PSOJ warns of massive job losses in Jamaica
The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) is calling on the Government to immediately review and make changes to aspects of its new tax regime, which it said could do more harm than good to the economy.
"The PSOJ is urging the Government to immediately review and change its tax treatment of certain raw material inputs under the new waiver caps imposed by the proposed IMF agreement," said the group in a release on the weekend.
"Unless modified, this proposed tax treatment will likely force the shut-down of critical Jamaican industries and cause thousands of Jamaican workers to lose their jobs," said the release.
The PSOJ release did not specify the raw material input or the industries it said would be affected.
But yesterday, Jamaica Manufacturers' Association President Brian Pengelley told the Jamaica Observer that those raw materials included molasses and sugar, the importation of which the Government is now proposing to tax. According to Pengelley, the proposal will devastate Jamaica's critical rum and beverage industries.
On Tuesday, the Government announced the new $16.4-billion tax measure, which it hopes will increase the country's revenue, as part of the requirement to secure a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The measure includes increases in property and education taxes, some customs duties, as well as on taxes levied against lottery winnings and telephone calls.
Last week Thursday, Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips told reporters at a press conference that he did not foresee a review of the new tax measures, which, since its announcement, has been decried by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, business sector groups and members of the public alike.
The PSOJ added in its weekend release: "The organisation is renewing calls for the introduction and implementation of a growth plan for Jamaica, post the IMF deal. This is necessary in order to counter the recessionary impact that will come with the newly signed agreement."
German economy to return to growth, says Bundesbank
Germany will avoid recession and return to growth in the first quarter of 2013, the country's central bank has said.
The Bundesbank's monthly report for February forecast that the rest of 2013 will see a gradual pick-up in activity in Europe's biggest economy.
If the economy shrank again in the current quarter, Germany would technically be in recession, defined as two quarters of contraction.
The economy shrank by 0.6% in the last three months of 2012.
"As it currently looks, a plus in economic output can be expected in the first quarter of this year," the Bundesbank said.
The report continued: "For the rest of this year, the economy is expected to pick up gradually, even if the external economic environment will provide no trigger for a sharp surge in demand."
Although Germany's economy has held up better than most of those in the eurozone, its recent slowdown has fuelled worries about Europe's recovery.
The purchasing power of German consumers and industry is seen as key to the recovery of the region.
Germany's gross domestic product slowed throughout 2012. GDP grew by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2012, and then by 0.3% in the second quarter and 0.2% in the third quarter.
With a contraction of 0.6% in the final three months of last year, the economy expanded by just 0.7% in 2012, compared with 3% in 2011.
The 17-nation eurozone fell deeper into recession at the end of 2012.
The European Central Bank has forecast that the eurozone will shrink 0.3% in 2013, and only start to recover later in the year.
Japan shares up as G20 statement stokes weak yen hopes
Japanese shares have risen after finance ministers of the G20 group of nations avoided singling out Japan for criticism over the recent yen weakness.
The yen has dipped nearly 15% against the US dollar since November amid Japan's efforts to stoke inflation.
There were concerns that a criticism from G20 may prompt Japan to alter its aggressive stance. The fears were that it would result in the yen rising again and hurt Japan's plans to spur growth.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 2%.
Meanwhile, the Japanese currency continued to weaken. It fell 0.6% to 94.12 yen against the US dollar.
It also dipped 0.5% to 125.50 yen against the euro in early Asian trade.
"At the G20 meeting, there wasn't as much criticism from emerging countries about the recent yen's weakness as feared. That spurred yen selling," said Kyoya Okazawa, head of global equities at BNP Paribas.
Analysts say the G20 communique at the end of its meeting in Moscow on Saturday was an endorsement for Japan's recent monetary moves.
The policies have seen Japan's central bank, the Bank of Japan, double its inflation target to 2% in attempt to spur domestic consumption.
The central bank has also expanded a key stimulus measure aimed at keeping long term interest rates low.
Analysts say that as Japan continues to pursue these policies, the yen is likely to weaken further."With Japan, as yet, using various measures to ease monetary conditions domestically, we do not expect a large international backlash against its efforts and look for the Japanese yen to continue to decline gradually as the easier monetary conditions feed through," Barclays Capital said in a note.
A weak yen bodes well for the Japanese exporters and its economy on various fronts.
To begin with, it makes their goods more affordable to foreign buyers. It also helps boost the exporters' profits when they repatriate their foreign earnings back home.
