Our collection of headlines from the economic, political, and environmental realms opens on a progressive profession from BBC News:
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio targets income gap ‘threat’
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to raise the minimum wage and issue ID papers to undocumented immigrants.
Setting out the policies of his new administration in a State of the City address, Mr de Blasio took aim at the city’s yawning inequality gap.
The 52-year-old also wants to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund universal pre-kindergarten programmes.
Elected in November, he is New York’s first Democratic mayor in two decades.
From The Guardian, eyes on Oakland from across the pond:
The city that told Google to get lost
Highly paid employees are pushing up rents near the tech giant’s California headquarters, forcing locals out and destroying communities, say activists. Now Oakland’s residents are fighting back – hard. But are they too late?
If pushing your enemy into the sea signifies success, then Google’s decision to start ferrying workers to its campus by boat suggests the revolt against big technology companies is going well. Standing on the docks of Oakland, on the east side of San Francisco Bay, last week, you could watch the Googlers board the ferry, one by one, and swoosh through the chill, grey waters of the bay towards the company’s Mountain View headquarters, 30 or so miles to the south.
Not exactly Dunkirk, but from afar you might have detected a whiff of evacuation, if not retreat. The ferry from Oakland – a week-long pilot programme – joined a similar catamaran service for Google workers in San Francisco launched last month. The search engine giant is not doing it for the bracing sea air. It is a response to blockades and assaults against buses that shuttle employees to work.
From The Independent, that old time religion:
Utah’s Mormons celebrate as polygamy restrictions are struck down
Part of law was ruled in violation of First Amendment
A US federal judge has struck down a key part of Utah’s law banning polygamy – providing welcome relief to one practising Mormon family. Joe Darger, who described himself as an “independent Mormon fundamentalist”, has 25 children with three wives.
US District Judge Clark Waddoups threw out part of a bill which allows the state to use cohabitation as a basis for prosecution, although Utah does still prohibit bigamy.
Reuters records a visit:
Obama, France’s Hollande make pilgrimage to Jefferson’s Monticello
President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande toured Thomas Jefferson’s plantation estate on Monday in a show of solidarity for Franco-American ties that have endured for more than two centuries despite the occasional tempest.
The visit to Monticello, home to America’s third president, served to showcase a relationship that stretches back to the founding of the United States in the late 18th century, an alliance still strong despite spats over U.S. eavesdropping and trade talks with the European Union.
Hollande, 59, who split from his partner, Valerie Trierweiler, last month after an affair with an actress, arrived solo for the first state visit hosted by Obama since he won a second term in 2012.
Heading north of the border with an offer Rob Ford can’t refuse from The Independent:
Canada installs first ever crack-pipe vending machines
Controversial vending machines dispense them for $0.25 in attempt to curb spread of HIV and hepatitis
A Canadian NGO has installed crack pipe vending machines in the city of Vancouver in a bid to curb the spread of HIV and hepatitis among users.
The polka-dot vending machines are operated by the Portland Hotel Society, a drug treatment centre, and dispense newly packaged crack pipes like snacks for $0.25 (13p).
The group says the pipes are less likely to chip and cut users’ mouths as a resulting of overheating and overuse, preventing the spread of disease among crack addicts.
“They don’t run the risk of then sharing pipes, or pipes that are chipped or broken,” Kailin See told CTV Vancouver.
On to Europe with bankster news from Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
Eurozone banks will be allowed to fail, says regulator
The incoming head of Europe’s new single banking supervisory authority has warned that weak eurozone banks will be allowed to fail following upcoming stress tests, in an interview in Monday’s Financial Times.
Frenchwoman Daniele Nouy was giving her first interview since being appointed chief of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, set up as part of attempts to stabilise the EU’s banking system and shift the financial costs of failed banks away from sovereign governments
“We have to accept that some banks have no future,” she told the FT. “We have to let some disappear in an orderly fashion, and not necessarily try to merge them with other institutions”.
EurActiv regulates with dubious efficacy:
EU rules to light up derivatives markets set for shaky start
New rules coming into force in Europe this week to shine more light on the $700 trillion (€513 trillion) derivatives markets will take years to produce a clearer picture of these complex products which were at the heart of the financial crisis.
When Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 markets were in the dark over a tangle of derivatives on the US investment bank’s books. Financial markets froze because of uncertainty about who was exposed to Lehman’s derivatives, such as credit default swaps or interest rate swaps. US insurer AIG also ran up big losses linked to derivatives.
In response, politicians and regulators around the world called for action to make risks easier to spot in this opaque part of global financial markets.
The new EU rules, coming in on Wednesday, aim to increase transparency by requiring reporting of transactions.
On to Britain and a warning from the London Telegraph:
Lord Turner: UK economy is like 90s Japan
City regulator during the 2007/8 crisis says that the UK has not rebalanced its economy, and risks further shocks as a result
Lord Turner has warned that the UK has failed to rebalance its economy and is simply repeating the errors made in the run-up to the 2007/8 financial crisis.
The self-styled technocrat, who was chairman of the City regulator until last April, likened the domestic economy over the last five years to Japan in the 1990s.
The former Financial Services Authority chief – who made it on to the shortlist to replace Lord King as Governor of the Bank of England – said that although the economy was now showing obvious signs of growth, there was the potential that it will not be sustained due to the continued build up of credit in the system.
