Our compendium of entries form the political, economic, and environmental realms opens with a spine-chiller from The Independent:
Scientists talk of ‘pandemic potential’ after first confirmed human death from new strain of bird flu
Chinese scientists have said the “pandemic potential” of a new strain of bird flu “should not be underestimated” after the first known human infection resulted in the death of an elderly woman.
The new strain is a variant of a virus known as H10N8, which scientists believe may have originated in wild birds, and later spread to poultry.
The victim, a 73-year-old woman from Nanchang City in south-eastern China, was the first person confirmed to have been infected with the new type, and a second case has since been discovered, raising concerns that the virus has evolved so that it can transfer easily from birds to humans.
Its emergence coincides with a surge in the number of cases of another bird flu strain, H7N9, which is known to have infected 286 people since March last year, causing 60 deaths. The vast majority of cases have occurred in China, but Taiwan has also recorded two infections, and the virus is known to have spread to Hong Kong, which has seen four cases.
Latter-day gladiatorial gaming and another sign of our cultural plight from BuzzFeed:
George Zimmerman Reportedly Set To Fight Rapper DMX
The man who was found not guilty of murder in the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin will fight the rapper who promised to “f**k him right up,” according to TMZ. The fight promoter backtracked from announcing the fight on Trayvon’s birthday.
From The Guardian, costly folly:
Fracking is depleting water supplies in America’s driest areas, report shows
From Texas to California, drilling for oil and gas is using billions of gallons of water in the country’s most drought-prone areas
America’s oil and gas rush is depleting water supplies in the driest and most drought-prone areas of the country, from Texas to California, new research has found.
Of the nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells drilled since 2011, three-quarters were located in areas where water is scarce, and 55% were in areas experiencing drought, the report by the Ceres investor network found.
Fracking those wells used 97bn gallons of water, raising new concerns about unforeseen costs of America’s energy rush.
“Hydraulic fracturing is increasing competitive pressures for water in some of the country’s most water-stressed and drought-ridden regions,” said Mindy Lubber, president of the Ceres green investors’ network.
Just how bad is California’s drought? Consider the following from Bloomberg News:
From the Washington Post, stiffing the Praetorians:
CBO: Military pension payments to fall 5 percent by 2023 with cut
A controversial new pension cut for younger military retirees will help reduce the projected payments for those retirement benefits by about 5 percent by 2023, according to congressional number crunchers.
Estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, released Tuesday, show that federal spending on military retirement benefits will rise from $51.5 billion this year to $64.3 billion in 2023.
The change is at least partly due to a provision in the budget bill Congress and President Obama approved in December that reduces cost-of-living allowances for working-age military retirees by 1 percent starting next year. A higher rate will apply once those individuals reach age 62, and the plan does not affect disabled retirees.
The Register delivers the blow:
First Dell, now IBM: 15,000 jobs face the axe at Big Blue, says union
‘Workforce rebalancing’ will take place in the first quarter
IBM is set to spend another $1bn on job cuts this year to eliminate an estimated 15,000 jobs worldwide, according to trade union Alliance@IBM.
The company has already spent the same amount of money last year on ‘workforce rebalancing’, its euphemism for redundancies.
Big Blue’s chief financial officer for finance and enterprise transformation, Martin Schroeter, has admitted there would be more cuts in 2014, during the announcement of IBM’s fourth quarter earnings last month.
And on a cultural front, this from a Carl Hiaasen headline in the Miami Herald:
Dr. Cheech called — your prescription is ready!
Medical marijuana will be on the Florida ballot in November, which is bad news for Gov. Rick Scott and other Republican leaders who oppose any relaxation of the state’s backward cannabis laws.
They say medical use of weed is the first step toward Colorado-style legalization, and they might be right. They say that although the proposed constitutional amendment names only nine diseases, lots of people who aren’t really sick will find a way to get marijuana from certain doctors.
That’s probably true, too. This, after all, is the state that made pill mills a roadside tourist attraction. Who can doubt that future pot prescriptions will bear the signatures of a Dr. Cheech or a Dr. Chong?
A parallel development from the Washington Post:
D.C. Council weakens bill to decriminalize marijuana, keeps smoking in public a crime
The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to eliminate criminal penalties for possession of marijuana but left smoking it in public a crime, keeping alive concerns about racial profiling in pot arrests in the District.
With an 11 to 1 vote, several council members reversed their previous support for a more far-reaching measure, weakening an effort to join the quarter of U.S. states that have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana.
While they stuck with their plans to drop possession to a civil offense — akin to a parking ticket — council members decided not to decriminalize public smoking. They did, however, reduce the maximum jail sentence from six months to 60 days.
North of the border to another bubble expanding from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
Toronto home prices surge, again ‘outpacing family incomes’
Toronto home sales edged down in the bitter chill of January, but prices surged, again throwing up red flags.
Sales fell 2.2 per cent from a year earlier to 4,135 as new listings plunged 16.6 per cent, the Toronto Real Estate Board said Wednesday.
The average selling price, in turn, surged more than 9 per cent to $526,528. The so-called benchmark price climbed 7.1 per cent from a year earlier.
