Posts Tagged ‘economy’

Fearful nights in Damascus as unrest gets closer

,,

Syrian rebels are seen amid smoke after being hit by a tank, unseen, during a day of heavy fighting with Syrian Army forces in Idlib, north Syria. — Photo AP

DAMASCUS: When darkness falls, streets in Damascus empty as people brace for explosions and crackles of gunfire — once distant threats which now bring fear and sleepless nights to the heart of the Syrian capital.

For months the unrest that erupted across Syria last year, when opponents of President Bashar al-Assad demonstrated for greater rights, was held at bay from the government stronghold of Damascus, even as street protests turned to armed struggle.

Now Damascenes feel the unrest is encroaching on their homes and the sense of unease is tangible.

Frequent explosions shake the city, ranging from a bombing which killed at least nine people in the Midan district 10 days ago to nightly blasts, many of which remain unexplained.

Activists blame some of the detonations on Assad’s security forces, saying they are deliberately heightening the sense of insecurity as part of efforts to portray a popular uprising as a violent campaign by foreign-backed militants.

They say soldiers and police have carried out waves of arrests in Damascus during attempts to suppress months of peaceful protests, fired on marchers and shelled the eastern suburbs of the capital for weeks to dislodge rebel fighters.

In the city itself, blast walls now surround several government buildings and some streets are blocked on Fridays, when protesters pour out of mosques here and across the country to demand an end to more than four decades of Assad family rule.

“Security-wise maybe we are still okay here in Damascus, but for how long? We feel it is getting closer and closer,” said Mervat, a 33-year-old woman whose husband is a clothes merchant in central Damascus.

“All this shooting at night terrifies the children. Three days ago the clashes were in my street,” she said.

Residents also speak of assassinations of military officers, teachers and others seen as closely linked to the authorities.

In neighbourhoods extending from central Damascus to the eastern suburbs and towns that lie a few miles outside the capital, residents say gunfire keeps them awake most nights.

Gunmen at my door

“It is getting close. My house is very close to the town of Jobar. I feel that one night I will wake up to find the gunmen at my door,” said a 46-year-old shopkeeper in Damascus, adding it was not clear who was behind the shooting.

“I don’t care who is to blame, right now this does not matter. Our lives have been ruined. We want an end to this. We want to live in peace,” he said, declining to give his name.

Assad’s opponents say the security forces are responsible for most of the violence, including some of the blasts.

“All these explosions that we hear at night are percussion bombs. The regime wants people to be scared. It rules through fear,” said Omar, an anti-government activist in Damascus.

A taxi driver described how he was stuck for hours one night by fighting between gunmen and government troops as he took a passenger from Damascus to the nearby town of Harasta.

“I called my wife and my mother and asked for their forgiveness because I was certain that those were my last moments,” he said.

“When I finally managed to leave the road, I parked on the side, splashed water on my face and thought: ‘What the hell was that? Am I still in Syria’?”

Other residents say car thefts are on the rise in a city where crime levels were negligible a year ago, saying they believed both government supporters and rebels were stealing civilian vehicles to use in attacks on each other.

A Damascus taxi driver said armed men stopped his brother and took his car. Days later they called and told him to pick it up in the town of Douma, outside Damascus, where masked gunmen returned it to him. “They gave it back, but they didn’t say what it was used for,” he said.

Financial Struggle

Alongside the worsening security worries, an economic crisis sparked by months of unrest and Western sanctions has taken an ever deeper toll on daily life in the capital.
“For the past few months my husband’s work has gone down horribly,” Mervat said in her home in a middle-class district, whispering so that her two children, aged seven and nine, did not overhear her anxieties.

“We’ve been using our savings for the past two months. I want to leave the country until things are better, but my husband says this is his home and he will not leave.”

Ahmad, a computer engineer who works abroad and was visiting his family in Midan district, said people were exhausted by the unrest. “They really want this to be over. We are drained, our country is drained and our economy is drained.”

Syria stopped publishing economic statistics a year ago, making it hard to assess the impact of the turmoil. But oil exports to Europe have been cut off, costing Syria $3 billion by its own estimates, tourist revenue has collapsed and trade, business and manufacturing have all suffered.

“The economy has hit the bottom and society is fractured,” said opposition activist Louay Hussein.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Pak-US ties: Challenges ahead

The Gordian knot the two sides are trying to untie in Islamabad is over an overdue apology for the intermittent attack that not only bruised egos in Pakistan but also brought the bilateral relationship to a grinding halt – a turning point that also gave Pakistan the opportunity to review its terms of engagement with the US. Pakistan did well by putting parliament at the centre of the ‘reset’. It made the resumption of the ground lines of communications (GLOCs) practically contingent upon the apology as well as a halt to drone strikes in its tribal areas.

As a result, the talks have reached a deadlock, adding to the frustration of the US-led Nato. US patience is also seemingly wearing thin, manifest in two latest developments:

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has vowed that the US will do everything it can, use whatever operations they have to, in order to protect the US, including drone strikes while the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has also followed suit, saying she was ‘well aware’ that the Pakistani government had not yet taken steps to help secure Hafiz Saeed’s conviction, who is wanted over the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Clearly, Pakistan is under the squeeze, largely for its own frustratingly snail-paced review process as well as inner contradictions. This primarily represents the serious challenges ahead.

Key officials, for instance, say the parliament’s role in foreign policy is the new reality of Pakistan and Washington must adjust to it. But other officials say they are trying to clinch a deal with the Americans, regardless of what the parliament recommended. What is the reality then?

