ஈரானின் குரல் வளையை நெரிக்கும் EUவின் எண்ணெய் விற்பனைத் தடை.

"We will paralyze the economic activity of Iran and deprive the country of part of its resources. I know you can be skeptical about sanctions…but it avoids going to war,"

          French Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain Juppé

EAST NEWS JANUARY 23, 2012, 5:51 P.M. ET

EU Embargoes Iranian Oil

By JOHN M. BIERS , LAURENCE NORMAN and BENOIT FAUCON

BRUSSELS—European Union foreign ministers approved an embargo on oil imports from Iran, moving past an internal debate over the economic burden on some members and imposing the bloc's strongest measures yet to press the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

The EU also placed sanctions on Iran's central bank and petrochemical industry, according to a statement by the Council of the European Union.

"Our message is clear. We have no quarrel with the Iranian people," the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. said in a statement. "But the Iranian leadership has failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program. We will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon."

Adding to efforts by the U.S. and the EU to starve Iran's government of revenue, the U.S. on Monday sanctioned Iran's third-largest bank, Bank Tejarat, closing off one of Tehran's few remaining conduits for trade with the West.


Treasury Department officials said they sanctioned the bank for its alleged role in financing Iran's nuclear program and for helping other banks and companies evade international sanctions.

The move follows President Barack Obama's move last month to ban any American dealings with Iran's central bank.

The Obama administration welcomed the EU's decision Monday in a joint statement by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The EU and U.S. each said they were continuing with a "dual track" approach in which sanctions are intended to put pressure on Iran to engage in talks with the international community on its nuclear program.

Tehran has yet to respond to an offer made in October to return to talks, the U.S. statement said.

The EU's move is already causing adjustments in the oil market. Refiners in Spain and Italy have already begun to phase out some Iranian oil purchases in anticipation of the embargo. Some European countries said they have contacted Saudi Arabia to replace the Iranian oil.
Although the embargo was largely in line with expectations, oil prices rose slightly at news the EU had agreed to the policy—and rose again as Iran reiterated a threat to retaliate by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane through which one-fifth of the world's traded oil passes. Crude for March delivery closed at $99.58 per barrel in New York trading Monday, up $1.25, or 1.27%.
The EU decision is likely to further squeeze an Iranian economy already under pressure from the effect of Western sanctions. Iran's currency, the rial, fell 10% to a record low on Monday following the EU decision, Reuters reported.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparastdeemed the ban "unfair" and "doomed to fail."
An Iranian official acknowledged the embargo will hinder the country's largest revenue source. "It will make things tougher at this end" by restricting the choice of crude buyers, the official said.
The embargo could cost Iran $5 billion to $10 billion in oil revenue for 2012, and more in subsequent years, said Trevor Houser, a partner at New York-based economic-research firm Rhodium Group.
The sanctions put a freeze on the assets within the EU of Iran's central bank, which clears the country's oil sales. The EU also barred imports of petrochemical products, the export of equipment and technology transfer in the sector to Iran, and new investment in Iranian petrochemical companies and joint ventures.
The International Energy Agency said Monday that consumers of Iranian oil in the EU will have time to find replacement crude supplies, since the embargo wouldn't affect supplies until the middle of the year.
The EU imports about 600,000 barrels of Iranian oil daily—close to a quarter of Tehran's exports of 2.6 million barrels a day—according to the IEA. But those imports fall unevenly, with some of Europe's most-stressed economies—Greece, Italy and Spain—among the biggest customers.
Greece has been particularly critical of the embargo, arguing that a slower implementation was needed to ensure that its economy wouldn't be excessively burdened.
Under Monday's agreement, the EU said it will undertake a review of the policy's effects on member states by May 1, bowing to a condition sought by Greece. However, any move to reverse or delay the embargo would require the unanimous decision of the EU's 27 members, officials said.
Diplomats said EU foreign ministers would promise to take all necessary measures to ensure member states would continue to have access to oil supplies.
EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton said the May review would ensure that the embargo won't have an "adverse" impact on the European economy.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said the impact of the oil embargo on the Italian economy will "be negligible, almost zero."
Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Demas said Greece benefited from favorable financing terms in its Iran purchases, and that it will need help not only to find new suppliers but to also get the favorable financial terms they enjoyed from Iran. Greece has been buying 35% of its oil from Iran. Mr. Demas said Greece has held talks with Saudi Arabia to replace the Iranian supply.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Garcia-Margallo also said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers had guaranteed supply to offset Iranian oil "at the same price."
The move comes as U.S. officials also apply pressure on consumers of Iranian oil, including China, India and other Asian countries, to trim Iranian imports.
The effectiveness of an oil embargo will be limited as long as Iran is still able to sell some oil on the international market, says Joseph Nye, a Harvard University political scientist.
China has rejected calls to halt its consumption of Iranian oil. India's Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy said Monday that his country will keep buying crude oil from Iran and is trying to find a mechanism to settle payments despite new restrictions on financial transactions with Iran,
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain Juppé acknowledged some of the skepticism about the effectiveness of the sanctions, but said the EU package would meaningfully hit Iran. "We will paralyze the economic activity of Iran and deprive the country of part of its resources. I know you can be skeptical about sanctions…but it avoids going to war," he said.
Source: The Wall Street Journal

