the government should wait until the Constitutional Court rules on a challenge the PP filed on the current abortion law soon after it was passed in 2010 under the previous Socialist government.
Herrera joins the ranks of his colleagues, Extremadura premier José Antonio Monago, and Galician premier Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in calling on the Rajoy government for restraint.
Italy next, and Bunga Bunga hucksterism from TheLocal.it:
Silvio Berlusconi gives jobless couple €50k
Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi gave an unemployed couple €50,000 after receiving a letter from them explaining their dire economic situation.
Tommasina Pisciottu and Mario Padovan received the money after writing to the billionaire in December, Il Gazzettino reported on Monday.
“Neither me nor my husband have work. He lost his job due to the economic crisis and became depressed. In early December, I wrote a Christmas letter to Berlusconi in which I recounted my life and my story,” Pisciottu was quoted in the newspaper as saying.
A few days ago the 40-year-old, who refers to her benefactor as ‘president’, received a letter from Berlusconi’s Milan residence including three cheques to the sum of €50,000, which she has already cashed, Il Gazzettino reported.
Poland next, intolerantly with EUbusiness:
Poland’s fledgling far-right to run for EU parliament
Poland’s nascent nationalist movement RN said Tuesday it would put forward candidates for the first time ever at the 2014 European Parliament elections.
The bloc is made up of dozens of small nationalist, ultra-Catholic and eurosceptic groups that joined forces last year with an eye on the vote in May.
The RN hopes to form a coalition with the eurosceptic UK Independence Party led by Nigel Farage, the anti-immigration French National Front (FN) party led by Marine Le Pen or the far-right Hungarian Jobbik party led by Gabor Vona.
After the jump, Greek meltdown, Turkish uncertainty, Indian desperation, Thai turmoil, mixed Chinese news, Japanese anxieties and crimes, and the latest chapter of Fukushimapocalypse Now! . . .
From Kathimerini English, our first Greek item:
Athens aims to settle debt issue while at EU helm
With Greece set to assume the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union during an official ceremony in Athens on Wednesday, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said Tuesday that he believed Athens would reach an agreement with its foreign creditors on two key issues during that period – on how to cover a funding gap for the next two years estimated at around 14 billion euros and on the nature of the debt relief Greece has been lobbying for.
Addressing a press conference, Stournaras told reporters that Greece’s economic reform efforts had gone “better than expected” in 2013 and that the impact of the recession had been blunted.
Denial from EUobserver:
Eurozone fund chief dashes Greek hopes for debt deal
Greece’s hopes for another debt deal aimed at helping it exit the bailout programme at the end of 2014 are not realistic, Klaus Regling, the head of eurozone’s bailout fund (ESM), told Spiegel magazine.
“There will be no debt restructuring,” Regling said.
The ESM is Greece’s largest creditor, with €133 billion in 30-year loans already disbursed at an interest rate of 1.5 percent.
“The interest on these loans was deferred for the next ten years. All this equals a debt restructuring, from an economic point of view,” Regling said.
Keep Talking Greece keeps face:
Athens – Greek Presidency: police bans demonstrations due to EU VIPs on Jan 8/2014
Greek police banned meetings and marches in Athens due to arrivals of European Union’s Very Important Persons (Van Rompuy, Barroso etc) on n January 8th 2014. the EU-VIPs will attend the official opening ceremony of the EU Greek Presidency.
The police decision was taken for reasons of public safety, Greek media report.
ANSAmed bouys:
Crisis: Greece; 20,000 more jobs created in December
The Greek labor market expanded by almost 20,000 salaried jobs in December, Labor Ministry data showed on Monday, with minister Yiannis Vroutsis expressing optimism that unemployment will start contracting within 2014 as daily Kathimerini reports.
The number of hirings exceeded sackings by 19,999 last month, according to the Ergani register of the labor market, as 109,797 people found a salaried job while 89,798 lost one. December was the eighth of 12 months last year when hirings outnumbered sackings, with the regsiter showing 1,149,194 hirings throughout the year, marking a 35.2% increase from 2012.
Kathimerini English shifts:
Hospital fee to be passed on to smokers
The government has decided to scrap a controversial 25-euro fee for public hospitals, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said Tuesday.
