Nestle to buy Pfizer Nutrition for $11.85bn
Food giant Nestle has announced a deal to buy children's food maker Pfizer Nutrition for $11.85bn (£7.35bn).
The world's biggest food group, based in Switzerland, said its new acquisition was a "perfect complement" to its existing infant food business.
It said it expected sales at Pfizer Nutrition, 85% of which are in emerging markets, to be $2.4bn this year.
The deal, which had been expected this month, is still subject to regulatory approval.
"Pfizer Nutrition is an excellent strategic fit and this acquisition underlines our commitment to be the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company," said Nestle chief executive Paul Bulcke.
Nestle beat a rival bid from French food group Danone to the deal.
"The price tag is high, however Nestle is securing a high growth/margin business with high exposure in the emerging markets. China will become the number three market for Nestle overall," said Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy.
Nestle shares fell about 3% in early trading following the announcement.
Pfizer Nutrition's brands include S-26 Gold, SMA and Promil.
Last week, Nestle reported improved sales of 21.4bn Swiss francs ($23.4bn; £14.6bn) for the first three months of the year, but said trading had been subdued in developed markets.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte 'to deliver resignation'
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will submit his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix today, reports say, paving the way for early elections.
The government was plunged into crisis when Geert Wilders' Freedom Party pulled out of talks aimed at slicing 16bn euros (£13.1bn) from the budget.
Mr Wilders said he would not accept austerity demands to bring the budget deficit in line with EU rules.
His party was not part of the coalition but supported the minority government.
Dutch broadcaster Nos said Mr Rutte had arrived at 14:00 Dutch time (12:00 GMT) at the queen's palace in The Hague where he was expected to make the cabinet's resignation official.
Speaking after the cabinet meeting involving Mr Rutte's liberal VVD and the Christian Democrats (CDA), Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said they would "show the financial market and Dutch people that we can also put forward a solid financial policy".
AAA status
Since 5 March, the two coalition parties along with the Freedom Party have been trying to reach agreement on budget cuts. A recent forecast from the Netherlands' Central Planning Bureau estimated that the country's 2013 public deficit would rise to 4.7% of GDP, well above the 3% EU target.
The Netherlands has been asked to submit its budget measures to the European Commission by 30 April, although it is not clear how firm that deadline is.
Mr Wilders said the coalition's proposals would harm economic growth and affect many people's spending power. Socialist Party leader Emile Roemer said he too was not prepared to support the attempt to bring the budget deficit below 3% by 2013.
But there are fears that the failure of the budget talks could harm the Netherlands' prized AAA credit rating status and the low yield on government bonds.
Economic Affairs Minister and CDA leader Maxime Verhagen said on his Twitter feed earlier on Monday that the main concern was "how, on the way to elections, we can keep the economy and finances on the rails".
Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad reported that confidence in the Netherlands had already fallen on the financial markets on Monday, with the gap widening between Dutch and German government bonds.
Mr Rutte's government lasted just 558 days. Only three other Dutch administrations since World War II have been in office for shorter periods, Dutch news agency ANP says.
A parliamentary debate on the Dutch political crisis is expected to take place on Tuesday afternoon.
Eurozone deficits fall as austerity bites
Eurozone governments managed to cut sharply their budget deficits last year, but overall debt levels continued to rise, official figures have shown.
The deficit to GDP ratio for the bloc as a whole fell to 4.1% from 6.2% in 2010, Eurostat said. The overall debt to GDP ratio rose to 87.2% from 85.3%.
The Republic of Ireland, Greece and Spain had the highest deficits.
Eurozone governments have introduced far-reaching austerity measures designed to cut deficits.
The deficit ratio is the difference between a government's annual expenditure and its revenues, expressed as a percentage of its annual GDP. The official deficit target, as laid down in the Maastricht Treaty, is 3% of GDP.
Following the financial crisis of 2008, a year in which the eurozone's deficit ratio stood at 2.1%, budget deficits increased significantly as governments spent billions of euros on bail-out packages and stimulus measures.
More recently, governments have cut spending in order to reassure international lenders of their credit worthiness and bring deficits back towards target.
The Irish Republic reduced its deficit from 31.2% in 2010 to 13.1% last year; Greece from 10.3% to 9.1% and Spain from 9.3% to 8.5%.
However, the Irish government says its deficit last year was 9.4%, beating the target of 10.6% set as a condition of its international bailout, when the money it injected into its banks is taken out.
Germany cuts its budget deficit from 4.3% to 1% of GDP.
Outside the eurozone, the UK saw its deficit fall from 10.2% to 8.3%.
However, overall debt levels across the eurozone continued to rise last year.
The debt ratio is a country's total stock of debt expressed as a percentage of its total annual economic output.
The debt to GDP ratio in the Irish Republic rose from 92.5% to 108.2%, in Greece from 145% to 165%, and in Portugal from 93.3% to 107.8%.
The UK's debt ratio rose from 79.6% to 85.7%.
By contrast, Germany managed to cut its debt ratio from 83% to 81.2%.
US Warns of Terrorist Attacks in Kenya
The U.S. embassy in Kenya is warning of possible terrorist attacks in the capital, Nairobi, and is telling Americans in the city to stay alert.
