State should keep out of FIFA business—Jack
T&T is the only country which allows government to interfere with the business of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), says Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner. Warner said this while responding to questions before a tour of areas of Port-of-Spain with Mayor Louis Lee Sing. The statement was his response to questions about a video recording being investigated by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan in which he allegedly encouraged members of the Caribbean Football Union to accept funds from then FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam.
The video was recently released by London’s Telegraph newspaper and the matter was subsequently forwarded to Ramlogan by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Warner said he had spoken to Ramlogan about the matter but said it would not be prudent for him to discuss the issue. “You know I have to really laugh because in Fifa there is a thing that says if government interferes in football business in any country, the country will be suspended but here in T&T the Opposition wants to interfere in FIFA business,” said Warner.
Warner said people were laughing at the country because of the interference. He said he could understand that some people had a political agenda but they should not make a fool of themselves. Warner also commented on the resignation of Oliver Camps last week as the president of the T&T Football Federation. Warner said Camps should be commended for doing the right thing. “Camps did what this country has failed to do, he understood where the whole culprit of this whole thing is, at the level of FIFA in Zurich,” said Warner.
Source-GM
Italy sells bonds at record high of 6% at auction
Italy's cost of borrowing has reached a record high, despite the deal reached to contain the eurozone debt crisis.
Italy paid 6.06% to borrow for 10 years at an auction on Friday, the most since the euro was created in 1999.
The rate jumped from 5.86% - the previous record high - at its last auction a month ago.
The auction came as stock markets failed to follow up on their global rally on Thursday, with shares in many European banks turning lower.
An interest rate of 6% and higher is generally considered to be unsustainable.
The Italian Treasury also failed to meet its borrowing target, having hoped to sell as much as 8.5bn euros ($12.1bn, £7.5bn) of bonds.
They only sold 7.9bn euros of the 10-year benchmark debt.
Italy concerns
Italy has the highest total debt in the eurozone, amid stagnant growth.
But Italy has the advantage of having most of its debt owed to its own people rather than external investors. This buys it more breathing room than, say, heavily-indebted Greece.
Losses on the Italian stock market increased after the auction results were announced.
On Thursday, eurozone leaders agreed to expand the single currency's bailout fund to 1tn euros, and to take measures to recapitalise banks.
Under the terms of the Brussels deal thrashed out by EU leaders, banks must raise more capital to protect themselves against losses resulting from any future defaults.
At the same time, some banks accepted a loss of 50% on their Greek debt.
Stock reaction
Earlier, banking stocks such as Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland rose for the second day. But they turned lower as the trading day went on.
"The best we can say is that the EU have engineered a temporary reprieve but there is no guarantee of a final resolution to the crisis," said Neil MacKinnon of VTB Capital.
Lloyds Banking Group closed down 5.2%, Barclays fell 4.2% and RBS dropped 3.6%.
In Germany, Commerzbank lost 4.3%.
However, French banks ended the day higher, with Credit Agricole climbing 3.7%, BNP Paribas gaining 3.5% and Societe Generale rising 1.7%.
Medal drought... Jamaica end Pan Am participation with poor day on track
Guadalajara, Mexico:Jamaica's contingent here ended their participation in the XVI Pan American Games on a disappointing note yesterday.
The men's 4x400 metres team was withdrawn from the final after an injury to Lansford Spence and there was a mishap for the second consecutive day in a sprint relay.
There are two days to go at the Games but Jamaica's participation here has ended with the country's overnight tally of seven medals - a gold, five silver medals and one bronze.
Going into yesterday, there was some hope that the track and field athletes could have added to the haul. However, early yesterday, Lansford Spence the 200m silver medallist, was declared unfit for the men's 4x400 metres final and the team was withdrawn. A women's 4x400m team was not entered.
Head coach Raymond Graham, in explaining the reasons for the men's withdrawal, said they had arrived here short of genuine 400 metres runners.
