Luzhkov's wife in $430 mln fraud scandal

After 18 years at the helm of a megapolis, the family fortunes of former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov are under scrutiny.

Police raided the offices of Luzhkov's wife Yelena Baturina's development company Inteko, in connection with a 430 million dollar fraud.

Baturina herself has dismissed the allegations. Prime Time's Ivor Bennett is here with more on the former mayor's fortunes..

Orphanage fire kills 10 children in Estonia

Yahoo, Feb. 20, 2011

TALLINN, Estonia – An Estonian rescue service spokesman says a fire has raced through an orphanage for disabled children, killing 10 of them.

Viktor Saaremets, a spokesman for the Western Estonia Rescue Services Center, says the fire engulfed the building in the coastal town of Haapsalu in western Estonia.He says there were 37 children and 9 adults in the building.

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Iceland president forces new Icesave referendum

Reuters, REYKJAVIK | Sun Feb 20, 2011 

(Reuters) - Iceland's president on Sunday triggered a referendum on an updated plan to pay $5 billion to Britain and Netherlands for debts incurred from the financial crisis, creating new uncertainty over the island's economic recovery.

Iceland, whose economy and financial system crashed in late 2008, owes the money to Britain and the Netherlands because both countries bailed out domestic savers who lost money in online "Icesave" accounts run by a failed Icelandic bank.

It is the second time President Olafur Grimsson has vetoed an Icesave repayment bill. In the last referendum, a big majority of the country's roughly 200,000 voters threw out an earlier payment plan, sending negotiations between the three countries back to square one and delaying economic recovery.

Grimsson said that the current parliament was the same as that which had approved the original Icesave deal and that, since then, it had not received a new mandate from the people to decide the issue alone.

He acknowledged that the new repayment terms thrashed out between Iceland, Britain the Netherlands over months of negotiation were better than the first deal.

However, he said it was fundamental that "the people exercised legislative power in the Icesave dispute."

"I have, therefore, decided in accordance with Article 26 of the constitution, to refer the new bill to a referendum."

The Dutch government said the time had passed for talks over Iceland's debts.

"We have passed the stage of negotiations, but it is not up to us how this situation in Iceland will advance. We are sure the Icelandic government will consider the new situation and we hope to hear from them soon," Dutch Finance Ministry spokesman Niels Redeker said.

Iceland's parliament approved the latest plan earlier this week and Grimsson said a referendum would be held as soon as possible.

Resolving the Icesave dispute has long been seen as necessary to patching up the country's relations abroad -- talks began last year to join the European Union -- and getting the economy back on its feet.

The island's financial meltdown caused the crown currency to collapse and sent the economy into a tailspin.

The country had to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund and others. Strict capital controls were put in place to prevent an outflow of funds, keeping Iceland cut off from international capital markets.

The government desperately wants to conclude the matter, but there is deep resentment on the island about the plan.

(Reporting by Omar Valdimarsson, writing by Simon Johnson, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

LIBYAN LEADER MUST END SPIRALLING KILLINGS

Amnesty International, 20 February 2011

Amnesty International today called on Libyan leader Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi to immediately rein in his security forces amid reports of machine guns and other weapons being used against protestors and a spiralling death toll in Benghazi, Misratah and other cities.

Colonel al-Gaddafi has been the de facto leader of
Libya since 1969 (AP GraphicsBank)

“Forces loyal to Colonel al-Gaddafi are using unwarranted lethal force against protestors calling for change and the result is a wholly predictable one,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Large numbers of people are being killed and the situation is escalating alarmingly. More than one hundred have been killed so far”

“It looks like Libya’s leader may have ordered his forces to put down the protests virtually at any cost, and that cost is being paid in the lives of Libyans.”

Amnesty International researchers have been told by eyewitnesses, lawyers and medical staff in Benghazi that at least 34 people were shot with live ammunition last Friday, mostly with bullet wounds to the head, chest and neck. Dozens more people were injured.

On Saturday, security forces are reported to have opened fire with live ammunition on thousands of mourners who gathered outside a Revolutionary Guards building on their way back from the cemetery and chanted anti-government slogans and denounced the Guards as “killers”, demanding that they leave Benghazi. Twenty people are reported to have been killed. Many others who were injured were evacuated to al-Jala hospital and other Benghazi hospitals.

