Before we begin our collection of headlines covering things economic, political, and environmental, we offer this prelude to the latest Fukushimapocalhpse Now! from Li Feng of China Daily:
We begin with global headlines, first with this from Reuters:
Trust in U.S., other governments plummets after state missteps
Trust in governments worldwide took a dive last year with Washington’s reputation a notable casualty as President Barack Obama grappled with a budget showdown, the Snowden spying crisis and the botched rollout of “Obamacare”.
Just 37 percent of college-educated adults told the Edelman Trust Barometer that they trusted the U.S. government – 16 points down on a year earlier and seven points below the global average.
The United States was not quite at the bottom of the heap as levels of trust in governments in some Western Europe countries including France, Spain and Italy were even lower, but the scale of the American decline was particularly dramatic.
CNBC dons rose-colored glasses:
Bill Gates: There will be no poor countries by 2035
As snowy Davos becomes engulfed in the hustle and bustle of another World Economic Forum, Microsoft founder Bill Gates took the opportunity to deliver an upbeat message in his annual newsletter.
The 25-page report, written by Gates and his wife Melinda, who are co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, argued that the world is a better place than it has even been before.
Gates predicted that by 2035, there would be almost no poor countries left in the world, using today’s World Bank classification of low-income countries — even after adjusting for inflation.
TheLocal.ch parties hearty:
‘Horizontal trade’ looks to upswing at Davos meet
In Davos, “shaping new models” is a popular theme for global change at the annual World Economic Forum gathering but on the margins of the event getting under way on Wednesday “shapely new models” are apparently also being sought.
The forum, bringing together presidents, prime ministers, monarchs, corporate tycoons, boffins and Hollywood actors, is also drawing a class of professionals to service, ahem, the needs of the elite.
Call girls, escorts, courtesans, hookers, prostitutes, call them what you will, look to be back in business for the event in the Swiss mountain resort town this year.
After several “rather dead” forum meetings in recent years, the “horizontal trade” looks to be picking up, says Swiss tabloid newspaper Blick, which monitors these kinds of activities.
On to the U.S., starting with a headline from Quartz:
The housing recovery leaves America separate and unequal, once again
Two years into the housing recovery, and a half-century since Martin Luther King fought for racial equality, it’s clear that homeownership doesn’t treat everyone the same.
While millions of homeowners of all races were affected by the burst of the housing bubble, from losing their homes to foreclosure or finding themselves in negative equity, many areas nationwide are now firmly in recovery as home values inch back toward peak levels. But that trend isn’t universal: neighborhoods that are predominantly black or Hispanic continue to lag behind today.
According to research from Zillow, home values in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods are down significantly from their peaks—by 23.3% and 32.6%, respectively. The recovery has been kinder to white and Asian neighborhoods, though, which are down 13.4% and 0.6%, respectively.
The Hill anticipates:
Supreme Court case could destroy pillar of union power
Labor unions are at risk of having one of their most successful organizing tactics nullified by the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, the high court will hear oral arguments in Harris V. Quinn, a case that could upend agreements with state governments that allow taxpayer-funded home-care workers to unionize.
Those deals have helped boost public sector unions in several states at a time when overall union membership is declining.
Business and conservative-leaning groups are pushing the Supreme Court to overturn the deals, arguing they violate the Constitution by requiring workers to punch a union card.
Dust finally settling from the Oakland Tribune:
California foreclosures plunge to eight-year low
California home foreclosure activity plummeted to an eight-year low in the fourth quarter as price gains left fewer owners owing more money than their properties were worth, a real estate research firm said Tuesday.
There were 18,120 default notices filed on houses and condominiums from October through December, down 10.8 percent from 20,314 in the previous three-month period and down 52.6 percent 38,212 from the same period of 2012. It is the lowest number of default notices since 15,337 were filed in the fourth quarter of 2005.
A sharp rise in home values has left fewer people vulnerable to foreclosure. The median sales price for a California home was $364,000 in the fourth quarter, up 22.1 percent from $298,000 a year earlier. It is the fifth straight quarter that the median has risen at least 20 percent from the previous year.
San Francisco Chronicle-ing class warfare:
Protesters block tech buses before SFMTA meeting
Anti-gentrification protesters again blocked tech buses carrying workers out of San Francisco on Tuesday morning. This time, just after 9 a.m., they blocked a pair of shuttles downtown, near Eighth and Market streets and close to City Hall, where later in the day city transportation leaders are scheduled to consider a pilot program that would charge bus operators a fee to use Muni stops — $1 per day per stop.
For some, the buses, used by companies like Google and Apple, have become symbols of income disparity in San Francisco. Others credit the buses with taking cars off the road and reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
On Tuesday, the few dozen protesters — in front of a large pool of media — surrounded the buses and prevented them from moving. Some plastered a sign to one of the coaches that read “Gentrification and Eviction Technologies” in Google-type script. They chanted, “Stop evictions.” By 9:45 a.m., police had cleared out the crowd and the buses had departed, though their destination was not clear.