"This morning we were told by the doctors that Spence could not run as he had a problem with his groin and we could not risk it. Isa Phillips (400m hurdler) told us that he could not run as he had just come off an injury and had come for just one event. We came here with only three genuine 400-metre runners. Sprinter Jason Livermore had run in the heats just to get us in the final and we were hoping that Spence could have filled in. Once he got hurt we were in trouble so we could not field a team," Graham said.
sprint-relay failure
In the women's sprint relay Jamaica failed to get the baton past the first exchange as there was a bad mix-up between starter Ornella Livingston and Anastasia LeRoy, two GC Foster College colleagues. The baton was not passed .
"I guess I did not get it right at the last ... between myself and Anastasia," Livingston said inside the mixed zone. She added that she is usually the anchor leg runner at GC Foster. Graham said later, however, that the running order which faced the starter was the one they had been practising since the team arrived here.
On Thursday, the men had crossed the line first in their sprint relay heat but were disqualified after they passed the baton outside the zone on the second exchange.
In other finals yesterday Jamaica's Jabari Ennis was 10th in the men's pole vault with a best of 4.90m with gold going to Cuba's Lazaro Borges who cleared 5.80m for a new Pan American Games record. American Jeremy Scoot took silver with 5.60m while Mexico's Giovanni Lanaro, 5.50m, was third.
Allsion Randall, 50.90m, was ninth in the women's discus final.
Eight local-based members of Jamaica's track and field team are due home today at 1:00 p.m. travelling through Panama. Officials and coaches are due home later at 8:10 p.m.
The Games end tomorrow with the men's marathon at 8:00 a.m. to be followed later by the closing ceremony.
Directors' pay rose 50% in past year, says IDS report
Pay for the directors of the UK's top businesses rose 50% over the past year, a pay research company has said.
Incomes Data Services (IDS) said this took the average pay for a director of a FTSE 100 company to just short of £2.7m.
The rise, covering salary, benefits and bonuses, was higher than that recorded for the main person running the company, the chief executive.
Their pay rose by 43% over the year, according to the study.
Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking in Australia, said the report was "concerning" and called for big companies to be more transparent when they decide executive pay.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said the pay increases were part of a "something for nothing" culture, since the stock market had not risen to match them.
A statement from IDS said that that figure suggested that "executive largesse is evenly spread across the board".
Base salaries rose by just 3.2%, although that was above the median rise recorded by IDS this week for average pay settlements of 2.6% for private sector workers.
The latest consumer price inflation figures showed inflation at 5.2%.
Directors' bonus payments, on average, rose by 23% from £737,000 in 2010 to £906,000 this year.
Around two-thirds of FTSE 100 companies are global operations, for whom the UK is a small part of their operation, including mining giant Rio Tinto.
The Unite union has called executive pay "obscene" and has called for shareholders to be given more power to hold directors accountable.
The union's general secretary, Len McCluskey said: "The Government should strongly consider giving shareholders greater legal powers to question and curb these excessive remuneration packages.
"Institutional shareholders need to exercise much greater scrutiny and control of directors' pay and bonuses.
"It's obscene and it shows that the City has learnt nothing during the financial troubles of the last four years."
Source-BBC
'Suicide bombing' hits Turkish town
At least two people have been killed by an explosion reportedly caused by a female suicide bomber in a town in south-east Turkey.
The Turkish interior ministry said the attack took place in Bingol.
At least 10 people were injured, one seriously, hospital officials said. It is not clear if the two fatalities include the bomber.
Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said the blast happened near the offices of the government's AK Party.
But he said he did not believe the building was the intended target.
No group has admitted carrying out the attack.
However, Turkey has been battling a long-running insurgency with Kurdish rebels in the south-east.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.
The blast comes as the Turkish government tries to help thousands of people left homeless by a powerful earthquake in Van, a largely Kurdish province.
WTO rejects key EU anti-dumping measures on Chinese footwear
The Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization issued a panel report on Friday, rejecting certain key anti-dumping measures of the European Union (EU) imposed on footwear imports from China.
In particular, the report found Article 9(5) of the EU's Basic Anti-Dumping Regulation inconsistent with its WTO obligations.
