the world to vow action
however it had to admit last week that forecast suggesting the glaciers in
the himalayas were likely to disappear by was poorly substantiated
inglourious basterds wins top honor at oscars indicator
los angeles jan afp
quentin tarantino bloody world war two revenge flick inglourious basterds
won the top honor at the screen actors guild sag awards saturday key
indicator of possible oscars contenders
after being overlooked in favor of science fiction epic avatar at last week
golden globes inglourious basterds revitalized its oscar hopes by scooping
the best ensemble performance award
the sag awards are seen as bellwether of likely winners at the academy awards
which take place this year on march
for the past two years the winner of the sag awards best ensemble statuette has
gone on to win best picture at the oscars with slumdog millionaire triumphing
in and no country for old men prevailing in
actor eli roth accepted the award saturday on behalf of the inglorious
basterds cast which included brad pitt who was nowhere to be seen saturday
roth paid tribute to pulp fiction director tarantino in his acceptance speech
quentin your belief in us lets us rise to the occasion and brings out the best
in all of us it was an honor to be part of this roth said
other films nominated in the category included an education the hurt
locker nine and precious
top individual acting honors were won by hollywood veteran jeff bridges and
sandra bullock in repeat of last week golden globe awards the wins cement
bridges and bullock status as oscars front runners
bridges won for his portrayal of washed up country singer battling to
rebuild his career in the drama crazy heart
this means so much to be acknowledged by my acting family bridges said it
like big family playing advanced version of pretend love being an actor
pretending to be other folks
bridges beat out competition from george clooney for up in the air colin
firth for single man morgan freeman for invictus and jeremy renner for
iraq war drama the hurt locker
bullock triumphed for her portrayal of leigh anne tuohy in the blind side the
true story of how the southern housewife took in homeless black teen michael
oher who went on to become an american football star
if this were only not televised so could use the appropriate words
feeling right now bullock said in her acceptance speech which included
heartfelt tribute to her husband of five years jesse james
you get dressed up in monkey suits and sit at tables with people you don
know bullock said love you so much and you re really hot and want you so
much
other nominees in the category included helen mirren for the last station
carey mulligan for an education gabourey sidibe for precious and meryl
streep for julie amp julia
in the supporting actor categories austria christoph waltz followed up his
success at the golden globes to underscore his status as oscars favorite
waltz won for his performance as deranged nazi officer in inglourious
basterds
other nominees included matt damon for invictus woody harrelson for the
messenger christopher plummer for the last station and stanley tucci in the
lovely bones
the best supporting actress award was also repeat of the golden globes with
mo nique taking home the statuette for her performance as an abusive parent in
the gritty drama precious
mo nique beat out comptition from vera farmiga and anna kendrick from up in the
air penelope cruz from nine and diane kruger from inglourious basterds
china airlines back in black but turbulence ahead experts
shanghai jan afp
china airlines returned to profit in as traffic rose fuel prices fell
and government policies provided favourable tailwind but analysts warn they
could face fresh turbulence this year
the country three biggest carriers china southern airlines air china and
china eastern airlines all suffered heavy losses in as the global
economic crisis struck but said this month they will be in the black for
the industry as whole posted combined profit of billion yuan
billion dollars in and passenger volume grew percent on year to
million according to the civil aviation administration of china
but analysts said while the outlook remained solid for the airlines would
lose steam as the explosive growth in passenger volume slowed with some
travellers opting to stay home and others looking at cheaper forms of transport
we are generally optimistic about the aviation industry given the positive
fundamentals such as the world expo and continued economic recovery said
chen huanyu an analyst at brokerage guotai junan in hong kong
but he warned the turnaround was largely underpinned by non operating
profits such as gains in fuel hedging deals and nearly two billion dollars of
government aid granted to the top three carriers since late
we are going to see some uphills and downhills in their earnings in and
maybe the following year chen said noting carriers would be hit with the
resumption of payments to an infrastructure fund halted during the crisis
the chinese airlines who gave the profit estimates in preliminary
announcements have yet to release complete full year financial results those
are due in late march and april
but their expected return to profitability stands in sharp contrast to net
loss of billion dollars for for global airlines according to an
estimate from the international air transport association
last week japan airlines filed for bankruptcy protection with billion
dollars of debt in that country biggest post war corporate failure outside the
financial sector victim in part of the global crisis
china carriers have benefited from the country resilience during the crisis
the world third largest economy expanded by red hot percent last year
but experts say business will slow as price fears mount
while we think the outlook remains positive the pace of traffic growth should
moderate as travellers are more concerned about general inflation and rising
property prices credit suisse analysts said in research note
as result the desires and budgets for travelling will inevitably be
affected they said
the number of air travellers will also slip as high speed trains emerge as
cost effective alternative with china hard at work on completing link between
