{jcomments on}OMAR, AGNEWS, BXL, le 19 mai 2010 – RTTNews- May 19, 2010–A court in Malawi on Tuesday convicted a gay couple finding them guilty of unnatural acts and gross indecency.
RWANDA
Water issues
19 May 2010/www.jordantimes.com
Recently, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania reached an agreement on the distribution of the Nile waters, without consulting other nations that depend on the Nile River for their water needs.
That might be a prescription for conflict.
Egypt and Sudan were the first to reject the terms of the “accord” struck by the four African states.
Nine African countries share the Nile River and any move by only some of them to increase the benefit could stir problems in East Africa.
Among these riparian African states, Kenya is voicing some support for the recent agreement, while others have, so far, maintained silence on the issue.
Instead of reaching cluster agreements on the fair distribution of the Nile waters, the African countries through which the river passes need to comply with the still-in-force 1959 agreement on the issue. The agreement amended the 1929 accord that was brokered during the British occupation of Egypt and Sudan and which gave these two Arab countries the lion’s share of the Nile waters.
Given the scarcity of water in many countries in the world, there is pressing need to honour agreements struck by riparian states. It has been said that wars might ignite, particularly in the Middle East, because of water shortages. Acting sagely and justly can prevent such development.
The four African states that agreed on the distribution of the Nile waters may wish to reconsider their accord or reach out to the other countries sharing the river for a new agreement. Or they may wish to appeal to the African Union to decide on the matter, thus ensuring it does not escalate and becomes a reason for serious conflict. Or, as a last resort, they could allow the UN Security Council to exercise jurisdiction over the affair and issue a binding decision.
UGANDA
Uganda to gain from UN rights council
19 May, 2010 /By Charles Ariko /www.newvision.co.ug
THE United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, has commended Uganda for being elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“Uganda’s membership on the council will make our human rights issues more visible internationally. Uganda will be more conscious and obliged to fulfill some of the pledges it made on improving human rights than ever before,” Sekaggya explained yesterday.
The council is an inter-governmental body within the UN responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.
Uganda garnered 164 votes in the 192-member assembly at a secret ballot held at the UN General Assembly in New York last week.
The council sits at the second UN centre situated in Geneva, Switzerland.
Uganda will serve a three-year term as a voting member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Under the council’s rules, members cannot run for immediate re-election after two consecutive three-year terms.
Uganda is expected to take up the seat on June 18.
Uganda’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Maurice Kagimu-Kiwanuka, welcomed the poll results.
“It represents a vote of confidence by the international community in Uganda’s internal human rights record and our contribution on the international stage,” he said.
Kiwanuka added that the 85% rating was testament to President Yoweri Museveni’s successful stewardship of internal and foreign policy initiatives.
Several NGOs had objected to Uganda’s election, citing the proposed anti-homosexuality Bill, amendments to the press and journalists’ Act and other legislations that they said were against human rights principles.
“If the Ugandan authorities are truly committed to achieving the council’s standards, they should make torture a domestic criminal offence and allow the Uganda Human Rights Commission and independent NGOs access to all detainees held in all places of detention both official and unofficial,” said Livingstone Ssewanyana, the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative.
Prior to the election, local human rights organisations had deemed Uganda unfit for the position.
Gay Couple Convicted In Malawi
5/19/2010 / RTTNews
(RTTNews) – A court in Malawi on Tuesday convicted a gay couple finding them guilty of unnatural acts and gross indecency.
In his ruling made Tuesday, Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa noted that Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were “living together as husband and wife,” which according to him “transgresses the Malawian recognized standards of propriety.”
Rejecting the defense lawyer’s claims that the duo’s actions had not victimized anyone, Magistrate Usiwa said he found the gay couple guilty of “carnal knowledge” that was “against the order of nature.” The pair would be sentenced on 20th May.
Homosexuality is considered as a criminal act in Malawi and is punishable with a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison as per a law dating back to the colonial times.
Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were arrested on 28th December 2009, two days after holding an engagement party ahead of a wedding planned for 2010. They have been in prison since their arrest.
Their arrest had evoked international condemnation, with several nations and human right groups urging Malawi’s government to release the pair and to abandon the harsh treatment of homosexuals in the country.
Despite several nations threatening to withhold aid to the deeply-impoverished southern African nation of 14 million over the arrest of the two men, Malawi’s political and religious leaders have reacted to such threats with defiance.
Tuesday’s ruling reflected another case of broad anti-gay sentiment in Africa, where homosexuality is outlawed in at least 37 countries including Malawi. Uganda is currently considering an anti-homosexuality legislation that could fetch long prison sentences to offenders and even death penalty in some cases.