“The concerning thing about the UK economy is that from 2009 until early last year, a lot of the debate was around the need to rebalance, from being over focused on financial services and the housing market,” Lord Turner told The Telegraph.
The Independent doesn’t feel the love:
Where is the love? Majority of international students in the UK do not feel welcome
The majority of international students studying in the UK feel unwelcome in the country with a significant number saying they would not recommend to their friends that they come here to attend university, says a survey published on Monday.
A study of the attitudes of 3,100 international students by the National Union of Students revealed that more than 50 per cent believed the UK Government was either “not welcoming” or “not welcoming at all towards overseas students”.
Figures show PhD students are most likely to feel unwelcome (65.8 per cent) with those from Japan (64.5 per cent), Nigeria (62.8 per cent) and India (62 per cent) the next most likely to say they have received hostile treatment. Students from India, Pakistan and Nigeria are most likely to advise their friends not to study here.
The Guardian, with banksters doing what bankster do:
City bonus row reignites with Barclays to admit £2bn in payments
Bonus payout contrasts with bank boss Antony Jenkins’ pledge for restraint and helps push total since 2008 crisis towards £80bn
Controversy over City bonuses will be reignited this week when Barclays admits it paid its staff more than last year, fuelling predictions that the amount of bonuses paid out across the Square Mile since the 2008 crisis could soon hit £80bn.
Barclays is expected to reveal on Tuesday that its bonus pot topped £2bn last year – more than it paid out in the previous 12 months – despite a pledge by its boss Antony Jenkins to show restraint on pay.
Starting the reporting season for the high-street banks, Barclays will be followed in the coming fortnight by bailed-out banks Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, as well as HSBC, in disclosing how much each has paid in bonuses for 2013.
The Irish Times gives us the latest instance of Banksters Behaving Badly, this time involving the €12.3 million collapse of Anglo Irish Bank, the biggest bustout in Irish history:
Seán Quinn suspected Anglo was doing ‘a sweetheart deal’
Businessman tells court the bank knew it was in serious trouble from November 2007
Former businessman Sean Quinn has told the Anglo Irish Bank trial that he suspected Anglo was “doing a sweetheart deal” when it forced him to sell his stake in the bank.
Mr Quinn, who admitted he used to be Ireland’s richest man, said he could not understand why the share price of Anglo fell so much in July 2008 as the deal was going through. He said that he approached a solicitor in London about the matter.
Mr Quinn told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the bank knew from November 2007 that it was in serious trouble but that Sean FitzPatrick and David Drumm maintained it was “in rude health” as late as September 2008, shortly after the bank guarantee.
On to France and presidential woes from The Guardian:
Sluggish French growth figures pile more pressure on François Hollande
Bank of France forecasts economy will grow 0.2% in January-March compared with the final quarter of 2013
France will eke out meagre economic growth in the first three months of 2014, a spokesman for the central bank said on Monday, as the eurozone’s second-biggest economy struggles to avoid falling further behind the pack.
Data on Monday indicated that French industrial production dropped 0.3% in December by comparison with November, falling short of expectations, although the figure for the fourth quarter as a whole was positive.
The weakness of France’s recovery is adding to pressure on President François Hollande to deliver faster growth. The deeply unpopular Socialist leader has embarked on a shift to more business-friendly policies to bring down near-record unemployment.
France 24 hits the picket lines:
Mass taxi strike strands Paris commuters, tourists
Hundreds of taxis gathered at Paris airports before dawn on Monday as part of a nationwide protest against what cab drivers say is unfair competition posed by a recent surge in popularity of chauffeured cars offered by private companies, or VTCs.
The striking taxis gathered at 6am local time at Charles de Gaulle airport amid a cacophony of blaring horns and under a banner reading “55,000 angry taxis”, with one airport source saying no taxis were servicing the airport, a major international hub.
At regional hub Orly, a hundred vehicles blocked taxi queues to prevent cars from picking up passengers.
Would-be taxi drivers face exorbitant fees ahead of receiving an operating license, often running into the hundreds of thousands.
Switzerland next, and post-electoral anxiety from TheLocal.ch:
Government in damage control mode after vote
Reeling from a vote to cap EU immigration, Switzerland’s government and business community moved on Monday to limit the damage to trade ties with the big European bloc.
Swiss President and Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Burkhalter played down talk of a “Black Sunday” in ties with Brussels, after 50.3 percent of voters backed a referendum proposal to end a seven-year-old pact that gave equal footing to most EU citizens in the Swiss labour market.
“We need to avoid that kind of language,” he told reporters.
“Switzerland is not going to rip up its deal with the EU on freedom of movement,” he insisted.
EUbusiness covers another set of winners:
Swiss vote is boon for far-right ahead of EU parliament vote
Anti-EU parties already expected to do well in European Parliament elections in May claim the Swiss vote to curb immigration vindicates their stand.
“What the Swiss can do, we can do too,” said Geert Wilders, leader of Holland’s extreme-right PVV.
France’s extreme right National Front party too hailed “the Swiss people’s lucidity,” calling for Paris to stop “mass immigration” while Austria’s far-right FPO party said the country would vote the same way given the chance.
