A statement of reality from Quartz:
This land is not your land
Pete Seeger died in an America with record inequality
BBC News sounds a belated theme:
State of the Union: Obama promises action on inequality
US President Barack Obama: “Whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do”
US President Barack Obama has promised to bypass a fractured Congress to tackle economic inequality in his annual State of the Union address.
He pledged to “take steps without legislation” wherever possible, announcing a rise in the minimum wage for new federal contract staff.
On Iran, he said he would veto any new sanctions that risked derailing talks.
Bloomberg Businessweek chills out:
Frozen Northeast Getting Gouged by Natural Gas Prices
As temperatures plunge anew into single digits across much of the U.S. Northeast, natural gas prices have been going in the opposite direction. On Jan. 22, thermostats in New York City bottomed out at 7 degrees, a day after the price to deliver natural gas into the city spiked to a record $120 per million British Thermal Units in the spot market on the outskirts of town. That’s about 30 times more expensive than what the equivalent amount of gas cost a hundred miles away in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, the biggest natural gas field in the U.S. and home to some of the lowest gas prices in the world. And you thought this was the age of cheap energy.
Most of the natural gas that gets used in the U.S. is contracted on a long-term basis and bought with futures and forward contracts, meaning that many consumers in the Northeast won’t feel the full brunt of that price spike. They’re not entirely insulated though. The spot market is there for a reason. Essentially, it’s a refuge for the desperate and unprepared—for those who need to buy or sell immediately. And when a natural gas-fired power plant or a big utility finds itself short, having underestimated the amount of demand it has to fill, its traders and schedulers have to jump into the spot market and pay whatever the going price is. For those buying in parts of the Northeast, it’s been reaching new highs.
PandoDaily exerts plutocratic pressure:
The Techtopus: How Silicon Valley’s most celebrated CEOs conspired to drive down 100,000 tech engineers’ wages
In early 2005, as demand for Silicon Valley engineers began booming, Apple’s Steve Jobs sealed a secret and illegal pact with Google’s Eric Schmidt to artificially push their workers wages lower by agreeing not to recruit each other’s employees, sharing wage scale information, and punishing violators. On February 27, 2005, Bill Campbell, a member of Apple’s board of directors and senior advisor to Google, emailed Jobs to confirm that Eric Schmidt “got directly involved and firmly stopped all efforts to recruit anyone from Apple.”
Later that year, Schmidt instructed his Sr VP for Business Operation Shona Brown to keep the pact a secret and only share information “verbally, since I don’t want to create a paper trail over which we can be sued later?”
These secret conversations and agreements between some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley were first exposed in a Department of Justice antitrust investigation launched by the Obama Administration in 2010. That DOJ suit became the basis of a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of over 100,000 tech employees whose wages were artificially lowered — an estimated $9 billion effectively stolen by the high-flying companies from their workers to pad company earnings — in the second half of the 2000s. Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied attempts by Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe to have the lawsuit tossed, and gave final approval for the class action suit to go forward. A jury trial date has been set for May 27 in San Jose, before US District Court judge Lucy Koh, who presided over the Samsung-Apple patent suit.
The London Telegraph constricts:
Emerging markets forced to tighten by US and Chinese monetary superpowers
The global chain reaction resembles what happened in the East Asia crisis in 1997-1998 when domino effects swept the region
Turkey, India, Brazil and a string of emerging market countries are being forced tighten monetary policy to halt capital flight despite crumbling growth, raising the risk of a vicious circle as debt problems mount.
Turkey’s central bank on Tuesday night hiked interest rates to 12pc from 7.75pc at an emergency meeting in a bid to defend its currency. The lira strengthened to 2.18 against the dollar after the decision, from 2.25.
The move came as India raised rates a quarter-point to 8pc to choke off inflation and shore up confidence in the battered rupee, the third rate rise since Raghuram Rajan took off in September. South Africa’s central bank is meeting on Wednesday as the rand hovers near a record low at 11.06 to the dollar.
More from Nikkei Asian Review:
Inflation-wary emerging economies go for rate hikes
Fighting inflation has become a new mantra for emerging economies like India, Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia as U.S. moves to curtail quantitative easing help weaken their currencies, pushing up the cost of imported goods in these countries. . .
Weak local currencies are setting off inflation. Drops in currency value translate to costlier imports, driving consumer prices in general higher. Speculation that the U.S. would scale down its ultra-easy monetary policy triggered an exodus of money from emerging economies. In particular, currencies of nations with current-account deficits came under selling pressure in the market. The Brazilian real, the Indian rupee, the Indonesian rupiah, the South African rand and the Turkish lira are dubbed the Fragile Five.
Xinhua charts an uptick with mixed results:
Global foreign direct investment rises to pre-crisis levels, UN reports
Global foreign direct investment (FDI) rose to levels not seen since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008, increasing by 11 percent in 2013 to an estimated 1.46 trillion U.S. dollars, with the lion’s share going to developing countries, said a UN report released on Tuesday.
