Oxfam warns against 'land rush'

22 September 2011 Last updated at 08:33 GMT Among the worst affected by so-called land grabs are women, Oxfam says An increasing number of land deals are displacing farmers and leaving poor communities homeless, campaigning charity Oxfam has warned.

It says up to 227m hectares (560m acres) have been sold or leased worldwide since 2001.

Half of all deals that have been verified are in Africa, amounting to an area the size of Germany - 35m hectares, Oxfam says.

Vulnerable communities in Uganda and South Sudan have been affected.

The report also focuses on Honduras, Guatemala and Indonesia.

'Frenetic competition'

The organisation's Chief Executive, Barbara Stocking, said the "blinkered scramble" for land by investors was ignoring the needs of those who live on the land and depend upon it for their survival.

"Many of the world's poorest people are being left worse off by the unprecedented pace of land deals and the frenetic competition for land."

Oxfam says that among the worst affected by these so-called land grabs are women, who despite producing up to 80% of food in some poor countries, are often more vulnerable as they have weaker land rights.

"Investors, no matter how noble they pertain to be, cannot sweep aside the needs and rights of poor communities who depend on the land they profit from," she said.

The organisation said that land grabs had accelerated especially since 2008, when soaring prices highlighted the issue of food security.

It said an increasing demand for food, combined with climate change and the increase of agricultural land being used to grow biofuels, meant that the number of such deals would be likely to only rise in the future.

It called on the EU to scrap its target of obtaining 10% transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020 - which has fuelled the planting of crops for biofuels - and asked investors and governments to implement policies to ensure land deals are fair and those affected are properly consulted.

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Geithner warns EU over infighting

16 September 2011 Last updated at 19:00 GMT Timothy Geithner is reported to have urged eurozone leaders to get their act together US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned European leaders to stop the "loose talk" about divisions over how to solve the eurozone debt crisis, the Dow Jones news agency has reported.

Speaking at a closed meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Poland, he is reported to have told them that the divisions were "very damaging".

The eurozone ministers delayed a decision on Greece's next bailout loan.

Yet they did announce tougher economic governance rules.

Set to come into force for all nations in the European Union (EU) from October, they will make it easier for states to be punished for overspending.

Mr Geithner reportedly said: "What's very damaging is not just seeing the divisiveness in the debate over strategy in Europe but the ongoing conflict between countries and the [European] central bank."

He said that "governments and central banks need to take out the catastrophic risk to markets".

His presence at the meeting was measure of how concerned the US is about the danger of economic contagion from Europe's government debt and banking crisis.

But his comments about ending divisions seemed to open up some new ones.

Continue reading the main story

There may be a few people who still believe Greece will not default on its debt, but my suspicion is most of them also believe elephants can fly and the woods are populated by pixies. ”

End Quote Jamie Robertson Presenter, BBC World News Austria's Finance Minister Maria Fekter was one eurozone politician at the meeting who voiced her objection to Mr Geithner's comments.

She said: "I found it peculiar that even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental [economic] data than the eurozone, that they tell us what we should do."

According to the Austrian minister, Mr Geithner also called on eurozone nations to increase the size of the current 440bn-euro rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, but German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is reported to have replied that it was unlikely that taxpayers would agree.

She reported that the German minister had suggested a financial transaction tax instead, which the American secretary "had ruled out emphatically".

Greece postponement

Eurozone leaders will now decide in October whether to release the next 8bn euros ($11bn; £7bn) in bailout loans to Greece.

Continue reading the main story Chris Morris BBC News, Wroclaw, Poland

There are different views within the eurozone about whether Greece has done enough to deserve further bailout loans. A decision was supposed to have been taken this month. It has now been delayed until October.

Without the extra loans, Greece will run out of money but its partners want to make sure first that Greece is fulfilling promises to reform its economy. The EU's economic commissioner, Olli Rehn, said the ball is now in Greece's court.

The presumption is that Greece will get the money, partly because the rest of the eurozone has not yet readied its defences to deal with the fall out of a Greek default on its debt. Ministers vowed to press ahead as quickly as possible with efforts to increase the scope of the eurozone's rescue fund and the head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, said everything he had heard at the meeting was good. But words were not the problem, he said, actions were.

