UN rejects Haiti cholera compensation claims
The United Nations has formally rejected compensation claims by victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed almost 8,000 people.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Haitian President Michel Martelly to inform him of the decision.
The UN says it is immune from such claims under the UN's Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN.
Evidence suggests cholera was introduced to Haiti through a UN base's leaking sewage pipes.
The UN has never acknowledged responsibility for the outbreak - which has infected more than 600,000 people - saying it is impossible to pinpoint the exact source of the disease, despite the mounting evidence the epidemic was caused by poor sanitation at a camp housing infected Nepalese peacekeepers.
In a terse statement, Mr Ban's spokesman said damages claims for millions of dollars filed by lawyers for cholera victims was "not receivable" under the 1947 convention that grants the UN immunity for its actions.
But a lawyer for the cholera victims told the BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN that UN immunity could not mean impunity, and said the case would now be pursued in a national court.
The lawyer, Brian Concannon, said the victims' legal team would challenge the UN's right to immunity from Haitian courts, on the grounds that it had not established an alternative mechanism for dealing with accountability issues, as stipulated in its agreement with the government.
He also said lifting immunity would not challenge UN policy, which is protected by the convention, but its practice, such as how to test troops for disease and properly dispose of sewage.
In December the UN launched a $2bn (£1.3bn) appeal to fight the cholera epidemic, which is currently the worst outbreak in the world, and Mr Ban reiterated to Mr Martelly the UN's commitment to the elimination of cholera in Haiti.
Cholera is a disease of poverty, analysts say. It is spread through infected faeces and, once it enters the water supply, it is difficult to stop - especially in a country like Haiti which has almost no effective sewage disposal systems.
Hugo Chavez's 'breathing problems persist'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is still suffering breathing problems following his return from Cuba where he was treated for cancer, officials say.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Mr Chavez was continuing to receive treatment at a military hospital in Caracas.
It was the first official communique on the president's health since he returned to Venezuela on Monday.
Mr Chavez went to Havana for surgery on 11 December.
It was his fourth operation in an 18-month period for cancer, which was first diagnosed in mid-2011.
He is said to have suffered a severe respiratory infection following the latest surgery.
"The breathing insufficiency that emerged post-operation persists, and the tendency has not been favourable, so it is still being treated," Mr Villegas said in a televised statement.
President Chavez, in office for 14 years, was re-elected for another six-year term in October 2012, but his swearing-in was delayed because of his illness.
Doubts remain about whether his health will allow him to return to active politics.
Mexican police charged with rape of Italian
Two Mexican policemen have been charged with rape and abuse of authority after allegedly attacking an Italian woman in the resort of Playa del Carmen.
A third man, reportedly their commander, is still being sought.
It is alleged the woman was raped after being unable to pay a bribe for the officers to ignore an offence of urinating in public.
The incident comes just two weeks after six Spanish women were sexually assaulted by a gang in Acapulco.
Prosecutors in the state of Quintana Roo say the latest attack happened in an alleyway between two clubs in the Caribbean resort in the early hours of 12 February.
The woman said the officers raped her after she and her companion refused to hand over a bribe of 3,000 pesos (£150; $235).
She said they had gone into the alley after leaving a club and failing to find a public lavatory.
The BBC's Will Grant in Mexico says the tourism industry is increasingly concerned about the damaging effect such attacks have on business.
President Enrique Pena Nieto has vowed to tackle violent crime in Mexico since coming to power at the end of last year.
However, critics say a major overhaul of the local and federal police forces is needed to address endemic problems of corruption, violence and impunity.
Following the attack in Acapulco, six men were arrested. Our correspondent says the arrests came after intense international pressure on local authorities.
High turnout at Barbados polls
Local observers reported a steady stream of voters throughout the course of the day as the two competing parties assisted in ensuring their supporters reached one of the island’s 541 polling stations yesterday.
Among the mid-morning voters was Prime Minister Freundel Stuart who expressed concern about reports of alleged vote-buying by the opposition BLP. He however expressed confidence his party would be returned to office. “I am left with no doubt,” he said.
About an hour earlier, BLP leader Owen Arthur had cast his vote and told reporters he was “buoyed” by what was viewed then as a high voter turnout. Yesterday’s election climaxed a bruising campaign which focused almost exclusively on competing strategies to address the country’s increasingly unstable economy.
The DLP pointed to its ability to avoid defaulting on its international loans, as has been the case with several other Caribbean countries. BLP platform speakers, meanwhile, harped on what they argued was the Stuart administration’s inability to deal with high inflation, unemployment and a growing economic underclass.
T&T featured prominently on the DLP platform late Wednesday with claims by Finance Minister Christopher Sinckler and Agriculture Minister David Estwick that a win for the BLP would see the entry of more T&T investors who, in Estwick’s words, “want to buy everything in Barbados.”
BLP economic advisor, Clyde Mascoll, meanwhile, promised his party would reduce Value Added Tax (VAT), together with the fuel surcharge on electricity bills. He said during DLP rule since 2008, the poor had grown poorer and the middle class had struggled to survive.
