July 9, 2007  nº 512  -  Vol. 5  
 

"Live bad, go green! Imagine if you could offset the whole Ten Commandements. Imagine, every time you thought you had violated one of the Ten Commandements, or you wanted to violate of them but did not want to feel guilty about it, you could buy carbon credits to offset your sins.”

Thomas Friedman

Insider's view: see how local concerns shape up the global world. Read the daily press review in Migalhas International

• Top News

Lawmakers to work on shutting down Guantanamo facility

Members of Congress plan to push measures to stop funding for the Guantanamo Bay detention center and grant new legal rights to detainees when Congress returns this week. "As long as Guantanamo stays open, it undermines our defining principles as a nation of equal justice under law," said Rep Jim Moran, D-Va., author of a funding proposal that would give the Bush administration six months to close the Cuban facility. The Bush administration wants to close the 51/2-year-old camp if authorities can keep holding dangerous detainees who "should never be released" or put on trial, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said June 29.Moving to salvage the offshore trial system for Guantanamo detainees, the Bush administration created a panel to hear Defense Department appeals. But the panel's membership and draft rules are likely to prompt challenges from defense lawyers, further hobbling the system.

Do photos of suspects break law?

In era of global news, UK journalists chafe at restrictions on coverage.  Last week, pictures of Mohammed Asha, who allegedly plotted to bomb a London nightclub and the Glasgow airport, were splashed across the front pages of British newspapers. According to the British police, the photos never should have appeared. Britain has  some of the tightest reporting restrictions in the Western world, limiting the ability of news organizations to publish pictures or articles about the subjects of criminal investigations. The rules are intended to ensure fair trials by keeping potentially prejudicial information out of the hands of would-be-jurors. Critics say the restrictions seem increasingly out of step in an era of around-the-clock , global news flows, when people can turn to the Internet or other sources of unfiltered  information on high-profile stories like terrorism.

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• MiMIC Journal

China weighs image damage from food safety scares

China risks damaging its global credibility if it does not tackle its food and drug quality problems, an official newspaper said on Monday in a rare admission amid a series of health scares over tainted products. China's safety failings have drawn world attention since mislabeled chemical exports were found in cough syrup in Panama and pet food in the United States. There have been a series of recalls and bans on items ranging from toys to toothpaste. Dealing with these problems was being hampered by indolent and irresponsible officials and companies, admitted administration head Shao Mingli.

• Brief News

China's new concern: exploding phones

Chinese regulators, in the world’s biggest electronics manufacturing center, said they have found moblle phone batteries for Motorola and Nokia models that failed safety tests and were prone to explode under certain conditions. It is unclear whether any of the substandard and hazardous batteries entered the export market. The phone makers immediately demied links to the distributors of the problem batteries, suggesting that they were counterfeit.

An entente reached on EADS

In an apparent setback for French president Sarkozy, who had been seelking to expand French influence at EADS, the main private shareholders at the aeronautics and military group - and parent company of Airbus - have reached a deal that would see a German, likely Thomas Enders, to become the sole president and CEO. The French Louis Gallois would remain at the helm of Airbus to oversee the restructuring of the troubled aircraft maker.

Investment grade that isn’t

Never have investors been more eager to put up money to be lent to poor corporate credits. That fact, in part a result of financial alchemy that allows those who put up   cash to think they have investment-grade investments, helps to explain the boom in leverage buy-outs. In the last quarter, the total value of the leveraged loans in the US rose to a record $204 billion. Lending in other markets also reached peaks. As June ended, the leveraged loan market began to look a little nervous as some deals were postponed and spreads - the difference in what is charged on such loans relative to the rates banks themselves pay -  rose slightly. The role of leveraged buyouts in the market is greater than ever before: 42% of the second quarter loans found such buyouts, largely by private equity firms. There was a time when such loans were mostly made by banks, and syndicated to other banks if the risk were transferred at all. But now most such loans are financed through collateralized loan obligations, known as CLO’s. Most of the money raised by CLO’s is borrowed in securities rated investment-grade, even though the loan they are funding are decidedly not investment-grade. This is because the higher-rated tranches have first call on loan repayments, and thus would not suffer unless many of the loans went into default. Defaults have not been a problem in this cycle; the default rate has fallen to historic lows (0.16%). There has been a surge o lending in what bankers call ‘covenant-lite’ loans in 2007. That means that there are no loan covenants that require the borrower to maintain specific financial ratios, as used to be standard, or to consult with their previous lenders.