Un-Like-ing via Vocativ:
Facebook May Lose 80% of Its User Base by 2017
Social networks function like infectious diseases, according to Princeton researchers. They spread fast—and then disappear
Like the Bubonic Plague, Facebook will eventually come to an end.
According to new research from Princeton, which compared the “adoption and abandonment dynamics” of social networks by “drawing analogy to the dynamics that govern the spread of infectious disease,” Facebook is beginning to die out.
Specifically, the researchers concluded that “Facebook will undergo a rapid decline in the coming years, losing 80 percent of its peak user base between 2015 and 2017.”
Dodgy dodging from The Guardian:
US tech firms make eleventh-hour attempt to halt tax avoidance reforms
Lobbyists representing leading US technology companies urge thinktank advising G20 not to close international tax loopholes
Silicon Valley has launched a last-ditch attempt to derail plans devised by the G20 group of countries to close down international loopholes that are exploited by the likes of Google, Amazon and Apple to pay less tax in the UK and elsewhere.
The Digital Economy Group, a lobbying group dominated by the leading US digital firms, has written to the OECD, the Paris-based thinktank tasked by G20 leaders with drawing up reforms, saying it is not true that communications advances have allowed multinational groups to game national tax systems.
Jiji Press embraces the darkness:
Japan, US Agree on Effort for Early TPP Deal
Akira Amari, Japanese minister in charge of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman agreed Monday to make efforts for an early conclusion of the regional free trade talks.
The agreement came at telephone talks between the Japanese and U.S. ministers held late in the night.
After the talks, Amari told reporters that he and Froman share the view that the two countries need to cooperate in helping conclude the TPP negotiations at the next ministerial meeting, likely to be held in late February.
While Deutsche Welle displays rare reserve:
EU freezes part of transatlantic trade negotiations with US
The EU has put one area of its negotiations with the US for a transatlantic free trade deal on hold. Brussels has expressed concern over provisions that would allow corporations to sue governments in private court.
The European Union on Tuesday temporarily halted one area of its free trade negotiations with the US, giving member states three months to provide input on provisions that would allow corporations to sue governments over violations of the potential trade deal.
“I know some people in Europe have genuine concerns about this part of the EU-US deal,” said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht in a press release. “Now I want them to have their say.”
“Some existing arrangements have caused problems in practice, allowing companies to exploit loopholes where the legal text has been vague,” De Gucht continued.
Monetary impoverishment from the London Telegraph:
Euro ‘increasing unemployment and social hardship’, says EC
Deepening economic divisions between North and South, rich and poor eurozone countries threaten to undermine the European Union itself, report states
Europe’s single currency is fuelling inequality, and the loss of sovereignty entailed in eurozone membership has led to “increased unemployment and social hardship” in many countries, a European Commission report has revealed.
The 496-page report, “Employment and social developments in Europe 2013″, warns that deepening economic divisions between North and South, rich and poor eurozone countries threaten to undermine the European Union itself.
The stark findings, published by Laszlo Andor, the EU’s social affairs commissioner, acknowledges that the loss of sovereignty involved in giving up national currencies has led to a loss of flexibility in tackling the economic crisis.
Reuters examines the odds:
IMF sees up to 20 pct chance of prices falling in Europe
There is as high as a one-in-five chance that prices could start to fall in the euro zone, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist said on Tuesday.
“Our model gives a 10 to 20 percent probability to inflation turning negative (in the euro zone),” Olivier Blanchard told reporters on a conference call, adding that the IMF still sees positive price growth in its baseline forecasts.
He called on the European Central Bank to do all it can to anchor price expectations and boost demand in the euro currency bloc, where southern countries like Portugal and Greece continue to face weak demand.
Deutsche Welle alerts:
EU sounds alarm on poverty among working-age people
In its latest review of social developments, the European Commission has said finding a job increasingly has not pulled people out of economic hardship. It said poverty among people with jobs was a major problem.
The EU executive said Tuesday the European debt crisis had led to a significant rise in poverty among people of working age.
It stated that finding fresh employment only helped people out of poverty in 50 percent of all cases as those who managed to land a job tended to work fewer hours or for lower wages than before.
“Unfortunately, we cannot say that having a job necessarily equates with a decent standard of living,” EU Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor said in a statement. “A gradual reduction of unemployment is unlikely to be enough to reverse the increasing trend in poverty levels,” he concluded.
Reuters bubbles:
UK property asking prices see biggest ever jump for Dec-Jan
Asking prices for homes in Britain saw their biggest ever rise for the December-January period, property website Rightmove said on Monday, potentially adding to concerns about the risk of a housing bubble.
Rightmove’s figures show the price of properties coming on to the market rose 1 percent between December 9 and January 11. The data series began in 2002.
The rise contrasts with an average fall of 0.2 percent in similar timeframes over the last 10 years during the Christmas holiday period, Rightmove said.
Austerian fruits from the London Telegraph:
Lottery of NHS drugs punishes the dying
Thousands of patients denied life-extending treatments approved by health watchdog
Thousands of patients suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses are being denied the drugs they need from the NHS, according to a report.
