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JAKARTA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Newly appointed Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo has said that the Greek debt crisis which has caused share prices worldwide to fall would not affect the Indonesian economy, the Jakarta Post reported on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday after attending the plenary session of the House of Representatives, the finance minister said that the Indonesian economy remained fundamentally strong despite the significant fall in share prices and the decline in the rupiah against the U.S. dollar in the recent days. "I'm optimistic, Indonesia can face the financial storm safely thanks to a healthy state budget and the country's strong cash flow,"he said. Given these encouraging economic factors, he said that the people need not fear any possible negative impact of the Greek crisis on the Indonesian economy.
quarta-feira, 26 de maio de 2010
Greek crisis not to affect Indonesia: finance minister
Bomb attacks hit S.Thailand 2 dead, 29 injured
BANGKOK, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Bomb attacks on Wednesday hit south province of Yala, killing at least two, injuring 29, local media said.
Louisiana oil spill: nature's tears of sorrow
An April 20 explosion consumed the Deepwater Horizon oil platform off the Louisiana coast and set off a catastrophic rupture and so-far unstoppable spill. Now the spilling continues, which has done immeasurable damage to the ecosystem off the Louisiana coast.
An April 20 explosion consumed the Deepwater Horizon oil platform off the Louisiana coast and set off a catastrophic rupture and so-far unstoppable spill. Now the spilling continues, which has done immeasurable damage to the ecosystem off the Louisiana coast
An April 20 explosion consumed the Deepwater Horizon oil platform off the Louisiana coast and set off a catastrophic rupture and so-far unstoppable spill. Now the spilling continues, which has done immeasurable damage to the ecosystem off the Louisiana coast. (Photo: news.cn)
Bangladesh to send 50,000 women workers abroad in next fiscal year
DHAKA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government expects to receive demand orders for sending 55,000 women workers abroad in the next 2010-11 fiscal year (July 2010 to June 2011), mainly for housekeeping services, according to local media on Wednesday. The parliamentary standing committee on Labor and Employment Ministry Tuesday disclosed the details on the prospect of migrant labor, leading English news paper The Daily Star reported. After completing a 21-day training course, a woman can go abroad and engage in the service at a cost of 30,000 taka (429 U.S. dollars) only, according to the committee. The government plans to send about 50,000 women workers against the demand orders in the next fiscal year, said M Israfil Alam, chief of the committee. Unemployed women can easily take a three-week training course on housekeeping from technical training centers (TTCs), run by the labor ministry, and can fit themselves into jobs abroad, Alam added. The labor ministry is listing the women who have completed training at the TTCs. In the current fiscal year (July 2009 to June 2010), the government has so far sent 34,000 women to different countries, including Lebanon, UAE, Jordan and Saudi Arabia against demand orders for 40,000.
City planners should bring people closer to nature: Commissioner General
SHANGHAI, May 26 (Xinhua) -- City planners should bring people closer to nature to provide livable environments, said Pertti Huitu, Commissioner General of Finland for the Shanghai World Expo. "Even in the very center of a city, people should be able to escape into nature and enjoy life," said Huitu, also vice chairman of the Steering Committee of the Shanghai Expo Commissioners General. The Scandinavian country has "Sharing Inspiration" as the theme of its pavilion, to promote ideas on how to improve living standards, of which a livable environment is a key element. Nicknamed "the Giant's Kettle" or "Kirnu", a Finnish word meaning a rocky hollow formed along the seashore, the pavilion resembles a small island floating over water that offers a "refuge" from busy city life. "We hope visitors can experience a view of a promising future that celebrates man's place in nature," Huitu said. In Finnish cities, nature is closely knitted into residential and industrial areas. Almost all cities have "nature corridors," such as seashores, rivers, forest and snowfields, said Huitu. When city dwellers wanted to ski at the weekend, they could stay in the city rather than travel 20 km first, he said. "To make sure nature is blended with people's lives, our transportation system, including roads and railways, has been planned in such a way that they don't cross these 'nature corridors'," said Huitu. In addition, city planners in Finland try to combine residential and industrial areas, rather than separate them as cities normally do, to avoid unnecessary traffic and long commutes. "This means people can have more time and resources to enjoy life," Huitu said. Encouraging a green lifestyle and developing a renewable society through regulation was another element of a more livable city, he said, citing the construction materials of the pavilion as an example. The 25,000 fish scale-like shingles covering the external wall are made of waste paper and plastic. In Finland, more than 90 percent of waste paper is recycled to produce printing paper, toilet and tissue paper, and cups. "We have strict regulations for city planning and closely follow them to create conditions for ordinary people to be part of the solution," Huitu said. Finland and China differed in many aspects of national circumstances, and Chinese city planners faced enormous challenges given their cities' scale and the unstoppable trend of urbanization, he said. "However, real changes start from ordinary people and big changes come from small moves. This might be one of the key messages that the Shanghai Expo should spread to people all over the world," Huitu said. Enditem
Injury-hit Kaka takes first Brazilian training session
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| Brazil's soccer players (R-L) Julio Baptista, Kaka, Elano and Thiago Silva run during their training session in Curitiba May 25, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Brazil star Kaka trained for the first time with the World Cup squad on Tuesday after missing the previous session due to injury.
