Anti-austerity protests sweep across Europe

Thousands of Czech university students rally in central Prague on February 29, 2012 .

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/229280.html

Massive demonstrations across Europe have taken issue with the austerity measures adopted by the European governments against economic adversity.

The protests were held on Wednesday in the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Belgium, and Spain against government economic reforms aimed at dealing with the unprecedented debt crisis plaguing the European Union.

Trade union leaders gathered outside the European Council in Brussels, Belgium to demand an end to austerity measures.

In Spain, protests turned violent as police clashed with anti-austerity protesters in the country’s the second largest city, Barcelona. Police in riot gear beat the protesters with batons and a number of arrests were made.

Students have staged demonstrations and sit-in protests across the country to demand an end to Madrid’s austerity measures, labor market reforms, and police violence.

Thousands of Czech university students rallied in the capital Prague, slamming the country’s Education Ministry for introducing tuition fees and boosting the number of government representatives in academic bodies.

The Czech government says the reforms are necessary to boost educational standards and secure more funding.

In France, main unions gathered forces for a day of protest action against austerity measures being imposed across the European Union.

In Greece, unions staged nationwide walkouts hours after the parliament approved new spending cuts to secure a new EUR 130 billion (USD 170 billion) bailout package promised by international lenders and meant to prevent the country from going bankrupt.

The Greek and French protests are part of a day of action called by European labor organizations to pressure the leaders of the 27-member EU into adopting pro-growth measures when they gather for a summit in Brussels over Thursday and Friday.

The eurozone economy is heading into its second round of recession in just three years. The bloc’s last recession was in 2009, when its economy contracted by 4.3 percent.

The Europe plunged into financial crisis in early 2010.

Amid the debt crisis, the European Commission has predicted that the eurozone currency bloc faces double-dip recession while the wider EU economy stagnates in 2012.

British Chancellor begs private sector for money

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Britain’s Chancellor George Osborne acknowledges that the country has run out of the much-needed money and cannot afford debt-fuelled tax cuts or extra spending.

The Chancellor made the stark warning ahead of next month’s budget, noting that “there was little the coalition government could do to stimulate the economy”, British media reported.

“The British government has run out of money because all the money was spent in the good years,” the Chancellor said adding “the money and the investment and the jobs need to come from the private sector.”

Osborne’s bleak assessment echoes that of Liam Byrne, the former chief secretary to the Treasury, who bluntly joked that Labour had left Britain broke when he exited the government in 2010.

Osborne is under severe pressure to boost growth, amid signs the economy is slipping back into a recession.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has urged him to consider emergency tax cuts in the budget to reduce the risk of a prolonged economic slump.

But, the Chancellor has said he would stand firm on his effort to balance the books by refusing to borrow money.

“Any tax cut would have to be paid for,” Osborne said. “In other words there would have to be a tax rise somewhere else or a spending reduction.

“In other words what we are not going to do in this Budget is borrow more money to either increase spending or cut taxes”, added Osborne.

The Chancellor’s tough words were echoed by Liberal Democrat Jeremy Browne, the foreign minister, who warned that Britain faced “accelerated decline” without measures to tackle its debt and increase competitiveness.

“Britain’s market share in the world used to be dominant but was now in freefall compared with the soaring economies of Asia and South America. This situation has been becoming more acute for years.

It is now staring us in the face. So we need to take action”, he wrote in an article published by The Daily Telegraph.

EU, Chinese officials meet to discuss eurozone debt crisis

EU President Herman Van Rompuy (C) shakes hands with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao beside EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the Great Hall of the People during their summit, Beijing, Tuesday, February 14, 2012.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226629.html

Senior EU officials and the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have held a meeting in the Chinese capital of Beijing to discuss the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis.

“China and Europe are all round strategic partners. In the face of difficulties and challenges we ought to have mutual understanding and collaborate towards common goals,” China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said on Tuesday while addressing the conference, adding that this relationship would “bring into harmony the basic interest of both sides.”

EU President Herman Van Rompay, who also attended the meeting as one of Europe’s senior officials, called for an increased market access for European companies in China.

“The times we are living in are challenging … we became so inter-dependent that change in the growth rate in one of the two strategic partners has a direct and palpable impact on the other one. Our economic destinies are interlinked,” Van Rumpuy said.

The meeting was also attended by the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barraso, who said that a closer cooperation would benefit both sides.

