Today’s compendium of things economic, political, and environmental begins in the U.S.A. and a prescription for economic blowback from the Associated Press:
Doctors say cutting food stamps could backfire
Doctors are warning that if Congress cuts food stamps, the federal government could be socked with bigger health bills. Maybe not immediately, they say, but over time if the poor wind up in doctors’ offices or hospitals as a result.
Among the health risks of hunger are spiked rates of diabetes and developmental problems for young children down the road.
The doctors’ lobbying effort comes as Congress is working on a compromise farm bill that’s certain to include food stamp cuts. Republicans want heftier reductions than do Democrats in yet another partisan battle over the government’s role in helping poor Americans.
Reuters gridlocks:
U.S. unemployment benefits extension stalls in Senate
Senate Democrats on Thursday offered a new plan to revive federal unemployment benefits until mid-November and pay the $18 billion price tag with new spending cuts, but hopes of a bipartisan deal dissolved into bickering by day’s end.
“The package does what the Republicans wanted,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said on the Senate floor. He said the cost of renewing the jobless benefits for about 1.4 million long-term unemployed Americans would be “entirely paid for” and would contain “structural changes they (Republicans) were demanding.”
But key Republicans promptly rejected the Democratic initiative to renew the benefits that expired on December 28, dashing hopes earlier in the day that the two parties were moving toward a compromise.
The Guardian reevaluates:
US retailers slash fourth-quarter profit forecasts after weak holiday season
American Eagle and Bed Bath & Beyond cut expectations
Holiday season challenging for retailers amid shaky economy
Several major retailers slashed their fiscal fourth-quarter profit forecasts this week in the latest sign that Americans didn’t spend briskly during the holiday shopping season.
American Eagle Outfitters and Bed Bath & Beyond are among seven retail chains so far that have cut their expectations for their fiscal fourth quarter, which includes the critical holiday shopping season when stores can make up to 40% of their annual sales.
A confluence from Bloomberg Businessweek:
Legal Pot: The Gateway Drug to State-Run Banking?
If ever a hippie dream existed, it would probably look something like what’s being proposed in Washington by Democratic State Senator Bob Hasegawa. He wants to open a state-run bank specifically to serve Washington’s newly legal marijuana industry. The proposal would solve two real problems: Pot businesses would no longer be trapped in an all-cash economy thanks to federal laws that prohibit banks from handling drug money, and the state would send less money to Wall Street.
There’s just one state-run bank in the country: the Bank of North Dakota. It uses the revenue collected through taxes and other government income to provide capital for low-interest loans to state residents, including students, homeowners, and farmers. The bank’s operations return millions to the state’s coffers. (It’s worth noting that the bank has nothing to do with pot.)
From MainStreet, green inflation:
Marijuana Rationing Begins in Colorado, Big Demand in Spite of High Prices
High prices have not diminished demand for recreational marijuana in Colorado, with some shops already sold out of their initial inventory. Grass rationing has begun, as retailers begin imposing additional restrictions on sales, well below the caps required by state law.
The Denver Post reports as many as 100,000 people purchased pot in the first week of legal sales in Colorado, totaling an estimated $5 million in revenues.
“None of us could really prepare for what was going to hit us,” Nick Brown, owner of High Country Healing in Silverthorne told the Post. “I think we all thought we would see huge demand and lines.
Big Brother and loan arranger, via the Wall Street Journal:
Borrowers Hit Social-Media Hurdles
Regulators Have Concerns About Lenders’ Use of Facebook, Other Sites
More lending companies are mining Facebook, FB -1.73% Twitter TWTR -3.78% and other social-media data to help determine a borrower’s creditworthiness or identity, a trend that is raising concerns among consumer groups and regulators.
Lending companies—some of which are backed with venture funding from Google Ventures, GOOG -0.96% the venture-capital arm of Google Inc., and Accel Partners, an early Facebook Inc. investor—are looking at potential problems such as whether applicants put the same job information on their loan application as they posted on LinkedIn, or if they shared on Facebook that they had been let go by an employer. A small business that draws negative reviews on eBay EBAY -0.57% also could undermine its chances of getting more credit, lending companies say.