Even though the treatments have been approved by the health service rationing body, at least 14,000 patients a year are not receiving them.
As many as one in three of those suffering from some types of cancer are going without medication that could extend their lives, the figures show.
Experts said the report, from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, a government quango that provides NHS statistics and analysis of trends in health and social care, exposed an “endemic and disastrous postcode lottery” of care within the health service.
Inflationary death from RT:
‘Can’t afford to die’: British families on low incomes struggle with ‘funeral poverty’
Over 100,000 people in the UK will hardly manage to pay for a funeral this year. With the average cost of dying having risen by 7.1 percent, the poor simply cannot afford to pay the costs of funerals, a survey has found.
The average cost of dying, including funeral, burial or cremation and state administration, currently stands at £7,622 ($12,528), a rise of 7.1 percent in the past year, according to the latest study at the University of Bath’s Institute for Policy Research.
“With growing funeral costs, quite simply growing numbers of people might find they can’t afford to die,” Chief Executive of the International Longevity Centre-UK, Baroness Sally Greengross, stated on the University’s website.
On to Norway and that old time religion from TheLocal.no:
Christian GPs want right to refuse the coil
Christian doctors in Norway on Monday called for the right to refuse to offer their patients the contraceptive coil, arguing that for many of them it was tantamount to abortion.
Olav Fredheim, chairman of the Norwegian Christian Medical Association, made his demand on the eve of the publication of a controversial new law which will excuse Christian general practitioners from sending patients to have abortions on grounds of conscience.
“Doctors should not be forced to take actions that violate their moral integrity,” Fredheim told Aftenposten.
Sweden next, and state secrets from TheLocal.se:
Government to seal lid on secret donations
The Swedish government wants to protect the identities of political party donors, a proposal that left the opposition crying foul on Monday. Sweden remains one of few EU countries without total party-funding transparency.
The government coalition has proposed that the public be given access to the names of any donor that gives more than 22,200 kronor ($3,426) to a political party. The proposal’s failure to fully outlaw anonymous contributions has critics up in arms however, a predictable finale to months of wrangling and a cross-party stall in negotiations.
Sweden has no specific legislation pertaining to political party donations, which sets it aside from many of its neighbours and which has drawn criticism from the Council of Europe.
France 24 and that ol’ hard times intolerance:
Poll finds xenophobia on the rise in France
Over the past year, the English and American journalists have written widely on what they call the French “malaise”.
An Ipsos survey carried out earlier this month and published on Tuesday suggests that the description may be accurate, finding, in particular, that the French are increasingly pessimistic about their political leaders and wary of foreigners.
According to the poll, 65% of French people think that most politicians are corrupt (a three-point increase since last year) and 84% think they are motivated primarily by personal gain (a two-point rise).
Meanwhile, 78% of those questioned think “the political system does not work well” and “their ideas are not represented” (six points higher than last year). At the same time, the French seem eager for a politician who can fix things. A whopping 84% of those polled said they would like “a real leader to restore order”.
RFI hooks up:
Peugeot shares plunge as Dongfeng tie-up announced
Shares in French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën plunged 5.44 per cent on Monday, following the announcement of a radical tie-up its capital with Chinese Dongfeng and the French state. The plan would mean a three-billion-euro capital injection.
The deal, which is expected to be presented to investors on 19 February, will open the door to a difficult three-way partnership, where Chinese state-owned carmarker and the French state will take over 14 per cent each of the PSA capital while the Peugeot family will reduce its from 35 to 14 per cent.
Both the Chinese and the French states will boost PSA capital and inject 750 millions euros each.
And that old time religion as well, via TheLocal.es:
‘Give us Spain’s abortion law’: French pro-lifers
Thousands of anti-abortionists took to the streets of the French capital on Sunday calling for France to adopt similar pro-life legislation to that drafted by the Spanish government last month.
Thousands of anti-abortionists took to the streets of the French capital on Sunday in an effort which they hope will see similar legislation to that passed in Spain last month make it into France next.
Participants marched through Paris on the eve of a parliamentary debate on a bill that would make terminations of pregnancy in France easier.
Organizers, among them right-wing religious groups, anti-gay activists and handicapped children associations, claimed 40,000 people took part.
Police put their number at 16,000.
And on to Spain, first with El País:
Actual retirement age in Spain rises due to new labor restrictions
Age at which people stop working increases on average to 64.3 in 2013
Number of people retiring at legal age rises 10.4 percent
The effective retirement age in Spain increased while the number of people taking early retirement decreased last year after further restrictions were placed on this possibility in March 2013, according to figures released Tuesday by Labor Minister Fátima Báñez.
The average age at which people ceased to work rose from 63.9 years to 64.3 years in 2013, while the number of people who retired at the stipulated legal age rose by 10.4 percent. The official retirement age in Spain is currently being raised in a phased fashion from 65 to 67.
Báñez said the number of people who took early or partial retirement last year fell 6.5 percent from 2012, while the number of people opting to combine receipt of some pension rights while continuing to work came to 9,094, of whom 83 percent were freelance workers.
