Farmer jailed in Hong Kong for burning flag

A man has been jailed in Hong Kong for burning the national flag, in the first sentence of its kind.

S Korea suspends savings banks citing weak finances

South Korea has suspended seven local savings banks citing the weak state of their finances.

Japan urges mass evacuation ahead of Typhoon Roke

More than a million people in central and western Japan have been urged to leave their homes as a powerful typhoon approaches.

Burma begins swap scheme for cars over 40 years old

Owners of some of Burma's most antiquated cars have been queuing in Rangoon to exchange their old vehicles for permits to import newer models.

Polio strain spreads to China from Pakistan

Polio has spread to China for the first time since 1999 after being imported from Pakistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed.

Showing posts with label action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label action. Show all posts

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Australia calls for tougher anti-piracy action in Indian Ocean

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PERTH, Australia | Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:13am EDT

PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Australia called on Friday for tougher action against piracy in the Indian Ocean and announced it would host an international conference next year to help tackle the growing problem.

Pirates attacked a record number of ships worldwide in the first nine months of 2011, but are making off with fewer vessels due to better policing by international naval forces.

"Piracy off the Horn of Africa has seen murders and hundreds of seafarers taken hostage," Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd told an Indian Ocean Piracy Forum on the sidelines of a Commonwealth summit in the west Australian city of Perth.

"Piracy has also increased the costs of international trade, and done enormous harm to regional countries' fishing and tourist industries. More must be done to prosecute, convict and imprison pirates," he said.

Cooperation between Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants and pirate gangs is growing as they become more desperate for funding, said the head of the U.N.'s counter-piracy unit, John Steed.

Rudd said next year's conference in Perth would seek to assist Somalia and other states tackle the drivers of piracy and compare counter-piracy cooperation in other regions, such as Southeast Asia where the number of attacks has been on the decline.

(Reporting by Michael Perry, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)



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Monday, October 24, 2011

EU leaders urge action from Italy

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23 October 2011 Last updated at 16:55 GMT silvio berlusconi EU leaders said they would work "hand in hand" with Silvio Berlusconi to cut Italy's debts European leaders have demanded that Italy make a major effort to reduce its 1.9tn euro (£1.6tn) debt burden.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi must make "credible" cuts in an effort to save the eurozone.

EU president Herman Van Rompuy added: "We are asking for a major effort on the part of the Italian authorities."

Both leaders met Mr Berlusconi before the the start of an emergency summit on the eurozone debt crisis.

Mr Van Rompuy said after the meeting with the Italian leader: "We asked to be reassured that the courageous measures taken by Italy will be implemented in time regarding the budget and reform."

The summit, in Brussels, was held amid fears that the crisis that has engulfed debt-ridden Greece may spread to Italy and Spain.

With another EU summit scheduled for Wednesday, Mr Van Rompuy said leaders would work "hand in hand" with Mr Berlusconi in the coming days to make sure Rome "implements what it promised".

In a news conference, held alongside French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Mrs Merkel said that it was important for Italy's public debt "to be reduced in a credible manner in the coming years".

Mr Sarkozy said that the summit had reached a "broad agreement" to ramp up the firepower of the eurozone rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.

Nervous financial markets have been rising in recent days on hopes that a package of measures to tackle the eurozone crisis could be announced on Wednesday.



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Sunday, October 23, 2011

CBI urges action on smaller firms

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23 October 2011 Last updated at 23:46 GMT Bank note and £1 coins The CBI says there are several ways the Government could improve access to capital The CBI employers' group has urged the government to do more to help the "forgotten army" of medium-sized businesses.

New measures should include improving access to finance, especially in the bond markets, the CBI said on Monday.

The CBI said firms with a turnover between £10m and £100m represented less than 1% of UK businesses but generated 22% of revenues and 16% of all jobs.

The group said that these firms were "under the radar" policymakers.

CBI director general John Cridland said: "Medium-sized businesses are truly a forgotten army, and now is the time to unlock their potential.

"We should be championing, nurturing and encouraging our mid-sized firms so that more of them grow and create jobs. For too long these companies, which could inject tens of billions of pounds into our economy, have fallen under the radar of policymakers.

Mr Cridland said he would like to see the UK develop its own verions of the German "Mittelstand" - a backbone of medium-sized firms which export, innovate and generate growth.

"To achieve extra growth, medium-sized firms must have access to new kinds of finance," he said.

"This means opening UK bond markets to medium-sized businesses, encouraging use of venture capital, and making it easier for large companies to invest in medium ones, possibly in their supply chains."

