US budget: No new deal in White House talks
Talks at the White House to try to break the deadlock over the US national debt have broken up without agreement.
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have agreed to resume the talks, which ended after 75 minutes, on Monday.
Mr Obama is struggling to marshal support for a budget package that would cut the national debt by $4tn (£2.5tn).
The US risks defaulting on its debts in just over three weeks, when the current federal budget runs out.
Eight top Senate and House of Representatives leaders met - unusually - on a Sunday in the Cabinet Room of the White House.
As the talks got under way, Mr Obama was asked whether they could "work it out in 10 days".
"We need to," he replied.
The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, said on Saturday that he favoured a less ambitious target for debt reduction of $2tn.
Republicans baulk at tax increases in the Obama proposals. And his Democrat allies are no more enthusiastic about proposals to cut social welfare and Medicaid.
Before Sunday's meeting, White House aides insisted Mr Obama would hold out for bigger savings.
"He's not someone to walk away from a tough fight," said White House chief of staff William Daley.
"Everyone agrees that a number around $4tn is the number that will make a serious dent in our deficit."
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was adamant the deadline for a deal - 2 August - could be extended.
He warned there could be catastrophic damage to the US economy unless Congress agrees to raise the national debt ceiling beyond the current $14.3tn.
If no agreement is reached, the government will effectively start to run out of money to pay civil servants, government contractors, pensioners or holders of government debt.
Economists and the White House have warned that such a default could push the country back into recession and have a global economic impact.
'No alternative'
When it came to the crunch in the past, Congress has voted to raise the debt ceiling, giving government access to the cash it needed.
This year, however, newly-empowered Republicans are determined to prevent any tax increases and want to see aggressive measures to reduce the deficit in exchange for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling.
In a round of interviews before Mr Obama's meeting with Congressional leaders on Sunday, Mr Geithner said the US would not default.
He said Republicans had "no alternative" to making a budget deal with the White House and urged them not to walk away from efforts to reach a large, comprehensive deal on debt reduction.
The Obama administration wanted "the biggest deal possible" on debt reduction, Mr Geithner told NBC's Meet the Press.
Last week Mr Boehner and Mr Obama worked on a massive package of spending cuts and new tax measures that would have reduced the debt by $4tn over 10 years.
Ended in impasse
The proposals included reining in spending on entitlement programmes such as Social Security and Medicare, which Democrats hold dear.
But it also involved tax hikes and closing tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans, something opposed by many Republicans.
In a statement released late on Saturday, Mr Boehner said he was pulling back from the $4tn package, because of the tax increases it included.
"Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes," he said.
"I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the [Vice-President Joe] Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase."
A group of Republican and Democratic members of Congress led by Mr Biden had identified about $2tn in cuts in talks over May and June but those ended in an impasse.
Qantas sees $122m carbon tax cost and warns of higher air fares
Qantas Airways claims the new carbon tax is likely to increase the cost of its operations by as much as 115m Australian dollars ($122m; £76.7m).
However, the airline says the extra cost will be passed on to passengers as it increases fares.
Qantas expects the price on a single domestic flight to rise by about A$3.50 in 2013.
The Australian government has unveiled plans to impose a tax on carbon emissions in the country.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said carbon dioxide emissions would be taxed at A$23 per tonne from 2012.
China's imports slow down as domestic demand dips
The pace of growth of imports to China slowed down in June as the government's efforts to rein in growth hit domestic demand.
Imports to China grew by 19.3% in June, compared with a year ago, a sharp decline from the 28.4% surge in May, latest government data showed.
Meanwhile exports rose by 17.9%, a slowdown compared to the 19.4% rise in the previous month.
China is the world's second largest economy and the biggest exporter.
The weaker-than-expected numbers resulted in a trade surplus of $22.3bn (£13.8bn) in June.
"Imports were below expectations," said David Cohen of Action Economics in Singapore.
"We are perhaps seeing some reflection of loss of momentum in China's growth," he added.
