November 14, 2005

World Media Watch

by Gloria R. Lalumia

BuzzFlash Note: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR NOVEMBER 14, 2005

1//The Turkish Daily News, Turkey--JORDAN BOMBINGS ‘PUNISHMENT’ FOR CLOSE US TIES (The deadly bombings on luxury hotels in Jordan were a long-feared "punishment" by al-Qaeda for Amman's close ties with the United States and its peace treaty with Israel, analysts said. "Targeting Jordan was expected. It was not a matter of if but a matter of when it would happen," said Fares Braizat, a researcher at the University of Jordan's Center of Strategic Studies. … Jordanian analyst George Hawatmeh said the attacks were "punishment on all three fronts": Jordan's close ties with the United States, its 1994 peace treaty with Israel and its cooperation in the global war on terrorism. "They wanted to punish Jordan because it is a strategic partner in the war against terrorism. "It is also no secret that Jordan has been a strategic partner in the effort to bring about stability and tranquility in the region, namely Palestine and Iraq. "This is something the terrorists don't like because it would be easier for them to achieve their objectives in an atmosphere of anarchy," he said. "Jordan has also been a major tried and proven partner in strengthening international understanding and interfaith dialogue and this the extremists do not like because it does not help their cause.")

2//The Toronto Star, Canada--MARTIN’S UNPALATABLE CHOICES (Prime Minister Paul Martin had hoped to use Monday as a day to showcase billions of dollars in voter-friendly tax cuts. Instead he will face a united opposition that could topple his government and put him on the campaign trail over Christmas. The three opposition party leaders struck a strategic deal Sunday that gives Martin an unpalatable choice: He can agree to call an election on his own in the first week of January, or he can face a non-confidence motion that would topple his government before the end of November.)

3//DW-World.de/Deutsche Welle, Germany--FUTURE MERKEL GOVERNMENT FACES FIRST MAJOR TEST MONDAY (The ink is barely dry on the pact for incoming chancellor Merkel's grand coalition government, but Germany's major parties will face their first tough test when the deal is put to their rank-and-file for approval Monday. The agreement sealed Friday by Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and outgoing chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) for a power-sharing government is to serve as a policy roadmap for a four-year term. But the members of both parties as well as the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, must still give their blessing and sparks are expected to fly when the three parties meet separately on Monday. … "I simply cannot recognize the influence of the (Christian) Union," said conservative finance expert Friedrich Merz, a longtime Merkel rival with a strong following in the party. "We are paying a damn high price for the chancellery," he told weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. Employers' Association President Dieter Hundt said that while the government had set the right goals of slashing unemployment and the spiraling public deficit, the measures it had chosen were counterproductive. "The fact the grand coalition is settling down to work with plans for a drastic tax hike will have negative consequences for economic growth and employment in Germany," he said.)

4//China Daily, China--CHINA MULLS DEREGULATING ENERGY PRICES (… Shortage of resources amid rapid industrialization is forcing the National Reform and Development Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance to consider letting the markets dictate rates for utilities and taxing inefficient use. That was the message on the weekend from a group of high-ranking officials, which will be incorporated in the national development blueprint for the next 15 years. Zhao Xiaoping, director of the NDRC's Pricing Department, said prices of products such as oil and coal would be liberalized soon by subjecting them to market forces. Deregulation is slated for land use, water, coal, oil, electricity, gas and other resource-related products, said Zhao, which means bills for household utilities would go up. "Our goal is to let prices reflect how scarce they are," said Zhao. … Industry experts said the deregulation is likely to increase prices which are lower than abroad of resources, and expressed concern that it could have a cascading effect on other goods and services and cause difficulties for low-income earners and vulnerable social groups.)

5//Mail & Guardian, South Africa--DE BEERS FORCED TO FACE MODERN BLACK REALITY (The winds of change are blowing across South Africa -- 11 years after the apartheid regime was dismantled -- and nowhere more so than at De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer. Nicky Oppenheimer, Harrow-educated chairperson of the group, has agreed with the government to sell 26% of his company to a black empowerment group. He must do so under new legislation, passed by the ruling African National Congress, designed to give Africans more power in a country where much of the wealth is still held by whites.)