TheLocal.es gives ‘em the business:
Hard times? Spain’s elite richer than ever
The 20 richest people in Spain earn as much as the poorest 20 percent, while the country’s wealthy elites have actually grown richer during the economic crisis, a major new global report into wealth inequality argues.
Almost half of the world’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of the richest 1 percent. Meanwhile, the fortunes of this richest 1 percent total $110 trillion (€81 trillion), or 65 times the combined wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population.
These are the chief findings of a new report by UK charity Oxfam into the dangers of extreme economic inequality.
El País optimizes:
IMF triples its growth forecast for the Spanish economy
GDP to rise by 0.6 percent in 2013, according to Washington-based organization’s new report
The International Monetary Fund has raised its forecast for Spanish economic growth for this year from 0.2 percent to 0.6 percent.
The revision was included in the IMF’s updated World Economic Outlook released Tuesday. Only Britain saw a bigger upward revision of expected GDP growth, while Japan’s outlook was also improved by 0.4 percentage points.
And thinkSPAIN gets together over getting together:
Ibiza authorities give their blessing to Spain’s first ‘prostitution cooperative’
IBIZA has approved the creation of the first-ever cooperative for prostitutes, meaning they can pay taxes and Social Security guaranteeing them a State pension, sick and maternity pay.
They are protected from the hands of pimps and have legal and tax advisors on hand to offer them assistance, as well as qualified gynaecologists to give them specialist advice and regular examinations.
María José López Armesto, 42, has spent two years getting her plan approved, but is now celebrating her success with the Sealeer Cooperative.
And from the Associated Press, no homage for Catalonia:
Spain PM: No secession referendum for Catalonia
Spain’s prime minister has declared that he will not let the northeastern Catalonia region hold a referendum on whether it should secede and form a new European country.
Mariano Rajoy told Spain’s Antena 3 television network late Monday that the referendum many Catalans want “won’t take place and as long I am prime minister of Spain’s government there will not be independence for any Spanish territory.”
His comments came less than a week after the regional Catalan parliament made a formal request to the central government in Madrid for it to transfer powers to Catalonia so a referendum could be held.
Portugal next, and lethal austerianism from the Portugal News:
Waiting room woes
Hospital emergency departments, already struggling to cope with their normal patient numbers, are currently seeing their usually-packed waiting rooms even fuller as seasonal flu victims seeking medical care add to the break-back load. In some units, patients with health problems considered less serious by officials have waited almost a full day to see a doctor.
A report by state-run news channel RTP, broadcast on Tuesday, exposed the struggling state of ER waiting rooms from north to south of the country, containing a series of unflattering comments from patients, some of whom had been waiting more than 20 hours and were still counting to be seen by a doctor.
The report was chased up by a note from the Regional Health Administrative Board for Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (ARSLVT), which has asked units under its jurisdiction for more information regarding their waiting times.
Italy next, and lethal intent from TheLocal.it:
Sicilian mafia boss orders judges’ murder
Totò Riina, the Sicilian mafia boss, has been recorded telling a fellow mobster to kill anti-mafia magistrates, Italian media has reported.
The wiretapped conversations between Riina and Alberto Lorusso, speaking in October, are the latest threats targeting anti-mafia prosecutor Nino Di Matteo and others.
Speaking to Lorusso from a Milan prison, where he is serving a life term, Riina says: “We must take action [against the magistrates], make them dance the samba.”
ANSAmed impoverishes:
More than 12% of Italian workers don’t make living wage
Study says only Greece, Romania in worst position in EU
More than 12% of employed Italians cannot afford to live on what they earn, says a study issued Tuesday by the European Union. Only Greece and Romania are in worse positions in term of earning a living wage, with about 14% of workers in those countries unable to make ends meet, added the research.
Those findings are consistent with a report earlier this month issued by the national statistical agency Istat that said in the first nine months of 2013, the purchasing power of Italian households fell by 1.5% compared with the same period in 2012.
Overall, economic indicators suggest that 2013 will be remembered “as the worst year” in recent economic history, with spending on such necessities as medications falling by 2.5% in the first 10 months of the year and food spending falling by 1.3%, consumer group Codacons said earlier in January.
And TheLocal.it has Bunga Bunga disgust:
Top Italian leftist resigns after Berlusconi deal
The president of Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party resigned on Tuesday in the latest sign of divisions exacerbated by a deal between party leader Matteo Renzi and disgraced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Gianni Cuperlo wrote an open letter to Renzi on Facebook in which he accused the new leader of responding to criticism with “a personal attack”.
“I want to be able to always say what I think,” he said.
Renzi, who only won the nomination to lead the party last month, has angered many leftists over his willingness to negotiate with Berlusconi to negotiate a reform of Italy’s widely criticised political system.
After the jump, the Greek tragedy continues, Ukrainian violence, Brazilian mall protests, Thai troubles, Chinese economic shifts, Japanese economic vows, envrionmental woes, and Fukushimapocalyse Now!. . .
Our first Greek headline and a thumbs down from Capital.gr:
Greece confirms troika rejected 2014 fiscal plan
Greece’s international inspectors, the so called troika, rejected the government’s 2014 fiscal plan, a senior Greek finance ministry official confirmed Friday.
