2014-02-12

From the worlds of politics, economics, and environmental news, today’s collection begins with a propitiatory sacrifice from Jiji Press:

Obama Urged Not to Sign TPP Unless Japan Bans Dolphin Hunting

A group of celebrities and activists in the United States are urging President Barack Obama to refuse to sign a proposed international trade deal unless Japan bans dolphin hunting.

In a letter dated Wednesday, hip-hop producer Russell Simmons asked U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy to urge Obama not to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact unless Japan bans the hunt.

Simmons’ effort draws support from about 40 celebrities and activists including film director Oliver Stone and actress Cameron Diaz.

Bloomberg limits the bubble:

Home Prices Rose in Fewer U.S. Markets in Fourth Quarter

Prices for single-family homes rose in 73 percent of U.S. cities in the fourth quarter, fewer than in the previous three months, as surging values in the past two years started to reduce affordability.

The median transaction price for an existing home climbed from a year earlier in 119 of 164 metropolitan areas measured, the National Association of Realtors said in a report today. In the third quarter, 88 percent of markets had increases.

While tight inventories and improving employment are bolstering the housing recovery, home-price gains are poised to decelerate as an increase in mortgage rates from record lows cuts into affordability. Values have been rising faster than incomes, particularly in the West, the Realtors group said.

Businessweek takes a flier:

Yes, There’s a Pilot Shortage: Salaries Start at $21,000

The regional side of the U.S. airline industry has long been a fiercely competitive arena in which the big airlines auction large sections of their flight schedules to the lowest bidder. That’s put pressure on wages: The starting salary for a first officer at a regional airline is a little more than $21,000 per year—about $40,000 lower than the same job at Delta (DAL) and United (UAL), according to the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest U.S. pilot union.

And the stingy pay, in turn, exacerbates the pilot shortage. Not only does it make pilot jobs less appealing, but the small salaries also combine with the more onerous federal training rules to put many new pilots deep in debt. Paying for the necessary hours of training flights before getting a first job can cost more than $100,000.

“There may be a shortage of qualified pilots who are willing to fly for U.S. airlines because of the industry’s recent history of instability, poor pay, and benefits,” ALPA President Lee Moak said last week in a statement that aimed to refute the “myth” of such a shortage. The union says that Emirates Airlines pays new first officers $82,000, “plus a housing allowance and other extraordinary benefits,” and that thousands of U.S. pilots on furlough and working abroad are “eager to return to U.S. airline cockpits—under the right conditions.”

From In These Times, Tea Party pols:

When the Boss Wants a Union, But the GOP Says ‘No’

Volkswagen is willing to let employees at its Tennessee plant unionize, but Republicans are stiff in their opposition.

Republicans are blasting VW (actually criticizing a corporation!) because VW is cooperating with an attempt by the United Auto Workers to organize the German automaker’s Chattanooga, Tenn., assembly plant. The workers at VW’s German assembly plants are organized and paid twice the wage of the Chattanooga workers.

VW wants to establish works councils at its Chattanooga plant, just like those it has in Germany. In Europe, these groups of white- and blue-collar workers collaborate on issues such as plant rules, work hours and vacations. In VW’s experience, cooperating with employees through these councils increases productivity and profitability.

Because the councils discuss labor issues such as work hours, VW and the UAW have determined that to legally establish them in Chattanooga, the plant must be unionized.

This is intolerable to the GOP. Two of Tennessee’s most powerful Republicans, Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, insist they know how to run an auto company better than VW. Despite this successful international auto company’s actual business experience with work councils, these GOP politicians say that they know what’s best, that they just know unionization won’t be good for VW.

Al Jazeera America prolongs:

California gets two more years to ease prison overcrowding

Judges’ ruling sets compliance officer who will release inmates early if state fails to ease problem

Federal judges on Monday gave California two more years to meet a court-ordered prison population cap, the latest step in a long-running lawsuit aimed at improving inmate medical care.

In doing so, the judges said they would appoint a compliance officer who will release inmates early if the state fails to meet interim benchmarks or the final goal.

The judges said the delays have cost taxpayers money while causing inmates to needlessly suffer. Judges had previously extended the deadline in December.

The order from the three-judge panel delayed an April deadline to reduce the prison population to about 112,000 inmates. California remains more than 5,000 inmates over a limit set by the courts, even though the state has built more prison space and used some private cells.

The Hill anchors the baby:

Chinese ‘birth tourism’ booming in US territory

A growing number of pregnant Chinese women are having their babies in the U.S. territory of Saipan, automatically giving the children American citizenship, according to the region’s congressman.

Del. Gregorio Sablan (D) represents Saipan and the rest of the Northern Mariana Islands in Congress. The U.S. territory is in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 3,700 miles west of Honolulu and a four-hour flight from China.

Sablan said in an ABC News report that he has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to look into the “birth tourism” situation. “We want to fix this and we want to make sure that this small problem remains very small,” Sablan said.

Heading north of the border for another “free trade” travesty from EurActiv:

EU-Canada free trade deal ‘opens door to environmental lawsuits’

Multinationals will have wide-ranging powers to sue EU states that enact health or environmental laws breaching their “legitimate expectations” of profit, according to a leaked ‘investment chapter’ from the Canada-EU free trade agreement (CETA), which was signed last November.