The rejected claim states that, in cases involving imports from Non-Market Economy countries, the anti-dumping duty shall be specified for the supplying country concerned and not for each individual supplier.
In this case, the Dispute Settlement Body supported China's claim that applicable WTO rules require that an individual margin and duty be determined and specified for each known exporter and producer and not for the supplying country as a whole.
In addition, the Dispute Settlement also ruled that the EU had acted inconsistently with the Anti-Dumping Agreement in some aspects of the original investigation and expiry review.
China welcomes the WTO panel report.
The Permanent Mission of China to the WTO said "China is appreciative of the fact that the Panel has reinforced its prior findings that the European Union's practice of individual treatment or "IT" is inconsistent with the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement and the European Union's obligations as a long standing Member of the WTO."
"China considers the panel report to be a contribution towards consolidating the rules-based system that all WTO Members have pledged to foster," the statement said, adding that in this spirit "China looks forward to the full compliance of the Panel's recommendation by the European Union with regard to the IT practice."
The statement also noted that while the EU's anti-dumping measures on footwear expired on April 1, 2011, "China expects that the European Union will not repeat the violations of the Anti-Dumping Agreement found by the Panel."
China and the EU started consultations over the latter's anti-dumping measures on Chinese footwear on March, 2010. In the following month, China requested the Dispute Settlement Body to establish the panel, after the consultations failed to resolve the dispute.
According to WTO Dispute Settlement Procedures, the two parties still have 60 days to appeal to the Appellate Body.
David Cameron human rights plea at Commonwealth meeting
David Cameron has pressed for progress on a range of human rights issues during the Commonwealth summit.
Mr Cameron told the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Australia that to stay relevant it must work harder to uphold basic values.
The Chogm leaders agreed on Saturday to step up efforts to wipe out polio from the four countries where it is endemic.
And the human rights record of the Sri Lankan government came under scrutiny. It will hold Chogm in two years' time.
The Eminent Persons Group, which includes former UK foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, has examined the challenges facing the Commonwealth, and made more than 100 recommendations.
The suggestions were proposed as ways to ensure that the organisation remains relevant in 21st Century global affairs.
Mr Cameron has said he expects good progress to be made on developing a "charter" of rights and freedoms.
Other recommendations, which are proving more problematic, are the appointment of a independent commissioner for the rule of law and human rights and a call for all member states to repeal laws banning homosexuality.
'Great network'
The summit in Perth is the first Chogm meeting Mr Cameron has attended since entering Downing Street.
The prime minister said: "The Commonwealth is a great organisation, a third of the world's population, 54 countries across six continents, a really great network, but it is a network that must have strong values.
"The Eminent Persons Group report will strengthen those values particularly by having a charter setting out the rights, the freedoms, the democracy that we all believe in, and I think that is important."
Mr Cameron added that he thought "good progress" would be made in Perth.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's army has been accused of war crimes during the civil war with the Tamil Tigers.
Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has said he will boycott the 2013 summit unless there are major reforms in the country.
When asked about Sri Lanka, Mr Cameron said there had to be a "proper, independent exercise to look into the whole issue of what happened, and whether there were war crimes, and who is responsible".
Mr Cameron also joined the leaders of Canada, Australia and Nigeria, in committing tens of millions of pounds towards eradicating polio in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
The campaign will be supported financially by Microsoft magnate Bill Gates.
Australia's prime minister, Julia Gillard, said: "While polio remains anywhere in the world, it is a threat to everyone.
"We're here today to demonstrate our commitment to ending the fight against polio, that is, ending polio for all time."
Source-BBC
Labour row grounds Qantas flights
The Australian airline Qantas is grounding all international and domestic flights with immediate effect due to an industrial dispute.
A statement said all employees involved in industrial action would be locked out from Monday evening and flights grounded from 0600 GMT on Saturday.
Aircraft currently in the air will complete their flights, but there will be no further departures.
Chief executive Alan Joyce called his decision "unbelievable".
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned that the dispute could have "implications" for the national economy.
The airline has been hit by a series of costly strikes. Baggage handlers, engineers and pilots have been involved in the action which the company says is costing A$15m (US$16m) a week.