Sources at al-Jala hospital said most of the victims had been shot in the head, chest or neck, suggesting that the security forces had intended to kill them. Doctors said they were struggling to cope and running out of blood supplies and medicines to treat the wounded.

Other protestors were reportedly killed when security forces opened fire on hundreds of people holding a sit-in in front of Benghazi's North Court. Those present included lawyers, doctors and members of the Abu Salim families organising committee, set up by relatives of prisoners killed in the prison by Colonel al-Gaddafi’s forces in 1996, for which no one has ever been held to account. More than a dozen others were reportedly gunned down in Misratah on Saturday, the first day of protests there,

“The latest reports speak of Libyans in Benghazi being shot down with machine guns and other weapons by tough new troops, including possibly foreign mercenaries, who have been ferried in to suppress the protests,” said Malcolm Smart.

“Colonel al-Gaddafi must immediately put a stop to this bloodshed. He and the others directing the crackdown on protesters, and anyone else involved in abuses, must know that they will be held to account.”

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The killing of protesters in Benghazi, Libya with open gun shot, 19.02.2011 (Video)

Belarus solution requires more than sanctions

RT, 19 February, 2011

Belarus' opposition will be "bashed in the head" unless it stops destabilizing the country, said Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko. While opposition activists are being sentenced to jail, the country is in bad need of an opposition leader.

Lukashenko’s comment comes just days after the first person involved in last year’s mass protests in Minsk, Vasily Parfenkov, was sentenced to four years in jail. Lukashenko seems more than serious in his promise to punish the organizers of the December unrests.

The current opposition in Belarus is very divided and too diverse to become a substantial political force in the country, argues Dmitry Babich, a political analyst from Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

“There are Belarusian nationalists who actually represent a tiny minority of the population, there are people who oppose Lukashenko on purely democratic grounds, there are communists – all sorts of people,” said Babich.

As a result, the opposition in Belarus has so far failed to work out a common message to the electorate or to agree upon a reforms package or foreign policy, says Babich.

Foreign policy is a huge factor in building proper opposition in Belarus, as the opposition is also further divided into pro-Russian and pro-European politicians. An ideal candidate to head the opposition and suit everyone will be very hard to find, says Babich, especially taking into consideration the EU’s position.

“If the European Union and the United States drop their simplistic view of the post-Soviet space – they still view Russia as the root of all evil there – if they drop this simplistic view, I think, it will be possible to find a person who would be acceptable for all – Moscow, Brussels and Washington,” Babich declared.

The current economic and political sanctions adopted by the EU will neither work properly nor contribute much to the democratic process in Belarus, argues Babich. Minsk will place a bigger emphasis on relations with Moscow, as Russia is Belarus’ most prominent trade partner.

“Since there is always a possibility of liaisoning with the European Union via Russia, there can be no real isolation of Belarus. Belarus has never been completely isolated from the outside world. It is not North Korea, it is not Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, it is a much more peaceful and civilized country,” concluded Babich, calling on the EU to practice openness rather than sanctions.

In December 2010, thousands of opposition activists took to the streets of Minsk as the polls closed in the country's presidential election. Over 600 protesters were arrested, and more than 20, including several presidential candidates, are facing trials. The EU has sanctioned Belarus, restricting its contacts with Minsk top officials and banning them from its territory.

According to the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs journal, Fyodor Lukyanov, Belarus opposition is still too weak to stand up to Aleksandr Lukashenko’s rule.

“Opposition in Belarus is not serious enough to really challenge his rule,” he said. “Even in the case of fair and free elections, I am afraid that Lukashenko would win, not by as much but he would do… Opposition is weak, Lukashenko is nervous.”

Bilbao: New Basque party Sortu backed by marchers

BBC News, 20 February 2011

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Thousands of people have rallied in the Basque city of Bilbao in northern Spain to demand the legalisation of a new separatist party called Sortu.

Sortu's backers say they reject
the use of violence

Its backers are members of the political wing of the Basque militant group Eta.

Sortu's predecessor Batasuna was banned in 2003 by Spanish courts.

Eta has killed more than 800 people, many of them Spanish police officers, in fighting for an independent Basque state over the past four decades.

Sortu's backers say they now reject the use of violence and are committed to fighting for independence through purely political means.

Correspondents say many Spaniards are unconvinced, saying it is a tactical and temporary ploy forced on ETA because it is now weaker than ever.

But in Bilbao, they add, there is a sense this marks a significant step on the path to a lasting peace.

