BOE: Interest rates could rise in 2015

The Bank of England expects to consider raising interest rates in 2015, a year earlier than expected, following a sharp fall in unemployment.

But the Bank tempered expectations of an early increase with the warning that the recovery remained fragile and rates could still remain low for several years.

The Bank governor,Mark Carney, said he expected growth to remain modest over the next couple of years while the economy continues to be hampered by a weak banking sector and stumbling overseas markets.

Speaking after publication of the central bank's quarterly inflation report, Carney played down concerns that the current 0.5% base rate would go up before real incomes began to rise and the recovery was secured.

"The economy is growing robustly as lifting uncertainty and thawing credit conditions start to unlock pent-up demand. But significant headwinds – both at home and abroad – remain, and there is a long way to go before the aftermath of the financial crisis has cleared and economic conditions normalise," he said in the report.

"That underpins the monetary policy committee's (MPC) intention to maintain the exceptionally stimulative stance of monetary policy until there has been a substantial reduction in the degree of economic slack."

Source: theguardian

8 reasons why you should join Startup Asia Jakarta 2013

1. Startup Asia Jakarta 2013 will be the biggest conference that we’ve ever hosted.

This year’s event is even bigger than our previous ones, with even more participants, booths,sponsors, and partners showing up. We will also be introducing a ‘startup-investor speed dating’ event and a press conference square.

2. Get up close and personal with investors

It is always tough to catch investors’ attention, especially at big events. As such, we have gathered 13 talented venture capitalists who are ready to hear your five-minute pitches and give useful feedback. Each investor will be stationed at theSpeed Dating pavillion  for one hour, so catch them before they disappear into the crowd. In total there will are more than 100 investors attending Startup Asia Jakarta.

3. Breaking news

There will be a special section for media representatives where sponsors and partners will hold their own press conferences. You don’t want to miss out on a good scoop, do you?

4. Attractive prizes for Hackathon winners

More than 13 sponsors have set challenges for developers in the Hackathon, and they are giving away prizes like a MacBook Air, iPad Mini, or Samsung Galaxy S4.

5. There will be more than 100 exhibition booths showcasing cool products

If you are there for eight hours a day, it means you can probably spend just 10 minutes per startup. So it will get crazy (good) busy.

6. Meet and network with international attendees

We have selected 10 startups to pitch in front of judges and the crowd. Coming from Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and even the US, they’ll be competing against each other for $10,000  in cash.

8. We have some very good speakers for you

Last but definitely not least, we believe we have put up some great speakers and content. Some of our speakers includeKhailee Ng,venture partnerat 500Startups; Sirgoo Lee, co-CEO at Kakao Talk; Talmon Marco,CEO and co-founder at Viber; and Andrew Darwis, founder and CTO at Kaskus .

Source: TechinAsia

EU starts investigating German current account surplus

The European Commission decided on Wednesday to prepare an in-depth analysis of Germany's persistently high current account surplus to find out whether it is a sign of a serious imbalance in Europe's biggest economy.

The long-running surplus has drawn criticism from the United States and European Union that Germany's economy - the EU's biggest and fourth biggest worldwide - is relying too heavily on exports and that Berlin should pay more attention to raising domestic demand to put growth on a sounder footing.

Germany has had a current account surplus in excess of 6 percent of its gross domestic product since 2007, meaning it exports far more than it imports from the rest of the world.

In September the surplus reached 19.7 billion euros - more than 8 percent of last year's economic output - and was the biggest in the world, beating even China.

The EU will recommend steps to fix the imbalance if the review, due to be finished early next year, finds the surplus is harmful. But that is not a foregone conclusion.

"A high surplus does not necessarily mean that there is an imbalance," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference. "We do need to examine this further and understand whether a high surplus in Germany is something affecting the functioning of the European economy as a whole."

The surplus highlights Germany's success in staying competitive in the world economy, so criticism is politically tricky, because EU policy-makers encourage euro zone countries to undertake painful reforms to become more competitive and run a current account surplus, rather than a deficit.