மூன்றாவது உலகப் பொருளாதாரப் பெருமந்தம் 2012

Turbulent Year Ahead for Global Economy

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Global Economic Prospects 2012 predicts turbulent year ahead

* Developing world will still lead global growth,but at slower pace

* ‘Second wave’ of financial crisis will take a toll on developing countries

----------------------------------------------------------------

Washington, DC, January 18, 2012—The world economy in 2012 is set to grow by just 2.5 percent, weighed down by ripple effects from the 2008 financial crisis, says the World Bank's latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2012, published today.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe, which took a turn for the worse in August 2011, coincides with slowing growth in several major developing countries (Brazil, India and, to a lesser extent, Russia, South Africa and Turkey), mainly reflecting policy tightening begun in late 2010 and early 2011 to combat rising inflationary pressures from overly-fast growth.

As a result, developing country growth for 2012 is now forecast at 5.4 percent, the second lowest over the past 10 years. The Bank has also lowered its growth forecast for high-income countries in 2012 to 1.4 percent and -0.3 percent for the high-income Euro Area.

Reflecting the growth slowdown, world trade, which expanded by an estimated 6.6 percent in 2011, will grow by only 4.7 percent in 2012, before strengthening to 6.8 percent in 2013.

Risk aversion stemming from the Euro Area debt crisis has spread to both developing countries and other high-income countries. Yields on the sovereign debt of developing countries have increased by an average of 117 basis points (bps) between July-end 2011 and early January 2012, as have those of most-all Euro Area countries, including France (86 bps) and Germany (36 bps), and those of non-Euro Area countries such as the United Kingdom (18 bps).

Capital flows to developing countries have weakened sharply as investors withdrew substantial sums from developing-country markets in the second half of 2011, with gross capital flows to developing countries plunging to $170 billion, only 55 percent of the $309 billion received during the same period in 2010.

Developing-country stock markets have lost 8.5 percent of their value since July-end. This, combined with the 4.2 percent drop in high-income stock-market valuations, has translated into $6.5 trillion, or 9.5 percent of global GDP, in wealth losses.

The GEP urges developing countries to preparing for further downside risks, while there is still time, by assessing their vulnerabilities and preparing for contingencies by pre-financing budgetary deficits, prioritizing spending on social safety nets and infrastructure spending to assure longer-term growth, and stress-testing banks to avoid an eruption of domestic banking crises.

The report’s Regional Annexes provide an in-depth analysis of the outlook for each developing region, identifying region-specific vulnerabilities and risks, and offering broad policy recommendations for mitigating the effects of a crisis that, the GEP says, will spare no-one.

In the East Asia and Pacific region, affected by flooding in Thailand and the turmoil in Europe, regional GDP growth is estimated to have slowed to 8.2 percent in 2011, and is projected to ease further to 7.8 percent for both 2012 and 2013. Growth in China was an estimated 9.1 percent in 2011 and is expected to dip to 8.4 percent in 2012.