The practice is being used largely by startups that grant smaller loans, but the concept seems likely to spread. Fair Isaac Corp. FICO +0.10% , which provides the credit scoring used in more than 90% of lenders decisions, says it is weighing possibilities for incorporating social media.
South China Morning Post covers a smooth talker:
I’m good at working with Jews, says Chinese tycoon Chen Guangbiao who wants to buy WSJ
After failed attempt of meeting with shareholders of The Times, an unfazed Chen said he was now considering buying the Wall Street Journal
Chen Guangbiao, a Chinese recycling tycoon listed among China’s top 400 richest people, has stunned many by traveling to New York this week in pursuit of buying The New York Times.
Yet after a failed attempt at meeting with shareholders of the Times, an unfazed Chen said he was now considering buying The Wall Street Journal.
“I am going to talk to the Wall Street Journal and find out if it’s for sale,” he said in an interview with Sinovision, a New York-based Chinese television station on Wednesday, reaffirming his plan to “buy an American newspaper.”
Vocativ has a best-seller:
Kindle Führer: “Mein Kampf” Tops Amazon Charts
E-book versions of Hitler’s opus are rising in the rankings on Amazon and iTunes. What gives?
You won’t see Adolf Hitler peering back at you from the featured display tables at Barnes & Noble any time soon. But browse the most popular e-book stores these days and Der Führer’s mug is seemingly unavoidable. For a year now, his magnum manifesto has loomed large over current best-sellers on iTunes, where at the time of this writing two different digital versions of Mein Kampf rank 12th and 15th on the Politics & Current Events chart alongside books by modern conservative powerhouses like Sarah Palin, Charles Krauthammer and Glenn Beck.
In fact, all seven of Beck’s books trail Herr Hitler’s nearly century-old tell-all, which consistently holds its own against new e-blockbusters like Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, This Town by Mark Leibovich, and Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise.
Sobering news from Bloomberg:
Funds With $100 Billion May Be Too Big to Fail, FSB Says
Investment funds that manage more than $100 billion in assets may be labeled too big to fail, global regulators said, as they seek to expand financial safeguards beyond banks and insurers.
Hedge funds with trading activities exceeding a set value of $400 billion to $600 billion would also be assessed by national authorities to gauge whether they need extra rules because their collapse could spark a crisis, the Financial Stability Board said in a statement yesterday.
The report addresses “the risks to global financial stability and economic stability posed by the disorderly failure of financial institutions other than banks and insurers,” Mark Carney, Bank of England governor and FSB chairman, said in the statement. “They are integral to solving the problem of financial institutions that are too big to fail.”
Secret trade negotiations to get the fast track, from EUbusiness:
US lawmakers propose key step to boost trade deals
Lawmakers on Thursday proposed empowering US trade negotiators to push ahead major deals with Pacific Rim and European Union nations, but the move faces stiff opposition.
Three key lawmakers on trade policy introduced a bill to give President Barack Obama “fast-track authority,” which would allow his team to negotiate agreements that Congress could approve or reject — without making changes.
Supporters said the four-year extension of the powers, which last ended in 2007, is indispensable to speeding up trade negotiations.
The trade authority legislation “is critical to a successful trade agenda,” Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.
On to Europe, first with the fragile from BBC News:
European Central Bank keeps rates at record 0.25% low
Mario Draghi: “The recovery is there, but it is weak, modest and fragile”
The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.25%.
ECB said president Mario Draghi said rates would “remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time”.
There had been speculation that the bank might act to bolster fragile growth in the 18-nation euro bloc.
With eurozone inflation falling below 1%, there is also concern about deflation as consumers delay purchases in the hope of prices falling further.
