Facebook loosens privacy restrictions to allow under-18s to post globally

Facebook has removed a restriction for users under 18 that limited who could see their online posts.

Facebook said teenagers would now be able to manually alter the setting and share information with the public. Until now, posts by those who registered their age as less than 18 could be viewed only by their friends, and by friends of their friends.

"Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard," Facebook said in an announcement of the changes.

"While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services," the company said.

Facebook is under increasing competition for younger users from a new crop of mobile and social services, such as SnapChat and WhatsApp.

Source: the guardian

Christine Legard: Welcomes U.S ending of partial shutdown and encourage Congress to adopt a medium-term fiscal plan

Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement today:

“The U.S. Congress has taken an important and necessary step by ending the partial shutdown of the federal government and lifting the debt ceiling, which enables the government to continue its operations without disruption for the next few months while budget negotiations continue to unfold.

“Looking forward, it will be essential to reduce uncertainty surrounding the conduct of fiscal policy by raising the debt limit in a more durable manner. We also continue to encourage the U.S. to approve a budget for 2014 and replace the sequester with gradually phased-in measures that would not harm the recovery, and to adopt a balanced and comprehensive medium-term fiscal plan.”

Interest rates may rise next year, says Bank of England chief economist

TheBank of England warned that interest rates might rise as early as next year as its chief economist said Threadneedle Street's desire to keep borrowing costs low for several years could be thwarted by a combination of stronger than expected growth and unusually weak productivity.

Spencer Dale, one of the nine members of the rate-setting monetary policy committee, said the UK was currently growing at an annual rate of 3-4% and the Bank could not be certain when it might need to tighten policy.

The Bank said in August that unless there was a risk from inflation or an over-heating property market it would only start thinking about raising interest when unemployment had come down to 7% from 7.7% currently, something it did not expect until 2016. But the recovery in the economy seen since the spring has left many in the City convinced that the Bank will be forced to take action before then.

Source: theguardian

Brazil : The Gap between domestic and international gasoline prices falls to 9.2%

"The gap between domestic and international gasoline prices fell in October, likely reduceing the trade deficit of Petrobras. According to analysts polled by Valor PRO, the real-time news agency of Valor, after reaching a peak of 33% in August, the difference fell to 17.5% in September and 9.2% in October 7. The gap dropped for two reasons: falling international gasoline prices, which declined to $0.67 per liter in October from $0.75 in August, and the devaluation of the dollar against the real. "A 5% oscillation of gasoline up or down than what is practiced abroad is normal," says expert Adriano Pires. Therefore, he believes that a 6% increase in refining, which is likely to happen, will give some room for Petrobras at least until next year".

Valor International

Brazil: Hydroelectric dams drop to critical levels in Northeast

"The National Operator of the Electric System (ONS) again lowered its late October water level projection for the hydroelectric dams in the Northeast region to 25.1% from 26.1%. The previous projection was 26.8%, from 33.9% in the same period of last year and already considered critical.

The region's reservoirs are expected to end October at the worst level for the month since 2003, when they reached 18.97%. The current level is 27.8%. Experts believe more thermal plants will have be activated to meet the region's power needs. The scenario is intensified by the Northeast region's expected growth in power consumption. ONS increased the region's estimated growth to 8.3% from 8.1%, and calculates it will demand an average of 9,979MW in the month.

“As in previous months, the Northeast region will continue showing water flows well below the historical average for the month of October,” ONS said in its last weekly review of the Monthly Operation Plan.

The factor helping Brazil avoid a more serious situation is that reservoir levels in the Southeat/Central-West regions, which concentrate 70% of the country's capacity, are above the ones seen in October 2012. Southeast region dams are at 47.7%, from 42.8% in the same period of last year.

Experts consulted by Valor say the situation is worrying, but warning lights still haven't sounded off. “The big question is if the Southeast subsystem will continue committed to supply power to the Northeast,” says João Carlos Mello, director of consultancy Thymos Energia, noting that exporting power to the Northeast could drain even more the Southeast/Central-West reservoirs one month before the end of the dry season".

Valor International

Mexico lawmakers to propose 35 percent top income tax rate - draft

Mexican lawmakers will propose changes on Wednesday to a tax overhaul plan that President Enrique Pena Nieto hopes will boost the country's low tax receipts, and urge higher rates for top earners than previously planned, according to a draft obtained by Reuters.

Pena Nieto last month proposed a series of measures to raise Mexico's anaemic tax revenues by about $35 billion by 2018, but is grappling with stiff political opposition and lobbying from business groups.