Mr Cohen said that the recent measures by China to tighten its monetary policy were starting to have an impact on the pace of growth in the country.
"The numbers are consistent with decelerating growth, with the soft landing that many people are looking for," he said.
Analysts are concerned that domestic demand is also being hit by rising consumer prices in the country.
Data out on Saturday showed that inflation in China hit its highest level in three years as prices rose by 6.4% in June, compared with a year ago.
Australia plans to impose carbon tax on worst polluters
The Australian government has unveiled plans to impose a tax on carbon emissions for the worst polluters.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said carbon dioxide emissions would be taxed at A$23 ($25; £15) per tonne from 2012.
The country's biggest economic reform in a generation will cover some 500 companies. In 2015, a market-based trading scheme will be introduced.
Households are expected to see consumer prices rise by nearly 1%, and the move has been criticised by the opposition.
Critics argue the levy would damage economic competitiveness.
Australia is one of the world's worst emitters of greenhouse gases per head of population.
The country relies on coal for 80% of its electricity generation, and is a major coal exporter.
Charm offensive
Under the new scheme set to begin on 1 July 2012, the government plans to include any company that produces at least 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
However, agriculture, forestry and land will be excluded from the levy. Motorists are also to be exempt, except for heavy lorries.
Steelmakers, coal mines and electricity generators will receive compensation to ensure they stay in business. Other tax cuts are planned for consumers.
"As a nation, we need to put a price on carbon and create a clean energy future," Ms Gillard told a news conference in Canberra.
"Australians want to do the right thing by the environment."
The prime minister is due to make a televised address later on Sunday to try to sell the package to the nation.
The biggest polluters will be paying the fixed price per tonne of CO2 until 2015, when a market-based trading scheme is expected to be introduced.
The government will then set a floor price and an upper limit for at least the first three years to avoid excessive price fluctuations.
The energy industry and the political opposition have mounted a vociferous campaign against the carbon tax, with protests in all of Australia's major cities in March.
Critics argue a levy would damage economic competitiveness.
Opinion polls show roughly 60% of voters against the policy.
The government hopes to win them over by spending some of the cash raised by the carbon tax to compensate households for higher energy bills.
It is promising tax cuts for low and middle-income households, as well as increased state pension and welfare payments.
However, Australia's ABC national broadcaster says households are expected to see consumer prices - including food - rise by an average of 0.7% due to the effect of the carbon prices on large emitters.
'Self-harm'
Ms Gillard's coalition government has a majority of just one seat in the lower house of parliament.
Past attempts to get the tax through parliament were defeated.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott pledged to wage a political war against the proposed carbon levy.
He said: "A one-sided carbon tax, a unilateral carbon tax is an act of economic self-harm."
But now the Australian government's aim will be to cut 159m tonnes of carbon pollution by 2020, reducing emissions by 5% below 2000 levels.
Apart from the European Union, only New Zealand currently imposes a national carbon tax.
In the USA, President Barack Obama abandoned last year plans for a federal climate bill during his current term.
British Grand Prix: Fernando Alonso storms to Silverstone win
Fernando Alonso took Ferrari's first win of 2011 with a stunning drive at a thrilling British Grand Prix.
The Spaniard took the lead following a pit-stop problem for Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel but the Ferrari had genuine race-winning pace.
Vettel was left to fend off team-mate Mark Webber, who was told to hold position by team boss Christian Horner.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, holding off Ferrari's Felipe Massa in an exciting last-lap duel.
"This isn't a gift to Ferrari," said BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard. "They've got to the lead of this race by merit."
Jenson Button retired following a problem at his final pit-stop, when he set off to rejoin the race without a wheel nut on his right front wheel and he had to stop in the pit exit.
Vettel's race also turned on a pit error. The German took the lead at the start from Webber, who began from pole, as the drivers had to cope with tricky conditions on a track that was wet over half its length but dry over the other.
The Red Bulls appeared to be in control early on in the mixed conditions, with Vettel leading Webber, and Hamilton taking third from Alonso on lap 15 with a brilliant move at the fast Copse corner.