The proposed Ugandan anti-homosexuality legislation evoked widespread criticism in Europe and in the United States, where a group of 200 U.S. lawmakers introduced a resolution condemning the measure.
The strong criticisms from the west prompted a presidential committee to recommend withdrawing the controversial measure from the Ugandan parliament. Despite the international condemnation of the anti-gay bill, its supporters in Uganda have dismissed criticism from the West as a new form of colonialism.
by RTT Staff Writer
IMF approves Uganda’s oil revenue plan
19 May, 2010/By Sylvia Juuko /www.newvision.co.ug
A NEW three-year policy support instrument (PSI), which will help the country in the management of future oil revenues, has been approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Naoyuki Shinohara, the IMF deputy managing director, said the PSI will facilitate maintenance of macro-economic stability, scale-up public investment and strengthen institutions ahead of expected oil production.
“Large-scale oil production and the establishment of the East African monetary union will present opportunities, but also pose significant policy challenges for Uganda in the years to come.
“The authorities are taking steps to strengthen institutional and policy frameworks, which, together with improving infrastructure, should help the country prepare effectively for these developments,” Shinohara said in a statement last week.
The PSI is an IMF instrument designed for countries that do not need balance of payment financial support, but still seek the fund’s advice, monitoring and endorsement of policies.
Shinohara pointed out that Uganda’s main challenge was to accelerate infrastructure development while ensuring macro-economic stability.
“The new PSI-supported programme aims to support the objectives of the recently adopted national development plan. The authorities aim to raise domestic revenue and, if needed, use a limited amount of non-concessional borrowing to finance the increase in public spending.”
The IMF forecast show that there was a slow-down in the economy due to a prolonged drought and the uncertainties about the path of global growth.
“Growth is expected to reach 5.6% for 2009/2010, but should rebound quickly over the next couple of years,” it said.
In the medium-term, Uganda’s outlook remained favourable due to the prospect of substantial oil revenues, which offers an opportunity to raise growth and eliminate poverty.
However, the IMF cautions that this development poses important policy challenges.
“Uganda will need robust fiscal and financial institutions, a supportive business environment and scaled-up infrastructure to prepare for this event.
“The fiscal policy framework must also be further bolstered in preparation for the establishment of the East African Monetary Union.”
Shinohara suggested that a cautious monetary stance, flexible exchange rate regime and a comfortable level of reserves will help keep the fiscal and debt positions within sustainable bounds.
“To improve efficiency and raise future growth, the Government is committed to reinvigorating structural reforms.
“These will focus on public financial management, including strengthening spending controls and efficiency, and increasing domestic tax revenue,” he added.
He argued that financial sector reforms would enhance banking stability and facilitate financial deepening.
TANZANIA:
CONGO RDC :
KENYA :
Obama’s aunt a special case
May 19, 2010 /dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com
President Barack Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, has successfully sidestepped immigration laws for a decade. Onyango’s original asylum request was the “due to violence in Kenya.” Using this scenario, every citizen in Mexico can seek asylum in the United States “due to violence in Mexico.”
But there is a catch. They must be able to, while their “immigration status is “undetermined,” somehow acquire housing, health care and legal help for a number of years.
Oh, one more thing. It would really help if they could somehow prove they are related to President Obama.
Yes, Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro said that the White House had no involvement in the case at any point. But I don’t believe for a second anyone is naive enough to think the immigration court did not consider who Onyango’s nephew is.
Mike Davis, Dallas
ANGOLA :
SOUTH AFRICA:
AFRICA / AU :
Somali Man Pleads Guilty in U.S. to Hijacking Ship Off Africa
May 19, 2010/By Patricia Hurtado and David Glovin/Bloomberg
May 19 (Bloomberg) — A Somali pirate captured by the U.S. military in April 2009 when Navy commandoes freed an American container ship off the coast of Africa pleaded guilty to hijacking charges, prosecutors said.
Abduwali Muse admitted in federal court in Manhattan yesterday to two counts of hijacking maritime vessels, two counts of kidnapping and two counts hostage taking, according to a statement issued by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
The U.S. said in an indictment filed in January that Muse and others hijacked two other ships before the Maersk Alabama.
“What we did was wrong,” Muse said in court, according to a transcript of his remarks translated into English. “I am very sorry for all of this. It happened because of the situation in Somalia.”
