الجمعة، 18 فبراير 2011

G20 finance chiefs meet on global imbalances

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

PARIS — G20 ministers gather in Paris Friday to hammer out common criteria for measuring global economic imbalances at a two-day session that host France hopes will lead to an overhaul of world finance.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to receive the ministers and central bankers from the 20 top developed and developing economies at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) at the Elysee palace and give a speech, his office said.

Sarkozy has vowed to reform the world monetary system and commodities markets during his year at the G20 helm, saying he aims to defend poor economies from currency and trade turbulence.

Before treating the illness, however, leaders must agree on the symptoms so these talks -- the first official G20 gathering of France's presidency -- will seek to agree on the indicators to be used to measure the economic gaps between them.

"Once we have these indicators, and that's highly debated at the moment and will be in the next couple of days ... then we will move on to agree on guidelines" for action, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.

A source close to the negotiations said there has already been "quite tough debate" over the French plans, with the so-called "BRICS" -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- expressing strong reservations.

The BRICS nations have scheduled a side meeting at 1330 GMT on Friday ahead of the formal G20 talks. Separately, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will hold a closed meeting with Lagarde at 3:45 pm (1445 GMT), his office said.

Some Western powers see the talks as "a roundabout way of ultimately treating the problem of China," whose huge trade surplus and foreign currency reserves they see as the most important of the global imbalances, the source said.

The United States and other Western powers accuse China of holding down its currency to boost Chinese exports. China denies any such manipulation, blaming the imbalance on structural problems in its trade partners' economies.

China last year resisted a US proposal to stabilise current account balances by setting a four-percent cap on countries' deficits and surpluses.

Officials say questions on the agenda for Friday and Saturday include how to assess countries' current accounts, exchange rates, currency reserves, public budgets and private savings. But countries are haggling over the details.

The European Union, in a paper seen by AFP, has called for specific target figures to be fixed and has suggested postponing debate on the most sensitive issues if necessary.

"What we do not want is to dictate to one or the other country -- 'stop being competitive, stop exporting, stop consuming,'" Lagarde said on Thursday at a meeting of finance leaders.

"The goal is to to try to reach a better equilibrium that will be beneficial to all, from an inflation point of view for instance, or from a social fabric point of view."

I Am Number Four

'I Am Number Four' movie review: Alex Pettyfer and Teresa Palmer toil in juvenile drama

JOE NEUMAIER

Friday, February 18th 2011, 4:00 AM

John Bramley

'I Am Number Four' stars Alex Pettyfer (l.) and Teresa Palmer as two aliens that fall to earth.

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With Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant. A teen from another planet battles space enemies and bullies. Director: D.J. Caruso (1:50). PG-13: Violence. At area theaters.

Just because a movie is about juveniles doesn't mean it has to be juvenile. "American Graffiti" wasn't a juvenile coming-of-age movie, nor was "The Breakfast Club" juvenile in its depiction of high school bonding. "Clueless" was a deft social satire, and "Adventureland" a rather mature teen romance.

Ah, but the teenage alien genre — surely that allows for immature clichés. Except this is a time that future pop-culture-ologists will carbon-date as after "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Heroes" departed, but before "X-Men: First Class" opened and "Twilight" concluded.

"I Am Number Four," with its gangly title, seems like a dimwitted cousin to those hipper properties — a Superman-come-lately tale of puppy love, extraordinary powers and puberty that's duller than a chalkboard and less powerful than an extraneous Jonas brother.

As "Four" opens, a malevolent space squadron is descending to Earth to find and exterminate nine aliens, all masquerading as humans and under the legal drinking age. The baddies, known as Mogadorians, are not a winemaking family, but a vampiric-looking race that decimated the good citizens of the planet Lorien. The nine targets are genius Lorien kids who escaped to Earth and scattered. The Mogadorians have turned three of them into dust.

Number Four is a teen (a dull Alex Pettyfer) who senses that his planet-mates have died because he gets glowing circular tattoos on his calf. Hitting the road with his warrior-guardian (a bored-looking Timothy Olyphant), the kid changes his name to John Smith and goes to tiny Paradise, Ohio, where he attends yet another school.

In Paradise, he meets the photography-obsessed Sarah ("Glee's" Dianna Agron), tussles with senior high bullies and befriends a geek (Callan McAuliffe). Yet Paradise seems to be the center of some weird UFO activities, and you know what that means: more Mogadorians. Good thing John is just learning how to use his telekinesis, light-shining hands and mega-jumping ability.

Adapted from a gummed-together young-adult fantasy novel by James Frey and Jobie Hughes — writing as Pitticus Lore — Caruso's movie assumes the mere appearance of tough Aussie chick Number Six (Teresa Palmer) will make it cool.

Actually, the only cool part is the appearance of huge monsters the Mogadorians unleash, which helps since the Mogadorians themselves look like rejects with bad makeup from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Or whichever show got transmitted to Lorien in the early 1990s.

Rose continues to stake claim for MVP

CHICAGO

The matchup was plenty interesting on paper: The surprisingly resurgent Spurs against the underappreciated Bulls on the eve of the All-Star break.