The embassy issued a message Monday saying it has credible information about a possible attack on Nairobi hotels and prominent Kenyan government buildings.
The statement says the timing of the attack is not known but that the embassy has “reason to believe the potential attack is in the last stages of planning.”
There was no immediate comment from the Kenyan government.
Britain issued a similar warning about possible attacks in January.
There have been a number of small-scale attacks in Nairobi and in northeastern Kenya since last October, when Kenya sent troops into Somalia to fight the militant group al-Shabab.
Militants linked to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden bombed the U.S. embassy in Nairobi in August 1998, killing more than 200 people.
Burmese Democracy Party Skips Parliament Opening
Burma's parliament reopened Monday with newly elected democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and 42 others in her National League for Democracy party refusing to take their seats in a dispute over the oath of office.
Also Monday, the European Union suspended long-standing trade and economic sanctions against Burma for one year in response to political reforms in the Southeast Asian nation.
NLD party officials say their contingent will not take their seats in parliament until the oath is changed so that they need not swear to protect a constitution written by the former military junta. Party spokesman Nyan Win told reporters Monday he believes the issue will be resolved quickly.
“I think within 10 days it will be overcome.”
The NLD wants the oath changed so its parliamentarians are required to “respect” the constitution rather than “safeguard” it. But the ruling party has so far refused.
President Thein Sein, visiting Tokyo, told reporters Monday he has no plans to change the wording of the oath, but insisted he will never reverse the ongoing democratization process.
In Luxembourg, British Foreign Secretary William Hague noted progress on political reforms in Burma by the new, nominally civilian government. But he also voiced concern about ongoing human rights abuses.
“Great progress has been made in Burma, but we remain very concerned about conflict and human rights abuses in some ethnic areas of Burma, particularly in Kachin state.”
Hague said there are still human rights issues in Burma including political prisoners and the conflict in Kachin, and warned the sanctions can be reimposed if Burma turns in what he called “the wrong direction.”
Nicholas Farrelly, a Burma analyst at the Australian National University, tells VOA he expects Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party and the government to move toward some kind of compromise on the oath of office dispute in the next few days or weeks.
“Aung San Suu Kyi is in a much stronger position than she has been in recent decades, but we shouldn't pretend that she is actually able to get absolutely everything that she and her supporters will demand. They seem to be talking about this current set of discussions in a sense implying that they are prepared to do a deal with the government to make this work for everyone. They don't want to be in a position where down the track they feel that their hands are tied because they have sworn this oath which has a particular set of words that they are not entirely comfortable with.”
Before the April 1 by-elections, Aung San Suu Kyi said one of her priorities as a legislator would be to amend the 2008 constitution, under which a full quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for unelected members of the military.
--VOA
US Hosting Increasing Numbers of Chinese Tourists
An increasing number of Chinese tourists are visiting the United States, pleasing many American businesses in tough economic times.
The number of U.S. tourist visas issued to Chinese has risen dramatically, from 203,000 travelers in 2004 to the latest number available, which is 1.1 million. That puts China ninth on the list of countries of origin for U.S. tourism.
Ron Erdmann, deputy director of the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, told VOA the Chinese tourists are giving a boost to the U.S. economy.
“The Chinese who come here spend a great deal of money. That too has been setting records over the last several years. In 2011, they spent $5.7 billion to get to this country. So the money they spend for their airfares, and the money that they spend while they're in the U.S.A. buying U.S. goods and services whether it's attractions, restaurants, or the products they buy for gifts and souvenirs, or even things that they will take home, coming here and buying electronics, anything they purchase while they're here. It has a major impact on the United States in terms of dollar value.”
Erdmann said Chinese tourism also benefits the people of both countries culturally.
“And then, just as a cultural understanding that comes between our countries, when we see increasing numbers of Chinese coming to this country, the understanding that they get of the United States when they go back home of our people, and then the people that they meet here, understanding a little bit more about the Chinese.”
Erdmann said the growth in tourism from China is also boosting the sector of the U.S. travel industry that specializes in providing services to Chinese visitors. He said the U.S. government, for its part, is working to make sure that most visa applicants are approved promptly.
Malawi to Bury Late President
Malawi is set to bury late president Bingu wa Mutharika, who died of a heart attack earlier this month.
Several African presidents are in Malawi for Monday's funeral in Mr. Mutharika's home district, including the leaders of Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Malawi's information minister, Moses Kunkuyu, told VOA that the leaders of many political parties have paid their respects along with people from all regions of the country.
“Malawi is a unified state — in life, in death, Malawi's always united.”
Mr. Mutharika had broken with his vice president, Joyce Banda, who was expelled from the ruling party but rose to the presidency as directed in the country's constitution.
Kunkuyu said President Banda's role in the nation's response shows its unity.
“It is the president that is leading the nation in the whole mourning period, mourning our former head of state professor Bingu wa Mutharika. So that is indicative in its own that there is nothing like dissenting or having differences during a funeral.”
Mr. Mutharika ruled Malawi since being elected president in 2004 and winning a second term in 2009.
