{jcomments on}OMAR, AGNEWS, BXL, le 15 mars 2010 – www.dvidshub.net- March 15, 2010–Plebe-Parent Weekend is one of the few reprieves that plebe, or freshmen, cadets enjoy in their rigorous 47-month experience at West Point. Among the many faces here to visit their cadets and tour the historic grounds was Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and one of the most important leaders in the history of his country.
RWANDA
Rwanda President Visits West Point
United States Military Academy at West Point
Courtesy Story
Posted: 03.15.2010 / www.dvidshub.net
By Sgt. Vincent Fusco
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Plebe-Parent Weekend is one of the few reprieves that plebe, or freshmen, cadets enjoy in their rigorous 47-month experience at West Point. Among the many faces here to visit their cadets and tour the historic grounds was Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and one of the most important leaders in the history of his country.
As a military freedom fighter, Kagame led the resistance force that defeated Rwanda’s genocidal government in 1994. As a current world leader, he promotes international accountability in the fight against ethnic extremism.
The president came to West Point March 13 to visit his son, Ivan, a member of the West Point Class of 2013. Kagame also met with senior Academy leadership, toured his son’s barracks and also addressed the class during the Plebe-Parent Banquet in the evening.
In his speech inside the Cadet Mess Hall, the president directly addressed the challenges of maintaining security and international relations amid the global threat of terrorism. Though they may appear persistent, Kagame believes there is no reason why a common understanding on sustainable solutions cannot be achieved between nations.
“Security can no longer be perceived solely [through] sovereign state affairs,” said Kagame. “What affects one nation has inevitable consequences on others.”
Kagame shared with the class a number of concepts directed toward preserving national security. He promoted the adopting of a holistic concept of human security, in which all “citizens [who] are hungry, uneducated, susceptible to preventable diseases and jobless” deserve equal assistance.”
The president also advocated addressing the root causes of conflict rather than its symptoms. Many international conflicts remain unresolved because in many cases, symptoms like refugee crisis are treated instead of causes related to government.
In order to promote cooperation between nations, Kagame called for enhanced international response to attacks of terrorism and genocide. He cited that appreciation of sustainable development and adaptation to the changing character of warfare are also strengths in maintaining national security.
During his search for a college his son could attend, Kagame found many prestigious institutions with high academic standards. However, Kagame praised West Point for producing graduates who accomplished great things by following MacArthur’s words of, “duty, honor and country.”
“There is something additional and crucial you get if you go to West Point,” Kagame told the nearly 3,000 people in attendance. “This school develops people into leaders.”
At the conclusion of his speech, Kagame was presented with a cadet saber, a token of thanks from the Class of 2013 for taking the time to share his personal leadership insights.
“West Point continues to prepare leaders who area capable of facing both contemporary and future challenges for their country,” said Kagame. “I believe that the Class of 2013 [has] at their disposal everything they need to succeed.”
UGANDA
TANZANIA:
Nigeria, Tanzania: Sub-Saharan Africa Bond, Currency Preview
March 15, 2010/By Nicky Smith/Bloomberg
March 15 (Bloomberg) — The following events and economic reports may influence trading in sub-Saharan African bonds and currencies today.
Nigeria: The West African nation’s central bank governor Lamido Sanusi addresses a consumer rights forum in Abuja.
The naira was unchanged at 150.5250 to the dollar as of 6:50 a.m. in the commercial capital, Lagos.
Tanzania: The East African nation’s statistics office is scheduled to release inflation data. Annual inflation slowed for a third consecutive month in January, slowing to 10.9 percent, from 12.2 percent in December.
The shilling strengthened 0.1 percent to 1,354.50 to the dollar as of 8:54 a.m. in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.
–Editors: Antony Sguazzin, Ana Monteiro.
CONGO RDC :
KENYA :
KENYAN PM LAUDS JAPAN’S SUPPORT FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION
news.brunei.fm/By Doreen Apollos/NAM NEWS NETWORK/ Mar 15th, 2010
NAIROBI, March 15 (NNN-KBC) — Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has commended the Japanese government for its support on climate change and mitigation and for the support of development of renewable energy in this country.
During a dinner he hosted to honour the visiting Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito here Saturday, the prime minister revealed that the Japanese government had pledged a soft loan of 29 billion Yen (about 319.7 million USD) towards the development of geothermal power and a further 5.0 billion Yen for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Kenya.
Odinga further reaffirmed the Kenyan government’s commitment to forge an even closer partnership with Japan for the mutual benefit of the two countries.
The crown prince had jetted into the country on Thursday evening for a three-day visit.
– NNN-KBC
ANGOLA :
SOUTH AFRICA:
Anglo, Astral, BHP, Sasol: South African Equity Market Preview
By Garth Theunissen/Bloomberg/March 15
March 15 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.
South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose 350.97, or 1.3 percent, to 28,262.40 at the close of trading in Johannesburg on March 12.
Anglo American Plc (AGL SJ): Copper fell as much as 0.8 percent to $7,405.50 a metric ton at the end of last week on the London Metal Exchange. Stock of Anglo, the diversified mining company that makes up more than 10 percent of South Africa’s benchmark stock index, fell 8.90 rand, or 3 percent, to 304.90 rand. Shares in larger rival BHP Billiton Plc (BIL SJ) dropped 4.02 rand, or 1.7 percent, to 247.90 rand.
Astral Foods Ltd. (ARL SJ): South Africa’s second biggest chicken producer is scheduled to hold a press conference. Astral’s stock rose 70 cents, or 0.6 percent, to 110.70 rand.