On to a story with a global focus from Al Jazeera America:
UN demands action from Vatican on child sex abuse
A scathing report urges the Catholic Church to ‘immediately remove’ clergy suspected of child abuse
The United Nations on Wednesday demanded that the Vatican “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and turn them over to civil authorities, in an unprecedented and scathing report that the Holy See’s ambassador to the U.N. promptly denounced.
The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child also urged the Vatican to hand over its archives on sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children so that culprits, as well as “those who concealed their crimes,” could be held accountable.
The watchdog’s blunt paper — the most far-reaching critique of the church hierarchy by the world body — followed its public grilling of Vatican officials last month. The U.N. report blasted the “code of silence” that has long been used to keep victims quiet, saying the Holy See had “systematically placed preservation of the reputation of the church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims.”
And on to Europe with a warning from the London Telegraph:
Insular ECB is playing dangerous game of chicken with deflationary world forces
An aborted recovery at this point might be more than democratic societies can tolerate
The US and China are withdrawing stimulus on purpose. The eurozone is doing so by accident, letting market forces drain liquidity from the financial system for month after month.
The balance sheet of the European Central Bank has fallen by €553bn over the past year as banks repay money that they no longer want, either because ECB funds are too costly in a near-deflationary world or because lenders are being compelled by regulators to shrink their books.
This is “passive tightening” or “endogenous tapering”. The ECB balance sheet has plummeted to 23pc of eurozone GDP from a peak of 32pc in July 2012.
BBC News takes a fall [and the subject of our Chart of the day]:
Eurozone retail sales fall sharply in December
Retail sales in the eurozone fell sharply over the Christmas period, with their biggest monthly fall in two-and-a-half years.
December’s sales fell by 1% compared to the same time a year ago, and by 1.6% compared to November. Both figures were much worse than analysts expected.
The drop in consumer demand followed a surprise fall in eurozone inflation to 0.7% in January.
The figure prompted concerns about deflation in the 17-nation bloc.
On to Britain with qualified optimism from Sky News:
Economic Recovery: ‘End In Sight’ For Austerity
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says the pain of cuts will soon start to ease but warns the recovery is “horribly imbalanced”.
Austerity plans put in place by the coalition may already go further than is needed in order to balance the Government’s books, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says.
In its closely watched Green Budget, the Government-spending think tank said that even if the most pessimistic forecasters are proved right on the economy, the coalition’s fiscal plans will repair the damage done to the public finances by the Great Recession.
The verdict is among the most positive yet delivered by the IFS – although it warned that there remains some uncertainty over whether it will be easy to implement the cuts planned for the coming years, since only 40% of them had been carried out.
An alarm from The London Telegraph:
NHS faces ‘unprecedented squeeze’, think tank warns
Ageing and growing population means spending per patient will fall by 9 per cent, despite pledge to ring-fence budgets, IFS warns
NHS faces an “unprecedented squeeze” over the next five years under the burden of an ageing population, a leading think tank has warned, while George Osborne’s cuts are not yet half way done.
Spending on each patient is set to fall by over 9 per cent over a decade, despite an “expensive and generous” ring fence around health service budgets, as the British population gets bigger and older.
The protection given to NHS and aid budgets and a series of new pre-election giveaways by David Cameron and Nick Clegg means George Osborne faces an uphill battle to balance the books by 2018, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said in its annual Green Budget.
The Tories have pledged to spare the health service from the cuts of up to 30 per cent that have hit other departments.
Sky News saves face:
Aidan Burley: MP Resigns Over Nazi Stag Party
Aidan Burley announces he will quit Parliament at the 2015 general election after he was slammed for organising the party.
The Conservative politician was sacked as a ministerial aide when reports of the episode emerged in 2011, and an internal party inquiry last month found he was “stupid and offensive” to have organised the party.
Groom Mark Fournier was fined €1,500 (£1,250) by a French court for wearing an SS uniform and insignia supplied by the MP. Mr Burley was his best man.
On to Ireland and Banksters Behaving Badly from the Irish Times:
Anglo directors knew about ‘absolutely illegal’ share-buying scheme, trial told
Prosecution says FitzPatrick did nothing to stop bank shares move
Three former Anglo Irish Bank directors were aware of a “choreographed” and “absolutely illegal” scheme to fund the buying of shares in the bank, the jury was told on the opening day of the bankers’ trial yesterday.
Seán FitzPatrick (65), William McAteer (63) and Pat Whelan (51) are accused of providing unlawful financial assistance to members of businessman Seán Quinn’s family and the so-called Maple 10, a trusted group of Anglo borrowers, to buy shares in Anglo in July 2008.
The prosecution says the transaction was designed to create the public perception of stability in the bank’s share price.
TheLocal.no laughs at Uncle Sam:
US committee approves blundering Norway envoy
The US Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee has approved George Tsunis as the next ambassador of Norway, despite his catastrophic appointment hearing last month, and despite a warning from John McCain, its most prominent member, that he had already become “a mockery”.
McCain argued against the nomination during the meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, which went on to approve Tsunis by a majority of 12 to six.
“The question is whether . . . [Tsunis] will embarrass the United States of America while serving as our representative,” McCain said.
