Greece approve austerity as protesters, police clash

 

Greek lawmakers approved a new round of drastic austerity measures late Sunday after a long day of street battles between police and protesters left Athens buildings ablaze and the streets in chaos.

 

The deputies defied the 100,000-strong turnout in Athens and Thessaloniki and approved another round of stringent budget measures requested by Greece s international creditors in return for a multi-billion rescue fund.

 

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos denounced the violence in the debate leading up to the vote, saying the street battles around the parliament building had no place in a democracy.

 

Deputies “will assume their responsibility” and make the most important choice of “advancing with Europe and the single currency”, Papademos said shortly before the vote took place.

 

The fire brigade said 10 buildings were set ablaze in central Athens, most of them by petrol bombs hurled by masked protesters who have been a common presence at anti-austerity marches since the crisis began in 2010.

 

The health ministry said 54 people were injured in the day s events.

 

Fire engines were initially unable to intervene because of the size of the protest and the chaos that filled the streets around the parliament building, where lawmakers debated the austerity plan ahead of a late-night vote.

 

When protesters wearing gas masks tried to break through the riot police cordon around parliament, the standoff broke out into running battles, with tear gas canisters and rocks flying in opposite directions.

 

An estimated 80,000 protesters gathered in Athens, police said, matching the biggest turnouts achieved against earlier austerity packages last year, while around 20,000 also demonstrated in the second city of Thessaloniki.

 

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament it had to back the government-approved plan to unlock a 130 billion euro ($171 billion) rescue fund from the EU and the IMF, or Greece would be forced to default.

 

“The situation is very clear. Tonight at midnight before the markets open the Greek parliament must send the message that our nation can and will (support the debt deal),” Venizelos said.

 

The pressure on Greece is huge as leaders in the eurozone core countries express their exasperation with Athens and increasingly minimise the wider dangers of the country stumbling out of the single currency.
 

EU to tighten Syria economic sanctions

 

The European Union has reached an agreement in principle to tighten economic sanctions against Syria at the end of February to further cut funding for the regime, diplomats said Friday.

 

EU government representatives endorsed three new measures on Thursday, including an assets freeze against the central bank, a ban on Syrian phosphate exports and a prohibition on trading gold and gems, the diplomats said.

 

The 27-nation bloc accounts for 40 percent of Syrian phosphate exports.

 

The EU is aiming to give the final go-ahead for the sanctions at a meeting of foreign ministers on February 27.

 

Germany has also proposed a ban on commercial flights between Syria and Europe but such a measure “has little chance of being adopted,” a European diplomat said.

 

A flight ban could cause problems for the evacuation of EU citizens if the violence in Syria deteriorates.

 

More Syrians may also be added to a list of people facing an EU travel ban and assets freeze. Nearly 150 people and entities are under EU sanctions.

 

The EU has already imposed oil and arms embargos against Syria in response to a crackdown that has left more than 6,000 people dead, according to rights groups.
 

Canadian festival buys fake snow

 

The usually frigid Canadian city of Winnipeg – often nicknamed Winterpeg – has been so mild and dry this winter that a popular snow-sculpting competition has been forced to truck in 200 loads of fake flakes for this year s annual event.

 

While Europe shivers through a severe cold snap that has killed hundreds of people, Winnipeg has enjoyed its third-mildest January in more than a century, with the average temperature a relatively balmy -10.8 Celsius (12.6 Fahrenheit).

 

It s been the same story across much of Canada. Toronto, the country s biggest city, was forecast to climb well above the freezing mark on Thursday, while Berlin will be at -11 C going into the weekend and Paris and London will hover around -6 C.

 

“People refer to Winnipeg as Winterpeg so they expect it to be really cold, but everyone is really happy about the warm weather,” said Emili Bellefleur, spokeswoman for Festival du Voyageur, which includes snow carvings of wolves, bison and cultural symbols around the city of 700,000.

 

“We re going to take it, you know?”

 

With supplies of natural snow skimpy, the festival is trucking in artificially made snow from a winter recreation area, similar to the machine-made snow used on ski hills.

 

Bellefleur said she knows of only one other year that the 43-year-old festival had to buy artificial snow.