Bahrain royal family orders army to turn on the people

Bahrain's ruling family has defied mounting international criticism by ordering the army to turn on its people for the first time since pro-reform demonstrations erupted five days ago.

The Telegraph, by Adrian Blomfield in Manama 18 Feb 2011

Protesters run from a cloud of teargas during a clash with
Bahraini security forces near the Pearl roundabout Photo: GETTY

As protesters attempted to converge on Pearl Roundabout, a landmark in the capital Manama that has become the principal rallying point of the uprising, soldiers stationed in a nearby skyscraper opened fire.

Since they took to the streets, Bahrain's protesters have come to expect violence and even death at the hands of the kingdom's security forces. At least five people were killed before yesterday's protests.

But this was on a different scale of magnitude.

As they drew near, they were met first with tear gas and then with bursts of live ammunition.

Many fled the first salvoes, scrambling down empty streets as the shots rang out behind them.

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As they ran, terror and disbelief flashed across their faces. One man shouted: "They are killing our people! They are killing our people."

Cowering behind a wall, a woman wept, her body shaking in fear.

But many refused to run, initially at least, determined to defy the violence being visited upon them. Some held their hands in the air and shouted "Peaceful! Peaceful!".

The shooting resumed. One man crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from his leg; nearby a second was also felled. A scream went up: "live ammunition!"

As security forces then began to fire anti-air craft guns over their heads and the air filled with tear gas, the protesters' will finally broke.

But even as they fled in headlong panic, a helicopter sprayed gunfire at them and more fell.

Paramedics from ambulances that had rushed to the scene darted forward to help the wounded, but they too were shot at. Several were detained and at least one ambulance was impounded.

Doctors at the nearby Salmaniyah hospital said they had received 32 wounded people, nine of whom were in a critical condition. There were unconfirmed reports of two deaths at Pearl Roundabout, but witnesses said the bodies had been seized by the army.

Those caught up in the violence were mourners, returning from funerals of three people killed before dawn the previous day when police opened fire on protesters, many of whom were asleep, in a successful bid to regain control of Pearl Roundabout.

Thousands thronged the body of Ali Ahmad al-Moumen as it was born aloft down the streets of Sitra, a poor Shia village near Manama.

Despite the violence, many said the death of Moumen and other protesters had only increased their determination to press ahead with the protests.

"The regime has failed to stop us," Abdulwahab Hussein, a senior Shia Muslim leader, told the crowd. "Their action shows that they are strong and we are weak."

Most of the protesters are members of Bahrain's long-marginalised Shia majority.

They say they are not demanding the abdication of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahrain's Sunni king, but they are calling for a constitutional monarchy that would treat the Shia fairly and make them equal subjects in his kingdom.

But they are demanding the resignation of his uncle Khalifa bin Sulman Al Khalifa, who has served as prime minister for 39 years.

During his rule, the protesters say, the Shia have been turned into second class citizens, deprived of jobs in the army, police force and government while Sunnis from abroad have been given Bahraini citizenship to alter the kingdom's demographic balance.

Government officials in Bahrain have warned that the Shia opposition is controlled by Iran, which seeks to use the kingdom to establish a foothold on the Arabian peninsula.

Protesters insist that they have no love for Iran and are only seeking justice for themselves.

Troops opened fire on demonstrators after the funerals
for protesters killed on Thursday

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King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa made the claims in a meeting
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Barclays bank forced to admit it paid just £113m in corporation tax in 2009

Admission stuns politicians and tax campaigners on the eve of a day of protests planned against high street banks

guardian.co.uk, Jill Treanor, Friday 18 February 2011

Barclays bank has admitted it paid just £113m in corporation tax in 2009.
Photograph: Paul Hackett/Reuters

Barclays Bank has been forced to admit it paid just £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009 – a year when it rang up a record £11.6bn of profits.

The admission stunned politicians and tax campaigners. It was revealed on the eve of a day of protests planned against the high street banks by activists from UK Uncut, a group set up five months ago to oppose government cuts and corporate tax avoidance.

The Labour MP Chuka Umunna, who lobbied Barclays' chief executive, Bob Diamond, to reveal the tax paid by the bank, described the figure – just 1% of its 2009 profits – as "shocking".

The current rate of corporation tax in the UK is 28%, although global banks such as Barclays – which has hundreds of overseas subsidiaries, including many in tax havens – do not generate all of their profits in their domestic market.