The Guardian responds:
Euro plummets after ECB warns currency zone may need more support
European Central Bank head Mario Draghi says Japanese-style stagnation possible amid high unemployment and falling inflation
The European Central Bank sent the euro tumbling on world markets after it warned that the 18-member currency zone may need further support to prevent a Japanese-style period of stagnation.
The ECB president, Mario Draghi, said persistently high unemployment, falling inflation and difficult lending conditions were harming the recovery and the ECB stood ready to use all the tools available to maintain confidence and growth.
On to Britain and a German invasion from Deutsche Welle:
German discount grocers Aldi, Lidl bite into profits of UK retail giants
Britain’s biggest retailers have reported heavy falls in sales around Christmas amid rising competition in their home market. They lost market share to Germany’s Aldi and Lidl which saw booming seasonal sales in the UK.
Britain’s biggest supermarket group Tesco reported Thursday that crucial Christmas sales had dropped substantially. In the six weeks to January 4, sales in its home market declined 2.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, Tesco said. Further weakness in the UK grocery market continued to impact Tesco’s performance, Chief Executive Philip Clarke noted.
Tesco’s results for the all-important Christmas season came one day after Britain’s second largest retailer Sainsbury announced shallow sales with gains of just 0.2 percent around Christmas. Sainsbury blamed tightening consumer budgets amid austerity for the drop.
The Copenhagen Post hopes to seal a Danish deal in the far north:
Uranium deal with Greenland sealed by year’s end
Greenland is gambling that mining will save its economy, but still needs Denmark’s help handling by-products
Denmark and Greenland will have an agreement about how to proceed with uranium mining in the Arctic country in place by the end of the year.
At a press conference yesterday following a meeting with the Greenlandic premier Aleqa Hammond, Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (S) said that she was confident an agreement would be in place in the second half of 2014.
“We have made strides but we also admit that we don’t agree on everything,” she said, according to AFP.
Norway next, with good fortune from CNBC:
All Norwegians become millionaires as oil fund balloons
Everyone in Norway became a theoretical krone millionaire on Wednesday in a milestone for the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund that has ballooned thanks to high oil and gas prices.
Set up in 1990, the fund owns around 1 percent of the world’s stocks, as well as bonds and real estate from London to Boston, making the Nordic nation an exception when others are struggling under a mountain of debts.
A preliminary counter on the website of the central bank, which manages the fund, rose to 5.11 trillion krones ($828.66 billion), fractionally more than a million times Norway’s most recent official population estimate of 5,096,300.
TheLocal.no profiles:
ISS slammed for ‘ethnic Norwegian only’ job ad
Danish temping firm ISS has been criticised by Norway’s anti-discrimination ombudsman for posting a job advert which specified that only “ethnic Norwegian persons” should apply.
The advert, for a cleaning job near Lillehammer, was posted on the Norwegian government’s Labour and Welfare site NAV.
“The client requires a security clearance and the position is therefore available only for ethnic Norwegian persons,” ISS wrote in the advert, which can be seen here.
Carl Fredrik Riise, an advisor at Norway’s anti-discrimination ombudsman, said that the advert was in violation of Norwegian law.
Sweden next, and cash from the east via TheLocal.se:
Volvo Cars sales rise on strong China growth
Volvo Cars cited “fantastic growth” in China as one of the main drivers behind an increase in annual sales, the Swedish automaker announced on Thursday.
The Asian country became Volvo’s first market at the end of last year, during which the company sold 427,840 cars, 1.4 percent more than in 2012.
“After six consecutive months of growing sales we can report a great full-year performance exceeding last year’s results,” Volvo Cars Marketing, Sales and Customer Service executive Alain Visser said.
Germany next, and Spiegel cools it:
Disastrous Impression’: Cities Say Immigration Debate Overheated
The Association of German cities this week played down depictions that an influx of immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria is causing major problems for the country. The group’s president says troubles are concentrated in a handfull of cities.
Derided as “poverty immigrants” in Germany and “benefit tourists” in Britain, largely Roma immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria are the subject of growing political attacks in Europe this year.