Prosecutors said Muse was the leader of the group of pirates who overtook the Maersk Alabama on April 8, 2009, and held its captain captive for five days. Muse was the first pirate to board the ship, fired at Captain Richard Phillips from the deck, forced him to stop the ship, and demanded that he hand over $30,000 from the ship’s safe, according to court papers filed by prosecutors. The group later kept Phillips in a lifeboat off the Somali coast.
Recommended Sentence
Muse could face as long as life in prison on the charges of hostage-taking and kidnapping. Prosecutors said in a plea agreement that they wouldn’t seek a sentence of longer than 33 years and nine months, with a minimum term of 27 years. Muse is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 19 by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska.
Muse’s lawyer, Philip Weinstein, declined to comment after yesterday’s hearing.
Muse “led the hostage-taking of crew members, threatened them with firearms and in at least one instance, an improvised explosive device,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McGuire said at a hearing in January.
Muse, who prosecutors say was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge for treatment of his injured arm and was apprehended by U.S. sailors when Navy snipers shot dead the three kidnappers in the lifeboat, the military said.
He was transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which brought him to New York.
Prosecutors allege that in March 2009, Muse and others boarded an unidentified ship in the Indian Ocean armed with weapons and took hostages. Muse is accused of threatening to kill everyone aboard with an improvised explosive device if the authorities came.
The U.S. says Muse and others left the first ship on a small boat and met a second unidentified ship that was also in the area. Muse and three others left that second ship and boarded the Maersk Alabama, prosecutors said.
The Alabama is owned by Maersk Line Ltd., a Norfolk, Virginia-based unit of Copenhagen-based A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S.
The case is U.S. v. Muse, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
–Editors: Peter Blumberg, Michael Hytha.
Gay Couple Convicted in Malawi
By BARRY BEARAK/ www.nytimes.com/ May 19, 2010
JOHANNESBURG — A gay couple in Malawi were found guilty on Tuesday of unnatural acts and gross indecency, the consequence of their holding an engagement ceremony in an insular nation where homosexuality is largely seen as nonexistent or something that must be suppressed.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 33, and Steven Monjeza, 26, face up to 14 years in prison. A magistrate said he would sentence the men on Thursday.
The case has drawn worldwide attention as another example of the broad anti-gay sentiment in Africa. A law recently proposed in Uganda calling for homosexuals to be executed in some cases stirred so much ire in the West that a presidential committee recommended withdrawing it from Parliament.
Malawi, a deeply impoverished, landlocked nation of 14 million, has also received international condemnation for prosecuting the two gay men. But most of its leaders — political and religious — have reacted with defiance. Last month, President Bingu wa Mutharika was quoted as calling homosexuality “evil and bad before the eyes of God” and an act “we Malawians just do not do.”
Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa, in delivering Tuesday’s judgment in a small courtroom in Blantyre, the country’s commercial capital, was similarly stern. He referred to the crime as “buggery,” using language from when Malawi was a British colony and the current law was written.
He found both men guilty of “carnal knowledge” that was “against the order of nature.” He said the two had been “living together as husband and wife,” which “transgresses the Malawian recognized standards of propriety.”
As the judgment was translated for them from English into Chichewa, the defendants barely flinched. Then they were hastened out of a back door, escaping a taunting crowd that already was celebrating their conviction.
The couple have been in jail since Dec. 28, two days after they threw themselves an engagement party — a chinkhoswe in Chichewa — at the Blantyre lodge where Mr. Chimbalanga worked as a cook and housekeeper, referring to himself as “Auntie Tiwo” and insisting that he was a woman.
This public celebration drew dozens of uninvited guests. Some hooted and jeered, and at least one phoned a local newspaper, which published a front-page article about “gay lovebirds” partaking in “the first recorded public activity for homosexuals in the country.”
When arrested, both men gave statements to the police that were later deemed incriminating. Though a doctor testified he could find no evidence that the two had committed sodomy, the magistrate said he relied on the defendants’ own words “that they used to caress each other and had anal sex for five months before going public.”
The verdict was a disappointment to the few Malawians who had openly supported the accused. “As much as I expected a guilty verdict, I still hoped for a miracle,” said Dunker Kamba, the administrator for a group that provides counseling about AIDS.
Undule Mwakasungula, the head of a human rights group, called the verdict another sign of the country’s rejection of what is commonly called “gayism” in Malawi. He said, “We can’t keep denying that we have gay people in Malawi and that they deserve to be treated with understanding and justice.”
Mr. Monjeza grew up on the outskirts of Blantyre. His relatives repeatedly have said they feel disgraced and would never welcome him back.