Georgiadis said the fee, which came into effect on January 1, would instead be passed on to tobacco product prices, which are expected to go up by 5 cents. An amendment was to be tabled in Parliament late Tuesday.
The price hike is expected to generate some 40 million euros in revenues, in line with government targets.
ANSAmed declines:
Greece: imports drop 15.3%, exports down by 22.6% in Nov.
The total value of imports-arrivals in Greece in November 2013 amounted to 3.67 billion euros against 4.33 billion euros in November 2012, recording a drop of 15.3%, Kathimerini online reports quoting provisional data published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Tuesday.
The corresponding change excluding oil products recorded an increase of 4.4%.
EnetEnglish.gr compatmentalizes:
Russian arms deal had special annex for Greek kickbacks
In 2005, Moscow court found that $25m was paid to Greek company involved in arms deal
A deal between Russian companies and the Greek state to procure the TOR M-1 missile systems contained a special – but illegal – appendix allowing for 25% of the buying price to the paid in kickbacks, a Russian court found in 2005.
According to the full text of the court ruling published in Tuesday’s Eleftherotypia, the kickbacks – some $25m described as commissions – were to be paid in instalments before 25 January 2004.
The date is significant as it was widely known at the time the contract was signed that Greece would hold general elections no later than April 2000, when the four-year term of the Pasok government would expire.
Malta next with EUobserver:
Malta’s sale of EU passports causes controversy
A British consultancy firm, Henley & Partners, stands to make tens of millions of euros for helping Malta create up to 20,000 new EU citizens-on-paper.
The scheme will provide money for a €1 billion investment fund in the tiny Mediterranean country, whose national budget is just €3 billion a year. It will see Malta sell 1,800 passports for €650,000 each, before closing down the programme.
But every main applicant can also buy additional passports for children up to 26 years old, for their spouse, and his or her spouse’s parents and grandparents, for between €25,000 and €50,000 per head.
Turkey next with BBC News:
Turkish corruption probe row deepens
Turkey has dismissed 350 police officers in the capital Ankara in the biggest shake-up since a corruption inquiry targeting government allies.
Hours later the top judiciary body said it would investigate alleged misconduct by officials overseeing the inquiry. The sons of three cabinet ministers were among more than 50 detained in raids last month.
The government appears to be hitting back by sacking or reassigning hundreds of police, correspondents say. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently accused the police and judiciary of a “dirty plot” to undermine his administration.
More from the New York Times:
Purge of Police Said to Be Move by Turkey to Disrupt Graft Inquiry
About 350 police officers in Ankara, the Turkish capital, were removed from their posts overnight, Turkish news outlets reported on Tuesday, the largest single purge of the police force since a corruption investigation plunged the government into crisis last month.
Analysts in Turkey saw the dismissals as part of a continuing effort by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government to marginalize those it believes are driving the investigation. The government has already dismissed more than a dozen high-ranking police officials, prompting accusations of interference in the judicial process.
The intervention in the ranks of law enforcement for what appear to be political motives, analysts said, underlines Mr. Erdogan’s encroaching authoritarianism after his nearly decade in power as well as his sense of panic ahead of pivotal local elections in March.
Russia next, and a spat with EUobserver:
Russia’s first WTO trade dispute targets EU duties
Russia has taken aim at the EU, filing its first trade dispute to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in protest against anti-dumping duties imposed by Brussels.
In a statement on Monday (6 January), the Swiss-based WTO, which arbitrates on international trade, said that Moscow was seeking consultations with the EU over levies on Russian steel products and ammonium nitrate, which is mainly used in fertilisers.
Under WTO procedures, EU and Russian trade officials will have 60 days to try and settle their differences before further legal action is taken. The WTO has the power to impose either a change of policy or economic sanctions.
Asia next, starting with India and the Financial Express:
Bharatiya Janata Party studying radical proposal for abolition of all direct, indirect taxes imposed on individuals
In a radical proposal, a hitherto unknown research group has suggested abolition of all direct and indirect taxes for individuals as well as corporates in favour of a nominal transaction tax only for receipts, which is being studied by main opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party.