“With the (Swiss) referendum, it becomes more likely that the anti-Europeans will represent the biggest group in the European parliament, with a quarter of the MEPs,” German daily Tagesspiegel said.
Another potential blowback from New Europe:
After the Swiss referendum: the possible return of bank secrecy
The result of the Sunday referendum in Switzerland has stunned the EU. Many politicians reacted with dismay, sometimes even bordering on anger. Thus, Luxembourg’s prime minister Jean Asselborn said: “I respect the decision of the Swiss people… but the Swiss people must also respect the values of the EU.”
The same tone was heard from the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who said on Monday that Europe would review its relations with Switzerland after the “worrying” Swiss vote to reintroduce immigration quotas with the European Union. “In my opinion it’s bad news both for Europe and for the Swiss because Switzerland will be penalised if it withdraws,” Fabius said. “We’re going to review our relations with Switzerland,” he said.
The withdrawal in question would be Switzerland’s retreat from the Schengen agreement, of which Switzerland is one of the signatories, but which cannot be applied selectively.
The Commission was less vociferous, with the spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen stating on Monday only that “ The Commission regrets the initiative, since it infringes the principle of the free movement”. “Will examine politically and juridically our relations with Switzerland, but restrictions are unacceptable”, she said.”
Counting costs with EUobserver:
Swiss vote jeopardises involvement in multi-billion EU programmes
The EU’s multi-billion research programme Horizon 2020 and its Erasmus student exchange with Switzerland hang in the balance following a Swiss vote over the weekend in favour imposing quotas on EU migrants.
The two would automatically be suspended should Switzerland move to include limits on EU’s newest member state, Croatia. Both agreements are conditioned on free movement.
Croatia is scheduled to sign off on a reciprocal free movement agreement with Switzerland on 1 July. All other member states have a similar agreement.
Still more blowback from Deutsche Welle:
Swiss vote to stem immigration could cause ‘a lot of problems’
Switzerland’s neighbors and the EU say they regret the country’s narrow vote to limit annual migration inflows. Veteran German politician Wolfgang Schäuble warns of “a lot of problems” for the Swiss government in Bern.
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that Germany respected the result of Switzerland’s vote. However, he added, it “raises considerable problems,” and said that Merkel had repeatedly stated free movement was a “prized asset” for Germany.
The European Commission said in a statement released after the referendum that it regretted the decision, and would “analyze the consequences of this initiative to our relations in general.”
Despite voicing regret about the result, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned against ignoring the sentiment expressed.
“Of course this does show a little that people are increasingly uneasy about unlimited freedom of movement in this world of globalization. I believe we must take this seriously,” Schäuble said on ARD public television. “We regret this decision. It will cause a lot of problems for Switzerland.”
And a parallel story from TheLocal.ch:
Foreigner jobless rate rises again in January
The unemployment rate in Switzerland remained at 3.5 percent in January, unchanged from the previous month, but the percentage of expats out of work rose again, figures released by the government showed on Monday.
The number of people registered for jobless benefits edged higher to 153,260 people, up 3,823 from December 2013, the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said.
But the level of unemployed foreigners in the country jumped significantly to 7.1 percent in January from 6.9 percent the previous month, while the rate for Swiss nationals stayed unchanged at 2.4 percent.
The rate of expat jobless in Switzerland, accounting for almost half the unemployed in the country, has grown every month for the past several months.
On to Spain, and a change underway from TheLocal.es:
3.5 million ‘Spanish’ Jews to apply for citizenship
Jewish associations expect 3.5 million Sephardic Jews to apply for Spanish citizenship after Spain’s Justice Ministry approved a draft law which will allow them to return to the country their ancestors were kicked out of more than 500 years ago.
The descendants of Sephardic Jews banished from Spain in 1492 will now be able to regain Spanish nationality under a new law approved by Madrid’s Cabinet of Ministers on Friday.
Those who can prove their Spanish origins will be able to apply for dual nationality at the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, El Mundo newspaper reported on Sunday.
According to Israel’s Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese Association (OLEI), the newly-approved legislation has already resulted in a flurry of applications from Sephardic Jews around the world.
TheLocal.es trods the boards:
Abortion takes centre stage at Spain’s Oscars
A controversial plan in Spain to scrap easy access to abortions took centre stage at the Goya Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars, with several actresses slamming the reform as they accepted their prizes.
The ceremony was broadcast live on public television network TVE to an estimated audience of 3.6 million people.
The issue has prompted deep debate and big protests in Spain, with many opposed to the conservative government’s draft law unveiled in December that would allow abortion only in cases of rape or health risk to the mother.
Critics say the measure scrapping more liberal access to abortion would throw the Catholic country back decades, when Spanish women had to go abroad to seek pregnancy terminations.
If the law is adopted, Spain would be the first country in the 28-member European Union to reverse legalizing abortion.
On to Portugal and a pronouncement from El País:
“Portugal is not going to need a second bailout”
Economy Minister António Pires de Lima says the program will be exited with a growing economy
May 17 is a key date for Portugal. It’s the day on which the 78-billion-euro bailout program it sought in April 2011 is due to end and Portugal will supposedly fully return to the sovereign debt market to fund itself. However, it remains to be seen how Spain’s Iberian neighbor will emerge from this financial assistance program; whether it will be a clean break without any further support, or the current bailout will be replaced by a softer rescue package that still involves some form of external help.
