Tag: InternationalNews

{{Even before the cancelation of the latest round of EU-U.S. talks, negotiations to create the world’s largest free-trade deal were getting into difficulty territory.}}

France won a concession to leave European movies and entertainment out of the pact, to shield them from Hollywood and Silicon Valley, raising concerns Washington may pursue opt-outs for its shipping industry on security grounds.

Then the first round of talks in July were overshadowed by reports the United States had bugged European Union offices under its surveillance program made public by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Now, just before negotiators were due to get down to the nitty gritty in the search for a deal by the end of next year, the U.S. government’s partial shutdown has forced next week’s talks in Brussels to be scrapped.

If that were not enough, a split is emerging between Europe and the United States on one of the most critical areas of the proposed pact: finance.

“This delay is not fatal, but if the U.S. shutdown drags on and you are taking things off the table like culture and financial services, it is not a good way to start,” said Stuart Eizenstat, a former U.S. ambassador to the European Union.

“This postponement may complicate the timetable of completing the talks by the end of 2014,” Eizenstat said.

EU and U.S. officials say the deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, could boost economic output by some $100 billion a year on each side of the Atlantic, creating a market of 800 million people.

After five years of crisis, both see a deal as a way to reinvigorate their economies that account for a third of world trade when China’s might threatens their global standing.

{reuters}

{{Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said two high profile raids in Libya and Somalia showed the United States’ unflinching determination to hunt down those responsible for terrorism.}}

“We hope that this makes clear that the United States of America will never stop in its effort to hold those accountable who conduct acts of terror,” he told reporters in the Indonesian island of Bali after Saturday’s raids.

The action should also make clear that “those members of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations literally can run, but they can’t hide”, Kerry added.

In Libya US forces seized a militant known as Abu Anas al Libi, a long sought Al Qaeda operative indicted in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

A separate raid was launched before dawn against a Shebab leader in the southern Somali port of Barawe. It failed to capture the senior militant and it was unclear whether he had been killed, but a US official said several Shebab members were slain.

“We will continue to try and bring people to justice in the appropriate way with hopes that ultimately these kinds of activities against everybody in the world will stop,” the secretary of state said.

Kerry was speaking in Benoa, a Bali fishing port, after inspecting a USAID development project during a break from meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

He also praised “the quality and courage” of the US personnel who took part in the raids.

Libi, who was on the FBI’s most wanted list with a $5 million reward, was indicted in US federal court in New York for allegedly playing a key role in the east Africa bombings.

The attacks left more than 200 people dead.

His capture ended a 15 year manhunt for a key Al Qaeda operative, who was born under the name Nazih Abdul Hamed Al Raghie.

It also paved the way for Libi, 49, to be brought to the United States to face trial.

“Capture of Abu Anas al Libi would represent major blow against remnants of al Qaeda’s core,” Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, wrote on Twitter.

AFP

{{A team of disarmament inspectors in Syria have begun the process of destroying the country’s chemical weapons and production facilities, news reports say.}}

A source in the international mission told media on Sunday that members of the team from the UN and The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “have left for a site where they are beginning verification and destruction”.

“Today is the first day of destruction, in which heavy vehicles are going to run over and thus destroy missile warheads, aerial chemical bombs and mobile and static mixing and filling units,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.

Media said it had spoken to a UN official who confirmed that inspectors had begun destroying the stockpile.

The official, who spoke to media on condition of anonymity, couldn’t confirm what specifically was destroyed, but said that by the end of Sunday, a combination of both weapons and some production equipment would be put out of order.

wirestory

{{It’s being touted as China’s answer to Orlando, a $5 billion resort and theme park complete with a mega rollercoaster and a whale shark tank situated on a sleepy southern island next to the world’s biggest gambling hub Macau.}}

Chimelong, which is set to partially open next month, is the linchpin of China’s ambitious plans to expand Hengqin into a leisure hub similar to the coastal U.S. city globally renowned for its natural attractions and theme-park resorts by Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) and Universal Studios.