The German Association of Cities is warning that the debate — fueled by politicians from Germany’s Christian Social Union (CSU) — threatens to spiral out of control.
The London Telegraph fights back:
German foreign minister attacks ‘brainless Eurosceptics’
Germany calls for “brainless Eurosceptics” to be “confronted” because they “could prove dangerous to the EU”
Eurosceptics are “brainless” and pose a threat to the existence of the European Union, Germany’s new foreign minister has said.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minster, has launched a vehement attack on the opponents of the EU and critics of the eurozone’s economic policies.
“We must not avoid confrontation with populists, nationalists, with these brainless people who call themselves Eurosceptics,” he told the Greek Ta Nea newspaper while on a visit to Athens.
Xinhua fires up:
German industrial production increases in November
German industrial production increased more than expected in November 2013, official data showed on Thursday, adding signs that the Europe’s largest economy is regaining its strength.
Industrial output, adjusted for calendar and seasonal variations, increased by 1.9 percent from October, when the production dropped by 1.2 percent month-on-month, data from the Federal Economy Ministry showed.
The increase exceeded economists’ forecast, and reinforced the expectation that the German economy is regaining strength amid a European crisis which was expected to end soon.
TheLocal.de just says no:
Poll stubs out legal cannabis hopes
Nearly two thirds of Germans are against cannabis being made legal, a new study shows. Only among Green party supporters would a majority like the drug decriminalized.
Sixty-five percent of Germans say they would reject relaxing laws restricting the production, sale and consumption of marijuana, according to the study conducted by opinion pollsters Forsa for Stern magazine.
Just under a third of those asked (29 percent) would like to see the drug legalized, while six percent said they have no opinion on the issue. Among supporters of the Green Party, those in favour of legalization jumped up to 51 percent.
On to France, and more bad news from Europe Online:
France’s trade deficit balloons to 5.7 billion euros in November
France’s trade deficit ballooned at the end of 2013, official figures released on Thursday showed.
The deficit, which measures the shortfall between net exports and imports, rose from 4.8 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars) in October to 5.7 billion euros in November. The cumulative deficit for the 12 months to November stood at 61.6 billion euros, marking a drop from the previous year’s figure of 68.1 billion euros.
Exports fell 2 per cent to 35.5 billion euros in November, a decline attributed by the French customs service to a reduction in sales of transport equipment and machinery.
Switzerland next, and an ax to fall from TheLocal.ch:
Swiss banks set for more job cuts: EY study
Swiss banks look set for new job cuts this year, despite ever-rosier figures, amid rising regulatory pressure and a US clampdown on tax-dodgers, consultants EY said on Thursday.
In a study on the 2014 outlook for the country’s banking sector, EY underlined the tough environment for what is a cornerstone of the Swiss economy.
“Swiss banks have dealt with the challenges of increasingly difficult conditions such as low interest rates, falling transaction volumes and regulatory pressure,” said Patrick Schwaller, a managing partner at EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young. “They have no choice but to adapt their business models and processes on an ongoing basis,” he said in a statement.
Spain next, with a step back from El País:
Abortion reform draft will be modified but not radically changed, Justice Ministry sources say
Proposed legislation will be sent to legal, health and educational for their comments
Galician PP leader pleads with prime minister not to make “Socialists’ mistake” of passing law unilaterally
The government’s controversial draft abortion reform, which greatly restricts the right to terminate pregnancies, will not enter law in the form approved by the Cabinet, Justice Ministry sources said Thursday.
“There will be modifications, of course, but not substantial changes,” the sources said.
El País slows a neoliberalization of the commons:
Magistrates decide to maintain freeze on Madrid hospital privatization
Regional tribunal passes appeals back to courts of origin
The 43 judges who make up the Administrative Litigation Division of the Madrid regional High Court (TSJM) in just a few hours on Thursday reached a majority decision to send back the seven appeals affecting the privatization of parts of the region’s healthcare system to their courts of origin, TSJM sources have revealed.