A separate ‘nature and scope’ document for EU-US free trade talks, which EurActiv has seen, makes clear that similar parameters are foreseen for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement.

The CETA investment chapter proposes a definition of ‘fair and equitable treatment’ (FET) for investors which has sparked multi-million dollar lawsuits, such as one by Lone Pine challenging a shale drilling ban by the Canadian state of Quebec.

EU officials have reportedly not challenged the authenticity of the leaked document, which was published online by the Trade Justice Network, although they were unavailable for comment on the issue.

Pronouncement from a high place via Xinhua:

OECD index shows growth recovery in major economies

The latest composite leading indicators (CLIs) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are pointing to an improving economic outlook in major advanced economies, said the Paris-based think tank on Monday.

The CLIs, designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, stood at 100.9 for the OECD area, up by 0.1 percentage compared to last month, while the oulook of seven major economies pointed to a firming growth.

In the euro area, the indicators projected the single-currency bloc to witness positive change in momentum and reached a ratio of 101.1 at the end of 2013 compared to November’s 100.9.

As for France and Germany, Europe’s main powerhouses, the OECD report expected economic activities to gain ground. Their ratios were above the long term average rate of 100, with respectively a ratio of 100.5 and 100.8 for December after 100.3 and 100.7 reported a month earlier.

But The Guardian adds a qualification:

OECD admits overstating growth forecasts amid eurozone crisis and global crash

Biggest forecasting errors were made when looking at the prospects for the next year, rather than the current year, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said

A failure to spot the severity of the eurozone crisis and the impact of the meltdown of the global banking system led to consistent forecasting errors in recent years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development admitted on Tuesday.

The Paris-based organisation said it repeatedly overestimated growth prospects for countries around the world between 2007 and 2012. The OECD revised down forecasts at the onset of the financial crisis, but by an insufficient degree, it said.

“Forecasts were revised down consistently and very rapidly when the financial crisis erupted, but growth out-turns nonetheless still proved substantially weaker than had been projected,” it said in a paper exploring its forecasting record in recent years.

The biggest forecasting errors were made when looking at the prospects for the next year, rather than the current year.

On to Europe with an alarm from the London Telegraph:

ECB paralysed by German court decision as deflation threatens

The ‘thunderbolt’ ruling on eurozone rescue policies by Germany’s top court marks a serious escalation of Europe’s governance crisis

Last week’s ‘thunderbolt’ ruling on eurozone rescue policies by Germany’s top court marks a serious escalation of Europe’s governance crisis and may ultimately force Germany to withdraw from the euro, the country’s most influential magazine has warned.

A sweeping report by Der Spiegel said the court ruling amounts to a full-blown showdown between Germany and the European Central Bank over the methods to shore up southern Europe’s debt markets.

“It is nothing less than a final reckoning with the crisis-management strategy pursued by the ECB. The German justices insist that the German constitution sets limits on the ECB’s crisis strategy. In a worst-case scenario, the Court could forbid Berlin from contributing to efforts to save the euro or even force Germany to leave the currency zone entirely,” it said.

The warning came as market analysts began to see the darker implications of the ruling, which was initially seen as a green light for the ECB’s bond operations.

From the London Telegraph again, a contrarian take:

Schaeuble: German court decision no threat to eurozone

The German finance minister plays down damage of ruling that powerful ECB tool could be unconstitutional

Curbing the European Central Bank’s (ECB) powers to do “whatever it takes” to save the eurozone will not harm the single currency, the German finance minister has claimed.

Wolfgang Schaeuble said that although the ECB’s most effective tool for calming the eurozone debt markets, unlimited bond buying, could be ruled illegal by the European Court of Justice, that financial markets are now confident that the eurozone will remain intact.

“I think the return of financial market confidence in the stability of the euro has been due not only, not even primarily, to the ECB’s (unlimited bond buying) announcement,” said Mr Schaeuble in an interview with Reuters.

New Europe debunks:

Mobile EU citizens are mainly young people looking for job opportunities

Mobile EU citizens are often overqualified for the jobs they take up and may be paid less

A new study on the integration of mobile EU citizens was published today by the European Commission.

The study, which was carried out by Ernst and Young, focused on six European cities, chosen for the multinational composition of their population. The cities were Barcelona, Dublin, Hamburg, Lille, Prague and Turin. According to the study, most of the mobile EU citizens are young people looking for job opportunities.

The study showed that the the inflow of younger, working age EU citizens has had a positive economic impact in the cities under examination. For example in Turin, a local evaluation indicated that tax revenues from foreigners on the whole brought a net benefit of €1.5 billion to national public finances. Moreover, the newcomers have helped fill gaps in local labour markets, contributed to growth in new sectors and have helped balance out ageing populations. However, the study found that mobile EU citizens are often overqualified for the jobs they take up and may be paid less and at the same time do not always benefit from the same access to housing and education.

On to Britain and ongoing misery from Sky News:

UK Floods Could Last Months, Scientist Warns

Some 1.6 million properties across Britain are now at risk of groundwater flooding and there is no end in sight, an expert says.

Scientists have told Sky News that groundwater levels are now so high that parts of Britain face a serious risk of flooding for weeks or even months to come.

Andy McKenzie, a groundwater scientist at the British Geological Survey, told Sky News that even if the rain stopped today, so much water is soaking through the soil that levels are likely to keep rising for another two months.

