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 unlikely. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unlikely. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Iran: talks with the US "unlikely" at this time

The spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini. (Special)

You guys (Americans) enact, as you guys call it, crippling sanctions to cripple Iran's State. If this is a sign of good faith or bad faith?
Tehran (Reuters)-talks with the United States (US) is not possible at the moment, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran Friday.

"According to the spiritual leader's Guide (Iran), negotiations with the United States are not included in the agenda and could not possibly do before they changed their stance and apologize for the hostile attitude ... they are against this country," said Mehmanparast as quoted Iran's official news agency, IRNA on Friday.

However, it may just be for Iran to enter into negotiations with all countries except Zionist Israel regime, which is not recognized by Iran, Mehmanparast said.

The Spiritual Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Thursday the Islamic Republic is interested in holding talks with the United States under pressure.

Khamenei's statement was issued a day after Washington extended the U.S. sanctions on Iran by tightening the grip on the Islamic Republic's economy by entering another name into the black list.

When speaking to a group of military officials in Tehran, Khamenei was referring to a recent U.S. proposal on direct talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear program. He says, "you guys (Americans) enact, as you guys call it, crippling sanctions to cripple Iran's State. If this is a sign of good faith or bad faith? "

On Friday, members of Parliament are Mansour Haqiqatpour Iran says U.S. rallying cry for talks while Washington impose sanctions on Iran shows its lack of sincerity of countries in action Washington, Press TV said, as quoted by Xinhua--which monitored Reuters, in Jakarta on Saturday morning.

"In a couple of days later, we have witnessed increasing restrictions by the US action against Iran. On the one hand, they want to drop sanctions against Iran and, in other occasions, they say they are ready to negotiate. Such actions are completely unacceptable, "said Haqiqatpour.

He added by saying the US offer of talks to the Islamic Republic was an attempt to cover up its failure in the Middle East.

On Friday, the Friday Prayer in Tehran "Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Movahhedi-Kermani also said the United States turned to negotiations with Iran as a result of its failure in Syria, said Press TV.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Commission on foreign policy and national security of the House of Assembly (Parliament) of Iran Sayyid Hossein Naqavi Hosseini-speech and U.S. deeds say are inconsistent and it's just trying to cheat the community with an offer of talks.

"The American Government wanted to show they were willing to negotiate but in practice, they are searching for (the) threat, sanctions and pressure," said Sayyid Hossein Hosseini as cited Nagavi-Press TV.

(C003)



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News; Finance; Insurance; Health; Cancer; Car Insurance; Health Insurance

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Sleepy village an unlikely spark for Roma protests

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Bulgarian riot police walk in front of burning guardhouse outside a house during protest in the village of Katunitsa, some 160 km (99 miles) east of Sofia September 24, 2011. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Bulgarian riot police walk in front of burning guardhouse outside a house during protest in the village of Katunitsa, some 160 km (99 miles) east of Sofia September 24, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Stoyan Nenov

By Irina Ivanova

KATUNITSA, Bulgaria | Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:18pm EDT

KATUNITSA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - Nothing in the cool autumn morning suggests the sleepy village of Katunitsa would have been the flashpoint for Bulgaria's worst outbreak of civil unrest for more than a decade.

Ethnic Bulgarian and Roma villagers agree the trouble behind what developed into nationwide anti-Roma protests was really a local dispute with Roma clan leader Kiril Rashkov, known locally as "Czar Kiro," after a man he was linked to ran over and killed a 19-year-old.

"Our problem is not a problem between the communities. Our problem is with the family of Kiril Rashkov," said resident Dimitar Zdravkov, who works for the council in a nearby town.

"We are living together with the Roma and we don't have any problems."

Residents of the village, which sits on flat farmland within commuting distance of Bulgaria's second city Plovdiv some 160 km (100 miles) east of Sofia, say Rashkov regularly behaved as if he were untouchable, grabbing land and making threats.

They regretted that their local problem had been hijacked by nationalists who used it as a pretext to rampage against Roma in the cities.