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1//The Turkish Daily News, Turkey Sunday, November 13, 2005
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=28042

JORDAN BOMBINGS ‘PUNISHMENT’ FOR CLOSE US TIES

Jordanian analyst George Hawatmeh said the attacks were 'punishment on all three fronts': Jordan's close ties with the United States, its 1994 peace treaty with Israel and its cooperation in the global war on terrorism

Hala Bonocompagni, AFP

AMMAN – AFP - The deadly bombings on luxury hotels in Jordan were a long-feared "punishment" by al-Qaeda for Amman's close ties with the United States and its peace treaty with Israel, analysts said.

"Targeting Jordan was expected. It was not a matter of if but a matter of when it would happen," said Fares Braizat, a researcher at the University of Jordan's Center of Strategic Studies.

"Part of it can be linked to political motivations because of the support that countries like Jordan and Egypt are lending to the United States and because these two countries have peace treaties with Israel," he said.

"But this is only in part. The attacks must also be seen in a larger context. They are part and parcel of the global war that terrorists are waging against humanity."

Worst attacks in Jordan: The bombings against three Amman hotels frequented by Westerners killed 56 people and wounded dozens on Wednesday, the worst attacks seen in the kingdom until now regarded as one of the safest countries in the Middle East.

They were claimed by the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, headed by fugitive Jordanian Islamist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which also warned of more attacks against Jordan, describing it as a "protective wall" for Israel and the U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Jordan as a "tremendous fighter and a tremendous ally in the war on terrorism."

"The United States has had no closer ally than Jordan in the war on terror, and Jordan will find no better friend than the United States at this difficult hour."

Jordanian analyst George Hawatmeh said the attacks were "punishment on all three fronts": Jordan's close ties with the United States, its 1994 peace treaty with Israel and its cooperation in the global war on terrorism.

"They wanted to punish Jordan because it is a strategic partner in the war against terrorism.

"It is also no secret that Jordan has been a strategic partner in the effort to bring about stability and tranquility in the region, namely Palestine and Iraq.

"This is something the terrorists don't like because it would be easier for them to achieve their objectives in an atmosphere of anarchy," he said.

"Jordan has also been a major tried and proven partner in strengthening international understanding and interfaith dialogue and this the extremists do not like because it does not help their cause."

(MORE)

2//The Toronto Star, Canada Nov. 13, 2005. 08:40 PM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer...

MARTIN’S UNPALATABLE CHOICES
Jim Brown, Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Paul Martin had hoped to use Monday as a day to showcase billions of dollars in voter-friendly tax cuts. Instead he will face a united opposition that could topple his government and put him on the campaign trail over Christmas.

The three opposition party leaders struck a strategic deal Sunday that gives Martin an unpalatable choice:

He can agree to call an election on his own in the first week of January, or he can face a non-confidence motion that would topple his government before the end of November.

The first option would see voters cast their ballots in mid-February. It would also see Justice John Gomery deliver his second report on the federal sponsorship scandal in mid-campaign.

The second option would launch a campaign that overlaps the Christmas-New year holiday season, although the actual voting day would be Jan. 9.

The early indications were that Martin would take his chances with a holiday campaign — and blame the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois for any inconvenience to the electorate.

"They can bring forward a motion of non-confidence," said a senior Liberal who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They will win that vote, and there will be a Christmas election."

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper tried to paint a different picture, saying Martin can avoid interfering with holiday festivities if he accepts the opposition’s alternative proposal.

Under that scenario, Harper, Jack Layton of the NDP and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc would let the government survive through the end of the year, as long as Martin promises in writing to call an election early in January.

“The fall that Mr. Martin says he wants is available to him,” Layton said after a two-and-a-half hour meeting to plot strategy with the other opposition chiefs.

Harper added: “If the government wants to avoid a Christmas election, this will give them the opportunity.”

But if Martin balks, Harper warned, “we will be into an election within the next two weeks.”

