Indonesia's inflation hits 6.96 per cent in 2010

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Jakarta - Indonesia's consumer price index in December increased 0.92 per cent against the previous month, driven by the rising cost of rice and other foodstuffs, housing, beverages and cigarettes, a senior government official said Monday.

That brought the country's inflation rate for 2010 to 6.96 per cent, well above the budget target of 5.3 per cent.

"Inflation in December was high enough. This is beyond our expectations," said Rusman Heriawan, chairman of the Central Bureau of Statistics.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday said at a ceremony marking the start of stock market trading that the economy was expected to grow 6.4 per cent in 2011 and unemployment would fall to 7 per cent.

The total value of exports reached 15.34 billion dollars in November 2010, up 6.52 per cent from 14.22 billion dollars in October. It brought total exports for January-November 2010 to 140.65 billion dollars, a rise of 36.34 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year.

The value of imports value reached 13.07 billion dollars in November, up 7.85 per cent from the previous month's figure of 12.12 billion dollars. It took the value of the January-November 2010 imports value to 122.58 billion dollars, up 41.66 per cent from the same period of 2009.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360480,inflation-hits-696-2010.html.

Pakistani premier to meet opposition after coalition partner quits

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Islamabad - Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held talks Monday with opposition leaders to explore the possibility of a new alliance after a key party left the ruling coalition.

Sunday's announcement by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the second-largest party in the coalition, to switch to the opposition, has left Gilani with 12 votes short of the required 172 seats to retain a parliamentary majority.

The MQM, which has 25 seats in the 342-member parliament, said that it was quitting because of a recent massive increase in the price of oil products.

The political crisis came as the country is struggling against the Taliban-led Islamist insurgency and the aftermath of floods that affected more than 20 million people last year.

Gilani was expected to meet with Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of the province of Punjab, and leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

"The meeting is being held today on the request of the prime minister. The two leaders will discuss the political situation that emerged after the MQM left the coalition," said a PML-N spokesman.

The PML-N, the largest opposition force, is lead by Sharif, a two-time former premier, and holds 91 seats in the lower house of parliament.

The premier is also expected to meet Chaudhry Shujat Hussain, leader of the second-largest opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), which has 50 members in the National Assembly.

Gilani's government does not face immediate collapse since the President Asif Ali Zardari is unlikely to ask the prime minister for a parliamentary vote of confidence. Zardari heads the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.

The PML-N has also shown little interest in introducing a confidence vote.

But Gilani's government would need new allies to get legislation through parliament.

The MQM was the second coalition party to abandon the government.

Last month, a smaller ally, Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam, an Islamist party, quit over the sacking of one minister from the party.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360485,opposition-coalition-partner-quits.html.

Iran's nuclear power plant to go on line in February

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Tehran - Iran's nuclear power plant is to be connected to the national electricity network in February, one month later that state earlier, the country's Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali-Akbar Salehi said Monday.

In November, Salehi had said that the Russian-built 1,000-megawatt reactor at Bushehr would be on line by January. The announcement of the new deadline was reported by ISNA news agency Monday.

February also marks the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution of Iran.

Iran is mired in a dispute with the international community over its nuclear program, which its critics is secretly geared towards a nuclear weapons capability.

Tehran insists it only interested in producing electricity. The government says it aims to eventually add 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power to the country's network.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360488,plant-go-line-february.html.

China reports breakthrough in reprocessing technology

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Beijing - Chinese scientists have achieved a breakthrough in nuclear fuel reprocessing technology, effectively increasing its nuclear fuel reserves by making their use 60 times more efficient, state media reported Monday.

The new technology for extracting uranium and plutonium from spent fuel rods, developed by the China National Nuclear Cooperation, would help stretch uranium reserves to 3,000 years, up from current estimates of 50 to 70 years, CCTV reported.

"We need to reprocess the spent fuel during the heating period to extract the recyclable part from burned material, as well as the newly generated part through a series of chemical processes," CNNC chief engineer Wang Jian was quoted as saying. "The next step is fuel assembly."

The facility had been developed "100 per cent" by Chinese engineers after 24 years of research, the report stressed.

France, Britain, Russia and China have each developed their own closely guarded reprocessing technologies.

China has been concerned over fuel supplies for its nuclear power program, which Beijing plans to expand to meet swiftly rising electricity demand.

The country is the world's largest energy consumer, consumer of coal and greenhouse gas emitter.