Max Lawson, of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign, said: "This is proof that banks live in a parallel universe to the rest of us, paying billions in bonuses and unhampered by the inconvenience of paying tax.

"If banks paid their fair share we could avoid the worst of the cuts and help those hit hardest by the financial crisis they did nothing to cause."

UK Uncut, which has also campaigned against Vodafone, Boots and Top Shop, intends to take its first national day of action against the banks on Saturday with protesters expected to bring more than 30 high street branches of Barclays to a standstill.

On Tuesday – when Barclays announced 2010 profits of £6.1bn and a 23% rise in average pay in its investment banking arm, Barclays Capital – the tax campaigners turned a London branch of the bank into a library.

The disclosure of the size of Barclays' corporation tax bill was made in a letter by Diamond to Umunna, who had asked the Barclays boss about the tax paid by the bank when he appeared before the Treasury select committee of MPs last month.

Diamond told the committee that Barclays paid £2bn in taxes to HM Revenue & Customs in 2009, but it is now clear that most of this is payroll taxes for employees. Umunna argued that the sum paid directly in corporation tax to the exchequer is the best reflection of a bank's contribution to the country.

At the time, Diamond said the period of "remorse and apology" for banks was over. Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat peer who resigned as the party's spokesman in the Lords, said : "I agree with Bob – the time for remorse is past, but what British taxpayers need now is behaviour change from Barclays. Our banks must pay their full whack in corporation tax , not derisory drops in the ocean like this."

Barclays' bill for corporation tax illustrates a dramatic fall in the banking industry's contribution to the exchequer. Before the financial crisis, the industry paid more than £10bn in corporation tax, but this had halved by 2009.

Treasury minister Lord Sassoon admitted this week, in response to a question by former City minister Lord Myners, that while the banks would pay around £20bn in tax in 2010-11 most of that total would be income tax and national insurance paid by employees which the banks hand over on their behalf.

Only 20%, said Sassoon, which would come from corporation tax.

Myners said: "The combination of tax avoidance strategies with subsidiary companies together with losses brought forward means that banks will be not be making a meaningful contribution to corporate tax for some years."

Diamond also confirmed to Umunna that the bank had 30 subsidiary companies in the Isle of Man, 38 in Jersey and 181 in the Cayman Islands but stressed that the bank was making efforts to liquidate some of these of operations in the crown dependencies.

With regards to the Cayman Islands, Diamond was insistent that the majority of these are subject to tax in the UK.

Barclays said it complied with tax laws in the UK and all the countries where it operates and that in 2010 it paid over £2.8bn in taxes in the UK and £6.1bn globally. The £2.8bn UK bill again includes payroll taxes.

The bank said: "The corporate tax affairs of an organisation with the global footprint of Barclays are complex and not reducible to simplistic comparisons. Any link between Barclays Group profits and the amount of tax paid to the UK government is inappropriate - there is no direct correlation between the two."

Umunna blamed the coalition for not being tough enough on banks, but Tories said the Barclays tax bill related to a period when Labour was in government.

A government spokesman said: "As a result of negotiations by this government, banks will pay less in bonuses, more in tax and lend more than they otherwise would have done this year."

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Turkish court jails 3 journalists

AP, Feb. 18, 2011

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court has jailed three journalists of a dissident news website pending trial on charges of links to an alleged network accused of plotting to topple the country's Islamic-rooted government.

Friday's court ruling involved Soner Yalcin, the owner of Odatv, and two of his colleagues, whose offices and homes were raided by police earlier this week. That caused U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone to express concern about media freedoms in Turkey.

The Turkish government criticized the ambassador for interfering in Turkey's internal affairs and claimed Turkey has more press freedoms than most countries, including the Unites States.

About 400 people, including journalists, academics and retired officers, already are on trial in the alleged plot, known as Ergenekon.

Belarus dissident Vasily Parfenkov jailed for protest

BBC News, 17 February 2011

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Belarus dissident Vasily Parfenkov has been jailed for four years after a mass protest against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Opposition activist Vasily Parfenkov (centre)
entered a cage for the court session in Minsk

Mr Parfenkov, 28, was convicted of breaking a window at the parliament building during the December unrest.

He had campaigned for opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyayev in the 19 December election and was the first activist to go on trial.

Five ex-candidates are among 42 people charged with inciting mass disorder.