Secondly, what will the hyped up ‘reset’ actually mean? Will the new transactional deal delink cooperation with, and assistance for Pakistan from occasional frictions arising out of new acts of terror in Kabul?

Thirdly, will this mean that the new deal will ensure a continuous flow of money from the Coalition Support Fund, which the US administration and Congress still treat as aid and not reimbursements to Pakistan? Will the status of these funds really change into “reimbursement against services rendered?”

The fourth challenge comes from Leon Panetta‘s reiteration on the “indispensability of drone strikes.” Clearly, the American position is in sharp contrast to parliament’s demands. How will the government circumvent the PCNS recommendation on the issue?  Can the Pakistani interlocutors really dissuade Americans from such attacks, or persuade them for a – even if symbolic – joint management of the remotely controlled predators? If not, then what about the PCNS being the key to our foreign policy? Or will it be business as usual ie overt condemnation and covert approval?

Unfortunately, Pakistan is pitched against heavy odds. On the one hand, past associations with militant groups, and the unbridled anti-India/US activism of the Defense of Pakistan Council render its protests and verbal belligerence ineffective vis-à-vis the US-led international community which is currying favour with India too. One the other hand, Pakistani tendency to embed its arguments in morality and reference to international law, unfortunately weighs little when viewed against the global geo-political objectives of the US-led Nato.

The only way out of this extremely unfavourable situation is to invoke pragmatism, indulge in introspection, shun contradictions and focus on reviving and strengthening the economy. That will largely remain contingent upon the sweet will of the US-led Nato and much, therefore, will depend on to what extent can the ministry of foreign affairs, the General Headquarters  and the political leadership narrow down their intellectual and tactical discord into a long-term strategic framework, urgently needed to deal with internal and external challenges.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2012.

World stocks diverge

PARIS, May 7: World stocks diverged and the euro wavered on Monday as investors fretted over what direction the eurozone debt crisis would take after voters in Greece and France turned against German-led austerity.

The Paris stock exchange’s CAC 40 index had opened down 1.52 per cent, amid concerns that EU voters are hardening their opposition to deficit-cutting austerity programmes, but later rallied to show a 0.68 per cent gain in afternoon trading.

Shares in Italy and Spain, countries with huge sovereign debt exposures, also switched gears with Madrid’s IBEX 35 index up a sharp 1.90 per cent and Milan 1.63 per cent higher.

But in Germany, the eurozone powerhouse and paymaster, shares persisted in negative territory with Frankfurt’s DAX 30 down 0.14 per cent. London’s exchange was closed for a holiday.

Stocks in Athens plunged 7.78 per cent after Greece’s mainstream parties fell short of a governing majority, putting hard won agreements to save the country’s economy and membership of the eurozone back into question.

US stocks opened modestly lower with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.37 per cent, the S&P 500 losing 0.24 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq off 0.34 per cent.

In Asia, stocks slumped with Tokyo diving 2.78 per cent and Hong Kong down 2.61 per cent, hit by the European votes as well as weak jobs data from the United States at the end of last week.

The euro fell to $1.2954, the lowest level since late January, but then rallied to $1.3033 at 1230 GMT, but still below $1.3082 in New York late on Friday.

“The global financial markets aren’t thrilled by the idea that France and Greece have voted for governments less willing to work with the Germans on a consistent approach to addressing their fiscal deficits,” said Dick Green.

As trading opened, the interest rate on France’s benchmark 10-year bonds rose and the difference between interest rates on French and German debt, a critical measure of tension in the eurozone, widened slightly.

But the trend changed direction later with the French yield dipping to 2.79 per cent at around 1230 GMT below Friday’s closing rate of 2.809 per cent.

France later raised nearly eight billion euros in short-term debt, with rates falling on two maturities.

But the German government ruled out reworking the European Union’s fiscal pact despite calls for including growth measures by Hollande.

Sarkozy and Merkel had led a strident drive for budget cuts across Europe as the key for the region to emerge from the debt crisis.

Meanwhile ratings agency Standard and Poor’s, which had stripped France of its top triple-A rating in January, said Hollande’s victory would have no immediate impact on its rating or outlook.—AFP

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Prolonged power outages hitting all

LAHORE – The business community has expressed deep concern over awful prolonged loadshedding and demanded the government to seriously solve the energy crises that are hitting all sectors of economy including trade, industry and agriculture.
They said that the private sector was engine of the growth and in the developed countries it is facilitated to the maximum but in Pakistan circumstances is …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

‘Well-being of Indians, Pakistanis depends on normalisation of relations’

LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Monday that the well-being Indian and Pakistani people depended on the normalisation of relations between the two countries on a sustainable basis.

Addressing the 2^nd Aman Ki Asha Economic Conference in Lahore, Gilani said, “The engine of economic growth is not fueled by regional tensions and conflicts” and that “it needs peace and an enabling environment.”

The conference was attended by industrialists, entrepreneurs and business professionals from both countries. “This shows the commitment of the private sector to develop economic relations between our two countries,” said the prime minister. “It is a matter of satisfaction that the business communities of two countries are exploring vistas of economic cooperation.”

He said that better trade relations between the two countries had “great potential for a bright future”.

“This is a region, where more than one-fifth of the world population resides and which is fast becoming one of the key drivers of the global economy.”

Gilani also said that the presence of the business community underlined the need of peace and normalisation of relations between the two countries. “This conference pushed forward the peace agenda and that of economic cooperation at a time when tensions ran high between India and Pakistan.”

