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If the US
sneezes, LONDON, Dec 8: With the US economy showing almost daily signs of slowing down, analysts are asking to what extent will the British economy suffer a similar fate......more
Musharraf unlikely to relinquish power: ARD ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: President of Pakistan’s newly formed multi-party opposition alliance, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, today said it was unlikely....more
PML warns regime against human rights violations ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Deposed Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) has warned that the party would approach world .....more Endeavor astronauts
complete third, final WASHINGTON, Dec 8: Two shuttle endeavour astronauts have made their third and final space walk, capping off a mission aimed at lighting up the ...more |
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US, Russia propose sanctions against Taliban UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8: The United States and Russia have introduced a resolution in the Security Council to .....more Karan Thapar bags SINGAPORE, Dec 8: India’s television anchor Karan Thapar has won the Asian Television Award for his controversial interview with Pakistani military...more Hindus in Pak’s Sindh province to boycott local body polls ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Process for restoration of democracy has suffered a blow in powerful Sindh province as yet another minority, the Hindu....more
US Presidential race TALLAHASSEE, Dec 8: Al Gore and George W Bush braced for what could be the decisive day in the battle for the White House today, with several crucial court rulings expected, and the Florida legislature planning.....more |
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If the US sneezes, does Britain catch cold? LONDON, Dec 8: With the US economy showing almost daily signs of slowing down, analysts are asking to what extent will the British economy suffer a similar fate. In the past couple of weeks, many British economists have revised their forecasts of the next interest rate move to a cut from a rise and many have started to look at the risks to world growth posed by the spluttering US economy and some wobbling emerging markets. The figure most focused upon is the slowdown in annualised US economic growth to 2.7 percent in the third quarter from a whopping, and unsustainable, 5.6 percent in the second quarter. That provoked Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to comment this week that the US economy had slowed "appreciably" and that the fed must be alert to the risk of an "excessive softening" in US demand. Though that slowdown was desirable, the speed with which it has apparently happened has worried analysts, as well as Greenspan. With high technology stock prices tumbling and the strength of oil prices, some have started to wonder if the US economy is heading for a so-called "hard landing". On this side of the Atlantic, people are wondering if Britain, whose economy is currently growing robustly, could be sailing into economically stormy waters. Central bankers looking nervous Such worries were clearly voiced by the normally hawkish Bank of England Deputy Governor Mervyn King when he presented the BOE’s quarterly inflation report last month. "Traditionally the UK just follows the American business cycle with a lag of a few months. The idea of the US sneezing and Britain catching a cold is beginning to look like an understatement," says Professor Andrew Oswald of Warwick University. There are two main ways in which the US economic ills, should they become a reality, would infect britain. First, and most obvious, is the effect on trade. If the US and the wider global economy slow down, the effects on Britain’s trade account, as an open, trading economy, would be clear. Indeed, there is evidence this may already be happening. "While a hard landing is not our central view, we see downside risks to GDP growth in the three most important UK export markets. This is especially true in the US and Euroland," said Mark Miller at Morgan Stanley in London. He estimates that a slowdown in those economies of 0.5 percentage points would shave 0.1 to 0.2 points off British growth. He is forecasting growth of 2.4 percent next year, below the 2.7 percent that most economists expect, and sees the risks as being "to the downside". But apart from the trade effect, there are also important sentiment and wealth effects that could tip the balance further, although opinion is divided about the extent. With the US NASDAQ high technology stock index having halved in value since March, and Britain’s ftse 100 index down over 10 percent since the beginning of the year, some economists say there could be trouble brewing. Stock market could spell trouble "Should the fall in technology stocks turn into a more general slide in stock markets, the impact on confidence and hence on spending could be greater than anticipated," said Jonathan Loynes of capital economics. While Britons are far less exposed to the stock market than Americans, with equity holdings accounting for about 15 percent of household wealth, Loynes has produced a chart showing a remarkably close correlation between consumer confidence and the level of the stock market in Britain. And with the housing market, where britons hold about 40 percent of their wealth, having cooled sharply since peaking early in the year, it is not surprising that some indicators of consumer confidence have been softening in recent months. "With our US economists noting the possibility of a stock market earnings shock from a squeeze in profit margins, the potential damage an imported ‘wealth effect’ could inflict on the UK consumer cannot be ignored," said Morgan Stanley’s Miller. So does all of this mean the British economy is heading off a cliff? the answer is no one really knows, but it is clear that the outlook has become distinctly less rosy. Oswald, who has long said that the tripling of world oil prices over the last two years constituted a shock to the global economy, is quite clear. "In my view, the consequences of the fourth oil shock have arrived right on schedule. As I have said before, the world economy has never in history survived a big spike in oil prices without a major downturn. "It is easy to forget the speed of this slowdown. If this is a soft landing i will eat my parachute," he said. He also rejects the conventional view that it is a series of interest rate rises by the federal reserve that has brought