He reminded the committee’s members that Tsunis had referred to “the president” of Norway in his January 16 hearing and attacked the anti-immigration Progress Party, which has seven ministers in government, as “fringe elements” that “spew their hatred”.
Switzerland next and an embarrassment from TheLocal.ch:
Minister faces questions over Luxembourg links
Swiss Economy Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann came under renewed scrutiny on Wednesday following revelations in the media that his family company used a subsidiary in Luxembourg to evade taxes in Switzerland.
Schneider-Ammann headed Ammann, a construction equipment company, until he was elected to the federal government in 2010 as a member of the centre-right Liberal party.
Der Bund and Tages Anzeiger reported on Wednesday that Ammann used a Luxembourg-based firm, Manilux SA, as a private bank for the company, providing lines of credit for its international operations.
And TheLocal.ch, this time with nominative culture clash:
Bern tells parents: Jessico not a boy’s name
A young couple in the canton of Bern have been ordered to change the name of their newborn son because it is too feminine, according to media reports.
Alain and Miriam Flaig, from the town of Huttwil, named the child Jessico after he was born last Wednesday at the Lagenthal maternity hospital, Blick newspaper reported.
The child was born in 15 minutes and the couple picked out his name. But the following day, problems arose, Blick reported. In a letter, the authorities from Oberaarggau sent a letter objecting to the selection.
“As a first name for your son you have written Jessico on the birth form,” the letter said, according to Blick. “According to the information at our disposal, Jessico is defined as a female first name.”
As a result, the Bern authorities have refused to register the name.
France next, and the politics of history with TheLocal.fr:
SNCF faces ban in US over Holocaust role
France’s state-owned rail company SNCF faces the prospect of being barred from bidding for a €4.4 billion project in the US because of its role in transporting Jews to concentration camps during World War Two.
American lawmakers in the state of Maryland have proposed a bill that could prevent SNCF from bidding for public projects on that side of the Atlantic until it makes restitution payments for its role in taking Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Two democrat lawmakers want compensation to be paid to Holocaust survivors and their families before rail company Keolis, which is majority-owned by SNCF, can bid for a €4.4 billion, 35-year contract, to build and operate a 16 km light rail project.
“The persistent refusal of SNCF to take responsibility for its role in the Holocaust remains an insult for its victims,” sponsoring Sen. Joan Carter Conway told French daily Le Monde.
Spain next, and a pox on both their houses from El País:
PP and PSOE lose ground in latest CIS survey
UPyD gathers support while citizens are most concerned by unemployment and corruption
The results from the latest survey conducted by the Center for Sociological Studies (CIS) make grim reading for the Popular Party (PP) and the Socialists (PSOE), to the extent that the main opposition party has accused the state-funded body of cooking the results, despite a drop in voter support for the government.
The last study, in October 2013, reported 34 percent of Spaniards would vote for the PP in a general election, a figure that fell to 32.1 percent in the latest survey. The PSOE also lost ground and would receive the backing of 26.6 percent of the country, a loss of two percentage points. The United Left (IU) remained steady at 11.3 percent while the UPyD’s support rose from 7.7 percent to 9.2 percent.
The study, conducted between January 3 and 15, shows that unemployment remains the principle concern for 78.5 percent of Spanish citizens, up from 53.4 percent in October. In second place was corruption, up from 37.6 percent to 39.5 percent, with a raft of investigations into the PP, the PSOE, labor unions and the royal family dominating the headlines. However, just 0.6 percent of respondents said the monarchy was a source of concern.
TheLocal.es adds a monkey wrench to the mix:
Police reveal extent of bribes to ruling party
Spanish police investigating one of the country’s biggest ever corruption scandals have released a list of ‘gifts’ including plasma TVs, Cuban cigars and Mont Blanc pens allegedly given to top Popular Party officials to curry favour in return for public contracts.
The Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF) presented the details to the courts on Tuesday as part of the ongoing investigation into the complicated Gürtel affair, in which senior members of the government are alleged to have received presents and cash backhanders in return for public contracts.
The Gürtel leader, Francisco Correa, is said to have given politicians ‘presents’ including Habana cigars (€450); a Mont Blanc Pen; €6,000 of plasma TVs; smartphones; €500 crates of wine; trips to DisneyLand; holidays to Cancún, New York, Kenya and Mauritius; and luxury hotel accommodation worth over €1,000 per night.
With total employment at a record low, one sector gains with El País:
Spanish services sector grows at fastest pace in over six years
Companies increase staffing levels for first time in 70 months
Spain’s services sector, which accounts for over half of GDP, saw the fastest growth in activity in the first month of the year since July 2007, cementing expectations of a recovery in the economy this year, according to a survey released Wednesday by consultant Markit.
Companies in the sector also increased their staffing levels slightly in January, ending a run of 70 consecutive months of job cutting.
Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) climbed from 54.2 points in December to 54.9 points in the first month of 2014, marking the third successive month in which the index stood above the 50-point mark that denotes expansion. The increase in the month was also the strongest since before the current crisis took hold around the start of 2008.