In preparation for last evening’s vote count, the police announced crowd control measures to ensure victorious political celebrants did not break the law. All police leave was cancelled and all state security forces, including “government security guards”, were expected to take to the streets.
There were 247,211 registered voters with 68 DLP, BLP and other candidates seeking their support. Just 12 were female and there were 22 candidates who were newcomers to national election.
In 2008, the DLP won the election with 53.21 per cent of the popular vote, earning 20 seats in the process. The BLP lost its hold on power with 46.52 per cent of the vote, winning ten seats.
DLP leader David Thompson died in October 2010 and Stuart was nominated to replace him as prime minister. A Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES) poll published days before yesterday’s election had predicted a ten to 13 seat margin of victory for the BLP.
Haiti's 'Baby Doc' Duvalier avoids appearing in court
Haiti's former ruler Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier has been ordered to appear in court in Port-au-Prince after failing to attend a hearing.
Relatives of some of those allegedly killed or tortured by his militias in the 1970s and 1980s want him charged with crimes against humanity.
Mr Duvalier had filed a last-minute appeal to avoid appearing in court.
The ex-leader, who returned to Haiti in 2011 after 25 years in French exile, had already missed two hearings.
He denies all charges, with his lawyers saying the case should be thrown out.
The courtroom was packed with relatives of his victims, lawyers in black robes, human rights observers and journalists.
A Haitian human rights lawyer, Mario Joseph, said: "Duvalier is trying to control the justice system like when he was a dictator."
Human rights groups say hundreds of political prisoners died from torture or were murdered under Mr Duvalier's rule from 1971 to 1986.
His unexpected homecoming two years ago prompted the Haitian authorities to open an investigation.
In January 2012, a court decided Mr Duvalier should stand trial for embezzling public funds but ruled that the statute of limitations had run out on charges of murder, arbitrary arrest, torture and disappearances.
However, Amnesty International and the Open Society Justice Initiative said the former leader "must not evade justice" for crimes against humanity. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has also said Mr Duvalier should face justice.
The court in Port-au-Prince is hearing an appeal by victims challenging the January 2012 ruling regarding the charges of human rights abuses.
Any future trial would be a symbolically crucial moment and a potential turning point for Haiti, says the BBC's Mark Doyle.
There is a widespread feeling in that the judiciary is biased in favour of the rich, he adds.
The appeal court already ordered Mr Duvalier twice to appear to answer the charges - once on 31 January and again on 7 February.
A judge ruled the ex-leader would be arrested if he did not turn up on Thursday.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are observing the case in the capital.
Jean-Claude Duvalier was just 19 when he inherited the title of president-for-life from his father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who had ruled Haiti since 1957.
Like his father, he relied on a brutal militia known as the Tontons Macoutes to control the country.
In 1986 he was forced from power by a popular uprising and US diplomatic pressure, and went into exile in France.
Eurozone downturn and deficits to persist, Commission says
The eurozone recession will persist into 2013, the European Commission has conceded in its latest forecast.
Governments face an uphill battle to rein in their overspending, with Spain, France and Portugal all failing to cut their deficits to agreed targets.
Spain's deficit, at 10.2% of GDP in 2012, was well above its 6.3% target, and would stay above target into 2014.
The eurozone economy would shrink 0.3% in 2013, the Commission said, making the governments' task even harder.
Previously, the Commission had expected the 17 economies in the eurozone to collectively enjoy 0.1% positive growth this year. In 2012 the economy is estimated to have shrunk 0.6%.
Delivering its winter forecast, Commission Vice-President Olli Rehn said that unemployment across the single currency area expected to continue rising to 12.2% this year as the recession lingers. Last year's jobless rate was 11.4%.
However, he said the eurozone was expected to rebound in the last three months of this year, registering 0.7% growth in the fourth quarter.
The forecast appears somewhat more pessimistic than the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who last month said he believed the eurozone would begin recovering in the second half of this year.
The Commission's acknowledgement that the eurozone is in worse economic shape than previously mirrors a change in the International Monetary Fund's thinking. The IMF said in January that it expected the eurozone to experience a "mild recession" in 2013, having previously predicted growth.
Air France-KLM losses widen as fuel costs rise
Air France-KLM, the Franco-Dutch airline, says it made a big loss in 2012, blaming sharply rising fuel costs and trouble with its cargo business.
Net losses increased 47% to 1.19bn euros (£1bn; $1.57bn), after a 471m-euro restructuring charge and a 890m-euro increase in its fuel bill.
But operating losses fell to 300m euros, from 353m euros the year before.
Revenues rose 5.2% to 25.6bn euros, thanks in part to increased prices on its North Atlantic routes.
Debt fell from 6.51bn to 5.97bn euros after sell-offs and spending cuts - the company plans to reduce its net debt by 2bn euros by the end of 2014.