He floated the idea of raising income taxes for wealthier Mexicans and slapping a levy on stock market gains, a universal pension and unemployment insurance, along with emergency spending that would force a budget deficit this year and next.

The fiscal reform proposal is a key plank of a wider reform agenda that Pena Nieto hopes will boost growth in Latin America's No.2 economy, and also includes measures to tax soft drinks and impose a carbon charge on polluters.

For their part, Lower House lawmakers will propose raising the proposed top rate on a sliding scale to 35 percent for those who earn more than 3 million pesos ($233,100) a year, above the 32 percent top rate that Pena Nieto had put forward, according to the draft reform revision.

Source: Reuters

China's September FDI rises 4.88 pct

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into China in September climbed 4.88 percent from a year ago, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

China drew 8.84 billion U.S. dollars in foreign direct investment in September, the ministry said, while in the first nine months, FDI totaled 88.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 6.22 percent from the same period of 2012.

Source: Xinhua

Markets Across Asia also Rally after the deal in the U.S. Congress

US shares surged after the Senate announced a deal to end the partial government shutdown and avoid a debt default.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all closed up by more than 1%.

The deal would fund the government until 15 January, and extends the debt ceiling until 7 February.

After the market closed the Senate voted in favour of the deal, leaving the House of Representatives to vote.

The Republican leadership in the House has said it will support the measure.

As well as providing the government with funding, the bill will create a panel of Senate and House members to draw up a longer-term budget agreement.

The Dow Jones rose 206 points to close at 15,374. The S&P 500 was up 23 points to 1,721 and the Nasdaq rose 45 points to 3,839.

Markets across Asia, from Japan to Australia, also rallied on the news of a deal.

In Tokyo, shares hit a three-week high. And in Australia, the All Ordinaries index and the S&P 200 climbed by 0.5% at the start of trade.

Source:  BBC

China's Huawei Technologies Strengthens Ties With the U.K.

"China’s Huawei Technologies Co., the world’s second-largest supplier of telecommunications equipment, faces a harsh environment in the U.S., where it has been effectively shut out of the market due to national-security questions raised by local politicians.

But in the U.K., where Huawei already has a solid customer base, the situation is very different. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who is in China this week on a five-day trip, is visiting Huawei’s headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen on Wednesday to meet with company founder and Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei".

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Japan: Researchers find new atomic 'magic number'

Japanese researchers say they have found a new so-called "magic number" -- a key to determining when atomic nuclei have become stable.

In a study published in the British science journal Nature, the researchers at Riken, the University of Tokyo and other institutions say an experiment using a particle accelerator indicated that 34 is another magic number.

Atomic nuclei become stable when the number of protons or neutrons they contain are equal to certain numbers. Ten such numbers, ranging from 2 to 126, had previously been identified. Physicists call them "magic numbers."

Chief researcher at RIKEN, Hiroyoshi Sakurai, says magic numbers can reveal how individual elements were created in the universe.

NewsOnJapan

WSJ: Alibaba Isn’t the Amazon of China (But)

   According to an article published today on the Wall Street Journal,"calling Alibaba China’s Amazon.com Inc. is for the most part misleading, as the Chinese company’s business model is different from Amazon, eBay Inc.or any other U.S. e-commerce competitors. In some ways, the Chinese company, which serves as an advertising platform for numerous entrepreneurs that rely heavily on Alibaba to generate traffic for their online retail operations, bears some similarities to Google Inc".
"Alibaba’s revenue for the second quarter rose 61% to $1.74 billion from $1.08 billion a year earlier, while its operating profit more than doubled to $856 million from $372 million.In the second quarter through June,  Alibaba’s net profit more than doubled to $707 million from $273 million a year earlier".

"Amazon’s sales for the second quarter rose 22% to $15.7 billion from $12.8 billion a year earlier. But Amazon posted a net loss of $7 million in the same quarter. With an operating profit of $79 million, Amazon’s operating profit margin stood at 0.5%, drawing a stark contrast to Alibaba’s 49% operating profit margin".

"EBay, meanwhile, saw its revenue increase 14% to $3.88 billion in the second quarter. But its net profit fell 7.5% to $640 million from $692 million a year earlier".

"Like EBay, Alibaba’s online shopping sites are marketplaces where many merchants come in and sell their products directly to customers. But Taobao, Alibaba’s biggest shopping site with more than 7 million sellers and 800 million product listings, doesn’t charge any commission fees on transactions.Many of those ads are linked to Taobao’s own search engine.

