Sunday, March 9, 2014

Canada, South Korea close to free trade deal: Canadian PM hollywoodtone.blogspot.com

Written By ADMIN; About: Canada, South Korea close to free trade deal: Canadian PM hollywoodtone.blogspot.com on Sunday, March 9, 2014

hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Canada, South Korea close to free trade deal: Canadian PM

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Sunday he hopes to finalize a free trade agreement with South Korea during a trip there this week.


Sources familiar with the negotiations had said last week that the two sides were very close to signing a long-delayed free trade deal after years of talks.


Harper confirmed a deal is close in a video posted on his website as his office released details of the March 9 to 11 trip.


"We will be hoping to finalize a Canada-Korea free trade agreement," he said.


Canada, seeking to diversify its exports away from the United States, has long targeted the rapidly expanding economies of Asia.


Canada's Trade Ministry said exports to South Korea in 2012 were worth C$3.7 billion ($3.34 billion) while imports from South Korea hit C$6.4 billion.


Talks with South Korea began in 2005, but later stalled over disputes about auto exports and a delay by Seoul in scrapping its ban on Canadian beef. South Korea lifted its nine-year-old ban in 2012.


Some Canada-based auto firms worry about a free-trade deal on the grounds it would cut an existing 6.1 percent tariff on imports of vehicles made by Kia Motors Corp and Hyundai Corp.


But a free trade deal would be particularly welcome news for Canadian beef and pork shippers, who fear shipments to South Korea will shrink once Seoul's free trade deal with the United States takes full effect in 2016.


The Canadian Council of Chief Executives last month sent a letter to Trade Minister Ed Fast urging the deal be completed, saying the United States, the European Union and Australia had already concluded agreements with South Korea.


($1 = 1.1074 Canadian Dollars)


(Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; With additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Rosalind Russell)


hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Canada, South Korea close to free trade deal: Canadian PM

Crimean Tatars wary of Russia referendum hollywoodtone.blogspot.com

hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Crimean Tatars wary of Russia referendum

Victims of Stalin's mass deportations in 1944, Crimea's Tatar Muslim minority look warily on next week's referendum on joining Russia, which could well bring the crisis on the tense peninsula to new heights.


At the Great Mosque in Bakhchysaray, near the southern tip of the Black Sea region, the local Tatar representative Akhtem Chiygoz describes the March 16 vote as "illegal".


The referendum is meant to confirm Thursday's decision by Crimea's pro-Moscow parliament to become part of the Russian Federation, but the authorities in Kiev have deemed it "illegitimate".


Just before prayer, Chiygoz urges about 100 faithful in the nearly 500-year-old mosque to keep calm and not "give in to provocations".


Rushing by, the young imam adds quickly "we are for peace, that's all".


Over the past week, pro-Russian forces have gradually taken control over the rugged peninsula of two million people.


Crimean Tatars pray in the Han mosque in the small Crimean city of Bakhchysarai on March 7 2014

Genya Savilov, AFP


Crimean Tatars pray in the Han mosque in the small Crimean city of Bakhchysarai on March 7, 2014



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While the move has been greeted by Crimea's Russian-speaking majority, it has drawn a less than enthusiastic response from the minority Tatars.


"There is no extremist rhetoric in our community," says Dilaver, 33, in response to comments about radical elements in the population.


"The only real threat is Russia, where there is no freedom of speech."


Eskender, an elderly man in the crowd, is equally outspoken: "We will not take part in the referendum, it's organised by Russian separatists."


But if a choice is to be made between annexation and a full blown conflict, joining Russia "will still be less awful than war," he admits.


Reports that panicked Tatars are fleeing Crimea amid Russia's tightening grip are mere "rumours," says Eskender.


A few hundred internal refugees have indeed left the peninsula in recent days and found refuge in western Ukraine, including the city of Lviv, many of them Tatars.


But this represents a small fraction of the minority's population of 240,000-300,000 -- or 12-15 percent of Crimea's two million.


- A vulnerable community -


A boy holds a sign reading "We are not a handful of people but a united nation !" as Turk...

Adem Altan, AFP/File


A boy holds a sign reading "We are not a handful of people, but a united nation !" as Turks of Crimean Tatar origin take part in a protest against Russian military intervention in the Ukrainian region of Crimea, on March 2, 2014, in Ankara



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Tatars have had a long and tortuous relationship with Russia. Bakhchysaray was the former capital of the Crimean Khanate, a powerful Tatar state between the 15th and 18th century, but when Moscow defeated the Tatars allied with the Ottoman Empire in the late 1700s, Crimea fell to Russia.


Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev handed the region back to Ukraine in 1954.


"It's my home, my ancestors were born here. We won't leave, even if they come and kill us," says Rustem Mamutov, whose grandfather was deported by Stalin in 1944 and died in the train taking him to central Asia.


Mamutov himself only returned from Uzbekistan after the collapse of the Soviet Union at age 48.


Speaking to AFP in Crimea's capital Simferopol, Nariman Dzhelalov, vice-president of the Tatar assembly -- the Mejlis -- warns that Russian-speaking Crimeans could well "behave like conquerors towards us," if the peninsula becomes reattached to Moscow.


OSCE High Commissioner for Human Rights Astrid Thors, who visited Crimea this week, also expressed concern for the Tatar community.


"Crimean Tatars have taken a different position to the majority population, which increases their vulnerability," she said, describing "a growing climate of fear" between ethnic groups in the region.


Most Tatars seem to want their region to remain part of Ukraine, with the prospect of later joining the European Union.


On the Russian-speaking Crimean side, opinions are split.


"We are friends with the Tatars, they're our brothers," says Vladimir, a former army officer, now member of one of those self-defence groups seeking Crimea's attachment to Russia.


In front of the regional government building in Simferopol, where unarmed pro-Russian forces still stand guard, an elderly woman wanders around looking panicked: she has heard that Tatars plan to topple the statue of Lenin that dominates the square.


She says she will do everything she can to stop them, but asks not to be named.


"Otherwise they'll kill me, you understand," she says.


hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Crimean Tatars wary of Russia referendum

EU aims for deal on tackling failing banks next week hollywoodtone.blogspot.com

hollywoodtone.blogspot.com EU aims for deal on tackling failing banks next week

By Jan Strupczewski and Martin Santa


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments and parliamentarians will try to reach a compromise this week on how to wind down failing banks, in marathon talks intended to settle who decides to close banks and who picks up the bill.


A deal in the negotiations, set to span three days, would be the final step in a European banking union that would mean one supervisor for all euro zone banks, one set of rules to close or restructure those in trouble and one common pot of money to pay for it.


The banking union, and the thorough clean-up of banks' books that will accompany it, is meant to restore banks' confidence in one another and boost lending to other businesses and households.


New lending has been throttled by banks' efforts to raise capital and reduce the bad loans that proliferated in the recession triggered by the global financial crisis and deepened by the euro zone's own sovereign debt crisis.


Policymakers agreed last year that the European Central Bank (ECB) will be the single supervisor for all euro zone banks and the ECB will take on its new responsibilities from November.


But talks on a single European agency to wind up or close failing banks, and on a single fund to back it up, have entered a crucial stage: EU governments, represented by finance ministers of the 28-nation bloc, and the European Parliament must reach a deal next week.


If they don't, there won't be enough time to complete the legislative process for the resolution mechanism before the last sitting of the current parliament in mid-April. The key law would be delayed by at least seven months, probably more.


"The ground is very well prepared, now we have to show political will. We will stay there (in the meeting) as long as it takes to find a solution," one EU official involved in the preparations for the talks said.


"It's clear to all EU member states that if we want to achieve an agreement there's only one direction to go - to try to accommodate the parliament," the official said.


The problem is that European governments and the European Parliament want different things.


POSITIONS FAR APART


EU finance ministers agreed in early December that a decision on closing down a bank in the euro zone would be taken by the board of the resolution agency, but that decision must be signed into law by the EU's executive Commission and by all the EU finance ministers.


The European Parliament wants no involvement of EU finance ministers, arguing it would politicize the process.


Parliament also wants the ECB - the supervisor of all banks - to be the only institution that can declare a bank is failing and that its fate has to be resolved. EU governments want the single resolution agency board and national authorities to have a say.


Governments and parliamentarians also disagree on how quickly to build up the shared resolution fund and how soon all the money in it should be accessible to all countries.


The fund will be filled from contributions of all euro zone banks and is to reach, eventually, around 55 billion euros ($76 billion).


Governments want the fund to reach full capacity over 10 years and agreed the amount of money that would be available to all euro zone countries would increase by 10 percent each year, so that the fund would be fully mutualised after a decade.


In the meantime, if a euro zone country does not have enough money accumulated from the contributions of its own banks to cover the costs of closing one, its government would have to come up with the cash. If it cannot borrow that from the markets, it could ask the euro zone bailout fund for a loan.


The parliament believes this would not break the vicious circle of highly indebted governments trying to rescue banks that are failing because they lent to the government.


Parliamentarians therefore want all bank contributions to the resolution fund to be fully available to all euro zone countries after three years, not 10. This could make it unnecessary for governments to borrow at all, providing relief to battered public finances.