The risk of flooding could remain high until May, he said.

Figures exclusively revealed to Sky News show that boreholes used to measure the height of the water table are overflowing in many areas, with the highest levels ever recorded.

The Guardian covers austerian pluvial accounting:

Government raised bar for funding of flood defence schemes

Defra wanted to see an average of £8 of damage avoided for every £1 it would spend on schemes

Coalition ministers made it more difficult for flood defence schemes to get funding by introducing tougher targets demanding 60% more “benefits” for every pound spent on protection, it has emerged.

Under the new rules brought in three years ago, the Department for Environment Food And Rural Affairs (Defra) wanted to see an average of £8 of damage avoided for every £1 they would spend on schemes.

Previously, projects were simply expected to deliver more than £1 of damage avoided for every £1 spent, with an average across all schemes of £5 of damage avoided for every £1 spent.

On hand giveth whilst the other taketh away, via Reuters:

Barclays to cut 12,000 jobs, pays bigger bonuses

Barclays said it would axe up to 12,000 jobs this year even as it raised bonuses for investment bankers, prompting fury among politicians and unions who said it had not learned the lessons of the financial crisis.

Britain’s third-biggest bank said up to 9 percent of employees could go, including 7,000 in Britain, as it tries to lower costs. The cuts are not concentrated in any one business area.

It said it paid 2.4 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) in incentive awards last year, raising bonuses at the investment bank by 13 percent despite a slump in its profits. The average bonus for the investment bank’s 26,200 staff was 60,100 pounds.

Critics of the bonus hike said it showed Britain’s biggest banks were still failing to heed the lessons of a financial crisis caused by dangerous risk taking and excessive pay.

The Independent calls the shots:

Revealed: Big Pharma’s hidden links to NHS policy, with senior MPs saying medical industry uses ‘wealth to influence government’

NHS bosses allowed a lobbying company working for some of the world’s biggest drugs and medical equipment firms to write a draft report which could help shape future health policy. NHS England commissioned a group called the Specialised Healthcare Alliance (SHCA) to consult with patients’ groups, charities and health organisations and produce a report feeding into its future five-year strategy for commissioning £12bn of services.

But the SHCA has confirmed to The Independent that it is entirely funded by commercial “members”. Its director, John Murray, is also a lobbyist whose company lists some of the world’s biggest drug and medical device firms as clients.

Mr Murray put his name on a foreword to the NHS England document along with James Palmer, the clinical director of specialised services at NHS England, with whom he admits he has had “many meetings [on] a wide range of organisations and interests”.

The findings raise significant questions about links between the lobbying industry and NHS England – a quango set up to run the NHS under the Government’s health reforms.

Hints of Banksters Behaving Badly from The Guardian:

Bank of England launches inquiry into forex manipulation claims

Senior currency trader says Bank officials condoned information sharing between traders under investigation

The Bank of England has launched an internal inquiry into allegations that its officials endorsed sharing of information between traders in the foreign exchange market, the central bank’s deputy governor told MPs.

The inquiry will examine claims that at a meeting between Bank officials and senior currency traders last April the officials said it was permissible for traders in different banks to share information about clients’ positions ahead of the setting of a benchmark rate in the foreign exchange market.

On to Iceland and a crisis resurrection from DutchNews.nl:

Icesave dispute reopened, Dutch and British demand €3.5bn

The Dutch and British authorities have reopened their dispute with Iceland over the bankruptcy of online bank Icesave by filing claims for up to €3.5bn from the Icelandic bank guarantee fund.

The Netherlands and Britain chose to compensate savers who lost billions when Iceland bank Landsbanki collapsed in 2008 from their own domestic guarantee schemes. At the time, this was seen as a sort of loan to Iceland.

However, last year a European court ruled Iceland itself was not responsible for repaying the cash.

Iceland again, and misbehavior in high places from the Reykjavík Grapevine:

Protest At Interior Ministry

Three organisations will be holding simultaneous protests at the Ministry of the Interior tomorrow at noon, demanding the minister’s resignation.

The Alda – Association for Sustainability and Democracy, activist organisation Attac and refugee and immigration rights group No Borders have all planned protests in front of the ministry at noon tomorrow. These protests call for the resignation of Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, whose ministry is being investigated by the police for allegedly leaking a memo which falsely impugned on Nigerian asylum seeker Tony Omos and the mother of his child, Evelyn Glory Joseph. Lawyers for both Tony and Evelyn filed charges against the ministry, including breach of confidentiality, slander, and abuse of public office.

Alda has called the ministry’s handling of the case as being “characterised by silence, arrogance, and contradictory statements”. No Borders has taken matters further, saying that Tony Omos’ asylum case should be re-introduced for consideration in light of the unfair treatment he has received.

Norway next, with a familiar theme from EUbusiness:

Norway’s populists demand immigration referendum

Days after the Swiss narrowly voted to curb immigration from the EU, Norway’s populist right-wing party on Tuesday demanded a similar referendum in the prosperous Nordic country.

“I won’t take a stance on a quota system like the one the Swiss people have voted for,” said Mazyar Keshvari, immigration spokesman for the Progress Party, a member of the ruling coalition which wants a more restrictive immigration policy.

“But the idea of a referendum is interesting and Norway should also organise a referendum on immigration. I’m completely certain that a majority wants to tighten up” the policy.