Thousands of opposition activists gathered in central Minsk as the polls closed that day. They were later violently dispersed by riot police.

Mr Parfenkov told the judge that he attended the mass protest but did not smash any windows in the government building, the Belapan news agency reported from Minsk.

The prosecution alleged that he and others caused damage to the building amounting to $4,670 (3,440 euros, £2,900) and had asked for a six-year sentence.

Independent observers said election procedures were flawed.

Numerous searches

Hundreds of people were detained in the hours after the demonstration including opposition candidates Vladimir Neklyayev and Andrei Sannikov. Although Mr Neklyayev has been provisionally released under house arrest, Mr Sannikov is still being held.

The authorities' crackdown also involved numerous searches of activists' and journalists' homes, where computers and other items were seized.

In a separate development, the Belarusian justice ministry announced it had revoked the licences of four lawyers acting on behalf of the activists. The ministry said two of the lawyers had refused to continue defending Mr Sannikov's wife, journalist Irina Khalip, according to the Belpan news agency.

The family of Ms Khalip, who was among those arrested after the protests, said the two lawyers had pulled out of the case after coming under pressure from the authorities, the agency said.

The US and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Belarus over the arrests.

Mr Lukashenko and more than 150 other officials are barred from visiting the 27 EU countries, and a list of officials with assets frozen by the EU has been extended.

The EU had originally barred Mr Lukashenko from visiting in 2006, after the last presidential election, but suspended the ban two years later in an attempt to encourage reforms.

Mr Lukashenko has been in power in the ex-Soviet republic since 1994, using the security forces and censorship to stifle dissent.

Belgians mark 'no-government world record'

BBC News, 17 February 2011

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Belgians are staging a series of tongue-in-cheek events to mark what many there see as a new record - the world's longest wait for a government.

Some Belgians are calling the events a "chips revolution"

Belgium has been without a government for 249 days - longer than Iraq - as parties from the Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south remain split.

To mark the event, 249 people plan to strip naked in Ghent, and there will be free beer and chips in other cities.

Organisers hope the events would boost efforts to break the political impasse.

"We've had enough of political games," Kliment Kostadinov, one of the organisers, told the AFP.

"We must get a government fast and a reform of our institutions that is good for all Belgians."

Johan Vande Lanotte, who resigned recently from the post of king's mediator with the task of ending the crisis, urged Belgium's political leaders not to give up in finding a solution.

He told Belgian radio that he had achieved agreement on up to 70% of his text but the final step had proved difficult.

"If the gap is so great, the parties should take great steps. That is not easy. Often they don't realise how hard that is. You don't make major reform of the state without enormous pain in your own ranks," Mr Lanotte said.

A caretaker government has been running Belgium since last June's elections which failed to produce an outright winner.

Philippines and communist rebels in Oslo for talks

BBC News, 15 February 2011

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A senior communist has been captured shortly before the start of the first formal peace talks in five years.

The Philippine government, the Norwegian mediator and
communists representative are ready for talks

Allan Jimenez, a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was charged with murder and rebellion.

Negotiators from the CPP and the Manila government are in Oslo, Norway, for talks on economic and political reforms to help end the insurgency.

The CPP has been fighting for more than 40 years.

A ceasefire took effect as planned soon after the arrest of Mr Jimenez, which follows that of rebel leader Tirso Alcantara ("Ka Bart").

He was caught in early January while visiting his lover.

Several senior rebels have been granted immunity for the duration of the talks, and police said they would release Mr Jimenez if his name was on that list.

The talks will mark the first between communist
rebels and the government in several years

The last peace talks, under former President Gloria Arroyo, failed when the CPP and its armed wing the New People's Army (NPA) were placed on international lists of terrorist organisations.

The BBC's Philippines Kate McGeown in Manila says those hoping for more success this time point to the relatively untainted presidency of Benigno Aquino.

The exiled party leadership of Jose Maria Sison and Luis Jalandoni, based in the Netherlands, is ageing and thought by some analysts to want a deal before they die.

But the fate of political prisoners needs to be resolved. There have been hundreds of killings and disappearances of people accused of sympathising with the rebels.

Several confidence-building measures have taken place, alongside the arrests in the run-up to talks.

"We are looking forward to the negotiations and expect positive results," Mr Jalandoni told The Associated Press after arriving in Oslo on Monday.