Sasol Ltd. (SOL SJ): Oil fell 1.1 percent to $81.24 a barrel at the end of last week in New York. Stock of Sasol, the world’s biggest maker of motor fuel from coal, rose 2.62 rand, or 0.9 percent, to 285 rand.
Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:
Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) gained 1.2 percent to $20.40. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) slid 0.5 percent to $37.38. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BBL US) was unchanged at $66.63. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) fell 0.2 percent to $5.69. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) lost 1.1 percent to $11.94. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) fell 0.3 percent to $9.59. Impala Platinum Holdings Co. (IMPUY US) rose 0.7 percent to $26.60. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) advanced 0.9 percent to $4.40. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) climbed 0.3 percent to $38.49. Telkom South Africa Ltd. (TLKGY US) added less than 0.1 percent to $17.98.
TRIBUTE TO FATIMA MEER: Champion of the underclass
Mar 15 2010/www.dispatch.co.za
DR FATIMA Meer died last Friday, at the age of 82, following a stroke she suffered two weeks ago. Her death brings to a close a remarkable life: a courageous, selfless, independent-minded scholar-activist, never afraid to speak out and always ready to act on her words. Her legacy, however, is bound to carry on through her vast accomplishments, for which in 2007 Rhodes University awarded her the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.
Meer has been described as “a redoubtable fighter and doughty champion of the underclass”; as “dynamite in a small package”; as “the most popular and recognisable Indian South African Muslim woman over the past five decades”; and as “a true Gandhian”.
Indeed she has emulated Gandhi’s politics of self-sacrifice; and she has combined oppositional activism with a politics of bridge-building and human development in the true style of Gandhi.
2006 marked the 60th anniversary of the 1946 Indian passive resistance campaign directed against segregationist legislation restricting Indian property-holding in Natal. The campaign had been launched in March 1946 at a 6 000-strong gathering.
Among the speakers were political heavyweights like Monty Naicker – but also a 17-year-old Durban high school student who would not only deliver an address but walk alongside Indian leaders at the head of the protest march. This young student was Fatima Meer.
She would also establish a Student Passive Resistance Committee – and in so doing embark on a remarkable life of activism. In 2006, to mark the 60th anniversary of this campaign a special commemorative event was held in Durban, attended by the Prime Minister of India. Meer was the special guest at the commemoration.
Her activism and public engagement over the six decades has taken different forms – often oppositional, sometimes aimed at bridge-building, at other times developmental.
In the 1950s, still at a young age, she became an executive member of the Natal Indian Congress, and would share political platforms with such renowned figures as Yusuf Dadoo. She founded, early in that decade, the Durban and District Women’s League in an effort to restore relations between Indians and Africans – relations which had broken down during the Cato Manor violence of 1949.
Not surprisingly, over the three decades from the 1950s when apartheid was at its height, much of Meer’s activism was oppositional. She was a founder member of the Federation of South African Women, which in 1956, soon after its establishment, organised the famous women’s march to Pretoria in protest against the imposition of pass laws on women. She campaigned in the 1950s and 1960s against group areas removals, and against detention without trial.
While maintaining a wholehearted commitment to the anti-apartheid cause, Fatima threw herself into community-oriented, developmental work – going back to 1944 when as a 16-year-old she raised £1 000 for famine relief in Bengal, and when still a teenager established literacy classes for adult Africans in her father’s garage in Durban.
A long list of such activity follows: in the 1970s founding and heading the Natal Education Trust which raised enough funds to build five schools in African townships; leading rescue operations for 10 000 Indian flood victims after the Umgeni River burst its banks; in the 1980s organising scholarships for African students to attend higher education institutions in South Africa, India and the US; founding in 1986 the Phambili High School in three centres with an initial enrolment of over 3 000 students.
In 1996 she conducted sewing and literacy classes for women in informal settlements. Later she established the Concerned Citizens’ Group to help council tenants threatened with eviction. The list goes on.
Meer was one of those rare persons able to combine an extraordinary life of social and political activism with an outstanding academic career. For over 30 years she taught in the sociology department of what was the University of Natal.
She wrote over 20 books, and edited almost 20 others. Among these are books about two of the most revered, iconic figures of the 20th century – Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Her biography of Mandela has been published in 13 languages.
More recently she saw through to publication the autobiography of her beloved husband, Ishmael Meer, who died in 2000 before the work could be completed. Among her sociological works is an important book on race and suicide. Add to this a script for a film on Gandhi, and another script about the Taj Mahal.
One might imagine that somebody who has led such an active, productive life as this would have been able to go about their business without hindrance or constraint. Not so at all with Meer.
In 1954 she was one of the first South Africans, and the first woman, to be placed under a banning order – a two- year banning which confined her to Durban and prevented her from attending gatherings. She would spend 12 years of her life under such orders, being banned again from 1976 to 1985.
At one time she and her son, Rashid, and her son-in- law, Bobby, were all banned. They had to get special government permission to talk to each other.
In 1976 she was detained without trial for six months after trying to organise a rally with Steve Biko. Soon after her release from prison she survived an assassination attempt. There would also be two arson attacks on her Durban home.
A South African of international renown she was accorded due recognition around the world: a 1990 award from the American Muslim Council for her struggle against oppression and racial discrimination; awards in India in 1994 and 2003 – one for her contribution to human rights, another for promoting the prestige of India and for fostering the interests of Indians overseas. At the World Social Forum in Mumbai in 2004 she served as one of six distinguished international jurors for the World Court of Women on US War Crimes.
In 2007 the late Denis Brutus, the writer and long-time anti-apartheid activist, wrote a poem for her, simply entitled For FM. It reads:
It is in the face of endurance
In the face of disappointment
In the face of betrayal
That her quality shines clear.