Expectations that the decision would be delayed from September had grown after a visit to Athens by eurozone and European Central Bank officials was called short at the start of this month.

Together with International Monetary Fund representatives, they have been visiting Greece on a regular basis to check on the process of the government's spending cuts before the next tranches of the 110bn of loans agreed in May 2010 are released.

Jean-Claude Juncker, Eurogroup chief, said Greece was making "significant" progress on budget reforms.

The decision is expected to be made at a meeting of finance ministers in early October, with the funds released about 15 October - assuming there are no hitches.

Demands that Greece accelerate its austerity plans, and divisions among governments and policymakers over support for indebted eurozone members, have sparked turmoil in the financial markets.

The head of the Eurogroup of ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he welcomed "the renewed, firm commitment of Greece" to its austerity programme and said they "would decide in October on the next tranche".

'Without exception'

The move to delay a decision on the next tranche of Greek aid came after the country's finance minister Evangelos Venizelos said Athens would meet its austerity plan and default was not an issue.

"The intention is to meet the fiscal targets for this year and next year without delay, without exception and deviations," he said on arriving in Poland.

But there remains concern that the meeting has not yet resolved some fundamental issues, such as whether Greece should provide collateral in return for more aid.

Our correspondent in Wroclaw, Chris Morris, said that eurozone leaders remain as divided as ever over whether Greece has done enough to deserve further funds.

Ahead of the meeting, Finland's minister Jutta Urpilainen played down the chances of resolving a dispute over providing more money to Greece.

Finland wants collateral in return for contributing money to a second Greek bailout.

But Ms Urpilainen said: "Unfortunately I don't see that we can find a solution tonight."

And Austria's finance minister refused to rule out an eventual Greek default.

On arriving for the meeting, Maria Fekter said more bailout money should be advanced to Greece, but "we will have to think about the alternative".

Despite the apparent disputes over how to tackle the Greek problem, Tobias Blattner, European economist at Daiwa Capital Markets, told the BBC that the talks in Poland were much more wide ranging.

"Sadly enough Greece is actually just a tragic sideshow these days, it is really about how to stop contagion [spreading] to Spain and Italy.

"This is clearly one of the most pressing topics that were discussed today," he said.

He added that he expected the eurozone leaders were debating how the European Financial Stability Facility - the fund set up to help bailout eurozone nations - could best operate if it was needed by other countries.

'Catastrophic risk'

A run of several days of sharp falls on the stock markets was only halted on Thursday, when leading central banks, including the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England, agreed to flood the financial system with dollars.

The aim is to ensure that the global banking system has enough money to fund day-to-day operations, amid signs that institutions were becoming risk-averse and had begun reining in inter-bank lending.

Some analysts interpreted the central banks' move as a possible prelude to a Greek default. Pumping liquidity into the banking system would help to ensure it does not freeze after a default, said National Australia Bank's head of strategy, Nick Parsons.

A problem for some European governments, including Germany and Finland, is that public opinion data shows people are turning against providing funds for further bailouts.

Despite this backdrop of disagreement, Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said on Thursday that now was not the time "to rebuild walls", but to use the crisis to give new foundations to political integration in Europe.

In Washington on Thursday, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde called for bolder action on both sides of the Atlantic, warning that indecision and "political dysfunction" was pushing the US and Europe back towards the brink.

The developed economies have entered a "dangerous new phase", she said.

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Turkey warns of more sanctions against Israel

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday his nation's navy will step up its surveillance of the eastern Mediterranean Sea — a move that could potentially lead to confrontation with Israel — and warned of more sanctions against Israel as relations between the former allies deteriorated further.

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Turkey has already suspended its vast military ties with Israel, said it is expelling top Israeli diplomats and pledged to lobby other nations in support of the Palestinians' statehood bid after Israel refused to apologize for last year's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists.

The sudden measures mark a stunning reversal for the two nations, who were once each other's top military trading partners and used to regularly train together on each other's soil.

Israel has expressed regret for the loss of lives aboard the flotilla and said Tuesday it was time for the two countries to restore their former close ties.

"Israel and Turkey are the two strongest nations in the Middle East and in many respects, the most important," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said before Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's latest threats.