about the slowdown in the US economy. "If you look at real US interest rates, they are actually one percentage point lower than in 1998 (when rates were cut in response to the Asian crisis)." Britain is also better placed than its competitors to cut interest rates sharply if recession looms, economists say. Its inflation rate, at just 2.0 percent, is well below its 2.5 percent target so the Bank of England could afford to cut rates sharply if need be to head off the threat of recession. Furthermore, big spending increases in the pipeline from the Government next year, which until recently economists said might force the Bank of England to raise rates, could now help save the economy from a hard landing. David Walton, economist at Goldman Sachs in London, points to faster growth in stock building in the third quarter as a possible harbinger of slowing demand, because it could indicate companies are involuntarily building stocks because they cannot sell all the goods they have produced. "If the inventories data do signal weaker than expected demand, the economy might need a boost from the public sector in coming months if GDP growth is not to slow too much," he said. (REUTERS) |
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Musharraf unlikely to relinquish power: ARD ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: President of Pakistan’s newly formed multi-party opposition alliance, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, today said it was unlikely that the military Government would relinquish power after the three-year time period given to it by the court but asserted that the alliance would strive for restoration of democracy. Nawabzada, President of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), which comprises deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan’s Peoples Party (PPP) told newspersons that "the intention of the military Government is to rule for over 30 years instead of the three year time-frame given by the Supreme Court". The Government itself will not restore democracy and the democratic forces would have to jointly struggle for it, he said. Nawabzada also said that the formation of a such a broad-based alliance, which represents former ruling parties, is a positive gesture, adding that "component parties have pledged not to repeat their previous mistakes that destabilised the political process leading to Army interventions". Stating that the masses are perturbed over various problems, including unemployment, law and order situation and price-hikes, he said "rulers must take stock of the situation and concede to the ARD’s fundamental demand of restoration of democracy." (PTI) |
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PML warns regime against human rights violations ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Deposed Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) has warned that the party would approach world leaders and International Human Rights Organisations if the military Government did not stop "human rights violations and victimisation" of their leader. The Central Information Secretary of PML Mushahidullah Khan has said that the party would inform the international community about the human rights violations being subjected on Sharif’s family. Expressing concern over the ailment of his party leader, party vice-president Ejaz Shaffi said "that the rulers had failed to hang the elected Prime Minister and now they were adopting new tactics to kill him". He said the Government’s failure to provide proper medical facilities to Sharif has exposed its attitude and demanded that the regime provide medical attention to Nawaz Sharif and shift him to a hospital. (PTI) |
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Endeavor astronauts complete third, final space walk WASHINGTON, Dec 8: Two shuttle endeavour astronauts have made their third and final space walk, capping off a mission aimed at lighting up the International Space Station (ISS), NASA officials said. US astronauts Carlos Noriega and Joe Tanner, guided by Canadian Marc Garneau, who remained aboard endeavour, completed their main task of attaching two giant solar panels to the space station, officials at NASA’s flight control center in Houston, Texas told AFP by phone yesterday. The two were even able to complete a number of tasks to have been carried out in by the next mission to the ISS, scheduled for January, the officials said. Previously, only two of the space station’s modules, Zvezda and Zaria, were supplied with electricity. Now the entire space complex, including the US unity module, will be lit up. The solar panels’ 66,000 photovoltaic cells will produce enough power for the space laboratory destiny, which will be added to the ISS in January. Together, the two panels extend the length of the wingspan of a Boeing 747, about 75 meters. The two 600-million-dollar panels are the first of four sets of solar panels that will eventually power the space station. (AFP) |
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US, Russia propose sanctions against Taliban UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8: The United States and Russia have introduced a resolution in the Security Council to impose tough new sanctions against the Taliban to force them to close terrorist training camps and handover Saudi terrorist Osama Bin Laden. The resolution, which is expected to come up for vote next week, calls, among other things, for arms embargo and freezing Taliban’s assets. It also demands immediate handing over of Bin Laden and closing of camps within 30 days. Taliban has condemned the resolution saying that sanctions would only hurt the common man. Besides, it would prolong the ongoing civil war which has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands people. The resolution, which was introduced yesterday, came in under criticism from Pakistan, which said that it would scuttle the peace process initiated by the United Nations. But Russia rejected Islamabad’s contention asserting that Taliban had never delivered on any promise and the resolution leaves ample scope for the dialogue to continue. However, diplomats say it would be difficult to monitor the arms embargo but it would bring Pakistan under fresh pressure as most of the weapons to Taliban pass through that country. Besides, Pakistani military is actively supporting Taliban who control ninety-five percent of the country, they say. Americans and Russians have united on the measure as washington has linked to Bin Laden the bombing of destroyer cole in Aden in Yemen and Moscow is fighting Afghanistan trained militants in Chechnya. (PTI) |