Across the peninsula for a Lisbon demand from the Portugal News:
Country must pay off debt, not seek to restructure it – PM
Portugal’s prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, said on Wednesday that after the country exits the adjustment programme linked to its current euro-zone bailout, it must start accumulating budget surpluses so as to reduce its debt burden, rather than seeking to restructure it.
“What we want is not to restructure the Portuguese debt, what we want is to pay it, creating conditions for our economy to grow, but also managing our public finances in such as way as to free up surpluses that, essentially, can free up the economy itself, companies, citizen, families from the weight that this debt today imposes on us,” he said. For that reason, he went on, society in general must “project for this post-troika [period] a very great determination and a very great will.”
The prime minister was speaking at an event in Lisbon to launch a ‘Coalition for Green Growth’, an entity created by the Ministry of Environment and which brings together organisations from various sectors.
Passos Coelho dedicated much of his speech to the subject of the ratio of debt to gross domestic product: the higher this is, he said, the greater the upward pressure that financial markets exercise on Portugal’s sovereign bond yields.
Off to Italy and pricing the commons with The Guardian:
Italy threatens to sue Standard & Poor’s for failing to value its history and art
Ratings agency would not have issued damaging downgrade if it had taken account of cultural wealth, state auditor claims
Italy is threatening to sue the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s for failing to value its historical and cultural treasures.
The country that bequeathed the world Dante, da Vinci and an enviable vision of La Dolce Vita, thinks financial analysts would not have issued a damaging credit downgrade against Italy if they had paid more attention to its cultural wealth than its spiralling budget deficit.
According to the Financial Times, Italy’s auditor general, the corte dei conti, believes that S&P may have acted illegally and could be sued for €234bn (£194bn).
TheLocal.it takes Bunga Bunga on the road:
‘Berlusconi for PM’ campervan tours Italy
Supporters of Silvio Berlusconi’s party Go Italy (Forza Italia) have set out on a campervan tour as part of a campaign calling for the former prime minister’s daughter, Marina Berlusconi, to become a candidate for the Italian premiership.
The campervan, branded with photographs of Silvio and his Marina Berlusconi, a 47-year-old business executive, is the brainchild of Gabriele Elia and fellow fans from the town of Cellino San Marco in south-east Italy.
Twenty years after Silvio Berlusconi first founded his political party, Elia has set out on his tour of Italy under the banner “the liberal dream continues”.
He has already toured the heel of Italy’s boot and driven the length of the country to reach Arcora, the home of Silvio Berlusconi’s mansion made infamous for erotic “bunga bunga” parties hosted by the billionaire.
From TheLocal.it, lost tolerance:
Italian MP laments ‘massive’ refugee influx
The number of refugees landing in Italy rose tenfold in January, the country’s deputy interior minister said on Tuesday, complaining of an “incessant and massive influx of migrants”.
January 2014 saw a total of 2,156 migrants in Italy, compared to 217 the previous year, the official added.
“In 2013, Italy was subjected to an incessant and massive influx of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East,” Filippo Bubbico told parliament.
Throughout the whole of 2013, a total of 2,925 vessels of various shapes and sizes landed on Italian shores, carrying about 43,000 people, including nearly 4,000 children.
After the jump, the Greek meltdown flares up, failing family finances in Cyprus, a Russian warning on the Ukraine, a Brazilian financial alarm, Thai troubles, Chinese warning signs, Japanese aging and income woes, a GMO victory, and Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .
From To Vima, our first Greek headline, and the first in a series of actions ahead:
Farmer unions request meeting with Minister of Finances
Unions begin amassing in key areas across Greece and arrange farmer assemblies to determine future actions
The farmer unions have requested a meeting with the Minister of Finances and the political leaders to discuss their demands. The next few days will be critical in determining the future of the farmer strike, as unions begin talks and coordinate their road blocks.
The farmers at the road block in Nikea decided to call a nationwide assembly of farmer unionists and employees next Saturday in order improve coordination of road blocks and demands. A day earlier, KKE leader Dimitris Koutsoumpas will visit the road block in Nikea.
Meanwhile the farmers in Imathia are going to decide today about the future of their actions, while farmers from Naousa and Alexandria are already heading to the Kouloura junction. The farmers in Serres will decide on their future moves on Friday, but already seem prepared to participate in the strike actions.
Another action from Kathimerini English:
Doctors strike to protest bill streamlining healthcare
State hospital doctors, nurses, dentists and employees of the country’s main healthcare provider EOPYY are to walk off the job on Thursday to protest a troika-imposed plan to streamline the primary healthcare sector as the blueprint goes to a vote in Parliament.
Unionists representing the healthcare workers argue that the reforms will “destroy” the Greek healthcare sector and lead to “indescribable difficulties for patients.” Protesters are to stage a rally outside the Health Ministry in central Athens at 11 a.m.
The bill itself is expected to pass into law as coalition deputies have indicated that they will support it despite some reservations. Democratic Left, which was the junior partner in the coalition until last June, announced on Wednesday that it would vote down the bill, which it said would “demolish” healthcare services and undermine any prospects for the sector’s reform. It also slammed the government’s plans to put more than 8,000 EOPYY employees in a so-called mobility scheme of forced transfers and layoffs, “spurring insecurity and mistrust.”