Since early 2009, Europe has been grappling with a financial crisis which has forced a majority of the continent’s governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms. The implementation of austerity cuts have often been met with violent street protests, with the latest in Greece on Sunday.

Scores have been injured in the anti-austerity demonstrations, and many people have been arrested.

Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin on Monday called on “the European Union to resolve this (debt crisis) issue” as the continent is China’s largest trade partner.

Rating agency downgrades six EU economies

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Moody’s Investors Service has lowered the debt ratings of six European countries over concerns with the eurozone’s ongoing debt crisis and also changed its outlook on Britain and France's ratings to “negative.”

The ratings agency on Monday cut the credit ratings of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Malta.

Moody's also warned its top ratings on three other countries -- Austria, France and the UK -- could be at risk.

"The uncertainty over the euro area's prospects for institutional reform of its fiscal and economic framework" was one of the factors in the decision, Moody's said.

Spain was downgraded to A3 from A1 with a negative outlook. Italy was also downgraded a notch to A3 with a negative outlook and Portugal was downgraded to Ba3 from Ba2 with a negative outlook, Moody’s said.

The company said Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia also received one-notch downgrades and still have negative outlooks.

Monday's credit downgrades follow similar European rating cuts by Fitch and Standard & Poor's.

S&P lowers rating of 15 Spanish banks

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Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded the credit ratings of 15 Spanish banks, one month after reducing the Spanish government’s overall rating.

S&P announced on Monday that it had lowered its credit ratings on 10 Spanish banks by one notch and cut its ratings of another five by two notches.

"We expect the Spanish banking system's profitability to remain below its historical average over the medium term as banks continue to operate in an unfavorable economic and financial environment," the ratings agency said in a statement.

Spain's biggest bank, Santander, was lowered to A+ from AA-, while BBVA, the country’s second-largest bank, was reduced to A from A+.

S&P reduced its rating on Spain’s long-term debt to A from AA- on January 13.

Earlier on Monday, Fitch Ratings also cut the credit rating of Santander and BBVA and two other large Spanish banks, Bankia and Caixabank.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, taking with it millions of jobs.

Analysts say Spain's economy is expected to enter into a new recession in the first two quarters of 2012.

The worsening eurozone debt crisis has raised Spain's financing costs and created fears that the European country might have to seek an EU bailout like Greece.

Dormant social unrest looming for UK

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The dizzying unemployment figures in Britain coupled with a recent analysis of the cause of summer unrest that put the country on a state of emergency show the government should brace for more such actions in the coming months.

Youth unemployment is at an all-time high in Britain while the rates of underemployment - that is working in a job capacity considered not good enough by the worker - have hit levels unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

The record unemployment levels mean a whole generation of young adults have their hopes for their futures dashed, raising fears that the resulting outrage could lead to a repetition of the unrest that put Britain in a state of emergency back in August 2011.

The social clashes have been recently found to be rooted in unemployment and poverty as well as in police brutality against certain groups of citizens.

A Citizens’ UK study from 700 local people in the northern London Tottenham area where the unrest began found that the police fatal shooting of a 29-year-old black man on August 6 was the trigger for the crisis.

However, the survey said the ethnic minorities’ mistrust of officers and public despair at the grave economic situation were responsible for the wave of protests that spread like wildfire to the whole country.

The minority groups told the inquiry that the police use of the controversial stop and search powers has been “excessive and disrespectful.”

The report also said some locals identified the disorder as a rare opportunity to take concerted action at a time when one fifth of all youths were jobless.

“It finally felt like all the people (were) coming together, united to do something, even if that something was ultimately destructive,” a 17-year-old participant in the survey said.

Britain has been an epicenter of social unrest for more than a year, which has featured massive protests every few months, beginning with the hundreds-of-thousands-strong tuition fee rallies in London in 2010.

The latest of such huge public actions were the November 2011 mass strikes by some two million public sector workers over the pension reforms and the closely-linked poverty factor, which triggered the August unrest.

With the factors fueling the public anger still in place, analysts believe the government should act to address the shortcomings or risk further trouble that could shake the foundations of the British society.

London suffers worst child poverty rate

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Almost four in ten British children live in London households, where there is just £10 per person per day to cover everything, according to the Campaign to End Child Poverty (ECP).

The charity’s report comes as the Institute of Fiscal Studies estimated the number of British children living below the poverty line will rise by 800,000 by 2020, British media reported.

Despite the rhetoric of politicians, prospects for many of those at the bottom rung of the social ladder in the UK look set to get bleaker rather than brighter as they are hit by a storm of economic challenges, said the report.