ALL-STAR WEEKEND

When the game was over, though, all the story angles dropped down to a single question: How could any reasonably informed NBA observer not have Derrick Rose ranked No. 1 on the list of MVP candidates?

All he did against the league's best team Thursday was drop a career-high 42 points, to go with eight assists, and lead the Bulls to a convincing 109-99 victory over San Antonio at the United Center.

Take away Rose's four errant attempts from 3-point range and he hit 18 of 24 shots from the field. Sure, Tim Duncan's defense isn't what it used to be, but he resembled a yield sign on this night.

On the eve of training camp, Rose wondered out loud, "Why can't I be MVP?" Now that it has a chance of becoming reality, he has flipped his demeanor back to the usual humble setting.

"I was just trying to do whatever it takes to win and tonight, I guess, it was just scoring the ball," Rose said after dominating the Spurs.

Here's the issue that can't be ignored when it comes to this year's NBA MVP: Boston is sending four players to the All-Star Game this weekend, while Miami booked hotel suites for three players.

Rose's only All-Star travel companion is forward Taj Gibson, who's playing in the Rookie-Sophomore Game.

It's not as though the Bulls are a one-man show, but that long-haired figure on the bench was center Joakim Noah, sitting out his 30th game of the season because of right thumb surgery. The Bulls expect Noah to return when play resumes next week.

"I think anyone who's watched and seen the things he's done from the start of the season until now, I can't imagine anyone doing more," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said of Rose.

Some analysts have been slow to hop aboard the "Rose for MVP" bandwagon. Sure, if the award was for the NBA's best player, LeBron James might lock it up for the next 10 years.

The description is "most valuable." As everyone knows, James left Cleveland so he'd have a better chance to win by aligning himself with two other All-Stars in Miami.

BLAKE'S BEST

Clippers rookie Blake Griffin is a slamming sight to behold. Watch his10 most hellacious dunks.

Doesn't that in itself preclude James from being the Most Valuable Player? Rose can't match James in rebounds, but otherwise their statistics are similar. The Bulls are just one loss behind the Heat in the standings, so Rose passes the team-success test.

One guy chose to make his life easier by taking his talents to South Beach. The other faces nightly double-teams but is producing similar results. The Cavaliers losing 26 straight games without James does not make him the MVP, either.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was appreciative after seeing Rose's best effort. The third-year guard also scored 33 points in the Bulls’ first meeting against the Spurs on Nov. 17.

"He has taken a monster leap this year," Popovich said. "What's really great about him is he seems to love the pressure of putting his team on his back. He has the character and the demeanor to do that."

The actual MVP ballots won't be due for another two months. The Bulls need to stay near the top of the Eastern Conference standings for Rose to have a realistic chance at the award.

That's why people are wondering what will happen when Noah returns to the lineup. Noah andCarlos Boozer have played together just nine times this season, and even then, Noah had already torn a ligament in his right thumb. He somehow managed to play for two weeks before having surgery Dec. 16.

The Bulls have kept pace with Boston and Miami even while Noah missed 30 games and Boozer skipped 18. That says as much about Rose as Thibodeau, who has lived up to his billing as a master strategist in his first year in Chicago.

"Thibs may be the most prepared coach in the league," Boozer said. "We trust in him and what his game plan is, then we go out and try to execute it."

The coach and star player are definitely on the same page. While Rose downplayed his performance Thursday, Thibodeau refused to place any special significance on a 10-point win over San Antonio.

"The statement is they did a good job getting ready to play," Thibodeau said of his players, providing the night's best punch line.

— Mike McGraw is in his 12th season covering the Bulls for the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago.

U.K. Retail Sales Surge on Rebound From Cold Weather

U.K. retail sales rose almost four times as much as economists forecast in January as consumer spending rebounded after the coldest December in a century.

Sales gained 1.9 percent from the previous month, when they fell a revised 1.4 percent as snow and freezing temperatures kept Britons from shopping, the Office for National Statisticssaid today in London. The gain was the biggest since February 2010 and exceeded the 0.5 percent median forecast of 22 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, sales increased 5.3 percent.

While the data add to evidence that the economy’s 0.5 percent contraction in the fourth quarter may have been a temporary setback to the recovery, retailers may face pressure this year. Inflation has accelerated to double the Bank of England’s target and tax increases may crimp spending power.

“It’s a big rebound,” said Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London. “It’s good news, but with rising inflation and low wage growth squeezing incomes and high unemployment and speculation of a rise in interest rates, I have serious concerns about consumer spending this year.”

The pound rose as much as 0.3 percent against the dollar after the data were published. It traded at $1.6213 as of 9:37 a.m. in London. Government bonds declined, with the yield on the 10-year gilt rising 2 basis points to 3.78 percent.

Tax and Snow

Sales at “non-specialized stores,” which includes department stores, jumped 5.7 percent in January from December and were up 10.7 percent on the year, the statistics office said. Clothing and shoe sales rose 3.4 percent on the month. Sales at food stores rose 0.3 percent on the month and fell 2.3 percent from a year earlier.