In revenge for the death of Angel Petrov, soccer "ultras" -- die-hard fans often at the center of violent incidents in southeast Europe -- from Plovdiv stormed Katunitsa and set some of Rashkov's houses and cars on fire.

The trouble quickly spread to bigger cities, rocking the European Union's poorest state for three nights and sounding a warning for other central and eastern European states.

The rallies have their roots in three of the region's most pressing concerns -- unemployment, organized crime and corruption, and the fragile position of ethnic minorities -- and show how even minor spats can swiftly escalate in countries where many people live in poverty.

Bulgaria has an average wage of 350 euros a month but in Katunitsa, a village of 2,400 people clustered around an Orthodox church, Rashkov owns fashionable cars, several luxury houses and a mansion with a pond and a private zoo.

He was convicted several times before the fall of communism for possession of foreign exchange and gold, has been arrested multiple times -- including for illegal production of alcohol -- and is currently being investigated for large-scale tax evasion.

It is a scene common to many places across Bulgaria, the EU's second most corrupt country where public dissatisfaction with official efforts to clamp down on people who flaunt unfeasible wealth is widespread.

Katunitsa's residents -- some have jobs in Plovdiv, others work in the fields and some rely on welfare -- say money is tight. But the village's long, paved streets lined with identical houses are tidy enough and villagers say the problem is not Rashkov's wealth, but his behavior.

ISOLATION

Roma are an easy target for frustration because they tend to live in specific districts, often in poor housing on the margins of big cities, and many are unemployed and perceived to be living off state benefits.

Hungary's Roma have been shot dead in their homes, killed by hand grenades and attacked with petrol bombs.

Last year in the Czech Republic, a court imposed the country's longest sentence for a racially motivated crime on four men who firebombed a Roma family's home, leaving a two-year-old child with burns over most of her body.

"Unfortunately it seems to have become a background pattern in this part of Europe," said Dezideriu Gergely, executive director of the European Roma Rights Center. "It's much easier to turn on minorities and Roma are the most vulnerable."

Neighboring Romania is the logical flashpoint, with the largest Roma population in Europe both in total numbers and in proportion to the overall population.

"In a society marred by strong economic pressures, people are always looking for an enemy or culprit," said independent political analyst Bogdan Teodorescu.

It is no surprise then that many Roma migrate to western Europe, a phenomenon that sparked its own controversy last year when France deported many Roma en masse.

POVERTY

This week's events have moved crime and Roma up the political agenda before next month's presidential elections -- though it remains to be seen what concrete action will be taken.

Rosen Plevneliev, the ruling GERB party's candidate for president, pledged to make more serious efforts to crack down on graft and also said it was time to resolve the Roma question.

"Many governments have done almost nothing about it over the last 20 years and more, now it must be made a priority," he told Reuters.

In Katunitsa's Roma neighborhood, residents say the weekend was terrifying and are grateful to ethnic Bulgarian villagers who stood up for them.

"The ultras wanted to come but the village didn't let them in," said Andon, a father of two who declined to give his second name.

"The people fighting in the cities are fighting for nothing. They are making Nazism."

(Additional reporting by Sam Cage and Radu Marinas in Bucharest; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)



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Friday, September 16, 2011

New Plan for the Fed to stimulate the economy unlikely to help much, Analysts Say

The last time that the Federal Reserve came with a large plan to help the economy, it $ 600 billion and triggered a gathering of 28 per cent of the stock market.

But if the Fed takes new steps, as many people expect, he does look them something like this. Locate the small ball, not a home run.

Investors are asking that the President of the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has his strengths. The economy is in danger of sliding into recession, and the stock market took a hit this summer - down 10% since August 1.

And "Operation Twist," as observers Fed, call already in a blink of eye to economic history, probably will contribute to the economy and the stock market. Simply not a lot.

At best, Goldman Sachs economists say, it can increase economic growth by 0.5 point. This would help - after all, the economy has only increased at an annual rate of 0.7% in the first half of 2011.

But it is far from what should be for the economy in full health. In the decent years, the economy develops more than 3%.