Shell, Brazil's Cosan form $12 billion ethanol unit

Google / AFP

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Anglo-Dutch energy titan Shell and Brazilian sugar-production group Cosan said Monday they were forming a joint ethanol fuel venture with an estimated market value of $12 billion.

A peasant cuts sugar cane with his machete in the
Usina Bonfim farm plantation in Guariba

The new entity, to be called Raizen, would be one of the biggest players in the sector worldwide, employing around 40,000 people and producing over 2.2 billion liters (580 million gallons) of ethanol per year to Brazilian and international markets, the two companies said in a statement.

Raizen should be launched in the first half of this year, they said.

"Due to the size of its operations, Raizen will help sugarcane ethanol, a sustainable, clean and renewable source of energy, to consolidate itself worldwide and strengthen Brazil's position in the international biofuels trading business," said the venture's chief executive, Vasco Dias.

Raizen will have 23 mills able to crush 62 million tonnes of sugarcane per year to produce the ethanol. The mills will also output four million tonnes of sugar per year.

The venture will distribute some of the product in 4,500 service stations across Brazil, and through participation in distribution depots for aviation fuel in 54 airports.

The statement said the new company would have approximately $1.6 billion in cash inflow.

"We want to be even bigger," Dias said. "We want to be recognized globally for our excellence in the development, production and marketing of sustainable energy."

The European Commission gave the green light last month to form the new joint venture.

Brazil is the second-biggest producer of ethanol in the world, after the United States, and the biggest exporter of the biofuel.

It sustains a large domestic market using ethanol through the sales of cars whose engines can take either gasoline, ethanol or a mix of the two.

Eurozone agrees bail-out fund of 500bn euros

BBC News, 14 February 2011 

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Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to set up a permanent bail-out fund for the region of 500bn euros (£420bn; $673.2bn).

The fund, which will be called the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will replace the current 440bn euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

The EFSF was set up last year to provide support to eurozone countries.

The agreement comes a month ahead of expectations, and is one of many decisions to be made on the fund.

The new ESM will be part of a "comprehensive package" of measures European leaders are hoping to agree in late March to resolve the eurozone debt crisis that has overshadowed the region for the past year.

The chairman of eurozone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, told a news conference: "We've already agreed on the volume of the lending capacity of the ESM. We've agreed on the amount of 500bn euros, and this will be subject to regular revision."

The current EFSF, which was designed as a temporary facility to last until 2013, has a notional 440bn euros at its disposal but in reality can only lend out about 250bn euros because of the amount it has to keep back in order to be strong enough to keep its borrowing costs low.

Early days

Apart from the eurozone, the new ESM would also get cash from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and, possibly, from voluntary contributions from non-euro one European Union countries.These matters have not yet been discussed.

The Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Olli Rehn, said: "The unwritten understanding with the IMF is that there can be 50 cents to one euro that the Europeans have themselves contributed to such operations as we have for instance in the cases of Greece and Ireland."

That would imply a potential IMF contribution of 250bn euros, the same amount as is currently available.

Current support also includes 60bn euros from the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM).

Mr Juncker warned that decisions about the ESM were in their early stages: "What I'd like to say is that both the EFSF and ESM are not the subject of overall agreement until everything is agreed. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

Indonesia, Finland sign agreement to promote renewable energy

Rangga D. Fadillah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/14/2011

Indonesia and Finland signed an agreement to start a bilateral program to promote the utilization of wood-based biomass and agricultural residues as renewable energy sources in Central Kalimantan and Riau province on Monday.

The Ambassador of Finland to Indonesia, Kai Sauer, said that the program, which is called the Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP), aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change by providing modern, accessible and reliable services in rural areas and industrial applications.

“This program is a manifestation of our commitment to develop the two nations relations through concrete programs,” he told reporters at a press conference held after the agreement signing ceremony in Jakarta.

He continued that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland has granted EUR 4 million (Rp 48 billion) to Indonesia to run the program for the period of 2011 to 2014. The funds would be used to sponsor feasibility studies, demonstrations and pilot projects.

“Project proposals are expected to come from actors representing public and private sectors like local administrations, non-governmental organizations, universities and research institutes,” said Ambassador Sauer.

‘Listen to the people’, says Turkish leader in Iran visit

Euronews, Feb. 14, 2011

Turkish President Abdullah Gul is in Iran on a four-day visit, hoping to build ties between the two neighbours.

The reason for the trip is business – President Ahmadinejad told his host that Tehran hoped to treble its trade with Turkey, from around 7.5 billion euros-worth last year to over twenty billion.