In Tower Hamlets, the local authority set to host the 2012 Olympic Games, 52 percent of children live in poverty just a stone’s throw from the riches of the City, while in the borough of Islington, the figure stands at 43 percent, according to the report.

This can be compared to child poverty levels of just seven percent and five percent for the constituencies of Prime Minister David Cameron (Whitney) and his deputy Nick Clegg (Sheffield Hallam) respectively, the report said.

The report paints a good picture of a socially segregated country where children living in the capital are being disproportionately damaged by poverty and inequality.

Meanwhile, in London people also suffer worst from a combination of rising unemployment, increased living costs and welfare cuts.

Childhood poverty in Britain can cause lasting damage, both to individuals and whole communities, the report concluded.

“Living below the poverty line can trap children into a cycle of poor performance at school and reduced job prospects,” explained Sally Copley, UK head of poverty at Save the Children.

“Education is the best route out, but at every stage there is a huge divide between how those from poor backgrounds perform in relation to their peers. Moreover, early years poverty has also been linked with a range of mental and physical health problems, again exacerbating the problem and casting the future of whole generation of Londoners aside”, said Sally Copley.

Fitch downgrades five EU economies

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Fitch rating agency has downgraded the debt ratings of five eurozone states including Spain and Italy, pointing to the growing vulnerability of their economies.

On Friday, Fitch downgraded the economies of Italy, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus, while cutting its outlook on Ireland.

According to the agency, “near-term economic outlook highlight(s) the greater vulnerability to monetary as well as financing shocks faced by these sovereign governments."

Fitch cited that Italy faced “too-low” growth in comparison with its debt, while Spain faces "a significantly worsened fiscal and economic outlook." Italy, Spain, and Slovenia were cut by two notches.

Earlier, the European Central Bank released eurozone data suggesting that loans to the private sector fell by 1.0 percent in December in comparison with the 1.7 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, Spain's unemployment rate has soared to 22.85 percent-- the highest in 17 years as more than half of the country's youths remain without jobs.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.

Merkel opposes increasing rescue fund

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures during the opening session of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on January 25, 2012.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to increase the eurozone's rescue fund, stressing that the key to reassure European markets is to restore lost confidence in the EU governments' policies.

Merkel told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday that a 'big rethink' was required for the 17-nation zone to act well within the global economy.

The comments come as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Christine Lagarde has called for the eurozone financial firewall to be reinforced by combining the European Financial Stability Fund and the European Stability Mechanism.

The IMF wants the sum available for eurozone bailouts to grow beyond EUR 500 billion (USD 647 billion).

"Now they say... 'it should be twice as big'," Merkel said.

“'If it were twice as big, we'd believe you'. Some say 'it should even be three times as big, then we'd really believe you.' And I always ask myself how long is that credible and when is that no longer credible,” the German chancellor added.

In its recently published report, 'World economic outlook,' the IMF said it was expecting a recession for the euro countries as they were struggling to overcome their debt crisis.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain, and France last year, could push not only Europe, but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.

Alex Salmond reveals referendum question

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Scotland's First Minister has addressed the Scottish parliament on independence from the United Kingdom, stressing he will give people a "straightforward" and "clear" choice in the referendum.

Alex Salmond launched the Scottish National Party (SNP) government's consultation on the vote with a statement at Holyrood, declaring the referendum on the country's independence was "the most important decision by the people of Scotland in 300 years.”

Stating that the vote will be held in autumn 2014, Salmond said the question was “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?"

He told the MSPs that the vote should “meet the highest standards of fairness, transparency and propriety.” The SNP leader also said that the government would appoint the Electoral Commission to regulate the referendum.

Salmond also said eligibility to vote would be determined by residency, adding, "The people who live and work in Scotland are best placed to decide its future."

Yet he set out plans to extend the franchise to 16 year olds. Saying, "It is right that our young people should have the chance to play their part in decisions about their community and their country."

"If a 16-year-old in Scotland can register to join the Army, get married and pay taxes, surely he or she should be able to have a say in this country's constitutional future?”

First Minister also announced that independent Scotland would have the Queen as head of state, but would do away with the nuclear weapons and would not be forced to deploy soldiers abroad.

Discussing Scotlnad's right to have a seat at Europe's top table, Salmond said that there were only 50 independent states at the time United Nations was formed. “Today, that figure has risen to almost 200. Of the 10 countries that joined the European Union in 2004, a majority had become independent since 1990, and Scotland is bigger than six of them.”