As Taobao, launched in 2003, has grown exponentially over the past decade, the site’s revenue has grown with merchants spending more on ads to secure page views for their item listings. Many Chinese shoppers go directly to Taobao and run a search for whatever they are looking for, instead of using more general search engines like Baidu Inc.For millions of Chinese entrepreneurs trying to start an online retail business, Taobao is the best platform because of the site’s ability to attract consumers, and also because the initial cost of setting up the business is low.

Other than Taobao, Alibaba also runs another site called Tmall, a marketplace for larger merchants and major brands like Nike Inc. and Gap Inc., where each seller pays a deposit as well as a commission fee on each transaction.

Last year, combined total volume of merchandise handled by Taobao and Tmall surpassed 1 trillion yuan, or about $160 billion, according to Alibaba. That figure was larger than Amazon’s $86 billion, according to RetailNet Group, or eBay’s 67.8 billion.

Most people in the U.S. know only about Alibaba.com as a website, which was the company’s first business when it was established in 1999, now accounts for only a small part of its sprawling business portfolio. Last year, Taobao and Tmall accounted for the majority of Alibaba’s group revenue".

Japanese unconvinced by pro-nuclear energy policy: Ex-PM Koizumi

Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that a pro-nuclear power policy will not win the understanding of Japanese people.

The government cannot persuade Japanese people that nuclear power plants are necessary, Koizumi said in a lecture given in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

"Rather, a proposal to abandon nuclear energy is convincing," he said.

The popular former leader called for reducing the country's nuclear power dependence to zero, noting it is impossible to fully prevent nuclear accidents at the moment.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Chinese supplier denies tablet flaw claim by Thai media

The reports carried by some Thai media criticizing the "poor quality" of Chinese-made tablets offered to Thai schools nationwide were groundless and untrue, the supplier has said.

About 0.62 percent of the Chinese-made tablets currently used by Thai schoolchildren have been found in defect since last year, not as much as 30 percent as mistakenly charged by the Thai media, according to Liu Jun, chairman of China's Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development.

Last May, the Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT) of Thailand inked a tablet-supply contract with the Chinese manufacturer under the One Tablet per Child (OTPC) policy, a campaign promise made by the ruling Pheu Thai Party in 2011.

The ICT said in a thank-you letter to Scope after the delivery was completed last October that the quality and technical specifications of the products met its expectations and the tablets were of good, stable quality.

"We are satisfied with the technical support, qualified products, smooth logistic, effective communication and in-time after-sale service," read the letter.

However, citing a report by the Office of the Auditor-General ( OAG), which monitors the OTPC policy, some Thai newspapers and websites have recently flocked to report that around 30 percent, or 260,000, of the Scope tablets had been broken and many after- sale service centers shut down.

"Those reports are groundless and seriously goes against the facts," said Liu.

According to him, ICT statistics shows that only 0.62 percent, or 5344 of the Scope tablets have been returned for repair between August 2012 and August 2013, and three after-sale service centers were moved to another location, instead of being shut down.

Earlier this month, Thai Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng pointed out that the 30 percent repair rate was a result of a random check by the OAG on 990 tablets and it should not be used as a nationwide figure.

The Education Ministry, instead of the ICT, has been put in charge of the second-phase of the project, which started in May.

Chaturon quoted teachers at varied schools where the Chinese tablets were distributed as saying their schoolchildren effectively learned English, science, math and other subjects with the help of the computers.

According to Liu, the Chinese manufacturer is committed to making its cooperation with the Thai government a success.

The Scope tablets carry a two-year warranty upon return for repairs, which is longer than usual, and a total of 114 after-sale service centers have been set up across the country, a lot more than 60 as agreed in the contract.

Moreover, the company has hired over 200 local employees to be trained as professional technicians.

Some observers argued that rumors against the Scope tablets are politically motivated as the Chinese supplier fell victim to Thailand's internal political tug-of-war.

The real target was not the Chinese-made tablets, but the Yingluck Shinawatra administration and its OTPC project, which the oppositions have already deemed as a failure, they said.

 Source: Xinhua

Osprey aircraft takes part in first joint drill in Japan

US military Osprey aircraft have been used for the first time in Japan in a joint exercise of US Marines and Japanese Self-Defense Forces.

The two Osprey transporters arrived on Wednesday at the Self-Defense Forces' Aibano training area in Shiga Prefecture. The tilt-rotor aircraft with vertical landing and takeoff flew in from Okinawa Prefecture.About 40 Japanese and US troops boarded the Ospreys for a short flight and landing.
About 230 Japanese and US military personnel are taking part in training with the Osprey for emergency response.