Source: Reuters

Jeff Immelt: We model a strong emerging middle class two or three billion consumers 80% from Asia but also in Latin America

    "So we model a slow growth developed world.  So we model a kind of   if you look at, let's say pre   crisis, the previous 25, 30 years.  The US grew, let say three and a half, four per cent.  We think the growth in the future is going to be below that.  It's just a function of how the deficit gets unwound and what has to happen.  
    Europe clearly is going to be below where it was and Japan is Japan, right.  Japan's been a 20 year slow growth mode, so we think developed world's slow.  We're still a big believer in the emerging market, middle class consumer trade.  In other words, there's going to be one or two or three billion more consumers in the middle class in the coming decades.  80 per cent of them are in Asia, but they are also in Latin America, Africa, places like that.  
    As that takes place it will have an upward bias on resource pricing.  So if you say, I believe in emerging market middle class consumer therefore I believe that there's going to be upward pressure on iron ore, coal, gas prices, therefore I believe in Australia.  In other words, I kind of go through this one, two, three of macro themes that are going to happen.  That's how I kind of look and say".  

NBC to televise first Virgin Galactic commercial flight. Space Tourism

NBCUniversal has signed an exclusive partnership with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to televise the space tourism company's first commercial passenger flight. Expected to take place next August, the flight will covered in a special three-hour edition of the US NBC network's Todayprogram. Aboard the VSS Enterprise, will be Sir Richard, age 63, and his children, Holly, 31, and Sam, 28. The other passengers and crew have not yet been named.
“Through NBCUniversal’s multiple platforms and overseas network partners, viewers from around the world will get to experience this where were you moment; we’re extremely honored to chronicle Sir Richard’s journey and live launch into space.”
“Virgin Galactic is thrilled that NBCUniversal will join us on our exciting first journey to space,” says Sir Richard. “In this first chapter of commercial space travel, we will help make space accessible and inspire countless more people to join us in the pursuit of space exploration and science innovation.”

If all goes according to schedule, the VSS Enterprise will take off from Galactic’s terminal at Space port America in New Mexico slung beneath the WhiteKnightTwo mothership named VMS Eve. After being dropped by the mothership at 50,000 ft, VSS Enterprise will fire its hybrid rocket motor and carry its six passengers and two crew to an altitude of 68 mi (110 km) on a suborbital trajectory.

Once in space, the passengers will be free to leave their seats to enjoy several minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth in an unpowered glide.

The price of the trip is US$250,000 per person, and Virgin Galactic says it has already accepted roughly US$80 million in deposits from about 640 customers.

Source: Gizmag

Kia reveals details of all-electric Soul

The Korean carmaker has now shed a little more light on the first all-electric Kia that will be sold outside its home country.

With styling inspired by the 2012 Kia Track'ster concept, the Kia Soul EV retains the square-shouldered broad stance seen on its non-electric Soul-mate and builds on the experience gained from Kia's first electric vehicle, the Ray EV, which is only available in Korea.

The Soul EV's final powertrain hasn't been announced, but the front-wheel drive prototype Soul EV test cars, which are based on the 2014 Soul, replace that car's ICE with a 109-hp electric motor outputting 210 lb-ft of torque that is married to a single speed constant ratio gear reduction unit. The prototypes go from 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in under 12 seconds, on the way to a top speed of around 90 mph (145 km/h).

The vehicle is powered by a battery pack that Kia says can be fully recharged using a standard 240 V outlet in five hours, or in just 25 minutes on "fast" charge with 100 kW output. The company is aiming to give the car a range of over 120 miles (193 km), which will be helped by a regenerative braking system.

Although engine noise is not a concern in the battery-powered Soul EV, Kia says the vehicle will be built using special sound-proofing materials to further ensure a quiet ride. Since stealth isn't such a plus when it comes to pedestrians, the car will come with a Virtual Engine Sound System (VESS) that emits an audio alert when traveling in reverse or at speeds of under 12 mph (19 km/h).

When released, the Soul EV will be offered with projection type headlights, LED positioning lamps, LED rear combination lamps, and aerodynamically shaped 16-inch alloy wheels. Meanwhile, the car's interior will boast a "Supervision" instrument cluster and center stack with an 8-inch display and eco-friendly materials.