The official was asked by journalists to comment on an MNI exclusive report, published yesterday, that the inspectors from the European Commission, the IMF and the ECB were not satisfied with the 2014 fiscal plan and returned it to Athens as “inadequate.”
The official conceded that the Greek finance ministry sent additional information to the troika and updated the fiscal plan but that still “differences and disagreements remain.”
To Vima doubts:
Dijsselbloem expresses uncertainty on the troika’s return to Athens
Eurogroup chief accuses the Samaras-Venizelos government of delaying the implementation of prior actions
The head of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem explained on international news agency Bloomberg that he was uncertain when the IMF, ECB and EU representatives would return to Greece for its next evaluation.
The Dutch Finance Minister explained that the uncertainty was due to the Greek government’s procrastination with regards to the implementation of prior actions. As a result, Greece will be unable to collect the loan installments that were due in the final quarter of 2013.
ANSAmed stalls:
Crisis: Greece; business investment stuck in a rut, EU says
Investors still prefer shops to innovation and export
Despite the numerous structural reforms the country has passed over the last few years as well as the six-year recession, Greek entrepreneurs still prefer to invest in cafes, souvlaki shops and hairdressers rather than setting up businesses in the fields of innovation and exports, daily Kathimerini reports quoting the results of a pan-European survey by the European Commission.
While countries such as Portugal, Ireland and Spain have seen investment turn toward more productive sectors of their economies, Greece, which has implemented a 63-billion-euro fiscal adjustment, remains focused on so-called non-productive sectors, with another recent survey showing that about 90% of new Greek enterprises are in non-productive sectors.
Greek Reporter searches:
It Takes on Average Nine Months to Find a Job in Greece
The average waiting time before finding a job in Greece has increased to more than nine months, surpassing not only Spain but also South Africa. This is what the International Labour Organisation (ILO) highlighted in its annual report released yesterday, detailing tendencies in the international employment arena for 2014.
This increase in waiting time has been a feature of the global economic difficulties which began in 2008. However it seems that the problem in Greece is much more persistent. For example in the U.S., the average waiting time for a job increased from 3-4 months to six in 2012. In Spain, it increased from five months in 2008, to eight in 2012. In Greece, where average waiting times have always been longer, it increased from eight to nine months compared to 2009.
From To Vima, deadlock:
EOPYY doctor union abandons negotiations with Ministry of Health
POSEYP-EOPYY accuses Minister of Health Georgiadis of being “the destroyer of public healthcare”
The EOPYY doctor union POSEYP-EOPYY announced that it has abandoned talks with the Ministry of Health, after a Thursday evening meeting did not result in any progress.
The doctors claim that contrary to his public declarations, the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis completely refused to accept any changes whatsoever regarding a controversial bill on EOPYY. According to the doctor union, the Minister was also against a transition period, during which time doctors wishing to work with EOPYY would gradually abandon their clinics, despite being in favor three days ago.
Kathimerini English offers an austerian rebuff:
Wage ruling rattles government
Leaked court decision deems salary cuts for armed forces, security services illegal
A decision by the country’s highest administrative court, leaked to the media on Monday and expected to be made public over the next month, has deemed unconstitutional the wage cuts made to members of the armed forces and emergency services in 2012, meaning that the government is likely to be obliged to pay back those affected by the measure.
Although the exact details, and the repercussions, of the Council of State’s decision remained unclear, the news caused upheaval within the government amid concerns about where the money will come from to pay back withheld salaries. There were also worries that the decision could spur similar demands by other civil servants whose salaries have been cut as part of belt-tightening pledged by Greece to the troika. There are fears that the cost to the state coffers could be in excess of 400 million euros.
Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said authorities would respect the court’s decision, once it has been made public and its reasoning elaborated. But other senior officials expressed concern. Andreas Papamimikos, the secretary of conservative New Democracy, which leads the ruling coalition, conceded that “we will have problems as regards where to find the money.” Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis was, characteristically, more outspoken. “No matter how many court decisions there are, we won’t suddenly be able to generate money,” he said.
ANA-MPA pleads:
Greece could ask for a looser austerity policy, head of Parliamentary Budget Office says
It is important to maintain a fiscal adjustment course while demanding a looser austerity policy, Panagiotis Liargovas, coordinator of the Parliamentary Budget Office, told ANA-MPA in an interview on Tuesday.
«This is not something unattainable, as the European Parliament, as shown in its most recent report, has already identified the austerity policy problems – which some even term ‘blind’. That means we can demand a looser austerity policy with a longer adjustment period. That does not mean of course that we should be complacent, but (it means) we should continue our efforts,” he said.
Asked on the country’s exit course from the bailout programme, Liargovas pointed out: “The memorandum, one way or another, ends in May. We can present some results, but deeper issues have certainly not been solved yet. But even if we exit the memorandum, the new economic governance on a European level – not by the troika (of Greece’s creditors) but by European institutions – effectively follows the troika’s model and a similar policy.”