Norway is not a member of the EU but is included in the European Economic Area and the Schengen Area which allows relatively unrestricted movement of citizens.

Spain next, and departures from El País:

Is the crisis fueling an exodus?

Studies are trying to pinpoint just how many people are leaving Spain due to rampant unemployment

What if the Spanish exodus caused by the crisis was not quite as massive as we have been led to believe? This is the question that drives a recent study by Carmen González Enríquez, of the Elcano Royal Institute think-tank. Based on information gathered from Spanish consulates, the researcher notes that only two percent of nationals living abroad are Spaniards who left because of the crisis. That is just 39,912 people.

But what if it was the other way around, and we were in fact underestimating the extent of the trend? This is what Amparo González Ferrer, a sociologist and demographics specialist at the CSIC National Research Council, claims. She says that the number of émigrés who left the country between 2008 and 2012 — rather than the number of Spaniards living abroad — is closer to 700,000 than the official figure of 225,000. That Spain is losing population to emigration is unquestionable in view of the data. The latest census report by the National Statistics Institute (INE), containing data up to January 2013, shows a drop of 135,538 people during 2012, taking the population down to 47,129,783.

But how many Spaniards are actually leaving due to the economic situation? There is a debate among the scientific community because of the absence of a statistical mechanism that can quickly and efficiently register the departure of nationals.

And a blow to Iberian Brits from TheLocal.es:

Spain’s UK expats to lose free NHS health care

Thousands of British expats who have taken early retirement in Spain will now have to get private health insurance following the UK government’s decision to scrap free access to their local Spanish health care system.

The change in legislation, set to be implemented on April 1st, will affect only those who haven’t already completed a Social Security residual form S1 before leaving the UK.

However, once their current form comes to an end, jobless UK expats in Spain are likely to also be obliged to buy private medical insurance.

Up to now, unemployed Brits in Spain and other EEA countries who were under the age of 65 were able to pass on their health care costs to the UK Treasury.

And a case of Royals Behaving Badly from El País:

Prosecutor seeks 19 years in prison for princess’s husband Urdangarin

More than half of Nóos case suspects may not face charges

Infanta Cristina could be required to pay 600,000 in civil liability

Princess Cristina will have to return 600,000 euros if husband found guilty

After Princess Cristina’s unprecedented testimony before an investigating judge in Palma de Mallorca on Saturday, the anticorruption prosecutor in the Nóos investigation, Pedro Horrach, maintains that the infanta should not be implicated in the business dealings of her husband, former Olympic handball medalist Iñaki Urdangarin, and has also stated that over half of the 40 official suspects in the case should not face charges.

However, the prosecutor has now asked that Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma, should face a 19-year prison sentence and his former business partner Diego Torres 15 years, both on charges of embezzlement, falsifying documents, tax fraud and other financial crimes. Torres’ brother-in-law and financial advisor, Miguel Tejeiro, who designed the shell companies and tax fiddles though which Torres and Urdangarin allegedly funneled millions of euros of public money, also faces 19 years if found guilty.

On to Italy and a low rating from ANSAmed:

Italy bottom in EU for labour-cost competitiveness

100 euros of labout costs generated 126% of added value in 2010

Italy is the bottom of the European Union when it comes to the competitiveness of labour costs, national statistics agency Istat said in a report Tuesday. Istat said every 100 euros an Italian business spent on labour costs in 2010, the most recent year in which there is comparative data for the rest of the EU, generated added value of 126%.

This was lowest in the EU and way behind the figure of 211.7% for Romania. Istat said that labour-cost competitiveness improved in 2011, with every 100 euros of labour costs generating 128.5% of added value.(ANSAmed).

Bunga Bunga politics from Deutsche Welle:

Berlusconi back on trial for political corruption

Italy’s scandal-ridden former premier Silvio Berlusconi is back in court yet again. This time he is facing charges of having bribed an opposition politician to swap sides.

Silvio Berlusconi’s latest trial opened in the southern Italian city of Naples on Tuesday, with the former premier facing charges of having used bribery to persuade a senator to join his party in 2006.

Berlusconi was not at Tuesday’s hearing and was not obliged to attend under Italian law.

He is accused of giving a 3-million-euro ($4.1-million) bribe to senator Sergio De Gregorio to entice him into leaving the anti-corruption Italy of Values party to join Berlusconi’s own People of Freedom party. The prosecution sees the bribe as part of a plan to bring down the-then center-left coalition of Romano Prodi.

Prodi still won in 2006, but his coalition finally collapsed in 2008, paving the way for early elections and Berlusconi’s return to power. De Gregorio, who had formed part of Prodi’s coalition, defected to Berlusconi’s conservatives and was re-elected in that capacity in 2008.

And from Deutsche Welle, resurrection?:

Berlusconi comeback in European elections?

Silvio Berlusconi is planning his comeback in Europe. Thus far, Brussels isn’t taking the idea too seriously. But his appeal at the ECJ and a political rehabilitation in Italy might make it possible.

Those who know Silvio Berlusconi won’t be surprised that he is planning a comeback on an international platform. At a meeting with his re-established political party, Forza Italia, in January, the former Italian prime minister announced his plans to run for office during European elections in May 2014 – despite the fact that a law forbids him from doing exactly that.