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and leaders of main parties in Westminster, who fear staging the vote would secure the split of the UK, called on the SNP government to conduct a vote sooner rather than later.

However, Salmon argued that 2014 was the soonest that the vote “could be held in a way that meets the high standards which the people of this country have a right to expect.”

Sarkozy target of thousands-strong rally

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Thousands of people have participated in a rally in Paris, attacking French President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans for dealing with the country's unemployment crisis, Press TV reports.

As France gauges the international fallout from losing its triple-A credit rating, Sarkozy has called for the formation of an emergency jobs council to try and boost his dipping popularity at home ahead of presidential elections, which are to be held in two rounds in April and May.

After a four-hour-long meeting at the Elysée Palace with labor and business leaders, the president on Wednesday announced an EUR 430 million (USD 550 million) plan to reduce unemployment and restart economic growth.

On Wednesday, the protesters took to the streets of the capital to voice discontent over the measures included in the plan.

activists have blamed Sarkozy's failed economic leadership for the official unemployment rate, which stands at over 10 percent, the unofficial figure amounting to over 17 percent, and the recent downgrading of France's credit rating by the New York-headquartered credit rating agency, the Standard & Poor's.

The downgrade comes, despite Sarkozy's having used to present himself as the person capable of steering the eurozone's second-largest economy out of crisis.

After the meeting, Sarkozy also said that he would introduce his employment plans before the end of January.

The president stated that he would shift part of the burden of social welfare from companies onto consumers and convince workers to agree to payment cuts in exchange for job security.

S&P's lowers EU bailout fund rating

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's headquarters in New York, the United States

Source: Press TV
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Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's has demoted the rating of the eurozone bailout fund as the European debt crisis continues to burgeon.

The credit rating of the Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the eurozone's rescue package, was lowered to AA+ from AAA on Monday.

The move comes as many eurozone countries have lost their credit worthiness due to their economic downturn.

France and Austria, the latest countries to be examined by the agency, saw their ratings drop from AAA to AA+ on Friday.

In December, the S&P's sounded the 'credit watch negative' alarm regarding the ratings for 15 eurozone countries including France and Germany.

Both the president of France as well as the CEO of the EFSF on Monday dismissed any potential fears caused by the S&P's move.

"We have to react to this with calm, by taking a step back," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, adding, "At the core, my conviction is that it (the downgrade) changes nothing."

Klaus Regling, the eurozone bailout fund CEO, said that there were no needs to “get overly excited” over the news as the rescue package was only lowered by one notch.

The worsening debt crisis, however, has forced the European governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic adjustment policies.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis could push not only Europe, but also much of the rest of the Western world back into recession.

IMF warns of eurozone downward spiral

David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (file photo)

Source: Press TV
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A senior IMF executive has warned that the eurozone could fall into a “downward spiral” of collapsing confidence, stagnant growth, and fewer job, if it fails to get its governance in order.

The International Monetary Fund first Deputy Managing Director David Lipton also said that the European outlook is grim and risks for the global economy are high.

"At the global level, the pace of economic activity is weakening, and the risks for Europe and the world are high," Lipton added on Monday.

Pledging to strengthen ties with Asian governments to minimize spillover risks of the European debt crisis, Lipton called for stronger ties between Asia and the IMF. He added that no country and no region would be immune to the catastrophe.

Lipton's remarks prompted European banks to put away record sums of money in the European Central Bank.

Lipton's comments comes after US-based ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgraded the sovereign credit ratings of nine eurozone countries on Friday, including top-rated France and Austria.

Europe plunged into financial crisis in early 2010. Insolvency now threatens heavily debt-ridden countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.

JP Morgan turns guns on Europe

JP Morgan's Chief Executive Officer, Jamie Dimon (file photo)

Source: Press TV
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JP Morgan's Chief Executive Officer, Jamie Dimon says Europe is the largest threat to the global economy, calling for a solution to the economic woes sourced from the continent.

“We urgently need a solution. The longer the problem drags on, the less likely it is we get off lightly,” the CEO of one of the largest banks in the United States said on Sunday.

"I thought Europe would muddle through. I still believe that… The longer the crisis drags on, the more intense the pressure from markets will get,” he added.

Dimon noted that European countries needed to implement more credible austerity measures to solve the crisis.

In addition, he said that the European Central Bank had to provide more liquidity support for countries such as Spain and Italy.