From ANSAmed, another downturn:
Crisis: Greek industry turnover nosedives in November
Greece’s Turnover Index in Industry fell 11.7% in November compared to a year earlier, Kathimerini online reports quoting data published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Monday.
The average Turnover Index in Industry for the 12-month period from December 2012 to November 2013 compared to the 12-month period from December 2011 to November 2012 decreased by 5.7%. The New Orders Index in Industry fell 8.9% November 2013 compared with a year earlier, ELSTAT also announced on Monday.
To Vima confronts:
School wardens protest over suspension and mobility measure
Protesters claim that the government has not yet fulfilled its promise of appointing them new jobs
Suspended school wardens are holding a demonstration at Klafthmonos Square in downtown Athens at midday today, in protest of the government’s suspension and mobility scheme.
The protesters have taken to the streets, because they have not yet been assigned new job posts in the public sector, despite government commitments.
The school guards are also critical of the government’s decision to hire school janitors as replacements them via the NSRF scheme.
Kathimerini English gets ready:
Farmers gear up for action with protests at squares
Farmers from Evros in northern Greece all the way to Crete in the southern Aegean will be parking their tractors and trucks in central squares on Tuesday as they gear up for extended action to press demands to the government.
Farmers met in Larissa, central Greece, over the weekend and decided to begin industrial action on Tuesday to demand the abolition of a regulation forcing them to keep books recording their revenues and spending.
They are also asking for an increase in their tax-free threshold and for measures to help them settle overdue debts.
To Vima ponders the red ink:
Budget Office of Parliament: “Greek debt still a problem”
Progress report suggests that debt problems are far from over and further assistance may be necessary
The Budget Office of Parliament published a progress report regarding the financial developments in Greece and the Eurozone, where it is revealed that Greece has not yet overcome their serious financial problems. As a result, new fiscal rules in the Eurozone are necessary. The report is based on the intention of Greece remaining within the Eurozone and will not return to the drachma.
According to the report, “every future Greek government, irrespective of whether a new memorandum is signed, will have to operate within the new regulations of financial and fiscal policies”. Greece will also have to sing separate conventional agreements with other member-states to receive assistance from the various mechanisms.
Greek Reporter has another stall:
Investments in Greece at a Stand Still
Data from the pan-European survey by the European Commission has shown that investments in Greece are in a deadlock. After six years of recession and many structural reforms it appears that the Greek businessmen still prefer to invest in cafes, restaurants, hairdressers clothing and shoe stores rather than in the fields of innovation, technology and exports.
At the same time other bailout countries such as Spain, Portugal and Ireland are promoting more productive sectors. However, the Greek economy is dominated by small businesses, the so-called non-productive sectors. Another recent survey showing that about 90% of new Greek enterprises are in non-productive sectors.
The European Commission survey also revealed that the few productive corporations (less than 20%) employ over 60% of the country’s private employees. However, it appears that those who follow the usual pattern of the Greek economy that offers easy money have been rewarded, while others who invest in exports and more productive fields are struggling to survive.
From Kathimerini English, another threat:
Escaped N17 convict vows to return to armed action
Police on Monday redoubled their efforts to locate the fugitive November 17 convict Christodoulos Xeros after the 55-year-old posted a video and a letter on the Internet heralding his return to terrorism and appealing to members of leftist and anarchist guerrilla groups to unite in armed action in protest against ongoing austerity in Greece.
Xeros, who has been on the run since he absconded during a nine-day prison furlough that began on January 1, described himself as “a free member of November 17″ in the letter posted on the Indymedia website and called on members of leftist and anarchist guerrilla groups to “unite” against politicians, unionists, journalists and police. “It is our duty to light the fuse,” he said, adding that he had “once again taken the decision to wield the guerrilla rifle against those who stole our lives and sold our dreams for a profit.”
EnetEnglish.gr takes it to court:
Riot police in the dock
18 officers charged with causing grievous bodily harm at protests in June 2011
After two and a half years, 18 policemen go on trial for the orgy of violence unleashed against demonstrators protesting against austerity measures in June 2011
Eighteen police officers from two anti-riot units are appearing before a court on Monday on charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm on demonstrators and bystanders during protests against the passing of austerity measures two and a half years ago.
The parliamentary vote on 29 June 2011 on the medium-term programme of measures, which the troika made a condition for the payment of further emergency loan instalments, was accompanied by unprecedented levels of violence and use of tear gas and stun grenades by the riot police in and around Syntagma Square.
On to the Ukraine with EUbusiness:
President warns clashes threaten all Ukraine as fighting rages
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Monday warned bloody clashes between protesters and police threatened all of Ukraine as new fighting rocked the capital Kiev.
The clashes, the worst in Kiev in recent times, marked a spiralling of tensions after two months of demonstrations against Yanukovych’s refusal to sign a pact for closer integration with the EU.
Amid growing fears the police could act to violently disperse the protest, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka warned protesters to halt “mass rioting”, describing it as a crime against the state.
In a second day of clashes after 200 were injured in Sunday’s fighting, thousands of Ukrainians braved temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) to take part in the standoff with police.