In an interview with EL PAÍS, Portuguese Economy Minister António Pires de Lima explains that the center-right coalition government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will unveil its plans when it believes the moment is right to do so. He is encouraged by the fact the Portuguese economy is already on the road to recovery, although this has yet to become a reality for the population at large.
Among other draconian measures, a brutal increase in taxes, the elimination of extra payments for civil servants and pensioners, wage cuts, and the increase in the standard value-added tax rate to 23 percent have all hit the middle classes hard. The 2014 state budget maintains the fiscal adjustment drive of the previous two years. On top of the withdrawal of extra payments and cuts in salaries introduced in 2012 and the rise in taxes in 2013, this year’s budget also includes a further cut in wages for civil servants earning more than 675 euros a month.
The Portugal News excludes:
Dictator can’t buy Portuguese bank- MEP
Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes told Lusa on Friday that the Bank of Portugal and the Portuguese Stock Market Regulator (CMVM) had to fulfill “their role” and stop Equatorial Guinea buying into troubled bank Banif and that she was going to ask the European Commission (EC) to step in.
“This is yet another case where I have to intervene and ask the EC to ensure that a bank that is being rescued with funds that are part of Portugal’s bailout loan, and which are going to have to be paid back by Portuguese taxpayers, is not bought up in part by a corrupt and criminal regime as part of a money laundering scheme”, the Socialist MEP told Lusa News Agency.
“I think it is unbelievable that something like this can happen and hope that the Bank of Portugal and the CMVM do their job properly and do not allow this to happen because it is extremely dangerous for BANIF and I would like to alert all account holders about how incredibly dangerous it is going to be to have financing from somewhere like Equatorial Guinea, a sinister regime that is flagged on all indexes of dictatorial, miserable regimes where the population gets poorer and poorer while the presidential family lines their pockets on a daily basis”, she said.
On to Italy and more bad news from TheLocal.it:
Recovery hopes dwindle as Italian industry lags
A 0.9-percent slump in Italy’s industrial production in December, following three months of consecutive increases, disappointed investors on Monday and cast a shadow over hopes for a recovery this year.
The official data from the Istat agency showed industrial production was also down 0.7 percent from December 2012 and down 3.0 percent over all of 2013.
Analysts had expected the monthly figure to remain unchanged, after the economy in the third quarter formally ended two painful years of recession with zero growth in Italy’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“The result does not question the forecast of a return to growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 but it does confirm that the recovery will be very gradual,” said Paolo Mameli, an economist from Intesa Sanpaolo bank. The fourth quarter figure will be announced on Friday.
After the jump, the latest crises news from Greece, Bosnia outrage, Ukrainian regime change dreaming,
Our first Greek headline, ongoing action from To Vima:
Farmer unions continue mobilizing across the country
Representatives of the farmer unions have arranged to meet with the Minister of Finances in Athens
The Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras is scheduled to meet with representatives of the farmer unions today in order to discuss various tax measures. While the government announced a number of measures in favor of farmers last week, the unions have rejected them as they claim do not address their demands.
Meanwhile the farmers are planning on opening up the tool booths in the areas where they have positioned their blockades across the country. Farmers in Serres have symbolically blocked off the site of the former agricultural ATEbank.
EnetEnglish.gr carries a torch:
Mayor detained over arson of motorway toll booth
Oropos residents say motorway polls prevent them from conducting everyday business
Sunday’s protest was called by residents over recent toll increases on the Athens-Thessaloniki motorway
A scene from last night’s protests against motorway tolls A scene from last night’s protests against motorway tolls A mayor, his deputy and two other individuals have been detained by police, who are investigating the torching of a motorway toll booth in eastern Attica.
The arson took place on Sunday night during a protest at Malakasa toll station, which is in Oropos municipality in eastern Attica, when a large crowd overturned the toll booth, smashed it and set it alright.
From To Vima, feeling the pain:
Greek consumers pay the highest prices for goods and services in Europe
Study shows how the prices in Greece are the highest in Europe compared to the average wages of consumers
Based on the data available from the European Commission’s detailed average price report for November 2013, Greek consumers pay far higher prices for goods and services than other European people.
The excessive prices can be attributed to the fact that the income of the Greek consumer has dropped by about 30% in recent years, while consumer prices remained more or less unchanged. This in turn triggered a collapse in demand, further compounding the problem.
The European Commission’s report includes average prices for 20 essential goods, such as milk, coffee, bread and butter, to help compare prices between the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal and Luxemburg. In Greece where the average wages are 586 euros, these 20 items would cost 63.4 euros, or 10.81% of wages. In the Netherlands the average wages are 1,478 euros and the 20 items cost 50.3 euros, or 3.4% of the wages.
Capital.gr asserts:
Samaras: Greece does not need a 3rd aid
PM Samaras in an interview to German daily Bild, stated that Greece does not need a 3rd aid package and he is not aware of any plan by German FinMin Schauble about one. Samaras said that Schauble’s statements are positive and recognition of the effort made by Greece.
He said that the government has completed a large chunk of the necessary structural reforms, which represent 76% of the target.
