{jcomments on}OMAR, BXL, AGNEWS, le 21 juin 2010 — Australia has vowed to leave “no stone unturned” in its efforts to find a group of mining executives whose plane went missing in West Africa.
BURUNDI :
Burundi: Grenade Attacks Mar Run-Up to Election
Judith Basutama/21 June 2010/Radio France Internationale (Paris) /allafrica.com
21 persons were injured in a series of grenade blasts on Friday and Saturday in the town of Kayanza in northern Burundi, reports say.
Opposition parties have been blamed for the attacks after they pulled out of the 28 June presidential poll and alleged vote-rigging in earlier local elections.
The worst grenade attacks took place on Friday night in the town of Kayanza in northern Burundi. The first three grenades thrown in bars left 17 injured. Almost simultaneously, another was blasted near a butcher’s shop and injured three.
Police sources say five other grenades exploded in Kayanza on Saturday night, injuring one person.
This time, the attacks targeted the homes of local opposition leaders in Kayanza, namely the main parliamentary opposition Frodebu and National Liberation Forces (FNL). Four suspects are already in police custody for questioning.
A spate of grenade attacks has rocked the country, since controversial local elections were held on May 24.
Speaking on local radio stations on Friday, an army spokesman termed them “acts of sabotage.”
On Saturday, Burundi head of state Pierre Nkurunziza warned “anyone in possession of firearms to surrender them to the police before June 25, or face sanctions.”
RWANDA
Rwanda distances itself from Joburg shooting
June 21 2010 /www.iol.co.za/By Peter Fabricius Foreign Editor and Sapa-AFP
Rwanda’s foreign minister dismissed suggestions yesterday that his government was involved in the shooting in Joburg of former army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa.
“It is ridiculous,” Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said. “We are not a government – and especially not President (Paul) Kagame – that is inclined to assassinate its own citizens… This government has nothing to do with this kind of activity.”
Nyamwasa’s wife Rosette was reported on Saturday as saying the attack was a politically motivated assassination bid as the gunman spoke Swahili and did not attempt to steal anything.
Yesterday, she was reluctant to talk about the shooting, as the police had asked her not to do so. She denied saying the gunman spoke Swahili. “We did not hear him speak.”
Her husband was now “fine” and “improving” in the Morningside Clinic after being hit in the abdomen with a single bullet as they drove up to their Atholl home on Saturday.
The Rwandan government had asked South Africa to extradite Nyamwasa to Rwanda to face charges relating to a series of grenade attacks in Kigali in February. It is understood that South Africa is considering this request carefully because of concerns about Kagame’s motives.
Nyamwasa fled to South Africa via Uganda earlier this year, apparently after intelligence agents began questioning him about grenade blasts.
He is wanted by a French court for alleged involvement in the shooting down of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana’s aircraft in 1994 and for alleged massacres of Hutus.
And a Spanish court has issued a warrant for his arrest for alleged involvement in the murder of Spanish missionaries and humanitarian workers in Rwanda.
UGANDA
PRESS GALLERY: Kiboko squad shows Uganda is headed the Kenya way
By Emmanuel Gyezaho /www.monitor.co.ug/egyezaho@ug.nationmedia.com/Monday, June 21 2010
On April 16, 2007, MPs Hussein Kyanjo (JEEMA, Makindye West) and Beatrice Anywar (FDC, Kitgum) were arrested and locked up at the Central Police Station in Kampala. They spent the night in jail and were subsequently arraigned at the Buganda Road Court a day later on charges of participating in a riot.
Squad’s birth
The government believed that the two MPs were the brains behind the chaotic and bloody riots that had engulfed the country a week earlier, following that dreaded proposal to dole out part of the Mabira rainforest to a sugarcane planter. Unfortunately, one Asian and two Ugandans had been killed during the riots. Irked by the MPs’ arrest, hundreds of opposition supporters took to the streets in protest.
FDC leader Kizza Besigye and other opposition politicians who had been meeting behind closed doors at the Christ the King Church hall then attempted to march to CPS later that afternoon. They were greeted with pepper spray, teargas and high pressure water. The police action triggered off a chain reaction in the city centre as bystanders scampered for safety. And then lo and behold.
Plain clothed operatives armed with clubs, batons and canes descended upon Buganda Road, sections of Kampala Road, Lumumba Avenue and the Constitutional Square and unleashed terror beating up people indiscriminately. Officially, that was the day the Kiboko squad was born.
Three anniversaries later, however, the notorious gang resurfaced on the streets of Kampala. Same script, same actors. Opposition leader Kizza Besigye and several of his colleagues will live to remember this year’s Heroes Day celebrations.
While President Museveni was handing out a medal of honour in Luweero to Dr Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima—albeit in absentia, for her heroics during the 1981-86 bush war struggle, her husband was receiving a bitter reward for exercising the supposed benefits of political pluralism.
It was a pathetic spectre watching Dr Besigye get beaten in broad-day light by stick-wielding goons as the police stood on watch. And while we were still stomaching this embarrassing incident, Internal Affairs Minister Kirunda Kivejinja then moved to add insult to injury, presenting a government response on the incident to Parliament on Tuesday.
“While the Police was attempting to disperse the group that had come from the Railway Station, another unidentified group armed with sticks appeared from nowhere. They began to disperse everybody and in the process many people were assaulted; I understand Dr Besigye is one of those who were assaulted,” said the minister.
Defending the police’s ineptitude in its failure to apprehend individuals who had taken the law into their hands, the grey-haired minister said the police had not Okayed Dr Besigye’s planned rally and had subsequently commissioned an investigation “to establish the identity, membership, leadership and mission of this group.” The idea, he said, is to “find out who they are”, adding, “Criminal charges will definitely be brought against anyone who will be identified.” Well, well, well; I bet you have heard this before.
Reacting to the statement, Opposition Chief Whip Kassiano Wadri said he had information to suggest that the Kiboko squad “were energised with porridge” from CPS before the attack on Besigye. Mr Kivejinja may feign ignorance about this group but there is a limit to which a falsehood can be defended.
There is television footage showing stick wielding men in April 2007 springing from CPS to openly assault civilians.
In fact, a Daily Monitor investigation at the time revealed that the Kiboko squad was briefed, armed and directed to execute in the know of government. The sticks which the group used to clobber civilians were ferried to the backyard of CPS on a police pick-up truck, the report revealed.
Also, a certain character called Juma Semakula, went on to claim responsibility as leader of the squad, telling journalists that his men were part of the police’s Usalama project, created to help police in crowd control. And let it not be forgotten that Police Chief Gen. Kale Kayihura on March 14, 2007 launched the Usalama project in Kawempe where some 300 people were conscripted.
Each division in Kampala was supposed to recruit about 300 people. So what the heck is Mr Kivejinja talking about? Judging from Besigye’s Heroes Day misadventures, it would be correct to say that there is no difference between the police and the kiboko squad. They stood on guard together as Besigye got beaten. The incident is similar to a situation where one finds a young, helpless woman being raped and stands by watching. Would there be any difference between the rapist and you the bystander?