"We have disputes, and even in the case of disputes, it's very important that the two sides use their brains and not act from the gut. It would be best for all involved and in the interest of regional stability to patch things up," Barak said.

A United Nations report released last week said Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was a "legitimate security measure," but also called the raid on the flotilla that tried to break the blockade "excessive and unreasonable." It also said Turkey and the flotilla organizers contributed to the bloodshed.

Israel has accepted the U.N. report, albeit with reservations. Turkey has rejected it.

Erdogan has said the "report does not mean anything for us," and announced the suspension of some trade and military relations. Turkey has not imposed a trade embargo on Israel but suspended ongoing defense projects and purchases from Israeli defense firms.

The breakdown in relations has hurt a key alliance for Israel, which has considered Turkey its strongest ally in the Muslim world.

It is unclear what impact the Turkish decision to scale back economic ties will be. Israeli defense officials said there have not been any new agreements since 2008, just before relations began to deteriorate.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a sensitive diplomatic matter, said Israel was committed to the existing deals and would continue to provide military gear to Turkey despite the latest crisis.

At its height in the late 1990s, Israel exported to Turkey billions of dollars worth of tanks, unmanned aircraft and military technology. Turkey is also a top business partner and tourist destination for Israelis.

Israeli officials noted paradoxically that despite the tension in recent years, 2011 has been a record year thus far in overall trade.

Relations began deteriorating as a result of Israel's campaign against Gaza rocket launchers in early 2009, in which about 1,400 Palestinians were killed, and worsened dramatically after the May 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara vessel.

Turkey's latest moves were prompted after it was disappointed by the U.N. report's failure to criticize Israel more strongly and force it to apologize.

Erdogan did not detail what the next round of sanctions against Israel would include. But he vowed to ensure "freedom of navigation" in the eastern Mediterranean by using Turkey's naval bases in the ports of Iskenderun and Aksaz to "keep the area under constant surveillance."

"Of course, our ships will show themselves quite often from now on. We will see it very often," Erdogan said.

Israel's navy closely protects its coastline and enforces the Gaza blockade, but does not have a major naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey's main opposition party warned last week that military moves could lead to confrontation between Turkish and Israeli forces.

"The probability that (Turkey's ruling) party has carried Turkey to the brink of a hot conflict is saddening and unacceptable," said Faruk Logoglu, a deputy chairman of the opposition Republican People's Party.

Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, said a conflict on the seas was a possibility.

"I don't think they would dare to penetrate Israeli waters," he told reporters in Jerusalem. But he said Turkey may try to disrupt future Israeli gas exports to Cyprus and he warned of a new Turkish-Egyptian alliance that could isolate Israel in the Mediterranean.

Israel's opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, on Tuesday urged the countries to "put aside all the emotions and to enter the room and to discuss what are the next best steps in order to stop this crisis."

Israeli military officials said they doubted the crisis would devolve into violence. One senior official said the Israeli assessment is that Turkey is not looking for a conflict, but is trying to flex its muscles with Israel to gain influence in the Arab world.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to discuss the matter publicly.

___

Aron Heller reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Letterman Threat – Jihadist Website Warns David Letterman

An article from a Jihadist website encourages Muslim followers to “cut the tongue” of late-night host David Letterman for a joke he has made on his show about their religion.

The contributor of the article in the Muslim forum identified himself as Umar al-Basrawi. He was reacting to David Letterman’s reference to both Osama bin Laden and Kashmiri after the US drone strike in Pakistan on June 5 by putting his hand on his neck and demonstrated the way of slaughter.

“Is there not among you a Sayyid Nosair al-Mairi … to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever?” Al-Basrawi wrote, referring to El Sayyid Nosair, who was convicted of the 1990 killing of Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane. Letterman is not Jewish.

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US warns Pakistan over diplomat travel curbs

WASHINGTON — The United States has warned the Pakistani government that its diplomats in the U.S. could be hit with travel restrictions similar to those recently imposed on American diplomats in Pakistan unless Pakistan lifts its restrictions, U.S. officials said Monday.