The 28-year-old playmaker, whose maiden season with Real Madrid ended in disappointment with no trophies, had been suffering from a left groin injury.
Brazil are due to play two friendlies on June 2 and June 7 against Tanzania and Zimbabwe respectively before traveling to Brasilia to meet President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's and flying to Johannesburg.
The five-time World Cup champions, who finished top in South America to qualify for the June 11-July 11 World Cup finals, will kick off their South Africa campaign against DPR Korea in Group G on June 15.
Argentina marks Independence Day
BUENOS AIRES, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner opened on Tuesday the closing ceremony of celebrations marking the bicentenary of independence from Spain. More than one million people participated in the celebrations Tuesday, which were held in nine blocks of the central 9 de Julio Avenue and nearby streets, featuring tango, folklore and cars parade. "It is a beautiful day, there is sun and the temperature is nice," a participant whose first name is Martin told Xinhua. The government asked the citizens to travel by public transportation for free so that more people could participate in the celebrations, which were scheduled to finish on Tuesday with a parade of 2,000 actors representing 19 key scenes in Argentine history, including the crossing of the Andes by the liberator Jose de San Martin, the war for the disputed Malvinas Islands, known as Falklands in Britain, and the fight for human rights by the Mothers of la Plaza de Mayo, a peace movement. Some Latin American leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, attended the ceremony.
89 deaths tied to Toyota acceleration
BEIJING, May 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.S. government said that the sudden and unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles may have been involved in the deaths of 89 people since 2000, according to media reports Wednesday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that it had received more than 6,200 complaints involving sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles over last decade. The reports include 89 deaths and 57 injuries. The complaints have not been verified by the agency. Toyota Motor Corp. has paid a record 16.4 million U.S. dollars fine for its slow response to an accelerator pedal recall and is facing hundreds of state and federal lawsuits. The automaker has recalled about 8 million vehicles worldwide to fix sticky pedals and misshapen floor mats linked to unintended sudden acceleration. Plaintiff lawyers have said the cars' electronic throttle system caused the problems, an allegation that Toyota has denied. The government is investigating acceleration problems in Toyotas and a separate 15-month study by the National Academy of Sciences is scheduled to begin in July. (Agencies)
Brazil's current account deficit soars in 1st 4 months of 2010
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Brazil registered a current account deficit of nearly 17 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months of 2010, a surge from the 4.8 billion dollars recorded a year earlier, the country's Central Bank said Tuesday. The latest deficit represents 2.68 percent of Brazil's gross domestic product. In the first four months of 2009, the current account deficit amounted to 1.26 percent of the country's GDP. The current account figures are formed by the trade balance results, the services and income account, and the unilateral transfers from abroad. In the first four months of this year, Brazil accumulated a trade surplus of 2.2 billion dollars, down from the 6.7 billion dollars a year ago. The services and income account accumulated a deficit of 20 billion dollars, up from 12.7 billion dollars in the same period last year. The unilateral transfers from abroad totaled 1.12 billion dollars, down from 1.145 billion dollars in the same period last year. Remittances rose by more than 2 billion dollars to 7.9 billion dollars, compared to the year-ago figure.
Brazil ready for new prosperity: ruling-party presidential candidate
BRASILIA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Former Chief of Staff and presidential candidate from the ruling Workers' Party Dilma Rousseff said Tuesday that Brazil would see a new era of prosperity by carrying on the policies implemented by the government of incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Rousseff, handpicked by Lula as the successor, hailed the achievements made by the current administration in dealing with the global financial crisis, during a debate with two other leading candidates -- former Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra from the Social Democracy Party (PSDB) and former Environment Minister Marina Silva from the Green Party (PV).
"For the first time Brazil had a strong position against the crisis, and we also conducted a countercyclical policy," she said. "We were the last country affected by the crisis and the first to recover from it."
She said Brazil's good economic performance was firstly due to good macroeconomic management with the control of inflation, the exchange rate, reserves accumulation and fiscal discipline in the public sector's primary surplus.
Secondly, policies of inclusion and mobility, income distribution and access to credit and basic services helped to create a strong domestic market and a new middle class, Rousseff said.
Thirdly, policies that encourage public investment and export diversification and exploration of new markets abroad were also effective, she added.
We are facing a new era of prosperity with a new development model," she said, adding that the country should in the future give priority to reducing the public debt-gross domestic product ratio, which currently stands at about 41 percent.
Rousseff also vowed, if elected, to promote tax reforms to further boost competitiveness, investment, exports and employment.
Meanwhile, she said she would maintain broad outlines of the current government's foreign policy as it has been "extremely worthwhile" and increased "the country's respectability abroad".
Rousseff hailed her country's approach to its Latin American neighbors as well as to Africa over the past years.
When developing relations with countries in Asia such as China, ties with traditional partners like Europe and the United States were also extended, said Lula's handpicked candidate, who also considered Brazil's efforts in solving the Iranian nuclear issue "very virtuous".
"Brazil proved ... that it is possible in relationships, regardless of differences between states, to build bridges and not to build walls," she said.
Lula, after two consecutive terms, will not run in the upcoming general elections in Brazil, but has promised to be devoted to Rousseff's electoral campaign.
If no candidate secures an absolute majority in the Oct. 3 election, a runoff will be held on Oct. 31 between the two frontrunners.