While some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have already talked about such a proposal, its main proponent, Pune-based Arthkranti Pratisthan, today claimed that this system would actually help grow India’s tax revenues nearly three times from about Rs 14 lakh crore currently to over Rs 40 lakh crore.
The Economic Times goes Wall Street:
RBI allows foriegn investors to use ‘Put’ and ‘Call’ options
After months of dithering, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed foreign investors to use ‘call’ and ‘put’ options to structure their investments in India. But experts said the stringent valuation restriction is detrimental to new investments or joint ventures.
RBI has amended the foreign exchange management regulations to allow use of these financial instruments, which are extensively used by private equity players for structuring of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. “Further, shares or convertible debentures containing an optionality clause but without any option/right to exit at an assured price shall be reckoned as eligible instruments to be issued to a person resident outside India by an Indian company,” RBI said in a notification published in the gazette.
From the Financial Express, interesting move by the central banker:
Raghuram Rajan-effect: Nachiket Mor-led RBI panel wants banks exclusively for low income households, accounts for all
Recommending sweeping changes in the banking structure, an RBI panel today suggested setting up of specialised banks to cater to low income households to ensure that all citizens have bank accounts by 2016 – the recommendations were issued by a panel set up by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan soon after he joined office in September and is headed by veteran banker and ex-ICICI Bank executive director Nachiket Mor to suggest steps for promoting financial inclusion.
It also suggested that facility for withdrawal, payment and deposit should be set up within a 15-minutes walking distance anywhere in the country.
“By January 1, 2016 each resident, above the age of 18, would have an individual, full-service, safe, and secure electronic bank account,” Mor said in a report by the Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households.
Thailand next and troubles ahead with Deutsche Welle:
Hundreds of Thai politicians facing possible bans
Thailand faces more uncertainty ahead of an election unwanted by the opposition after its anti-graft panel ruled that hundreds of pro-government politicians acted illegally during a failed bid to amend the constitution.
Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission said Tuesday it would press charges against 308 politicians, mostly from the party of embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. If convicted, they could be banned from politics for five years.
Shinawatra’s scheduling of an early parliamentary election on February 2 is being challenged by the opposition Democratic Party and an allied protest movement which instead wants electoral reforms.
Bangkok Post raises the heat:
Reds to stage rallies against ‘Bangkok Shutdown’
The red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) on Tuesday announced it will stage nationwide counter-rallies — but not in the southern provinces or Greater Bangkok — on Jan 13, when the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) begins its mass protest to shut down the the capital.
Caretaker Deputy Commerce Minister and red-shirt co-leader Nattawut Saikuar made the announcement at a meeting of more than 5,000 UDD key leaders and supporters from across the country at Chalermphrakiat Stadium in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Muang district on Tuesday.
The UDD invited people all over the country “who love the nation and democracy” and do not want to see the damage to Thailand that would be caused by the PDRC shutdown of Bangkok, to begin demonstrating along main roads in their provinces from 9am on Jan 13, Mr Nattawut told the meeting
Taiwan next, with Nikkei Asian Review:
Taiwan gets serious about Pacific trade deal
With Taiwan’s exports flagging, President Ma Ying-jeou has steered the island economy on a faster course toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Ma wants to have a road map to the free trade pact by the end of July, including a time for announcing Taiwan’s bid for entry.
In his New Year’s address, Ma promised to focus on economic growth in 2014. He is particularly eager to lay the groundwork for joining the TPP and will oversee progress personally.
On to the mainland with Xinhua:
China’s economy projected to grow steadily, dynamically: economists
China would maintain steady and dynamic economic growth in 2014 on the back of its ongoing reforms, economists said at a forum here Monday.
The forum was co-organized by the New York-based National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and China Center for Economic Research (CCER) with Peking University (PKU).
CCEr economist Lu Feng said China was likely to maintain steady growth of 7.5 percent to 8 percent in real terms in 2014.
EUbusiness restricts:
China’s financial sector largely closed: EU Commissioner
China’s financial sector is not open enough to foreign participation and key obstacles remain to investment, a top European Union official said Tuesday.