Measures contemplated from EUobserver:
Sweden opens EU debate on Ukraine sanctions
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has broken the EU’s silence on potential sanctions on Ukraine.
Going into an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday, he told press: “I wouldn’t exclude it … We’ll have to see what happens.”
Half-way through the talks, he tweeted: “EU must start looking at effective instruments against corrupt actors manoeuvering also in the dark corners of the politics of Ukraine.” He told press after the meeting: “I think we should look towards various instruments targeted against corrupt money [in Ukraine].”
The Guardian takes us to Africa:
Africa’s economic growth failing to stimulate development and jobs
UN fears poverty and inequality could be exacerbated by cessation of US-led quantitative easing programmes
Economic growth in Africa is expected to accelerate to 4.7% this year and 5% in 2015, but the advance is failing to translate into job creation and the broad-based development needed to reduce high poverty and rising inequality rates in many countries, the UN has said.
Although its world economic situation and prospects 2014 report is generally upbeat about the continent, it warns that a global economic slowdown is likely to have a significant negative impact on Africa’s performance. And like the World Bank, the UN is worried about the risks associated with a possible bumpy exit from quantitative easing programmes by the US Federal Reserve that have pumped money into the global economy.
And the GlobalPost gives us action in Brazil:
Brazil’s poor are protesting income inequality in an awesome way
Brazilians are shutting down upscale shopping malls with flash mobs, dancing and BBQs.
Brazilian retailers on Monday said they were seeking support from President Dilma Rousseff after several shopping malls were closed to stop weekend flash mobs.
Scores of youths, brought together via social media, gathered at upscale malls in several major cities, including Rio and business hub Sao Paulo.
Fearing violence, authorities promptly closed some of the malls — including the commercial center in Rio’s uber-swanky Leblon district — sparking protests and claims of discrimination.
While MercoPress has the blowback:
Brazilian shopping malls requesting help from government to contain ‘weekend flash mobs’
Brazilian retailers said they were seeking support from President Dilma Rousseff after several shopping malls were closed to stop weekend flash mobs. Scores of youths, brought together via social media, gathered at upscale malls in several major cities, including Rio and business hub Sao Paulo.
Fearing violence, authorities promptly closed some of the malls — including the commercial center in Rio’s posh Leblon district, sparking protests and claims of discrimination. But Monday, Brazilian retailer association Alshop voiced concerns over the lost business that resulted.
“We can confirm we have called on the presidential office for help in this matter,” an Alshop spokeswoman said.
And a bankster is show the door, via the Tico Times:
Nicaragua’s Ortega sacks Central Bank president
Nicaraguan Central Bank President Alberto Guevara was fired Monday for reasons that haven’t yet been made public, an official source said.
Presidency spokeswoman and First Lady Rosario Murillo said Guevara would leave the Central Bank and fill a different governmental role, although she didn’t say which one. Murillo said the decision was made by President Daniel Ortega.
Ovidio Reyes, who served as a Central Bank manager, will replace Guevara, Murillo said.
On to Asia, starting in Thailand with Al Jazeera America:
Thailand declares state of emergency as anti-government protests continue
Emergency measure lasting 60 days announced as demonstrations and violence continues in Bangkok
The emergency decree greatly expands the power of security forces to issue orders and search, arrest and detain people, with limited judicial and parliamentary oversight. The areas covered had already been placed under tougher-than-normal security under the country’s Internal Security Act.
The protesters have been demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to make way for an appointed government to implement reforms to fight corruption. Yingluck called elections on Feb. 2 but the protesters are insisting they not be held.
And on to China, starting with this from South China Morning Post:
Rich nations outsourcing pollution to China, says UN report
The world’s richest countries are increasingly outsourcing their carbon pollution to China and other rising economies, according to a draft UN report.
The problem stems from electronic devices such as smartphones, cheap clothes and other goods being made in China and other rising economies but consumed in the US and Europe.
The draft of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases warming the planet grew twice as fast in the first decade of the 21st century than during the previous three decades.
Xinhua eases:
China central bank injects 42 bln USD
The Chinese central bank pumped 255 billion yuan (42 billion U.S. dollars) into the money market on Tuesday, easing concerns over financial risks in the world’s second-largest economy.
The liquidity injection came after the Shanghai Composite Index fell below the much-watched 2,000 points level on Monday and to its lowest in six months. A credit crunch in June pounded market sentiment and plunged the benchmark index downward by more than 5 percent in one trading day.
The reversed repo purchase, which had stopped for four weeks, brought down rates for the seven-day repo and the Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate that surged on Monday. The stock market rebounded 0.86 percent on Tuesday.
Nikkei Asian Review gets bigger:
Chinese M&As reached new heights in 2013
The value of mergers and acquisitions involving Chinese companies totaled a record $93.2 billion in 2013 as the country’s slowing economy spurred firms to seek new opportunities by venturing overseas and absorbing rivals’ networks and know-how.