It is in endurance
That her quality shines
In that steadiness
Unfailing brightness
That her starry quality
Shows clear,
Shows clear.
Professor Paul Maylam is head of the history department at Rhodes University and also the University’s Public Orator. – By PAUL MAYLAM
North Korean labourers reportedly working on World Cup soccer stadiums
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP)/15032010
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean labourers are working on football stadiums across South Africa, including the venue where their national team will play Ivory Coast in June in its first World Cup appearance since 1966.
Some 1,000 construction workers from reclusive North Korea, which maintains strict control on its citizens’ travels, have been sent to help renovate stadiums across South Africa, the Seoul-based JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Monday, citing unidentified sources.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry confirmed that North Koreans were working in South Africa. Spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said she had no information about how many were helping with World Cup construction.
North Korea has been exporting workers to Russia, the Middle East and Mongolia as part of efforts to earn much-needed foreign currency, she said. The impoverished nation has faced tightened international sanctions in the wake of nuclear and missile activities over the past year.
Among the World Cup venues utilizing North Korean labour are Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, site of the opening and closing ceremonies and final match, and Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, the JoongAng Ilbo reported.
North Korea takes on Ivory Coast at Mbombela Stadium on June 25, after matches against Brazil and Portugal.
North Korea has qualified for the World Cup for the first time since its surprising run to the quarter-finals in 1966.
Hosken to Sell 35% Stake in Milk Producer Clover (Update1)
March 15, 2010/By Ron Derby/Bloomberg
(Adds company comment in second paragraph.)
March 15 (Bloomberg) — Hosken Consolidated Investments Ltd. will sell 35 percent of Clover Industries Ltd., South Africa’s biggest milk producer, back to Clover for 337.4 million rand ($45.5 million).
HCI, a South African investment company, “believes it would be opportune to realize its investment,” the company said in a statement to Johannesburg’s stock exchange today.
HCI paid 92 million rand for 25 percent of Clover in 2005, and later exercised an option to raise its stake by 10 percent.
Clover, which sells a third of South Africa’s milk, will pay a special dividend of 4.10 rand a share to holders of its preference shares, the company said today in an advertisement in Business Day newspaper. HCI’s remaining stake in Clover will be redeemed in three years by Clover and HCI will receive 156 million rand as a special dividend, the milk producer said.
Shares of Clover are traded privately and aren’t listed on a stock exchange.
–Editors: Simon Casey, Antony Sguazzin
AFRICA / AU :
Astral, BHP, First Uranium, Hosken: South Africa Equity Preview
March 15, 2010/By Garth Theunissen and Janice Kew/Bloomberg
March 15 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.
South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose 350.97, or 1.3 percent, to 28,262.40 at the close of trading in Johannesburg on March 12.
Acucap Properties Ltd. (ACP SJ): The real-estate investor will pay 276.8 million rand ($37.3 million) in shares to buy stages 3, 5 and 6 of the Tyger Hills Office Park development, the company said in an advertisement in Johannesburg’s Business Day newspaper today. Acucap fell 1.49 rand, or 4.7 percent, to 30.51 rand.
Astral Foods Ltd. (ARL SJ): South Africa’s second-biggest chicken producer is scheduled to hold a press conference. Astral’s stock rose 70 cents, or 0.6 percent, to 110.70 rand.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BIL SJ): Copper declined for a second day as expectations of tighter monetary policies in China damp metals demand from the world’s largest consumer. BHP, the world’s largest mining company, rose 4.02 rand, or 1.7 percent, to 247.90 rand.
First Uranium Corp. (FUM SJ): Raymond James equity analyst Bart Jaworski raised his recommendation on the developer of uranium deposits in South Africa to “outperform” from “market perform”. First Uranium slid 3 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 11.30 rand.
Hosken Consolidated Investments Ltd. (HCI SJ): The company with gaming investments said it will sell a 34.99 percent stake in Clover Industries Ltd. back to the company for 337.4 million rand. Hosken rose 95 cents, or 1.3 percent, to 77 rand.
Putprop Ltd. (PPR SJ): The property holding company said fiscal first-half net income dropped 14 percent to 13.4 million rand. Putprop was unchanged at 4.80 rand.
Primeserv Group Ltd. (PMV SJ): The investment holding company whose units manage skills-training centers said profit for the year through December declined to 11.5 million rand compared with 17.5 million rand a year earlier. Primeserv was unchanged at 38 cents.
Sasol Ltd. (SOL SJ): Crude oil declined for a second day on speculation fuel inventories may remain high as supply from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries outpaces the recovery in global demand. Sasol, the world’s biggest maker of motor fuel from coal, rose 2.62 rand, or 0.9 percent, to 285 rand.
The following stocks will begin trading without the right to the latest dividends:
AG Industries Ltd. (AGI SJ); AST Group Ltd. (AST SJ); Accentuate Ltd. (ACE SJ); Capevin Investments Ltd. (CVI SJ); City Lodge Hotels Ltd. (CLH SJ), Discovery Holdings Ltd. (DSY SJ); Growthpoint Properties Ltd. (GRT SJ); Indequity Capital Ltd. (IDQ SJ); Kagiso Media Ltd. (KGM SJ); Makalani Holdings Ltd. (MKL SJ); Marshall Monteagle Holding SA (MTE SJ); Massmart Holdings Ltd. (MSM SJ); Rolfes Technology Holdings Ltd. (RLF SJ); Shoprite Holdings Ltd. (SHP SJ); Spur Corp Ltd. (SUR SJ)
Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:
Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) gained 1.2 percent to $20.40. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) slid 0.5 percent to $37.38. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BBL US) was unchanged at $66.63. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) fell 0.2 percent to $5.69. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) lost 1.1 percent to $11.94. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) fell 0.3 percent to $9.59. Impala Platinum Holdings Co. (IMPUY US) rose 0.7 percent to $26.60. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) advanced 0.9 percent to $4.40. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) climbed 0.3 percent to $38.49. Telkom South Africa Ltd. (TLKGY US) added less than 0.1 percent to $17.98.