“Chinese banks are some of the biggest and most powerful banks in the world,” Michel Barnier, European commissioner for internal market and services, told reporters. “They shouldn’t and do not fear competition,” he added.
Barnier spoke at the end of a visit to China for talks with officials, including Finance Minister Lou Jiwei.
From South China Morning Post, a body count:
Ex-health minister endorses finding China’s smog kills 350,000 a year
Air pollution causes 350,000 to 500,000 premature deaths on the mainland a year, according to an article co-written by a former health minister.
Chen Zhu, now president of the Chinese Medical Association, and three other authors endorsed the estimate in a commentary published in The Lancet medical journal last month.
The article, titled “China tackles the heath effects of air pollution”, cited estimates from the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning and Fudan University.
China Daily protests:
Solar firms face ‘total eclipse’ in the US
Chinese companies may be shut out if Washington imposes new tariffs
Chinese solar companies will be “entirely blocked” from the United States market if that nation’s government imposes new duties on solar cell products made in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, experts have warned.
“It will keep all the Chinese companies out of the US market if new duties are imposed, in addition to the already unfair trade environment,” said Sun Guangbin, secretary-general for solar energy and photovoltaic products at the China Chamber of Commerce of Machinery and Electronic Products.
The US solar panel producer SolarWorld Industries America Inc petitioned the Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission before the end of last month, requesting that the agencies launch anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations against crystalline silicon photovoltaic products made in the mainland and Taiwan.
Japan next, and a radical trend from the Mainichi:
Japanese Communist Party seeing sharp increase in new, young members
The number of people joining the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) surged in the last three months of 2013, it has been learned.
About 1,000 people joined the political party in each of October and November last year, with about 2,000 more new members in December. The JCP has apparently maintained the momentum it built up during its good showing in last year’s elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and the House of Councillors. At a party convention due to start on Jan. 15, the JCP plans to set a total membership target of 500,000 by the end of the decade, up from about 320,000 today.
The Asahi Shimbun diagnoses:
Japan at risk as malaria epidemic in North Korea spreads
Researchers here voiced fears that a malaria epidemic in North Korea has spread to South Korea and may reach Japan.
The strain in question, vivax malaria, is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes fever and headache.
Reseachers cautioned Jan. 6 that as the same mosquitoes thrive in Japan, people should exercise caution.
The Japan Times investigates:
¥50 million payment to Inose to be probed
Prosecutors are expected to launch an investigation into former Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose, who stepped down at the end of last year over his receipt of ¥50 million from one of the country’s largest hospital chains, the Tokushukai Group, sources said Tuesday.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office plans to question Inose, 67, after it accepted a complaint filed by members of a civic group who claim the money was not listed in Inose’s funds report for his Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign in violation of the Public Offices Election Law.
They also argue the money may have been provided in exchange for Inose’s favorable treatment for Tokushukai, which aimed to acquire a hospital operated by beleaguered Tokyo Electric Power Co.
TheLocal.ch prepares to charge:
Japan to file criminal action against Novartis
Japan’s health ministry will on Wednesday file a criminal complaint against the local arm of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis over alleged exaggerated advertising for a popular blood-pressure drug, Kyodo News agency reported.
Novartis Pharma KK has been under fire since a university said the data in clinical studies might have been skewed to promote Valsartan.
Health Minister Norihisa Tamura has characterised as “extremely regrettable” the incident in which an employee of the world’s number two drug maker hid his affiliation during a medical study into the effects of the drug used to lower blood pressure.
Under Japan’s pharmaceutical law, anyone found guilty of exaggerated advertising can be punished with up to two years’ prison or a fine of up to two million yen ($19,400).
Poison from the Mainichi:
2.6 million times higher pesticide detected in croquette breading
The concentration of a pesticide chemical detected in part of a croquette made by a Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc. subsidiary was 2.6 million times higher than the acceptable level, a prefectural official said Tuesday.
A croquette sample was found to have some 26,000 parts per million of the organic phosphate malathion, which is most commonly used as a pesticide.
The level is also more than double the earlier announced 12,734 ppm for an entire croquette. It is also above the hitherto revealed maximum 15,000 ppm found in another type of croquette.