Mr. Chimbalanga was raised in a small village beyond the huge tea plantations that dominate the Thyolo district, 40 miles from Blantyre. His uncle, the village headman, banished him in his teenage years, but his five siblings remained loyal, thinking their brother “bewitched.” At the end of the proceedings on Tuesday, Mauya Msuku, a lawyer for the defense, said the gay couple suffered from “gender disorientation” and would benefit far more from forgiveness and counseling than “placing them with hard-core criminals.”
Speaking for the prosecution, however, Barbara Mchenga urged the magistrate to “consider the scar this offense will leave on our morality. The two showed no remorse and were somehow proud of what they did.”
Caroline Somanje contributed reporting from Blantyre, Malawi.
UN: LRA rebels kill 36 in Central African Republic
(AP) /19052010
KINSHASA, Congo — The United Nations says a feared Ugandan rebel group has killed 36 people and driven 10,000 from their homes in Central African Republic in recent months.
At least 400 have fled over the border into Congo.
Congo, too, has suffered attacks, the world body’s refugee agency says. In February, the Lord’s Resistance Army killed as many as 100 people there.
The agency said Tuesday the attacks in Central African Republic this spring were marked by an increase in brutality.
The LRA began its attacks in northern Uganda more than 20 years ago and has since spread to Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic. It has no known agenda except killing and kidnapping to swell its ranks.
S.Africa transport union reaches deal with Transnet
May 19 /(Reuters)
JOHANNESBURG,
– A South African transport union has reached a deal over wages with logistics group Transnet, which if accepted by members will end a strike that paralysed rail and port traffic, an official said on Wednesday.
Stocks
“We’ve been sitting right through the night. There is a settlement agreement that we are going to take to our members. The details of that I cannot disclose at this stage,” George Strauss, president of the United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) told Reuters.
Utatu is the biggest union at Transnet [TRAN.UL].
He said the strike, which dented exports of metals, fruit and wine to Europe and Asia and hit imports of automotive parts and supplies of fuel, will continue until the workers agree to the deal. Two-thirds of Transnet’s workforce have been on strike since Monday last week.
He also said a separate settlement had been reached to end a strike at Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa), which left millions of commuters stranded this week. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
AU Urges Unity Among Somali Leaders
Peter Clottey /www1.voanews.com/19 May 2010
A top official of the African Union is calling for unity among Somali leaders to resolve the country’s problems in the face of the ongoing power struggle between President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke.
Ramtane Lamamra, the continental body’s commissioner for Peace and Security, told VOA the country’s leaders should not allow the ongoing confusion to undermine the international community’s confidence in Somalia.
“It is important, of course, that they (leaders) could send a message of unity to the rest of the world, especially at a time when the international community is getting ready to have this Istanbul conference on the solidarity and reconstruction of Somalia. It’s important that this conference is not disturbed by the news that we are getting out of Somalia,” he said.
Some observers say the political stalemate casts a shadow over the upcoming international conference on Somalia scheduled to be held in Turkey this weekend.
This comes after Prime Minister Sharmarke said Tuesday that he will be staying in power despite President Ahmed’s earlier announcement that he would soon be naming a new government.
Mr. Sharmarke was quoted as saying, “I am legally the prime minister of Somalia and the statement by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed that called for the formation of a new government was regrettable.”
Commissioner Lamamra urged the leaders to resolve their differences.
“We really plead with the parties in Somalia to get their act together and to find ways to build and consolidate political consensus that will help them to move and to complete transitional period in the safest way for the country at a time when challenges are still out there, and they need to be faced with the utmost unity of purpose,” Lamamra said.
President Ahmed’s government has been battling almost daily with insurgents, including al-Shabab described by Washington as a terrorist organization with strong links to al-Qaida.
Analysts say the escalating power struggle between the two leaders is empowering the hard-line Islamic insurgents who have vowed to overthrow the internationally-backed government.
Commissioner Lamamra said the insurgents take advantage of any situation.
“The insurgents certainly will take advantage of every weakness on the part of the government and on the part of the international community to try to score goals if not to try to take control of political power in the country,” Lamamra said.
He also urged the international community to deliver on its logistical and financial promises to help Somalia’s rebuilding efforts.
UN /ONU :
Malawi: In Letter to President, IGLHRC Condemns Conviction and Ongoing Discrimination
19 May 2010/allafrica.com/International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (New York)
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and the Malawian organization the Center for the Development of People (CEDEP) condemn today’s conviction by a Magistrate Court in Blantyre, Malawi of Tiwonge (“Tionge”) Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza for “unnatural offences” and “indecent practices between males” under Sections 153 and 156 of the Malawi Penal Code. The Court is expected to sentence the two on May 20th and issue the full judgment within three weeks. Chimbalanga and Monjeza face up to fourteen years in prison with the possibility of hard labour.