–Editors: Chris Kirkham, Ana Monteiro.
UN /ONU :
N.Korea ‘helps S.Africa prepare’ for World Cup
(AFP) /15032010
SEOUL — North Korea has sent around 1,000 workers to South Africa to help build or renovate stadiums hosting the upcoming World Cup football tournament, South Korean media reports said Monday.
The sanctions-hit state has sent the workers ahead of the June opening of the event, in which its own football team will participate, in an apparent attempt to earn much-needed hard currency, the JoongAng Daily newspaper said.
It said the North Koreans are working at four to five stadiums, including Soccer City in Johannesburg, where the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the final will be staged.
“The North’s government will likely demand loyalty from those workers and collect their wages to add to their foreign currency reserve,” a Seoul government official told the paper.
Yonhap news agency carried a similar report.
“It appears to be related to the efforts North Korea is increasingly making to earn foreign currency,” a source told the agency.
The country’s economic difficulties have deepened since it went ahead with a second nuclear test last May and triggered tougher UN sanctions, which banned lucrative weapons exports.
A bungled currency revaluation last November is widely reported to have worsened food shortages and fuelled inflation.
The reports did not say how much the South African government, which has set aside 12 billion rand (around 1.6 billion dollars) to prepare 10 World Cup stadiums, is paying the North Koreans.
In Senegal, North Korean workers are helping to build a 160-foot, 22-million dollar “African Renaissance Monument.”
Outside Africa the North has up to 30,000 workers in China, Russia and some Middle Eastern countries, according to JoongAng.
North Korea’s football team has qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1966, when it reached the quarter-finals in England. South Korea will also take part in the tournament.
USA :
Internet fraud’s U.S. price tag put at $550 million
The figure doubled from 2008, with Americans falling prey to increasingly sophisticated scams
By Stuart Pfeifer/www.latimes.com/March 15, 2010
U.S. citizens reported losing more than $550 million in 2009 in Internet fraud, falling prey to a variety of increasingly sophisticated scams, according to a report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
The loss was more than twice that reported in 2008, according to the agency, a partnership of the FBI and the privately funded National White Collar Crime Center. Based in West Virginia, the center tracks Internet crime around the world.
“Criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers,” said Donald Brackman, director of the National White Collar Crime Center.
Part of the increase can be attributed to a change that allowed more cases to be included, but other possible factors include increased use of the Internet, which has broadened the pool of perpetrators and victims, said Charles Pavelites, an FBI special agent.
More complaints were reported by California residents than by residents of any other state, the report said. Common frauds included the non-delivery of merchandise ordered through websites and “advance-fee scams,” in which victims were persuaded to make small payments to receive windfalls that never arrived, the report said.
Typical of the cases reported last year was a scam in which a Miami Beach man advertised vacation rentals on Craigslist.org but stopped communicating with customers after they paid thousands of dollars in down payments, according to the report. Police arrested a suspect in that case, saying he stole more than $30,000 from 16 victims.
Another common fraud in 2009 was the “hit man scam,” in which threatening e-mails were sent to victims. The e-mails purported to be written by hit men who had been paid to kill the victims. They said they would let the victims live if they paid them thousands of dollars. Many of those threatening e-mails were traced to West Africa, Pavelites said.
“Internet crime keeps going up. It’s cheaper. It’s faster. It beats the old method of knocking on your door and trying to get you to give them money,” Pavelites said. “If you send out 1 million e-mails and even a minimal number of people return money, you’ll make more money than a working person would in a very long time in a legitimate job.”
Computer viruses capable of secretly downloading passwords and account numbers are also a problem, Pavelites said. Spread through e-mail attachments, the viruses enable criminals to steal from bank and credit card accounts.
In April 2009, the Internet Crime Complaint Center linked 103 cases in which victims reported paying for vehicles and motorcycles that did not arrive. The victims lost a combined $360,000 that was sent to a fraudulent financing center suggested by the seller, the report said. Consumers can take precautions to avoid being victimized, Pavelites said. They should install up-to-date computer firewalls, use only reputable payment centers to make purchases online, and not respond to unsolicited e-mails or pop-up ads, he said.
stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com
CANADA :
AUSTRALIA :
South Africa now only world’s No.4 gold miner
For many years the world’s largest gold producer by far has fallen to No’4 in the global gold production league.
www.mineweb.co.za/Author: Lawrence Williams/Posted: Monday , 15 Mar 2010
SYDNEY –
According to figures produced by South Africa’s Chamber of Mines, a further decline in the country’s mined gold output in 2009 has now relegated it to fourth position in the World Gold production stakes. It had been the world’s largest gold producer for most of the 20th Century and early 21st until it lost that position to China. Now, the latest figures also put it behind Australia and the U.S. in global gold output.
In 2009, South Africa produced 204.9 tonnes of gold, a 5.8% decline on the 2008 production number. The 5.8% year-on-year decline in production in 2009 was, however, not as large a fall as in 2008 when the drop was 14.5%, mostly as a result of the country’s electricity crisis when power shortages early in the year forced most mines to cut production.