The decision constitutes backing for a precautionary suspension of the privatization process, which has been on hold since September. The full content of the division’s rulings will become known in the coming hours.
The session to resolve the appeals relating to the passing of six public hospitals into private hands began at around 9.45am Thursday morning and, in barely three hours, magistrates decided to return them to the courts from which they came.
Portugal next, and a triumphant declaration from EUbusiness:
Successful Portugal bond auction heralds eurozone turnaround
Bailed-out Portugal’s borrowing costs tumbled Thursday as it wowed markets with a successful 3.25-billion-euro ($4.4 billion) government bond sale, heralding a comeback for the debt-ridden laggards of the eurozone.
After years of budget cuts and tough reforms to curb soaring debt — which unleashed mass protests — fresh hope for economic recovery in Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy appeared to have won over buyers on the bond market.
Portugal’s return to the market coincided with similar success for Spain’s first big debt auction of 2014 and came two days after a popular bond sale by Ireland.
Italy next, and down in the dumps with TheLocal.it:
Italy arrests head of Europe’s biggest landfill
Italian police on Thursday placed under house arrest the owner of Europe’s biggest landfill outside Rome and six others including a former regional governor as part of an investigation into illegal waste management.
Manlio Cerroni – dubbed the “King of Waste” by the local press – manages Malagrotta, a 250-hectare landfill on the outskirts of the Italian capital that has flouted environmental laws for years.
Malagrotta was supposed to have shut in 2007 in line with European rules banning open landfills but local officials had granted successive reprieves for Cerroni.
After the jump, Greek depression deepens, Cypriot joblessness, Indian cautions, Thai threats, Indonesian retirement, Chinese raises and trade, Japanese gloom, and Fukshimapocalypse Now!. . .
Our first Greek headline, the wrong kind of growth from Europe Online:
Greek unemployment rate hits new record 27.8 per cent in October
Greece’s unemployment rate rose to a new record in October – 27.8 per cent – an increase on an upwardly revised 27.7 per cent the previous month, the Statistical Agency ELSTAT reported on Thursday.
The rate was more than twice the eurozone average of 12.1 per cent in October, with ELSTAT saying youth unemployment between the ages 15-24 reached a staggering 57.9 per cent.
It said a total of 1.38 million people were out of work, with the jobless rate for those aged 25-34 reaching 37 per cent. The figure hit 23.8 per cent for those aged 35-44.
More from EnetEnglish.gr:
Unemployment hits historic high of 27.8%
1,387,520 people out of work in October, official statistics show
Figures show that country’s about 3.6 million people are working to support more than 4.7 million unemployed and inactive people
The figure was more than the upwardly revised 27.7% on the previous month, which was also a record high.
Another decline from MacroPolis:
Drop in industrial production accelerated in November with 6.1 pct decline
The drop in the Industrial Production Index (IPI) accelerated in November to 6.1 percent following a downwards revised 4.7 percent decline in October, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).
Given the November figure, the 11-month IPI retreated 3.9 percent, which is slightly above the 12-month moving average decrease of 3.7 percent.
Unease from EUbusiness:
IMF still sees ‘large uncertainty’ over Greek comeback
The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that considerable uncertainty still hangs over the Greek economy, despite the country announcing it will exit an IMF-EU bailout this year as scheduled.
IMF spokesman William Murray told a reporters there has been renewed investor interest in some parts of the Greek economy, locked in a sharp contraction since 2008.
But he added: “There are a lot of challenges ahead.”
“The uncertainty is still large. But our experience suggests that once a virtuous circle is under way, confidence can return quite fast,” he said, declining to speculate just when such a turnaround will happen.
Hanky Panky at the Banky from euronews:
Greek corruption probe reveals alleged money laundering and fraud at PostBank
Greek police have arrested three people and charged them with money laudering and defrauding the state.
A businessman and two officials at Hellenic Postbank were accused of rigging a string of loans between 2007 to 2013 that cost the bank 500 million euros.