FDI flows to developing economies reached a new high of 759 billion dollars, accounting for 52 percent, and transition economies also recorded a new high of 126 billion dollars, 45 percent up from the previous year and accounting for 9 percent of the global total, showed the figures provided by the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
But developed countries remained at a historical low, or 39 percent, for the second consecutive year. They increased by 12 percent to 576 billion dollars, but only to 44 percent of their peak value in 2007, with FDI to the European Union (EU) increasing, while flows to the United States continued their decline.
Quartz predicts:
Global unemployment is about to get worse
While the rich countries were most affected by the global economic crisis, there are signs of recovery. Although India and China won’t go back to the days of double-digit growth, other emerging countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, paint a more hopeful picture. But the scale of the recovery won’t help the unemployed much, whose numbers are only set to be growing.
In 2013, the unemployed grew by 5 million to 202 million people globally. According to a new report published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), this number is set to grow by a further 13 million by 2018, even if the rate of underemployment remains same. In countries such as Greece and Spain, the average duration of unemployment has reached nearly nine months.
The ILO’s worries are threefold. First, the recovery is not strong enough to reduce the growing number of unemployed. Second, the fundamental causes of the global economic crisis are yet to be properly tackled. Third, the crisis has forced even those employed into more vulnerable jobs.
ANSAmed has numbers:
Crisis, Lagarde sounds the alarm: 20 mln unemployed in EU
IMF director, in Italy and Portugal 1/3 under 25 jobless
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde has sounded the alarm on record unemployment levels in Europe where almost 20 million are jobless.
‘We cannot say the crisis is over until its impact on the labor market has not reversed’, said Lagarde. When unemployment is high, growth is slow because people spend less and companies invest and hire less, Lagarde also noted, stressing that the most effective way to boost employment is growth.
According to a number of estimates, a growth increase by one percentage point in advanced economies would cut unemployment levels by half a percentage point, giving work to 4 million people.
More from Bloomberg:
Euro Jobless Record Not Whole Story as Italians Give Up
Euro-area data this week will probably show the region ended 2013 with a record jobless rate that reveals only part of the social legacy of the debt crisis.
While economists predict unemployment in December stayed at an all-time high of 12.1 percent, with about 19 million jobless, that tally excludes legions of adults who would also work if they could. Bloomberg calculations for the third quarter show a wider total of 31.2 million people of all ages are either looking for jobs, willing to do so though unavailable, or else have given up.
Giuseppe Di Gilio, 30, is one of 4.2 million such people who don’t appear in Italy’s unemployment statistics. The most recent so-called labor underutilization rate in the third-biggest economy in the euro area was 24 percent, more than double the official jobless rate.
And still more from New Europe:
Growth in the EU: the IMF warns against unemployment, German Fin Min against social spending
“I am convinced that the real problem in the economy is the human being”. That is how Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister opened his speech at the presentation of the IMF’s new publication, “Growth and Jobs: Supporting the European Recovery”. . .
German Finance Minister actually warned against “excessive social spending” in euro area countries and “endless regulation” from Brussels. As the EU makes an effort to recover from years of recession, we have to be “frank” he insisted. “Europe on average spends twice as much as other parts of the world in social security. You can see where some of the problems lie,” he said. Moreover, asked whether investments in green economy can offer a sustainable solution to the problem of unemployment, creating an important number of jobs, he answered that what actually happens is the contrary, because the EU’s environmental regulation has gone a bit too far. “We have increasing energy costs which will harm jobs. We have to rebalance.”
EurActiv divides:
Schäuble advocates separate eurozone parliament
Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said yesterday (27 January) he was open to the creation of a separate European parliament for countries using the euro, a step that could deepen divisions within the European Union.
Schäuble’s comments, made during a visit to Brussels, challenge the very foundations of the European Union where lawmaking for all 28 nations is by the bloc’s current parliament.
Splitting that body, critics believe, would represent a dismantling of one of Europe’s biggest symbols of unity.
And then there’s that key piece of the neoliberal agenda, via EurActiv:
Brussels sets advisory group on EU-US trade deal
The European Commission launched on Monday (27 January) a special advisory group of experts to give fresh input on all issues being discussed at the EU-US negotiating table for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
“The creation of this group confirms the Commission’s commitment to close dialogue and exchange with all stakeholders in the TTIP talks, in order to achieve the best result for European citizens,” read a Commission press release.
The group, composed of 14 advisors from different consumer, labour and business groups, will help the EU executive to frame the discussion at the negotiating table so that Europe’s high standards of consumer and environmental protection are fully respected.
On to Britain by way of the Irish Times:
No longer flush: Queen down to her last million
British monarch’s reserve fund has fallen from £35 million in 2001 to £1 millon now
British members of parliament criticised Queen Elizabeth’s royal household for blowing its annual budget while neglecting repairs at Buckingham Palace, which two MPs suggested was falling apart.