A Department for Business spokesperson said: "We welcome the CBI's focus on the UK's mid-sized companies, and today's report.

"The Government is already focused on this group as part of the growth review, and we will be setting out our proposals alongside the autumn statement in November," the spokesman added.



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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Leaders call for euro debt action

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24 September 2011 Last updated at 17:49 GMT Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and head of the ECB Jean Claude Trichet Central bankers are trying to find ways to reassure investors Finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Washington are calling on the European Union to take quick action to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.

Ministers are meeting alongside the IMF and World bank to discuss measures to support the world economy.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said EU governments must act to prevent a "cascading default" in the eurozone.

The Chinese central bank governor and Brazil's finance minister have also called for action to tackle the crisis.

Global concerns

The meeting in Washington follows warnings from the IMF and the US Federal Reserve that the global economic recovery is at risk.

Mr Geithner called for the European leaders to take stronger steps to prevent what he called "the threat of cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk" if some European nations default on their debts.

Governments from emerging economies have also expressed their concerns that financial instability in the West may de-rail the global recovery.

Brazil's finance minister, Guido Mantega, called on eurozone leaders "to ensure their actions stop contagion beyond the euro periphery" of Greece, Ireland and Portugal which have already received bailouts.

Continue reading the main story
The sovereign debt crisis must be resolved promptly to stabilise market confidence”

End Quote Zhou Xiachuan Chinese central bank governor Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiachuan warned that all nations with large deficits - including the US and Japan should reduce spending.

"The sovereign debt crisis must be resolved promptly to stabilise market confidence, and forced and credible consolidation measures are needed in relevant economies," he said.

Speaking in New York to the United Nations the Indian Prime Minister, Monmohan Singh, said the global recovery had failed to take hold.

"In many respects the crisis has deepened further," he said.

Greek default?

World leaders are keen to reassure markets which have been highly volatile over the summer due to worries over financial instability and economic growth.

The UK's FTSE 100 fell 3.6% over the week, France's Cac 40 shed 4.4% and in the US the Dow Jones dropped 6.4%, its biggest weekly fall since October 2008.

On Thursday G20 leaders pledged to take action to prevent the crisis escalating.

However there is not yet agreement on what measures to take.

The Greek government has so far failed to meet targets set as part of its bail-out package with the EU and IMF.

German finance minister Wolfgang Shaeuble said on Saturday that he will meet his Greek counterpart, Evangelos Venizelos, in Washington to discuss the crisis.

Continue reading the main story
Perhaps Italy will see in the downgrade of its debt the opportunity to implement more quickly and with more diligence the measures it has taken”

End Quote Wolfgang Shaeuble German finance minister Reports that the EU may accept an "orderly default" on Greek debts have concerned some investors.

The bail-out deal agreed with Greece in July already included a limited move by private banks to swap existing Greek debt with longer term debt paying lower interest.

"The fear in the markets is that the problem will spread to bigger economies such as Spain and Italy, Europe would not have the resources to handle a crisis of that magnitude," said Sung Won Sohn, economics professor at California State University.

Mr Shaeuble suggested the recent downgrade of Italy's credit rating by Standard and Poor's may encourage it to speed up its own austerity measures to reassure markets.

"Perhaps Italy will see in the downgrade of its debt the opportunity to implement more quickly and with more diligence the measures it has taken," he said.

Measures being discussed include a further expansion of the the European Financial Stability Mechanism designed to increase funds available to countries and banks which run into trouble.

However the mechanism, agreed by leaders on 21 July, has yet to pass most national parliaments.

Governments have now given themselves to mid-October to pass the measure.

"We are confident that all euro area member states will ratify the agreement," said a spokesman for Olli Rehn, the EU head of monetary affairs.



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Monday, September 12, 2011

U.S. demands action from a stronger Europe in the G7

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Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner delivers opening remarks at the Treasury Department's counter-terrorist Financing Symposium, '' Ten Years Later: Progress and Challenges in Combating Terrorist Financing Since 9/11, ' ' in Washington September 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Molly RileyBy Catherine Bremer and Tatsushi Kajimoto

MARSEILLE, France | Fri September 9, 2011 10:51 am EDT

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters)-The United States pressed Europe's strongest economies on Friday to give "unequivocal" financial support to weaker euro zone states to overcome the debt crisis that threatens the world economy.

"It is completely within the capacity of the stronger members of the euro area to absorb these costs," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the G7 finance chiefs gathered in Marseille to discuss how to revive a stalling recovery.

"Those costs would be much, much greater for them and their economies if they sit here and do nothing, and they recognize that," Geithner told Bloomberg Television in comments that appeared aimed primarily at I economic powerhouse Germany.