shanghai and beijing analysts said
last month china launched what it calls the world fastest railway service
linking central wuhan and the southern city of guangzhou shortening the
hour trip to just three hours
because of the construction of high speed rail part of the market will be
diverted to railways said ubs aviation analyst thomas kwan
he however noted the influence of high speed railways was not likely to affect
the airlines in the short term and sustainable growth of the air travel market
in china could be sufficient to absorb any long term negative impact
the domestic market is enormous kwan said
according to official forecasts air passenger traffic is expected to rise by
percent on year in to million while cargo volume will grow percent
to million tonnes
greece forces europe to confront economic united states
brussels jan afp
there no such thing as the united states of europe but are the continent
national leaders beginning to wonder if there might not have to be to avoid
another greek debt crisis
when the countries that make up the european union gather next month to shape
common economic planning for the next decade the strains athens has placed on
its core currency could yet find far reaching ramifications
certainly allowing brussels to poke its nose into national statistical
reporting as is being mooted is unlikely to be the last direct consequence
of greek profligacy for eu wide governance
while home to half billion people and with the world biggest tariff free
market bigger than the united states or china europe economic
integration remains unfinished principally held back by an instinct for
political disintegration
yet suddenly the risk of wayward peripheral members of the club toppling the
entire house of cards appears very real to those at the heart of the brussels
enterprise and the talk on february will be of lessons to be learnt fast
let us be clear in the past some national politicians have resisted stronger
mechanisms of governance in brussels jose manuel barroso who heads the
european commission the body that drafts and enforces eu laws said last week
hope that all eu national governments will now recognise the need for
full ownership of europe and for truly coordinated and coherent action in
economic policy he said referring to new strategic framework
with surveillance reach growing and the debate moving into the area of political
sanctions being applied by over arching brussels bureaucrats europe is making
power grab for the purse strings of the member states that fund it
it not new but greece easily represents turning point in the history of
monetary union which was the creation of the shared euro currency says
royal bank of scotland economist jacques cailloux
this is an unprecedented situation testing the system itself cailloux
underlined in reference to sudden sharp upward revision of deficit levels by
athens when its new government came in late last year
europe responses will shape budgetary coordination for decades to come he
added
barroso commission will finally be able to implement new five year mandate
the day before national leaders assemble in brussels
obtaining the right to audit member states is first step towards much
more centralised system of budgetary coordination explained cailloux
dubious markets are having none of greece promises to fill its budgetary black
hole itself indeed athens now has to offer more than three times as much as
germany to attract international lending
the problem as ever is one of the transfer of sovereignty from national
capitals to brussels belgium finance minister didier reynders said on friday
and yet the need to come up with more efficient organisation across the
bloc means he for one is pushing for greater integration of our political
economies to reflect that of its monetary pillar the european central bank
while one high ranking diplomat expressed agreement with stated spanish desires
to strengthen economic governance at least across the countries that share
the euro fierce obstacles not least london remain
because not everyone is on the same page to begin with we will adopt new
economic strategy europe to replace our lisbon strategy and that one
won work either the diplomat said cynically
politically we are still very long way off warned analyst sylvain broyer
of natixis
world cup obama effect boosting africa tourism
madrid jan afp
the world cup and the obama effect of us president of african heritage
has sparked surge in interest in much of africa as tourist destination
industry experts say
speaking as madrid hosted the annual fitur tourism trade fair one of the
world largest they said the continent is slowly starting to fulfill its vast
potential for tourism
there has been shift in the way people look at africa said taleb rifai
secretary general of the un world tourism organisation unwto
compared to years ago they ve come long long way africa is now
considered very serious destination for travellers from the major generating
markets
in its annual world tourism barometer released last week the madrid based unwto
said africa had bucked the global trend in with international tourist
arrivals to the continent jumping percent
that compared to slump of percent in travel worldwide last year amid the
economic crisis and the swine flu pandemic
the world cup football tournament due to be hosted by south africa in june and
in which nations are taking part now looks set to help push the number of
travellers to africa even higher
nigel vere nicoll the head of the africa travel and tourism association atta
predicted the tournament impact on tourism will be enormous
the world cup is certainly the most exciting thing to happen to africa not
just southern africa all africans are very proud that it going to be there
he said
it will certainly bring the whole south african experience to lot more people
than knew about it before he said in telephone interview noting the
country great diversity of product
nicoll said his london based organisation has been looking at programmes to
encourage travellers to extend their south africa visit into neighbouring
countries although with limited success
there an initiative in zambia zimbabwe but not sure that it actually