The royal household’s latest accounts showed it had exceeded its 2012-13 budget of £31 million by £2.3 million , the report said.
To plug the gap, it had to dip into a reserve fund.
BBC News booms:
UK economy growing at fastest rate since 2007
Chancellor George Osborne: “I am the first to say the job isn’t done”
The UK economy grew by 1.9% in 2013, its strongest rate since 2007, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
But growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter slipped to 0.7%, down from 0.8% in the previous quarter, it said.
And economic output is still 1.3% below its 2008 first quarter level.
“There’s plenty more to do but we’re heading in the right direction,” Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC.
Sky News adds nuance:
Cable Warns About Wrong Type Of Recovery
The Business Secretary stresses Britain must avoid past mistakes and ensure the property market does not overheat.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has warned that Britain’s economic recovery could prove to be a “short-term bounce” if it is based on a housing boom.
He made the comments on the eve of the publication of the latest GDP figures, which have shown the country’s strongest growth since the financial crisis began in 2007.
But the senior Liberal Democrat expressed concern that the recovery is too heavily based on housing prices and consumer spending.
Denmark next and strange bankster dealings from the Copenhagen Post:
Leaked document: Goldman Sachs wasn’t highest DONG bidder
As the finance minister faces parliamentary hearing today, a leaked document contradicts his previous claims
New information has changed the agenda ahead of today’s parliamentary hearing in which Finance Minister Bjarne Corydon (S) will explain the details of the controversial partial sale of DONG Energy to US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Despite what the government claims, pension fund PensionDanmark’s bid for partial ownership of the state-owned energy company was higher than the bid Goldman Sachs offered, TV2 News reports.
A leaked note revealed that PensionDanmark estimated the stock capital of DONG shares to be 46 billion kroner, a 40 percent higher rate than the 32 billion kroner Goldman Sachs offered.
On Thursday, parliament will vote on allowing Goldman Sachs to invest eight billion kroner in 19 percent of DONG shares. Critics of the sale are concerned with the investment bank’s plans to establish its DONG Energy partial ownership in global tax havens, as well as conditions of the deal that give Goldman Sachs veto rights over the energy company’s future direction and leadership.
Germany next, and mimesis in action form TheLocal.de:
‘Gate’ named Germany’s English word of the year
The English suffix “gate” has been named Germany’s Anglicism of the Year. The quirky, linguistic award honours the positive contributions English had made to the German lexicon.
Gate is no newbie on German turf, having arrived in 1972 with the reporting of the Watergate scandal.
But Germans were slow to take it into their own language and it wasn’t until many years later that gate gained widespread acceptance as a bona fide suffix.
The London Telegraph drops a bombshell:
Rising risk that German court will block Bundesbank rescue for Southern Europe
Court can force German institutions to withdraw support for EU operations, wrecking market credibility for the ECB’s rescue policies
The risk is rising that the German constitutional court will severely restrict the eurozone bond rescue scheme for Italy and Spain, and may reignite the euro debt crisis by prohibiting the German Bundesbank from taking part.
The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper reports that the verdict has been delayed until April due to the complexity of the case and “intense differences of opinion” among the eight judges.
The longer the case goes on the less likely it is that the court – or Verfassungsgericht – will rubber stamp requests from the German government for a ruling that underpins the agreed bail-out machinery.
On to France and legalized hard times intolerance from TheLocal.fr:
France blocks return of Roma schoolgirl’s family
A French court Tuesday rejected an appeal for residency for the family of a Roma schoolgirl whose deportation sparked outrage and student protests in the country.
A court in the eastern city of Besancon ruled that the public magistrate handling the case had been right in upholding the October 9 expulsion of 15-year-old Leonarda Dibriani, her parents and six siblings to Kosovo.
The Dibriani family can appeal the latest ruling.
The case triggered outrage as Leonarda was taken by the authorities while she was on a school trip. The public magistrate had on January 7 said the decision by local authorities to deport Dibrianis was justified as they had made no attempt to integrate into French mainstream society.
Spain next, and fundamentalist politics from GlobalPost:
Spain’s prime minister pushes ahead with anti-abortion legislation despite almost no popular support
In the midst of a jobs crisis and economic dysfunction, Spain now must face a bitter debate over government plans to radically restrict women’s rights.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has a lot to worry about.
Despite tentative signs of economic recovery, more than a quarter of the workforce is still looking for a job. The legacy of a burst property bubble has saddled the country with around a million unsold homes and much of the banking sector remains crippled by debt.
In politics, Spain’s most populous and richest region — Catalonia — is threatening to break away after an independence referendum this year while the ruling conservative party reels from graft allegations and another fraud scandal is sapping respect for the monarchy.
Not the best time, then, to launch a bitterly divisive new policy initiative opposed by more than 80 percent of the population, including a significant slice of his own party.