The statistics office said the government’s increase in value-added tax and the freezing weather affected demand in December and January and it estimates sales growth of 0.5 percent over the two months.

The food-store price deflator, a measure of annual price changes, rose to 5.2 percent in January from 5 percent in December. The deflator for all retail sales was 2.7 percent.

Consumer-price inflation accelerated to 4 percent in January, data this week showed. The rate may rise further as retailers pass on the government’s sales-tax increase, which took effect last month.

Excluding fuel, sales increase 1.6 percent in January from December and were up 5.3 percent on the year. Sports Direct International Plc, the U.K.’s No. 1 sporting-goods retailer, said yesterday that retail sales for the 13 weeks to Jan. 23 rose 14 percent and the company’s underlying performance has been “strong” since the end of last month.

‘Too Optimistic’

Internet sales accounted for 10 percent of all retail sales, compared with 7.6 percent a year earlier. Average weekly internet sales in January amounted to 523 million pounds ($847 million), the statistics office said.

The Bank of England said in its Inflation Report this week that consumer-price growth will accelerate this year before easing to its 2 percent target by the middle of 2012. Policy makerAndrew Sentance said yesterday that the projection is “too optimistic” and the central bank should raise its benchmark interest rate to tame price pressures.

Kingfisher Plc, Europe’s largest home-improvement retailer, said yesterday it expects a “particularly tricky” first half, with only a “slightly better second half” as the value-added tax increase and public-sector job cuts discourage spending.

Underlining the fragility of the U.K. labor market, jobless claims unexpectedly rose in January, while unemployment based on International Labor Organization methods rose by 44,000 in the fourth quarter to 2.49 million. Nationwide’s index of consumer sentiment dropped 7 points to 47 in January, almost erasing the 8-point gain in December, the lender said on Feb. 16.

الأحد، 6 فبراير 2011

PM: 'Multiculturalism has failed

PM: 'Multiculturalism has failed'

5 February 2011 Last updated at 19:19 GMTHelp

David Cameron says multiculturalism in Britain has failed, during a speech to a security conference in Munich.

He said the UK needed a stronger sense of national identity to prevent people turning to extremism.

Meanwhile in the UK, rallies by the English Defence League (EDL) and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) groups have taken place in Luton town centre.

Laura Kuenssberg reports.

Bush cancels Swiss visit over arrest fears

WASHINGTON: Former US President George W Bush has reportedly cancelled a visit to Switzerland amid concerns that he could be arrested for allegedly authorising the torture of prisoners.

The former American leader was due to speak at a charity gala, making the keynote speech at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner in the city of Geneva on February 12, the 'Sky News' reported online.

Human rights groups in the country, however, have been calling for the Swiss government to arrest Bush over allegations he had ordered the torture of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

Court officials have said criminal complaints against Bush have been lodged in Geneva, but Swiss officials said that he would enjoy diplomatic immunity as a former head of state, the report said.

In his memoirs and television interviews, Bush has admitted to ordering use of waterboarding, which simulated drowning, as an interrogation technique.

Waterboarding is considered a form of torture which is a crime under international law, and human rights experts say absolute prohibition is very clear. Some left-wing groups had also called for a protest on the day of his visit.

Even Keren Hayesod's organisers said they felt the atmosphere had become too threatening.

"We didn't want to put people and property in Geneva at risk. The gala is maintained but George Bush will not take part. The criminal complaints did not weigh in the decision," the group's lawyer Robert Equey was quoted as saying
.

Fiat sees 4 mgt centres, Turin remains key-papers

* Chairman sees mgt in Turin, Detroit, Brazil, Asia-paper

* CEO explains no decisions taken on organisation-minister

MILAN, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Italian car maker Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) sees four management centres, with the Italian city of Turin, its historical base, retaining a central role, several newspapers said on Sunday citing Fiat statements to politicians.

The clarifications by Fiat chiefs to government and regional politicians followed Friday's comment by Fiat's chief executive its headquarters could move to the United States after a merger with its affiliate Chrysler in two to three years. [ID:nN04207716]

"(Sergio) Marchionne (Fiat CEO) has explained the sense of the plans which refer exclusively to future possible company arrangements and which have not been decided," Italy's Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said on Saturday.

No change is planned to the location of management and planning activities of the company in Turin, Sacconi said in his statement issued after he spoke to Marchionne.

Fiat Chairman John Elkann phoned Turin Mayor Sergio Chiamparino, la Repubblica said on Sunday. On Saturday, Chiamparino told the same newspaper a move of Fiat headquarters to the United States would be "unacceptable".

"Elkann has explained Fiat's strategy foresees the integration with Chrysler and that there will be more management centres where there is a strong market presence," the Turin mayor said in the newspaper on Sunday.

There will "one at Turin, one at Detroit for the United States, one in Brazil, and if possible, one in Asia" he said in the daily citing Elkann. (Writing by Nigel Tutt; Editing by David Holmes)

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