going to work we re not actually even sure of the profile of the people
attending the world cup and whether they have the extra finance to go on
safari or wherever
so think that the ripple effect isn going to be as big as one hopes
nevertheless zimbabwe tourism ministry said this month it was seeking
million dollars to cash in on the world cup in its neighbour five million of
which will go to advertise our tourist facilities to the outside world
world cup organising chief danny jordaan has said south africa hopes the
competition will help promote the country tourism industry in new markets
especially in the americas
but the tourist industry in parts of africa is also seeking to attract more us
visitors in very different way
the election of president barack obama whose father was an immigrant from
kenya already appears to be encouraging african americans to trace their roots
the obama effect has helped bring the number of americans visiting kenya back
to around what it was in before arrivals plummeted in the wake of the
riots that followed disputed elections in december of that year according to
murithi ndegwa managing director of the kenya tourist board
nicoll was less convinced about the obama effect calling it hype
but the world travel market global trends report has predicted the us
president will have positive impact on africa tourism for years to come
the kenyans are now building tourist industry around the hometown of obama
father in the modest village of nyangoma kogelo near the shores of lake victoria
in western kenya and which is national heritage site
and it not just african americans who are coming to trace their roots there
tremendous ripple effect in the entire us society ndegwa told afp
last july obama and his family visited former slave trading fort in the west
african country of ghana which the country has now put firmly on its tourist
map along with other historical sites
if you look at the figures of ghana after they started to highlight these
historical destinations it even tripled there rifai told afp in telephone
interview
many african countries are also seeing surge in arrivals from major emerging
markets such india and china which have cultural and trade links with the
continent
china growing investment in africa is encouraging more chinese to look at
africa in different light not just as an investment opportunity said rifai
but the unwto chief cautioned that africa tourist gains must be viewed in
terms of the very modest volumes and traffic that it is starting with
africa is still attracting about to percent of international tourism
arrivals in the world or about million of the million travellers around
the world last year
so the potentials for growth in africa are and will continue to be big until
africa really fills up the space that it deserves in terms of its share of the
market said rifai
greece forces europe to confront economic united states
brussels jan afp
there no such thing as the united states of europe but are the continent
national leaders beginning to wonder if there might not have to be to avoid
another greek debt crisis
when the countries that make up the european union gather next month to shape
common economic planning for the next decade the strains athens has placed on
its core currency could yet find far reaching ramifications
certainly allowing brussels to poke its nose into national statistical
reporting as is being mooted is unlikely to be the last direct consequence
of greek profligacy for eu wide governance
while home to half billion people and with the world biggest tariff free
market bigger than the united states or china europe economic
integration remains unfinished principally held back by an instinct for
political disintegration
yet suddenly the risk of wayward peripheral members of the club toppling the
entire house of cards appears very real to those at the heart of the brussels
enterprise and the talk on february will be of lessons to be learnt fast
let us be clear in the past some national politicians have resisted stronger
mechanisms of governance in brussels jose manuel barroso who heads the
european commission the body that drafts and enforces eu laws said last week
hope that all eu national governments will now recognise the need for
full ownership of europe and for truly coordinated and coherent action in
economic policy he said referring to new strategic framework
with surveillance reach growing and the debate moving into the area of political
sanctions being applied by over arching brussels bureaucrats europe is making
power grab for the purse strings of the member states that fund it
it not new but greece easily represents turning point in the history of
monetary union which was the creation of the shared euro currency says
royal bank of scotland economist jacques cailloux
this is an unprecedented situation testing the system itself cailloux
underlined in reference to sudden sharp upward revision of deficit levels by
athens when its new government came in late last year
europe responses will shape budgetary coordination for decades to come he
added
barroso commission will finally be able to implement new five year mandate
the day before national leaders assemble in brussels
obtaining the right to audit member states is first step towards much
more centralised system of budgetary coordination explained cailloux
dubious markets are having none of greece promises to fill its budgetary black
hole itself indeed athens now has to offer more than three times as much as
germany to attract international lending
the problem as ever is one of the transfer of sovereignty from national
capitals to brussels belgium finance minister didier reynders said on friday
and yet the need to come up with more efficient organisation across the
bloc means he for one is pushing for greater integration of our political
economies to reflect that of its monetary pillar the european central bank
while one high ranking diplomat expressed agreement with stated spanish desires
to strengthen economic governance at least across the countries that share
the euro fierce obstacles not least london remain
because not everyone is on the same page to begin with we will adopt new