Source:  NewsOnJapan

China's Exim Bank signs deal to fundChina's Exim Bank inks deal to fund US$ 1.67 bln for oil refinery in Cambodia

The Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) on Wednesday signed an agreement to fund a 1.67 billion U.S. dollars loan to a Cambodian company for the construction of an oil refinery. The loan deal was inked between Exim Bank's Chairman Li Ruogu and Hann Khieng, president of local project partner Cambodian Petrochemical Company, under the presence of Cambodian Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon and Finance Minister Aun Porn Moniroth. The agreement came after the Cambodian Petrochemical Company and several Chinese firms signed in April a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly build a five-million-tonne oil refinery project in Cambodia with the investment amount of 1.67 billion U.S. dollars. Speaking after the signing ceremony, Keat Chhon said: "The project will be hugely contributing to developing the economy and reducing poverty when it comes to fruition." Li Ruogu said China and Cambodia are close friends and the Exim Bank will continue to help Cambodia in order to further deepen the Sino-Cambodian ties. "The Exim Bank believes that the oil refinery project will contribute to developing Cambodian economy and society," he said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday urged China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp), the world's fourth-largest oil producer, to expedite its process to build the oil refinery by 2018, according to a spokesman. The premier made the request during a meeting with Cai Xiyou, the visiting senior vice president of Sinopec Corp, which is one of the major stakeholders in the project. "Prime Minister Hun Sen supported the project and urged the company to construct the oil refinery as soon as possible in order to enable Cambodia to produce oil by the latest 2018," Eang Sophallet, personal spokesman for Hun Sen, told reporters after the meeting. "The premier also advised the firm to reduce impact on environment as much as possible." Cai Xiyou promised the premier that the Sinopec Corp would push forward the construction of the oil refinery in Cambodia as soon as possible. He said the company would use new and high-end technologies to build the plant with international standards and minimum impact on environment. The oil refinery will be built on the 80-hectare area within the boundary of Preah Sihanouk Province and Kampot Province, according to the master plan. Currently, Cambodia entirely imports oil and gas from Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand as its seabed's oil and gas have not been exploited. Last year, the Southeast Asian nation spent 1.62 billion U.S. dollars on importing about 1.65 million tonnes of oil, according to the record of the Ministry of Commerce. During the first eight months of this year, the nation imported 1.1 million tonnes of oil, costing 1.04 billion U.S. dollars. The government has estimated that the demand would increase up to 4 million tonnes a year in coming years thanks to rapid economic growth. Source: Xinhua

China Foreign Ministry defends Middle East oil imports

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman on Wednesday denied that China's increasing crude oil imports from the Middle East were against any third-party interests.

Speaking at the ministry's daily media briefing, in response to a question on the matter, Hua Chunying said the energy cooperation between China and the Middle East is transparent and mutually beneficial, which is in the interests of both sides and isn't against any third-party interests.

As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China has always played a positive and constructive role in the peace, security, development and prosperity of the Middle East, Hua said.

According to the spokeswoman, it is clear to all that China has made tremendous efforts in supporting countries in the region to explore development paths in line with their own national conditions and improving their peoples' livelihood.

Promoting peace and development in the Middle East contributes to the safety of global energy supply and is in the common interests of all parties, Hua noted, vowing that China will make unremitting efforts in this regard.

Source: Xinhua

China: Central bank says housing credit policy unchanged

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, said on Wednesday it has stuck to its housing credit policy after reports that some banks have tightened lending for home purchases.

The central bank has continued to implement a differentiated policy, and seeks to satisfy the needs of first-time buyers, a PBOC spokesman said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the central bank has continued to beef up financial support for the construction of affordable housing and small-to-medium commercial housing units. "The orientation of this policy has not changed," the spokesman said.

Under the differentiated credit policy for home purchases, people who buy their first home are required to provide a 30 percent down payment. For those who buy a second home, the down payment can reach 70 percent, and the lending rate will also be higher.

PBOC data showed that banks' outstanding loans for housing purchases stood at 8.7 trillion yuan (1.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of September, up 20.9 percent year on year. In the first three quarters, banks' new loans for home purchases reached 1.25 trillion yuan, accounting for 17.2 percent of new loans during the same period.

Meanwhile, 76.5 percent of the new loans were extended to first-time buyers during the period, the data showed.

The PBOC spokesman added that currently liquidity in the banking sector is abundant and commercial banks have not rolled out policies to suspend lending to home buyers.

US shutdown: Senate reaches fiscal deal

Republican and Democratic leaders of the US Senate have struck a cross-party deal to end a partial government shutdown and raise the US debt limit.