It eventually went under and was bought by Greek rival Eurobank.
Issued either with low or no interest, the bad loans account almost entirely for the bank’s current poor financial state.
The bad debt has led to 25 people being arrested, including a top financier and a media mogul.
EnetEnglish.gr covers the media mogul:
Insurance and media magnate accused in banking corruption case
Dimitri Contominas, the owner of Alpha TV and chairman of Demco Insurance, faces charges of fraud, direct complicity in malpractice and money laundering at TT Hellenic Postbank
A billionaire businessman who is among the people accused of involvement in a corruption case at a former state-owned bank, has been given an extension to provide testimony, it was announced on Thursday.
Contominas, who is undergoing medical treatment at an Athens clinic, has been ordered to transfer to a public hospital on the instructions of the chief prosecutor in the case and will be called to testify to Tuesday.
Greek Reporter predicts:
FT: Greece Will Soon Return to Markets
“Greece will soon be able to return to markets” estimates a new article in the Financial Times. The 10-year Greek bond yields fell to 7.8% yesterday, reaching the lowest point since the crisis outbreak in early 2010, after yesterday’s successful auction of 10-year Irish bonds.
Bond yields of Eurozone periphery countries also decreased significantly, states the FT, underlining the fact that the high demand for periphery debt reflects the increased intention of investors to buy government bonds with higher yields, as well as the increasing confidence in the creditworthiness of Eurozone economies.
On to Cyprus and bad numbers from ANSAmed:
Crisis: Cyprus; 17.3% of population without work, Eurostat
Cyprus’ unemployment stood at 17.3% in November 2013, remaining unchanged compared to October. According to data published Thursday by Eurostat, the number of unemployed reached 78,000 people. At the same time, unemployment rate in Eurozone and the EU remained stable as CNA reports. According to seasonally adjusted data by Eurostat, unemployment ranged at 12.1% in the Euro area counties and at 10.9% in the EU.
In Cyprus, male unemployment rates stood at 18%, female rates at 16.6% and youth unemployment under 25 at 24.2%. The biggest increase within a year was recorded in Cyprus (from 13.3% to 17.3%), Italy (from 11.3% to 12.7%) and Greece (from 26% to 27.4%).
Latin America next and another privatization from the Santiago Times:
Chile’s historic La Nación newspaper faces privatization
On the brink of its 97 year anniversary, Chile’s only state-owned newspaper in final push to avoid Piñera-backed sell-off.
Demonstrators on the steps of La Nación’s historic headquarters Monday morning to protest privatization of the newspaper. Photo by Emily McHugh / The Santiago Times
Just 10 days before the completion of the privatization of La Nación, protesters including the Santiago mayor, a deputy-elect, prominent student leader and union leader gathered on the steps outside the newspaper’s historic headquarters, calling on the administration of President Sebastián Piñera to reverse its decision to sell off the predominantly state-owned newspaper.
Delivering on a campaign promise, Piñera announced plans to open bids for the controlling share in La Nación on Dec. 24, 2013, setting the auction date for Jan. 16, two days after the newspaper’s 97 year anniversary.
Currently, the government retains an almost 70 percent share in the newspaper, the rest being owned by private interests, and is responsible for appointing directors to the La Nación board.
Off to Asia, starting in India with the Financial Express:
Economic growth in India set to rise in 2014, but markets want stability, not Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP: Citigroup
The year 2014 is likely to be a ‘slow recovery year’, with economic growth in India rising, inflation easing and currency and rates largely stable, Citigroup said.
The global financial services major also said that while the emergence of the Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may change the political landscape in India, the priority for the markets will be a single-party-led and stable alliance, with acceleration in economic policy making.
“India should start recovering in 2014 – slowly, but likely steadily,” Citigroup said in a research note today. “We see growth up, inflation down, the currency and rates largely stable.”
The Financial Express again, and another caution:
Low growth, high inflation could weaken India’s debt profile: Moody’s
Global rating agency Moody’s today cautioned that low growth and high inflation could weaken the country’s debt profile and raise financing cost.