That is exactly what the police did. It was a preposterous sight that is telling of just how pathetic our politics has degenerated. Look, even if anyone may not want to vote Besigye, the man still deserves respect as a citizen of this country who has vied for the biggest job in the land. He is president of Uganda’s biggest opposition political party.
It is easy to forget that the suppression of dissenting voices is always at the root of political instability world over. With talk of retaliation from the opposition, we are now seeing a Kenya in the making right here, only a few months to the next election. And that is a sad commentary.
FLOWERS
It pays to be informed and Bukedea County MP Charles Oduman is one informed man. Over the years I have seen MPs debate on the floor for the sake of grandstanding, making nothing but polemic statements.
Only in his first term as an MP, Oduman continues to do himself proud. He is one of very few politicians to receive applause in this column for the second time. The government tabled a request before Parliament last week to authorise the release of Shs5.6billion for next month’s AU summit.
Mr Oduman was instrumental last week in revealing to the House that Parliament had long sanctioned at least Shs8 billion for the summit, to the shock of several MPs. Had it not been for his intervention, MPs would have approved the request without serious thought even though the House had already provided just enough money to host the summit.
For the commendable intervention, flowers for you Bwana Oduman
FROWNS
Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Aronda Nyakairima is the undoubted recipient of this inglorious award. Last week, the top military man said the army would “step in to crush opposition politicians” who engage in demonstrations.
He made the startling comments forgetful of provisions of Article 29/1 (d) of the Constitution which stipulates that “every person shall have a right to assemble and demonstrate together with others peacefully and unarmed to petition.”
General Aronda’s overzealous comments betray the spirit of the Constitution as prescribed by Article 208 (2) which says the UPDF is supposed to be non-partisan, professional, disciplined and subordinate to civilian authority. Because the government has declined to permit the con
duct of peaceful demonstrations does not mean that the military should step in to crush the opposition.
Two wrongs will certainly not make a right. The army chief must be ruled out of order for making such preposterous statements. For bringing your uniform into disrepute, frowns for you Ndugu Aronda.
TANZANIA:
CONGO RDC :
Locals warn little chance for missing Aussies after west Africa crash
John Ferguson / Herald Sun/ June 21, 2010
THE best hope for the missing is they have landed on an obscure landing strip somewhere in Cameroon.
If not – and there are survivors – they may well have crashed in some of the toughest and most treacherous country on earth.
Reports suggest the board members of Sundance Resources were heading toward the Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon in west Africa.
There is a saying among reporters who work in west Africa – WAWA.
Which means west Africa wins again, an observation that underpins the challenges faced by outsiders when they tried to deal with the unique nature of the African wilds.
It is just as possible that the plane ended up somewhere in the Congo, which houses some of the most inhospitable and violent country on earth.
The Republic of the Congo borders Cameroon and is in the same region as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The DRC is where more than five million people have died in recent years due to war, crime and poverty, playing host to the refugees who fled after the Rwandan massacre in 1994.
The Congo in general is a highly diverse, impoverished, equatorial region which is heavily-forested and with poor communications.
While they talk of borders in Africa, they are among the most porous in the world, with refugees and armies crossing at will, depending on the circumstances of the day.
While the outlook is grim for the survivors, Cameroon would be the preferred place to have landed.
KENYA :
ANGOLA :
SOUTH AFRICA:
AFRICA / AU :
Australia to assist W Africa plane search
Monday, 21 June 2010/news.bbc.co.uk
Australia has vowed to leave “no stone unturned” in its efforts to find a group of mining executives whose plane went missing in West Africa.
The plane, carrying nine passengers, disappeared on Saturday while flying from Cameroon to Republic of Congo.
One of Australia’s richest men, Ken Talbot, is amongst the missing.
The group left the Cameroonian capital Yaounde to visit iron ore projects in Yangadou, a remote area of Congo.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has pledged consular and diplomatic assistance to the search efforts.
“This is deeply concerning to all of us,” he said.
“We will leave literally no stone unturned in our efforts to try and help what is a concerning set of developments for these families.”
Dense forest
Australia’s High Commissioner to Nigeria was travelling to Cameroon along with two other officials, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.
Cameroon’s government has said that, aside from six Australians, two British, two French and one American were also onboard the aircraft.
Cameroon’s military is leading a ground and air search over dense forest.
Aviation officials say they lost contact with the aircraft one hour after it left Yaounde.
The plane was chartered by Australian mining company Sundance Resources.
The area they were visiting includes the Mbalam project which straddles Cameroon and Congo – where Sundance Resources is hoping to extract 35m tonnes of iron ore a year.
Sundance Resources said after it was reported that the plane had not landed on Saturday its efforts had been focused on co-ordinating with the authorities in Cameroon, Congo and neighbouring Gabon.
Mr Talbot is a non-executive director of Sundance with an estimated wealth of $840 million (£567m), according to BRW business magazine’s latest rich list.
Rights group calls to halt Zimbabwe diamond trade
By ARON HELLER (AP)/21062010
JERUSALEM — A leading international human rights group called on the global diamond industry’s oversight body on Monday to remove Zimbabwe from its ranks because of alleged illicit trading and abuses in its diamond fields.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said its researchers have found evidence of forced labor, torture, beatings and harassment by troops in the Marange diamond field in eastern Zimbabwe.
The group wants Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Kimberley Process — the global body responsible for ending the trade of so-called “blood diamonds” that fund fighting across Africa.
Zimbabwe denies the allegations.
In a statement this week, Zimbabwean Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu accused human rights groups of “peddling falsehoods” and “demonizing” the country.
“They are working against the people of Zimbabwe. We are a principled country,” the statement said.
The 20-page report was published as industry leaders gathered in Tel Aviv for a Kimberley Process meeting. As its current chair, Israel is hosting the meeting.
Boaz Hirsch, the group’s 2010 chairman, said this year’s meeting will focus heavily on ensuring that the “minimum standards” are maintained in Zimbabwe.
The gathering will hear a report by the special Kimberley Process monitor to the Marange area, Abbey Chikane, who visited the region twice. Earlier this month, Chikane said Zimbabwe was “on track” to meet international diamond mining standards and should be allowed to resume selling diamonds in international markets, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press. The body is expected to follow the recommendation.
The 60,000-hectare (140,000-acre) Marange diamond fields were discovered in 2006, at the height of Zimbabwe’s political, economic and humanitarian crisis. Villagers rushed to the area and began finding diamonds close to the surface.
The military took over the Marange diamond fields in late October 2008.
Last year, the Kimberley Process sanctioned Zimbabwe for “significant noncompliance” but stopped short of expelling it. Earlier this month, Zimbabwe arrested a prominent human rights activist on claims he gave false information to Chikane about the country’s diamond industry.
Human Rights Watch, which previously charged Zimbabwean troops with killing more than 200 people, raping women and forcing children to search for the gems in Marange, wants the sanctions to go further this year.