(MORE)

3//DW-World.de/Deutsche Welle, Germany 13.11.2005
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1775264,00.html

FUTURE MERKEL GOVERNMENT FACES FIRST MAJOR TEST MONDAY

The ink is barely dry on the pact for incoming chancellor Merkel's grand coalition government, but Germany's major parties will face their first tough test when the deal is put to their rank-and-file for approval Monday.

The agreement sealed Friday by Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and outgoing chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) for a power-sharing government is to serve as a policy roadmap for a four-year term.

But the members of both parties as well as the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, must still give their blessing and sparks are expected to fly when the three parties meet separately on Monday.

"I expect a few serious rows Monday in Karlsruhe," said deputy SPD leader, Ute Vogt, referring to the congress's venue in southwestern Germany.

"But in the end the SPD will rise to its duty."

If the parties accept it, the program will be formally signed Friday in central Berlin and three days later Merkel will be elected as Germany's first female chancellor by the Bundestag or lower house of parliament.

"A marriage of convenience"

Many Social Democrats are angry about a proposed three-point hike in the value-added tax to 19 percent in 2007 -- blasted by critics as the biggest single tax increase in German postwar history.

They also oppose plans to loosen protections against dismissal of staff.

Meanwhile conservatives are frustrated that the VAT rise will not be fully earmarked for cutting non-wage labor costs with the aim of bringing down the 11-percent jobless rate. Both sides were forced to back away from their campaign promises when neither won a ruling majority in the September general election. Hard-fought compromises were the result of four weeks of horse-trading.

"This is not a love match but a very sober marriage of convenience," incoming SPD chairman Matthias Platzeck told reporters Saturday.

Measures don't go far enough: critics

The German economy -- the biggest in the European Union -- is saddled with chronic unemployment and near-zero growth.

"Our aim is to put an end to this downward trend and reverse it," Merkel told a news conference Sunday. "I foresee that Germany should in 10 years' time be able to say it is back among the top three countries in Europe."

But critics point out that the new deal will do little to put Germany's stalled economy back on track or get more than four million Germans back to work.

"I simply cannot recognize the influence of the (Christian) Union," said conservative finance expert Friedrich Merz, a longtime Merkel rival with a strong following in the party.

"We are paying a damn high price for the chancellery," he told weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

Employers' Association President Dieter Hundt said that while the government had set the right goals of slashing unemployment and the spiraling public deficit, the measures it had chosen were counterproductive.

"The fact the grand coalition is settling down to work with plans for a drastic tax hike will have negative consequences for economic growth and employment in Germany," he said.

(MORE)

4//China Daily, China Updated: 2005-11-14 05:10
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005...

CHINA MULLS DEREGULATING ENERGY PRICES
By Fu Jing (China Daily)

Household utilities bills go up.

Windfall-profit taxes levied on coal and oil companies.

And exporters who make products that guzzle energy in the manufacturing process are discouraged.

All these scenarios will be played out in the coming years as the nation's top policy-making body deregulates prices of resources and makes energy consumption more productive.

Shortage of resources amid rapid industrialization is forcing the National Reform and Development Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance to consider letting the markets dictate rates for utilities and taxing inefficient use.

That was the message on the weekend from a group of high-ranking officials, which will be incorporated in the national development blueprint for the next 15 years.

Zhao Xiaoping, director of the NDRC's Pricing Department, said prices of products such as oil and coal would be liberalized soon by subjecting them to market forces.

Deregulation is slated for land use, water, coal, oil, electricity, gas and other resource-related products, said Zhao, which means bills for household utilities would go up.

"Our goal is to let prices reflect how scarce they are," said Zhao.

At a high-level forum on industry deregulation held earlier this month, Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan is reported to have agreed on the reform strategy.

(SNIP)

Industry experts said the deregulation is likely to increase prices which are lower than abroad of resources, and expressed concern that it could have a cascading effect on other goods and services and cause difficulties for low-income earners and vulnerable social groups.

For the energy industry, said Lou Jiwei, vice-minister of finance, the government's new measures include resource tax, windfall-profit tax and higher land-utilization fees.

(SNIP)

Measures will be taken to discourage exports of products which use too much energy, said Yang Weimin, another NDRC official.