Euro interest rates still at 4%

The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept eurozone interest rates on hold at 4% following its latest meeting. After the announcement, the euro reached historic highs against the yen at 167.3, while one euro bought $1.363, up from $1.361 on Wednesday and not far off the all-time high of $1.368, set on 27 April.

Microsoft braces to fix glitch in Xbox

In what may be one of the costlier consumer warranty repairs in history, Microsoft announced that it would spend up to $1.15 billion to fi failing Xbox 360 game machine consoles. The size of the anticipated repair bill suggests that a third to as many as a half of the machines are flawed.

Argentine minister in cash probe

Argentina's economy minister has acknowledged storing $64,000 (47,000 euros) in her office bathroom, the subject of a judicial inquiry. Felisa Miceli told Argentine media that she had made a "naive" mistake, but strongly denied committing any crime. Miceli said the cash had been lent to her by her brother to buy a house. The case has caused embarrassment for the government in Argentina, where tax evasion is common and officials are often suspected of corruption.

Sarkozy says 'Non' to mass pardons

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has refused to pardon prisoners on Bastille Day - breaking with a traditional gesture on the 14 July holiday. Sarkozy told French media he objected to using his powers of pardon as a way to relieve overcrowded jails. Last July, Chirac, freed some 3,500 inmates in a Bastille Day amnesty. French prisons house about 61,000 prisoners but were built to accommodate only 50,000.

Comedy of errors; battling global drug smugglers in a country without a prison 

How can you hope to battle organized, rich and ruthless international drugs gangs when there is not even a proper prison in the country? This is the problem faced by the authorities in Guinea-Bissau, which some fear could be on its way to becoming Africa's first "narco-state". Guinea-Bissau is the most glaring example of the increasing use of West Africa by Latin American cocaine traffickers to get their wares into Europe. The country is wracked by poverty, coups, political unrest and has a coastline full of uninhabited islands, creeks and swamps, providing the perfect cover for smugglers.

Anger over business 'terror list'

The US financial regulator has angered some of the world's largest firms by highlighting their links to countries designated as state sponsors of terror.

The SEC has listed firms on its website with business connections to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. It says this will allow investors to make more informed choices about where they put their money. But businesses say that the list is ill-conceived and misleading. Siemens, BP, Unilever, HSBC, Nokia and Benetton are among the businesses that have been "named and shamed" on the SEC's website. Companies were added to the list if any of the offending nations appeared in their annual report. The list could needlessly discourage international firms from listing their securities in the US. The SEC defended the scheme saying that it allowed greater disclosure about the dealings of businesses. 

Infosys gains on 'Capgemini bid'

Shares in Paris-based consultancy Capgemini and Indian software firm Infosys Technologies have jumped on reports of a possible merger. Infosys declined to comment on "market speculation" that it planned to bid for the European group, bolstering its position in the technology market. But investors chased the Bangalore firm's shares up 2.5% in India. Shares in Capgemini rose 4.61% in Europe. A tie-up would help Infosys prepare for an outsourcing slowdown, analysts said. Infosys has grown exponentially over the past five years, capitalizing on the demand for IT outsourcing from India's large and well-trained English-speaking engineering workforce, whose wages are on average a fifth of those in the West.

Garnier, Adecco fined for racism

The French cosmetics company, Garnier, and Swiss employment agency Adecco have been found guilty of carrying out a racist recruitment campaign in 2000. A French appeals court overturned an earlier acquittal and ruled both companies had colluded to find only white women to sell make-up in Paris. They were fined 30,000 euros ($40,865) and a former Adecco employee was given a three-month suspended jail sentence. Garnier's parent company, L'Oreal, said it was not racist and would appeal.