And as firms see their profits rise, they are likely to have a bigger cash pile to invest in research and development or expansion of their facilities.
Investment in research helps the firms become more competitive as they develop new products. Meanwhile, increased capital investment helps boost Japan's overall economic growth.
Amazon dismisses German warehouse security firm
Online retailer Amazon has ended the contract of a security firm employed at one of its German warehouses, following complaints about workers' conditions.
The company, Hensel European Security Services (Hess), was accused of harassing seasonal workers in a TV documentary aired last week.
It prompted calls for an investigation from the German government.
Amazon said it had now terminated its relationship with the firm "with immediate effect".
"Amazon has zero-tolerance for discrimination and intimidation and expects the same from every company we work with," a spokesperson for Amazon said.
The documentary by state broadcaster ARD showed the conditions of employees at the warehouse in Bad Hersfeld, in the state of Hesse, brought in to help with the Christmas rush.
It claimed employees' rooms were searched, they were frisked at breakfast and constantly watched.
Many of the temporary workers came from Spain and Poland, and foreign workers were shown receiving the worst harassment from security guards.
Hess was under contract to an employment agency, not to Amazon itself.
Hess shares its name with Hitler's deputy in the Nazi party Rudolf Hess, and the documentary showed security guards wearing branded clothing linked with the neo-Nazi movement.
Last week the firm denied suggestions that it supported far-right political views.
Pound continues to weaken against dollar and euro
Sterling has continued to weaken against the dollar and the euro on continued worries about the health of the UK economy.
Against the dollar, sterling fell to a seven-month low, and against the euro it was nearing a 15-month low.
The falls came after Bank of England policymaker Martin Weale said that sterling may need to weaken further to bolster the UK economy.
Currency speculators are also betting that sterling will fall, data shows.
Sterling fell 0.5% to $1.543, its lowest since 13 July, 2012. The euro was up 0.3% against sterling, making a euro worth 86.3 pence.
The pound has been weakening this year following some disappointing economic data and worries that the UK may lose is triple-A credit rating.
In a speech on Saturday Mr Weale said the currency may need to weaken further, helping to make exports cheaper and boost growth.
Last week, the pound suffered its biggest weekly loss since early June 2012 after a weak retail sales report for January added to worries about the economy.
The pound had already been under pressure since the middle of last week when the Bank of England quarterly inflation report forecast higher inflation and weak growth.
Governor Mervyn King also said the Bank was ready to tolerate higher inflation to support the economy.
Steve Englander, currency strategist at Citi, wrote in a research note: "If you go through recent Bank of England commentary, they are quite openly cheer-leading the pound down as a way of closing the UK's external imbalance and generating a cyclical recovery."
Speculators have increased their bets against the pound, with latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showing they built up their largest "short" sterling bets since last June. Short sellers make money if a currency or share price goes down.
Heathrow airport hits record 70 million passengers
A record 70 million passengers used Heathrow last year, boosting the airport's revenues by 8% to £2.46bn.
The airport, the UK's busiest, is operating at close to capacity, with 471,341 flights during 2012, just below the legal limit of 480,000 a year.
Passenger numbers fell by 400,000 during the Olympics, as Britons stayed home to enjoy the Games and the number of inward-bound travellers dipped.
The chief executive of Heathrow again warned about a lack of capacity.
Colin Matthews said a decision on new airport capacity was "urgent", because of competition from rival airports in Europe and the Middle East.
The results published on Monday include Stansted airport, which was sold to Manchester Airports Group for £1.5bn. Stansted's passenger numbers fell 3.2% to 17.5 million last year.
The company said construction of the new Heathrow Terminal 2 should be completed towards the end of 2013, with operations commencing in mid-2014.
The project accounted for a large slice of the £1.1bn invested in the airport during 2012, an increase of more than 30% on a year earlier.
Israel Prisoner X: Ben Zygier 'leaked Mossad secrets'
Israel secretly imprisoned an Australian man who worked for its Mossad spy agency because it believed he had divulged details of his work, an Australian news programme has reported.
ABC News said Ben Zygier was suspected by Israel of informing Australia's security agency of Mossad operations.
Last week, ABC identified Mr Zygier as Israel's so-called Prisoner X, whose existence Israel never acknowledged.
He was reported to have hanged himself, months after his case surfaced in 2010.