Nevertheless, the Chamber states, the country’s gold mining industry remains critically important to its economy. In 2009, the industry earned about R48.7 billion (around US$6.6 billion at the current exchange rate) in foreign exchange making it the country’s second largest exporter behind platinum group metals (at R58 billion – around US$7.8 billion). The gold sector employed about 159,000 workers and paid about R17 billion in salaries and wages, spent R10.3 billion on capital expenditure, paid R1.4 billion in direct tax to government, paid R506 million in dividends, procured about R3.6 billion worth of electricity and spent another R8.6 billion on the procurement of other goods and services in the economy.
In the fourth quarter of 2009, South Africa’s gold production only fell by 1.8% to 51.68 tonnes when compared to the third quarter. On a year-on-year basis gold production was down by 5.4% in the fourth quarter of 2009.
While the fall in South Africa’s gold output appears to be slowing, there are particular difficulties facing the country’s gold miners – mainly due to the great depths at which many mines operate and declining grades in the older mining operations. This is also having an impact on mine safety and although the industry has made great strides in improving this, safety-related closures following mine accidents continue to have an impact. From a mining point of view the depths at which many of the mines operate, make them difficult to work in total safety due to the unpredictability of extreme rock pressure related seismic events. The level of deaths, although it has fallen over the years, remains unacceptable although it is probably far safer to be a miner in South Africa than in say China, or in a number of countries where mining accident rates per capita employed are far greater – and often not reported in the global press.
Harpooning Caribbean Tourism: Swallowing a dead rat
www.jamaicaobserver.com/Sir Ronald Sanders /March 15, 2010
It’s the high seas equivalent of shooting oneself in the foot. Several Caribbean governments are harpooning their own sustainable tourism industry by supporting Japan’s ruthless campaign to continue killing whales.
A group of International Whaling Commission (IWC) nations meeting from March 2 to 4 in Florida is reported to have considered recommending to the full membership that Japan, Iceland and Norway be allowed to hunt whales despite a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan in particular would no longer have to pretend that, in killing thousands of whales every year, it is doing so for “scientific” purposes.
Japan does not deny that meat from slaughtered whales ends up in restaurants and shops.
As this commentary is being written a shipment of whale meat is being transported by ship from Iceland to Japan in an expensive and backward step to resuscitate trade in whale meat. Twenty-six nations condemned Iceland last October for expanding commercial whaling, pointing out that it brings little benefit to Iceland’s economy and great harm to its tourism industry.
Caribbean countries have nothing to gain if the proposal from the IWC’s small working group is adopted by the wider membership. Voting for its implementation would certainly adversely affect the Caribbean’s image as an environmentally friendly region, as well as harm the growing whale-watching aspect of its tourism industry.
A study by a group of Australian economists placed whale-watching as a US$2.1-billion global industry in 2008. In the Caribbean and Central America whale-watching is growing at a rate of 12.8 per cent, three times more than the growth rate of the global tourism industry (4.2 per cent). Countries in the region now earn more than US$54 million from whale-watching as part of their tourism product, while earnings from whaling are practically zero.
Despite this, members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Suriname have routinely supported Japan’s efforts in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to slaughter whales every year in defiance of the international prohibition.
Significantly, an international meeting in Martinique from February 18 to 21 on “Sustainable ‘blue’ tourism in the Caribbean” strongly urged Caribbean governments “to give their full support and encouragement to whale-watching activities as a valid and sustainable means of protecting marine mammal populations and creating jobs, earning foreign exchange and providing sustainable livelihoods for fishermen and local coastal communities” . In making this call, the participants – the majority of whom were from the Caribbean – recalled that in 2008, the prime minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit took the “principled position” to withdraw his Government’s support for whaling at the IWC as being “incompatible” with Dominica’s brand as a “Nature Isle”. They called on the leaders of other OECS countries to join him.
The stand-off at the IWC between whale-killing Japan and its supportive small states and proponents of whale conservation such as Brazil, Costa Rica, India, the United States, South Africa, Germany and Australia, has dragged on for some time. Last year, the small working group was established to try to bring an end to the impasse. Many hoped that the group’s work would result in strong proposals to ensure that IWC rules are fully respected and implemented, and that whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale sanctuary would be phased out swiftly.
However, it appears that the small group has been coerced into entertaining a different kind of discussion – one in which Japan will be allowed to violate the rules the IWC itself has set and to ignore sanctuaries that have been established. One of the members of the group said that nations must “swallow a dead rat”.
Experts from around the world are deeply troubled by the proposals emerging from the group. The proposals include:
* No provisions to ensure that the existing ban on international
trade in whale products is respected;
* Authorising the killing of sperm whales;
* Continued whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary;
* Weakening of the IWC as a rule-making and regulatory international body, encouraging unrestrained actions by individual nations.
Many governments have got away with supporting Japan because their publics are not fully aware that, apart from a small number of indigenous communities in the world, only an elite group in Japan consistently eat whale meat.
In the Caribbean, Japanese associations have paid for the production and broadcast of television programmes which falsely promote whale-killing as a beneficial activity because whales eat fish in Caribbean waters depriving the local population of fish. This claim has been proven, scientifically, to be untrue.
Evidence of the abhorrence of whale-killing and its adverse effect on the world’s biodiversity is the fact that an Oscar was recently awarded to The Cove – a documentary film depicting the grisly slaughter of dolphins by Japanese in a cove in south-western Japan.
Kevin Rudd, Australia’s prime minister, last month threatened to take action against Japan at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its Antarctic whale hunt. And in New Zealand, the foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, Chris Carter, has called on the government to join Australia in taking Japan to the ICJ.
But Japan remains determined in its stance, not only on whaling but on fisheries generally. Indeed, Japan is so obdurate that it has stated categorically that it will “opt out” of its obligation to stop importing Atlantic bluefin tuna if members of the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species vote this month to add the fish to the treaty’s list of ‘most protected species’. In other words, Japan will respect only those international rules that suit it.