The airline issued a statement on its Facebook page saying customers booked on Qantas flights should not go to the airport until further notice. The airline said a full refund would be available to those affected.
Relations between the unions and Qantas management started deteriorating in August after the airline announced plans for restructuring and moving some operations to Asia.
Qantas has a 65% share of the domestic Australian market, but has been making heavy losses on it international flights.
The restructuring is expected to mean the loss of 1,000 jobs from its 35,000-strong workforce.
Fair Work Australia, the national industrial tribunal, has said it will hold a hearing on the Qantas dispute on Saturday night. The tribunal has the power to suspend or terminate industrial action.
The disruption to flights has also affected a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government in Perth, with reports that members from 17 delegations have been stranded in the city because of the dispute. It comes on a busy travel weekend, just days before the country's biggest horse race, the Melbourne Cup.
The Australian minister for transport, Anthony Albanese, said the government would take action to intervene in the dispute.
"We are very concerned about Qantas' actions, of which we were notified only mid-afternoon, with no advance notice from Qantas at any stage," he said.
"The government is making an urgent application to Fair Work Australia to terminate all industrial action at Qantas. This will be aimed at both actions by unions and by Qantas management."
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce announced the grounding of the airline on Saturday: "The airline will be grounded as long as it takes to reach a conclusion on this."
He said that he would not take "the easy way out" and agree to union demands. "That would destroy Qantas in the long term."
"I'm actually taking the bold decision, an unbelievable decision, a very hard decision, to ground this airline."
Mr Joyce said he made the decision early Saturday and then gained the approval of the Qantas board.
"We are locking out until the unions withdraw their extreme claim and reach an agreement with us," Mr Joyce said. "This is the fastest way to ensure the airline gets back in the air."
"They are trashing our strategy and our brand," he said.
"They must decide just how badly they want to hurt Qantas, their members... and the travelling public."
The Australian pilots association criticised the grounding.
"It's unprecedented and really it has hijacked the nation. It really has put everyone on notice and... it's forcing the government's hand on this," Barry Jackson of the Australian and International Pilots Association told Sky News.
"We really need to address this sooner rather than later and get the aircraft back in the air."
Qantas said as of 0400GMT on Saturday, there were 64 aircraft in the air - 36 domestic and 28 international - carrying more than 7,000 passengers. In total 108 aircraft will be grounded in 22 airports around the world.
The airline said 13,305 passengers were booked to travel on Qantas planes from overseas airports to Australia in the next 24 hours. About 1,310 international passengers may be at international airports now waiting for their flights to depart.
US and OECS establish diplomatic relations
The USA and the OECS established relations at the diplomatic level on Tuesday October 25th 2011.
OECS Director General Dr. Len Ishmael accepted Letters of Introduction from the United States Envoy to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Mr. Christopher Sandrolini, at a ceremony which took place on Tuesday at the OECS Secretariat. The formalization of relations between the USA and the OECS is expected to enhance a longstanding relationship between the United States and the region, signifying, in the words of the Director General. “…the beginning of a new chapter in the long and enduring relationship between the United States and its friends in the Eastern Caribbean.”
The Director General, in her remarks, took the opportunity to highlight some of the historical achievements of the OECS at advancing integration and building resilience among its members to meet the profound global challenges and imperatives of the 21st Century. In response to these challenges and the geopolitical changes that came with them, the OECS has had to reposition itself both regionally and internationally in order to engage in the kinds of relationship that were necessary to pursue its strategic interests. The new relationship with the US represents a typical outcome of this repositioning, and a number of other countries have already given formal indication of their intention to establish relations with the OECS at the diplomatic level.
According to the Director General:” We at the OECS are indeed happy that the United States has now joined the growing list of countries which have seen value in entering into a deeper and more formal relationship with us, and appointing a special representative to manage that relationship. We received with appreciation, the letter of the US Secretary of State informing us of the decision to proceed with this level of engagement making the US the eighth country to establish relations with the OECS at the diplomatic level”. In extending her best wishes for the successful conduct of his assignment as the United States Envoy to the OECS, the Director General expressed her delight that he would be taking up his assignment at such an exciting time in the historical evolution of the Organisation.