“We believe that suspending Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process would prevent the international market from being tainted with blood diamonds from Marange,” Tiseke Kasambala, a senior researcher in the group’s Africa division, told The Associated Press.
She said that allowing Zimbabwe to continue trading diamonds would be the same as endorsing a narrow definition of blood diamonds.
“They need to expand their mandate to governments trading diamonds on the backs of their abused citizens,” she added.
The report also alleges that smuggling from the diamond fields has increased under the military presence, with some of the income going to officials of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party — long accused of trampling on human rights and democracy in the southern African country.
Suspension could result in buyers shunning Zimbabwe’s diamonds.
Hirsch said it was in everyone’s interest to work within the system.
“Our goal is to make sure that as many central players as possible in the diamond industry are inside the process and fulfilling the minimum standards,” he said.
In 2002, the U.N. launched the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, a program to certify the origins of rough gems. It allows the diamond industry to block sale of gems mined in conflict zones and assures consumers that diamonds they buy are not financing war and human rights abuses.
Israel does not produce diamonds itself but is a leading polishing and trading center and was among the founders of the Kimberley Process.
The Israel Diamond Institute claims to have the world’s largest diamond trading floor. Spokeswoman Sharon Gefen said gems worth $3.9 billion were exported in 2009 — a 37 percent drop from the previous year because of the global financial crisis.
AP correspondent Angus Shaw contributed from Harare, Zimbabwe.
Australian mining tycoon Ken Talbot goes missing over Africa
Britons reportedly among 11 on chartered flight from Cameroon to Congo-Brazzaville
Peter Walker/ guardian.co.uk/ 21 June 2010
Australian mining executives and one of the country’s richest men are feared dead after their chartered plane went missing over central Africa. Some reports said Britons were also aboard.
Ken Talbot, who made his fortune in coal mining in Queensland, was among nine passengers on the plane chartered by Sundance Resources, a Perth-based iron ore company, the firm said in a statement. The plane disappeared yesterday as it flew from the Cameroon capital, Yaoundé, to the neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville, where the firm has mining interests.
Talbot is a non-executive director of Sundance and his investment company, Talbot Group, owns almost a fifth of it. Also on the plane were Sundance’s chief executive, chairman, company secretary and two other non-executive directors.
Separately, Talbot’s company named a seventh passenger as one of its own executives, Natasha Flason Brian, who is from France but lives in Australia. The plane is said to have had two crew.
Some local reports said British nationals were believed to be among the others missing. The Foreign Office in London said it was aware of the reports.
A search was launched this morning involving planes from Cameroon and Congo. “The families of the missing have been notified and are being supported during this deeply distressing time,” Sundance said, adding that the company had asked Australia’s stock market to halt trading in its shares.
Australia’s foreign minister, Stephen Smith, said six Australians were confirmed as being on the flight, which was travelling over a region of dense jungle. “We are seriously concerned about their safety and wellbeing,” he said.
A spokesman for Talbot Group said they had not heard from Talbot for 24 hours and “we’re keeping our fingers crossed”. He told the Sydney Morning Herald: “It’s a very remote part of the world, where communications are at very best satellite communications only. Until the search party gets out there, which has just happened, we’re not sure.”
Talbot, the son of a New South Wales truck driver, was a mining executive for decades before setting up his own venture, Macarthur Coal, in 1995. Just seven years later, it floated on stock markets with a value of almost £2bn. He later sold his stake and has a personal fortune estimated at nearly AU$1bn (£585m), with luxury homes in locations including Paris and Lake Como, Italy.
Rather than retire, he set up Talbot Group to look for new investments, saying: “All I know is the coal industry. If I was not working in the coal industry I would get bored.”
Talbot hit controversy when a Queensland state MP, Gordon Nuttall, was accused of corruptly accepting about £175,000 from him. Nuttall was jailed in 2009 for seven years. Talbot was due to appear in court this August charged with making corrupt payments, which he denied.
Sundance’s main business venture in the region is the huge Mbalam project in the far south of Cameroon, stretching into Congo-Brazzaville.
BHP, Telstra, David Jones, Sundance, Woodside: Australian Equity Preview
By Tracy Withers/ www.bloomberg.com/Jun 21, 2010
Business ExchangeTwitterDeliciousDiggFacebookLinkedInNewsvinePropellerYahoo! BuzzPrintThe following is a list of companies whose shares may rise or fall in Australia. This preview includes news announced after markets closed. All prices are from yesterday’s close unless otherwise stated.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index futures contract due in Sept. advanced 0.1 percent to 4,566 at 6.59 a.m. in Sydney. The Bank of New York Australia ADR Index gained 1.4 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.5 percent to 4,551.9.
Mining shares: Copper prices fell to a one-week low on mounting concern that the economic rebound may be weaker than forecast in the U.S., the world’s second-largest consumer. Copper futures for September delivery fell 0.8 percent to $2.9015 a pound on the Comex in New York.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP AU), the world’s largest mining company, rose 0.8 percent to A$39.13. Its American depositary receipts gained 1.2 percent in New York trading.
Rio Tinto Group (RIO AU), the world’s third-biggest mining company, advanced 1.1 percent to A$70.85 in Sydney.
Oil companies: Crude oil rose above $77 a barrel as stock markets gained and the dollar pared its gains against the euro. Crude for July delivery gained 0.5 percent to $77.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL AU), Australia’s second- largest oil and gas producer, advanced 0.1 percent to A$44.71, and rival Santos Ltd. (STO AU) fell 0.3 percent to A$13.50.
Telstra Corp. (TLS AU): Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has struck an A$11 billion ($9.5 billion) deal with Telstra, removing a lingering obstacle to the creation of the government’s national broadband network. State-owned NBN Co., building a national network to provide high-speed Internet access, will get access to Telstra’s infrastructure, Rudd said yesterday. Broadband and voice customers will switch to NBN Co. if the agreement is completed. Telstra’s rose 2.2 percent to A$3.23 in Sydney on June 18. The stock jumped 9.2 percent to NZ$4.15 in New Zealand trading today.
David Jones Ltd. (DJS AU): Credit Suisse Group AG downgraded David Jones to “underperform” from “outperform” and reduced the target price to A$4.50 from A$5.30 after Chief Executive Officer Mark McInnes resigned and apologizing for “unbecoming” behavior toward a female colleague. Credit Suisse analyst Grant Saligari said reputational risk and team instability were reasons for the downgrade of Australia’s second-largest department store chain. The stock dropped 0.4 percent to A$4.49.
Sundance Resources Ltd. (SDL AU): The Australian-based iron- ore explorer said Chairman Geoff Wedlock, Chief Executive Officer Don Lewis, Company Secretary John Carr-Gregg and three non-executive directors including founder Ken Talbot are missing in West Africa after an aircraft was lost. The group was on board a plane chartered by Sundance on a flight to the company’s Mbalam iron-ore project in Cameroon from the capital, Yaounde. The company’s stock rose 4 percent on June 18 to 13 Australian cents.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tracy Withers in Wellington at twithers@bloomberg.net.