Ma Kai, NDRC minister, said conserving energy and resources by raising their prices is vital to sustain China's growing economy.

The country's top leaders have set two goals for the next five years: one is to double per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000 by 2010 and the other is to reduce energy costs per unit of GDP by 20 per cent.

Some experts described the deregulation as "another milestone" in China's market-oriented reform.

Since the reform and opening-up policies began in the late 1970s, the prices of most commodities and services have been deregulated; and now, market forces play a role in setting the prices of about 90 per cent.

5//Mail & Guardian, South Africa 13 November 2005 08:23
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=256392&...

DE BEERS FORCED TO FACE MODERN BLACK REALITY

The winds of change are blowing across South Africa -- 11 years after the apartheid regime was dismantled -- and nowhere more so than at De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer.

Nicky Oppenheimer, Harrow-educated chairperson of the group, has agreed with the government to sell 26% of his company to a black empowerment group. He must do so under new legislation, passed by the ruling African National Congress, designed to give Africans more power in a country where much of the wealth is still held by whites.

Oppenheimer, who studied philosophy at Oxford, is a realist and says: "De Beers is here to make a profit, but we must benefit the people and communities where we operate."

But with a raft of new legislation either on the statute books or being looked at by the ANC, there are worries that De Beers -- part of the mining empire set up by Cecil Rhodes at the turn of the 19th century -- might lose its grip on an industry it has dominated for 100 years.

De Beers is not alone in having to comply with black economic empowerment (BEE) legislation, which forms part of a broad push by the ANC to rebalance the country's racially skewed economy. If only it was that simple.

'Black economic enrichment'

Critics have dubbed BEE "black economic enrichment", complaining that the programme has mostly benefited a tiny black elite that has political ties to the ANC.

That picture is not altogether accurate. For the first time, there is a thriving black middle class and property prices have rocketed. Yet, few would deny that some individuals have done particularly well under BEE. In the early days, former ANC luminaries such as Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Saki Macozoma became multimillionaires.

Elsewhere in South Africa, poverty and mass unemployment are still alarmingly high, although Alec Hogg, editor-in-chief of South African media group Moneyweb Holdings, believes that South Africans should be given the benefit of the doubt: "You have to remember where we were a decade ago. The country has made great strides."

But immediately after Oppenheimer's announcement, opposition politicians attacked the De Beers deal for not doing enough for the black majority. Pierre Rabie, shadow trade and industry spokesperson for the Democratic Alliance, said: "We support broad-based empowerment which benefits the majority of South Africans -- but not empowerment aimed at enriching a small ANC circle."

(SNIP)

Rabie highlights the flaws of the arrangement: "It is commendable that 18 700 ordinary De Beers employees will benefit to the tune of R1,4-billion, but Manne Dipico takes a R342-million slice, which sees him benefit 4 700 times as much as an ordinary member of staff."

But if black-empowerment legislation in South Africa is assailed by politicians, how is it viewed by the business and investment community? According to Oppenheimer: "What we have now is better than what went before." But he adds: "One day we will get past the need for quotas and targets because the playing field will simply level out."

It is this transitional period that is, perhaps, the most difficult. De Beers' grip on the South African diamond industry is now threatened from another quarter. A Bill before Parliament would compel diamond producers to offer an undefined percentage of their production to a new state diamond trader. It would also impose a 15% export duty and require producers to offer rough stones destined for export to a central diamond exchange.

Black dealers, gem cutters and polishers support the Bill, but De Beers says it could make mining in South Africa less appealing. Once the mainstay of the company, only 29% of De Beers' global diamond production now comes from South Africa -- and the company is looking to diversify further.

Political tightrope

Free-market economists wonder whether South Africa will become less business-friendly in the future. But the ANC must walk a political tightrope by making certain the country is sufficiently capitalistic to attract foreign investment, while meeting the expectations of a largely disenfranchised constituency at home.

De Beers, like others, has taken account of the changing reality on the ground by ring-fencing its South African operations inside a company called De Beers Consolidated Mines and moving capital elsewhere.

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