Whether banks would therefore have to pay in all the 55 billion more quickly as a result is another contentious issue.


Finally, policymakers have to decide if they will allow the single resolution fund to borrow on the market against the security of future contributions from banks if it is short of cash at any point, or if it should be allowed to borrow from the euro zone bailout fund or given government guarantees.


Even though all these issues have been known since early December, there has been no progress so far.


"No major issue has been solved, because we will go for solving them all together," the EU official said.


A deal is to be worked out over Monday and Tuesday, when euro zone and EU finance ministers meet to amend their initial position from December, and Wednesday when they will present the new stance to parliament. ($1 = 0.7214 euros)


(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)


hollywoodtone.blogspot.com EU aims for deal on tackling failing banks next week

Guardiola warns record-breaking Bayern as Arsenal loom hollywoodtone.blogspot.com

hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Guardiola warns record-breaking Bayern as Arsenal loom

Coach Pep Guardiola has warned record-breaking Bayern Munich to expect 'big problems' against Arsenal if they gift the Gunners too much possession in Tuesday's Champions League last 16, second-leg.


European champions Bayern hold a 2-0 led from the first leg in London and warmed-up for Tuesday's clash at Munich's Allianz Arena with a 6-1 drubbing of Wolfsburg in the league on Saturday.


Guardiola is all too aware that Arsenal claimed a 2-0 win in Munich at the same stage in Europe last season, although Bayern went through on away goals to eventually win the final.


"If we give Arsenal too much possession, we will have big, big problems," warned Guardiola.


"If we keep the ball, we'll get into the quarter-finals, if they control it, they'll go through."


Arsenal prepared for their trip to Bavaria with a 4-1 FA Cup quarter-final win over Everton.


Gunners manager Arsene Wenger has said the victory, with goals from Mesut Ozil, Mikel Arteta, plus two from Olivier Giroud, put them "in a good frame of mind psychologically".


Mario Mandzukic (centre) celebrates scoring Bayern Munich's third goal during the Bundesliga ma...

Odd Andersen, AFP


Mario Mandzukic (centre) celebrates scoring Bayern Munich's third goal during the Bundesliga match against VfL Wolfsburg on March 8, 2014 in Wolfsburg, central Germany



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But Guardiola is wary as Wolfsburg were still in Saturday's Bundesliga match with 30 minutes left until Bayern ran riot after a below-par first 45 minutes.


Germany winger Thomas Mueller and Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic grabbed two goals each as the score leapt from 2-1 after 63 minutes to 6-1 with 80 minutes on the clock.


It was a particularly good day for Mandzukic, who came off the bench against his old club for the last 33 minutes to score twice, and give him 16 goals for the season.


The 27-year-old has now netted six times in his last five league games to take over from Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski as the league's top scorer.


With second-placed Dortmund playing Freiburg on Sunday, Bayern have opened a record 23-point lead at the top of the table.


The win in Wolfsburg was Bayern's 16th Bundesliga victory in a row and bettered their own league record of 15 straight wins in 2005.


It extended their record unbeaten league run to 49 matches.


It matches Arsenal's Premier League record of 49 games without defeat set in 2004 and is bettered only by AC Milan's record of 58 matches unbeaten from 1991-1993 in Europe's top leagues.


Bayern's haul of 72 goals from their first 24 league games broke Werder Bremen's previous record of 70 set in 1985/86 and Bayern have only dropped four points with 22 wins in 24 games.


hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Guardiola warns record-breaking Bayern as Arsenal loom

Blocked by sunken Russian ships, Ukraine's navy stays defiant hollywoodtone.blogspot.com

hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Blocked by sunken Russian ships, Ukraine's navy stays defiant

Russia has deliberately sunk three of its own ships to block Ukrainian navy vessels into a lake off the Black Sea, officers say, highlighting Moscow's determination to wear down the morale of Kiev's forces in Crimea.


The Ochakov -- a Soviet-era warship decommissioned in 2011 and set to be sold for scrap -- was towed to the entrance to Lake Donuzlav on Crimea's western coast from the Russian base at Sevastopol on Thursday and blown up.


It capsized and, along with two smaller Russian vessels, is now blocking the narrow gap between two spits of land, its hull beaten by rough Black Sea waves.


Ukraine's navy has limited resources and suffered a major blow last week when its chief Denis Berezovsky switched allegiance to the pro-Russian Crimean authorities and a new chief was appointed.


But officers at a base near where the Russians sank the ship have no doubt what the Russians were trying to do and insist they will not be shaken by the tactics.