Ayala, Fortescue, Hong Leong: Asia Ex-Japan Equity Preview
June 21, 2010/By Ian C. Sayson/Bloomberg
June 21 (Bloomberg) — The following companies may have unusual price changes in Asian trading, excluding Japan. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from the previous close, unless noted otherwise.
AgriNurture Inc. (ANI PM): Philippine farm output will probably expand 2.5 percent this year, Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla said. Farm production grew 0.37 percent in 2009, according to the agriculture department. AgriNurture, a Philippine fruit and vegetable grower, was unchanged at 16 pesos.
Ayala Corp. (AC PM): The owner of the largest Philippine builder acquired 70,000 of its own shares at 325 pesos and 327.50 pesos each, a stock exchange-filing showed. The stock rose 3.2 percent to 327.50 pesos.
Formosa Plastics units: Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s biggest diversified industrial company, expects profit to remain at last year’s levels, William Wong, chairman of the executive board, said on June 18. Formosa Plastics Corp. (1301 TT) lost 1.2 percent to NT$67.70.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (6505 TT) dropped 1.5 percent to NT$81.30. Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. (1326 TT) retreated 2.7 percent to NT$72.80.
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG AU): Australia’s third- largest iron-ore producer said the Australian government’s proposed resources tax is restricting it from finalizing agreements for an expansion to 260 million tons of iron-ore production a year. The stock gained 1.4 percent to A$4.37.
Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd. (HLFG MK): Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. said it will buy a 30 percent stake in the Malaysian life business of Hong Leong Financial for 940 million ringgit ($289 million) and merge both the companies’ general insurance operations in the Southeast Asian nation. Hong Leong Financial was suspended on June 18. The shares gained 1.3 percent to 8.38 ringgit on June 17.
Hyundai Development Co. (012630 KS): The South Korean builder that gets more than half its sales from homes delayed a bond sale as investor concern about the nation’s stalling property market pushed borrowing costs higher, said Lee Dong Hoon, a spokesman at Seoul-based Hyundai. The company will use part of 500 billion won ($415 million) in cash holdings to repay maturing debt, according to Lee. The stock fell 2.2 percent to 26,750 won.
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. (009540 KS): The world’s largest shipyard said orders in the first five months of this year jumped 179 percent to $7.54 billion from a year earlier. Sales in May gained 6.1 percent to 1.79 trillion won from the same month last year, a stock exchange-filing showed. The shares fell 1.3 percent to 225,000 won.
Sundance Resources Ltd. (SDL AU): The Australian-based iron-ore explorer said Chairman Geoff Wedlock, Chief Executive Officer Don Lewis, Company Secretary John Carr-Gregg and three non-executive directors including Ken Talbot are missing in West Africa after an aircraft was lost. The group was on board a plane chartered by Sundance on a flight to the company’s Mbalam iron-ore project in Cameroon from the capital, Yaounde. The company’s stock rose 4 percent on July 18 to 13 Australian cents.
–With assistance by Tien Hin Chan in Kuala Lumpur and Weiyi Lim in Taipei. Editor: John McCluskey
France’s misery has the Irish smiling
Canwest News Service / sports.nationalpost.com/ By Paul Carbray, For Canwest News Service/ June 21, 2010
They were dancing in Dublin, and there must have been chuckling in Cork and laughter in Lisdoonvarna at the woes of France’s entry at the World Cup.
After all, Les Bleus only made it to South Africa after scoring the decisive goal in a playoff with Ireland on Thierry Henry’s blatant hand ball, causing the French to supplant the English as the team the Irish love to hate.
So it’s a double dose of Irish karma then — France on the verge of a first-round exit from the World Cup after Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Mexico, while England is hanging on after an abject performance in a goalless game with Algeria.
France’s loss was greeted with ecstasy in Dublin bars, crowded with sombrero-wearing fans clad in the green of Mexico, not Ireland.
The story that got the most hits on the Irish Times website Friday: “French on the brink of humiliating exit.”
The Irish Examiner stood for everyone when it wrote: “The Republic of Ireland may not be in South Africa, but supporters of the Boys in Green will have savoured France’s defeat to Mexico, a result that leaves Raymond Domenech’s side staring at the prospect of saying an early au revoir to the 2010 World Cup.
“Few will shed any tears at their current plight. To add to the delight of those of a bitter disposition, there was more than a hint of controversy about the second-half goal that put Mexico on the road to victory last night. Few will sympathize though, as it seems that was goes around does indeed come around.”
Things weren’t any better in France, where the deeply strange coach Domenech and his lacklustre players felt the lash of criticism.
And those rumours about unrest on the French team got confirmation during the weekend when petulant striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home early after verbally attacking Domenech during halftime of the Mexico game, then refusing to apologize.
It seems Domenech criticized Anelka for being pulled out of position during the first half, to which the player responded: “Go and f— yourself, you son of a whore.”
The coach responded by substituting Anelka at halftime, one of only two substitutions he made during a game in which veteran striker Thierry Henry and playmaking midfielder Yoann Gourcouff were nailed to the bench.
The French players then refused to practise Sunday to show support for Anelka.
There is plenty of reason to criticize the listless Anelka, who hasn’t recorded one shot on goal in his last 429 minutes on action for Les Bleus, or almost five games.
Still, it was the lame-duck Domenech, who will be replaced by Laurent Blanc after the World Cup, who got most of the criticism.
For failing to replace Domenech after France’s first-round exit from the 2008 European Championship, the sports newspaper L’Équipe suggested the emblem of the French soccer federation “should no longer be the cock, but the headless chicken.”
“The ineffectiveness of a team contradicts all the speeches given by Raymond Domenech and the player on their strength of character and their capacity to react,” the paper wrote. “France contemplates a field of ruins: its national team.
“The je-m’-en-foutisme (I don’t give a damn-ism) is their flag, the only banner this team can carry together. Let’s mock Raymond Domenech, so full of himself, overcome by his players’ egos.”
The last word goes to French captain Patrice Evra, who admits it feels like “France are a small football nation — and it hurts.”
“It’s a catastrophe, that’s all we can say,” Evra continued. “We are not a great team.”
UN /ONU :
EDITORIAL: Uzbeks fighting for survival
www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/June 21st, 2010
AS the world watches the World Cup unfold in Africa and the BP oil slick continue to spread its ecological nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, another human drama is being played out.
Unfortunately the tragedy of Kyrgyzstan is being drowned out by the noise of the African vuvuzela and the rhetoric of the blame game in the United States but the death toll, the numbers of displaced Uzbek people and the threat to the country’s democratic process cannot be understated.
The death toll stands at 200 and climbing and more than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes, according to UN figures.
Political unrest is at the heart of the matter as successive Kyrgyz governments have failed to deal with growing corruption and crime with a resultant collapse of infrastructure and widespread poverty.
Clashes between the minority Uzbek and Kyrgyz people have been frequent with the Kyrgyzs fearing the Uzbeks may want to grab their lands and join Uzbekistan.
With Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikstan in such close proximity, neither Russia, the US or China can afford the unrest to snowball. That means urgently-needed humanitarian aid and commonsense prevailing and a national referendum on constitutional reform scheduled for June 27 being deferred until peace returns.
PAINFUL LESSON FOR HIGH FLYERS
DAVID Jones moved swiftly to minimise the damage from the behaviour of former chief executive Mark McInnes because of an admitted inappropriate incident with a female employee. He was out the door immediately and a successor appointed. And in a welcome departure from recent corporate excesses, he left with a payout less than that to which he was entitled.
It would be nice to think the speed with which McInnes left his desk was more to do with the rights and wellbeing of the female employee rather than the effect it would have on the share price.
It could have been worse, McInnes could have been freezing on the struggle streets of Sydney yesterday with other CEOs raising awareness of homelessness but his $1.9 million severance package will ensure he won’t be battling for some time yet.
Too often high profile leaders in business, sport and politics have escaped accountability because of their prominence.
The McInnes message should be they can no longer expect to be sheltered from the same rules which apply to the general community.
USA :
CANADA :
Gems bloody, claim NGOs
But Zim claims abuses halted
Jun 21, 2010 /By Moses Mudzwiti /www.timeslive.co.za
Zimabawe’s turbulent unity government might have its last hope for economic recovery dashed when Kimberley Process members meet in Tel Aviv, Israel today, to decide on the status of the country’s diamonds.
International NGOs, such as Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada, have been lobbying members to declare Zimbabwe’s precious stones “blood diamonds”.
Campaigners have had their cause strengthened by Zimbabwe’s jailing of the only witness to come forward with damning evidence.
Centre for Research and Development director Farai Maguwu was arrested after he provided Kimberley Process diamond monitor Abbey Chikane with documents that point to continued abuses at Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa diamond fields.
In Harare today, high court judge Chinembiri Bhunu is expected to rule on an appeal by Maguwu against the refusal of his application for bail on June 10.
Maguwu was expected to make a presentation in Tel Aviv, but his continued detention has prevented him from attending.
”Farai Maguwu’s arrest, and continued detention is a blatant attempt by the Zimbabwean authorities to silence any dissent from the diamond fields,” said Elly Harrowell, a Global Witness campaigner.
Partnership Africa Canada, which has been involved in efforts to halt the trade in conflict diamonds since 1999, has asked members of the Kimberley Process to suspend Chikane as a diamond monitor.
Chikane and Zimbabwe’s government insist that enough has been done towards meeting Kimberley Process recommendations for diamond trading to be resumed.
But legal trading will be permitted only if the members of the Kimberley Process give the country the green light.
Maguwu and rights groups are outraged, saying the soldiers accused of abuses remain in control of the vast mining area. Activists also claim that the Kimberley Process has been ”undermined” by the lack of action taken.
A Partnership Africa Canada statement issued on Friday read: ”Suspend Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process until there is evidence that human rights abuses in the diamond fields have ceased, and Zimbabwe is complying fully with Kimberley Process minimum requirements.”
Alfred Brownell of Green Advocates, Liberia, added his voice to the protests: ”Zimbabwe has been breaking all the rules and shouldn’t be allowed to ship blood diamonds onto international markets.
“Kimberley Process governments’ failure to address the crisis in Marange is a betrayal, not only of the victims of abuse, but of the scheme’s founding principles.”
The Tel Aviv meeting i s scheduled to continue until Wednesday.
Canada is in the middle of the pack on foreign-aid spending: G8 report card
But Foreign Minister Lawrence gives Canada top marks for fulfilling past commitments
Bill Curry /Ottawa — From Monday’s Globe and Mail / Jun. 21, 2010
.Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon gives Canada an “A” for following through on past G8 commitments, but a new G8 report card shows Canada is in the middle of the pack when it comes to foreign aid spending.
On the eve of this week’s G8 summit in Muskoka, an “accountability report” prepared jointly by G8 members was released showing that, for the most part, the big promises from past summits in areas such as aid, economic development and water issues have produced positive results.
The report praises Canada’s role in funding front-line health workers, school construction and teacher training, particularly to help female students in Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Senegal.
“The world needs the G8 and the G8 needs Canada,” Mr. Cannon said in releasing the report.
But on a key measurement of foreign aid by G8 members, the report shows Canada is fourth and out of step with efforts to further increase aid by 2015.
Caroline Riseboro, of World Vision, said her organization will be watching to see what Canada offers this week in terms of long-term aid, given that the Conservative government’s last budget vowed to freeze aid at current levels to balance the books.
“We’re not quite sure how Canada is going to maintain its commitments, especially to key initiatives like the child and maternal health initiative, when it’s going to freeze aid after this year,” she said. “The issue here isn’t just accountability. If it’s just about meeting goals, then that will almost encourage the G8 leaders – leaders of the world’s richest nations – to set low-level commitments.”
Using a mix of government data and independent projections from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the report finds Canada met its 2005 pledge to double aid to Africa by 2009 and double overall aid by 2011.
But most other G-8 members are describing their progress by a different measure. Using Official Development Assistance as a percentage of Gross National Income, Canada’s 0.33 per cent for 2010 places it fourth, behind Germany’s 0.40, France’s 0.46 and the United Kingdom’s 0.60. The European Union as a whole, which has a seat at the G8, is planning to reach 0.7 by 2015. The report does not list any similar pledge from Canada.
The report’s numbers aim to update the progress since the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, during which the high-profile gathering in Britain produced big, but varying, pledges from G8 members to dramatically increase foreign aid – particularly for Africa.
Canada is a global heavyweight in the eyes of emerging powers: survey
Among old allies, however, we’re nothing but lightweights, poll finds
Joe Friesen /From Monday’s Globe and Mail / Monday, Jun. 21, 2010
.In the eyes of the world’s emerging powers Canada is a global player with enormous economic and political influence, but among its old friends in the G8, Canada is a veritable lightweight.
As Canada welcomes the world’s leading economies this week, new data suggest a strong degree of goodwill and receptiveness to Canada in the BRIC countries, which may offer Canada a chance to carve a more prominent role for itself in the changing world order.
Nearly 80 per cent of people polled in Brazil, Russia and China see Canada as a world economic power, with India not far behind, according to an Ipsos-Historica-Dominion Institute survey, done in partnership with the Munk School of Global Affairs and the Aurea Foundation.
The BRIC nations also show much higher than average support for Canada’s influence in world affairs. Stalwart European allies of the old order such as France, Germany and Britain, are much less likely to see Canada as influential in world affairs, ranking near the bottom of the 24 countries polled, while the United States shows below average support on both questions. .
“What you’re really seeing here is how being chair of the G20 and having our Prime Minister and our foreign minister travel has made a difference,” said Janice Stein, director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the Univ
ersity of Toronto. “If you look at our prominence in some of these G20 countries, which is surprising, it might well be that if we care about our reputation in the world, being an active member of the G20 does bring value to Canada.”
