Nov/14/2011

Asia-Pacific leaders target job creation, free trade

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (left) and U.S. President Barack Obama (right) laugh as they brush their hair during a

group photo during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Kapolei, Hawaii. Also in the picture are Russian 


President Dmitry Medvedev (center front), Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak (top left), South Korean President Lee 


Myung-bak (top center) and Mexican Economy Secretary Bruno Ferrari, top right. 

Asia-Pacific leaders agreed measures designed to create jobs and liberalize regional trade on Sunday following talks hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders said they aimed to “increase economic growth and job creation by expanding trade and investment” across the region.

“Leaders agreed to adopt market-driven innovation policies, reduce tariffs and eliminate other barriers to trade in environmental goods and services, and improve regulatory environments to reduce unnecessary burdens on businesses,” said a statement issued by the United States as host nation.

“These steps will help U.S. growth and jobs by expanding export opportunities in the world’s fastest growing region,” the statement said.

The APEC leaders issued several documents promoting “green growth and green jobs,” the reduction of regulatory trade barriers, an expanded role for small businesses, and trade and investment in environmental goods and services.

Mr. Obama said at the start of the talks that the APEC leaders wanted to make progress towards a “seamless regional economy” and discuss ways to spur growth and create jobs that were “critical” to the United States.

The summit came “at a time when America is very focused on how we can work together in a cooperative, effective way in the Trans-Pacific region,” he said in his opening remarks at the Ko Olina luxury resort near Honolulu.

“And I want to emphasize that the Asia-Pacific region is absolutely critical to America’s economic growth,” he said.

“Today, we’ve got an opportunity to make progress towards our ultimate goal, which is a seamless regional economy,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama and eight leaders of smaller APEC nations on Saturday said they had agreed to “broad outlines” of a Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal that they hoped the 12 other economies would also join.

But Mr. Obama pointed to differences with China, which has not joined the TPP talks, over its restrictions on trade and its “undervalued” renminbi currency.

The United States wanted to see China “play by the rules” of international trade, Obama told business leaders before his talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday.

“There are very few economists who do not believe that the RMB (renminbi) is not undervalued,” he said.

“That disadvantages American business, it disadvantages American workers,” Mr. Obama said. “And we have said to them that this is something that has to change.” Founded in 1989, APEC now groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

The 21 economies, with 2.7 billion people, account for some 55 per cent of global output and more than 40 per cent of global trade.

Omar meets Manmohan over AFSPA issue

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister has been pitching for the removal of AFSPA from those areas where normalcy has returned

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid the on-going controversy over the issue of withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from some parts of the state.

Mr. Abdullah, who is pitching for removal of the AFSPA from those areas where normalcy has returned, discussed the issue during his half-an-hour-long meeting with the Prime Minister, sources said.

The two leaders also discussed the security situation in the State, they said.

After his meeting with Dr. Singh, Mr. Omar met Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

The meeting with the Prime Minister comes a day after Mr. Omar had discussions with Defence Minister A.K. Antony to press for early removal of the Act from certain parts of the state.

At the meeting with Mr. Antony, Mr. Omar had presented his case for removal of AFSPA from at least four districts - two each in Kashmir and Jammu.

While Mr. Antony conveyed the reservations of the Army over such a move, Mr. Omar emphasised the need to translate the promises made by the National Conference-Congress alliance on ground and reward the people of the state for maintaining a peaceful year.

Mr. Omar had noted that the State has seen a boom in the tourism industry with nearly 13 lakh tourists visiting it till October this year.

The Army has voiced its serious reservations over withdrawal of AFSPA from certain parts citing security concerns.

After meeting the Defence Minister, Mr. Omar had tweeted yesterday, “Yes, I have just finished meeting the Defence Minister and no, I don’t intend to speak to the media for the time being.”

Mr. Omar will also be meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the AFSPA issue.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government has been pressing for partial removal of AFSPA and suggested that it could be removed from Srinagar and Budgam areas besides Jammu city and Sambha.

Nehru remembered on 122nd birth anniversary--November 14 Children s Day 

The nation today remembered the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his 122nd birth anniversary with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paying homage to him.

Ms. Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Dr. Singh paid floral tributes to Nehru at Shanti Van, his memorial on the banks of Yamuna here, this morning as a large group of students sang patriotic songs.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was indisposed last week, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, senior Congress leader Motilal Vora and Union Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy were among prominent persons who paid floral tributes at the memorial.

At the end of the 40-minute ceremony, Ms. Patil, Mr. Ansari, Dr. Singh, Ms. Gandhi and Ms. Dikshit released tricolour balloons in the air amid playing of bands by students.

Students sang patriotic songs and played the band as the dignitaries paid floral tributes at Nehru’s samadhi.

End of an Italian love affair

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned as Prime Minister on Saturday, is a larger-than-life billionaire with a seductive smile, but his tumultuous love affair with Italians has ended in overwhelming bitterness.