If current lower growth and high inflation persist over the medium term, the domestic financial system’s capacity to absorb government debt could fall quite considerably,” Moody’s said in a report.
This could change the structure of government debt, raise debt financing costs and weaken government debt ratios. Such a development is not Moody’s base case forecast at this time, but a risk that the agency is monitoring, it said.
While the Times of India has the latest escalation in a diplomatic spat:
Devyani Khobragade indicted in New York, leaves US
An Indian diplomat accused of lying about how much she paid her housekeeper was indicted on Thursday on two criminal charges, though prosecutors told a judge that she had been granted diplomatic immunity and left the country earlier in the day.
Devyani Khobragade was charged by a federal grand jury in Manhattan with visa fraud and making false statements in a case that has triggered an outcry in India. She’s accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York City housekeeper.
The indictment said Khobragade had made or multiple false representations to US authorities, or caused them to be made, to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker. She planned to bring to worker the United States in September 2012 when she worked at the Consulate General of India in New York, according to the indictment.
Thailand next and an ultimatum from the Bangkok Post:
Prayuth: Don’t force us to take sides
Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said Thursday he does not side with any of the groups in the political divide, nor is the military waiting for the right time to stage another coup as claimed by some ill-intentioned people.
He also warned people not to try and force soldiers to show support for their particular cause. “Changes are as important as maintaining the rules,” he said.
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Gen Prayuth said he was concerned about the ongoing political conflict, particularly after some individuals or parties had referred to himself and the armed forces in a manner that would create division, confusion and concern in society.
The Jakarta Globe takes us to Indonesia and a pattern replicating:
Indonesia Extends Retirement Age
Indonesian civil servants, even those about to retire next month, will have to clock in for at least another two years before collecting their pensions, under new Ministry for the Empowerment of the State Apparatus regulations.
The ministry raised the national retirement age for civil servants from 56 years old to 58 years old, Tasdik Kinanto, ministry secretary, said on Wednesday. Those who planned on retiring from service by Feb. 1 will see their terms automatically extended another two years, he said.
The law was passed on Dec. 19 by the House of Representatives. It still needs President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s signature to go into effect.
China Daily narrows the gap:
US-China trade deficit narrows, again
US exports to China reached another record high in November, according to a new report released by the US Department of Commerce.
Exports to China reached $13.2 billion in November, up from the $13.1 billion in October, according to the figures released. Meanwhile, imports from China fell from $41.9 billion in October to $40.1 billion in November.
The trade deficit between the two countries further fell from $28.9 billion October to $26.9 billion in November. Exports to China for January to November totaled $108.9 billion, and imports from China totaled $402.9 billion. Trade deficit with China is still the US’ largest with any country in the world, and remains that way.
SINA English gives a raise:
Mainland’s salary increases top Asia for 2013
Average salary increases in the Chinese mainland were higher than those of other countries and regions in Asia throughout 2013, said a report released Wednesday by global specialized recruitment firm Hays.
Based on the survey of more than 2,600 employers across Asia, the report showed 54 percent of mainland employers had increased salaries by 6 to 10 percent in 2013, while 12 percent gave raises above 10 percent. The other regions and countries – Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia – saw the majority of employers willing to raise salaries by less than 6 percent.
Hays predicts this year the mainland will remain on top, as 58 percent of participants intend to raise salaries by 6 to 10 percent.
The Global Times cools it:
China’s CPI inflation eases, favorable to policymakers
Thursday’s figures showed China’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation rose lower than expected in December to a seven-month low.
December’s CPI — a main gauge of inflation — rose 2.5 percent year on year, down from 3 percent in November and 3.2 percent in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
Analysts maintained that falling CPI readings and modest inflation pressure will allow policymakers to continue focusing on policies to support growth while implementing structural reform measures this year.
Lower inflation might give the People’s Bank of China (PBOC, central bank) some room to ease the liquidity situation and to tame rising interbank lending rates, they said.