With markets looking to the Group of Seven major industrial economies for some sign of a policy shift to help faltering growth, the G7 source said the meeting might after all issue a communique, which G7 chair France had said was not planned.

Ministers and central bankers were under pressure to calm the biggest confidence crisis in financial markets since the 2007-8 global credit crunch.

But the shock announcement that the top German official at the European Central Bank is leaving early in disagreement with the bank's policy of buying euro zone government bonds to support the likes of Italy and Spain laid bare deep rifts over how to manage the debt crisis.

The ECB confirmed that chief economist Juergen Stark would remove nearly three years before his term is due to expire. His decision means Bank of Italy governor Mario Draghi will start his term at the ECB helm in November with a mountain to climb to restore its credibility in Germany, Europe's biggest economy.

France has called for a coordinated response from the Group of Seven industrialized nations after mounting anxiety over Europe's debt crisis and the fragility of its banks caused the big fall in world stock markets in recent weeks.

Differences between the economic problems facing the euro zone, Britain and the United States--which unveiled the $447 billion jobs package on Thursday--are complicating the task though, meaning one-size-fits-all solutions will not work.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said in London before boarding the flight for Marseille that policymakers in advanced economies should use all available tools to boost growth and called for bold action to weather the "dangerous new phase" of recovery.

She also cautioned against too much fiscal consolidation in the climate of sputtering growth.

But the G7 source told Reuters the unanimous agreement at the Marseille talks on coordinated monetary easing was unlikely.

The source in Brussels has said the G7 would likely agree to keep monetary policy accommodative, slow fiscal consolidation in states where that is possible, and implement structural reforms.

Fears the global economy may be in its most difficult period since the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers have added significance to Thursday's talks but there has been little evidence of the unity of purpose shown in 2008 and 2009.

U.S. President Barack Obama's new package of tax cuts and spending could lift U.S. growth by one to three percentage points in 2012 and add more than a million jobs.

But in debt-ridden Europe, there is little scope for fiscal stimulus, and where there is some wiggle-room--in Germany and Britain--there is no political appetite for it.

In an indication of the conflicting positions on policy, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told Reuters TV decisive moves were needed to restore market confidence and said slowing fiscal consolidation too much would be foolish.

"I hope we would all agree we have to stay the course, that we have to go through the pain of fiscal consolidation. It's not easy, it creates stresses in some countries, but it's necessary, we have to get through this rough patch, "Flaherty said.

G7 finance ministers and central bankers catch has trickled into the Mediterranean port city of Marseille around lunchtime and talks were due to start at 04:00 pm (1400 GMT).

A working dinner will be followed by briefings from around 9:15 pm local time (1915 GMT) by the French, German, Canadian and Japanese delegations and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet. The United States plans in the briefing.

ASIA THE CONCERNED THE U.S.

With Asian economies deeply worried about the West's debt crisis and slow growth, Japan said it will voice its concern on the euro zone debt crisis and seek support for its right to unilateral action over safe-haven buying pushing up the yen.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa told reporters in Marseille he hoped the talks would share frank views on the crisis and said it was vital that G7 finance chiefs came up with a "firm stance" to stabilize the world economy.

"There are various factors behind the world economy's uncertainty but Europe's debt problem is one major factor. It is important for Europe to tackle its debt problems for its own sake but it would also indirectly bring positive effects on Japan's economy, "he said.

Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Japan would ask the G7 for its understanding on its intentions to counter yen rises.

Lagarde said policymakers must act now, "and boldly," giving her blessing to more quantitative easing by central banks and saying the challenge was to find the pace of adjustment that was neither too fast nor too slow.

She said countries facing market pressures must push ahead with urgent fiscal consolidation, while there was scope for slower action in countries not at the mercy of market forces.

"If growth continues to lose momentum, balance sheet problems will worsen, fiscal sustainability will be threatened, and the scope for policies to salvage the recovery will disappear," she said.

Decisions by the European and British central banks this week to keep interest rates unchanged accentuated the gloom in Europe but neither indicated that the cut was imminent, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave no hint of new stimulus to boost the economy in the keenly awaited speech.

"Despite speculation about new coordinated forex intervention, the standard final statement remains the most likely outcome," Unicredit said in a research note.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says growth across the G7 could slow to an anemic 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2011. Its chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan urged the G7 to send a clear signal it is ready to take action if growth slows further.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn and Claire Watson in Marseille, John Irish in Paris, Keith Weir in London, David Lawder in Washington and Leika Kihara in Tokyo; Writing by Catherine Bremer, editing by Mike Peacock)



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