And while some extravagant infrastructure projects in China have turned into white elephants, the odds are on Hengqin’s side largely due to the support of the Beijing government and the island’s proximity to the millions of tourists who throng to Macau every year.

“I don’t have many doubts that it will be successful,” said Philip Tulk, director of equities research at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong, referring to the island which the government designated as a special economic zone five years ago.

“The mainland people are looking for entertainment and travel options that are reasonably easy. They strongly desire new and interesting places to go and if Chimelong can deliver on that it will be massively successful,” he added.

The construction boom on Hengqin, just a 10-minute drive from Macau, comes at a time when mega-resorts are being developed in Asia in places like Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam to tap the region’s growing ranks of wealthy tourists.

Most of these visitors are Chinese and many choose to stay close to home, heading to Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal and where gaming revenues grew by more than a fifth last month to just over $3.5 billion.

Macau welcomed almost 30 million visitors last year, but the government’s plans to increase that number are being stymied by a lack of land and strained infrastructure and services.

Enter Hengqin, which is three times the size of Macau and which boasts long, sandy beaches and thick, mountainous forests.

“Macau is small and there are too many people. It needs to be expanded. Chimelong is a good complement. It is positioned as leisure tourism,” said Niu Jing, director of the administrative committee, or local government, of the Hengqin New Area.

reuters

{{Iran has arrested four people for trying to sabotage a nuclear site, a senior official says.}}

The activities of the four had been monitored for some time, said the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, quoted by local media, said

They had been caught red-handed, Ali Akbar Salehi said.

Mr Salehi did not give names or nationalities, or identify which site was the intended target.

The announcement comes amid new hopes of resolving Iran’s standoff with the West over its nuclear programme.

Just over a week ago, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani spoke to US President Barack Obama by phone in a bid to ease tension over Iran’s nuclear programme.

They were the first talks between Iranian and US leaders in more than three decades.

Substantive nuclear negotiations between Iran and international powers are due to take place next week and Mr Rouhani has pledged to bring a plan to the meeting.

Iran wants the lifting of UN sanctions, which were imposed over concerns that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons clandestinely – an allegation Tehran denies.

BBC

{{Monthly wages in Moscow average at around $1,800, although most workers earn substantially less than that amount, a city official said.}}

“It’s not that we all live affluently here, it’s related to the fact that in Moscow there’s a big rift between the low-paid and the high-paid,” Deputy Mayor for Social Development Leonid Pechatnikov said, m24.ru reported.

The differences between the salaries of Russian managers and their subordinates is among the highest in the world, and it’s growing, according to a study by the international consulting company Hay Group, Vedomosti reported.

Russian managers in 2013 earn on average 12.5 times more than the workers beneath them, up from 11.1 times more in 2011.

For comparison, in the U.S. and Western Europe managers’ salaries are about 3.5 times higher than those of their subordinates.

The average may also be skewed by the fact that Moscow contains more billionaires than any other city in the world — 84, with a combined fortune of over $366 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s 2013 list of the top 10 billionaires cities.

In 2012 the average Russian salary was 23,600 rubles, RIA Novosti reported.

{The Moscow Times }

{{Grammy-winning American soul singer Lauryn Hill was released from a US prison on Friday after being jailed in July for failing to file her tax returns on time, her lawyer said.}}

The 38-year-old is a former member of The Fugees, famous for hits such as Killing Me Softly and whose 1996 album The Score became one of the best-selling hip hop albums of all time.

Hill will now serve three months house arrest after leaving a low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, 112km from New York City.

Her lawyer Nathan Hochman told press that his client had paid back nearly $1m owed in federal and state taxes after making a guilty plea in court.

“She was released today and now she begins a one-year period of probation,” Hochman said. The year starts with the three months confinement at home.

Hochman said he had not yet spoken to his client since her release.

The Fugees won a clutch of Grammys in 1997. Hill’s 1998 solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was released to rave reviews, went platinum and earned her several more awards.

– AFP