China is building 12 new reactors and 24 are in the planning stage. Both figures are more than in any other country.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, China produced 70,000 gigawatts of electricity from nuclear plants and Beijing wants to increase its nuclear energy capacity eightfold by 2020, when it plans to supply 6 per cent of its energy needs from nuclear power.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360501,reports-breakthrough-reprocessing-technology.html.

China promises to buy Spanish debt to help EU overcome crisis

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Madrid - China will continue buying Spanish public debt as a sign of trust in the country's economic recovery, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Monday on the eve of a key visit to Spain.

China supported the measures adopted by Spain to stabilize and strengthen its economy, Li wrote in an article published by the Madrid daily El Pais.

"We trust Spain's financial market, which has been expressed through the acquisition of its public debt, an action we will maintain in the future," Li wrote.

China's ambassador to Madrid Zhu Bangzao said Beijing wanted to play a "key role" in helping Spain and other European Union countries to deal with their financial crisis and to regain market confidence.

However, Zhu did not say how much Spanish debt China had already acquired. The ambassador made the comments to the Chinese news agency Xinhua in an interview quoted by Spanish and Portuguese news agencies.

Li is scheduled to arrive in Madrid on Tuesday. Spain will be the first stop on a European tour which is also to take him to Germany and Britain.

Madrid and Beijing were expected to seal business deals in sectors including banking and energy, as well as institutional agreements to favor cooperation in sectors such as renewable energies.

China was expected to seek Spanish support for an eventual decision by the EU to lift the arms embargo it imposed after hundreds of people were killed in the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989.

Spain has adopted austerity and structural measures in an attempt to deal with its economic problems, including a budget deficit of 11.1 per cent. There has been concern that Spain might follow Greece and Ireland in needing an international bailout.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360505,help-eu-overcome-crisis.html.

Hungarian newspaper announces death of free press

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Budapest - A leading Hungarian newspaper announced the death of the free press on Monday in protest at new media laws which came into force in the country on New Year's Day.

"The freedom of the press in Hungary comes to an end" was the message carried on the front page of Nepszabadsag, Hungary's largest circulation broadsheet.

The headline was printed in all 23 official languages of the European Union, on the first day of official business of Hungary's six-month stint at the helm of the union's rotating presidency.

Criticism abroad of the new media regulations has overshadowed Hungary's assumption of the role.

The left-liberal Nepszabadsag was joined by the left-wing daily Nepszava, which ran a blank front page for a second time in protest over the legislation passed in December by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's conservative government.

Under the new law, a new Media Council has the power to rule on whether not only broadcasters, but also print media and websites, have breached rules on "balanced" and "moral" reporting, among other things.

Opponents of the new legislation are concerned that the chair and all members of the regulatory body, appointed for nine years, were nominees of the governing Fidesz party.

Critics also fear that the imprecise wording of the legislation leaves much room for interpretation and opens up the possibility of using the law to gag publications, particularly through the threat of heavy fines.

Several European Union member states have joined numerous international, non-governmental organizations in expressing serious concerns over the media law.

Prime Minister Orban and Fidesz, which commands a two-thirds majority in Hungary's national assembly, have dismissed suggestions of authoritarianism.

Government spokeswoman Anna Nagy said on New Year's Eve that international concerns over the new legislation are merely the results of a "misunderstanding" that will be cleared up over the course of Hungary's presidency.

The European Commission and its president Jose Manuel Barroso are due in Budapest on Friday for initial discussions with the government over Hungary's presidency.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360506,announces-death-free-press.html.

Iran claims to have shot down two Western drones - Summary

Sun, 02 Jan 2011

Tehran - Iran shot down two Western drones which violated Iranian airspace in the Gulf, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards air force told Fars news agency Sunday.

General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh gave no details on exactly where and when the spy drones were downed. The general also claimed Iran had downed other pilotless craft in the past, but again gave no details.

Hajizadeh said Iran's forces were prepared to confront all air and naval threats by the United States.

The elite Revolutionary Guards have been on high alert along Iran's border, due to fears of air strikes against the country's nuclear sites.

Although Tehran has always insisted its army is not trained to attack another country, it has vowed a fierce response to any military aggression against its nuclear sites.

The West fears Iran is working on a secret atomic program and could eventually launch a nuclear missile strike against Israel, especially with its Shahab missiles which reportedly have a range of 2,000 kilometers, capable of reaching any part of the Jewish state.

Iran unveiled its first domestic made unmanned aerial vehicle in August last year which is reportedly able to fire explosive ammunition.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360443,western-drones-summary.html.