Recalling the first conference in December 2009, the premier said that he had extended unwavering support to the cause of peace and people-to-people contact on behalf of people and the government.

“Notwithstanding the ups and downs in our bilateral relations, our support to the cause of peace and normalization of relations with India has remained steadfast. This is because trade between our countries is to our best advantage. Let me add here that Pakistan’s closest friend and strategic partner, China, is also in favour of our normalization of relations with India,” he said.

Greek political earthquake rattles eurozone

Voters pick ballots prior to casting their votes for Greece’s general elections in a polling station in Athens on May 6, 2012. — Photo by AFP

ATHENS: Greece stared into a chasm of uncertainty Monday after a stunning election shake-up by parties opposed to further austerity cuts, sending shockwaves through markets on fears of renewed eurozone turmoil.

Results of Sunday’s elections showed that the two mainstream parties missed an absolute majority in parliament after their share of the vote was 32.1 per cent — more than halved from 2009 election — plunging the country into political uncertainty.

Instead, voters angry after two years of cuts handed parties against the terms of Greece’s two international bailouts a stunning result — a total of 151 parliamentary seats between them, based on 99 per cent of votes counted.

The shock outcome throws Greece into disarray since top vote-getter Antonis Samaras of the New Democracy conservatives will find it very hard to form a government — once he is officially tasked to do so by the president later Monday.

Athens has already committed to finding in June another 11.5 billion euros in savings over the next two years.

Since left-wing Pasok and New Democracy, which formed the outgoing coalition led by technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, will not have a legislative majority, the possibility now looms of fresh elections.

Pasok, which along with New Democracy has dominated Greek politics for nearly four decades, was even relegated to third place by the leftist Syriza, which more than tripled its share of the vote from 2009 to 16.7 per cent.

“The parties that signed the memorandum (with the EU and the IMF) are now a minority. The public verdict has de-legitimised them,” Syriza head Alexis Tsipras said late Sunday, calling the election a “message of overthrow”.

In total seven parties were set to enter parliament compared with five after the last election.

Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn was also set to enter parliament for the first time since the end of the military junta in 1974, with 6.5-7.5 per cent of the vote, making it the sixth-biggest party in the 300-seat chamber with some 20 lawmakers.

Leader Nikos Michaloliakos said his party would fight against “world usurers” and the “slavery” of an EU-IMF loan agreement he likened to a “dictatorship”.

“The time for fear has come,” he said.

Independent Greeks, a new right-wing party set up by New Democracy dissident Panos Kammenos, is slated to become the fourth-biggest party with 33 seats followed by the communist KKE with 26 lawmakers.

The Democratic Left, a Europhile new leftist party, will hold 19 seats in the new-look chamber.

Both Pasok and ND have said they want the “troika” of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank to cut Greece more slack in their two bailout deals worth 240 billion euros.

But with voters angry at the painful austerity cuts demanded in response, many of the smaller parties, including possible kingmaker Syriza, want to tear up the agreements.

The communist KKE party wants to leave the eurozone and the neo-Nazis say they want to stop servicing Greece’s debts, an aim shared by Kammenos who advocates turning to Russia to prop up the country.

Panayotis Petrakis, economics professor at Athens University, expressed hope however that new French president-elect Francois Hollande “would prevent Europe treating us too harshly. There is still a little room for manoeuvre.”

Petrakis told AFP that the most likely outcome was another “government of technocrats” headed again by outgoing premier Papademos, or fresh elections.

The result, plus the victory of the left-wing Hollande, sent the euro lower in Asian trading, dipping at one stage to $1.2954, its weakest level since late January, while also slumping to 103.22 yen.

Japan’s top government spokesman said Tokyo will “carefully monitor” how Europe reacts to the French election.

“The trajectory of the European economy greatly affects our economy,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters, adding that Japan considered discussions between France and European powerhouse Germany “important”.

Stocks on the DAX index in eurozone paymaster Germany plunged 2.2 per cent while France’s stock market slid 1.57 per cent. Greece stocks plunged 7.6 per cent in early trade.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Socialist Hollande ousts Sarkozy in French vote

PARIS – Francois Hollande was elected France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades on Sunday, dealing a humiliating defeat to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and shaking up European politics.
The result will have major implications for Europe as it struggles to emerge from a financial crisis and for France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy and a nuclear-armed permanent …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Socialist Hollande ousts Sarkozy in French vote

,,

A supporter of Socialist Party (PS) candidate for the 2012 French presidential election Francois Hollande waves a party flag on May 6, 2012 outside the party’s headquarters following the announcement of the estimated results of the second round of Presidential election. -AFP Photo

PARIS: Francois Hollande was elected France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades on Sunday, dealing a humiliating defeat to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and shaking up European politics.

The result will have major implications for Europe as it struggles to emerge from a financial crisis and for France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy and a nuclear-armed permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Hollande won the vote with about 52 per cent, according to several estimates from polling firms based on ballot samples, becoming France’s first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995.

Joyful crowds gathered in Hollande’s adopted hometown of Tulle and in Paris to celebrate his victory.

“We are rid of a poison that was blighting our society. A normal president! It gives us a lot to dream about,” said Didier Stephan, a 70-year-old artist who was among throngs of supporters at Paris’s Place de la Bastille.

Even before polls closed and broadcasters released estimates, supporters were chanting “President Hollande!” and “We Won!” at the iconic square.