economic strategy europe to replace our lisbon strategy and that one
won work either the diplomat said cynically
politically we are still very long way off warned analyst sylvain broyer
of natixis
obama plan will unlikely trouble asia banks analysts
hong kong jan afp
plans by us president barack obama to curb risk taking by banks are unlikely to
adversely affect asia risk averse financial institutions analysts said
the proposed measures which aim to roll back corporate excesses and limit
dangerous risk taking on wall street could even be beneficial to asia as us
banks may have to move their hedge fund businesses to the region they said
obama plan described as the largest regulatory crackdown on us financial
institutions since the would ban the banks from using taxpayers money to
engage in proprietary trading or operating hedge funds and private equity funds
his announcement thursday sent shockwaves across asian and european stock
markets as investors worried that it would trigger domino effect among
financial regulators worldwide and affect bank earnings
but banking experts in the region dismissed the market falls as kneejerk
reaction
while banks in britain and europe are studying obama proposals to see if they
should head the same way analysts said the resilience demonstrated by asian
banks during the financial crisis proved it was unnecessary for regulators to
tighten the reins
shane oliver an economist with australia amp capital investors said it was
unlikely the regulation of asian banks would be beefed up
asian banks didn run into the sort of trouble that the us ran into through
this crisis and it unlikely that we ll see radical regulatory change across
asia he said
there no need for asia regulators to be heavy handed in the way that
president obama is
daniel tabbush head of regional banks research for hong kong based brokerage
clsa said except for banking giant hsbc which has major presence in the us
he did not see any banks in asia being threatened by obama proposals
spokeswoman for hsbc asia pacific headquarters in hong kong said the bank
would not comment on the proposals until more details are unveiled
shinichi ina credit suisse analyst in japan said that the plan if passed by
the us congress would likely be limited to operations in the united states
for it to take effect in europe or japan you have to ask cooperation from
regulators there and engineer comprehensive regulation scheme he said
although asia financial institutions did not escape the worldwide financial
crisis completely unscathed their losses were dwarfed by those suffered by
their western peers thanks at least partly to lessons learned from the asian
financial crisis of which left the region with more prudent investment
approach
most of the asian banks are commercial with relatively small investment banking
services and very little proprietary trading according to billy mak associate
professor of finance at hong kong baptist university
and unlike many central banks in the west countries like india and china
already have liquidity requirement in place he said
some experts believe that the region major financial centres such as hong
kong and singapore could gain from obama proposals by inviting wall street
banks to set up hedge fund and private equity operations in their cities
don underestimate singapore it is extremely aggressive in luring overseas
hedge fund businesses chan yan chong mba programme director of city
university in hong kong told afp
the proposed changes could also mean that developing countries would find it
easier to borrow from the west
as us banks will be forced to be less speculative and return to their core
business which is lending so liquidity will eventually be better for
indonesia said fauzi ichsan standard chartered bank chief economist in
indonesia
it ll be easier for indonesian banks to borrow money from us banks or
international banks the regulations will help the financial markets here to
become more stable
debt worries erode euro
paris jan afp
the crippling debt and shaky financial credibility undermining greece and some
of its partners on financial markets threaten the cohesion of the eurozone and
the euro as well analysts warn
anxious investors surveying the dark clouds looming over greek and portuguese
finances as well as lacklustre growth prospects for the eurozone as whole
have begun to shun the single currency for the safe haven dollar
adding to the downward pressure have been fears that china will take steps to
cool its sizzling economy curbing demand for currencies such as the euro
seen as riskier bet than the us unit
due to the uncertain economic outlook in europe markets are in no mood to buy
the euro said hachijuni bank strategist masatsugu miyata
although the united states has its own problems at least it is in control of
its fiscal policies relative to europe he added
the euro by the end of last week was being traded at dollars with analysts
at capital economics seeing the single currency plunging to dollars by the
end of the year
the euro in early december had been trading close to dollars
until recently the financial turmoil roiling greece and the failure of its
deficit reduction plans to impress markets have been seen principally raising
questions about cohesion of policies in the eurozone where ever greater
convergence is supposed to be the common target
the fear is that if greece is ultimately abandoned by its partners the country
despite its protestations to the contrary might decide to leave the
eurozone encouraging other weaker members to consider the same step
analysts at deutsche bank have identified greece portugal spain and ireland as
peripheral eurozone members saddled with huge debts and where economic
vitality is destined to lag behind core members such as france and germany
joining the eurozone has meant that they no longer control their own interest
and exchange rates having turned that responsibility over to the european
central bank
dissatisfaction with the single monetary policy could start to grow in the
peripherals by the end of next year making the prospect of exiting monetary
unit more tempting deutsche bank economists said
but they are quick to add that such step is unlikely as the transition costs