Chief executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta said in a statement: "The year 2012 was characterised by a slowdown in global growth and recession in Europe, but nevertheless saw a sharp increase in the fuel price.
"In 2013, we will maintain strict discipline in terms of capacity management, investments and costs."
Air France-KLM is renegotiating pay and conditions with its staff and cutting more than 5,000 jobs, as high fuel costs and competition from low-cost airlines take their toll on the debt-laden company.
The airline managed to increase filled capacity on its flights to more than 83% as demand for long-haul trips rose, but its cargo business continues to struggle.
Competition Commission raps Big Four accountants
Britain's four biggest accountancy firms have been heavily criticised by the Competition Commission.
The regulator has accused PWC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG of being too dominant and not always meeting a shareholder's needs.
The four accountancy firms act as auditors for 90% of the UK's stock-market listed big companies.
They have also been criticised in the past for not doing enough to warn of the financial crisis.
Critics say accountants failed to scrutinise the banks' balance sheets properly, missing the warning signals that led to government bailouts.
The concern is that the relationship between auditors and company management becomes too comfortable with a "tendency for auditors to focus on satisfying management rather than shareholders' needs".
"It is clear that there is significant dissatisfaction amongst some institutional investors with the relevance and extent of reporting in audited financial reports," said Laura Carstensen, chair of the Audit Investigation Group.
She added that "management may have incentives to present their accounts in the most favourable light, whereas shareholder interests can be quite different".
"We have found that there can be benefits to companies and their shareholders from switching auditors, but too often, senior management at large companies are inclined to stick with what they know."
The Competition Commission pointed out that companies do not tend to change their auditors - with almost a third of the FTSE 100 having used the same one for more than 20 years.
She said her organisation was looking into different ways of encouraging competition in the industry. Mandatory rotation of audit firms is one idea being considered, as well as forcing companies to put the contract out to tender after a certain period.
The Big Four argue that the market is competitive and say many big clients doubt that smaller firms could build up their expertise fast enough.
"We are very clear that we report to the shareholders and engage with the Audit Committee as their representatives," said PWC's Richard Sexton.
"We believe that the Competition Commission have grossly underestimated the critical role that Audit Committees play in protecting the interests of shareholders."
'Significant flaws'
This was echoed by Ernst and Young, who said that competition in the market was "healthy and robust".
Ernst and Young's Hywel Ball added that they would co-operate fully with the inquiry but states that he did not believe that mandatory audit firm rotation was in the public interest.
Deloitte said it did not believe that the current market led to high prices, as contended by the Competition Commission, and added: "We categorically disagree that auditors typically place the interests of management over shareholders."
However, one of the smaller rivals to the Big Four, the BDO, said it was pleased that the report had confirmed "significant flaws" in the market.
"No one solution will achieve market correction, but rather a combination of tendering requirements, encouragement of transparency and dialogue between auditors, companies and investors, and reform of outdated exclusionary practices should provide a backdrop for a healthier FTSE 350 audit market," said Simon Michaels, managing partner at BDO.
The report is a preliminary one, with the final version due to be published in October. No evidence of tacit collusion was found.
AIG reports $4bn loss from sale of leasing business
American International Group (AIG) has reported a huge loss from the sale of its aircraft leasing business ILFC.
The insurer reported a net loss of $4bn (£2.6bn) for the last three months of 2012, due to the $4.4bn loss from the ILFC sale.
It had made a net profit of $21.5bn in the same period of 2011.
AIG also said Storm Sandy had been the second most expensive single catastrophic event for it in the US on record, costing $1.3bn after tax.
Despite that, it made an operating profit, which excludes the effects of the ILFC sale, of $290m, compared with $1.5bn in the last quarter of 2011.
"AIG's operating profit this quarter shows the power and financial strength of our diverse global franchise," said chief executive Robert Benmosche.
The results were better than had been expected and AIG shares rose 2.5% in after-hours trading.
The fourth quarter was a busy one for AIG, which sold its remaining stake in the Asian insurer AIA in December for $6.5bn.
Also during the quarter the US Treasury sold its remaining shares in AIG for about $7.6bn, repaying the last of its financial support to the insurer.
Japan Moves to Stimulate their Stalled Economy
Japan's central bank is embarking on an American-like plan to stimulate the country's stalled economy by pumping more money into it.
The Bank of Japan, under pressure from the new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, agreed Tuesday to double its inflation target to 2 percent and stimulate the world's third largest economy for an indefinite period through asset purchases. The economic boost is similar to that undertaken in recent years by the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve.
Japan's economy has been long stalled, restrained by deflation, with falling prices. Mr. Abe said the new policy marked a significant change.
“In terms of making a bold review of monetary policy, I believe (the agreement with the bank) is a ground-breaking statement. A macroeconomic regime change clearly is under way.”
A governor for the Bank of Japan, Masaaki Shirakawa, is optimistic that the stimulus will boost the country's economy.
“They (the government) have again pledged to take concrete steps towards a sustainable fiscal structure. We have high expectations for the government's measures.”