But after the regime changes in Tunisia and Egypt, the volatile situation in many Middle-Eastern countries was also on both leaders’ minds.

President Gul said governments could not hide anything from their people in today’s world, adding that leaders needed to listen.

“The demands of the people are very realistic. Without any exception we all have to examine our own domestic affairs and we have to take whatever steps are necessary,” he said.

The Iranian leader thanked Ankara for Turkish support in the face of Western concern over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.

Last year, Brazil and Turkey brokered their own fuel-swap deal with Iran whereby Tehran would give up some of its enriched uranium – but the deal was rejected by the West.

Turkey has tried to act as mediator between the two sides. It recently said it would not apply US-imposed economic sanctions against Iran, but would only respect those decided by the UN Security Council.

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Reuters, by Jan Strupczewski, BRUSSELS | Sun Feb 13, 2011

(Reuters) - Finance ministers from the world's 20 biggest developed and developing economies (G20) are likely to agree next week on a two-stage approach to tackling global economic imbalances, a European Union document showed.

Such imbalances, reflected in the current account balance, private and public savings, debt and capital flows, can trigger or augment crises, destabilizing the world economy. G20 leaders agreed in November to find a way to tackle them.

The first step would be to identify the imbalances using an agreed set of economic indicators and benchmark values.

The second step would be to analyze the causes of the imbalances and possibly make policy recommendations on how to deal with them.

The two-step approach has been agreed on by G20 deputy finance ministers who met in Paris for a preparatory meeting on January 14-15, the EU terms-of-reference document for EU G20 delegations to the Paris meeting on Feb 18-19 showed.

"The EU strongly supports the agreement reached by the deputies," said the document, obtained by Reuters.

"The two-step approach will add structure and focus to the work of the G20."

There is no agreement yet in the G20 on the full set of indicators to be used for the assessment of imbalances -- this is what G20 finance ministers are due to agree on in Paris.

The document said that the European Union would push for the following set:

• current account balance
• public deficit and debt
• private debt
• savings ratio
• net foreign asset position
• reserve adequacy
• real effective exchange rate

"The current account balance, rather than the trade balance should be a leading indicator as it provides a more complete and accurate picture of external sustainability," said the EU terms-of-reference document in an apparent reference to China, which a G20 source said preferred the trade balance measure.

A G20 source said that while the Paris meeting is likely to agree on which indicators to include in the assessments, their values, which would trigger a more in-depth analysis, would be decided in April at a G20 meeting in Washington.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY SYSTEM

The G20 finance ministers will also discuss in Paris a reform of the international monetary system, including capital flows, international reserve assets and financial safety nets.

Investment flows can help poorer countries develop and grow, but they have been blamed for overheating economies and driving up inflation. They can also become a destabilizing force when investors suddenly withdraw money.

Over the past year fast-growing emerging markets such as Brazil have been the biggest recipients of these capital flows, and some nations have taken steps, such as raising taxes, to try to manage the influx.

"The EU believes in the benefits of the free movement of capital ... and sees with some concern the increasing use of temporary controls," the EU terms-of-reference document said.

"The EU sees temporary controls of capital inflows as a second best policy instrument to address volatile capital flows compared with macroeconomic macro-prudential and structural measures," the document said.

It added that the International Monetary Fund should identify what drove capital flows and what the appropriate domestic responses were as well as monitor global capital flows.

SDR ROLE

France, which took over the presidency of the G20 in November, is sounding out governments on ways to reform a monetary system dominated for decades by the U.S. dollar, with the aim of creating greater global stability.

French officials have said they hope to encourage greater use of the Chinese yuan as a reserve currency during their G20 presidency, including talks on a possible timetable for its inclusion in the basket of currencies which underpin the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights.

Other ideas include encouraging a greater role for the SDR itself as a reserve currency in an effort to move away from dollar hegemony.

The EU document indicated the 27-nation bloc was ready to consider the eventual inclusion of China's renminbi currency in the basket of currencies underpinning the SDR.

The EU was also ready to discuss SDR-denominated bonds, it said, inviting the IMF to explore ways to develop a private market for SDRs.

"The EU is also open to discuss the possible costs and benefits of SDR exchange rate pegs and SDR-denominated debt as a possible way to reduce balance sheet risks," it said.

(Editing by Greg Mahlich)