The so-called “Legge Severino” is a law prohibiting convicts to run for a post for six years. And then there’s the Mediaset verdict imposing a two-year-ban from public office; both obstacles in the way of the former premier, who was convicted on tax fraud charges and is currently facing more recent charges of bribery.

For a while now, Berlusconi’s lawyers have been working on a plan to circumvent the “Severino” law, according to reports in the Italian media. That plan leads directly to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxemburg, where Berlusconi has already filed for appeal proceedings.

ANSAmed grimly enumerates:

Almost one in four Italians in dire straits

24.9% of households in situation of ‘deprivation’

Almost one in four Italian households, 24.9%, are in a situation of “deprivation”, Istat said Tuesday, as they are positive for at least three of the statistics agency’s nine factors of economic hardship. These include the inability to meet unexpected expenses, being behind in loan payments or being unable to afford a meal with a high protein content at least once every two days.

Istat said the percentage of people in a situation of deprivation was 22.3% in 2011, when Italy entered its longest postwar recession.

More from TheLocal.it:

Italians pay almost as much tax as the Swedes

Average tax levels in Italy grew from 41.3 percent in 2000 to 42.5 percent in 2011, the agency said.

Meanwhile, the average rate in Sweden, where taxpayers receive favourable social benefits in return for their high contributions, actually fell from 51.7 percent in 2000 to 44.7 percent in 2012.

Taxes in Italy might be almost as high as in Sweden, but the main gripe among Italians is that they don’t get the same high standard of services in return, whether that be in healthcare, education or public transport.

Istat’s report, called Noi Italia, also revealed that just 61 percent of Italians between the ages of 20 and 64 have jobs, well below the 75 percent employment level stipulated by the European Union, had jobs in 2012.

Women fared the worst, with just 50.5 percent – one of the worst rates in Europe – being in work in 2012, while 71.6 percent of working-age men were employed.

From Reuters, revelatory blowback:

Italian President Napolitano under fire over Monti appointment

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano faced fierce criticism on Monday over reports that he asked Mario Monti about replacing Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister months before his government fell at the height of the euro zone crisis in 2011.

Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party expressed “bitterness and shock” at the reports, based on interviews with Monti and others in a forthcoming book by journalist Alan Friedman, extract of which were published by the Financial Times and the Corriere della Sera newspapers.

Although the events recounted in the book occurred more than two years ago, they risk reopening wounds between the parties that could complicate the already difficult situation facing Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s fragile ruling coalition, which is struggling to adopt economic and political reforms.

“We are dismayed to learn that, as early as June 2011, the head of state was actively taking steps to bring down the Berlusconi government and replace him with Mario Monti,” the parliamentary floor leaders of Forza Italia, Renato Brunetta and Paolo Romani, said in a statement.

After the jump, the latest from Greece, a Cypriot uptick, Mexican vigilante motives, Myanmar miseries, troubles for Australian industry and ministerial corporateering, Chinese strategy, bad numbers for Japan, environmental woes, a Big Agra GMO win, and Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .

To Vima brings us the first Greek headline:

Farmers reinforce blockades ahead of government meeting

Farmer representatives are heading to Athens to meet with the Minister of Agricultural Development

The farmers in Northern Greece have decided to reinforce the road blocks that they have established on the national high ways, as they prepare for a new round of talks with government executives. Representatives are going to meet with the Minister of Agricultural Development today, while an appointment with the Minister of Finances is being scheduled for tomorrow.

A rally for this Thursday at 3pm has been announced by the farmers in Thessaly, who wish to gain the support of employees from different sectors. The farmers at the Kouloura junction are considering a symbolic protest today, while the farmers in Pella have occupied the tax office in Edessa.

The farmers from Serres are considering demonstrating against the government’s tax policy tomorrow outside their local tax office. Furthermore, the farmers at the road block at Vasilika in Thessaloniki are going to cut off the traffic at 1pm, while their colleagues from Viotia will head to Tragana toll booths to demonstrate against the recent toll hike.

From EnetEnglish.gr, political bankruptcy:

New Democracy and Pasok: the coalition of the bankrupt

Bulk of governing parties’ €270m bank debts are non-performing, EU commissioner confirms

The confirmation that the bullk of the €270m debt owed by New Democracy and Pasok to the banks is non-performing means they are ‘officially bankrupt’, says liberal MEP Theodoros Skylakakis

The parties of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos are unable to meet repayments on the €270m they owe to the banks

Since January 2013, the country’s governing parties – coalition partners New Democracy and Pasok – have failed to make loan repayments on the bulk of the massive €270m they owe to the banks, the European Commission has confirmed.

Replying to a written question from Greek liberal MEP Theodoros Skylakakis, European commissioner for competition, Joaquín Almunia, confirmed that the parties have not been provided with any new loans since January 2013, when outside inspectors were appointed to verify “proper governance and the use of commercial criteria in key policy decisions” at the National Bank, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank and Eurobank.

“This includes also monitoring the process of new lending and restructuring of existing loans of the connected borrowers including political parties,” the commissioner said in his reply, dated February 7.

“Based on the available information no new loan to a political party has been granted since January 2013. Three of the four monitored banks hold loans to the political parties described in your question. The vast majority of these loans are non-performing, as they were already in January 2013.”