Interest rates in the long term, at the same time, probably come more than 0.2 percentage point after any new action of the Fed. What people pay for loans on houses and cars falling almost as much.

And any humpbacks to the stock exchange will be probably short.

Michael Hanson, a senior Bank of America, Merrill Lynch economist and a former economist at the Fed, said that many investors say they believe that the Fed is cooking a major initiative because of the carnage on the stock market.

"I believe that they will get disappointed," he said.

The Fed's options are limited, economists say, because he has already used most of his ammunition.

Last fall, launched a program for the purchase of $ 600 billion in government bonds, with the objective of the reduction in interest rates in the long term. It was the second round of the Fed which is known as quantitative easing - nicknamed of2. Stocks returned to 28 per cent from August 2010, when Bernanke announced the program in April.

A study of the Fed attributed the reduced program its long run rate of 0.2 of a point. The yield on the 10 years of the Treasury Board, a point of reference for the loan throughout the economy rates, has fallen more than 0.5 percentage since of2 point was announced.

Yet again, to do so, may raise concerns among managers of money on inflation. Critics say that the Fed is essentially printing money when purchasing all these links and more money in the economy will eventually lead to higher prices.

Just that fear may trigger inflation. If fund managers are wear on inflation, they are more like to buy, oil, gold and other products, such as a hedge, by increasing their prices and make the cost of gas, food and other things higher for ordinary people.

Another concern is that a strong move by the Fed would be achieved with a stronger Republican reaction of the Congress.

In all cases, Hanson, explains, buying bonds is probably not the best remedy for the economy right now. Quantitative easing works better to stop the fall in prices, said, but overall consumer prices increased by 3.6% over the past year.

What the economy needs, many economists say, is another series of Government stimulus. Bernanke, Fonds International Monetary Chief Christine Lagarde and other top economists urged Congress to do so.

Instead of this, Republicans in Congress have demanded spending budget and Democrats went along.

The President Barack Obama proposed a plan of $ 447 billion the week last to stimulate the growth of employment, a mixture of tax cuts and new spending. Economists figure it could stimulate the economic growth of 2 percentage points and add 2 million jobs.

Hanson and others are skeptical that any proposal of the Obama will allow through Congress, however.

The first approached "Operation Twist" could come on 21 September, at the end of the next meeting of the Fed policy. FED-watchers it is named after a move by the Kennedy administration in 1961 to cut rates in the long term without touching the rates in the short term. At the time, the Chubby Checker Twist was the dance craze.

The Fed has set out the basic steps: they would buy Treasurys long-term with cash raised unloading Treasurys due in the next few years. Wall Street economists argue that the Fed could spend between $ 200 billion and $ 300 billion.

In theory, that should put pressure on interest rates to fall further and to encourage the people and businesses to spend more because the loan will be less expensive long-term.

"It is a way of low risk to help the economy," explains Thomas Simons, Jefferies market Economist.

But it is a low risk effort that will likely low rewards. The rate of interest on the note of 10 years of the Treasury, a point of reference for the loans through the economy, could not move.

And, in addition, there is little evidence of long-term interest rates are much good, say economists of Goldman.

Many economists and investors believe that the Fed move will give stocks a lift. When the Fed buys bonds, it drives up the prices, what makes stocks more attractive investment by comparison.

It is a target for the Fed because the increase in the stock market throws the confidence in the economy as a whole. The problem is that rates are already at historically low rates - and it has not prevented the fund managers of pouring money into Treasurys.

Is "cost of borrowing not really the problem", says Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

Before the financial crisis hit in 2008, fee encouraged lower loan usually companies to spend more and owners to refinance their mortgages. More now.

Companies are sitting on 2.9 billion in cash and afraid to hire people until demand picks up. And not enough people take advantage of low interest rates to turn around the housing market.

So should the Fed even try "operation Twist"?

"This is the best tool they have," said Ashworth. "I do not think, it's going to hurt, but I do not think it will help much, either.". Still, which does not mean that they should not try. »



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