Japan’s stance is bad news for small countries which depend, for their own survival, on international rules and respect for them within the UN framework.
Japan has helped to make rules that are imposed on small states — rules with which small countries have been forced to comply or be punished. Among these are the regulatory and tax information requirements of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
If the proposals of the small working group are accepted by governments, Japan, Iceland and Norway will have a free hand, and Japan will no longer need to lure the support of small Caribbean countries in the IWC.
In June, the IWC will hold its annual meeting in Morocco. That’s the time that the OECS and Suriname governments should join the government of Dominica in taking a principled position that upholds their own interest.
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Responses and previous commentaries at: www.sirronaldsanders.com
EUROPE :
CHINA :
Deal for Oil Fields Extends China’s Quest for Energy
dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/March 15, 2010
Cnooc, China’s top offshore oil explorer, said on Sunday that it had secured a South American beachhead by agreeing to pay $3.1 billion in cash for a stake in one of the largest Argentine oil explorers, with fields in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
The acquisition is the Chinese oil industry’s latest move to expand its reach around the world, Jad Mouawad reports for The New York Times. Starting at the beginning of the decade, companies like PetroChina, Sinopec and Cnooc began buying assets across Africa, Asia and the Middle East to drive the country’s booming economy. More recently, they have struck deals to develop Iraq’s huge reserves and Canada’s oil sands.
Cnooc, a unit of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said it would form a joint venture with the Argentine oil explorer, Bridas Energy, by acquiring a 50 percent share in one of the company’s subsidiaries, the Bridas Corporation.
The Bridas unit has proven reserves of 636 million barrels of oil, and daily production of 92,000 barrels a day. It owns 40 percent of Pan American Energy, the Argentine oil producer, with BP owning the rest.
In 2005, Cnooc lost a bruising battle to Chevron in the United States for control of Unocal, after a fierce political reaction to the prospect of a Chinese company snapping up an American company. Since then, Cnooc has looked for strategic assets abroad, rather than entire companies.
In December, it acquired a small stake in four oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico from Statoil of Norway. The company is also reportedly close to buying a stake in the Ugandan operations of Tullow Oil, an small British oil explorer, along with Total of France.
“This joint venture is aligned with our philosophy of seeking partnerships to expand our global footprints,” Cnooc’s chairman and chief executive, Fu Chengyu, said in a statement in Hong Kong.
The deal is Cnooc’s first foray in South America. It requires the approval of the Chinese government and is expected to close by the end of June.
While oil demand has been shrinking in developed nations because of the global economic slowdown and efforts to conserve energy, Chinese consumption is surging. In its latest report, the International Energy Agency said on Friday that China’s oil demand jumped by “an astonishing” 28 percent in January.
As recently as the 1990s, China was still a net exporter of oil. But the nation’s rapid economic expansion has reversed the trend. China’s aging oil fields have been unable to meet its fast-growing energy needs, feed its manufacturing sector and satisfy a rising class of automobile drivers in Chinese cities. As a result, the Chinese government has encouraged its national companies to expand abroad and secure oil supplies.
China is the world’s fastest-growing energy market, and already is the second largest after the United States. It produced 3.8 million barrels a day of oil last year, while consumption reached 8.5 million barrels a day, up from about 4.8 million in 2000.
Chinese oil demand this year is expected to jump by 6 percent, or 500,000 barrels a day, a third of the total growth expected around the world.
China’s international drive to secure raw materials and commodities has led to a flurry of deals.
Last summer, Sinopec, the country’s largest refiner, bought Addax Petroleum, an oil explorer based in Geneva that is active in Nigeria, Gabon and the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The deal was the largest successful foreign acquisition of oil and gas assets by a Chinese company.
In December, PetroChina gained the backing of the Canadian government to buy a stake in two Alberta oil-sands projects for about $1.9 billion. Chinese companies have also been successful in Iraq, where they outmaneuvered international oil companies for access to the country’s giant oil fields.
Surging global weapons transfers raise concerns
By LOUISE NORDSTROM (AP)/15032010
STOCKHOLM — Surging global weapons transfers are raising concerns about arms races in tension-fraught areas of the globe, a leading peace research group warned Monday.
New data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showed that transfers of major conventional weapons rose by 22 percent in 2005-2009, compared to the previous five-year period.
The U.S. remains the biggest arms supplier, accounting for 30 percent of weapons exports, while China and India are the biggest importers of conventional weapons, SIPRI said. It added that Singapore and Algeria both made the top-10 list of major weapons importers for the first time.
SIPRI also said that Iran was the second-largest customer for China’s arms industry over the past five years. Sales included more than 1,000 surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles, along with 50 infantry fighting vehicles, and accounted for 14 percent of China’s arms exports by value during 2005-2009, according to SIPRI.
While none of the sales violated U.N. sanctions against Iran or other international agreements, they may reinforce perceptions that China’s thriving economic relations with Iran are encouraging it to resist supporting a new round of sanctions against Tehran. The U.S. and other Western powers are seeking the measures to pressure Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
Overall, China remains a relatively small player in global arms exports, which average around $380 million per year, compared to more than $7 billion for the U.S.
The institute, which uses five-year averages to spot trends in global arms transfers, said the latest data raise concerns about arms races brewing in volatile regions in the Middle East, North Africa, South America, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
“Resource-rich states have purchased a considerable quantity of expensive combat aircraft,” Paul Holtom, director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, said in a statement. “Neighboring rivals have reacted to these acquisitions with orders of their own.”