To Vima protests:

Demonstration in Syntagma over “racist” election rights amendment

Protesters demonstrate against amendment excluding legally residing migrants and expatriates from elections

The Ministry of Interior recently decided to pass an amendment according to which expatriates and legally-residing nationals from third countries are not allowed to participate in municipal elections, prompting migrant clubs and anti-racist organizations to react.

A demonstration against what is being perceived as a racist amendment has been organized for Tuesday afternoon at 7pm outside parliament. The groups demand that it be withdrawn immediately and restore the right for everyone residing permanently in the country to have to vote and stand.

The protesters claim that the amendment is “another gift of Samaras to the Golden Dawn neo-Nazis” and stress that government policies are increasingly becoming racist, citing the tragedy in Farmakonisi, the brutal assault against migrant workers in Manolada and Golden Dawn’s racist pogroms, such as the murder of Shehzad Luqman in Petralona

And an attack from Kathimerini English:

Guerrilla group claims ‘anti-capitalist’ attack on German envoy’s home

The far-leftist guerrilla group Group of Popular Fighters on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an attack in December on the home of the German ambassador in Athens, describing it as a protest against the “German capitalist machine” and ongoing austerity in Greece.

In a proclamation published on the website of To Pontiki newspaper, the group said it carried out the attack to express solidarity with Greeks whose living standards have been slashed by austerity measures. “As we sprayed gunfire at the hyper-luxury home of the German ambassador we imagined beside us the thousands of people who line up at soup kitchens… the unemployed, those working for 400 euros [a month],” it said.

The group, which also claimed an attack on the headquarters of New Democracy in January last year, said the hit on the German ambassador’s home was in memory of Dimitris Christoulas, a pensioner who shot himself in Syntagma Square in April 2012 in protest at the austerity measures.

More from The Guardian:

Failed rocket attack targeted Mercedes Benz offices in Greece

Extremists calling themselves ‘group of popular fighters’ declare they are at war with ‘the German capitalist machine’

Greek authorities are on alert after anti-terror units discovered evidence of a bungled rocket attack against the headquarters of Mercedes Benz, hours after a guerilla organisation claimed responsibility for a previous assault against the German ambassador’s residence in Athens.

Fuelling further fears of a resurgence of violence in a country torn by political unrest, extremists calling themselves “group of popular fighters” declared they were at war with “the German capitalist machine”.

The group said it had attacked the Athens branch of Mercedes-Benz, firing a rocket into its central offices on the northern fringes of the capital on 12 January.

Following up on the claims, last night, experts discovered ground markings that suggested a rocket had indeed been fired in the vicinity of the outlet but, missing its target, had landed in a field.

To Vima liberates:

Mayor and municipal officers of Oropos arrested at Malakasa set free

Minister of Infrastructure claims the toll hike will not apply to local residents and holiday home owners

The nine people who were arrested for a rally that escalated with an arson attack against a toll booth in Malakasa have been taken to prosecutor to state their plea and later set free. The nine people are facing charges of disrupting the peace, arson, disrupting transport security, obstructing transport, traffic disturbance, excess damage and highway code violations.

Amongst the nine arrested is the Mayor of Oropos Yannis Economakos, four deputy mayors, two municipal councilors and two presidents of local unions. At present the investigation is focused on determining who set fire to the toll booth, with the police hinting that further people may be detained and additional charges may be pressed against them.

Reactions against the arrest of the mayor have been fierce, with SYRIZA demanding “the immediate release of the mayor of Oropos and the other citizens who have been arrested” and accused the government “of losing its temper”, while stressing that the toll hike will “turn the area into a peculiar apartheid economy”.

On to Cyprus and upbeat news from New Europe:

Cyprus: economy fares better than expected

Statement by the European Commission, ECB and IMF on the Third Review Mission to Cyprus

The bailed out Cypriot economy is performing better than expected according to a statement by the troika -the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund after a visit to Nikosia to assess its progress.

“Cyprus’s programme remains on track, with the macro-fiscal outturn better than expected. Fiscal targets for 2013 have been met with considerable margin, due to both continued prudent budget execution and a less severe recession than anticipated,” a statement issued by the troika on February 11 says.

The Cypriot economy is estimated to have contracted by about 6% in real terms, whch, while significant, is almost two percentage points better than forecasted at the time of the last review according to the review.

And on to Mexico and an assessment from GlobalPost:

Why Mexico’s ‘drug war’ is not about drugs

‘We aren’t against drug traffickers,’ says a self-defense leader. ‘We are against organized crime.’

In the past year, the capture of town after town by volunteer police and citizen militias in the Pacific coast states of Michoacan and Guerrero has roiled and embarrassed President Enrique Pena Nieto’s government.

Officials have dispatched thousands of troops and militarized police to contain the “self-defense” groups, which claim they’re filling a vacuum left by incompetent or corrupt officials.

But many of the civilians taking on the gangs that control the region say they care little about illicit narcotics, which have been supplying US and Mexican consumers for decades. They just want the criminals to leave ordinary residents in peace.

“Drug trafficking is always going to continue,” says Neftali Villagomez, a 66-year-old butcher who now commands nearly 400 armed vigilantes in Tierra Colorada, a rural market town 35 miles north of the gang-ravaged resort of Acapulco.

“We aren’t against drug traffickers,” he says. “We are against organized crime.”