Perceived influence, in a survey of ordinary citizens, is obviously different from actual influence in the corridors of power around the world. But it can still prove valuable.
“It’s interesting that when our Prime Minister and finance minister came out strongly opposed to the bank tax, where did they look for support? They looked to India, China, Mexico, Venezuela, and the people they had the greatest difficulty persuading were the Europeans and the U.S., our traditional allies,” Prof. Stein said.
Canada won a great deal of goodwill in China by reopening six regional trade offices and, despite the chilly reception Mr. Harper received on his first visit last year, the government has since strengthened Sino-Canadian ties. The same strengthening of ties is happening in India, which Mr. Harper also visited last year, and Mexico, despite the imposition of visa restrictions last year over the high number of asylum claims.
Many people in these emerging economies, despite their favourable impressions of Canada’s influence, are also inclined to say Canada does whatever the United States wants in foreign affairs. India, and the Muslim countries of Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, all record the highest scores on that question.
It’s our oldest friends, those who see Canada as having little influence, who say that Canada charts its own course in global affairs.
Andrew Cohen, president of the Historica-Dominion Institute, is puzzled by the skeptical view of Canada among the European powers. Their citizens are probably more likely to know about Canada than those in the other countries of the G20, he said.
“Is it because their publics are disappointed by our environmental record? It could be. Copenhagen was not a great public relations success for us,” Mr. Cohen said.
If there’s one truly astonishing result from this survey, it’s the consistently negative view of Canada expressed by respondents in Japan and Sweden. On nearly every question, from Canada’s generosity toward poor countries, to the quality of Canadian-made goods, our work ethic, level of education, coolness, sexiness and whether Canadian banks are safe, the two score Canada lowest.
Lloyd Axworthy, a former foreign minister and now president of the University of Winnipeg, said the result is hard to explain. When he was putting together the international effort to ban land mines, among other initiatives, Sweden and Japan were among the first places he looked for support.
He said the survey results suggest Canada needs a much more active public diplomacy strategy. Civil society now plays a much more prominent role in government decision making, and Canada needs to tell its story to the world, he said. Engagement with the G20 will play a big part in that, and years of investment in development in the global south, in Africa and the Americas, will provide a platform to work from.
“Looking strategically at Canada’s next step, clearly the emerging countries are going to be increasingly connected and influential,” Mr. Axworthy said. “Building bridges with them [will] become a really important part of our foreign policy. On the other hand I think we’ve got to rebuild some bridges that are in disrepair right now.”
AUSTRALIA :
A boatload of trouble for Labor
www.abc.net.au/Luke Walladge/21 June 2010
In this election year, there is no shortage of things to keep Kevin Rudd awake at night. He must toss and turn over mining companies, he must dream fitful nightmares about interest rate rises. He could even be excused a sleepless night or two over Julia Gillard and her most bizarre of bedfellows in the right-wing commentariat. But if one could peer into the psyche of the Prime Minister, there would be one issue above all the rest that would worry him in his year of judgment – asylum seekers.
Of all the successes and failures of the Rudd Government, never has Labor seemed less at ease than when it grappled with the problems of illegal immigration and refugees. Many in the ALP experienced the Howard years of detention and demonisation, where Australians were encouraged to view refugees as criminals, terrorists and sociopathic thugs; others saw first-hand the political explosiveness of the Tampa and ‘children overboard’. Labor has struggled to articulate a forceful yet humane policy on asylum seekers, and would very much prefer a world in which the subject never came up again.
They should remember a few things about modern Australia, and they should remember a few things about themselves.
Multiculturalism is a founding pillar of modern Australian life. However, multiculturalism is only viable as long as it remains accepted by the people. For the most part, the Australian population are proud of their multicultural society and highly appreciative of people from other countries; but they have always done so on the condition that people enter the country in accordance with rules and regulations. This is nothing more than the practical application of an ethos that everyone deserves a “fair go”, an understanding that things must be done fairly and in accordance with the rules.
What we are seeing now is an electorate angry at what they see as asylum seekers taking advantage of opportunities (the right to live in Australia) but not playing by the rules (coming by boat and not going through the camps). This may not actually be true – but it does not matter anywhere near as much as the perception that it is true. As with the law, it’s not merely that justice be done; it must be seen to be done.
It is paramount that the same be able to be said for the migration system. If it cannot, multiculturalism will fail and fail spectacularly.
Many of the people who are angry are the Labor Party’s traditional supporters. In the UK this division, between the centre-left’s elite and its grass roots, was brought into sharp focus by Gordon Brown’s campaign trail encounter with Gillian Duffy – or as he saw fit to slander her, “that bigoted woman”. Regrettably, Brown and his Australian equivalents too often find it easy to dismiss concerns over immigration as xenophobia, unfit to be countenanced and incompatible with Labor values.
But they couldn’t be more wrong.
The Labor Party has historically stood for a collection of principles best summed up in the word, ‘fairness’. Fair treatment for a worker when dealing with their employer, fair treatment for rich and poor alike before the laws, fair pay, fair work, a fair go for all. Consider then, how perceptions that a refugee or an asylum seeker has unfairly ‘jumped a queue’ or unjustly taken the place of another in a restricted quota colour the debate. For these folk, there is no conflict between the values of fairness at work and fairness in immigration. They are as one.
Or consider, for a moment, how other migrants view asylum seeker arrivals. Visa processing times for many standard visas take years. Many of the people waiting for these visas in Australia are caught in an existential limbo, unable to even find stable work because many employers won’t employ someone who is not a permanent resident. When these migrants see refugees processed for permanent residence in 90 days they don’t, understandably, see that as fair. These migrants do eventually become Australian residents, but their experience can damage multiculturalism, because of the resentment they hold to refugees – as evidenced by an increase in racial violence between migrant groups.
Addressing these concerns by labeling them racist is about as much use as building chimneys out of chocolate.
Australians are willing to take their share of the world’s refugee burden; we like to think of ourselves as being willing to lend a hand. But again, we don’t like to feel exploited, or have our generosity used and abused. One only needs to look to the general contempt people express toward the concept of “dole bludger” to see this Australian thought process in action. More specifically, the convoluted nonsense that the Rudd Government felt forced to publically disseminate in order to avoid an admission that they had offered the Tamils on board the Oceanic Viking a ‘special deal’ goes only to show how unpopular they know such preferential treatment is.
The government needs not just to get control again, but also be seen to be in control. With control comes acceptance, an acceptance that feeds into the concept of a fair process and equal opportunity. What the government needs to do is take the “fair go” and “fair play” concepts and put them together to create what could be referred to as “compassionate control”.
This starts with one thing – stopping the boats. And stopping the boats, unarguably, means a re-introduction of Temporary Protection Visas for those who are seeking a safe haven.