Before a mixed audience comprising members of the Diplomatic Corps and senior OECS officials, the US Envoy expressed great pleasure at being selected to represent the United States of America as its first envoy to the OECS. According to Mr. Sandrolini: “Today marks an important milestone in American engagement in the Eastern Caribbean, and underscores our commitment to addressing our common challenges together. From climate change to social development, from trade policy to citizen security, we look forward to a dynamic partnership that enhances our already strong bilateral relationships with the countries of the Eastern Caribbean”.
To illustrate the commitment by the United States to promoting economic integration and increased trade and investment, Mr. Sandrolini highlighted some of the areas of cooperation currently ongoing between the United States and Eastern Caribbean countries. These include USAID projects to strengthen juvenile justice systems and build climate change adaptive capacity within all six independent members of the OECS. He also mentioned initiatives being undertaken through the regional framework provided by the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, a three-year project that would focus on legal reform, capacity building, introduction of modern detention/rehabilitation processes and enhanced civil society involvement.
In conclusion, Mr. Sanrolini noted that: “with the United States now a formal partner of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, we look forward to increasing our cooperation on these and other issues of importance to the peoples of our countries. Relationships are important in our society, as in yours, and we are very encouraged by the regional cooperation and collaboration among the members and look forward to a long and productive relationship with the OECS”.
Both the Director General and the US Envoy looked forward with expectation to the USA and the OECS having an enduring and dynamic partnership that is strategic and proactive, and founded on the principles of mutual respect, common interests and shared values.
Bahamas and Caribbean slowly recovering, says IMF
The Caribbean region, including The Bahamas, is slowly recovering from the global economic crisis with incremental annual growth projections, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
During a presentation on Tuesday that provided an economic assessment of the Western Hemisphere, IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department economist Miguel Segoviano said the Caribbean is recovering from the global economic crisis at a lower rate in comparison to other regions.
“We expect that the Caribbean as a whole will grow by slightly below two percent in this year and perhaps two and a half percent in 2012, which is certainly not bad because its higher than last year and the recovery is still going on although it is slow,” Segoviano said.
“To compare, South America in 2010 [grew] at a rate of six and a half percent growth for the region. For 2011 it will grow by five and a half percent and in the next year by four and a half percent. Essentially… the effects of the global crisis in South America were very short-lived.”
IMF representative Dr Gene Leon, who was also a panelist on Tuesday, said that the decline in growth in this region has led to many Caribbean countries having to increase borrowing, but there is need to reduce debt and increase growth levels.
He added that the Caribbean region is challenged with a number of vulnerabilities within its financial sectors.
“We have broken them down into macroeconomic fundamentals and we have seen low growth, we’ve seen very weak fiscal positions and likewise, poor savings balances,” he said. “Poor savings in that sense we can think of as your current account.”
Chairman of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce Winston Rolle said that, although growth in The Bahamas has been moderate, there have been some positives and in moving forward the right policies will lead to further growth and a stabilization of the current debt.
“This recovery process is going to be a very slow one, and a lot of the policy decisions that need to be made, we feel have to be made by putting policies in place that are going to drive growth, not only in the public sector, but also in the private sector,” he said.
“By driving that growth in the private sector, this has the ripple effect in that in lessens the government’s burden as it relates to employment. It also generates more businesses that will be paying taxes and contributing to the revenue stream, as well as reducing the government’s dead burden.”
However, some financial experts say that the current socioeconomic policies are not enough to sustain the economy of The Bahamas in the long-term.
Dr Olivia Saunders, who lectures at The College of The Bahamas, shares such a view. She contended on Tuesday that the ongoing crime and violence could very well offset the recovery potential of the Caribbean.
“We are continuing… a paradigm that is really not helpful for our future,” she said. “If we continue with the way we are going, our attractiveness for investment is going to be lowered perhaps to an extent where we are not going to have a recovery.”
Source-Nassau Guardian Staff