Sarkozy urged leaders of his right-wing UMP party to remain united after his defeat, but warned he would not lead it into June’s parliamentary elections, according to political sources present at a meeting at his headquarters.

Hollande led in opinion polls throughout the campaign and won the April 22 first round with 28.6 per cent to Sarkozy’s 27.2 per cent — making the right-winger the first-ever incumbent to lose in the first round.

Grey skies and rain showers greeted voters across much of France, but turnout was high, hitting 71.96 per cent at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) according to interior ministry figures. More than 46 million people were eligible to vote.

The election was marked by fears over European Union-imposed austerity and economic globalisation, and Hollande has said his first foreign meeting will be with German Chancellor Angela Merkel — the key driver of EU budget policy.

The 57-year-old Socialist has vowed to renegotiate the hard-fought fiscal austerity pact signed by EU leaders in March and to make it focus more on growth, but is facing resistance from Merkel.

The French vote coincides with an election in Greece, where voters were also expected to punish the incumbent parties for landing the country in its bleak economic state.

Anger over sputtering economies has brought down leaders from Ireland to Portugal since the debt crisis washed over the European continent.

Hollande has said he will move quickly to implement his traditionally Socialist tax-and-spend programme, which calls for boosting taxes on the rich, increasing state spending and hiring some 60,000 teachers.

Sarkozy fought a fierce campaign, saying a victory for Hollande would spark market panic and financial chaos and calling him a “liar” and “slanderer” in the final days of the race.

But Sarkozy failed to overcome deep-rooted anger at meagre economic growth and increasing joblessness, and disappointment after he failed to live up to the promises of his 2007 election.

Sarkozy, 57, was also deeply unpopular on a personal level, with many voters turned off by his flashy “bling bling” lifestyle — exemplified by his marriage to former supermodel Carla Bruni — and aggressive behaviour.

Hollande has vowed to be a “normal president” in contrast with Sarkozy, but some have raised concerns over his lack of experience.

Hollande, a long-time Socialist party leader and local lawmaker from the central Correze region, has never held a top government post.

The first round of the election last month was marked by a record score for Marine Le Pen of the far-right, anti-immigrant and anti-Europe National Front, when she took nearly 18 per cent of the vote.

Sarkozy turned increasingly to the right ahead of the run-off — vowing to restrict immigration and “defend French values” — but Le Pen refused to call on her supporters to back him and she cast a blank ballot.

Hollande won the backing of centrist Francois Bayrou, who took nine per cent in the first round, and Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon of the Left Front, who took 11 per cent.

“This is a very big failure (for Sarkozy) against a candidate who has no experience in government,” said political analyst Stephane Rozes.

“It is not so much for the content of his policies that he has been punished, but for his way of being and acting,” Rozes said.

Hollande is expected to be sworn in by May 15 and after seeing Merkel will quickly set off for a series of international meetings, including a G8 summit in the US on May 18-19 and Nato gathering in Chicago on May 20-21.

The Socialists, Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP and France’s other political parties will now be focused on a parliamentary election to be held over two rounds on June 10 and June 17.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

India to deliberate tax measures as investors fret

Cashier counts Indian rupees — File Photo

MUMBAI: Whatever its intentions in cracking down on abuse of tax havens, India has alienated overseas investors with the timing and communication of its measures when it can ill afford to do so.

India’s move to target tax evaders through a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR), along with a plan to retroactively tax the indirect transfer of assets, has spooked investors and added to an exodus of funds, battering the rupee.

Starting on Monday, India’s parliament will begin considering the finance bill that includes the tax proposals but final details may be a month or more away, government sources have said, which could prolong the uncertainty and aggravate a balance of payments shortfall.

“We are hoping that because of the currency and because of inflow problems, they might either delay it by a year or do something else,” said Samir Arora, an India-focused fund manager with Helios Capital Management in Singapore.

After days of what traders said was intervention to defend the rupee, the Reserve Bank of India late on Friday took steps to encourage dollar inflows, a move dealers said may do little to improve near-term weakness in the currency, which is approaching an all-time low set in December.

Meanwhile, the gloomy mood derailed the year’s biggest initial public offering from India, with auto parts maker Samvardhana Motherson Finance Ltd on Friday scrapping its $311 million issue because of poor demand.

Foreign funds are usually the biggest buyers of large Indian equity deals.

Adding to investor ire, India said on Friday it may review its tax break treaty with Mauritius, the East African island country that the majority of foreign portfolio inflows are believed to be routed through.

Mauritius is the same source of fund flows India is targeting through its GAAR proposal.

“Govt going all out to make foreign investors flee India. GAAR is not yet settled and they are making statements on Mauritius treaty review,” tweeted Sandip Sabharwal, head of portfolio management services at Prabhudas Lilladher Group.

BATTERED SENTIMENT

The GAAR proposal and a move that would tax already-completed mergers of foreign companies with Indian assets, potentially putting Britain’s Vodafone back on the hook for more than $2 billion in taxes even after India’s Supreme Court ruled in its favour, have slammed investor sentiment.

Already, investors had been put off by policy paralysis following a spate of corruption scandals as well as slowing growth, persistent inflation and a fiscal deficit that ballooned to 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product in the last fiscal year as the government has been politically unable to cut fuel subsidies.

Macquarie’s $1.5 billion Asian Alpha Fund exited its short positions in Indian single stock futures in response to the proposed tax rules, instead using a futures contract in Singapore to get its short exposure to India.

The hedge fund also cut its India long exposure in March, joining a number of foreign investors reducing holdings in the country ahead of the expected tax rules.