Source: Kia

The Ziesel works kind of like an off-road armchair

The Ziesel (which is German for "ground squirrel") is made by Austria's Mattro Mobility Revolutions, and is designed to travel over all types of terrain. That said, its designers seem particularly stoked about its use on ski hills, for duties such as patrolling, hauling gear or performing rescues.

It has two electric motors that put out a combined 400 Nm (295 ft lb) of torque, and take it up to a top speed of 35 km/h (22 mph). Power comes from a 96-volt lithium-ion battery pack, that has an automatic heating system for use in cold environments. The company tells us that its range will vary greatly depending on use, although one charge of the battery should be good for four to eight hours of continuous driving.

Steering and speed are managed using a single armrest-mounted joystick. The driver is held in place with a four-point harness, and a tubular steel frame offers protection in the event of a rollover.

The Ziesel tips the scales at 210 kg (463 lb), including its battery pack. The base version sells for €21,710 (around US$29,000) plus shipping.

Source: Gizmag

Nippon Moon observation wheel drops hints as to the future of the tourist attraction

With Nippon Moon, UNStudio is bringing more than sheer scale to the concept of the enormous observation wheel. Though the height of the wheel has not been fixed, Nippon Moon is clearly intended to put Japan on the map (the map of gigantic ferris wheels, that is), and compete with, if not surpass, the likes of the 165-m (541-ft) Singapore Flyer and the 135-m (443-ft) London Eye. However, UNStudio hints that smartphone apps or even augmented reality could be used to enhance the ride, and make it an observation wheel fit for the 21st century.

It appears that Nippon Moon remains a concept for now. UNStudio has consulted with wheel specialists at Arup and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and concluded that the size and location of Nippon Moon mean few liberties can be taken so far as extravagant design is concerned, though the actual proposed location appears not to have been disclosed.

It's some of the complementary digital bells and whistles, devised with the help of Experientia, that immediately stand out. Booking their ticket with a smartphone, visitors will be able to tailor their ride by selecting which of the wheel's 32 individually-themed capsules they wish to ride in. Thirty-two, incidentally, is the same number of capsules as the London Eye, but the fact that at least some of these are intended to be double-decker hints at an ambitious scale.

Source:Gizmag

European Utilities Leaders Earnings hit by EU policies prolonging energy crises

 Germany's E.ON and French GDF Suez, two leading European utilities, posted lower earnings, partly blaming government and EU policies for prolonging an energy crisis that is leading to power plant closures and asset writedowns.

Both companies said they would step up investment in emerging markets with high growth and stable regulation to try to counter the slowing market in western Europe, where economies are struggling to emerge from recession.

E.ON , Germany's top utility, trimmed its forecast for full-year core earnings to a range of 9.2 to 9.3 billion euros.(£7.78-7.86 billion), from 9.2 to 9.8 billion after the group's nine-month core profit declined by a fifth.

French utility GDF Suez , Europe's second-largest by market value after French peer EDF , posted a 6.5 percent drop in nine-month core earnings and said it would write down European power assets.

Source: Reuters

Electrolux sees slight growth in 2014 with Europe still Slow

The world second biggest home appliances maker, forecast a slight rise in demand next year as the drag of a moribund European market was offset by growth in other parts of the world.

The company, which makes appliances such as fridges and cookers under brands including Frigidaire, AEG and Zanussi, also said cost savings would reach about 1 billion Swedish crowns (94.4 million pounds) in 2014 while investments in R&D and marketing would be slightly higher than in 2013.

Home appliances makers, including market leader Whirlpool , have been busy cutting costs and shifting production to emerging markets in recent years as they wait for market demand to revive in major markets on both sides of the North Atlantic.

Electrolux said it expected group-wide demand to rise slightly in the fourth quarter, in line with a full-year forecast for demand to rise 7-9 percent in the United States, where a housing market recovery is supporting demand, while Europe would decline 1-2 percent.

"Market demand in 2014 is also expected to be slightly positive, with growth in North America and Asia Pacific partly offset by a flat market in Europe and a slowdown in Brazil from the high levels seen in 2013," the company said.

Demand in Europe, Electrolux's top market alongside North America, has seen steady decline for years as the debt crisis and related deep recession has eaten into consumer spending.

"You've got to stop before you start going up," Chief Executive Keith McLoughlin told journalists on the sidelines of presentations for investors and analysts.