 

Winnipeggers and others in Western Canada can thank a flip-flop in air pressure patterns for the mild winter, which has funneled warmer southwest air across the Prairies, said Natalie Hasell, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
Normally, the La Nina weather phenomenon off the Pacific Coast of North America would leave the Prairies digging out of frigid, snowier than usual conditions.

 

But this winter it s been much milder, and bone dry. Nearly all of the country s main grain-growing region has received below-normal precipitation since November 5.

 

While Winnipeggers have happily put away their snow shovels, a dozen of the Festival du Voyageur s snow sculptors, coming from as far away as Switzerland, the Netherlands and evenMexico have been shocked by the mild weather.

 

Usually, “the worst part for them when they come from Mexico is dealing with the cold itself,” Bellefleur said. “Not necessarily the (lack of) snow.”
 

Chinas inflation rate hits 4.5 percent in January

 

China s annual inflation rate hit 4.5 percent in January, the highest level in three months, data showed Thursday, after consumers splashed out on food and gifts over the Lunar New Year holiday.

 

The country s consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, was higher than the 4.1 percent in December and ended five straight months of easing price pressures caused by government restrictions on lending and property purchases.

 

Analysts said the holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, was unusually early this year and had distorted the monthly data.

 

Retail spending typically soars during the week-long festival, the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar, as consumers ramp up spending on food, wine and gifts for family and friends.

 

Before January, inflation had eased for five months in a row after hitting a more than three-year high of 6.5 percent in July and analysts said the downward trend would likely resume in February as the economy continued to slow.

 

“It was inevitable that we would see some impact of the Lunar New Year holidays, which were in January this year but February last year, but it seems that this impact was bigger than expected,” said Brian Jackson, a senior analyst at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong.

 

Analysts had expected inflation to rise 4.1 percent, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.

 

The market barely reacted to the data, with the Shanghai Composite Index up 0.37 points, or 0.02 percent, at 2,347.90 in late morning trade.

 

The rebound in inflation was driven by food prices, which soared 10.5 percent year-on-year in January compared with 9.1 percent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

 

The producer price index, which measures the cost of goods at the farm and factory gate, rose an anaemic 0.7 percent in January compared with 1.7 percent in December, the statement said.

 

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch economist Lu Ting said the data was “significantly distorted” by the holiday “so investors definitely should not read too much into the inflation”.

 

There is mounting evidence that China s growth is slowing as the ongoing debt crisis in Europe and weakness in the United States hurts demand for Chinese exports, a key driver of the world s second-largest economy.

 

The International Monetary Fund this week warned that an escalation of Europe s fiscal woes could slash China s economic growth by half this year, and it urged Beijing to prepare stimulus measures in response.

 

But Chinese leaders have been very cautious about opening the credit valves for fear of reigniting inflation, which has the historic potential to trigger social unrest in the country of more than 1.3 billion people.

 

Late last year the central bank eased lending restrictions on banks and analysts expect similar moves in the coming months as authorities try to spur economic activity and prevent a damaging collapse in the property market.

 

Policymakers are also easing taxes and improving funding channels for small and medium-sized businesses which are huge employers but are often shunned by the major banks.

 

“There remains plenty of downward momentum in China, despite a moderation in the slowdown,” said Alistair Thornton, a Beijing-based analyst for IHS Global Insight.

 

“The property market remains in the throes of a correction, which is dragging down investment spending and spreading deflationary pressure (and) the eurozone will act as a drag on export growth this year.” 

 

Madonna world tour to start on May 29

LONDON; Madonna will go on tour from May for the first time in three years, starting in Israel before moving on to Europe, with legs in South America and Australia, where she has not performed for 20 years, tour promotion company Live Nation said on Tuesday.

The 2012 World Tour will be the first for the Grammy Award-winning 53-year-old Material Girl since her “Sticky & Sweet Tour” in 2008 and 2009 and will stop in more than 20 European and Middle Eastern cities including London, Edinburgh, Paris, Milan, Abu Dhabi and Berlin.

The tour starts on May 29 in Tel Aviv and then visits Abu Dhabi and Istanbul in early June before moving on to Europe. The European leg concludes on August 21st in Nice, France and the North American leg will end in Miami, with the date yet to be confirmed, the company said in a statement.

Dates for the South American and Australian legs and locations were not yet set and additional cities and venues are to be announced, they added.