"It is blocked so we cannot get out," said Captain Viktor Shmyganovsky, second-in-command at the base in Novoozerne, one of the four biggest in Crimea.


A Russian Small ant-submarine ship is moored in the port of Sevastopol on March 8 2014

Filippo Monteforte, AFP


A Russian Small ant-submarine ship is moored in the port of Sevastopol on March 8, 2014



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"If it wasn't blocked, we could have taken our ships to Odessa and it would stop them being seized by Russian forces. We would be more powerful in alliance with ships in Odessa."


Ukraine's navy headquarters is in Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet was founded under Imperial Russia 230 years ago, but is currently barricaded by pro-Russian militants.


Odessa, further round the coast into Ukraine and the country's largest port, offers a safer option amid the current military situation in Crimea, a semi-autonomous region of Ukraine where pro-Russian forces have seized control.


- 'Loyal to Ukraine' -


A pro-Russian activist rides a bicycle decorated with a Russian and the Russian Navy flags in the ce...

Viktor Drachev, AFP


A pro-Russian activist rides a bicycle decorated with a Russian and the Russian Navy flags in the center of Sevastopol on March 7, 2014



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The Novoozerne base -- built by the Soviets in 1976 and dotted with decorative Cold War missiles and communications equipment -- flies the Ukrainian flag prominently and is protected by a handful of troops armed with Kalashnikovs.


While Ukrainian officers would not disclose exactly how many men are based there, it is thought to be in the dozens.


After the ships were blown up, the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet, Admiral Alexander Vitko, came to the base trying to get them to switch sides, said Shmyganovsky.


"He wanted us to swear for the Russian people. Members of the navy gave an honourable answer to the admiral -- Ukraine's soldiers will remain faithful to Ukraine's people," the small, neatly-dressed officer added.


"A few military helicopters and planes were sent here (after the ships were sunk) and they were trying to break down our morale."


Officers at the base declined to confirm how many Ukrainian ships were currently in Lake Donuzlav, while hinting at submarine capability.


One of several pro-Russian demonstrators blocking the entrance to the Ukranian Navy headquarters in ...

Filippo Monteforte, AFP


One of several pro-Russian demonstrators blocking the entrance to the Ukranian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol holds Soviet flags, on March 7, 2014



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But Ukraine's navy is around a tenth of the size of Russia's and suffers from "inadequate finances", according to London-based military affairs think-tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).


Ukraine only has one, Soviet-built submarine which it is currently trying to restore to "service condition after over a decade of inactivity," it adds.


Despite the odds stacking up against them, the Ukrainian navy is determined to stand its ground to the end in this storied naval territory, said Shmyganovsky.


"From history, we know that those who cannot use political means resort to weapons instead. An admiral once said Sevastopol never gives up and we can say the same about other Ukrainian navy units," he added.


"As you know, no Ukrainian navy units have put down their weapons except Admiral Berezovksy. None of the others swore for the Crimean or Russian people. We're staying loyal to the Ukrainian people."


hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Blocked by sunken Russian ships, Ukraine's navy stays defiant

Libya separatists load NKorea oil ship and ignore warning hollywoodtone.blogspot.com

hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Libya separatists load NKorea oil ship and ignore warning

Libyan separatists loaded oil onto a North Korean tanker for a second consecutive day on Sunday, ignoring the central government's threats of military action, an industry official said.


The separatists are former rebels who have turned against the interim authorities in the restive North African country after toppling veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi in the 2011 uprising.


Since July separatists have been blockading oil terminals in eastern Libya that they had been entrusted with guarding over demands for autonomy in eastern regions and a share in lucrative oil revenues.


On Saturday they began loading oil onto the Panamanian-flagged "Morning Glory" tanker docked at Al-Sidra terminal.


Prime Minister Ali Zeidan ordered them to stop or else the tanker would be bombed, while Oil Minister Omar Shakmak denounced the separatists for an "act of piracy".


On Sunday the defence ministry said orders for military action had been issued to the armed forces, the official Lana news agency reported.


The Libyan Navy ship Ibn Auf arrives in the port of the capital Tripoli on January 8 2014 after ta...

, AFP/File


The Libyan Navy ship Ibn Auf arrives in the port of the capital Tripoli on January 8, 2014, after taking part in an operation to prevent two tankers docking in the activist-held eastern port of Al-Sedra



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The ministry ordered the chief of staff, the navy and the air force "to deal with the tanker that entered Libyan waters without a prior permit from the legitimate authorities," Lana said.


The report came as National Oil Corporation spokesman Mohamed al-Hariri said that the Morning Glory was "still inside the harbour and loading is underway".