Europe and Central Asia grew by an estimated 5.3 percent in 2011. However, the expected slowdown in high-income Europe, still troublesome inflationary pressures in the region, and reduced capital flows due to the Euro Area crisis may slow regional growth to 3.2 percent in 2012, before firming to 4.0 percent by 2013.

Latin America and the Caribbean grew by an estimated 4.2 percent in 2011, but this is expected to ease to 3.6 percent growth in 2012, before picking up to 4.2 percent in 2013. Weaker global growth, uncertainty arising from the Euro Area debt crisis, slower growth in China, and a policy-induced deceleration in domestic demand are weighing on the region’s growth prospects.

Dramatic political changes in the Middle East and North Africa have disrupted economic activity substantially, but selectively, across the region, while a deteriorating external environment slowed growth to an estimated 1.7 percent in 2011.

Growth is expected to remain subdued in 2012, at 2.3 percent, rising to an expected 3.2 percent in 2013.
Growth in South Asia slowed to an estimated 6.6 percent in calendar year 2011, reflecting a sharp slowdown in the second half of the year in India as well as external headwinds. The region’s GDP growth is projected to ease further to 5.8 percent in 2012, before strengthening to 7.1 percent in 2013.

Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.9 percent. Excluding South Africa, growth in the rest of the region was even stronger at 5.9 percent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions. Growth for the region is projected to accelerate to 5.3 percent in 2012 and 5.6 percent in 2013.
=================
World Bank Link: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1322593305595/8287139-1326374900917/GEP_January_2012a_FullReport_FINAL.pdf

Sri Lanka News Debrief - 23-01-2012

Sri Lanka News Debrief - 23.01.2012

நேற்றோ நிறுவிய நவீன காலனிய பொம்மை அரசை எதிர்த்து லிபியாவில் கிளர்ச்சி!

“Everywhere there have been sit-ins and demonstrations” against the council, said Mohamed Benrasali, a spokesman for the Misurata council. People are “accusing it of no transparency and dragging its feet and not taking any actions for transitional justice and many, many issues,” he said, adding, “We feel that the head of the regime has changed, but the rest of the regime is in place.”

January 22, 2012

Libya Protests Spur Shake-Up in Interim Government
By LIAM STACK

Libya’s post-Qaddafi transitional government faced a political crisis Sunday after protesters ransacked its offices in Benghazi, highlighting growing nationwide unease with its leadership and triggering a shake-up in which the governing council’s No. 2 official resigned and several members were suspended.

For months, youth groups with a range of complaints have been protesting against the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, the eastern city whose protests sparked the nine-month revolt and which once served as the rebel capital. Protests have cropped up elsewhere, too, including in Tripoli, the capital, where activists have erected a small tent city across from the prime minister’s office.

Protesters are demanding more transparency from the transitional council, which holds executive power and is tasked with overseeing the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new Constitution. It is dominated by figures from the eastern rebel movement, much to the suspicion of other regional factions, and there are accusations, too, that many of its members are tainted by past ties, real or suspected, with the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

On Saturday night, those frustrations boiled over when a crowd of mostly young men attacked the council’s offices in Benghazi, tossing a grenade, smashing windows and forcing their way into the building while the council’s chairman, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, was inside.

The spark appeared to be the online release of a draft election law to govern the selection of the 200-member constituent assembly. Activists said it was prepared without consultation or public oversight and that its winner-take-all rules would encourage Libyans to vote along tribal lines or for rich or prominent citizens in their region, and undercut those seeking to form new parties.
Seeking to contain the fallout from the attack, Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, the transitional council’s deputy chief, resigned Sunday, telling the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera, “My resignation is for the benefit of the nation and is required at this stage.”

Speaking to reporters in Benghazi on Sunday, Mr. Abdel-Jalil warned that continued protests could lead the country down a perilous path and pleaded with protesters to give the government more time.

“We are going through a political movement that can take the country to a bottomless pit,” Reuters quoted Mr. Abdel-Jalil as saying. “There is something behind these protests that is not for the good of the country.

“The people have not given the government enough time, and the government does not have enough money,” Mr. Abdel-Jalil said. “Maybe there are delays, but the government has only been working for two months. Give them a chance, at least two months.”