Meanwhile, German FinMin Schauble left the door open for an extension of the maturity of the Greek debt or a cut in its cost but he dismissed any possibility of a haircut.
To Vima makes profits from acceptable [i.e., rich] immigrants:
Chinese real estate investors to receive residence permits
Deputy Minister of Growth Mitarakis is traveling to China to discuss investment opportunities in Greece
The Deputy Minister of Growth Notis Mitarakis is on his way to China, where he will meet with government officials, representatives of Chinese industry and Greek businesses that operate in China.
During his stay in Beijing Mr. Mitarakis will meet with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Chao, the Deputy Minister of Trade Zhong Shan, the Vice President of the National Development and Reform Committee Zhang Xiaogiang and the general secretary of Greek Entrepreneurship Center Michael Xi.
EnetEnglish.gr loses the vote:
Govt seeks to disenfranchise non-EU citizens in local elections
In a ruling last year, the country’s supreme administrative court ruled that a law enfranchising foreigners in local elections was unconstitutional, citing that the constitution only grants the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to Greek citizens alone
A polling station bedecked in Greek flags (File photo: Reuters) A polling station bedecked in Greek flags (File photo: Reuters) The announcement by the government that it wants to strip non-European Union nationals of the right to vote and stand in local elections in Greece has been criticised heavily by opposition parties on the left.
Parliament is expected on Tuesday to vote on an electoral amendment, to be introduced by the interior ministry, disenfranchising foreigners who are not EU citizens from voting or standing in local elections, which will be held in May.
The amendment if passed will also strip members of the Greek diaspora who don’t hold Greek citizenship of their right to vote in and contest local elections.
To Vima slaps on the cuffs:
Deputy Director of Police Department in Athens arrested for tax evasion
The arrested police officer managed three restaurants that were registered in his wife’s name
The Deputy Director of a Police Department in a northern suburb of Athens was arrested today by colleagues of his in the Internal Affairs division due to tax evasion.
According to police information the officer in name managed three restaurants which were registered in his wife’s name, two of which are located in downtown Athens and the third in the Ambelokipi area.
Amongst the charges brought against the police officer is that of tax evasion, as it transpired that he did not pay insurance contributions for his employees. It also appears that the deputy director employed other police officers.
From To Vima, another embarrassment for the ruling party:
New Democracy in turmoil over three MPs’ rumored overseas remittances
The three MPs appear to have transferred large sums of undeclared money abroad in the midst of the crisis
According to a report by Ta Nea three New Democracy MPs transferred large sums of undeclared money, over a million euros each, to overseas bank accounts in the midst of the financial crisis.
These rumors have caused turmoil in the coalition government party, with many senior-ranking party members urging the leadership to take drastic measures to address the allegations and expose those responsible of wrongdoing. Some have suggested that announcements regarding the matter may be made even today.
On to Bosnia and the latest disruptions from euronews:
Unrest in Bosnia as protesters demand resignation of government
Thousands of Bosnians have been demonstrating for a sixth day, calling for the resignation of the government.
There have been mass protests in more than 30 cities and the heads of four regional cantons have already resigned.
The protests started in the former industrial heartland town of Tuzla after four state-owned companies were privatised and sold off leaving workers unpaid and without jobs.
In Tuzla on Monday. locals were clearing up after government buildings were destroyed in riots.
in Sarajevo, demonstrators gathered outside the presidency building which was set on fire on Friday.
Next up, the Ukraine, and a call for regime change from Deutsche Welle:
Ukraine protests take center-stage at EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels
European Union foreign ministers have offered assistance to Ukraine – provided the country gets a new government. They stopped short of any immediate threat of sanctions.
In a sharp rebuke to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Monday, the European Union called for a new government and constitutional reforms that would pave the way to “free and fair presidential elections.” Russia meanwhile reportedly plans to release the next installment of its $15 billion (11 billion euros) loan to the country at the end of the month, after effectively freezing the aid while Ukraine’s opposition made gains.
According to a statement issued after the EU’s 28 foreign ministers met, the bloc has followed the crisis “with deep concern” and grown “alarmed by the human rights situation.” The statement called for dialogue to set up “a new and inclusive government” that would carry out constitutional reforms to give the parliament more powers and prepare for free and fair elections.
At the meeting on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton briefed the ministers on her discussions last week in Ukraine with the opposition as well as with President Viktor Yanukovych.
Latin America next and a vigilante victory from BBC News:
Mexico vigilantes parade through Knights Templar stronghold
Mexican vigilante groups have paraded through a stronghold of the Knights Templar drug cartel in the troubled state of Michoacan.
The vigilantes had driven into Apatzingan on Saturday, backed by armoured vehicles and troops.
On Sunday, they drove round the town shouting slogans before convening at the city’s main square.
The groups began an offensive last month aimed at ending the drug gang’s activities in Michoacan.
Next up, India, and a warning from the Financial Express:
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/oecd-warns-over-economic-growth-in-india-even-as-china-developed-world-to-thrive/1224758
OECD warns over economic growth in India even as China, developed world to thrive
Economic growth in India is expected to be “below trend” even as neighbouring China and most of the developed nations are expected to see better prospects, according to Paris-based think tank OECD.