"So I would say that we think we've seen the worst. We think we are at the bottom and that the decline will stop."

The company, which unveiled plans in October to cut 2,000 jobs and save 1.8 billion Swedish crowns ($271 million) in the face of the weakness in European demand, said prices and product mix were seen yielding a slight boost next year.

Source: Reuters

Reuters: Plan to raid bank creditors could shatter Europe's calm

Market euphoria and soaring demand for European bank debt could be brought back down to earth if the European Union pushes ahead with the early introduction of rules allowing Cyprus-style raids on bank creditors and big depositors

Following demands from Germany, the European Union law to raid the bondholders and savers of failing banks could take effect as soon as January 2015, three years earlier than planned and in time to hit banks exposed by European Central Bank tests next year.

An early start date has won support from the ECB, uneasy over banks' reliance on its support, and this week Jens Weidmann, the president of Germany's Bundesbank, became the latest policy maker to join the chorus of support.

Investors have been buying up bank bonds to make up for otherwise feeble investment returns in an era of record low interest rates. The market mood has picked up so much that hedge funds and others are even ready to invest in Greece, the country at the deep end of the euro zone debt crisis.

The so-called 'bail-in' of creditors could, however, revive the worst memories of the debt crisis and mark the currency bloc's biggest upset since a rescue of Cyprus earlier this year broke a taboo by imposing losses on big savers.

"Animal spirits are back," said Jacob Kirkegaard of Washington think-tank the Peterson Institute For International Economics. "But this market is not going to last. The situation remains very, very fragile."

The prospect of the new law has done little to curb enthusiasm for bank bonds; Spanish banks have sold 22 billion euros (18.5 billion pounds) of unsecured bonds since the start of last year. Nor has it prompted large savers to move their cash to safe havens.

Source: Reuters

First World Trade Center tower opens on Wednesday

The first office tower at Ground Zero since the September 11, 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center will open on Wednesday, marking a comeback for the Lower Manhattan site.

Sheathed in glass, 4 World Trade Center is the smallest of the four main towers on the site where 2,700 people died when hijacked airplanes crashed into the towers. It stands 977 feet (298 meters) tall - a shorter, simpler version of One World Trade Center, which will not be completed until early 2014.

The 72-story building stands empty at the moment, although two government agencies have signed leases for half of the building's space. Both the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, and the city of New York committed to the space years ago to help jump start rebuilding efforts.

Since the attacks, disagreements among New York City, the state, the federal government, developers, insurers, victims' families and others have slowed constructio on the 16-acre site. Developer Larry Silverstein, who held the lease to the site when it was attacked in 2001, has played a key role in shaping the project's design, security and cost.

"The world is recognizing that we've moved from 12 years of controversy andconstruction to having a real place that is coming back to life as a part of New York City," said Janno Lieber, who oversees planning, design and rebuilding for Silverstein Properties.

The developer was not troubled that the 2.3 million-square-foot building is only half leased.

In 2006, Silverstein opened 7 World Trade Center, just north of Ground Zero, and the company was the only tenant in the building. But by 2011, it was fully leased with such tenants as Moody's Corp and Mansueto Ventures, which publishes Fast Company and Inc. magazines.

"We learned at 7 World Trade Center that when you build state-of-the-art, green, high-tech office buildings, they lease quickly," McQuillan said.

Commercial real estate in downtown Manhattan rents for about $47 per square foot, about 35 percent less than rents in midtown Manhattan, according to commercial real state services firm CBRE Group.

The skyscraper cost about $2 billion to build, including land lease costs, and was financed with $1.2 billion of tax-free Liberty Bonds and hard-won insurance proceeds.

Populist Zambia's President warns mining companies of violation of investment licences, if they lay off workers "without consulting the government"

Zambia warned on Wednesday it viewed any moves by mining companies to lay off workers without consulting the government as a violation of their investment licences.

President Michael Sata, a populist swept to power two years ago on an activist platform to defend workers' rights, has been taking a hard line with mining houses and other foreign investors who have tried to trim their work forces.

These include Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), the biggest private sector employer in the country owned by Vedanta Resources, and South African retailer Shoprite.