The announcement came just days after Madonna’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl on Feb 5, with a record 114 million people tuning in to watch the glitzy, Cleopatra-themed show, which was lauded by critics but resulted in an apology from television network NBC and the NFL for a rude gesture made by British hip hop star M.I.A. during the show. AGENCIES?

Oil prices surge in Asia

 

New York s main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet crude for delivery in March, gained 35 cents to $97.26 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for March delivery advanced 47 cents to $116.40.

 

“Brent crude rose… as cold weather in Europe boosted heating fuel demand,” said Ker Chung Yang, commodity analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore.

 

He also told AFP that the WTI was up due to “some bargain hunting” after falling on Monday.

 

Fatalities from wintry weather sweeping across Europe topped 360 on Monday after snow and rain-swollen rivers burst a Bulgarian dam and killed at least eight people while more homeless perished on frigid city streets.

 

Switzerland reported temperatures plummeting to minus 35.1 Celsius (minus 31 Fahrenheit) in the eastern Graubuenden canton.

 

Restructuring pushes ArcelorMittal into deep loss

 

Several large charges for taxes and restructuring pushed ArcelorMittal into a deep loss in the fourth quarter and the steel maker warned Tuesday that concerns over Europe s economy had hit demand.

 

ArcelorMittal posted a $1 billion net loss in the fourth quarter, compared to a $780 million loss in the same quarter of 2010. In the third quarter of 2011, it reported a profit of $659 million.

 

The loss was mostly due to $1.3 billion in charges for deferred taxes, restructuring and impairments, the Luxembourg-based company said. Sales were up 8.5 percent at $22.45 billion from the $20.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, but fell 7.3 percent compared with the third quarter last year.

 

“The progressive recovery that we have been experiencing was impacted in the second half of the year by the growing uncertainty over the economic situation in Europe, which particularly affected sentiment and performance in the fourth quarter,” Chief Executive Lakshmi N. Mittal said in the earnings statement.

 

ArcelorMittal is particularly vulnerable to changes in economic sentiment, since much of the steel it makes is used in expensive items like cars, home appliances or buildings.

 

Concerns over how the debt crisis in the eurozone would affect the overall economy contributed to steel prices dropping 6.2 percent compared to the third quarter, while shipments fell 2.5 percent as buyers in Europe used up existing stock, the company said.

 

“Looking ahead to 2012, the situation in Europe remains a live concern,” Mittal said, but added that the company had seen some improvement in sentiment in the early weeks of this year compared with the end of 2011.

 

The CEO added that the steel maker s performance was helped by its presence all over the world and its growing mining business, which increased production of both iron ore and coal
two key ingredients for steel.

 

ArcelorMittal has been building up its own iron ore and coal production to become more independent from price changes in those two products.
 

Karachi: Underworld-linked accused held

According to SSP CID Fayyaz Khan, the police raided in Landhi area on a tip off and arrested accused Zeeshan alias Shani and recovered a Kalashnikov from his custody.

 

The accused revealed that Johnson and Sohail are his gang leaders and telephone traders and doctors from South Africa for extortion.

 

Zeeshan also confessed that he murdered Dr Zahid in Landhi Police Station jurisdiction for not giving extortion money.

 

The accused is being further interrogated.
 

US man fined $1K for police chase

 

He incited the chase because he always wanted to try it, but found that it will cost him a $1,000 fine to go with his tire damage.

 

The Montana Standard newspaper reports 55-year-old John C. Hughes pleaded guilty in City Court last week to reckless driving while eluding a peace officer.

 

The chase began in the pre-dawn hours Thursday when officers reported a man followed a patrol car for seven blocks before pulling his SUV around and taking off. Officers say Hughes was traveling faster than 100 mph (160 kph) before officers laid out a spike strip to flatten his tires.

 

When asked why he started the chase, Hughes said, “I just always wanted to do that,” according to the police report.
 

SC-suspended Hafeez, Asim made advisers

 

Dr Asim Hussain and Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh have been made advisors to the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani after being suspended as legislators by the Supreme Court on Monday.

 

Dr Asim and Dr Hafeez were federal ministers for petroleum and finance respectively.

 

Earlier, the Supreme Court suspended membership of 28 legislators elected in by-elections on bogus voters’ lists.
The membership of these 28 parliamentarians will remain suspended till Parliamentary endorsement through 20th amendment.

 

The government has issued the notification of appointment of both the advisors.
 

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