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Karan Thapar bags Asian TV Award SINGAPORE, Dec 8: India’s television anchor Karan Thapar has won the Asian Television Award for his controversial interview with Pakistani military dictator General Pervez Musharraf. Thapar, President of United Television, won the coveted award for the best current affairs special programme for 2000 at a glittering ceremony here last night which was broadcast by Singapore Television. Thapar’s one-hour interview with Musharraf was broadcast by Doordarshan in February which became a subject of controversy with critics questioning whether the state broadcaster should have given the platform to the Pakistani ruler. The interview was chosen in preference over 1100 other entries from 15 countries, with CNN’s coverage of the recent Presidential elections in Taiwan being the runner up. Thapar, who had won Asian Television Award last year for the best current affairs, thus becomes the first Indian to win two consecutive awards. (PTI) |
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Hindus in Pak’s Sindh province to boycott local body polls ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Process for restoration of democracy has suffered a blow in powerful Sindh province as yet another minority, the Hindu community, has decided to boycott the local council elections protesting the continuation of separate electorates, a media report said here today. The Hindu community is the second one after the Christans which decided not to participate in the local council elections, reports Pakistani weekly "The Friday Times". A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of All Hindu Upper Sindh Convention at Jacobabad, the paper said. Another daily newspaper "The News" said efforts were being made by the administration to convince the Hindu panchayat leaders to call off the boycott of the local bodies poll in Larkana division of the province. The paper said only seven nomination forms from minority community — two from Jacobabad, four from Larkana and one from Shikarpur — had been filed till the last day. Speaking to "The Friday Times" Sudham Chand Chawla said "why shouldn’t we protest against being treated as fourth class citizens." Under the electorate system in Pakistan, minorities including Hindus have a separate electorate. Hindus are a docile community and are generally hounded by intelligence agencies, especially if they are seen as getting active politically, "The Friday Times" said. The history of separate electorate starts from the regime of Zia-ul-Haq, who, in 1985 non-party general elections expelled the minorities from the mainstream on the basis of separate electorates. The weekly says that "it is a fact that the Hindu community in Sindh faces innumerable problems. Kidnappings of Hindus for ransom, kidnappings of Hindu girls, their subsequent conversion and marriages to Muslim boys, harassment by the agencies are just some of the problems." The paper said these issues are being avoided by the successive Governments despite the press highlighting these issues and the human rights of Pakistan writing about it year after year. General Secretary (Minorities Wing) of Pakistan People’s Party Mehr Chand is quoted by the weekly as saying "deliberate efforts have been made to force us to leave the country...We have decided to launch an effective struggle against discrimination and injustice. What Islam preaches, the Government should practice it." (PTI) |
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US Presidential race close to finishing line TALLAHASSEE, Dec 8: Al Gore and George W Bush braced for what could be the decisive day in the battle for the White House today, with several crucial court rulings expected, and the Florida legislature planning to move into the frontline. The Supreme Court could rule today on the Democratic Vice President’s challenge of electoral results that gave Bush a 537-vote lead in Florida, the state that will determine who becomes the 43rd US President. The justices were also due to determine what to do with a case the US Supreme Court sent back to Florida, asking the state’s highest court to reconsider a decision to delay vote counts to include manual recounts. At the same time, a lower court in the Florida capital was expected to rule in two lawsuits where democratic voters want 25,000 votes, most of them for bush thrown out. One ruling was scheduled for today, and the other could come the same day. The plaintiffs claim republicans illegally filled in missing information on absentee voter ballots. Both sides have indicated they would appeal a decision that is not in their favor. That could continue to tie up the results of the December 7 election, a move Republicans in the Florida legislature say will force them to step in. They have scheduled a special session today to prepare the ground for the possible nomination by the legislature of Florida’s slate to the electoral college, which is usually awarded to the winner of the state’s popular vote. The unprecedented move would be certain to result in a Bush victory — and yet more legal battles — as both the Senate and the House are dominated by Republicans. The lawmakers said they would take the drastic step if the electors are not picked by a Tuesday deadline. That would be certain to raise a storm of controversy, with democrats saying the move would effectively disenfranchise Florida’s six million voters. Florida Chief Justice Charles Wells mentioned the December 12 deadline, saying it would be impossible to complete the vote recount gore seeks by that date. But, in his arguments before the Supreme Court yesterday, Gore lawyer David Boies said the 12,000 contested Florida ballots could be counted by that date. Gore is convinced he would take a strong lead in a recount of the votes. The issue of vote recounts had already been central to a November 20 hearing at the Florida Supreme Court, which allowed for an extension of a vote count deadline from November 17 to November 26 to include new tallies. But the US Supreme Court questioned the move and told the Florida supremes to reconsider it. Lawyers for Bush have argued that if the State High Court should uphold a lower court’s rejection of Gore’s electoral contest, the case sent back by the US Supreme Court, would become moot. The cases are critical to the Presidential race as neither Gore nor Bush can reach the 270 US electoral college votes needed to capture the White House without Florida’s 25 electors. (AFP) |
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