The conclusions are based on Composite Leading Indicator (CLI), which are designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity.
“In the emerging economies, the CLIs point to growth around trend in China, Brazil and Russia, and to growth below trend in India,” OECD said today.
India’s CLI slipped to 97 in December last year from 97.2 registered in November. The country’s CLI has been falling since August 2013 when it stood at 97.7. It dropped to 97.5 in September and then to 97.4 in October.
From the Economic Times, a familiar move:
Minimum wage plan fast-tracked by govt with an eye on LS polls
The government is trying to rush through new minimum wage rules with general elections just around the corner. It’s fast-tracking a plan for a legally backed mandatory level to ensure that workers across sectors are not paid below the minimum wages set by states. In the works since 2010, the move may help the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance appeal for votes as a party concerned with the well-being of the poor and the disadvantaged. The proposal for the national floor is among the clutch of amendments to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, that the Cabinet will consider at its meeting this week. However, experts say the eleventh-hour scramble in the run-up to the polls appears to be driven more by the desire to be seen as doing something about the matter than real commitment to reform since the proposed amendments are unlikely to make it through Parliament during the current government’s tenure.
According to National Labour Institute estimates, the proposed national will result in a 2-3.5% reduction in poverty. Labour experts say pay for about 10% of scheduled jobs are at levels below the minimum wage rates notified by state governments.
The proposed mechanism will mostly impact the private sector since the prevailing wages in the government and central public sector exceed the national floor rate. The proposed national floor, which will be reviewed and revised at intervals no greater than five years, will make mandatory a subsistence level wage for the lowest paid labourers.
Thailand next and the latest development in the ongoing turmoil from Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
Thai police arrest first protest leader for flouting law
Thai police on Monday arrested an anti-government protest leader, their first such move after months of defiant rallies in Bangkok aimed at ousting Yingluck Shinawatra’s beleaguered government.
Protest leaders have flouted arrest warrants and an emergency decree to deliver caustic daily speeches, lead marches, block roads and occupy government buildings in their bid to topple Yingluck’s government.
Rallies have continued despite the declaration of a state of emergency before a February 2 snap election. The poll was widely disrupted by protesters in Bangkok and the southern provinces.
Sontiyan Cheunruethainaitham was arrested on Monday morning at a hotel in Bangkok, according to the head of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Tarit Pengdith.
Another Indochinese woe from Nikkei Asian Review:
Myanmar to expand tax breaks for foreign businesses
The Myanmar government is drafting an expanded package of incentives for foreign companies setting up shop in special economic zones there, hoping to draw more investments.
It recently revised the law governing the zones and is now working on detailed implementation rules. Both are expected to go into effect as early as this year.
The original law was enacted in 2011, before Myanmar’s shift to civilian rule, but it has never been applied. The government began revising it in 2012 to make it more substantial, focusing on extending tax relief for companies in the zones.
Cambodia next, and a bankster debacle from Deutsche Welle:
ADB’s failings in Cambodian resettlement plan
The Asian Development Bank has released a damning internal review that concludes the bank’s staff significantly harmed some of Cambodia’s poorest citizens with an ill-conceived and mismanaged resettlement plan.
The resettlement plan was the consequence of a deal struck with the Cambodian government in 2006 to upgrade the hundreds of kilometres of the country’s railway network. Years of civil war and neglect had left the network in a woeful state.
The bulk of the 142 million USD rail upgrade was funded by the ADB and the Australian government, and directly affected 4,000 families living alongside or nearby the tracks. Around 1,000 were to be resettled, while others would have their land holdings reduced. All were to be compensated, and those compelled to move to resettlement sites were to receive further assistance.
Under the bank’s own rules, no one affected by the project was to end up worse off – yet for years, rights groups complained that this was precisely what was happening. On Friday, February 7, the ADB’s Compliance Review Panel (CRP) agreed, saying an undefined number of people “have suffered direct, adverse and material harm.”
Next up, Australia and a major hit for labor from BBC News:
Toyota to end car production in Australia by 2017
Toyota is to end its vehicle and engine production in Australia by the end of 2017, effectively marking the end of the country’s carmaking industry.
The company said it might scale down the operations of its development and technical centre in Australia as well.
Last year, Ford and General Motors’ Holden unit also announced plans to stop producing cars in Australia.
About 2,500 jobs are set to be lost as a result of Toyota’s decision, which it attributed to high manufacturing costs.
Bloomberg takes an Aussie look at China:
China Bulls in Australia Belie $1.6 Trillion Stocks Rout
Australian policy makers see little evidence of a slump in China’s economic growth, defying global pessimism that helped wipe $1.6 trillion from stocks this year.
The Reserve Bank of Australia and the nation’s Treasury forecast the world’s second-largest economy will expand 7.5 percent this year. The view is underpinned by a 21 percent expansion in Australia-China trade to a record A$141.8 billion ($127 billion) in 2013, led by shipments of iron ore, a key ingredient of the steel used to build the skyscrapers, subways and bridges transforming China’s cities.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has set a “bottom line” of 7 percent growth in gross domestic product as his leadership team seeks to engineer a transition to consumption from investment-led expansion. At the same time, Chinese authorities are stepping up efforts to rein in financial risks and squeeze speculative lending as concerns mount that a surge in borrowing over the last five years will tip the country into crisis.