Adecco, the world's biggest employment agency, said it was astonished by the ruling and was considering an appeal. The Paris Appeal Court found that Adecco had complied with what prosecutors said were coded instructions from Garnier to find only young, white women for its counters in the capital.

U.S. Eyes U.K.'s Surveillance Cameras

London's closed-circuit television system was of significant benefit in tracking bombing suspects last week. Some U.S. police officials hope to adopt similar systems, but they must overcome concerns about privacy and other abuses.

Court Limits Lawsuits Over Government Surveillance

A federal appeals court ruled that only people who can demonstrate that they've been spied on have the right to sue. But the records of who has been wiretapped are top secret, making it unlikely that anyone could rightfully file a lawsuit.

Gore Brings Global Warming Crisis to the Stage

Former Vice President Al Gore discusses one of his latest projects — Live Earth, a 24-hour, seven-continent concert series that is aimed at raising awareness of potential solutions to global warming.

Fund Advisers Deregister

A year after a U.S. appeals court invalidated a requirement that hedge-fund advisers register with the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulators say hundreds of advisers have withdrawn from registration. Since June 2006, when the rule was struck down, 525 advisers had withdrawn or canceled their registrations, according to the SEC. Taking into account advisers who have since registered with the agency, that leaves the SEC with 1,977 registered hedge-fund advisers, down from 2,479 as of September 2006, just after the SEC decided not to appeal the court's ruling. The SEC approved the registration rule in late 2004 as fast growth in hedge funds spurred concern that more unsophisticated investors were garnering exposure to them through pension plans and other investments. The agency required advisers, who administer the funds, to annually report details such as the names of their funds, their location and assets under management, and to open their books to routine SEC inspection. The court ruled, however, that the SEC's requirement that that hedge-fund advisers with more than 15 "clients" register with the agency was arbitrary and that it had altered its longstanding definition of hedge-fund clients.

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• Weekly magazine review

L’Express

Beurs, blacks… la nouvelle vague.

Newsweek

Across the divide. How Barrack Obama is shaking up old assumptions about wht it means to be black and white in America. Newsweek Poll: Americans ready for black president.

Time

How We Get Addicted. Humans have a habit of getting hooked on harmful things. New research reveals why, and opens the door to a cure.

The Economist

On the cover: Private equity has come in for much political criticism, but its more serious problems are financial.

Business Week

Annual Retirement Guide  Advice on investments, health care, and insurance so you can step off the treadmill cover image:  "I'm Outta Here!" 

Der Spiegel

Der Preis der Angst
Wie der Terrorismus den Rechtsstaat in Bedrängnis bringt.

(1) Der internationale Terrorismus verändert den Rechtsstaat

(2) Bundesinnenminister Wolfgang Schäuble über die Gefährdung Deutschlands und seine Pläne, der Terrorgefahr zu begegnen.

• Daily Press Review

Nigeria kidnappers free UK girl
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England

Live up to your promises or lose recent gains, Kabila urged
CongoPlanet.com, Independent online news aggregator

Fifa Rules On Alex Amoako
GhanaWeb, Online news portal, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians
Human Rights Watch (Africa), International news press releases

Activist raped after criticising Mugabe
iafrica, Online news portal, Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town man to lead SAA lawsuit
Independent Online, News portal, Cape Town, South Africa

South African sports journalist dies in car crash
Mail & Guardian Online, Liberal, Johannesburg, South Africa

Najwa's mom struggles to cope
News24.com, Online news portal, Cape Town, South Africa

Brazilian soccer player dies in car accident
Brazil Sun, Independent online news aggregator

Shia group claims JFK suspect setup by FBI
Caribbean News Portal, Online news aggregator

Brazil: Investigate Deaths in Rio Police Operation
Human Rights Watch (Americas), International news press releases

Q&A: Science Ignores AIDS in Women, Says Nobel Nominee
IPS Latin America, International cooperative of journalists, Rome, Italy