“By ignoring basic standards of evidence, this ruling undermines Malawi’s commitment to the rule of law and jeopardizes the human rights of all Malawians,” said Chivuli Ukwimi, Health and Human Rights Officer of IGLHRC. “In a context of escalating persecution of LGBT Malawians, this decision damages life-saving efforts to address HIV and AIDS.”
Monjeza and Chimbalanga have been held in Chichiri Prison in Blantyre since December 28, 2009, when they were arrested after a traditional engagement ceremony attended by family and friends. Following their arrest, Chimbalanga was forced to undergo an involuntary anal examination and both were forced to undergo an involuntary psychiatric evaluation. The two were repeatedly denied bail – a decision severely criticized as unjust by the Malawi Law Society. There have been reports of the Court allowing the couple to be subjected to humiliating treatment during the trial, including being mocked for their relationship by trial attendees and being forced to clean up vomit after one of them became ill.
Today’s ruling is part of a broader pattern of mounting pressure and persecution on LGBT people by authorities in Malawi. This persecution has come from the highest levels of government. On April 23rd, President Bingu wa Mutharika reportedly denounced homosexuality as “un-Malawian,” “evil” and “disgusting” and linked it to corruption, violence, theft and prostitution. Days later, on April 26th and again on the 27th, police appeared at a conference on the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations in HIV/AIDS programming. Police demanded the names of conference organizers, seized copies of the conference program, and inquired about specific individuals believed to be in attendance. Police refused to present a warrant or justification for the intimidation.
These incidents violate the Constitution of Malawi and the human rights treaties to which Malawi is a party. The continued discrimination and persecution of people on the basis of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity threatens to undermine the right to privacy, the right to non-discrimination and equality before the law, and freedoms of assembly, association, opinion, and expression that all Malawians are entitled to enjoy.
USA :
CANADA :
Canada’s prime minister keeps focus on economics
May 19, 2010/www.busrep.co.za
Politicians around the world are similar. They adeptly mark their own contradictions at a moment’s notice, no less so Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who used a meeting with about 100 youths – who will be holding a Group of Eight/Group of 20) (G8/G20) youth summit next month – to focus on economic issues and his conservative vision of economic management.
You couldn’t spend yourself “into prosperity”, he told delegates in the conference hall of the Ottawa House of Commons, attended by journalists from across the world – including Business Report – being briefed on upcoming G8 and G20 summits.
The troubles of Africa did not get a direct mention, but he did point out that the G7 (Group of Seven) countries – notably leaving out Russia – were the countries which provided donor aid to the less prosperous. But he was adamant that the most prominent industrial countries – part of the G8 – and other prominent nations in the G20 – including South Africa – needed to focus on economic issues.
As host of the summit – which is being held in Toronto and Muskoka next month – he was emphatic that it should not focus on sideshows.
He deftly avoided controversies over a recent remark about a G8/G20 child and maternal health programme which he said should not include funding for abortion and his rejection of UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s request to include climate change on the summits’ agendas.
He told the youth he had felt uncomfortable about Canada’s assistance in bailing out General Motors, pointing out that it was conservative former US president George W Bush and not liberal US President Barack Obama who had pushed the initiative. Once that decision to save hundreds of thousands of jobs had been taken, Canada had little choice but to go along with it. He said he had to take that decision on his 50th birthday, which had made him uncomfortable.
After a lengthy exposition of prudent financial policies, reducing budget deficits and a focus on the health of the Canadian banking system, Harper, at least, admitted that political management often placed one in a dilemma. Perhaps it is a case of not doing what one is saying, just doing what one has to do.
Labour
It’s hardly surprising that tensions between Transnet and the unions have risen to such a degree, especially after mediation failed. Both sides, bitter and angry, are under intense pressure from business and the government to end the wage dispute, and are venting their frustrations on each other.
Unions are claiming Transnet is incompetent, uncaring and a liar. Transnet has hit back with accusations that there are irresponsible and mischievous elements in the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union’s (Satawu) leadership who have spread misinformation.
Perhaps the war of words is inevitable, especially as both sides think they have not been given a fair shake by the media. Accusations and personal attacks issued in anger will only make it much harder for both sides to make peace with each other.
Both parties will have to work hard at “restoring the trust that was shattered during the strike”, as Transnet’s chief negotiator Pradeep Maharaj put it last week. That did not stop Transnet from issuing a statement attacking Satawu’s negotiator.