From Reuters, another Chinese warning:
China export growth seen slowing, loans surging in January
China’s export and import growth likely cooled in January, a Reuters poll showed, underlining a broader slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy, though the Lunar New Year holiday effect may overstate the soft momentum.
Weakness in China’s imports could be bad news for the rest of the world, particularly for major commodity exporters such as Australia. HSBC estimates China will overtake the United States to become the world’s biggest importer this year.
Bank loans in China are expected to see a typical seasonal surge in January as banks get fresh lending quotas at this time every year, underlining relatively stable credit demand from the real economy.
Many economists expect a soft slowdown in China’s economy in 2014 as policymakers try to embrace slower but better-quality growth to cut reliance on investment and pursue sustainable development.
But SINA English has more confidence:
China highly likely to top trade in goods
China may soon be named the world’s largest trader in goods
Even as China faced huge economic challenges last year, it may have knocked the US off its perch as the world’s largest goods trading nation.
Whether that happened will become clear when the US publishes figures for December soon, but earlier figures pointed strongly in that direction.
Until recently China has been the world’s largest exporter of goods and the second largest importer of goods.
CNNMoney evades:
Beijing loses billions as rich skip taxes
China is failing to collect billions in taxes from some of its wealthiest citizens, hampering efforts to tackle a widening gap between rich and poor.
Beijing’s tax collectors have been vexed by wealthy residents who are able to launder money and move it abroad through casinos, fine art buys and fake trade invoices — practices that result in lost tax revenue.
Closing the gap between the urban rich and the hundreds of millions of poor citizens is a priority for Beijing. Last year, the government announced plans to hike the minimum wage in many parts of the country and limit salaries at state-owned enterprises.
The Communist Party is also considering higher property taxes as well as an inheritance tax — measures that could increase the tax burden on the wealthy and raise funds for government social programs.
South China Morning Post has doubts at the top:
Further economic reforms a tough task, warns Xi Jinping
Pushing through further economic reforms will prove tough and there may be dangerous times ahead, President Xi Jinping said in an interview with Russian state TV on the sidelines of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
“The easier reforms that could make everyone happy have already been completed. The tasty meat has been eaten up. The rest are tough bones to crack,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying. “[We] should dare to gnaw even tough bones and dare to ford dangerous rapids.”
The Communist Party announced a series of reforms last November at a plenum of party leaders in Beijing, including giving more profits from state enterprises to the government and scrapping the re-education through labour prison system.
Critics have noted that there was no genuine political reform on Xi’s agenda as the party seeks to retain its firm grip on power. However, Xi has consolidated his position by heading both newly established agencies announced at the plenum – a national security commission and a leading group to deepen reform.
Want China Times finds a way:
Speculators in Beijing find loophole in housing purchase restrictions
Speculators in China’s housing market have found a way to go around house purchase restrictions imposed by the government by buying foreclosed properties, the Beijing Daily reports.
“The government will not check if you are qualified to buy a house in Beijing. As long as you have the document confirming the sales, you can apply for a transfer of the property,” said a woman surnamed Zhang, who told the newspaper that she had discovered this approach five years ago. A local government official confirmed Zhang’s statement, stating that the transfer of inherited or foreclosed properties is not regulated by the purchase restrictions, and that this has become a loophole.
Moreover, foreclosed houses are usually sold at prices lower than the market rate, making them more popular among speculators, the newspaper pointed out.
From SINA English, another typical move:
Retirement age should be raised to 65: experts
China should gradually increase the retirement age to 65 over the next 10 to 20 years for all workers, top social insurance experts have urged.
The average age of retirement in China is now about 53, while life expectancy is 75, said Wang Dewen, a social protection economist with the World Bank’s Beijing office. The gap is much wider than the 12 years he believes is a reasonable period for an individual to draw a pension.
“The current arrangement has placed huge pressure on the social security fund. It’s not sustainable,” he warned.
On to Japan and a gloomy take from the China Post:
Japan faced with gloomy economic data ahead of tax hike
Japan produced a gloomy batch of economic data Monday showing shoppers growing nervous and the trade deficit ballooning, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to launch a controversial sales tax rise.
The government said consumer sentiment weakened in January, while the current account surplus — the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world — hit a record low in 2013 as the cheap yen pushed up energy bills.
A policy blitz by Abe, which meshes government spending with central bank monetary easing, has driven the yen down and boosted stock prices, earning him acclaim for kickstarting the long-sluggish economy.
Nikkei Asian Review has anxieties of its own:
Falling current-account surplus highlights Japan’s economic woes
The decline of Japan’s current-account surplus, which fell some 30% to a record low in 2013, is a testament to the structural challenges facing the economy, including weakening domestic production and rising fuel imports.
Japan took in 3.3 trillion yen ($31.89 billion) more than it paid in trade payments and financial income last year, the smallest figure since 1985, when comparable data first became available, according to information released Monday by the Finance Ministry.
On a monthly basis, Japan incurred a third consecutive month of current-account deficits in December, with the red ink reaching a record 638.6 billion yen. The massive trade deficit, which grew by 4.8 trillion yen on the year despite the yen’s depreciation, is driving the trend.