More from El País:

“The Michoacán self-defense forces are not criminals”

Peña Nieto’s special commissioner believes gaining the vigilantes’ trust is vital for peace

In the rotten environment that permeates Mexico’s Michoacán state – where nobody trusts anyone and everyone blames each other – Alfredo Castillo Cervantes cherishes hope.

A lawyer by profession and politician as a pastime, 39-year-old Castillo was appointed last month by President Enrique Peña Nieto to become his special commissioner in Michoacán. He is in charge of trying to quash the violence between drug traffickers and vigilante groups and at the same time oversee a federal government development program.

In a recent interview, Castillo played down fierce criticism in the media about the existence of the self-defense forces, who are described by many as paramilitaries and criminals disguised as law-abiding citizens. The commissioner believes that peace in the region can be accomplished if mutual trust exists between the vigilante forces and the Mexican government.

On to Asia and shared concern with Europe Online:

German president raises concerns over Myanmar sectarian violence

Visiting German President Joachim Gauck on Tuesday raised concerns over clashes between Myanmar’s majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities, especially the Rohingyas.

There has been a surge in sectarian violence since 2012 when fighting broke out in Rakhine State, home to about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims who were made stateless by a law passed in 1982.

“I am concerned, as are so many others, when I hear of the ongoing violence between Buddhists and Muslims in your country,” Gauck said in a speech at Yangon University.

At least 167 people died in the 2012 clashes, and 120,000 were made homeless, most of them Rohingyas.

From Down Under, keeping healthy news on the down low from The Guardian:

Healthy food rating website pulled by staffer married to industry lobbyist

The assistant health minister’s chief of staff stopped nutritional information on packaged food and drinks being made available

The owner of a lobbying firm that represents food and beverage companies is married to the assistant health minister’s staffer who personally intervened to have a healthy food rating website pulled within a few hours of it being launched.

The website rates food based on its nutritional value and gives it a star rating.

A spokeswoman for Fiona Nash previously confirmed the minister’s office intervened to have the website pulled a few hours after its launch last week, saying it was premature. In Senate question time on Tuesday, Nash said her chief of staff, Alastair Furnival, had discussions with the department about pulling the website.

Furnival is married to Tracey Cain, the owner of Australian Public Affairs, which represents the Australian Beverages Council and Mondelez, Nash also confirmed. Mondelez is the parent company of Cadbury and Kraft, while the council represents Schweppes, Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

And from Nikkei Asian Review, another blow:

Suppliers may follow Toyota out of Australia

With Toyota planning to end Australian production, Denso and other affiliated autoparts makers will also rethink their operations Down Under.

Denso is expected to stop making air conditioners, instrument panels and other components locally. Until now, these parts have gone into cars built at a Toyota factory in the state of Victoria. That facility is to shut down by the end of 2017.

Denso will consider continuing the sales side of its unit there.

Toyota Boshoku will look to end or scale down production of car seats and other components in Victoria, where a subsidiary has around 400 employees. Neither company has decided what will become of workers.

On to China and a prescription from Want China Times:

Reform the only way to see real recovery: Chinese economist

The global financial crisis is not over but is just entering a new stage and implementing reforms is the only way to see it off for good, the Shanghai-based China Business News reports, citing Li Yang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Li made the comments on Sunday at a CASS seminar on 2014′s economic outlook. Through observing developed economies, it can be seen that the most difficult part of the crisis is over, he said, but the fundamental factors which led to the crisis have not disappeared. More importantly, most governments have used unorthodox measures to cope with the effects of the crisis, he said, and while they were designed to prevent the crisis from worsening, these measures have added to the burden for a recovery, making the process unclear and confusing.

Developed economies have a serious bias towards the consumer, with their economic structure relying too much on the service industry, weakening their manufacturing industry, Li said. An end to the crisis depends on whether the biased development model can be resolved, and clearly this has yet to be seen, he said.

Japan next, with a warning from the Mainichi:

Steady drop in Japan’s current account surplus could boost risk of financial collapse

Japan’s current account surplus has dropped for three consecutive years since 2011 — the year when the Great East Japan Earthquake devastated the country’s northeast and had a serious negative impact on the economy.

The current account surplus for 2013 shrank to about one-eighth of the 24.93 trillion yen registered for 2007. Furthermore, the trade deficit, which has held down the current account surplus for three consecutive years, was 83 percent higher in 2013 than the record 5.81 trillion yen recorded in 2012.

Japan’s exports increased 9.0 percent to 66.97 trillion yen in 2013 from a year earlier. Imports, on the other hand, jumped 15.4 percent to 77.61 trillion yen over the same period. Yen depreciation vastly inflated the cost of imported fuels such as crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) that were needed to generate power in the wake of the shutdown of Japan’s nuclear reactors. Meanwhile, the 2013 income account surplus rose to 16.53 trillion yen, the best since 1985 and up for the third straight year. Because the income account surplus covered the deficits in trade, services and other accounts, Japan has been able to maintain a current account surplus.

ZeroHedge has bad numbers:

Japan Machine Orders Crumble At Fastest Pace In 22 Years As BOJ Board Member Warns More QE May Not Be Coming

If you needed another reason to buy stocks, trust in the growth meme, and have your faith in Abenomics confirmed… look away. Japanese Machine orders for December just printed -15.7% in December – the biggest MoM plunge since 1992. This is the biggest miss to expectations since 2006 and what is considerably more problematic for Abe et al. is that YoY expectations of a core machine order rise of 17.4% was hopelessly missed with a small 6.7% gain (and this is data that excludes more volatile orders).