Combat aircraft accounted for 27 percent of the volume of international arms transfers in 2005-2009, SIPRI said. U.S. deliveries included 72 F-16 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, 52 to Israel and 40 F-15 jets to South Korea.
Russia, the world’s No. 2 weapons exporter, delivered 82 Sukhoi fighters to India, 28 to Algeria and 18 to Malaysia, SIPRI said. This year Russia is competing with European and U.S. suppliers for an Indian order of 126 combat aircraft.
Noting Vietnam’s order of long-range combat aircraft and submarines in 2009, SIPRI said the current wave of weapons acquisitions in South Asia “could destabilize the region, jeopardizing decades of peace.”
The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database includes major conventional weapons such as aircraft, armored vehicles, artillery, sensors, missiles, ships and air defense systems. Trucks, small arms, ammunition and most light weapons are not included.
Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.
INDIA :
India-Africa business conclave opens with large African participation
2010-03-15/sify.com
Making a strong pitch for scaling up trade and investment with Africa, India’s External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Monday inaugurated a two-day conclave that is set to renew economic momentum between the two sides with business projects worth at least $10 billion.
‘We wish to make the positive emotive engagement between India and Africa into a successful economic engagement for mutual bnenfit,’ Krishna said while kicking off the conclave that’s attended by 380 African business and political leaders from 34 African countries.
‘We propose to utilize our government’s financial commitments to Africa to catalyse greater trade and investment,’ he said.
We in the government of India remain committed to support our African partners and the Indian private sector to support these goals, Krishna said.
Stressing on the growing role of the private sector in driving the economic engagement between India and Africa, Krishna said: ‘The India-Africa relationship has evolved into a vibrant one. In this role the private sector in particular has acquired larger and more significant dimensions.’
Krishna stressed on distinctive features of India’s engagement with Africa that includes creating capacity-building institutions, human empowerment and mutually beneficial trade and investment.
Alluding to the joint action plan the two sides launched last week to implement key decisions of the 2008 India-Africa Forum Summit, Krishna said India planned to create a host of training institutes in Africa in in areas of diamond polishing, IT, vocational education and Pan-African Stock Exchange.
‘We will also create 10 vocational training institutions and five human settlement institutes,’ he said.
The mood among the Indian and African business community at the conclave being held Hotel Taj Palace here at is upbeat. Nearly 150 projects worth $10 billion are expected to be discussed between the two sides over the next two days.
‘We remain confident that the overall engagement between India and Africa remains vibrant and full of vitality. In such a positive ambience, there are no hurdles to the enhancement of business and entrepreneurship,’ Krishna said.
India’s trade with Africa is currently estimated to be around $39 billion.
Organised jointly by the Export-Import Bank of India, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the commerce and external affairs ministries, the conclave is also expected to lay the roadmap for the next India-Africa Summit scheduled next year after the highly successful maiden summit here in 2008.
With ‘Developing Synergies: Creating a Vision’ as the central theme, the conclave will be linked to four sub-themes, guided by the objectives spelt at the 2008 summit. These are: partnership, rural economies, Africa tomorrow and going green.
Ghana’s Vice-President John Dramani Mahama is the guest of honour at the conclave.
With China increasing its footprints all over Africa with its two-day touching over $100 billion, Indian businesses, powered by the private sector, are expanding their operations across the continent with affordable technology and skill enhancement distinguishing their operations.
The CII has said the conclave should become a ‘platform to help create a long-term vision for economic engagement between Indian and African economies’.
India’s Godrej Consumer Products Ltd to buy Tura from Tura Group of Nigeria
March 15, 2010/www.ngex.com
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd of India has agreed to buy Tura (a personal care products brand) from Tura Group of Nigeria. This is part of Godrej Consumer Products strategy to sell its products, which include soaps, detergents, deodorants, talcum powder, hair color, shaving cream, in Nigeria, and other countries in Western Africa.
Tura makes and sells soaps, moisturizing lotions and skin-toning creams in Nigeria.
In a statement, Godrej Consumer Products Chairman said “Tura helps us leapfrog in our endeavour to build a pan-African presence for our core categories such as personal wash and hair care. We expect the transaction to provide a tremendous platform for value creation in West Africa”
Tura’s current management team is to continue to lead the business.
Indian Stocks Fluctuate; ICICI Drops, Tata Consultancy Gains
March 15, 2010/By Rajhkumar K Shaaw/Bloomberg
March 15 (Bloomberg) — Indian stocks fluctuated. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. gained while ICICI Bank Ltd. declined.
Tata Consultancy, a software services exporter, gained 2.3 percent after signing an agreement with Malaysia Airlines for information technology services. ICICI Bank Ltd., declined 1.2 percent after an inflation report showed consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in 16 months, heightening concern policy makers may tighten money supply.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, was little changed at 17,170.11 at 1:14 p.m. in Mumbai after swinging between gains and losses at least five times. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange lost 0.1 percent to 5,131.50. The BSE 200 Index declined 0.2 percent to 2,152.08.
“If prices continue to rise then the central bank may increase interest rates, which will affect growth,” said Alex Mathews, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd. in Kochi.
Tata Consultancy, India’s largest software-services provider, climbed 2.3 percent to 815.3 rupees. Wipro Ltd., the third-biggest, rose 2.4 percent to 727.35 rupees.
ICICI Bank declined 1.2 percent to 925.7 rupees. State Bank of India Ltd., the nation’s biggest lender, lost 1.4 percent to 2,020.1 rupees. The benchmark wholesale-price index climbed to 9.89 percent from a year earlier, following an 8.56 percent increase in January, the commerce ministry said today. The median forecast of 20 economists in a Bloomberg news survey was for a 9.69 percent gain.