To Vima gives us yet another action:
Local government union announces walkout and rally for Friday
Union is escalating its protest actions against the troika and government suspension and dismissal plans
The POE-OTA union of local government employees has announced a nationwide walkout between 8am and noon and a 9am demonstration for Friday outside the Supreme Court, on the day when a critical employee appeal against the government’s ambitious suspension plans is examined.
At the same time, school wardens from Alexandroupoli and northern Greece are mobilizing and planning a motorcade to Athens on the 13th of February. Previously the school wardens march from Thessaloniki to Athens in demonstration of their suspension. The school wardens are protesting against the suspensions, dismissals, privatizations, the changes to the welfare state and the presence of the troika.
From Greek Reporter, still needy:
Troika Estimates Greece Will Need Further Financial Support
troikaGreece ‘s international creditors in Europe and Washington estimate that besides the loan of 10-20 billion euros currently under negotiation, the Greek economy will need further financial support in order to stay afloat by 2016.
Troika officials have estimated that Greece’s fiscal deficit for the years 2014 and 2015 will reach the amount of 8 billion euros and 11 billion euros by 2016. Thus, a loan of 20 billion euros would be enough for Greece to meet its financial obligations.
However, troika fears that Greece’s fiscal deficit will be bigger than initially predicted, despite the impressive primary surplus that the Greek government managed to achieve during the last year. Troika predicts that the fiscal gap of the Greek economy could reach and even surpass the amount of 14 billion euros. This estimation is based on the lack of progress in the Greek privatization process and on some judicial decisions that have stalled some of the memorandum’s measures.
ANA-MPA ponders prolongation:
EU mulls extending Greek loans to 50 years
The next handout to Greece may include extending the maturity of the rescue loans to 50 years and cutting the interest rate on some previous aid by 50 basis points, Bloomberg News Agency reported on Wednesday, citing two officials with knowledge of discussions being held by European Authorities.
The plan, which will be considered by policy makers by May or June, may also include a loan for a package worth between 13 billion euros and 15 billion euros, another official said.
Under the eased terms, all the bailout-loan repayments would be extended from about 30 years and rates would be cut by 50 basis points on funds from the 80 billion-euro Greek Loan Facility, which was created for Greece’s first bailout in 2010, said the officials, who requested anonymity because talks are still in preliminary stages.
More from Kathimerini English:
Greek FinMin in Frankfurt as report suggests loan maturities may be extended
A man pulls a cart filled with plastic and cardboard scavenged from rubbish bins which he then sells for recycling, on the highway outside Aspropyrgos, an industrial area in western Attica, on Wednesday.
Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras heads to Frankfurt on Thursday, where he will meet Bundesbank and Deutsche Bank officials, with the discussion about further debt relief for Greece having apparently been rekindled.
Finance Ministry sources admitted on Wednesday that talks about extending the maturities on eurozone loans to 50 years had been “on the table for the past few months.” The admission came after Bloomberg reported that two people with knowledge of the discussions said the option was being debated.
The unnamed sources told the agency that the potential offer would involve maturities on the loans extended to Greece on a bilateral level and by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) being stretched from 30 to 50 years and the interest rate on the money received as part of the country’s first bailout being cut by half a percentage point.
To Vima covers suspicions:
Financial Times claims OPAP privatization is being investigated
The British newspaper claims the investigation is focusing on issues of transparency prior to the sale
According to a report in the Financial Times, an investigation into the privatization of the state-owned betting monopoly OPAP is currently under way, with the focus being on issues of transparency.
The report claims that prosecutor Yannis Sevis is investigating the sale of 33% of OPAP’s share to the Emma Delta joint venture. The prosecutor is thought to be examining the possibility of conflict of interests and other issues of transparency that emerged prior to the sale.
From Kathimerini English, suspects in sight:
Arrest warrants issued for 2 ex-Siemens Hellas executives
Magistrate Maria Nikolakea issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for ex-Siemens Hellas executives Michalis Christoforakos and Christos Karavelas, who are wanted for questioning in connection with one of Greece’s largest political bribery scandals.
Christoforakos and Karavelas left Greece in 2009 as the investigation was under way.
Christoforakos, the former CEO of the German electronic giant’s Greek branch, was arrested in Germany but a court there refused Greece’s extradition request as the executive also had a German passport and the judges deemed the statute of limitations applied to allegations he bribed politicians.
A boost for the left from Greek Reporter:
Greece’s Major Opposition Party Stable in the Lead
A new Marc opinion poll carried out on behalf of the Greek site, layout.gr, shows that Greece’s major opposition party leads by 2 percent over New Democracy.
The opinion poll places SYRIZA first with 23.3 percent followed in 2nd by New Democracy with 7.8 percent. The Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, seems to be stable in third position with 7.8 percent. In fourth stands the coalition party PASOK with 5.2 percent along with the Greek Communist Party (KKE). Right behind them follows the Independent Greeks Party (ANEL) with 4.6 percent. DIMAR stands sixth with 4.3 percent and this is the first time after a long period that a poll shows that the Democratic Left could enter the Greek Parliament.