Hariri said he expected the operation to continue until the end of Sunday, noting that the ship could take up to 350,000 barrels of crude oil.


But he was unable to give details on any plans by the authorities to stop the tanker from leaving the port.


- Plans to intercept ship -


However, military sources said plans were in place to intercept the tanker before it leaves Libya's territorial waters.


Prime Minister Zeidan told a news conference late Saturday that the attorney general had given the order for the ship to be stopped.


"All parties must respect Libyan sovereignty. If the ship does not comply, it will be bombed," he said.


Zeidan said the authorities had told the vessel's captain to leave Libya's waters, but added that armed gunmen on board were preventing him from setting sail.


A spokesman for the self-proclaimed government of Cyrenaica in the east, the political wing of the separatists, had said Saturday that oil exports from Al-Sidra had begun.


"We are not defying the government or the Congress (parliament). But we are insisting on our rights," said Rabbo al-Barassi, who heads the Cyrenaica executive bureau formed in August.


The crisis erupted in July, when security guards at key terminals shut them down, accusing the authorities of corruption and demanding a more equitable distribution of oil revenues.


The situation has become more complicated as self-rule activists have insisted on the right to export.


Oil is a key revenue Libya and following the blockade of terminals production plunged to about 250,000 barrels per day from 1.5 million barrels.


hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Libya separatists load NKorea oil ship and ignore warning

Libya separatists loading NKorea oil ship ignore warning hollywoodtone.blogspot.com

hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Libya separatists loading NKorea oil ship ignore warning

Libyan separatists loaded oil onto a North Korean tanker for a second consecutive day on Sunday, ignoring the central government's threats of military action, an industry official said.


The separatists are former rebels who have turned against the interim authorities in the restive North African country after toppling veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi in the 2011 uprising.


Since July separatists have been blockading oil terminals in eastern Libya that they had been entrusted with guarding over demands for autonomy in eastern regions and a share in lucrative oil revenues.


On Saturday they began loading oil onto the Panamanian-flagged "Morning Glory" tanker docked at Al-Sidra terminal.


Prime Minister Ali Zeidan ordered them to stop or else the tanker would be bombed, while Oil Minister Omar Shakmak denounced the separatists for an "act of piracy".


On Sunday the defence ministry said orders for military action had been issued to the armed forces, the official Lana news agency reported.


The ministry ordered the chief of staff, the navy and the air force "to deal with the tanker that entered Libyan waters without a prior permit from the legitimate authorities," Lana said.


The report came as National Oil Corporation spokesman Mohamed al-Hariri said that the Morning Glory was "still inside the harbour and loading is underway".


The Libyan Navy ship Ibn Auf arrives in the port of the capital Tripoli on January 8 2014 after ta...

, AFP/File


The Libyan Navy ship Ibn Auf arrives in the port of the capital Tripoli on January 8, 2014, after taking part in an operation to prevent two tankers docking in the activist-held eastern port of Al-Sedra



image:178257:0::0



Hariri said he expected the operation to continue until the end of Sunday, noting that the ship could take up to 350,000 barrels of crude oil.


But he was unable to give details on any plans by the authorities to stop the tanker from leaving the port.


- Plans to intercept ship -


However, military sources said plans were in place to intercept the tanker before it leaves Libya's territorial waters.


Prime Minister Zeidan told a news conference late Saturday that the attorney general had given the order for the ship to be stopped.


"All parties must respect Libyan sovereignty. If the ship does not comply, it will be bombed," he said.


A general view shows the Zawiya oil installation on August 22 2013 in Zawiya Libya

Mahmud Turkia, AFP/File


A general view shows the Zawiya oil installation on August 22, 2013 in Zawiya, Libya



image:178419:0::0



Zeidan said the authorities had told the vessel's captain to leave Libya's waters, but added that armed gunmen on board were preventing him from setting sail.


A spokesman for the self-proclaimed government of Cyrenaica in the east, the political wing of the separatists, had said Saturday that oil exports from Al-Sidra had begun.


"We are not defying the government or the Congress (parliament). But we are insisting on our rights," said Rabbo al-Barassi, who heads the Cyrenaica executive bureau formed in August.


The crisis erupted in July, when security guards at key terminals shut them down, accusing the authorities of corruption and demanding a more equitable distribution of oil revenues.


The situation has become more complicated as self-rule activists have insisted on the right to export.


Oil is a key revenue Libya and following the blockade of terminals production plunged to about 250,000 barrels per day from 1.5 million barrels.


hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Libya separatists loading NKorea oil ship ignore warning