As much as the Left may not like to admit it, the TPV was a measure that worked. The Australian people accepted the TPV as fulfilling our obligations to protect other people who need our help (such as needing a temporary safe haven), but the restrictions on the visa also make people feel the TPV holder wasn’t getting an unfair advantage. Furthermore, putting the TPV in place removes the boat arrivals’ main incentive of quick permanent residency. No matter what the government says, the removal of the TPV was a significant factor in increasing the “pull factor” – any immigration lawyer will tell you that many of those who have come by boat say that the chance of expedited permanent residency was a factor in them choosing Australia.
The Visa should be for four years (as it was before) and at the end of that time if that person still needs our protection then they should be able to convert to permanent residency. However, TPV holders should also be given the opportunity to move to another visa earlier if they can find a job, get an education and generally establish a life in Australia. Someone trying to better themselves will without doubt be accepted by a general populace who value the concept of people being rewarded for hard work and earning their way.
It should be self-evident that any policy which encourages people-smuggling, puts lives at risk and carries the potential to pluck at the threads of multiculturalism is neither right nor fair.
Yet fairness also demands other necessities. Firstly, the Rudd government must ensure is that TPVs are processed quickly. The 90 day rule should apply, making sure that people get out of our detention centres quickly – lapses in doing so were a major failing of the Howard Government, who seemed to almost intentionally engage in the indef
inite incarceration of asylum seekers with all its attendant evils. Whilst a person is on the TPV, the government can continue its checks; in many ways this is what the government is already doing by bringing people to the mainland for processing, however, by having them on the TPV asylum seekers are out of the detention centres – and, more than incidentally, out of the media spotlight.
That is the control. But we must also remember the compassion.
In reforming the way Australia addresses its immigration and refugee policies, it should increase the number of refugees we take from camps overseas. This would be supported by the Australian people as Australia fulfilling its obligations abroad, and taking action as an international player of consequence. Australia currently takes in just over 13,000 refugees per year, a paltry figure when considered against the more than 40 million displaced persons currently seeking asylum in Europe alone.
We can do more, and we can do better. Beginning under Ben Chifley’s Labor Government, Australia welcomed some 2.2 million new immigrants between 1945 and 1960. The great majority of these were fleeing post-war Europe and looking to make a new life for themselves – the ultimate economic refugees, they fled not persecution but poverty in favour of opportunity and prosperity, and made Australia all the richer for it. Surely we can look at taking 25,000 or more refugees per year in a structured, controlled way; not just for their sake but for ours as well.
If we could do it then, we can do it now… and maybe Kevin Rudd would sleep that little bit easier.
Luke Walladge is a freelance writer and Geelong fan based in Perth and Melbourne.
President Sarkozy intervenes in crisis
June 21, 2010/By Soccernet staff/soccernet.espn.go.com
French sports minister Roselyne Bachelot has revealed President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked her to extend her stay in South Africa to try to sort out the shambles engulfing the French squad.
She will meet with Patrice Evra, Raymond Domenech and French Football Federation (FFF) chief Jean-Pierre Escalettes on Monday.
“We are taking note of the indignation of the French people,” she said. “We are calling for dignity and responsibility.” Asked if she would be taking immediate action against any of those involved, she replied: “It’s not yet the right time to take disciplinary action – but that time will come very soon.”
“We’re in another world here,” Christian Teinturier, the vice president of the FFF, told reporters. “French football is in a catastrophic situation.”
“Everyone in the whole world is mocking us now,” winger Franck Ribery said. “I’m gutted, because we’re not playing football anymore.”
While other countries’ coaches have looked on in bewilderment and kept their thoughts to themselves, one, Switzerland’s Ottmar Hitzfeld, said the conduct of the French players was bewildering. “What can I say? If something like this happens, I am going to say bye,” he said. “This is where our paths part.”
EUROPE :
EU sees solar power imported from Sahara in 5 yrs
Mon Jun 21, 2010/By Christian Lowe/Reuters
ALGIERS (Reuters) – Europe will import its first solar-generated electricity from North Africa within the next five years, European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in an interview on Sunday.
The European Union is backing projects to turn the plentiful sunlight in the Sahara desert into electricity for power-hungry Europe, a scheme it hopes will help meet its target of deriving 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2020.
“I think some models starting in the next 5 years will bring some hundreds of megawatts to the European market,” Oettinger told Reuters after a meeting with energy ministers from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
He said those initial volumes would come from small pilot projects, but the amount of electricity would go up into the thousands of megawatts as projects including the 400 billion euro Desertec solar scheme come on stream.
“Desertec as a whole is a vision for the next 20 to 40 years with investment of hundreds of billions of euros,” said Oettinger. “To integrate a bigger percentage of renewables, solar and wind, needs time.”
The EU is backing the construction of new electricity cables, known as inter-connectors, under the Mediterranean Sea to carry this renewable energy from North Africa to Europe.
Some environmental groups have warned these cables could be used instead to import non-renewable electricity from coal- and gas-fired power stations in north Africa.
“This is a good question but not a question to destroy our project,” Oettinger said. “This question must be answered by a good answer and so we need ways to ensure that our import of electricity is from renewables.”
He said he believed it was technologically possible to monitor electricity imports to the EU and establish if they come from renewable sources or fossil fuels. “This question must be solved in the next years,” he said.
SOLAR SUBSIDIES
The Desertec consortium includes major firms such as Siemens, RWE and Deutsche Bank. They are expected to seek public money for the project.
Oettinger said the EU’s assistance was likely to include help coordinating stakeholders, updating regulations to allow the imported electricity to move across European borders, and financing feasibility studies.
On the prospect of EU subsidies, or the European Commission permitting state aid to firms involved in the project, he said that would become clear once the consortium has presented a detailed business plan.
Oettinger said all three energy ministers at the meeting in the Algerian capital sent a signal they were willing to build the infrastructure and common market rules needed to allow a trade in renewable electricity with Europe.
He countered concerns expressed in the past by some officials in Algeria that the project could involve Europeans exploiting north Africa’s natural resources.
“Renewables are a two-way partnership because electricity produced here is for the home market of north African countries,” he said.
“Maybe a bigger percentage of the electricity will be exported to Europe but at the same time we have to export the technology, tools, machines, experts, and so it’s a real partnership, not only a partnership by selling and by buying.”
BRITAIN TOP SPOT IN EUROPE FOR REFUGEES
www.dailystar.co.uk/By Tom Lawrence/21st June 2010
MORE asylum seekers flooded into the UK than any other country in Europe last year.
Britain took in 12,510 refugees in 2009, which was an annual rise of 22%.
More than a third came from Zimbabwe, despite the Government offering £6,000 to help them return home. Refugees from Afghanistan made up the second largest group.
The latest figures released by the EU underline how the UK has become one of the most popular destinations for refugees.
It now grants protection status to more people a year than either Germany or France.
Britain came top of the asylum table followed by the Germans, who let in 12,055 refugees.
France came third, allowing 10,415 asylum seekers over its borders and Sweden was fourth with 9,085.
Campaigners have blamed the rise in the number of Zimbabwean asylum seekers on Labour’s ban on deporting them back to the nation.
Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of pressure group Migrationwatch UK, said: “It is a serious mistake to suspend removals to any country.