BBC News opens up:
China seeks more disclosure from banks
China’s major banks have been asked to publish data on 12 key indicators, including off balance sheet assets, to enhance their transparency.
Banks with total assets of 1.6 trillion yuan ($264bn; £160bn) will need to publish the data within four months of the end of each financial year.
China said the move was in line with rules published by the Basel Committee on international banking regulation.
And a warning for Hong Kong from the South China Morning Post:
Cash reserves to dry up in 20 years, finance secretary to warn in budget
Budget speech to contain dire warning of fiscal meltdown due to ageing population, but critics say it’s a ‘doomsday scenario’ and a scare tactic
The city’s fiscal reserves of HK$734 billion will run dry in about 20 years if nothing is done to ease the financial problems caused by its ageing population.
That dire warning is expected to feature in Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah’s budget speech next month.
A government source said that unlike in the past, fiscal deficits were likely to persist and would worsen in the long term.
On to Japan with the Japan Daily Press:
Japanese households remain pessimistic over economy despite ‘Abenomics’ promises
Results from a central bank survey done every quarter showed that Japanese households remain less optimistic about the economy, emphasizing lingering doubts on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s stimulus policies and whether is has done enough to boost wages to counter the rising cost of living.
The survey showed that outlook in the current state of economy and the year ahead deteriorated in December from three months ago, suggesting that consumers may already be worried with the impending tax hike. 80.9 percent of the households say they expect prices to rise in a year, down from 83 percent three months ago. Out of those who expect it to rise, 80.3 percent do not agree with it, while 3.8 percent sees it as favorable. A previous survey conducted in September showed 80.9 percent of the households see the increase in prices as unfavorable.
Next up, Fukushimapocalypse Now!
The Asahi Shimbun has the scandal de jour:
TEPCO withheld Fukushima radioactive water measurements for 6 months
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has withheld 140 measurements of radioactive strontium levels taken in groundwater and the port of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant between June and November last year.
TEPCO has been releasing the combined levels of all radioactive substances, including strontium, that emit beta rays, at the crippled nuclear plant. But strontium levels exceeded the all-beta readings in some instances, leading the utility to decide they were “wrong” and to withhold them from public releases, TEPCO officials said Jan. 8.
Previously, TEPCO officials said they had not released the data because the numbers were not confirmed.
South China Morning Post has another fuel, another problem:
Palm oil company fined US$30m for clearing 1,000 hectares in Indonesia
Company ordered to pay US$30m for burning 1,000 hectares for palm oil plantation
An Indonesian court has ordered a palm oil company to pay almost US$30 million to the state for illegally clearing peatland in a “historic” ruling, government lawyers said yesterday.
The Meulaboh district court on Sumatra island ruled on Wednesday that Indonesian company Kallista Alam had illegally burned vegetation on 1,000 hectares of peatland in Aceh province to clear it for a palm oil plantation.
In the civil case brought by the Ministry of Environment, the court ordered the company to pay 114.3 billion rupiah (HK$73 million) in losses to the state and 252 billion rupiah to rehabilitate the land it destroyed.
For our final item, Disney to Ohio kids: Get fracked! From Al Jazeera America:
Radio Disney’s pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage
Network made 26 stops across Ohio with industry-funded group to promote oil and gas to students
An educational program funded by Ohio’s oil and gas industry and sponsored by Radio Disney has environmental activists — and some parents — up in arms over what they say is a hijacking of public education by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) interests, in a state sitting on billions of dollars’ worth of gas-rich shale.
The program, called Rocking in Ohio, went on a 26-stop tour of elementary schools and science centers across the state last month. It involves interactive demonstrations of how oil and gas pipelines work, and is led by three staffers from Radio Disney’s Cleveland branch. It is entirely funded by the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), which gets its money from oil and gas companies.
Radio Disney, a nationwide network of radio stations aimed at kids, has said it will take the tour to other states if it deems the program successful. The company could not be reached for comment in time for the publication of this story.