TheLocal.es boosts:
Spain to grow ‘nearly one percent’ in 2014: minister
Spain’s economy is set to grow by “nearly 1.0 percent” in 2014, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday as the euro nation’s struggling recovery gains traction.
The official government prediction for the year is 0.7 percent growth, following a contraction of 1.2 percent in 2013, according to estimates by the Bank of Spain.
“Growth in 2014 will be nearly 1.0 percent but the revision will be included in our stability programme when it is released before the end of April,” de Guindos told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.
El País retreats:
Madrid abruptly cancels plans to outsource management at public hospitals
Regional health commissioner Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, the architect of the proposal, resigns
Move comes after court rejects petition to lift a cautionary injunction against PP government
Madrid’s Popular Party (PP) regional government on Monday took a U-turn and canceled its planned outsourcing of management and services at six local hospitals – a move that thousands of health professionals had mobilized against.
At the same time, the region’s health chief, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, who had been pushing the privatization efforts and outsourcing of services, announced he was stepping down from his post.
The developments came just hours after the Madrid regional High Court, which has been studying a lawsuit, denied the regional government’s petition to lift a cautionary injunction it issued last September against the efforts.
ANSAmed moves out, forcibly:
Evictions of mortgage defaulters rise in Spain
Almost double those in 2012, reports central bank
The number of evictions due to an inability to meet mortgage payments rose in Spain last year as a result of the economic crisis, and may double the number of those in 2012, reported the country’s central bank on Tuesday.
Some 19,567 evictions were carried out in the first quarter of 2013 compared with 23,774 in the entire year of 2012, the bank said. However, a sharp decline was seen in the number of cases (88) in which the police intervened to carry out the eviction. Over the past few years forced evictions by police had led to over 20 suicides.
Italy next and a new low from TheLocal.it:
Italian wages rise at lowest rate since 1982
Hourly salaries in Italy rose just 1.4 percent on average in 2013 – the lowest rate since 1982 – the national statistics agency, Istat, said on Tuesday.
However, wages increased more than the level of inflation – 1.2 percent – meaning real incomes nudged up by 0.2 percent last year, Istat said.
Italy’s economy stopped contracting in the third quarter of 2013, technically bringing to an end its longest post-war recession, but it is still struggling with an unemployment crisis and rising debt and deficit levels.
Figures released by the Bank of Italy on Monday revealed that the rate of poverty rose from 12 percent to 14 percent between 2010 and 2012, while half of Italian families live on less than €2,000 a month.
Europe Online covers the retreat of the retreat of the founder of the corporate owner of the neighborhood horse racing venue, Golden Gate Fields and a subject of our own frequent stories at the Berkeley Daily Planet:
Billionaire party founder withdraws from Austrian parliament
Austrian-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach said Tuesday that he would give up his parliamentary seat, as the party he founded ahead of last year’s elections loses popularity amid internal conflicts.
The 81-year-old automotive parts entrepreneur said that, for the time being, he would remain the nominal head of the eurosceptic and pro-business Team Stronach, which he founded in 2012.
Team Stronach initially received high poll ratings, but the party only won 5.7 per cent of the votes in September’s election.
Following the election, a series of party officials were kicked out of Team Stronach amid a debate about Stronach’s authoritarian leadership style.
After the jump, the ongoing and never-ending Greek meltdown, Ukrainian proscription and a pledge, ruble anxieties, interest ramp-ups in Turkey and India, calls for Latin unity and a tegime extension enabled, Thai troubles, Chinese crises averted and anticipated, Abe road platitudes, environmental woes, and Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .
For our first Greek headline, selling out with To Vima:
Samaras wants to roll out the “red carpet” for foreign investors
Greek Prime Minister addresses European industrialists at a Business Europe event held in Brussels
The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras spoke at Business Europe event in Brussels on the importance of industry and stressed the determination of the Greek government in carrying out bold reforms which put the emphasis on the country’s exports, in an effort to attract foreign investment.
Mr. Samaras highlighted his government’s efforts on a fiscal and structural level in an effort to reduce bureaucracy and red tape and claimed to “roll out the red carpet” for foreign investments.
Kathimerini English pleads:
In Brussels, Samaras urges Putin to cut gas prices for Greece
A meeting on Tuesday between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Russian President Vladimir Putin, their first in more than two years, presented the Greek leader with a chance to discuss the high cost of natural gas and to reaffirm interest from Russia in the sale of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) and Thessaloniki port.
The two men met in Brussels after Samaras addressed a Business Europe conference and Putin had met with European Union officials.
The cost of natural gas was a key item on the agenda of talks between Samaras and Putin as the meeting came amid discussions between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Greece’s Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) about the same issue. The Greek government is thought to have ordered DEPA officials to reject any price of more than $400 per 1,000 cubic meters.