According to Dimon, JP Morgan had already reevaluated all the contracts it held with European partners.

New York-headquartered credit rating agency, Standard & Poor's, recently cut the credit ratings for nine eurozone countries. France and Austria, the latest countries to be examined by the agency, saw their ratings drop from AAA to AA+ on Friday.

In December, the S&P sounded the 'credit watch negative' alarm regarding the ratings for fifteen eurozone nations, including France and Germany.

Europe plunged into deep financial crisis in 2008, which has continued to intensify over the recent months.

Europe anti-austerity rallies turn ugly

Riot police clash with protesters at University Square in the Romanian capital Bucharest during a protest against the government's austerity program and Romanian President Traian Basescu on January 14, 2012.

Source: Press TV
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Police forces have clashed with anti-austerity protesters in Spain, Greece, and Romania, arresting several activists and injuring many others.

During the latest such protests in Spain, police scuffled with demonstrators in the capital Madrid on Sunday, detaining three people and wounding several others.

Scuffles broke out when 'indignant' Spaniards gathered at a Madrid subway station to protest against rises in the cost of public transportation. Dozens of protesters entered the station and refused to pay, shouting slogans such as “I don't pay for your crisis.”

In the Greek capital Athens, riot police attacked around 2,000 demonstrators protesting against job cuts outside parliament, before detaining three and injuring one.

The demonstrators say Athens has failed to decrease its debt, despite massive lay-offs. Last year, the Greek government cut 10,000 jobs and announced plans for further lay-offs in 2012.

Clashes between riot police and demonstrators have also erupted in the Romanian capital Bucharest for a third day in a row.

At least seven people, including a number of police officers, were injured in the confrontations.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against President Traian Basescu, whom they blame for the country's falling living standards, and called on him to step down.

The demonstrations originally started on Thursday in a show of support for Deputy Health Minister Raed Arafat, who resigned earlier in the week, and as a protest against a pension freeze and a 25 percent cut in public sector wages approved by Romania's center-right government in July 2010.

Arafat, a doctor born in Palestine, had harshly criticized a draft healthcare reform bill and entered a dispute with the president, who is a main supporter of the potential law.

S&P downgrades EU credit ratings

Standard & Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings of several European nations. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
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Standard & Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings of France, Italy, and Spain, as the European debt crisis continues to intensify.

According to French government sources, the ratings agency has downgraded the country's Triple-A credit rating, while downgrading Italy and Spain's ratings as well.

However, the agency has spared other European nations such as Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, US stocks have dropped over the recent EU concerns, while European shares also fell by more than one percent.

The news also caused the euro to slump against the dollar and yen.

Recent reports indicate that debt-ridden Greece's talks with bank creditors are in “grave condition.”

In December, S&P placed the ratings of fifteen eurozone nations, including France and Germany on credit watch negative.

The worsening debt crisis, however, has forced the European governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms. Tens of thousands of the Europeans have migrated from their homelands as a result of these difficulties.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis could push not only Europe, but also much of the rest of the Western world back into recession.

One in five UK households is jobless

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One in every five British households suffers the problem of having no individual in employment, shows a new study issued by GMB union, which is Britain's third largest union.

The GMB analysis based on the Annual Population Survey data on households by combined economic activity status January-December 2010 from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), shows that there are 3.9 million workless households across the UK with no one aged 16 and over in employment out of a total number of 20.5 million households.

According to the figures, 18.9% of all households have the problem of including no employed person aged 16 to 64 across the UK.

Moreover, the research by the GMB union showed that the highest regional percentage belongs to the North East with 24%, followed by Wales with 22.5%, Northern Ireland with 22.4%, and the North West with 21%.

It also revealed that Liverpool has the worst figure, with 31.9% workless households in the UK, with 51,000 homes having no one working out of a total number of 159,700.

“The areas with the highest levels of households without work are those areas which were first devastated by the recessions in the 1980s and 1990s. They never properly recovered. They have now been hit again by the double whammy of the bankers' recession and by Chancellor Osborne stalling the recovery leading to the region being mired in a new recession,” said GMB general secretary Paul Kenny.

Calling for the coalition government to implement policies that increase employment opportunities for people, he added, “I doubt if the electorate had any notion that a change of government would lead to a loss of 376,000 jobs across the UK in the public sector in the short time since the general election.”

Break up in the air for United Kingdom

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The days of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland seem to be numbered as the Scottish government has intensified the drumbeat of independence amid British efforts to undermine such efforts.