“The Indian government has been making many, many big policy mistakes,” Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group and one of the best-known emerging markets investors, told Reuters on May 1.

The rupee is down about 9 per cent since the beginning of March, closing at 53.47/48 to the dollar on Friday, putting it close to a record low of 54.30. During March and April, net portfolio outflows from India stood at about $540 million, compared with $13 billion in inflows in January-February.

Outflows are painful for a country that imports 80 per cent of its oil and has a widening trade gap. Exports rose 21 per cent to $303.7 billion for the fiscal year that ended in March, while imports rose 32.2 per cent to $488.6 billion.

Late last month, Standard & Poor’s cut the outlook for India’s credit rating to negative, putting Asia’s third-largest economy in danger of losing its investment grade status. It said India had reserves to meet about six months of current account payments, down from eight months in 2008 and 2009.

GAAR

Investors worry that GAAR will give authorities broad latitude to determine tax liability and they want clarity on how it will be enforced. Some expect implementation to be delayed given India’s habit of postponing policy initiatives.

A Finance Ministry official who declined to be identified told Reuters there was no plan to defer GAAR. Government sources have also said the tax would not be applied retroactively.

In the meantime, some offshore investors have been routing investments to India through Singapore instead of Mauritius.

GAAR is intended to close a loophole that allows foreign investors to avoid capital gains tax on short-term investments by routing them through tax havens.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Japan switches off last nuclear reactor

Protesters stage an anti-nuclear demonstration on the Children’s Day national holiday, calling for a safer future for younger generations at a park in Tokyo on May 5, 2012. —AFP Photo

TOKYO: A Japanese power firm began switching off the country’s last working reactor, leaving it without nuclear power just over a year after the world’s worst atomic accident in a quarter of a century.

As technicians close down the No. 3 unit at Tomari in Hokkaido, the debate over whether Japan needs nuclear power has been reignited, amid increasingly shrill warnings of summer power blackouts.

Hokkaido Electric Power, which runs the plant, said they started inserting control rods at 5:00 pm (0800 GMT) that would halt the chain reaction and bring the reactor to “cold shutdown” some time on Monday.

“Power output started declining at the No. 3 unit,” said Tomohiko Shibuya, a Hokkaido Electric Power spokesman. “We have not heard of any trouble so far.

Power generation there is scheduled to stop completely in about six hours.” The shuttering will mark the first time since the 1970s that resource-poor and energy-hungry Japan has been without nuclear power, a technology that had provided a third of its electricity until meltdowns at Fukushima.

The tsunami-sparked disaster forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in an area around the plant — some of whom may never be allowed to return.

It did not directly claim any lives, but has devastated the local economy, leaving swathes of land unfarmable as radiation spewed from the ruins.

With the four reactors at Fukushima crippled by the natural disaster public suspicion of nuclear power grew, so much so that no reactor shut for routine safety checks has since been allowed to restart.

“A new (era in) Japan with no nuclear power has begun,” said Gyoshu Otsu, a 56-year-old monk who joined a protest against nuclear power in front of the industry ministry in Tokyo which supervises the nation’s power utilities.

“Generating nuclear power is like a criminal act as a lot of people are still suffering,” said Otsu wearing white Buddhist clothes. “If we allow the situation as it is now, another accident will occur.” Protest organiser Masao Kimura said: “It’s a symbolic day today. Now we can prove that we will be able to live without nuclear power.” Separately, some 5,500 demonstrators staged a rally at a park near Tokyo Tower and later marched through central Tokyo carrying banners, which read: “Sayonara (Goodbye), nuclear power.”

“We have to take action now so that Fukushima should be the last nuclear accident not only in Japan but all over the world,” Mizuho Fukushima, head of the opposition Social Democratic Party, told AFP during the rally.

But Hiroomi Makino, the pro-nuclear mayor of Tomari, which hosts the reactor, said: “It’s so regrettable. I would like the company to resume operation as I believe that they will give the highest priority to safety.” When generation stops late Saturday, Japan’s entire stable of 50 reactors will be offline, despite increasingly urgent calls from the power industry and bodies like the OECD, who fear dire consequences for the world’s third largest economy.

Last month, Kansai Electric Power, which supplies mid-western Japan, including the commercial hubs of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, said a hot summer could see supply fall nearly 20 per cent short of demand.

Kyushu Electric Power, covering an area further west, as well as Hokkaido Electric Power also said they will struggle as air conditioning gets cranked up in Japan’s sweltering summer.

Kansai Electric last month booked a $3 billion annual loss, turning around a $1.5 billion profit the year earlier on the increased cost of using previously mothballed thermal fuel plants.

A week earlier, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s government gave the green light to restarting reactors at the Oi nuclear plant, run by Kansai Electric, but regulators still have to convince those living near the plant.

In order to be fired up again, reactors must now pass International Atomic Energy Agency-approved stress tests and get the consent of their host communities — it is this last hurdle that is proving hardest to overcome.

Critics of nuclear power say Japan has managed thus far with its ever dwindling pool of reactors and need not look back.

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said Friday the country should concentrate on ramping up renewables and boosting energy efficiency.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Demand for South Punjab

LAHORE: While the demand for a separate South Punjab province has been making the rounds at discussions, editorials, and other forums for decades, it gained political traction in February 2011 after the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) parted ways with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) provincial government in the Punjab.

Between 2008 and 2011, when the PPP sat on treasury benches in the Punjab Assembly, it sided with the PML-N on knocking out resolutions pertaining to South Punjab province. PML-Q’s MPA Mohsin Leghari submitted tens of resolutions, in almost every session, but none were supported by the PPP.