To Vima grabs the picket signs:
DEI employees announce two-day strike for Tuesday and Wednesday
Power company employees are protesting against the privatization of power transmission operator ADMIE
The DEI employee unions have announced two 24-hour strikes for Tuesday and Wednesday, in protest of the government’s intention to privatize 66% of Independent Power Transmission Operator ADMIE. The unions have arranged a rally at Korai Square at 3.30pm on Wednesday and a march to Syntagma Square, where they will remain outside Parliament until the vote on the bill ends.
Union representatives have reported that the duration and intensity of the strike action will depend on employee participation. The unions further explained that they are against the privatization of the power transmission operator due its strategic importance for national security, as well as the expected price hikes associated with the change of ownership.
ANA-MPA offers frustration:
The trend of Greek scientists leaving Greece must end, President Papoulias says
The trend of Greek scientists leaving Greece must end, President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and the Nobel laureate Harald zur Hausen, professor at the University of Heidelberg, said on Tuesday.
“There is a tendency in young, talented scientists to leave for abroad,” Papoulias noted, adding that there are however some scientists who are coming back to Greece.
Dr. zur Hausen, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Medicine by the Medical School and the University of Athens’ Faculty of Pharmacy, said that he has many Greek colleagues who work abroad and is aware of the fact that Greek scientists leave Greece and, unfortunately, do not return. “This trend should stop,” he concluded.
From Greek Reporter, changes anticipated:
J.P. Morgan: Elections in 2014 and SYRIZA’s Win
In an economic research note of January 28, the American investment bank J.P. Morgan sees a significant chance (70%) of elections in Greece before the end of the 1st trimester of 2015. Its basic case is that the elections would be held during the 3rd trimester or the early 4th in 2014.
“Greece could enter an extended campaign period, shifting political focus away from the Memorandum,” the report stated. It also adds that according to current polls SYRIZA has a 7 percent lead in the “Athens B” constituency and would be the likely winner of the elections, even if it is not certain that it would manage to form a new government.
Analysts believe that if SYRIZA wins it may adopt a tough stance towards troika negotiations regarding further structural reforms or more fiscal discipline for Greece. Moreover SYRIZA’s declarations could cause great concern among international observers in 2014 and a SYRIZA government could be a real challenge for the rest of the Eurozone members.
Hanging fire with MacroPolis:
Greece and troika: Bailout tranche, funding gap and debt relief still pending
The decision on the release of the next bailout tranche for Greece, originally due for the final quarter of 2013, now looks likely to be taken in March, with the government in Athens still having much ground to cover in terms of structural reforms.
Following Monday’s Eurogroup in Brussels, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told reporters that Greece aims to reach an agreement “in principle” next month with the troika to conclude a review of the country’s adjustment programme that began in September. Stournaras added that this would allow eurozone finance ministers to approve the next instalment, which will amount to 3.1 billion euros, at the Eurogroup due to take place on March 10. Another 1.8 billion euros is due to come from the International Monetary Fund.
This means that after the December and January meetings, the February 17 Eurogroup will also not prove conclusive for the progress of Greece’s bailout programme.
Greek Reporter implores:
Keratsini Mayor Asking For More Police Protection
In his request sent to Minister of Public Order Nikos Dendias, the mayor of the Piraeus municipality, Loukas Tzanis, mentioned that there is an urgent need to redesign and beef up existing law enforcement measures, primarily now that the municipal police force has been dismantled. The integrity and safety of the municipality’s citizens must be secured from any kind of fascist attacks, added Tzanis.
Late on Saturday, a group of Golden Dawn supporters threw rocks and missiles at Resalto, a leftist, anti-establishment hangout located in Keratsini, leading to surrounding homes suffering damages.
They also tore down a banner that had been put up in the Greek working class neighborhood near the spot where rapper Pavlos Fyssas was stabbed to death by Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias on September 17 last year.
On to the Ukraine and a proscription from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
Ukrainian officials barred from Canada as protests continue
Ottawa will restrict travel to Canada for key Ukrainian officials responsible for the “repression and silencing” of opposition voices there, but the government says the door remains open to further measures as it monitors the developing, tumultuous situation on an hourly basis.
“Our government has been compelled to action and, indeed, meaningful action,” Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said in a joint announcement with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
Mr. Alexander said the decision, which was announced alongside about two dozen Conservative caucus members, some of whom represent sizable Ukrainian-Canadian populations, was made following extensive consultations with stakeholders, including allies. In French, he added the government will continue to consider other options for action.
EUbusiness honors a pledge:
Putin vows to honour loan if Ukraine opposition takes over
President Vladimir Putin pledged Tuesday that Russia would maintain a $15 billion loan and cuts on energy prices to Ukraine even if the opposition came to power.
“In direct answer to your question as to whether we will review our agreements on loans and energy if the opposition comes to power – no we will not,” Putin told a news conference at the close of talks in Brussels with the European Union’s top officials.
Moscow offered the loan and agreed to cut gas prices and defer energy payments late last year as the economically-embattled government of President Viktor Yanokovych suddenly refused to sign a trade and political agreement with the EU.