Those partaking in the poll answered that they want to see out the four-year term of the Greek government under Antonis Samaras leadership. Only one out of four (24.6 percent) supports early elections as a solution.
But EnetEnglish.gr reports a stumbling block:
Syriza candidate condemned for antisemitic comments
Regional governor candidate in Facebook outburst
In Facebook comments last June that have come to light, Syriza’s Theodoros Karypidis claimed that by lighting candles in a synagogue, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was preparing a new Jewish victory over Greece
Theodoros Karypidis Theodoros Karypidis There has been widespread condemnation of claims made by a Syriza politician that the name of the country’s new state broadcaster Nerit has Jewish roots and that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s recent visit to Thessaloniki Synagogue was an act threatening Greece.
Theodoros Karypidis, who was selected at the weekend as Syriza’s candidate for the post of regional governor of Western Macedonia, made the comments in a Facebook post on June 15 that came to light on Wednesday.
In the post, Karypidis claimed that the new station’s acronym is linked to the Hebrew word for candle – Ner – and that candles lit during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrate Jewish victory over ancient Greece.
And To Vima notes a neo-Nazi name game:
“National Dawn” statute virtually same to Golden Dawn statute
Members of the ultranationalist party preemptively submitted new statute to overcome a possible banning
The statute of “National Dawn”, a new political party meant to replace Golden Dawn in case it is banned, was submitted in the Supreme Court in order to formalize its foundation. While the National Dawn purports to be a different party, its statute is virtually the same with the one submitted by Golden Dawn, with minor changes.
Aside from a new emblem, the party chief is referred to as “president” rather than “general secretary” and terms such as “cells”, “illegal immigrants” have been replaced to obscure the party’s racist actions. Additionally, there are no references to the controversial food banks “for Greeks only”.
On to Cyprus and grim tidings from ANSAmed:
Crisis: Cyprus survey, significant decrease of annual income
Some 75% of households are worse off than they were last year
The economic situation of 75% of households in Cyprus has worsened compared to last year, forcing Cypriots to cut back on fun, clothing and travel expenses as GreekReporter writes quoting the results of a survey conducted by Prime Consulting company on behalf of the Cypriot news program ‘Protoselido sto Sigma.’ The survey findings brought to light the tragic truth that Cypriot people are faced with due to the country’s declining economy. Approximately 75% of Cypriot households are worse off than they were last year.
Seven out of ten households are living with less money than they did a year ago, while seven out of ten people receive a deducted salary. When asked if they were forced to make cut backs on their way of living, citizens replied that they mostly had to reduce entertainment, travel and clothing expenses. Meanwhile, 5.6% of households stated that they didn’t have to reduce spending and were able to continue living with the same expenses as last year.
On to the Ukraine with a Russian warning from EUbusiness:
Russia warns crisis-hit Ukraine over bailout
Russia warned protest-hit Ukraine on Wednesday that its huge bailout was dependent on Kiev’s commitment to earlier promises made to Moscow, ahead of key talks between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych.
Moscow’s stern statement came as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was in Kiev to offer support for democratic reforms demanded by the opposition who have spearheaded two months of mass protests that have led to the resignation of Ukraine’s entire cabinet.
But she also offered a downbeat assessment of the situation after meeting Yanukovych and opposition leaders.
“I really need to feel a growing sense of momentum on this. We still need a lot more work,” she told reporters.
Latin America next and a financial alarm from the Rio Times:
Brazil’s Risk Premium Rises Sharply
An increase in perceived risk comes as investors access Brazil’s macro-economic data with a wary eye.
A sharp rise in the cost of Credit Default Swaps (CDS), which is an indicator of a country’s risk premium, is increasing pressure on the Rousseff government to address market worries about the country’s economic standing. Last week, the cost of CDS stood at 210.9 base points, representing a steep monthly rise of 34 percent compared to the end of the year, when CDS stood at 157.
While this is still a long way below the 400-point peak during the financial crisis in 2008, it is still significantly more than investors had to pay in the sunny days of May 2007, when the premium for insuring against credit defaults stood at only 67 points.
Both external and internal factors are contributing to the perception of risk vis-a-vis Brazil. On the one hand, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering of quantitative easing (QE) is leading to a redirection of capital flows away from emerging markets into dollar-denominated assets. From China to Mexico, Turkey, India and South Africa, the entire segment is feeling the effects.
Asia next, starting with the latest Thai troubles from the Bangkok Post:
Arrest warrants for PDRC leaders, CMPO to suspend transactions
The Criminal Court on Wednesday approved the Department of Special Investigation’s (DSI) request for arrest warrants for 19 leading members of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) for alleged violation of the emergency decree.
The court found there was sufficient evidence to confirm the 19 had violated the emergency decree imposed in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and parts of Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan provinces.
The court approved warrants for police to arrest the 19 and detain them at Region 1 Border Patrol Police Headquarters at Khlong 5 in Pathum Thani’s Thanyaburi district for no more than seven days.
The arrest of each of the 19 suspects must be reported to the court in 48 hours. The arrest warrants are valid for one year.
The latest protest alert from Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
Thai protests to intensify as rice farmers plan to close main roads
Protests in Thailand are set to intensify with rice farmers planning to close all main roads in the country on Thursday.