Withdrawing Stimulus
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said March 12 the nation’s inflation rate may accelerate in coming months. DLF Ltd., India’s biggest developer, fell 1.5 percent to 306.25 rupees.
India and China, the world’s fastest-growing major economies, may withdraw more stimulus steps as stronger consumer demand stokes the pace of price increases. India’s inflation rate could surge to “double digits,” central bank Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said March 11. Food-price increases stayed near 18 percent for a sixth week, according to a March 11 government report.
India’s bonds rose after today’s inflation report. Sanjay Arya, treasurer at state-owned Bank of Maharashtra in Mumbai predicts the central bank may raise its reverse repurchase rate, at which it absorbs cash from banks, and its repurchase rate by 50 basis points each at its policy meeting on April 20. Both rates are at record lows of 3.25 percent and 4.75 percent respectively.
Expanding GDP
India started to withdraw monetary stimulus in October by ordering lenders to place a greater proportion of deposits in government bonds and raised the bank’s reserve requirements to 5.75 percent in January.
Gross domestic product in India may expand 8.2 percent in the 12 months from April 1, from an estimated 7.2 percent this year, India’s finance ministry forecast Feb. 25. GDP growth averaged 9.5 percent per annum between 2006 and 2008.
Overseas investors bought a net 4.18 billion rupees ($92.1 million) of Indian stocks on March 10, taking their total purchases of the equities this year to 113.8 billion rupees, according to the nation’s market regulator.
Foreign fund inflows into India’s stock market climbed to a record 834.2 billion rupees in 2009, beating the previous high set two years earlier in local currency terms, as the biggest rally in 18 years lured foreign investors. They sold a record 529.9 billion rupees of shares in 2008, triggering the biggest ever annual decline.
The following were among the most active on the exchange:
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. (GCPL IN) soared 3.4 percent to 280 rupees. The nation’s second-biggest soapmaker bought Nigerian company Tura to expand its business in West Africa.
NMDC Ltd. (NMDC IN) fell 3.7 percent to 349.4 rupees. Asia’s third-largest iron-ore producer by market value set its share sale price at 300 rupees apiece, the lower end of the range, Chairman Rana Som said in a telephone interview yesterday. The company had planned to sell shares at 300 rupees to 350 rupees each.
–Editors: Margo Towie
BRASIL:
Nike Faces Paris Trial Over Role in Payments to Soccer Players
March 15, 2010/By Heather Smith/Bloomberg
March 15 (Bloomberg) — Nike Inc. didn’t use sponsorship deals to help Paris’s soccer team dodge taxes while luring top players, the world’s largest athletic-shoemaker will tell a Paris court at a criminal trial opening today.
Nike’s French unit and two of its former executives are on trial with the Paris Saint-Germain team, former club officials and player agents. They are all accused of taking part in a scheme to hide payments used to entice players to the team while avoiding French employment taxes.
The court’s scrutiny of Nike’s sponsorship practices from 2000 until 2005 comes as the Beaverton, Oregon-based company is poised to become official equipment supplier to the French national soccer team in 2011. Nike is also lining up sponsorships of national teams for the World Cup, the largest forum for soccer players and the brands that outfit them, which is set to begin in three months in South Africa. The company supplies teams including Brazil, Portugal and the U.S.
Footwear and apparel companies “want to be associated with teams that have a winning tradition,” said Matt Powell, an analyst with Charlotte, North Carolina-based SportsOneSource. “Any time there is a photograph or a video of a team playing, they’re getting exposure. If Nike supports a team and it wins, then Nike is a winner, too.”
Nike said it will show it wasn’t involved in any tax fraud.
The company “welcomes the opportunity to demonstrate in court that the contractual relationship that existed between Nike France and PSG was not of a fraudulent nature,” it said in an e-mailed statement.
Disguised Salary
Nike France is accused of faking documents and using them to aid in disguising how much transferred players were paid. The company faces a maximum fine of 225,000 euros ($309,500) under the French criminal code. Nike had net income of $1.49 billion for the fiscal year ended May 31.
French investigators opened a probe in 2005 after questioning a player who said Paris Saint-Germain made off-the- books payments to convince players to transfer to the team. The probe found PSG worked with agents and Nike, the team’s sponsor since 1994, to find ways to attract stars like Brazil’s Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, or Ronaldhino, and Nigeria’s Augustine “Jay- Jay” Okocha, without paying taxes on all they were paid.
Ronaldinho played with the club, also known as PSG, from 2001 until 2003 before moving to FC Barcelona. He currently plays for A.C. Milan. Okocha played for PSG from 1998 to 2002, before joining the U.K.’s Bolton Wanderers. He is now retired.
Foreign Competitors
It costs significantly more for French teams to pay the top salaries needed to get players than it does for their foreign competitors due to local employment taxes, the judges leading the inquiry wrote in their report recommending a trial.
“In France, the ratio between the player’s net and the total cost paid by the club is 1 to 3, other big countries have ratios ranging from 1.5 to 2 at most,” a witness told the judges, according to a copy of the 104-page trial report. “To counter this difference and reduce the cost of recruiting, a big system of tax fraud was implemented at PSG.”
PSG denies the charges and will be cleared, said the team’s lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve.
“The club itself strictly applies all labor and tax laws,” Maisonneuve said in a March 12 interview at his Paris office. “Concerning Nike, these were real sponsorship contracts, real payments made” to fulfill the contract terms.
Calls to lawyers for the former PSG officials and the former Nike France executives for comment ahead of the trial weren’t immediately returned.
–With assistance by Matt Townsend in New York. Editor: Christopher Scinta, Chris Staiti.
To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Smith in Paris at hsmith26@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net.
EN BREF, CE 15 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,15/03/2010