And to Moscow and a real downer from RT:
‘Mise-Ruble?’ Russia’s currency hits 5-year low
The ruble has taken a spectacular dive in 2014, so far this year losing about 10 percent. However, the Central Bank and government think the volatility isn’t a concern, adding that the currency is poised to fall further.
On Monday the euro reached a historical high of 47.64, with the dollar close to 35, according to the data from the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).
High volatility has sent the ruble against the euro-dollar basket to lows that were last seen in February 2009.
“Since late January 2013 the ruble is off almost 16 percent against the dollar and 17 percent against the euro,” says Chris Weafer, senior partner at Moscow-based consulting firm, Macro Advisoryw, wrote in e-mail to RT.
Turkey next and inflation encouraged via Business Insider:
GIGANTIC RATE HIKE IN TURKEY
The Central Bank of Turkey just announced massive rate hikes.
It raised the overnight lending rate to 12%, from 7.75%. Economists polled by Bloomberg were looking for a hike to 10%.
It raised the benchmark repurchase rate to 10%, from 4.5%. Economists were looking for this to be left unchanged.
The overnight borrowing rate was brought up to 8% from 3.5%. The overnight borrowing rate was also expected to be left unchanged.
On to Latin America and a plea for unity from the Buenos Aires Herald:
CFK tells Latin American nations: ‘We must see ourselves as one economic bloc’
President Cristina Fernández has called on other nations in the Latin American region to think and act as one economic entity, during the CELAC summit held today in Havana, Cuba.
“We must see ourselves as an economic bloc, because time is running out and the need is growing,” CFK told heads of state from around Latin America and the Caribbean in her speech.
Fernández de Kirchener also highlighted the debt situation in the continent and gave Argentina as an example: “In 2003, our debt in foreign currency was equal 150 percent of the GDP, while now, it’s only eight percent”, she described.
MercoPress ponders a showdown:
Hedge fund CEO says that dispute with Argentina could be settled ‘in an afternoon’
Paul Singer, CEO of hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation and who is litigating Argentina demanding full payment of defaulted bonds described Argentina’s government policies as ‘horrendous’ and stated that ‘talking’ he could settle the dispute ‘in an afternoon’.
During a video interview with the Wall Street Journal at the Davos Economic forum, and asked about the general economic situation in Argentina, Singer used the opportunity to slam the public policies led by President Cristina Fernández.
“It looks that what is happening with Argentina is self inflicted or imposed by horrendous government policies in many areas”, said Singer. He then alluded to the violent episodes that happened in December, when policemen from several provinces remained in their headquarters and began a strike which was followed by lootings.
The Buenos Aires Herald greases skids:
Nicaragua scraps presidential limits in boost for Ortega
Nicaragua’s national assembly voted to scrap presidential term limits, which could allow current head of state Daniel Ortega to run again for election at the end of his current mandate.
Lawmakers must still formally sign off on the details of the bill, after giving general approval, which will make the impoverished country the latest in a string of Latin American nations from Bolivia to Ecuador to give presidents power extending beyond their traditional limits.
It would allow 68-year-old Ortega, a prominent Cold War antagonist of the United States, to seek a fourth term. He has yet to say publicly whether he wants to run again for the presidency in 2016, but is widely expected to do so.
Asia next and an Indian lashing from the Financial Express:
No interest rate cuts coming anytime soon, warn analysts after RBI hikes repo rate
Even after the Reserve Bank’s surprise move to increase repo rate in today’s policy review, many analysts say the risks to inflation continue to exist and there are chances of further hike.
The RBI today raised the key lending rate by 25 basis points to 8 per cent, while it left the cash reserve ratio unchanged at 4 per cent, saying the hike is needed to “set the economy securely on the recommended disinflationary path”.
British brokerage HSBC said “the RBI is aptly concerned about the much too high and sticky core inflation reading. While it indicated that rates would be on hold in near term, we do not believe that this is the end of the tightening cycle. Further tightening is needed, in our view, to bring core inflation firmly under control.”
Thailand next with a People’s Daily pledge:
Thai army chief pledges to tighten security after death of core protest leader
Thai army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday pledged to closely work with the government-run Center for Managing Peace and Order (CMPO) to further strengthen security following the death of a core protest leader on Sunday.
Army spokesman Winthai Suwari said Monday morning that the army expressed concerns over the clash between protesters and pro- government supporters during advance votings on Sunday, which led to the death of Suthin Tharathin, a core protest leader, and the injury of 13 others.
Winthai said the army would ask the CMPO to tighten security at violence hotspots.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore forges ahead:
Thailand to proceed with troubled election
Thailand will go ahead with controversial elections this weekend despite threats by protesters to disrupt the vote, the government announced on Tuesday following talks between the prime minister and poll officials.