Transnet is the lynchpin of the economy as it moves goods by rail, port and pipeline. A strike should never have happened and perhaps if the government and Transnet had taken more cognisance of the mood among workers it would not have come to this.
They certainly should have taken more seriously a letter warning of a possible strike that was sent by the United Transport and Allied Union (Utatu) in January to the Minister of Public Enterprises Barbara Hogan, which the department forwarded to Transnet.
Given Utatu is not prone to industrial action, it seems that the warning from it should be taken more seriously. Instead the economy is now counting the costs of this apparent inaction or delayed reaction.
Employment
One important statistic appears to have been underplayed in the generally gloomy Adcorp Employment index that appeared this week: the fact that it now takes 36 percent fewer workers to produce a given level of output than it did in 1960.
That, of course, is an average. In some sectors, such as motor vehicle manufacture, the decline in employment numbers – and consequent rise in productivity – is much greater. It all comes down to a great technological revolution the world has yet to come to terms with and which Adcorp did not mention: the development of the integrated circuit, the microchip.
Loane Sharp, a market analyst with the staffing company, drew the correct conclusion, saying that “the job market will never recover”.
But although he concedes that technological innovation has resulted in fewer workers producing more, he blames the jobless crisis on labour regulation and high wage settlements.
Yet it is the microchip that is at the heart of the problem of growing joblessness and the ongoing credit crisis. They are key to robotics; to the creation of machines that can do the work of dozens, even hundreds of workers when operated by only one or two people.
All of this meant a mass surge in productivity that created huge surpluses in everything from textiles and clothing to cars and household appliances. To absorb such surpluses, massive credit extension was made available and it was taken up everywhere from households to corporates and governments.
The overall result, says University of Massachusetts professor of economics Richard Wolff, is that capitalism has “hit the fan”.
Edited by Peter DeIonno. With contributions by Donwald Pressly, Samantha Enslin-Payne and Terry Bell
AUSTRALIA :
Priceline buys car-rental service TravelJigsaw
The Associated Press /May 19, 2010
NORWALK, Conn.
Priceline.com Inc. said Tuesday it bought online car-rental service TravelJigsaw to bolster its international business.
Terms were not disclosed.
Priceline said it planned to keep TravelJigsaw’s current management, which will keep a minority stake in the company.
England-based TravelJigsaw was created in 2004 and offers rentals at more than 4,000 locations in 80 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East, according to Priceline.
Shares of Priceline fell $7.29, or 3.6 percent, to $192.86 in regular trading.
Gold Fields to Boost Output at Peru, Africa Mines (Update1)
May 19, 2010/By Alex Emery/Bloomberg
May 18 (Bloomberg) — Gold Fields Ltd., Africa’s second- biggest gold producer, plans to almost triple annual gold output from its Peruvian and South African mines as prices rise, Chief Executive Officer Nick Holland said.
Gold Fields aims to produce 1 million ounces annually from its Cerro Corona and Chucapaca deposits in Peru and 800,000 ounces at the South Deep mine in South Africa within four years, Holland said today in an interview in Lima. Cerro Corona and South Deep produce a combined 625,000 ounces a year now, while the Chucapaca project is still being explored.
“South America will be an important part of the world for Gold Fields to be in,” Holland said. “We’d be happy to invest another $750 million in Peru.”
Gold prices will probably rise as global output falls and investor demand climbs on concern that monetary expansion in Europe and the United States may fuel inflation, Holland said. Demand from exchange traded funds may rise to 3,000 metric tons from 1,800 tons now, he said.
Gold Fields fell 23.1 cents, or 2.2 percent, to 101.19 rand in Johannesburg trading today. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. is Africa’s biggest producer.
Gold futures for June delivery fell $13.50, or 1.1 percent, to $1,214.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have risen 31 percent over the past 12 months
–Editors: Jessica Brice, Dale Crofts.
EUROPE :
Rand, Shekel to Beat Zloty, Koruna on Debt Crisis, BNP Says
May 19, 2010/By Garth Theunissen/Bloomberg
May 19 (Bloomberg) — South Africa’s rand, Israel’s shekel and the Turkish lira will outperform eastern European currencies as investors shift assets to emerging markets less vulnerable to the debt crisis in western Europe, BNP Paribas SA said.