As Bloomberg notes, core machine orders are an indicator of future capital expenditure and it seems, just as in the US, that thanks to “stocks” now being considered central bank policy tools that capex no longer means productive capital use… it means buybacks, dividends, and shareholder recaps in any which way we can.

The Asahi Shimbun hints of things to come:

600,000 votes for Tamogami may signal rise of ultraconservatives

Toshio Tamogami’s strong showing in the Feb. 9 election for Tokyo governor far exceeded the expectations of campaign strategists even in his own camp and in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, suggesting an undercurrent of ultraconservatism among the electorate.

The former Air Self-Defense Force chief of staff, who denies Japan’s war of aggression, came in fourth with 611,000 votes, double the separate projections by his camp and the LDP. The figure represents 12 percent of all ballots cast.

A senior official of the Tamogami camp declared that a new political force was born.

“We do not feel we lost,” said the official, visibly agitated. “So many people are fed up with the delusions and the hypocrisy of postwar Japan.”

On to Fukushimapocalypse Now!

First up, the latest horror story from the Japan Times:

Regulators expected to demand detailed explanation for latest evasion

Tepco hid record-level radiation data last July

Tokyo Electric Power Co. did not tell the public until recently that massively high levels of radiation were found in groundwater collected last July at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, even though the utility was aware of the data that month, according to sources.

Tepco released the data on Feb. 6 showing that the groundwater contained a record 5 million becquerels per liter of radioactive strontium-90.

When Tepco reported the data to the Nuclear Regulation Authority last week, it initially claimed that it had only recently compiled the data, NRA sources said.

However, the embattled utility later corrected the timing, apparently showing that it had withheld the record readings, the sources said.

The Mainichi raises concerns:

Many foreigners in Fukushima fled after crisis, news reporting questioned

Many foreign nationals living in Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the March 2011 nuclear crisis say they relocated either to their home countries or within Japan, according to a survey by a nonprofit group.

The Fukushima International Association said its survey also showed that they were troubled by the difference in media coverage between Japan and their home countries and that most of them relied on TV rather than radio because of language barriers.

Of the 70 foreigners who were living in the prefecture in late 2012 and interviewed by the association, 51 people (73 percent) said they evacuated. Of them, 29 left Japan for their home countries, while 21 moved out of the prefecture and one within the prefecture.

The Yomiuri Shimbun carries relentlessly on:

Govt energy policy to have nuclear base

The government will stipulate in its new basic energy plan that nuclear power is “a base-load power source” and reactivate idle reactors if the Nuclear Regulation Authority confirms their safety, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The plan will set the direction of the nation’s midterm and long-term energy policy.

The government aims to adopt the plan in a Cabinet meeting this month, according to government sources.

In December, an Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry committee of experts drew up a draft for the plan, calling nuclear power “a fundamental and important base-load power source.”

From the Japan Daily Press, opposition:

Ex-PMs Hosokawa, Koizumi will continue to fight for end of nuclear power usage

Despite Morihiro Hosokawa’s loss for the Tokyo gubernatorial bid, both he and ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will continue to campaign against the use of nuclear energy in Japan. Hosokawa had been calling to end the use of nuclear energy during his campaign for the nation’s largest city.

Former health minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party-backed candidate Yoichi Masuzoe won the election for the coveted post. After most media coverage of the elections announced his rival’s victory, Hosokawa said “I will continue my anti-nuclear activities with those who gave me warm support in this election.” In his statement, he offered thanks to Koizumi, “who took to the streets throughout his campaign.” Last weekend’s Tokyo elections became a war of popular vote between pro and anti-nuclear energy supporters. Opposition to the LDP’s move to restart nuclear reactors continued to rise and gain a foothold while Hosokawa ran for governor, backed by Koizumi, who remains to be popular and has a say in important issues of the government.

And from The Guardian, a British nuclear financial leak:

Sellafield: MPs warn US-led consortium over escalating cost of clean-up

Margaret Hodge says Nuclear Management Partners’ contract should be terminated if performance does not improve

The American-led consortium presiding over the clean-up of hazardous nuclear waste at Sellafield must be stripped of its contract if it does not improve a performance that has seen the bill rise to more than £70bn, according to a committee of MPs.

A report from the public accounts committee said progress at the nuclear complex in Cumbria had been poor, with missed targets, escalating costs, slipping deadlines and weak leadership.

The MPs made a series of recommendations focusing on the role of the private consortium, Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), which was brought in by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) six years ago to help improve the plant’s performance.

From Deutsche Welle, Big Agra scores a win:

EU allows DuPont Pioneer’s GM supercorn

EU ministers have allowed the controversial cultivation of a new genetically modified crop, TC1507 corn from the US firm DuPont Pioneer. Opponents failed to muster enough support against the move.

GM corn

In a vote Tuesday, European affairs ministers allowed for the introduction of TC1507. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) do not oppose the technology. However, Agriculture Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, has said he would do whatever he could to make the introduction of GM corn into Germany more difficult.

“We do not want to have the cultivation of [TC1507] in Germany,” Friedrich told Bayern2 radio.

The corn had been under discussion since last year. At the time, a court ordered ministers to decide th

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