The Election Commission proposed during the talks to postpone the election for 120 days, but after discussions, it agreed with the government to press ahead with the February 2 vote, deputy government spokesman Chalitrat Chantarubeksa told reporters.
The announcement came after talks between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and election officials who urged a delay following street violence in which at least 10 people have been killed and hundreds injured in grenade attacks, drive-by shootings and clashes.
And Bloomberg carries a promise:
Thai Protesters to Disrupt Feb. 2 Poll as Yingluck Rejects Delay
Thai anti-government protesters said they plan to disrupt elections this weekend as part of a three-month campaign to unseat Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and dismantle her brother’s political network.
Suthep Thaugsuban, a former opposition Democrat party politician, urged supporters to block polling stations on Feb. 2 after Yingluck rejected a proposal from the Election Commission to delay the vote until political tensions ease.
“We will do everything to prevent the election from happening,” Suthep told supporters late yesterday in Bangkok. “We don’t want Yingluck and her people to use the election as a way to extend their power. We will continue to shut down Bangkok by preventing state offices from reopening.”
Heading toward China with an Indochinese interval via People’s Daily:
China remains Vietnam’s biggest trade partner in 2013
China remained Vietnam’s largest trade partner in 2013 with total turnover reaching 50.21 billion U. S. dollars, up 22 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the Vietnam Customs on Tuesday.
Specifically, in 2013, Vietnam spent 36.95 billion U.S. dollars for imports from China, up 28.4 percent, while it transported some 13.26 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods to China, up 7 percent year-on-year.
During the period, imports from China accounted for 28 percent of Vietnam’s total import value, while exports to China accounted for 10 percent of total export value, said the customs office.
From Nikkei Asian Review, missed it by that much:
Chinese shadow banking lender narrowly avoids default
International markets breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday after China Credit Trust revealed that an unnamed party will buy a 3 billion yuan ($495 million) set of troubled investment products it manages.
The development, coming just days before a likely default on the products, underscores the uncertainty over the future of risky, high-yield investment options offered through China’s shadow banking sector. While government authorities appear to have had a hand in the deal, it is far from clear whether Beijing and provinces will continue to implicitly back such offerings through bailouts.
The present crisis involves an investment scheme backed by loans to a struggling coal mine operator in Shanxi Province. China Credit sold the “Credit Equals Gold No. 1″ investment product through the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China back in 2011.
South China Morning Post shudders:
Nation ill-prepared for Alzheimer’s epidemic sweeping growing ranks of elderly
The mainland has some nine million dementia sufferers and only 300 specialists to treat them
The mainland has the world’s largest group of Alzheimer’s sufferers, according to an article last year in the medical journal Lancet. Many countries struggle with Alzheimer’s, but the stakes are higher on the mainland, where the numbers are poised to balloon as the population ages and rapid industrialisation boosts risk factors such as pollution and diabetes.
The national life expectancy has increased by seven years to 76 since 1990. The flip side of that progress is that an ageing population has combined with rapid modernisation to fuel a rise in mental illness from depression to Alzheimer’s even as the nation has directed only limited resources toward the elderly.
“Caring for most dementia sufferers in China is left to family members with limited or no training or support from the state and at considerable physical, psychological and financial costs to caregivers,” said Kit Yee Chan, lead author of the Lancet article.
On to Japan and a deal in the works from SINA English:
Japan and Australia nearing FTA deal: reports
Japan and Australia are moving closer to signing a free trade agreement, officials said Tuesday amid reports the deal will be inked within months.
If realised, the deal would cement a relationship worth around $58 billion annually in two-way trade, and bolster ties at a time when many in the region are nervously eyeing the rise of China and its growing economic power.
“The Australian government is working hard to conclude (a free trade agreement) with Japan as soon as possible,” a spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told AFP.
NHK WORLD boosts:
Abe on achieving virtuous economic growth cycle
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his goal is to achieve a virtuous economic cycle to ensure that economic growth broadly benefits the public.
Abe was responding to questions in a plenary session of the Lower House of the Diet on Tuesday concerning government economic policy.
Banri Kaieda questioned the prime minister on behalf of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
Kaieda attributed what appear to be Abe’s economic successes to an easy monetary policy, measures for the yen’s depreciation, the favorable treatment of large companies and lavish spending on public works projects.
Next, Fukushimapocalypse Now!
Seeking truth with Stars and Stripes:
Congress wants answers on health impacts of Japan disaster relief
Congress has instructed the Defense Department to launch an inquiry into potential health impacts on Navy first-responders from Japan’s March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
The request, made in the explanatory statement from the House that accompanied the fiscal 2014 budget bill that passed Congress this month, comes as a growing number of sailors and Marines have joined a lawsuit against Tokyo Electric Power Co.
While the instruction is not law, Defense Department officials said that they were taking the request seriously. . .