Over 1,000 of them have blockaded a major highway in Ratchaburi province, about an hour from Bangkok. They are demanding payment for the rice they sold to the government under its flagship rice pledging scheme.
Rice farmers from six provinces in central and western Thailand are causing major traffic congestion at Petchkasem Road, which is the main route connecting Bangkok and southern Thailand. The road is just one of the many roads rice farmers are blocking, crippling traffic across the country.
South Korean next, with enticements from Want China Times:
S Korea offers privilege card to entice Chinese tourists, officials
The South Korean government will introduce a special privilege card that aims to entice wealthy Chinese tourists to the country, reports the website of Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao.
The South Korean embassy in China said late last month that the new card may be issued to Chinese citizens who have spent more than US$30,000 shopping in South Korea over the past five years or those who can show that they hold more than 50 million won (US$46,300) in a bank account and own a platinum credit card. Others eligible for the card include central government officials and well-known celebrities.
The card, which is being issued by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the domestic tourism bureau and the finance department, will include a five-year multiple-entry travel visa to South Korea and offer discounts at department stores and duty-free shops. Cardholders can also enjoy guided shopping services and Chinese tour guides.
On to China, with an equivocal endorsement from China Daily:
A manufacturing slowdown in China rings an “alarm” but it is part of the “painful” restructuring of the country’s economy, an economist with a US think-tank said.
“It tells us that economic recovery, the manufacturing recovery is probably not as strong as we had expected,” Yingying Xu, an economist with the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation in Virginia, said in an interview. “But I wouldn’t say that one month’s data is strong enough to change our expectation for 2014.”
Data released Saturday showed January growth in China’s manufacturing sector hit a six-month low, while its service sector expanded at its slowest pace in five years. Coming on the heels of Thursday’s report that US manufacturing grew last month, although not as much as it had in December, the data inflated fears of a slowdown in the global economy and ultimately drove US and European investors away from emerging markets and into US Treasurys and other so-called safe assets.
Want China Times sets the bar:
7% growth needed to ease China’s employment pressure: economist
China needs to achieve a 7% economic growth rate this year to ensure there are enough jobs for the over 7.2 million college graduates set to enter the job market, according to an economist.
China’s education minister Yuan Rengui recently stated that the country is facing growing pressure as the number of university graduates this year is set to reach 7.27 million, making 2014 the toughest year to get a job.
With Yao Jingyuan, former chief economist at the National Bureau of Statistics, earlier saying that every 1% of growth in the economy would help create 1.5 million new jobs, China would thereby need to achieve at least a 7% economic growth rate in 2014 to guarantee employment of these graduates.
China posted a higher-than-expected 7.7% economic growth in 2013, but a decline in the purchasing managers’ index for both the manufacturing and service sectors in January have led to speculations about the country’s economic outlook.
International Business Times spots bubbling:
China’s Real Estate Accounted For A Dangerously High Proportion Of Its Household Wealth In 2013
It’s no secret that the Chinese like to own homes and other properties – but their penchant for real estate may foretell a property bust for the world’s second-largest economy.
Some 66.1 percent of China’s family assets were in housing in 2013, a national survey of 28,000 households found, and mortgage debt as a share of disposable income rose from 18 in 2008 to 30 percent, according to estimates by Nicholas Lardy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
But with so many assets tied up in real estate, a slide in property prices could have widespread ripple effects – a hit to household wealth would impair consumer spending, which could derail the government’s plan to steer the nation toward a more consumption-driven economy.
And Want China Times crosses borders:
China’s nouveau riche boost medical tourism sector
South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan have been pursuing the development of their medical tourism industry, capitalizing in part on the growing demand for their services among China’s nouveau riche, reports the Guangzhou-based New Express.
The policy is also in line with the expanding global medical tourism market, which has seen an annual growth rate of 20% in recent years, with the market scale topping US$100 billion in 2012, the paper said.
South Korea racked up US$187 million in revenue from medical travel in the first 11 months of 2013, up 35.3% year-on-year, while South Korean visitors spent around US$86.4 million for services abroad, down 11.2% year-on-year.
A South Korean tourism official told the paper that the nation saw 160,000 medical tourists in 2012, including over 30,000 from China.
SINA English expands the scope:
Anti-graft agency to widen net
China’s top anti-graft agency has pledged to punish both corrupt officials and their leaders who failed to supervise them effectively amid the agency’s efforts to boost clean governance.
The anti-corruption authorities will draw up concrete rules to punish officials who cover up their subordinates’ misbehavior, according to the Research Division of the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Many major corruption cases have existed for a number of years but were undiscovered by the local authorities, the research division told Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday.
On to Japan and a gray crisis from the Japan Daily Press:
Tokyo government to address growing concern of nursing homes shortage
With the number of elderly people continually rising in Japan, 23 ward offices and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have beefed up efforts to tackle the issue of inadequate housing for the elderly. Meant for people aged 65 and older, the facilities are special nursing homes for elderly citizens who need daily care.
While Tokyo currently has 450 homes that can accommodate around 40,000 people, there is still a lot of elderly citizens waiting to be quartered at such homes. In 2010 alone, data from metro municipalities show that 43,060 senior citizens are on the waiting lists. And the number continues to rise. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimates that people aged 75 and older will reach 1.97 million in 2025.