A supremely confident and charming Berlusconi wooed Italy when he burst onto the political scene in the early 1990s. He was seen as a blast of fresh air and energy after a period of political corruption and scandal.

The media tycoon's daring and splashy political debut in 1993 with a new party called Forza Italia (Go Italy) — named after a football chant — was unprecedented, and won him widespread popular support. But while his populist style and championing of the American dream of the self-made man assured him adoration in some quarters, other Italians tired of his sleaze scandals and a series of embarrassing international gaffes.

Driven out of office after his unhappy handling of a fierce financial crisis stripped him of a majority in Parliament, Mr. Berlusconi's latest popularity rating was at an all-time low of just 22 per cent.

Born in Milan in 1936, Mr. Berlusconi was a huge fan of singers Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra and spent his school holidays playing the double bass, later taking breaks from studying law at university by performing in Milan's nightclubs.

He did a brief stint as a cruise-ship crooner before launching a lucrative career in the booming construction sector by making a deal with the head of his father's bank — and skilfully persuading others to invest in him.

The mystery surrounding the sources of funding for Mr. Berlusconi's start in the building business has led critics repeatedly to accuse him of links with organised crime on top of allegations of money-laundering and corruption.

Despite some initial convictions for fraud and lingering accusations of alliances with convicted crooks — including hiring a gangster as his stableman — all cases against him were won on appeal or have expired.

Poor investments

In 1978, Mr. Berlusconi set up Fininvest, a holding company which grew to include several large household names, including Mediaset — with three national television channels — and AC Milan, one of the world's leading football clubs.

But poor investments saw his debts spiral in the early 1990s and critics say that Mr. Berlusconi — fearful a left-wing government would touch his powerful media conglomerate — entered politics not for ambition but to save his empire.

Face to face with Facebook

When you delete something from Facebook, all you are doing is hiding it from yourself

Austrian law student Max Schrems may be just one of about 800 million Facebook users, but that hasn't stopped him tackling the U.S. giant behind the social networking website over its privacy policy. The 24-year-old wasn't sure what to expect when he requested Facebook provide him with a record of the personal data it holds on him, but he certainly wasn't ready for the 1,222 pages of information he received.

This included photos, messages and postings on his Facebook page dating back years, some of which he thought he had deleted, the times he had clicked “like” on an item, “pokes” of fellow users and reams of other information.

“When you delete something from Facebook, all you are doing is hiding it from yourself,” Mr. Schrems told AFP in his home city of Vienna.

Shocked, Mr. Schrems decided to act. Hitting a dead end in Austria, he took his complaints in August to the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) in Ireland, where Facebook has its European headquarters.

Believing that Facebook was contravening European Union law, and had more data on him that it is not releasing, Mr. Schrems has filed 22 complaints with the DPC, details of which can be found on his website http://www.europe-v-facebook.org/.

“It's a shock of civilisations. Americans don't understand the concept of data protection. For them, the person with the rights is the one with the data. In continental Europe, we don't see things like that,” he said. “If a company wants to operate in a country it has to abide by the rules.”

Facebook, he says, has agreed in Germany to stop keeping records of users' IP addresses — information showing where someone is connected to the Internet — but in other European countries the practice continues.

“This is Facebook strategy. When someone gets really annoyed, they back off one step, but continue advancing in other ways,” said Mr. Schrems. The problem is that most people don't take the time to read the small print in Facebook's terms and conditions, he says.

“For the average citizen data protection is too complex and subtle,” he says, believing it is therefore the responsibility of the state to ensure that users' rights are upheld.

Goa miners in limbo after expiry of green clearances

The fate of 45 mines in Goa hangs in balance as the environmental clearances granted to them by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEf) being expired and Centre imposing a moratorium on fresh approvals.

Adding to their woes is the notices issued by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) to all 45 mines asking them “why their consent to operate should not be withdrawn and mining operations on the leases suspended”.

The notices were issued on November 3 and returnable by November 18.

An NGO, Goa Foundation, which had moved the Bombay High Court bench in Panaji seeking closure of the mines violating the norms said “it is doubtful if fresh environment clearances can be issued to all 45 mining leases since there is an existing moratorium on consideration of environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa”.

The stay was imposed in February 2010 by Centre after Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat dashed a missive seeking ban on fresh clearances till the state mining policy is in place.

Similar complaints were also filed by environmentalist Ramesh Gawas and a political activist Khemlo Sawant before GSPCB.

Most of the environmental clearances to the mines were issued between 2005 and 2006.

The coastal State is the biggest exporter of Iron Ore in the country. The State has exported 54 million metric tons of Ore last fiscal, basically to satisfy the growing demand of China’s steel industry.

The issue of Iron Ore mines extracting the ore without valid clearances is also being examined by Justice M B Shah Commission, which is likely to give its detailed report on the illegal mining industry in Goa in a few days.