But as the track dried, the race turned on its head.
Alonso started to pump in fastest laps, closing on Hamilton and re-passing him on lap 24, and then on the Red Bulls.
He and Vettel came in on the same lap, 27, for their penultimate stops, and a delay fitting the left-rear wheel to the Red Bull enabled Alonso to pass Vettel in the pits and take the lead.
Vettel rejoined behind Hamilton and was unable to overtake him on the track as Alonso extended his lead with another run of impressive fastest laps, building it to 10 seconds by the time the Red Bull made its final pit stop.
The German managed to jump Hamilton, who came in on the next lap, but although Vettel was now second behind Alonso, the Ferrari continued to pull away to victory.
Vettel admitted that Ferrari had deserved their victory: "I think you have to accept fair and square Ferrari beat us today.
"There has been a bit of a trend over the last couple of races, they have been very strong on race days, so it shows us we need to keep pushing and improving the car."
He added: "It would have been a tight race because Ferrari had very good pace. It was not just us being unlucky and finishing second because of a mistake. Fernando was very competitive."
A delighted Alonso hailed his Ferrari colleagues as he spoke of his victory.
T&T’s medley relay team into World Youth finals
Trinidad and Tobago’s boys medley relay team will be seeking to win this country’s first medal at the 7th IAAF World Youth Track and Field Championships which comes to an end later today at the Stadium Lille-Metropole, in Lille, France. The quartet of Reuben Walters, Jereem Richards, Theon Lewis and Machel Cedenio advanced to the medal round after winning heat four in yesterday’s preliminaries.
The local lads clocked 1 min 53.32 seconds to finish ahead of Jamaica (1:53:66). In today’s finals set for 11.25 am (TT time) they will start out of lane six. The runners will be seeking to emulate the silver medal won by T&T at the 2005 edition of the meet in Morocco. Richards failed in his quest to make the boys 200m finals. The lanky runner was third in heat three in yesterday’s semifinals in personal best of 21.47. However, his time was the ninth quickest overall and missed on making the final by one place.
Women’s Football: Bermuda Win 5-0
The Bermuda Women’s Olympic Football team won their third and final game in the Preliminary Competition CONCACAF Caribbean Zone in the Dominican Republic at the Estadio Panamericano stadium.
Bermuda’s starting team included Kimmisha Perinchief, Julesa Robinson, Ebonie Burgess, Wayneisha Bean, Jaylen Bean, Akelya Furbert, Cheyra Bell, Jenay Edness, Tschana Wade, Shabena Crockwell and Keunna Dill.
In the 15th minute Bermuda took the lead when Bell scored a goal from a direct free kick from outside the box. The lead was doubled ten minutes later after some good ball possession allowed Wade to burst through into the box to finish uncontested, giving Bermuda a two goal lead.
Coach Morton brought on Donte Allen to replaced Crockwell at the half and with a two goal lead at the start of the second half, the Bermuda team grew in confidence and continued with good ball possession allowing them to create numerous one on one goal scoring opportunities.
In the 60th minute Khyla Brangman replaced Wade and seven minutes later it was 3 – 0 as Brangman found the back of the net with a smart finish inside the box.
In the 76th minute Allen cut inside from the left hand side of the field to squeeze the ball underneath the onrushing goalkeeper to increase the score to 4 – 0.
The final goal was scored by Bell in the 80th minute where she side stepped a few players inside the box to finish.
Finishing third in the group, the Bermuda team failed to advance to the next round of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Century for Chanderpaul
SHIVNARINE CHANDERPAUL compiled his 23rd century and with tailender Fidel Edwards led a West Indies’ fightback against India at lunch on the final day of the third Digicel cricket Test at Windsor Park here today.
At the interval, the West Indies, who conceded a first innings lead of 147 runs, were 294 for eight in their second innings. Chanderpaul was not out on 105 and Edwards was on 16 as the West Indies were 151 runs ahead with two wickets in hand.