After the fallout, PPP’s Co-Chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari, asked the party’s manifesto committee to prepare recommendations for a new province. The committee has held only one meeting since 2011, but never discussed the issue of South Punjab.

Gaining traction

Before being taken up by the leading parties, the PPP and the PML-N, the issue also lacked electoral support.

Leaders, like the Pakistan Seraiki Party’s President Barrister Taj Muhammad Langah, who have been most vocal about a Seraiki or South Punjab province, have never been elected to parliament or provincial assemblies.

The tide, however, turned around after the PML-N wrapped up the local government system in 2008, introduced by former president Pervez Musharraf under his regime.

As authority centered back in Lahore, the demand for South Punjab went from drawing rooms to the street.

Budget figures

At the 2010 budget speech in the Punjab Assembly, lawmakers from South Punjab protested on the floor of the house over the allocation of “Rs5 billion” for South Punjab.

Terming the amount “equivalent to Zakat,” the lawmakers lashed out at Rs21 billion spent on Raiwind road that leads to the Sharifs’ residence outside Lahore.

Chairman Planning Department of Punjab, however, refuted the claim.

Giving official figures to The Express Tribune, the chairman said the PML-N government increased the allocation of development budget to South Punjab from Rs22 billion in 2007-08, or 15% of total development allocation in the Punjab, to Rs70 billion in 2011-12, or 32% of total allocation.

The allocation, however, does not necessarily translate into disbursements which may be far lower.

Rhetoric versus action

The PML-N says the resolution in National Assembly is an attempt to deflect pressure on the government following conviction of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in a contempt case.

Analysts second that, saying the resolution is merely a political gimmick that attempts to cash in on public support on the issue in , what is widely perceived to be, an election year.

Caving out a new province will require a bill, not a resolution, they say, adding that a resolution has no legal weight and does not make South Punjab imperative. Since a new province would require amending the Constitution, the PPP, if it is serious about South Punjab, should have moved a bill.

What is the process? 

The process for amendment to the Constitution, which is essentially what a new province would entail, is laid out in Article 239 of the Constitution.

A bill has to be moved in either houses of parliament, National Assembly or Senate, and has to pass with a two-thirds majority in both. Any regular bill would then be sent to the president for endorsement but sub article 4 adds an extra provision for this case, which states: A bill to amend the Constitution which would have the effect of altering the limits of a province shall not be presented to the president for assent unless it has been passed by the provincial assembly of that province by the votes of not less than two-thirds of its total membership.

Few months ago, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement submitted a bill to remove the aforementioned clause. The bill, however, is pending in National Assembly secretariat and has not been entertained.

South Punjab, therefore, needs the assent of both – the PPP and the PML-N – if it has to become a reality under the current Constitution, and before the next election.

PML-N’s counter-proposals

The PML-N does not disagree on the creation of new provinces, but demands that they should be created on an “administrative basis” only.

The party, in its policy presented last year, has called for a commission, like the States Reorganisation Commission constituted in India in 1953, which should form new provinces after detailed study.

According to the PML-N’s manifesto committee, the party has plans for 13 new provinces in Pakistan; and while not much progress was seen on that front, the party was jolted into action on Friday.

Hours after PPP’s resolution was passed by the National Assembly, the PML-N submitted a counter resolution to the NA secretariat, calling for the creation of not one but four provinces – South Punjab, Bahawalpur, Fata and Hazara.

Sources in the party, however, say the PML-N’s stance on a prospective ‘Bahawalpur’ province is a political attempt to counter PPP’s demand of a ‘South Punjab’ province.

Bahawalpur versus South Punjab

While the debate on southern Punjab, until recently, focused on South Punjab versus Bahawalpur, PML-N’s resolution submitted on Friday now calls for creation of both.

The party is not the only one calling for a Bahawalpur province though.

Former information minister Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani, a leading figure in the movement for a separate Bahawalpur province, has demanded that the former princely state be given a provincial status.

It is the constitutional right of the people of Bahawalpur to have their own province, just like it is the right of the people of DI Khan and Multan to have their own province, Durrani said in a statement on Thursday.

Any effort to pitch the people of Bahawalpur against the people of DI Khan and Multan will fail, he added.

PML-Functional Punjab President Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood has also demanded that Bahawalpur should be restored as a separate province, instead of inducting it into a Seraiki or South Punjab province.

Hazara province

Following through on its counter-proposal submitted to the NA secretariat on Friday, the PML-N submitted a resolution in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Secretariat, calling for forming the Hazara division a separate province. The resolution, filed on Friday, is signed by six lawmakers .

“Once it is carved into a new province, the revenue generated [through its resources] will be used on this region,” Muhammad Javed Abbasi told reporters. “It is very difficult to administer this division from Peshawar.”

The resolution states that the Hazara division is gifted with natural resources but unjust treatment by successive governments have led to feelings of depravation amongst the people.

“This provincial assembly asks the provincial government to recommend to the federal government to amend the Constitution of Pakistan to make Hazara a separate province,” the resolution reads.

Meanwhile, pro-Hazara province activists have called for a protest and sit-in in Islamabad on May 14, against the ignoring of their demands. Members of the Suba Hazara Tehrik criticised the PPP for ignoring the demand of Hazarawals at a meeting in Abbottabad on Friday, saying their demand is an administrative one in nature.