The report on ABC's Foreign Correspondent programme, which named Mr Zygier, has been the subject of intense media debate in Israel, after Israel issued a gagging order preventing publication of details of the story.
Restrictions were later eased and some Israeli members of parliament have called for an end to the practise of media censorship in the country.
Italy mission
According to the latest Foreign Correspondent report, Mr Zygier met Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) agents and told them about secret operations he was involved in.
The programme said one of the operations was a top-secret mission in Italy, for where Mr Zygier had applied for a work visa.
Foreign Correspondent said Mr Zygier changed his name several times and obtained numerous passports, which he used for Mossad work in Europe and the Middle East.
It said he set up a communications company in Europe for Mossad, which exported electronic components to Arab countries and Iran.
Israel, along with Western and other powers, has accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
The ABC programme said Mossad discovered that Mr Zygier had had contact with the Asio agents during one of his stays in Australia.
He is believed to have been arrested in 2010 and held in secret in Israel's maximum security Ayalon prison. His case came to light when an Israeli newspaper website broke the story that year, but the reports were removed after a gagging order was imposed.
Mr Zygier is reported to have hanged himself, aged 34, in the prison in December 2010.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the necessity of keeping some information out of the public domain.
"We are not like all other countries,'' he said. "We are more threatened, more challenged, and therefore we have to ensure the proper activity of our security forces.''
"Allow the security forces to work quietly so we can continue to live securely and safely," he added.
UN Report Criticizes Both Factions in Syrian Conflict
A member of the U.N.'s commission of inquiry on the Syria conflict says the International Criminal Court should be called in to probe war crimes in Syria.
Carla del Ponte said Monday the U.N. Security Council and the international community must make the decision whether to refer the commission's findings to the ICC.
The commission says its latest report is based on interviews with over 400 victims and witnesses who have left Syria. The investigators are not allowed in Syria.
The commission says it has identified Syrian individuals, as well as government forces and armed rebels who may be responsible for war crimes.
The commission's latest report criticizes both factions, but stresses the government regime is the major perpetrator.
The report says "government forces and affiliated militia committed the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts."
The report also says "anti-government armed groups have committed war crimes, including murder, torture, hostage-taking and attacking protected objects."
The commission is due next month to submit a confidential list of individuals and units allegedly involved in war crimes to the U.N.'s human rights office, but is not planning to make the list public.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
Al-Qaida Affiliate Claims Baghdad Blasts
Al-Qaida's Iraqi wing has claimed responsibility for a series of car bomb blasts in the capital that killed at least 28 people and wounded around 100 others in predominantly Shi'ite districts.
The al-Qaida affiliate, Islamic State of Iraq, said Monday it carried out the attacks in Baghdad to take revenge for perceived state repression of Sunni Muslims.
The attacks on Sunday struck outdoor markets in and around the capital.
The Shi'ite district of Sadr City was one of the worst hit, with three car bombings.
Other targeted districts include Ameen, Habibiya, Husseiniya, Kamiliya and Karrada. Authorities managed to defuse at least one of the planted explosives.
So far this month, attacks in Iraq have killed at least 100 people, including the head of Iraq's military intelligence academy. Brigadier General Ali Aouni and two of his bodyguards were killed Saturday in a suicide bombing in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar.
The wave of violence coincides with a political crisis that has seen the Iraqi government plagued by infighting among sectarian factions and pressured by almost two months of protests in mostly Sunni regions. Many Sunnis accuse Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of marginalizing and discriminating against their community.
Militants Attack Government Office in Pakistan
Officials in Pakistan say militants wearing police uniforms have attacked the office of a senior government official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least five people and wounding seven.
Authorities say at least two of the insurgents were suicide bombers who detonated their devices Monday, while other militants opened fire on the compound's security forces.
The dead include four of the security officials and an elderly man.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban has carried out similar operations in the past.
Elsewhere in Pakistan Monday, Shi'ites in Quetta have refused to bury victims of a bloody bombing that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 100 others. They have demanded that security forces protect them from the extremists behind the attack.
Thousands of people have joined in the protest. Muslim tradition requires that bodies are buried as soon as possible, and leaving them above ground is a powerful expression of grief and pain.
The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing, as well as a similar attack last month that killed nearly 100 people.
Meanwhile, a strike Monday to protest against the bombing in Quetta has brought Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, to a standstill.
Sectarian violence claimed more than 400 lives in Pakistan last year.