BNP advises clients to take “long” positions in the rand, shekel and lira while “shorting” the Hungarian forint, Polish zloty and Czech koruna, said Elisabeth Gruie, an emerging-market currency strategist in London. The recommendation contrasts analyst forecasts for a 12 percent rally in the zloty by yearend and 11 percent for the forint, outpacing 4.4 percent for the shekel and a loss of 0.3 percent for the rand, based on the median of estimates on Bloomberg late yesterday.
“The negative growth impact of the European debt crisis will affect the entire region,” Gruie said by phone. “Countries with the biggest exposure to Europe and its banking sector will be affected most and we’re likely to see their currencies weaken relatively more rapidly.”
The euro region’s most indebted governments led by Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain are slashing government spending, causing concern that austerity measures will curb economic growth in the 16-member bloc.
European banks face higher borrowing costs on speculation government debt restructuring may erode capital and spark another credit crunch. The rate banks say they charge each other for three-month loans in dollars rose yesterday to a nine-month high.
Export Dependence
The Czech Republic relies on the European Union for 85 percent of its exports compared with almost 80 percent for Hungary and Poland, according to BNP. The EU accounted for 29 percent of South African exports in the first quarter, according to the nation’s Revenue Service. The bloc made up 33 percent of Israeli sales and 55 percent for Turkey, according estimates of BNP, France’s largest bank.
The bank’s trading recommendation is based on the “current theme in the market” prompted by the European debt crisis, rather than quarterly forecasts, Gruie said. A “long” is a bet that an asset will strengthen, and a “short” is a wager on depreciation.
The shekel is the only currency of 10 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa that has strengthened against the dollar this year, with a 0.3 percent advance. The rand has lost 2.8 percent and the lira has decreased 3.1 percent. The koruna is down 11 percent, the zloty has weakened 12 percent and the forint has depreciated 16 percent.
–Editors: John Kohut, Gavin Serkin
Are we looking at a European meltdown?
2010/05/19/W. Scott Thomson/www.nst.com.my
ALL the momentum is gone. Europe not only can’t project outwards; it can no longer project inwards. United States President Barack Obama had to lean on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to persuade her — or give her the additional muscle — to come up with a meaningful bailout of Greece. The E750 billion (RM3 trillion) rescue package for the continent may be too late.
There are shudders throughout the financial community — everywhere — that the “Greek” crisis will ricochet, and given the deeply structural problems in even the biggest banks, cause a worse crisis than that in 2008.
The problem is that the biggest banks in Germany and France are hobbled with vast loans to the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain) countries. Enough of those loans are in trouble to scare the big bankers half to death. So there’s a gold rush: Germans are ordering Krugerrands in record numbers from South Africa, and the markets are tottering.
When Jean Monnet and other visionaries put together the Coal and Steel Community in 1951, they saw a “United States of Europe” emerging in their lifetime. It became the EEC, then the European Union. The euro came along and by all rights should have become the world’s reserve currency.
Howver, something happened on the way to the union. It’s called nationalism, the very thing the union movement was meant to erase, or at least attenuate. As I mentioned last week, the French are more French than ever. The Brits elected a prime minister long hostile to the European movement and there’s somewhat of an “I told you so” attitude about the fiscal problems on the continent — though British problems are of the same magnitude and only because they didn’t join the Euro zone and can opt out — inflating all the way — could they survive financially.
Their deficit is 12 per cent, four times what’s technically permitted in the euro zone.
Europe used to seem so generous, at least to an American who was accustomed to a sometimes snide selfishness at home — the “I’ve got mine, what’s your problem?” attitude. Symbolically, in Europe there was little problem getting through airports and you didn’t have to pay for carts for your luggage (you paid US$3 (RM9.60) in the United States — in the world’s richest country).
It now seems to be going in reverse. At London’s Gatwick Airport, you now pay a couple of quid for a cart. Though it costs almost nothing for an airport to provide Internet service, you can only get it at Heathrow through a commercial server at STG14.95 (RM69) a day. That’s ridiculous.
Visitors just don’t seem welcome any longer. It’s impossible to park, it’s becoming as difficult for Asians to get visas for some European countries as to America. There just isn’t any more sparkle to the European experience.
What it all adds up to is that Europe is dead. It’s dead as an idea, that is. Many of my friends in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, for example, would say they are “Asian” in addition to their own country nationality. But there isn’t anyone, other than some bureaucrats in Brussels, who will define themselves as “European” even secondarily.
The euro has attained none of the attachment that Germany had for the mark or France for the franc. De Gaulle, that great statesman, turns out to be right: it’s a Europe des pays. It’s not united.