The newly retired British Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell predicted, while still in office a few weeks ago, that it would be an “enormous challenge” to hold the Union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, formed in 1707, together.

Scottish first minister Alex Salmond said at the time that O'Donnell has been “extremely fair in recognizing and respecting the democratic mandate of the Scottish government.”

Salmond is now moving full steam ahead on the path to use the mandate based on the absolute majority of his Scottish Nationalist Party in the Scottish parliament to secure Scotland's independence from Britain.

SNP said just before the New Year that Scotland would have its own army, navy and air force after independence, like its Nordic neighbors, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

The party said they are working on a detailed plan to join the Scandinavian circle of countries in a bid to reduce ties with Britain and its western European allies.

Their unshaken push for independence, however, raised an angry response in London though the British government later tried to whitewash the issue.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed a few days ago that those who believe in Scottish independence are “extremists.”

Clegg said the Scottish government should follow the Liberal Democrats' “center-ground” proposals of constitutional reforms to give Holyrood greater powers short of independence.

This is while the SNP had already proposed to hold a referendum that offers voters three choices: keeping the current arrangements, full independence or greater devolution powers.

In effect, the SNP was already offering the choice proposed by Clegg to the Scottish voters yet his suggestion that full independence should be removed from the available options angered the party.

A SNP spokeswoman said Clegg is using “the old and tried Tory scaremongering” to prevent the Scottish people from gaining “full financial powers.”

The duplicity behind Clegg's remarks was exposed, however, when the government announced they would make any referendum on Scotland leaving the UK, legally binding, only if the plebiscite offers a yes/no question on independence and if it is held within a maximum 18 months rather than in 2014 as proposed by the SNP.

Prime Minister David Cameron cited legal and economic uncertainty to justify his proposal but Scotland's deputy fist minister Nicola Sturgeon hit out at Cameron saying the offer is “a blatant attempt to interfere” in an issue which is not London's business.

This is while London seems keen to prevent a vote in 2014 as it would coincide with the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn during which England suffered a humiliating defeat against Britain.

Japan, India sign currency swap deal

Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda (L) and Indian PM Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on December 28, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/218210.html

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has signed a 15-billion-dollar currency swap agreement with India to shore up Indian rupees.

"I am convinced we need to strengthen the economic partnership," Noda said during his visit to New Delhi on Wednesday.

"Japan and India will expand their currency swap from a current USD3 billion to USD15 billion," the Japanese premier announced.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "extremely happy" with the outcome of his talks with Noda.

Under the currency swap, Tokyo could lend New Delhi dollars to defend the ailing rupee. The deal is an expansion of a USD3 billion accord that expired earlier this year.

With USD1.2 trillion in foreign currency reserves, Japan has been moving to enhance its global financial role and struck a similar swap deal with South Korea in October.

The currency agreement is an extra weapon for India, which has USD300 billion in reserves, to use for propping up the rupee.

The rupee has slid 15 percent against the dollar this year as overseas investors have withdrawn funds as they hunt for safe havens in the midst of the global financial turmoil.

China-Japan pact to sideline dollar

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (R) reviews an honor guard with China's Premier Wen Jiabao during a welcoming ceremony in Beijing on December. 25, 2011

Source: Press TV
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Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda have reached an agreement to promote direct use of their currencies in bilateral trade, limiting the use of dollar in Asia.

The announcement was made in a statement by the Japanese government on Monday after the Asian leaders met in China's capital Beijing.

Both sides also agreed that Japan will hold Chinese currency, yuan, in its foreign-exchange reserves, now largely denominated in dollars.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said after the meeting that the agreement “benefits the ease of trade and investments between the two countries.”

“It strengthens the region's ability to protect against risks and deal with challenges,” Lei added.

The direct currency swap between the world's second- and third-largest economies reflects efforts to reduce risks stemming from fluctuations of foreign exchange rates and transaction costs.

"As implications from the current global financial crisis continue to spread and the complexity and severity of the world and regional situations are worse than expected, it is necessary and possible that China and Japan join efforts to address the challenges and deepen strategic reciprocal ties," the Chinese premier said.

China is Japan's biggest trading partner, with transactions between the two amounting to $340 billion in 2010, from $120 billion a decade earlier.

China also forged a deal with Thailand for a direct currency swap worth $11 billion last week as part of a plan outlined in October to promote the use of the yuan in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and establish free trade zones.