The interim government suspended several members from Benghazi and announced that it would form a council of religious figures to investigate government officials and council members accused of corruption or ties to the Qaddafi government. It also delayed the official release of the election law.

Both the incident itself and the leadership’s response were met with widespread anger in Benghazi, according to Salwa Bugaighis, a lawyer and political activist who was a leading figure in the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi.

“We are worried,” she said. “We are afraid that maybe it becomes worse.”Ms. Bugaighis said that the protesters in Benghazi were particularly angry about allegations that millions of dollars — and possibly billions — in government money was unaccounted for.

“They want transparency. They want people from the Qaddafi regime to go,” she said. “If there’s
no transparency, everything will collapse.”A transitional council member from Benghazi, Fathi Baaja, denied that he or anyone else had been suspended, despite widespread reports to the contrary. He said an Islamist faction — “religious groups and mosque preachers” — on the Benghazi local council had pushed for the suspensions but said that “they have no right to suspend us.”

Saying he was among those who had set up the council, Mr. Baaja accused the Islamist rivals of being Qaddafi sympathizers.“They used to convince people they had no right to revolt against Qaddafi, the father of the country. They said we had no right to go against the head of state, the caliph,” Mr. Baaja said.

“I never heard their voices say no to Qaddafi, and I never put myself in the same place as them.”
Protests have taken place in the city of Misurata as well, which is run by a rival leadership faction and where officials said they were planning to hold elections for a new local council in February, without the blessing of the national council.

“Everywhere there have been sit-ins and demonstrations” against the council, said Mohamed Benrasali, a spokesman for the Misurata council. People are “accusing it of no transparency and dragging its feet and not taking any actions for transitional justice and many, many issues,” he said, adding, “We feel that the head of the regime has changed, but the rest of the regime is in place.”

Both Saturday’s protest and its political fallout demonstrated the challenges Libya faces, said Fred Abrahams, a special adviser on Libya for Human Rights Watch.

“Ousting Qaddafi will prove more straight-forward than getting a representative and transparent
government to replace him,” he said.

Critics of the interim government also complain that its performance has faltered on even the nuts-and-bolts level.

Basic services have yet to be restored in some areas, while towns seen as sympathetic to Colonel Qaddafi, like Surt and Bani Walid, remain in ruins after months of fighting.

The interim government has struggled to exert authority even in Tripoli, where the streets are largely controlled by a patchwork of regional militias whose members defer to their own commanders, not government security forces.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil also accepted the resignation of the head of the Benghazi Local Council, Saleh el-Ghazal, an appointed figure whose replacement he pledged would be elected.

But on Sunday, authorities postponed the planned unveiling of the country’s election law, which has been mired in controversy. A draft of the law released on Jan. 2 was criticized for barring dual-nationals from running for office, in a country where scores of political activists were forced into exile.

It also set a 10 percent quota for women in Parliament, which feminist activists called “insulting.” Rather than raise the quota, a revised draft released last week announced that the quota would be abolished entirely.

Source: New York Times
David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from Cairo, Kareem Fahim from Damascus, Syria, and
Yusef Sawie from Tripoli, Libya.

வளைகுடாவில் படைக்குவிப்பு-2

British, French ships join US carrier in Strait of Hormuz

AFP – 2 hrs 50 mins ago
British and French ships joined a US carrier group in a six-strong flotilla of warships which passed through the sensitive Strait of Hormuz, Britain's Ministry of Defence said Sunday.

The ministry said a Royal Navy frigate, HMS Argyll, was part of a US-led carrier group to sail through the waterway which Iran has threatened to close over Western moves to impose new sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme.

A spokesman said: "HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a US carrier group transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under international law."

He said Britain maintained "a constant presence in the region as part of our enduring contribution to Gulf security".

British warships have been patrolling in the Gulf continuously since the 1980s.The Strait of Hormuz is a key transit route for global oil supplies.

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday are expected to agree to sanction Iran's central bank and announce an embargo on buying Iranian oil.

The United States, France, Britain and Germany accuse Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb,
but Tehran says its nuclear drive is peaceful.