"It has been observed that some investors in some mining companies have found it necessary to down size their workforce each time they are faced with operational challenges," the government of Africa's top copper producer said in a statement.

"Government views such actions as a violation of, and not within the spirit of the investment licence."

The government added that it was "unwarranted, unfortunate and unacceptable" for mining companies to cut jobs before consulting the government and other stakeholders.

The statement comes days after Lusaka revoked the work permit of the chief executive of KCM following a row over job cuts.

The government last month threatened to shut Shoprite stores after the South African company fired workers who went on strike over pay. Shoprite, Africa's biggest retailer, subsequently backtracked on the sackings.

Flybe, majority shareholder sell its entire 48.1% stake in the airline

 Flybe Group Plc,said majority shareholder Rosedale Aviation Holdings has sold its entire 48.1 percent stake in the airline to institutional investors.

Flybe shares fell as much as 15 percent in early trade, making the embattled carrier's stock one of the biggest percentage losers on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning.

The company's free float is now expected to increase to 85 percent, Flybe said in a statement on Wednesday.

The stake was sold through Liberum Capital, which said the buyers were UK institutions but declined to provide any additional details. At Tuesday's closing, Rosedale's stake was valued at about 38 million pounds ($60.52 million).

Chief Executive Saad Hammad indicated that some existing investors had increased their holding in Flybe as part of this transaction.

Flybe's second largest shareholder is British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group , with a 15 percent stake as on June 14. Flybe's other shareholders include billionaire investor George Soros and recently departed chairman Jim French.

Like many other European airlines, Flybe has responded to soaring fuel costs, higher airport charges and slower spending on air travel by shutting down unprofitable routes and limiting its spending.

Source: Reuters

German Coalition Talks, a more EU restricted Integration Platform is Emerging

While still incomplete, the European policy platform emerging from coalition negotiations between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) appears to be strongly sovereignist.

Negotiators have even proposed allowing Germans to vote in referendums - previously taboo - on major decisions involving enlarging the European Union, transferring more powers to Brussels or committing more money at EU level.

Merkel's allies say that plan, which would clamp a new padlock on European integration on top of national referendum requirements in France on further EU enlargement and in Britain on any more transfer of sovereignty to European institutions, is likely to be quashed.

Even without a referendum lock, Berlin's would-be coalition partners have agreed to other restrictions on EU integration, limiting the scope of a planned European banking union by rejecting any common fiscal backstop for euro zone banks for the foreseeable future.

That means each member state will be liable for cleaning up its own banks if they have to be wound up after the European Central Bank, in its new role as single banking supervisor, conducts stringent asset tests next year.

As a last resort, a country unable to bear the cost could apply for a loan from the European Stability Mechanism rescue fund, but that would add to its national debt and come with the stigma of internationally supervised conditions.

Source: Reuters

Great News for the Peruvian Economy,PetroChina Buys Petrobras Energia Peru SA for US$ 2.6 billion dollars

China's top oil and gas firm, has struck a deal to acquire the Peruvian oil and gas assets of Blian state-led oil company Petrobras  for $2.6 billion.

Petrobras, which has been looking to sell its foreign assets, said the deal signed on Wednesday still needs the approval of the Chinese and Peruvian governments.

The Chinese firm bought all the shares of Petrobras Energia Peru S.A., which has three oil and gas fields in Peru. The fields currently produce about 800,000 tonnes oil equivalent a year, Petro China said in a statement.

"The three target blocks are all quality oil properties in Peru with achievable profit potential," PetroChina added. "The acquisition of the assets will help to expand the scale of PetroChina's oil and gas cooperation in Latin America, and drive the sustainable development of PetroChina's overseas business."

Petrobras said the agreement involved Lot X, a mature field that has been in production since 1912 and produced 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent last year.

The deal includes a 46.16 percent stake in Lot 57, a natural and condensed gas field that has not begun operating yet, and the whole of Lot 58, an adjacent area where gas was recently discovered.

Petrobras said the sale is part of its 2013-2017 business plan announced in March that aims at divesting $9.9 billion in assets, including stakes in Gulf of Mexico blocs and exploration assets in Africa.

Source: Reuters

China's Reform Agenda fail to impress West leaders and press, are you surprised?