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The State Department said the U.S. and Pakistan were working to end the spat, the latest irritant in already strained ties, and it was confident the dispute would be resolved quickly. But the officials said Pakistan had been told the Obama administration would consider reciprocal steps to retaliate for the restrictions set down last month by Pakistan's foreign ministry if they are not rescinded.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner declined to comment on the warning but said "reciprocity is always a consideration" when dealing with such matters.

"We are working cooperatively with the government of Pakistan to resolve the issue," Toner told reporters. "We've met with Pakistani officials on this matter both in Washington and in Islamabad, and we believe it can be resolved. The issue is the right of our diplomats to freely travel."

Pakistan's foreign ministry in June issued rules forcing American diplomats to get special permission five days in advance to leave the capital of Islamabad, including to Pakistani cities in which the U.S. maintains consulates.

This led to an incident in which a carload of U.S. diplomats was refused entry to Peshawar after driving from Islamabad. Toner said travel between the two cities no longer appears to be a problem. Toner also noted that U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter had been briefly delayed from boarding a domestic flight to Karachi at the Islamabad airport because he was not carrying a special pass.

"We obviously raised our concerns," Toner said, adding: "We feel that we're making progress towards resolving the issue."

Latest sign of a breakdown
The imposition of the restrictions was the latest sign of a breakdown in ties between Islamabad and Washington since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani territory on May 2. Pakistan reacted furiously to the raid because it was carried out with no warning to authorities in Islamabad.

The fallout battered an already frayed relationship seen as key to the fight against al-Qaida, and Washington's hopes of reaching a settlement in Afghanistan and withdrawing troops. Pakistan sent home at least 90 U.S. soldiers training Pakistani troops in counterinsurgency and severely cut back on intelligence cooperation.

The Obama administration, which took office pledging to strengthen ties with Islamabad, then announced it was suspending more than one-third of its military aid to the country.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Moody's warns over Spanish rating

29 July 2011 Last updated at 14:48 GMT Spain is continuing to see a number of protests about spending cuts and high unemployment Moody's has warned it may downgrade the credit rating of Spanish government bonds, saying last week's second rescue package for Greece had done little to ease debt concerns in the eurozone.

The rating agency said it was reviewing Spain's current Aa2 grade, adding that if it was downgraded, it would probably be by just one level, to Aa3.

Moody's added that the Spanish economy remained "subdued".

The Spanish government has now called an early general election.

The announcement was made just hours after Moody's made its credit rating warning, and will see Spain go to the polls on 20 November.

Explaining the decision, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he wished to "project political and economic certainty" over the months ahead.

However, it could be benefit the opposition conservative Popular Party, as it is ahead of the ruling Socialist Party in the polls.

The government could have waited until March of next year to hold the general election.

'Bond precedent'

In explaining why it was reviewing Spain's credit rating, Moody's highlighted the fact that as part of the second bail-out deal for Greece, private bondholders were being invited to participate.

Continue reading the main story Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Madrid

This is another blow to Spain - anxious to convince investors it won't need a Greek-style bailout. But Moody's still has concerns, so it has put Spain on review, for what's likely to be a one-notch downgrade of its government debt.

The ratings agency points to the slow pace of economic growth here, and the high levels of debt in Spain's autonomous regions. They account for almost half of state spending and several warn they'll overshoot the budget deficit target set by Madrid.

The Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has insisted that won't affect his target of cutting Spain's overall deficit to 6% by the end of the year. But investor doubts, coupled with concern over the details of the latest bailout for Greece, has already pushed Spain's borrowing costs higher and higher.

The Prime Minister has now announced an early general election for November; the main opposition party has long insisted a change of government is the only way to recover confidence in this economy.

The private bondholders, such as banks, are being asked to exchange their current Greek bonds for ones which pay a lower rate of interest over a longer term.

Moody's said this set a "precedent", adding that it had "signalled a clear shift in risk for bondholders of countries with high debt burdens or large budget deficits".

However, if Spain is downgraded to Aa3, this remains a healthy investment grade.

Moody's also said five Spanish banks could have their credit ratings downgraded because of the same concerns.

These include the largest two lenders, Banco Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).

'Fiscal slippage'

Despite the forthcoming general election campaign, Spain's central government is continuing to enforce cost-cutting efforts to reduce its public deficit.