The road to Seraiki province

Pakistan Seraiki Party’s President Barrister Taj Muhammad Langah believes that creation of a Seraiki province is imperative, and a boundary commission should therefore be established immediately.

If the process is delayed, however, he has several short-term proposals to offer.

The Punjab Assembly could be divided informally into Punjab and Seraiki region, he said, while talking to The Express Tribune.

Members from the Seraiki regions in the Punjab Assembly should prepare budget proposals for their areas separately and allocation of funds to the Siraiki area should be based on population and the area’s contribution to the national economy, he said.

Similarly, the federation should have separate financial allocation in the budget, as well as in the NFC award, for a future Seraiki province, he added.

He proposed that until a separate province is created, the Punjab Assembly should, on temporary basis, be divided into two houses for legislation and development allocation purposes.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2012.

London re-elects Boris Johnson as mayor

Boris Johnson makes a speech after being re-elected as mayor of London for a second term at City Hall, London, May 4, 2012. — Photo by Reuters

LONDON: London’s comic and outspoken mayor Boris Johnson won re-election Friday, triumphing in a closer-than-expected vote to secure a second term and his status as the unvarnished and unpredictable host of the 2012 Olympics.

Johnson’s victory, in election results confirmed late Friday, was a bright spot on a rough day for his colleagues in Prime Minister David Cameron’s governing Conservative Party, who took a drubbing in local elections.

Voters stripped both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats — the junior partner in Britain’s coalition government — of hundreds of local authority seats, punishing the government for biting austerity measures and Britain’s stalled economy.

But the Conservatives could take some solace when it was announced that Johnson — known best for his shock of blond hair and sometimes shocking foul-mouthed outbursts — had eked out a win against the opposition Labour Party’s Ken Livingstone and earned the privilege of leading London into the global spotlight when the Summer Games begin on July 27.

In his victory speech at City Hall after hours of waiting for results, Johnson did not mention the Conservatives’ dismal showing in local elections and instead thanked those who voted for him during the “long and grueling” campaign.

“I want to thank all of you for giving me a new chance and a new mandate to take us forward,” Johnson said, pledging to continue “fighting for a good deal for Londoners.”

He also somewhat sarcastically described Livingstone — his predecessor as mayor — as one of the “most creative and most original” left-wing politicians he’d seen — a reference to the at-times bitter exchanges between the two candidates.

Livingstone called the defeat the one he will “most regret” in his four-decade career in electoral politics — which appeared to be over late Friday.

“This is my last election,” he told City Hall.

Many had expected Johnson, 47, to handily defeat Livingstone, a veteran leftist known for his admiration of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

But he won by a tighter margin than expected — 51.5 per cent to 48.5 per cent — and the drama of the race was heightened by delays in counting ballots. The result was announced just minutes before midnight — more than 24 hours after polls had closed.

Johnson’s victory could be bittersweet for Cameron — offering relief from his party’s national woes, but cementing the outspoken mayor as a likely future leadership rival.

Cameron’s Conservatives took a bruising in votes in the 181 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland which held polls this year, losing more than 400 seats — including some in the leader’s own political district.

Although the results won’t put Cameron’s leadership in jeopardy, they prompted grassroots Conservatives to urge him to ditch some of his more liberal policies, including the planned introduction of same-sex marriage.

Johnson, who has appealed to traditionalists with messages on tax cuts and looser ties to Europe, is increasingly seen as a plausible national leader — not least for bucking his party’s national slump.

“The best thing for Cameron would be to have Boris locked into the London mayoralty for the next four years and out of the way,” said Patrick Dunleavy, a political science professor at the London School of Economics.

Cameron also suffered a blow to his legislative hopes, as nine cities — including Manchester, Birmingham and Newscastle-upon-Tyne — voted down plans to have their own directly elected city mayors.

The leader had hoped that new city chiefs, and US-style elected police commissioners, would help deliver power away from Parliament and into the hands of local communities.

Bristol, in southwestern England, was the only city to vote in favor of electing a new mayor.

Like Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats — the junior partner in Britain’s coalition government — suffered a collapse, losing 336 councilors. That pushed their total number of local councilors below 3,000 for the first time since the party formed in 1988.

Main opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband toasted his own party’s revival after its ousting from national office in the 2010 national election. It won control of 32 more local authorities and claimed 823 new council seats.

“We are a party winning back people’s trust,” Miliband said. “People are hurting. People are suffering from this recession, people are suffering from a government that raises taxes for them and cuts taxes for millionaires.”

Cameron insisted his poll battering was to be expected at the midpoint before a 2015 national election, and with his government carrying out grueling economic repairs following the global economic crisis.

“These are difficult times and there aren’t easy answers,” Cameron acknowledged.

Elsewhere, the United Kingdom Independence Party — which advocates a British withdrawal from the European Union — made advances. The far-right British National Party saw its vote wiped out, losing all six council seats it held in the areas contesting elections.

In Scotland, Alex Salmond’s separatist Scottish National Party made local gains before an expected 2014 referendum on independence but win control of Glasgow’s council, a key target.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Establishment of Southern Punjab to remove grievances of people: Shujaat

The PML-Q Chief Shujaat Hussain has said that the creation of Southern Punjab province will help remove grievances of the people of the area.
While talking to media outside the parliament building on Friday, he said that with the creation of a Southern Punjab province the sense of deprivation of this area would be eliminated. He said it would also improve the national economy.
To a question he …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Perilous profession: Deaths, threats mar(k) Press Freedom Day

In its 10th annual IFJ Press Freedom Report for South Asia, released on Wednesday, the international body said that though the appointment of commission was a major symbolic victory, the inquiry report was disappointing because the commission did not assign responsibility for the murder.