'Let's talk issues' - Youths say politicians exploiting'dunce' electors
Jamaica Gleaner, Independent daily, Kingston, Jamaica

Peru: Week in Review, Sunday July 8
Living in Peru, News portal, Lima, Peru

Missing staple lets Australian murderers appeal
The Globe and Mail, Centrist daily, Toronto, Canada

Amien Rais: don't expect much from interpellation on Iran
Antara News, News agency, Jakarta, Indonesia

Bangladesh election commission to finalize political reform proposals after consulting political parties
Bangladesh Journal, Independent news portal

Import Cars Get Cheaper as Domestic Car Prices Soar
Chosun Ilbo, Conservative daily, Seoul, South Korea

Haneef treated unfairly, says lawyer
India Express, News portal, Mumbai, India

Boy trampled to death at temple
India Times, Conservative daily, New Delhi, India

History talk on chambers of commerce, their role
Malaysian Star, Online news portal, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Missing staple lets Australian murderers appeal
New Zealand Herald, Conservative daily, Auckland, New Zealand

Sri Lankan officer sentenced to death for helping rebels
People's Daily Online, English-language, Beijing, China

Family tragedy: no to psych help
Sydney Morning Herald, Centrist daily, Sydney, Australia

New angles being probed
The Hindu, Left-leaning daily, Chennai, India

Nigeria kidnappers free UK girl
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England

Cork drugs inquiry: Detention periods extended
BreakingNews.ie, Online news portal, Cork, Ireland

Tories: 'We'll stand up for marriage'
Daily Mail, Conservative daily, London, England

AllPay, Ukash launch online cash payments in Poland
DMeurope, Online news portal, Amsterdam, Netherlands

I cannot forgive my son’s killer
icLiverpool, Online news portal, Liverpool, England

After terror plot, Scotland asks Why us?
International Herald Tribune, Independent daily, Paris, France

Tories lose two councillors in a week
Isle of Wight County Press, Independent daily, Isle of Wight, England

Corrie star in AWOL probe
Manchester Online, Independent daily, Manchester, England

Police hunt man following car crash
News & Star, Independent daily, Carlisle, England

Second Kwik Save closure
North-West Evening Mail, Independent daily, Cumbria, England

'Fare-dodging' can be fun, even when you have a ticket
Radio Prague, Online news portal, Prague, Czech Republic

Kidnapped British Girl Freed In Nigeria
Sky News, Independent newscaster, Middlesex, England

Measuring the Terrorist Threat:  Pakistan May Return Detained Islamists to Germany
Spiegel International, Liberal newsmagazine, Hamburg, Germany

Campbell: cabinet had severe doubts on Iraq
The Guardian, Liberal daily, London, England

Chelsea strike a deal for Malouda
The Irish Times, Centrist daily, Dublin, Ireland

China probes Chelsea Clinton weight loss patch
The Scotsman, Moderate daily, Edinburgh, Scotland

Mugger won 4m on lottery
The Sun, Conservative tabloid, London, England

New UK terror threat from foreign students
The Telegraph, Conservative daily, London, England

Clarkson’s tyres scarred fragile African salt plains
Times Online, Conservative daily, London, England

Histadrut Cuts Ties with British Union
Arutz Sheva, Online, right-wing, Tel Aviv, Israel

U.K. Terror Chief Warns of 15-Year Fight
Asharq Al-Awsat, Pan-Arab daily, London, England

Troops poised for full assault on Red Mosque
Gulf News, Independent daily, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dutch gov't warns company to stop work on W. Bank fence
Haaretz, Liberal daily, Tel Aviv, Israel

POLITICS-US:  Bush Shielding of Musharraf Policy at Risk
IPS Middle East, International cooperative of journalists, Rome, Italy

British Girl Released in Nigeria
Nahamet, Online news portal, Beirut, Lebanon

Arab League envoys to make landmark visit to Israel
The Daily Star, Independent daily, Beirut, Lebanon

Al-Qaeda resurges in Yemen, authorities call for help
Yemen Times, Independent weekly, Sana'a, Yemen

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