He was credited with improving food security in Malawi and, at one time, making his country a political and economic model for other African countries. In recent years, the national economy stumbled and unemployment rose sharply, and critics accused the late president of increasingly autocratic behavior.
GOVERNOR ATTENDS FCO LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IN LONDON
His Excellency Governor Ric Todd is attending the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s annual leadership conference in London from Mon, 30 Apr until Friday, 4 May 2012.
During his absence, from 23 April, Chief Executive Officer of the TCI Government, Patrick Boyle will be sworn in as Acting Governor, until Governor Todd’s return on Mon, 7 May.
The first morning of the Conference will see Governor Todd meet with Governors and Administrators from the UK’s 13 other Overseas Territories to discuss the progress of the approaching FCO’s Overseas Territories White Paper, FCO strategy implementation as well as improving financial management and human rights. Minister Bellingham will join the conference and Minister Duncan is due to confirm his attendance also.
In the afternoon the Caribbean Governors will meet separately to discuss matters of mutual interest such as building prosperity, economic reform and regional integration.
All of Tuesday and Wednesday morning will be dedicated to FCO-wide plenary sessions on diplomatic excellence, security, prosperity, the UK economy and an update on the London Olympics.
On Wednesday afternoon, Governor Todd will attend a workshop being held by Lord Howell and Sir John Major on the subject of UK engagement with the Commonwealth and priorities for the Diamond Jubilee Fund.
Thursday morning will see a series of outreach sessions covering passport repatriation, procurement procedures and governance structures, developing tertiary education for OT citizens, and finally a session on Financial Services, led by Helen Hatton, chair, Anguillan Financial Services Commission. In the afternoon there will be an opportunity to meet senior representatives from other UK Government Departments. Friday is being kept clear to allow delegates to attend to other business in the FCO.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for me to promote the people and business of the TCI to our peers]both in the UK and across the other Overseas Territories,” said Governor Todd. “We share a unique heritage and meeting together in this way helps us to find new ways of improving the lives of our citizens and their economies by looking at what we can learn from, and do for, each other.”
Governor Todd will depart from TCI on 23 April and will be on leave until the Conference starts.
Witnesses, Official Say Sudan Bombs South Sudan
Witnesses and a South Sudanese official say Sudanese warplanes have carried out airstrikes on a border area of neighboring South Sudan, killing at least one person.
The deputy head of South Sudan's military intelligence called the bombings Monday near Bentiu a “serious escalation” and a “clear provocation.”
Reporters who witnessed airstrikes said the attack killed a young boy at a market.
The bombings come a day after South Sudanese troops completed their withdrawal from the flashpoint town of Heglig, a contested oil-producing area where they seized oil fields on April 10.
The international community has pressed both countries to halt cross-border attacks and restart dialogue.
The two sides have given conflicting reports of casualties during the battle for Heglig, with Sudan saying 400 South Sudanese troops were killed and South Sudan saying the number is a fraction of what Sudan claims.
The north and south signed a peace deal in 2005, ending a 21-year civil war that killed more than two million people. The deal included an independence referendum for the south, which split from the north last July.
The two countries have been unable to resolve disputes over borders, oil and citizenship.
Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb wakes from coma
Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb has woken from a coma after more than a week and begun to show signs of recovery.
Spokesman Doug Wright said he was able to nod and communicate with his family who have held a constant vigil at his beside in a central London hospital.
The 62-year-old fell into a coma after contracting pneumonia in his battle against colon and liver cancer.
Gibb's wife Dwina has revealed he cried when she played him Roy Orbison's 1962 song Crying.
Fellow Bee Gees star Barry Gibb had also been singing to his brother to try to rouse him.
Dwina Gibb told her local paper The Impartial Reporter, based in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland their children Robin John, Spencer and Melissa have been playing him music to "try and bring him back to us".
Facebook tributes
She said thousands of people have been saying prayers for him every day, and thanked his fans for their support.
In February Gibb said he had made a "spectacular" recovery from cancer but was later back in hospital for surgery.
Gibb was too ill to attend last week's premiere of his latest work The Titanic Requiem, a classical piece composed with his son to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking.
He was due to sing Don't Cry Alone in person at Central Hall Westminster in London.
The singer's website is down because of traffic volumes, with fans directed to his Facebook page, where messages of support can be left.
The British-born singer had surgery on his bowel 18 months ago for an unrelated condition, but a tumour was discovered and he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and later of the liver.
It had been thought his cancer was in remission as early as last month.
Robin Gibb's musical career began when he formed the Bee Gees with his brothers Barry and Maurice in 1958.
The group is among the biggest-selling groups of all time with hits spanning six decades including Stayin' Alive, How Deep Is Your Love, Massachusetts, and Words.
Their soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever was one of the best-selling albums of the 1970s and the band have won seven Grammy Awards.
Robin's twin brother Maurice Gibb died in 2003 aged 53 due to complications from a twisted intestine.
His younger brother Andy, who had a successful solo career, died of a heart ailment in 1988, aged 30.
Gibb last performed on stage at the London Palladium in February, supporting injured servicemen and women in a charity concert.