Last year, the yen trended 20% or so weaker against the dollar compared with 2012, with the dollar-yen rate averaging 97.71 yen. Normally, when the yen softens, imports increase, adding to the trade deficit. But when exports eventually recover, the trade deficit shrinks. This J curve has not yet materialized, and the deficit grown unchecked.
Jiji Press has still more woes:
Japan End-Dec. Govt Debt Hits Another High
The Japanese government’s debt totaled a new record high of 1,017,945.9 billion yen at the end of December 2013, up 6,767.3 billion yen from the end of September, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
Swelling social security costs, including pensions and nursery care, continued to push government debt to record levels. The figure highlighted the country’s severe fiscal situation.
Based on the nation’s estimated population of 127.22 million as of Jan. 1, 2014, per-person debt stood at some 8 million yen.
As does NHK WORLD:
Abe cabinet support rate down to 52%
An NHK poll shows that the support rate for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet has dropped to 52 percent, down 2 percentage points from the previous month.
The disapproval rate was up 2 percentage points, to 33 percent.
NHK conducted a telephone survey of 1,577 people aged 20 or older from Friday to Sunday. 64 percent responded.
But the Mainichi buoys:
Abe Cabinet to adopt energy program, buoyed by Masuzoe’s election as Tokyo governor
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet will adopt a new basic energy policy outlining Japan’s mid- and long-term energy plans as early as this month, buoyed by former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe’s victory in the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election.
During the election campaign, Masuzoe had advocated a gradual end to Japan’s nuclear dependency, and boosting the ratio of renewable energy in Tokyo’s total energy consumption to 20 percent from the current 6 percent. But the Abe administration sees his overwhelming win as a measure of legitimacy for the central government’s plans to restart idled nuclear reactors.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), of which Abe is president, and its coalition partner New Komeito supported Masuzoe in the gubernatorial election.
And on to Fukushimapocalypse Now!
Jiji Press gives us our first offering:
Japan to Maintain Policy to Promote Nuclear Plant Exports
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed Monday that his government will stick with its policy to promote exports of nuclear power plants.
“Japan will fully take into account the desires and circumstances of importing countries and will help them establish necessary systems and foster human resources as well” in exporting nuclear power plants, Abe said at a meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee.
Regarding Japan’s new basic energy plan, which will set a direction of its medium- to long-term energy policy, Abe said, “We will face the reality and compile a feasible and well-balanced plan with responsibility.”
The Mainichi laments:
Fukushima nuclear evacuees disappointed by Tokyo gubernatorial election outcome
Fukushima nuclear disaster evacuees were critical of Tokyo voters and expressed despair after learning of former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe’s victory in the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election.
Eisaku Ishii, a 68-year-old gas retailer from Hirono — many of whose residents have not returned home due to the reactor meltdowns — said, ‘’I was disappointed. The people in Tokyo do not understand the disaster victims’ feelings. The Tokyo Olympics will come before us, and we’ll be forgotten.
‘’Mr. Masuzoe should clearly state his opinion about nuclear power. If he wants to have electricity, he should build a nuclear power plant in Tokyo Bay,’‘ he added.
The Asahi Shimbun hesitates:
Japan’s nuclear restart bogged down in safety checks and paperwork
Hundreds of technicians and engineers are camped out in Tokyo hotels trying to revive Japan’s nuclear industry, shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster almost three years ago.
It’s proving a hard slog. A new, more independent regulator is in place, asking difficult questions and seeking to impose tougher safety rules on powerful utilities that were largely their own masters for the past 50 years.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) was created in 2012 and set new safety guidelines in July last year. It now has four teams vetting reactors at nine nuclear power stations on a list of those seeking to restart. A deadline to complete the checks has been missed as the NRA is still asking for reams of information. No one is able to predict when the first of 48 reactors will be turned back on.
The delays are biting the utilities which are having to spend billions of dollars to import fossil fuels to keep the power on, pushing Japan into a record trade deficit and risking undermining Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s polices to end years of stagnant growth.
The latest in a series of wasteful hopes from the New York Times:
Nuclear Waste Solution Seen in Desert Salt Beds
Half a mile beneath the desert surface, in thick salt beds left behind by seas that dried up hundreds of millions of years ago, the Department of Energy is carving out rooms as long as football fields and cramming them floor to ceiling with barrels and boxes of nuclear waste.
The salt beds, which have the consistency of crumbly rock so far down in the earth, are what the federal government sees as a natural sealant for the radioactive material left over from making nuclear weapons.
The process is deceptively simple: Plutonium waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory and a variety of defense projects is packed into holes bored into the walls of rooms carved from salt. At a rate of six inches a year, the salt closes in on the waste and encapsulates it for what engineers say will be millions of years.
“It’s eternity,” said Dirk Roberson, a guide for the frequent tours the Energy Department gives to visitors to the salt mine, who leave with a souvenir plastic bag filled with chunks of salt pressed into rocklike form.
Reuters covers hanky panky:
Exclusive: Duo tracks double-dipping in U.S. oil firms’ toxic tank cleanup
A pioneer in cleaning up toxic messes, Thomas Schruben long suspected major oil companies of being paid twice for dealing with leaks from underground fuel storage tanks – once from government funds and again, secretly