The American columnist George Will put it well enough: “The European Union has a flag no one salutes, an anthem no one sings, a president no one can name, a Parliament… no one other than its members wants to have powers… capital… of coagulated bureaucracy…”
It could never be like the US because our citizens mostly came to get away from somewhere and gladly shed a lot of their old habits and language (though not quite as many as we once thought). It became, no doubt about it, one country. None of the EU folk have opted to get away from anything. The French can’t imagine anything other than being French, and it’s the same throughout that far west tip of Asia. The present crisis was bound to happen.
The Greek crisis was in fact a European crisis. Theoretically, members of the euro zone were meant to stay within a three per cent deficit zone but there was no way to enforce it. It was more convenient to hide the problem and hope it went away. The bailout of Greece was to save the German and French banks but now the banks are sweating and could totter.
The top Citigroup economist, Willem Buiter, writes that except for wartime, “the public finances in the majority of advanced industrial countries are in a worse state today than at any time since the industrial revolution”.
What has happened, oddly, is that the US now looks like the winner. For years the Europeans bragged about the superiority of their system. But it turned out that a 20-member union — less even than a confederation, such as that which failed to govern the US right after we licked the Brits in the late 18th century — can’t hold itself together the way a 50-state federal state can.
The US started a world financial crisis but came up with solutions and now is making huge progress in the fifth quarter of meaningful economic growth. We have a leader respected everywhere, but most of all we have a united country for solving problems.
Europe needs to start over — this time more realistically. And let’s pray in the meantime that the bankers and brokers keep their heads, while all about them are falling.
CHINA :
INDIA :
Vodafone dials in to India – at a price
From paddy fields of Orissa to Goa’s beaches everyone in India is on the phone.
By Rupert Neate, Media and Telecoms/ www.telegraph.co.uk/19 May 2010
India has become Vodafone’s fastest-growing market but the country is giving Vittorio Colao, chief executive of the telecoms firm, an increasingly nasty headache.
His predecessor, Arun Sarin, brought about Vodafone’s entry into India in 2007 with the £5.7bn purchase of the controlling stake in Hutchinson Essar, then India’s fourth-largest operator. Almost immediately the company reported growth of 55pc, but then local operators Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel entered into a bitter price war, significantly denting Vodafone’s profits and slowing down the British operator’s growth.
The Indian authorities then created a further obstacle to Vodafone by selling 120 local mobile phone licences. This effectively doubled the number of national players to 12 and ratcheted up the bitter battle to capture India’s growing mobile phone population.
Vodafone has invested a further £2bn in rolling out its network and building the operator into the country’s second-biggest player.
And the cost of its India expedition is set to increase still further as the price of rights to third generation (3G) mobile spectrum spirals. The current price for country-wide 3G spectrum stands at $3.6bn on the auction’s 33rd day, compared to analysts’ predictions of $2.5bn. However, there are hopes that the price may not rise much higher as the daily increase in bids has slowed from $140m a day to about $80m.
Vodafone is also facing the prospect of being hit with a $1bn retrospective fee for the 2G frequencies it is already using, on top of the 10pc of its sales it currently hands over to the Indian authorities.
Yesterday Vodafone was forced to face up to the harsh realities of life in India by taking a £2.3bn impairment against its Indian operations to account for the price war and the forthcoming cost of spectrum.
Mr Colao hit out at the Indian authorities for attempting to “squeeze operators” for cash rather than encourage investment to improve the countries economic prosperity.
“Spectrum should not be seen as something that governments must use to squeeze money out of operators,” he said. “Spectrum is the fuel to power future economic development. We need a different mindset – instead of seeing spectrum as an opportunity to squeeze it is an opportunity to invest.
“Every time you take money out of investment [by discouraging companies from bidding from investing in the country] you are taking money out of future economic growth.”
Mr Colao said Vodafone is committed to India and highlighted the country – alongside Africa and Europe – as a future investment area.
“All the projections are very positive, here is a country that we want to be in. [But] it is becoming increasingly apparent that we need some good industrial policy at government level to really help investors make sense of their investment,” he said. “It is the duty of government to ensure conditions to [allow] a proper return on the investment.”
He also called for a change Indian laws which prevent consolidation. “Rules that don’t allow M&A, don’t allow the natural allocation of capital and clearly take away the incentives of investment… it is crazy – this is an investment business.”
Mr Colao added that there were plenty of examples of other markets, notably South Africa and India, that have been boosted rather than hindered by the consolidation of operators.
“Look at the quality of networks in South Africa, where people are already doing data [internet browsing on their phones] things in the townships. Is this fostering economic growth? Does India need this? Yes.”
BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 19 mai 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,19/05/2010