“That leads to the number of applications shooting up, as has happened in the case of Zimbabwe.
“It is essential to retain the principle that each case is judged on its merits.”
A total of 26.9% of the 44,890 asylum applications were accepted by the Home Office, about average for the EU.
However, 30% of the denied applications were approved on appeal, 11% higher than the EU average.
Matthew Coats, head of immigration at the UK Border Agency, said: “The UK has a proud tradition of providing refuge to those in genuine need of asylum. Britain currently has the lowest asylum intake in two years.”
Somalis, Iraqis and Afghans were the largest groups that have been given protected status across the 27-nation EU.
CHINA :
Copper Gains Most in a Month on China Yuan Signal: LME Preview
June 21, 2010/By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen/Bloomberg
June 21 (Bloomberg) — Copper advanced the most in a month in London as China signaled an end to its currency’s fixed rate to the dollar, boosting speculation a stronger yuan may increase imports of industrial metals into the world’s largest consumer.
Market News:
— The yuan climbed the most in 20 months against the dollar and forwards jumped after China’s central bank relaxed a two-year peg before a Group of 20 summit this week. {NSN L4COEO0D9L35 }
— Asia shares rose the most in two weeks, U.S. stock index futures climbed and commodities advanced after China signaled it will relax the yuan’s fixed rate to the dollar. Treasuries fell. {NSN L4CNEC1A74E9 }
— BP Plc, the worst oil investment this year on Wall Street, is finding its backers in the City of London. {NSN L4C7V11A74E9 }
— A year after criticizing U.S. fiscal policy as “irresponsible,” China’s leaders are showing increasing confidence in President Barack Obama’s leadership of the American economy. {NSN L4BFN30D9L35 }
— U.K. gilt sales may fall 28 percent this fiscal year as Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne cuts spending to reduce the budget deficit and safeguard the nation’s top credit rating. {NSN L4BQBR0UQVI9 }
— Crude rose to the highest in six weeks on increased confidence in the global economic recovery after China, the world’s second-largest energy consumer, signaled an end to the yuan’s fixed rate to the dollar. {NSN L4CKJO0UQVI9 }
Metals News:
— Billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s forecast for a potential shortfall in aluminum supplies and record global car output predicted by Carlos Ghosn means the world’s second most-used metal may be about to rebound. {NSN L4BK251A1I4H }
— Australia and China signed new accords worth more than A$10 billion ($8.8 billion), expanding their energy and resources trade ties, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said during a six-day visit by Vice President Xi Jinping. {NSN L4CN2S0D9L36 }
— An explosion at a Kazakh copper mine belonging to Kazakhmys Plc, the biggest copper producer in the country, killed three and injured one today. {NSN L4B7AQ1A74E9 }
— Vale SA, the world’s fourth-largest nickel producer, and striking workers in Sudbury, Ontario, resumed labor talks yesterday, a company spokesman said today. {NSN L4BWL21A1I4H }
— The search for an aircraft missing in Africa carrying executives from iron ore company Sundance Resources Ltd., including millionaire mining magnate Ken Talbot, will resume today, Australia’s government said. {NSN L4CELM1A1I4H }
Metal Prices:
–Editors: Stuart Wallace, John Deane
Miner boosted its reserves at Cameroon ore project where the missing plane was headed
Sarah-Jane Tasker From: The Australian/ June 21, 2010
THE missing miners were travelling to a project that recently received an upgrade
THE board members of Perth-based Sundance Resources were headed to the junior miner’s flagship iron ore project in west Africa when the plane they were aboard went missing.
The group was travelling to the Mbalam iron ore project in the Republic of Cameroon from the country’s capital, Yaounde.
The project received a significant boost this month when its resources were upgraded by 93 per cent.
Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton also have iron ore interests in west Africa and the region is increasingly becoming the focus for new, world-class developments.
In a company announcement on June 2, Sundance chief executive Don Lewis said Mbalam stood out from its peers on the basis of its world-scale direct shipping ore.
“The key foundations of the Mbalam project are in place, with potential upside to increase the duration of DSO (direct shipping ore) production and further enhance the project’s high-margin cashflow,” Mr Lewis said. Sundance said at the time the company was on schedule to complete the definitive feasibility study of the project, with the confirmation of the resource, and its board would turn its focus to raising project finance.
“This will continue to target prospective steel mills as well as major infrastructure providers interested in build-operate-finance packages,” the company said.
The project is close to the Belinga iron ore project in Gabon being developed by the China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation. Both projects form part of an emerging iron ore province, extending through Cameroon, the Congo Republic and Gabon.
Sundance said on its website that the development of the iron ore project was being fast-tracked. Iron ore prices are at record high levels and new hubs are being sought to feed China’s and India’s appetites for the steel feeds. Explorers are increasingly turning their attention to west Africa because of the potential size of the deposits there.
Sundance has said it is conducting exacting studies to define iron ore reserves and complete detailed planning for project construction and operations, with a 2012 target.
“Sundance aims to secure iron ore sales contracts with the world’s major steel producers,” the company says on its website.
“This will include mills in Europe — which are strategically located for supply from the Mbalam project — as well as in China, India and the Middle East. The global steel industry is forecast to continue to grow strongly . . . driving strong iron ore demand for the foreseeable future.”
World Cup 2010: Mystery engulfs North Korea support
www.telegraph.co.uk/By Rory Smith/21 Jun 2010
There are many rumours about the North Korean fans who have travelled to South Africa to watch their team in the World Cup. Who are they and where are they?
Somesay they are an army of volunteers recruited in China, chosen to be the fun-loving face of Marxism-Leninism at the biggest sporting event in the world.
Some say they are drawn from the 600,000 ethnic North Koreans in Japan and that they have each paid £5,000 for the right to follow the motherland at the World Cup.
They say they have come straight from Pyongyang and that they have been allowed to travel by Kim Jong-Il. But nobody believes them.
One, Kim Yong-Chul, has at least done his bit to clear up the mystery, explaining that they are all military men, handpicked by the regime to support the team.
His tale, though, has been questioned. In China, two PR firms claim to have recruited singers and dancers to fly the flag for North Korea, their cousins in Communism. But in Japan, too, the North Korean Football Association, which represents the sport among the country’s ex-pat population, claims to have sold trips to those who wish to support their homeland.
All well and good, but where are they? Not at the team hotel. “There are no fans here,” says the security man. Is this where the North Korean team are staying? “There is a team here.” Which one? “There is a team here, and they say no media.”
At least the country’s embassy can offer answers. “They came here from Pyongyang,” says an official. “They booked their own hotels. We issued their visas, but we do not keep a record of where they are staying.”
Mystery solved. Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium will today simply host North Korea’s ‘ultras’, die-hard Chollima followers who had to be here, sampling the atmosphere, getting to know another culture, all with Kim Jong-Il’s kind blessing.
INDIA :
BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 21 juin 2010… AGNEWS /OMAR, BXL,21/06/2010