Resuming from 224 for six overnight, the West Indies made a bright start with skipper Darren Sammy square cutting fast bowler Ishant Sharma for two boundaries, off the day’s first and third deliveries.
But when he reached 17, Sammy was unlucky to be given out by umpire Richard Kettleborough for a catch at short leg as television replays showed the ball striking the batsman’s pads only. Two balls later, Ravi Rampaul was run out by a direct throw by Sharma at point for just one.
But Edwards joined Chanderpaul, who restarted on 73 and helped his partner to his sixth Test century versus India in an unbroken 38-run ninth-wicket stand.
Chanderpaul, playing a record 133rd Test for the West Indies, reached his century in 356 minutes off 265 balls with five fours
Latin America & the Caribbean makes MDG Strides
LATIN America and the Caribbean has made strides towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there is still much work to be done before the 2015 target date.
The MDGs are a list of eight development objectives to which the international community agreed in 2000. They are:
•Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
•Achieve universal primary education
•Promote gender equality and empower women
•Reduce child mortality
•Improve maternal health
•Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
•Ensure environmental sustainability
•Develop a global partnership for development
According to the MDGs Report 2011 which was published on Thursday, the region has made some progress in the first six goals, but is lagging in others.
The proportion of people in the region whose income is less than $1 a day moved from 29 per cent in 1990 to 26 per cent in 2005. The target is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion so defined.
“Robust growth in the first half of the decade reduced the number of people in developing countries living on less than $1.25 a day from about 1.8 billion in 1990 to 1.4 billion in 2005. At the same time, the corresponding poverty rate dropped from 46 per cent to 27 per cent,” the report said.
Despite these declines, current trends suggest that the momentum of growth in the developing world remains strong enough to sustain the progress needed to reach the global poverty-reduction target. Based on recently updated projections from the World Bank, the overall poverty rate is still expected to fall below 15 per cent by 2015, indicating that the Millennium Development Goal target can be met.”
The report found that nearly a quarter of children under age five in the developing world remain undernourished, but the proportion of those residing in Latin America and the Caribbean who were underweight in 2009 was four per cent, compared to 10 per cent in 1990.
On the subject of education, Sub-Saharan Africa was found to have the best record for improvement in primary school enrolment. For the 2008/2009 school year, he Caribbean region had a 95 per cent enrolment rate at the primary level, as against 93 per cent ten years prior.
Youth literacy in the region also improved, moving from 92 per cent in 1990 to 97 in 2009.
“Worldwide, the literacy rate of youth (aged 15 to 24) increased from 83 per cent to 89 per cent between 1990 and 2009. Southern Asia and Northern Africa chalked up the most progress, with increases of 20 and 19 percentage points, respectively. Sub-Saharan Africa showed significant improvement as well — a rise of seven percentage points. Still, it remains the region with the lowest youth literacy rate (72 per cent in 2009). In spite of overall progress, 127 million young people lacked basic reading and writing skills in 2009. Nearly 90 per cent of all illiterate youth live in just two regions: Southern Asia (65 million) and sub-Saharan Africa (47 million),” the report said.
On the subject of gender equality, the gender parity index for gross enrolment ratio in primary, secondary and tertiary level institutions for the years 1998/1999 and 2008/2009 was 97 for both sexes; 107 for girls and 108 boys; and 117 for girls and 126 for boys, respectively.
“Wide gaps remain in women’s access to paid work in at least half of all regions,” the document said. “Worldwide, the share of women in non-agricultural paid employment increased from 35 per cent in 1990 to almost 40 per cent in 2009. Progress has slowed in recent years, however, due to the financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009.”
As for the of seats held by women in single or lower houses of national parliaments, the region improved, moving from 15 per cent in 2000 to 23 per cent this year, 2011.
“Representation by women in parliament is at an all-time high, but falls shamefully short of parity.”
Latin American and the Caribbean has also made some progress in addressing the under five mortality rate. The figure per 1,000 live births in 1990 was 52, compared to 23 in 2009.