More from NewsOnJapan:
Recalled frozen foods sicken nearly 900
Nearly 900 people across Japan have reported health problems after eating frozen food products that may have been tainted with pesticides.
NHK found that 890 people in 46 prefectures had reported vomiting, diarrhea and stomach aches by Tuesday evening.
They had apparently eaten frozen food products that were recalled last week by food processor Maruha Nichiro Holdings.
The Japan Daily Press diversifies:
Japan to import more coal from US, Canada to reduce reliance on Australia
Tohoku Electric Power Company, Japan’s third-biggest user of coal for thermal energy, says that it is looking to increase coal imports from the United States and Canada, this to cut costs and at the same time decreasing the utility’s reliance on Australian exports. The utility is set to nearly double coal purchases from North American sources after the announcement, looking to get from US and Canada around 5 percent of its total needs.
According to Takayoshi Enomoto, group manager of the company’s fuel department, Tohoku Electric is considering “several promising” coal suppliers from the US and Canada. “Even as Australia has established a permanent position as a main supplier, we regret we have been heavily depending on it,” Enomoto said. Boosting coal imports from North America may actually improve the Japan’s bargaining power with Australian sellers, prompting them to reduce prices. With Japan’s nuclear power facilities still on enforced hiatus, and with no end still in sight to the pressure from the Japanese public to turn its back on nuclear energy, the Japanese government is forced to look towards standard fossil fuel alternatives for thermal energy.
On to Fukushimapocalypse Now!
How water from SimplyInfo:
60 bq/liter Strontium 90 Found In Deep Well Near Reactors At Fukushima Daiichi
60 bq/liter of strontium 90 was found in the 3/4 deep permeable layer well near the unit 4 turbine building. Earlier TEPCO admitted contamination in the two deep layer wells, the new reading shows a growing trend of contamination in water deep below the plant.
Reuters divests:
Dutch pension fund sells stake in Fukushima operator over safety concerns
Dutch pension fund ABP said it has sold its stake in Tokyo Electric Power Co. after the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant failed to respond to repeated requests to discuss public safety and environmental concerns.
ABP, a fund for civil servants, is one of the biggest pension funds in the world with nearly 300 billion euros ($408 billion) in investments.
ABP’s decision to put Tepco on its list of banned investments with effect from January 1 is the latest blow to the Japanese utility, which has faced strong criticism over its labor and other policies during the cleanup.
NHK WORLD confers:
Abe meets next TEPCO chairman
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked the next chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company to make the most of its ability and resources to handle the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Abe met Fumio Sudo, who was chosen on Tuesday to be TEPCO’s chairman from April.
Abe said all TEPCO workers should take to heart the fact that the utility exists to pay compensation to those affected by the accident, to decommission reactors at the plant, and to supply power in a stable way.
The Japan Times protests:
Anti-nuclear groups urge Taiwanese to join reactor makers lawsuit
Two Japanese anti-nuclear groups urged Taiwanese on Tuesday to join their international campaign seeking to abolish a law in Japan that exempts suppliers of nuclear plant equipment from legal responsibilities for accidents.
Members of No Nukes Asia Actions and No Nukes Asia Forum told a news conference at the nation’s legislature that they intend to file the “Reactor Suppliers Lawsuit” against Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and General Electric Co., which produced the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Akihiro Shima, a legal adviser for the groups, said that while power companies and the government are held legally responsible for any nuclear disaster in Japan, they want reactor manufactures to be held accountable as well.
For our final item, BBC News lingers:
Nuclear weapon test debris ‘persists’ in atmosphere
Radioactive particles from nuclear tests that took place decades ago persist in the upper atmosphere, a study suggests.
Previously, scientists believed that nuclear debris found high above the Earth would now be negligible. However this research shows that plutonium and caesium isotopes are still present at surprisingly high concentrations.
The work is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Lead author Dr Jose Corcho Alvarado, from the Institute of Radiation Physics at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland, said: “Most of the radioactive particles are removed in the first few years after the explosion, but a fraction remains in the stratosphere for a few decades or even hundreds or thousands of years.”