That sum, from China’s Zero2IPO Research, includes domestic and cross-border deals. It represents an 83.6% leap over the 2012 figure. And, roughly equivalent to 9.64 trillion yen, it surpasses the value of Japanese companies’ M&A deals last year, which Recof puts at 8.45 trillion yen — although the tabulations may reflect different standards. The number of deals also jumped 24.3% to 1,232.
Overseas M&As made a considerable contribution to overall value, growing 30% to $38.4 billion to set a new record for the third consecutive year. That included a number of big deals such as China National Offshore Oil’s $15.1 billion acquisition of Canada’s Nexen and meat processing company Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development’s purchase of Smithfield Foods of the U.S. for about $7.1 billion.
Xinhua slows:
China’s urban fixed-asset investment growth cools in 2013
The annual growth of China’s urban fixed-asset investment cooled to 19.6 percent in 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Monday.
Urban fixed-asset investment expanded to 43.65 trillion yuan (about 7.19 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2013, bureau data showed.
The growth rate was 0.3 percentage point lower than that of the first 11 months of last year and 1.1 percentage points lower than that of 2012, according to the NBS.
Süddeutsche Zeitung caches cash:
China’s secret offshore world: How politicians, ‘princelings’ and the rich hide their assets in tax havens
China’s General Secretary Xi Jinping was loud and clear. He wanted to fight corruption. Corruption in the lower ranks, which he called despicable “flies”, as well as high-up corruption among the government’s power-brokers, who he dubbed “tigers.” This fighter of corruption and man of the people started his clampdown with several measures, banning expensive booze at banquets and ads for expensive watches. And he went after people. Apparently some 108,000 officials have fallen victim to the new restrictions.
But what Xi Jinping did not bring to China was the rule of transparency—the idea that the really powerful should disclose their and their relatives’ assets. Only then would the Chinese people have known that Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law is the co-owner of a company registered in the British Virgin Islands—a country internationally known as a tax haven.
Confidential documents from the offshore leaks database show that quite a few close relatives of the most important current and former leaders in China are related to offshore companies on the British Virgin Islands and in other tax havens. Along with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law, the documents revealed the long-time Chinese Prime Minister’s son Wen Jiabao, as well as the former Prime Minister’s daughter Li Ping, the ex-General Secretary Hu Jintao’s first cousin once removed, the reformer Deng Xiaoping’s son-in-law and other ‘nobility’—the term used for those closely related to the Chinese power brokers.
South China Morning Post talks taxes:
PBOC vice-governor Yi Gang suggests Tobin tax on foreign exchange
A top mainland financial regulator has suggested the country could introduce a tax on foreign exchange transactions among other steps to guard against speculative capital flows amid further economic liberalisation.
Yi Gang , head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), wrote in an article for the Communist Party theoretical journal Qiushi that China should “study in depth” the so-called “Tobin tax” on financial transactions.
Nobel laureate James Tobin proposed the levy in 1972 as a means of reducing speculation in global markets.
Want China Times invests:
Armani jumps into China’s high-end realty market
Italian luxury goods brand Armani recently announced its entry into China’s high-end real estate market by designing and constructing an apartment building project in Chengdu, the capital city of southwest China’s Sichuan province. The venture may be a gateway for other luxury goods brands.
The plan was executed under the rise of luxury housing in first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Real estate in these cities is steadily rising and outpacing its competitors.
SINA English bubbles:
Beijing land sales likely to set new monthly record
Beijing is likely to report new monthly high revenues from land sales in January, said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst with property agent Centaline Property, on Sunday.
Zhang said the city last saw record monthly high revenues from land sales in November last year with a figure of 41.4 billion yuan ($6.8 billion).
January is likely to see a new record amid a land sales boom, he said.
And Want China Times casts doubt:
Gloomy outlook for China’s exports in 2014
China’s exports in 2014 are likely to be a letdown, as the superpower only registered a 4.3% growth in December 2013, in stark contrast to the 12.7% registered in November, according to a report released by the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China.
The renminbi has continued to strengthen against the US dollar, causing Chinese goods to be increasingly expensive in the global market, which means China’s export industry might encounter even more difficulties in 2014. The Chinese currency’s exchange rate made 41 records in trade during 2013, and saw a hike of 3%, reaching 6.1 yuan against the dollar.
Uwe Hutzler, a trader in Chinese leather, said that wage hikes and the increase in renminbi value are the two biggest issues as cover expenses and wages are paid in renminbi, but orders are paid in US Dollars.
On to Japan and a man with a dream from NHK WORLD:
Abe vows to realize ‘perpetual’ economic growth
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has renewed his pledge to realize industrial competitiveness. He says there is no end to his growth strategy.
Members of the Industrial Competitiveness Council, including Abe, cabinet ministers and experts met on Monday. They endorsed draft policies for Japan’s new growth strategies to be compiled around June.
According to the draft policies, the council will consider a corporate tax cut to boost industrial competitiveness.
JapanToday chops away:
Japan seen halving budget deficit as planned
Japan can halve its budget deficit by fiscal 2015/16 thanks to higher tax income but more effort is needed for the country to meet its longer-term goal of balancing the budget, a government estimate showed on Monday.