of such breakway would be huge and that the medium term relief brought about
by their independent strategy would be negligible
starker warning comes from hans george fabritius member of the board of the
german central bank who said that if greece did not act promptly to get its
budget problems under control the discussion of european bailout will grow in
vehemence and take on its own dynamic according to the text of recent speech
quoted by bank of new york mellon currency research
but the precedent which would result would hurt the credibility of the euro in
the remaining countries and shake the foundations of the currency union
portugal too is cause for concern
the international monetary fund last week told portugal which like greece is
grappling with substantial debt and public deficit it was critical that it
restore order to its public finances
added note from commerzbank unless radical reforms are made the country is
threatening to fall further and further behind economically and so portugal
public finances could get under even stronger pressure
investor unease about the fate of the eurozone is now making itself felt on the
currency market where according to jennifer mckeown of capital economics the
euro is set to weaken over the coming year
she said greece troubles have served as reminder of the difficulty of
running single currency area perhaps affecting the euro appeal as reserve
currency
she added that near term growth prospects also favored the dollar at the expense
of the euro
while current data suggests that the us economy expanded by around percent
in the fourth quarter the german economy the eurozone biggest was
likely to have stagnated
as the us recovery gains momentum then the euro is likely to suffer she
said notably as eurozone interest rates were expected to remain low in the face
of uncertain growth trends
surging us rebound by contrast could prompt the us federal reserve to raise
its rates thereby adding to the attractiveness of the dollar
but slide in the euro to around dollars would not necessarily be bad
news for the euro region according to mckeown as the weaker unit could make
eurozone exports cheaper and more competitive
britain to exit recession but faces bleak recovery economists
london jan afp
an end to britain longest recession on record will likely be confirmed this
week but recovery for the debt ridden nation facing an election this year
will be far from smooth economists warned
the office for national statistics will on tuesday publish data expected to
reveal that britain exited recession in the fourth quarter of analysts
have widely forecast
return to growth between october and december last year after six quarters of
negative output will see britain following all other major economies out of
recession economists predict growth of percent in the fourth quarter
however the future for the british and wider global economy is far from rosy
with the imf and the united nations recently warning of possible renewed or
double dip recession this year
those worries have been heightened in europe where several nations notably
greece and portugal are struggling to cope with soaring public debt
it definitely worth pointing out that even if we do exit recession the hard
work will only just be beginning said colin ellis an economist at daiwa
capital markets europe
shrinking the massive budget deficit getting private sector employment growing
and generating genuine wage growth will be big challenges over the next few
years
ellis also told afp there is risk of double dip recession during
british state borrowing worsened to record deficit in december official data
revealed last thursday sparking speculation about public spending cuts and
taxation hikes in the months ahead
britain has borrowed billion pounds billion euros billion
dollars in its current financial year which began in april compared with
billion pounds recorded at the same stage of last year
the government meanwhile predicts that it will have to borrow record
billion pounds during
the state of britain troubled economy has become the key battle ground ahead
of general election due by june and which is likely to see prime minister
gordon brown labour party defeated by the main opposition conservatives
according to recent polls
whichever party wins power britain faces decade of economic pain experts
warned
the uk economy has moved out of decade of debt and into decade of painful
readjustment analysts at financial group ernst and young warned in key
report published earlier this month
after years of relying on domestic spending and borrowing the economy now needs
to rebalance towards saving and exporting or risk stagnating said the study
by the group independent treasury economic model item club
gross domestic product gdp will meanwhile struggle to reach percent this
year they said
the uk is facing another challenging year added chief economic adviser peter
spencer
we are no longer in position to borrow the massive debts that we racked up
in the last decade now need to be repaid the consumer is completely cashed out
with consumer spending likely to increase by just percent this year
the economy which is also struggling with high unemployment caused by the
financial crisis has contracted for six quarters in row its longest
recession since records began in
finance minister alistair darling recently admitted that britain recession
would be deeper than thought with the economy predicted to have shrunk
percent in compared with prior official estimate of percent
the nation economy is expected to grow by percent in darling
added matching his previous forecast
german taste for budget food worries producers
berlin jan afp
the french have love affair with food for the italians good meal is part of
their cultural dna and even the british are increasingly particular about what
passes their stiff upper lips
but for germans food is fuel they eat to live not the other way around with
one in two shoppers getting two thirds of what they eat by stuffing their
trolleys in no frills discounters much more than many other europeans
the flip side of this phenomenon is that germany food industry is being
squeezed hard and if comments at the world largest agricultural fair in