The report stated that the year 2011-12 in Pakistan continued to be one of serious hazard.

“Within this frontline state in a global conflict, the combatant parties are many and norms of accountability and international humanitarian law are dishonored by all. Journalists in Pakistan have to steer a perilous course between these hostile elements,” the report said.

Sectarian conflict in Karachi and an insurgency in Balochistan are additional elements of risk, the report added.

IFJ also appreciated the role of superior judiciary in Pakistan for penning down the verdict in favour employees of the news industry regarding the implementation of the wage board award.

Pushing into poverty

Reports from the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) indicate that economic pressures have pushed many journalists into poverty. Monthly salaries, according to a survey carried out by PFUJ affiliate, the Punjab Union of Journalists, range between Rs30,000 and Rs50,000, inclusive of all allowances, in leading media houses. The smaller organisations though, pay between Rs10,000 and Rs15,000.

Though a few among the bigger media houses have started providing medical insurance, journalists are,by and large, deprived of this essential measure of social security.

The uncertain economy has also pushed many media houses into financial difficulties, leading in turn to chronic delays in payment of staff salaries. Meanwhile, there are many other private TV channels and publications where downsizing and salary delays are common. These difficulties make it a serious challenge for journalists to maintain ethical standards.

PPF report

One journalist has been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan during the first four months of 2012, while four journalists received life threats, said ‘Pakistan Press Freedom Report 2012’ issued by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on Wednesday.

The report said during these four months a TV channel’s office was attacked, newspaper copies of same media group torched and transmission of Urdu language news channels was blocked.

At the end of 2011, Pakistan, named “the deadliest country for journalists,” recorded six deaths in 2011 where the motive was known. Its impunity rating worsened for the fourth straight year, the report said. (With additional input from PPI)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2012.

Saifullah asks PM to quit, hold fresh polls

PESHAWAR, May 2: The Pakistan Muslim League-Likeminded has asked the government to avoid confrontation with judiciary, take political parties into confidence and announce a caretaker setup to hold fresh elections in the country.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, PML-Likeminded president Saleem Saifullah Khan said that the country was passing through the worst kind of crisis owing to flawed policies of the government.
The ruling cliqued needed to take steps with great care otherwise a storm would rise and political parties would be unable to play any role in the country’s affairs, he added.
Mr Khan said that the existing system was a legacy of the British Raj which had failed to solve their problems. “It is now time to introduce presidential form of government in the country,” he said.
Flanked by his party provincial leaders, he said that no one was above the law and everyone should respect judiciary.
Commenting on the court verdict against Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in a contempt case, the PML leader said that government should accept the decision as it was not in the country’s interest to violate the law.
He said that during the past four-and-a half-year the ruling parties badly failed to deliver. Unrest among people was on the rise owing to price hike, corruption, disturbed law and order situation and maladministration, he added.
“In other countries, chief executives tender resignation when they feel that people are against them or courts convict them, but in our country law is clearly violated,” the PML leader said.
He said that there was no harm in writing letter to the Swiss government as per directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan but the government chose a wrong way and started tussling with the judiciary. He said that prime minister had taken oath to remain loyal to the country and not to Pakistan People’s Party.
The existing pathetic condition of Pakistan Railways, Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Steels and other national institutions, he said, was result of massive corruption and mismanagement by the rulers.
“The gallop surveys conducted by foreign agencies also show that problems have been increased manifold during the reign of the incumbent government,” he said.
The MPL leader said that rulers should pack up at the earliest as otherwise uncertainty would further damage the image of the country. All political parties should devise a strategy to save democracy and hold fresh elections in a pleasant atmosphere, he added.
He said that long march was not solution to the present problems. He added that leadership of every party should think positively in the interest of the country instead of seeking personal gains. The performance of the government, he said, could easily be judged from the fact that it could not carry out census.
He said that Nawaz Sharif was also not sincere to work for betterment of the country otherwise he would have so far removed differences among the PML factions. “Nawaz Sharif will lead the united PML as his party is comparatively large but he should work for unification of the groups,” he suggested.
Mr Khan said that peace in Pakistan was linked to peace in Afghanistan. He asked the government to ink agreements with different countries, especially China, to improve economy.
The PML leader also came hard on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and leaders of Awami National Party. “I had offered free of cost land for establishment of a university, cadet college and residential colonies at Lakki Marwat but the government avoided accepting it and preferred to buy land for the purpose,” he alleged.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Bangladesh forex reserves rise to $10.19 bln in April

,,

US dollars—File Photo

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves rose $614 million to $10.193 billion at the end of April from the previous month, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The reserves may have partly been boosted a loan from the International Monetary Fund. The fund last month approved a three-year $987 million loan, of which $141 million was disbursed immediately.

Foreign exchange reserves rose to a record $11.32 billion in April 2011 but have since dropped because of rising imports, mainly oil, while exports and remittances have grown more slowly as the global economy remained weak.

Forex reserves were at $9.579 billion in March.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Copper dips on economy concerns, China data supports

LONDON  – Copper dipped on Tuesday as brisk manufacturing data in top metal consumer China and a softer dollar failed to offset concerns about the fragile US economy and the euro zone crisis.
Trading was thin with most Asian markets shut for the May Day holiday, including China and parts of Europe, limiting the market impact of data showing a sustained expansion in China’s factory …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..