Their bill must also pass the House, where a small group of Republicans are expected to join Democrats to send the bill to President Barack Obama.

The bill extends the federal borrowing limit until 7 February and funds the government to 15 January.

It comes just a day before the deadline to raise the $16.7tn (£10.5tn) limit.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen Reid's negotiating partner, said he was "confident" the government would reopen and avoid default under the proposed bill.

And in a statement, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said "blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us".

"We're going to pass it in the House," Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said.

Source: Reuters

Worries in China about U.S. Debt Level and its Fiscal Deficit

   According to a report on the Wall Street Journal:

''the U.S. debt problem will continue to deteriorate and the debt level and fiscal deficit will increase,” said Xiang Songzuo, chief economist at Agricultural Bank of China, the country’s third-largest bank by assets. “This is very dangerous (for China).”

Mr. Xiang pessimistically predicted that the world’s largest economy may need to ask its creditors—China included—to erase some of the debt in the future.

China has a total of $3.66 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves, a big chunk of which is in U.S. Treasurys. A drop in the value of the dollar or of U.S. government debt would be painful indeed.

Accelerating the internationalization of China’s currency is vital, the economist said, adding that China’s over-reliance on the dollar is dangerous.

Low Cost Carriers entice emerging latin american middle class onto planes

    According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, "Discount airlines are taking off in Latin America, one of the last big untapped markets, transforming transportation there by enticing an emerging middle class off buses and onto planes.
The new low-cost carriers in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are largely avoiding competition with incumbent full-service airlines. Instead, they are stimulating new traffic by adding cheap, no-frills flights to secondary cities that, for many residents, had long required day-long bus rides.

Largely as a result, the number of airline passengers in these countries has surged. The newfound mobility has opened up the flow of commerce and drastically cut travel times in areas with poor roads, virtually no rail service and stretches of harsh terrain.

In Latin America, government regulation, poor airport infrastructure and the dominance of flag carriers kept airfares high and relegated the vast majority of the population to hours-long bus rides. But now the region is fertile ground for discount carriers, with rising wages, government support, improving infrastructure and the failure or consolidation of some of the region's biggest full-service carriers.

Latin America has six low-cost carriers, compared with 22 in Southeast Asia, but the airlines' share of seats in Latin America has increased to nearly a third this year from less than 10% in 2005, according to the Centre for Aviation, a Sydney-based research firm.

The expansion of discounters is expected to help fuel the rapid growth of the region's aviation market. Boeing Corp. forecasts that air traffic within Latin America will nearly quadruple over the next two decades, compared with a 100% increase in Europe and a 57% increase in North America".

Alibaba's Earnings More Than Double

  According to an article published on the Wall Street Journal, "Alibaba's net profit for the quarter through June surged to $707 million from $273 million for the same period a year earlier, according to a presentation slide from Yahoo, which holds a 24% stake in the Chinese company".
  Alibaba's revenue for the second quarter rose 61% to $1.737 billion from $1.077 billion a year earlier, while its operating profit more than doubled to $856 million from $372 million.

Alibaba's strong earnings—with an operating profit margin of 49%—come at a time when the company, based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, is planning to go public in what could be the largest Internet IPO since Facebook.

According to analyst estimates, an Alibaba IPO could value the company at $70 billion or more, and raise about $10 billion.

By some measures, Alibaba is the world's largest e-commerce platform, as the total volume of merchandise being handled on its online shopping sites is larger than Amazon inc and eBay Inc 

Still, Alibaba's revenue is much smaller than its U.S. peers in part because its business model is different.

Alibaba's biggest business is Taobao, China's largest online marketplace, where 7 million merchants—mostly small businesses—list over 800 million items. While Taobao doesn't charge commissions on the transactions made by the merchants, Taobao can make money because most merchants pay to advertise on the site as they try to attract consumers''. 

The Budget Battle in Washington

  According to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Senate leaders in both parties are putting the finishing touches on an agreement to temporarily raise the nation’s debt ceiling and fully reopen the government, as lawmakers race to resolve their budget stalemate and calm anxious financial markets. The expected Senate deal would avoid a potential U.S. debt default, but it would only set new deadlines for lawmakers to make decisions about the long-term course of fiscal policy.
 The deal would fund federal agencies through Jan. 15 and extend the nation's borrowing authority through Feb. 7. The agreement includes no major alterations to the 2010 health-care law, known as Obamacare. But the deal will include one minor change sought by Republicans, setting new procedures to verify the incomes of some people receiving government subsidies for health-insurance costs.