However, Madrid is hampered by the fact that Spain is a heavily devolved country, and its regional governments, such as those in Catalonia and the Basque region, are not moving as fast or as deep in trimming their spending.

Moody's highlighted this problem, warning of "fiscal slippage" at the regional and local government level.

Spain is also struggling with the eurozone's highest unemployment rate, which now stands at 20.9%.

Spain's main share index was down 0.7% in afternoon trading, after falling as much as 2.4% immediately following Moody's announcement.

The yield on the Spanish government's 10-year bonds rose 10 percentage points to 6.10%.

The euro declined, falling 0.3% against the dollar to $1.4287.

"The trigger is that the [Greek] deal last week has not really rebuilt confidence across the eurozone, so Spain is still on their radar screens with costs rising," said Giada Giani, analyst at Citigroup.

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Moody's warns Greek default almost certain

ATHENS — Moody's cut Greece's credit rating further into junk territory on Monday and said it was almost certain to slap a default tag on its debt as a result of a new EU rescue package.

It was the second rating agency to warn of a default after euro zone leaders and banks agreed last week that the private sector would shoulder part of the burden of a rescue deal that offers Greece more cash and easier loan terms to keep it afloat and avoid further contagion.

"The announced EU program along with the Institute of International Finance's statement implies that the probability of a distressed exchange, and hence a default, on Greek government bonds is virtually 100 percent," Moody's said in a statement.

Bank lobby IIF, which led private sector negotiations, aims to attract 90 percent investor participation in the bond exchange plan which comes on top of the EU's new 109 billion euro bailout.

Moody's cut Greece's rating by three notches to Ca, just one notch above default, to reflect the expected loss implied by the proposed debt exchanges.

Greece now has the lowest rating of any country in the world covered by Moody's, which, like Fitch last week, said it would review Greece's rating after the debt swap is completed.

"Once the distressed exchange has been completed, Moody's will reassess Greece's rating to ensure that it reflects the risk associated with the country's new credit profile, including the potential for further debt restructurings," it said.

However, whereas Fitch pledged to quickly give Greece a higher, "low speculative grade" after its bonds had been exchanged, Moody's said it could not forecast when the rating would change or how.

"It all depends how quickly the debt exchange takes place," said Alastair Wilson, Moody's Managing Director for EMEA Credit Policy. "Once we have greater visibility over that, we will reassess the credit profile quite quickly. Whether the rating will change, that's a different question," he told Reuters.

A senior EU official said on Saturday that the aim was to start a voluntary swap of privately-held Greek bonds in late August and conclude it in early September.

Greek bank shares and the broader stock market were unfazed by Moody's action. Analysts said the downgrade and the default warning were priced in and less worrying following assurances provided by the EU deal.

"The EU Council last week effectively secured Greek banks' continued access to ECB liquidity, even in the case that PSI (private sector involvement) triggers a selective default," said Platon Monokroussos, an economist at EFG Eurobank.

The government has repeatedly criticized ratings firms for their downgrades and its spokesman threatened on Monday to end its subscriptions to these agencies as the new rescue package means Greece will not issue new bonds for years.

"All governments pay a subscription to these agencies. We, I think, do not need the reviews anymore. They have no practical value," Elias Mosialos told Radio 9. "Perhaps the finance ministry should end its subscription."

CONTAGION CONTAINED ... FOR NOW

Moody's said it would take into account the possibility of a second default while reassessing Greece's rating.

"Our experience is that relatively small restructurings have often been followed by deeper defaults," Wilson said, adding that he could not say if this would be the case for Greece.

The rescue package for Greece benefits other euro zone countries by containing near-term contagion risks but it was not necessarily positive in the longer run as it set a precedent for private sector involvement in rescue deals, Moody's said.

"The support package sets a precedent for future restructurings should the finances of another euro area sovereign become as problematic as those of Greece. The impact of Thursday's announcement for creditors of Ireland and Portugal is therefore likely to be credit-neutral," it said.

The cost of insuring most peripheral euro zone government debt against default rose on Monday on market doubts that the fresh aid package for Greece agreed last week will protect bigger economies from contagion.

Standard & Poor's and Fitch rate Greece CCC, broadly in line with Moody's rating. S&P has not yet said how the EU summit deal will affect Greece's rating.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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