About 50 sick sailors and Marines have accused TEPCO of lying about the risk of exposure, luring American forces closer to the affected areas and lulling others at bases across Japan into disregarding safety measures. These individuals claim to be suffering from exposure-related ailments such as unexplained cancers, excessive bleeding, thyroid issues and ailments including loss of muscle power, migraines and vision problems.
NHK WORLD chills out:
TEPCO to begin freezing soil to stop water leaks
Tokyo Electric Power Company is to begin work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to stop radioactive wastewater from flowing into the sea.
The task of creating walls of frozen soil is due to start at the Number 2 and Number 3 reactors on Wednesday.
Massive amounts of water are being poured into the reactors to prevent melted nuclear fuel from overheating. Some of the water is contaminated with radioactive substances, and is leaking from the damaged reactor container vessels.
Cleaning up by greening up with NHK WORLD:
Forest decontamination test begins in Hirono town
Officials have begun testing a new technique to reduce radiation levels in a town within 30 kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Hirono in Fukushima Prefecture has been removing contaminated soil and leaves from forests near houses, but progress has been slow due to a lack of places to store the waste.
All of the town’s residents were evacuated after the March 2011 accident. Only 20 percent of them have returned, due to fears of radiation. Town officials, with the backing of the prefectural government, began on Tuesday a trial of a decontamination system that does not produce waste.
Radiation woes elsewhere from Nextgov:
EPA Abandons Major Radiation Cleanup in Florida, Despite Cancer Concerns
The Environmental Protection Agency is walking away after a decades-long battle with Florida politicians and industry officials over cleaning up phosphate-mining waste in an area that could expose more than 100,000 residents to cancer-causing radiation levels.
Under a decision quietly finalized two weeks ago, the federal agency will leave it to state officials to decide the fate of the sites in and around Lakeland, an approximately 10-square-mile residential area midway between Orlando and Tampa.
However, Florida officials have long argued that the affected area need not be cleaned up in the absence of radiation levels well above what EPA policy would normally permit. The decision not to enforce the usual federal rules could have far-reaching implications for how the United States deals with future radioactive contamination anywhere across the country — regardless of whether it is caused by conventional industrial activities or illicit radiological weapons, critics say.
From BBC News, the subject of an earlier post:
DDT: Pesticide linked to Alzheimer’s
Exposure to a once widely used pesticide, DDT, may increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease, suggest US researchers.
A study, published in JAMA Neurology, showed patients with Alzheimer’s had four times the levels of DDT lingering in the body than healthy people.
Some countries still use the pesticide to control malaria.
Alzheimer’s Research UK said more evidence was needed to prove DDT had a role in dementia.
Homeland Security News Wire endangers:
FDA allows use of antibiotics in livestock despite “high risk” to humans
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently confirmed the link between antibiotic use on industrial farms and the rise of antibiotic resistance, saying there is “strong scientific evidence of a link between antibiotic use in food animals and antibiotic resistance in humans,” and warns of “potentially catastrophic consequences” if resistance is not slowed.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, has quietly allowed thirty potentially harmful antibiotics, including eighteen rated as “high risk,” to remain on the market as additives in farm animal feed and water. The FDA first recognized the risks from the use of antibiotics in animal feed in 1977, when it proposed to withdraw approvals for animal feed containing penicillin and most tetracyclines.
The agency has not followed through on its own findings – and has fought court orders to do so — and today 70 percent of all medically important antibiotics sold in the United States are sold for use in livestock production — not on humans.
Quartz decimates:
America’s health craze for fish oil is wiping out the world’s rarest shark
Another day, another round of headlines about China’s butchering of rare species. Today’s bloodbath bulletin concerns whale sharks, which feed on plankton and can grow up to 40 feet (12 meters)—about the length of four station wagons. The shark is so vulnerable to extinction that most countries forbid fishermen from catching them.
That’s not stopping a factory in China’s Zhejiang province from slaughtering 600 whale sharks per year, according to Hong Kong-based conservation group WildLifeRisk. The factory pays up to 200,000 yuan ($31,000) per whale shark, as WLR reports, and there’s now a global network of fishing boats that will sell them to the factory that WLR investigated.
Why? Whale sharks feed the growing market for fish oil used in supplements and cosmetics sold in the US and Canada (paywall), reports the New York Times.
And for our final item, alarming shrinkage from The Guardian:
Warmer seas ‘are making fish smaller’
Species in the North Sea decreased in length by up to 29% over nearly four decades as water temperatures rose, scientists found
A decline in the size of some species of fish in the North Sea could be due to a rise in water temperatures, according to research.
Scientists found that the maximum length of haddock, whiting, herring, Norway pout, plaice and sole decreased by as much as 29% over a 38-year period when temperatures in the North Sea increased by between 1C and 2C.
The availability of food and an increase in fishing could also be factors in the reduction in length but the “synchronised” fall in size across a range of species led the fisheries scientists at the University of Aberdeen to identify climate change, and particularly higher water temperatures, as a common theme.