The maternal mortality rate has also reflected some decline, moving from 320 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990, to 230 in 2000 and 170 in 2008.
However, the report said gains made in the Caribbean to reduce adolescent pregnancies during the 1990s have stalled. The number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 moved from 81 in 1990 to 77 in 2000, then to 69 in 2008.
This might be related to contraceptive use in the region, where, according to the report, there is a high unmet need for the commodity and inadequate family planning. The proportion of women who have an unmet need for family planning among women aged 15-49 who are married or in a union, has barely budged over the years, coming in at 19.5 per cent in 1990, 20.4 per cent in 2000 and 20.2 per cent in 2008.
New HIV infections are in general decline, led by sub-Saharan Africa. In Latin America and the Caribbean the number of new HIV infections per year per 100 people aged 15-49, was 0.09 per cent in 2001 compared to 0.08 per cent in 2009.
Treatment for HIV and AIDS has expanded quickly in the region, jumping to 38 per cent 2009, from five per cent in 2004. However, it was not good enough to meet the 2010 target for universal access.
The world is likely to surpass the drinking water target, the 2011 report said, “though more than one in 10 people may still be without access in 2015. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the proportion of the population using piped water on premises was 72 per cent in 1990 and 84 per cent in 2008. The proportion using improved sources in the same years was 13 per cent and nine per cent; while 15 per cent used unimproved sources in 1990 compared to seven per cent in 2008.
“The world is far from meeting the sanitation target. In fact, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2049 to provide 77 per cent of the global population with flush toilets and other forms of improved sanitation. Almost half the population of developing regions and some 2.6 billion people globally were not using an improved form of sanitation in 2008,” the document said, pointing out that over 2.6 billion people still lack flush toilets and other forms of improved sanitation.
Regarding national debt, the region’s external debt service payments as a proportion of export revenues was drastically reduced from 21.8 per cent in 2000 to 6.8 in 2008 and moved marginally upward in 2009 to 7.2 per cent.
And in spite of the economic downturn global greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb. The region accounted for 1.7 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2008, up from 1 billion metric tonnes in 1990.
The MDGs are measured through 21 targets and 60 official indicators.
Governor and Minister of Finance signs country 2011 budget into law.
His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday and Minister of Finance Honourable Hiro Shigemoto signed into law the countries 2011 budget on July 7, 2011.
The Naf.420.916.597 million budget is Naf.23.526.328 million less than the one that was approved by Parliament on December 23, 2010. The amount at that time was Naf.444.442.925 million.
Out of the Naf.420 million guilder budget, close to Naf.120 million (Naf.119.435.771) will be capital investments.
Government will be allowed to borrow Naf.117.334.209 million guilders for 2011.
According to the Minister of Finance, the Financial Supervisory Committee CFT was waiting on two developments in order to finalize the handling and approval of any loan requests from the Government of Sint Maarten.
The first condition, the 2011 country budget had to be passed in Parliament and signed into law, and secondly, that the SOAB had to present a report about the collective sector of Sint Maarten as well as the calculation of the interest norm for Government and its collective sector.
The collective sector of Sint Maarten includes Government, the Foundation Upkeep Sports Facilities, Foundation of Government Buildings, the SZV as well as two other foundations.
The interest norm for 2011 has been calculated at approximately Naf.27.9 million of which the collective sector to date has interests costs totally Naf.12.9 million which in essence means that there is room for some Naf.15 million in interests costs within the collective sector.
"The SOAB finalized its report on July 4, 2011, and this should have been directly sent to the CFT. The Government of Sint Maarten is now waiting to hear how much longer it will take for the CFT to finalize the loan requests that Government has submitted for approval.
"There must be clear rules and regulations between all members of the collective sector and Government (Minister of Finance). Any borrowing of monies will require the prior approval of the Minister of Finance and this matter will be addressed by my person with the various foundations and entities which fall under the collective sector of Sint Maarten," Minister of Finance Hon. Hiro Shigemoto said on Sunday.