The Mainichi spots an Abenomics fail:
Average monthly wage remains at record low level in 2013
The average monthly wage, including bonuses, came to 314,150 yen in 2013, a record low for the second straight year since the current survey method was introduced in 1990, the labor ministry said in a preliminary report Wednesday.
Overtime pay and bonuses grew on the back of an economic upturn, but low-paid part-timers accounted for a greater share of the overall workforce, preventing the average wage level from rising, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Part-timers accounted for a record 29.4 percent of the workforce, up 0.6 point from the previous year.
NHK WORLD keeps track of the money:
Japan’s monetary base remains at high levels
Japan’s monetary base remains at high levels as the Bank of Japan continues to pump funds into the financial system under its ultra-easy monetary policy.
Central bank data shows the monetary base stood at nearly 201 trillion yen, or 1.98 trillion dollars, at the end of January. That’s a drop of about 10 billion dollars from the month before, and the first monthly fall in a year.
But the central bank says the margin of decline was unusually small this year as the monetary base at the end of January is normally down by around 70 billion dollars from the end of December.
That’s due to heightened cash demand from companies and individuals for the year-end period.
On to Fukushimapocalypse Now!
We begin with the political from the Japan Times:
‘Nuclear power’ cited the most in Tokyo governor election tweets
“Nuclear power” far eclipsed other phrases such as “the Olympics” and “welfare and aging issues” in Twitter messages about Sunday’s Tokyo gubernatorial poll, a research firm’s data show. The finding is in sharp contrast to a conventional phone poll that indicated “the economy” is the top focus.
Hotlink Inc., an analyzer of big data, checked a total of 319,000 messages between Jan. 23 and Feb. 2 that contain both “Tokyo governor” and references to election issues. Posts from those living outside Tokyo were not excluded, the company said.
In the period, “nuclear power” topped the list with around 214,000 tweets. “The Olympics” came in second with roughly 39,000 posts. “Welfare, aging issues” followed with some 29,000 messages.
The Voice of Russia holds its water:
Fukushima: 20,000 tons of radioactive liquid in the drain system
In the middle of January at one of the reactors of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant a hole was discovered through which radioactive water escapes into the ocean. This water is pumped inside the reactor to cool it down, after which it is amassed in large tanks, 1,000 tons each, for a long decontamination period. Damaged communication lines along which water is pumped can be the reason for radioactivity leaks. At present, over 20,000 tons of highly radioactive liquid can be found in the NPP drain system.
Due to serious problems with radioactive water leaks, the issue of reclamation of infested soils was recently ignored both by the local and international media. The area contaminated with radionuclides is about 14,000sq km, which makes 3.6% of Japan’s total area. The decontamination process may be accelerated with a method that Professor Vsevolod Kortov from the Ural Federal University offered to his Japanese colleagues. He is a scientist of a world-wide reputation, an academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, leader of the school of solid-state radiation physics and the author of over 60 inventions. Vsevolod Kortov is Russia’s only representative at the international radiation monitoring conference held in Japan every year since 2005. Kortov offers a sorbent based on glauconite, a natural compound.
The Asahi Shimbun keeps mum:
Nuke plant operators hush-hush on anti-terrorism measures
Operators of nuclear power plants say they are restricting media access to some important facilities as part of efforts to thwart terrorist attacks.
Tougher safety standards for nuclear plants that went into effect last July in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture include measures to deal with the threat of terrorist strikes.
Another factor is the controversial state secrets protection law that will take effect later this year. The utilities are keen to duck any criticism that they are allowing any confidential security information to be disclosed.
In many cases, the restrictions to information disclosure go beyond what nuclear regulators have said should be kept under wraps.
JapanToday plays host:
Two Fukushima towns agree to interim nuclear waste storage facilities
Fukushima Gov Yuhei Sato said Tuesday that Okuma and Futaba towns will accept interim nuclear waste storage facilities as planned, although a third designated site—at Naraha town—rejected the proposal last month.
In December, Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishiara and Reconstruction Minister Takumi Nemoto met with the mayors of Naraha, Futaba and Okuma, as well as Sato, to seek their support for the government’s plan to build storage facilities for thousands of tons of soil contaminated with radiation and other nuclear waste from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster.
The plan called for the government to spend 100 billion yen on the project, which involves buying about 16 square kilometers of land in Futaba and Okuma towns, which lie in the no-go zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and about three square kilometers of land near the idle Fukushima Daini plant in Naraha.
Next up and our final item, a Big Ag victory from EUbusiness:
EU set to OK new GM corn after Germany drops objection
A new genetically modified crop, US firm Pioneer’s TC1507 corn, is set for approval in Europe next week after Germany dropped its objections, several EU sources told AFP Wednesday.
“Germany is moving from being against to abstaining” in a vote on the long-running controversy, said a source close to the dossier who asked not to be identified. A second source confirmed.
Ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday are to hand down a final decision on the cultivation of TC1507 corn after a European Court ruled late last year that the company’s 2001 request for permission must be dealt with.