China's leaders failed to impress markets with their reform agenda for the next decade and investors sold Chinese shares on Wednesday concerned with Beijing's apparent reluctance to overhaul dominant state-owned firms.

The communique following a secret leadership meeting listed several target areas for reform, but its language was more vague than some had expected and it explicitly underscored the importance of the state sector in the economy.

But rather than lift state firms that dominate major benchmark indexes in China and Hong Kong, it spurred worries that it would leave them exposed once the authorities made good on their pledge to give markets a "decisive" role in the economy.

"The increased reliance on market mechanisms is good for the economy, but bad for the equity markets. While that will force companies to be run more efficiently, more competition will hit their bottom line," said

Source: Reuters

  As we have been following through this blog about past experiences of reforms in China, the
reform agendas are more written between the lines, and take time to be implemented. 

Euro zone output drops more than expected in September

Euro Zone factory output fell more than expected month on month in September as production dropped in every sector but energy, while it rose from the same month last year, in a sign the region's recovery remains fragile at best.

The 9.5 trillion euro zone economy crawled out of an 18-month recession in the second quarter with a 0.3 percent quarterly rise in GDP. Economists expect it to have expanded again in the third quarter, on which data is due on Thursday.

Industrial output in the 17-country bloc fell 0.5 percent on the month, Eurostat data showed on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 0.3 percent fall.

In year-on-year terms output rose 1.1 percent in September after a revised 1.1 percent fall in August. The September figure marked the strongest jump in two years, although from a low base due to a big fall in September last year.

Unemployment in the euro zone remains at record highs of 12.2 percent or nearly 19.5 million people, fuelling concerns over how much household consumption can help exports and drive stronger growth.

Output of durable consumer goods such as cars and electronics was down by 2.6 percent on the month in September, while highly volatile energy sector output rose 1.3 percent after a 0.6 percent drop in August, data showed.

Production in Europe's two biggest economies, Germany and France, fell in September, while Italy returned to growth after two months of consecutive declines and Spain's output grew for a third month in a row.

Germany,France, and Italy account for two-thirds of euro zone industrial output.

The worst reading from among all euro zone countries was in Portugal, where production tumbled 11.2 percent on the month after an 8.0 percent rise in August.

Source:  Reuters

Tencent Holdings needs fast Internet Speed

Internet giant Tencent Holdings will have to wait until its biggest customers, China's smartphone users, get hooked up to high-speed mobile networks next year before its $2 billion investment on game and chatting apps really pays off.

China's biggest Internet company wants clients to spend more time, and money, playing games on its social messaging app WeChat and on other platforms, and the faster 4G networks Chinese telecom firms are set to roll out are expected to further these ambitions.

Tencent's social messaging app WeChat is already used by more half of all Chinese smartphone users. Monthly active users grew 124 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, with figures from domestic app stores showing its games are also hugely popular.

Revenues from social networks, which includes WeChat and QQ, rose only 3.7 percent, however, in the third quarter, the company said as it reported on Wednesday total revenue growth of 34.4 percent year-on-year, its slowest rate in six years.

"When consumers are suffering from slow Internet speed it's unlikely they will use mobile that much for online games, for downloading or using sophisticated apps," said Xiaofeng Wang, a Beijing-based analyst with technology research firm Forrester.

Tencent's third-quarter net profit rose 20 percent year-on-year to 3.87 billion yuan ($635.27 million) in the July-September period, just missing analysts' forecasts.

The company, which is more than 30 percent owned by South African media group Naspers Ltd, still gets the majority of its revenue from computer games but is banking on mobile services to help sustain profit growth as global PC sales decline.

As well as offering games and paid-for stickers on WeChat, Tencent is building its location based services, payment services, e-commerce and financial products.

This shift, however, has eaten into profit growth. Third-quarter profit margins remained a healthy 24.9 percent, but the ratio was the lowest since 2005.

In looking to monetize its mobile platform, Tencent is following the likes of South Korean firm Kakao Inc's KakaoTalk and Japan's NHN Corp's Line.

Three months after Kakao released Kakao Game last August, its monthly revenue soared ninefold to $35.3 million. Tencent has a 13.8 percent stake in Kakao.

Source: Reuters

Mursi says he was kidnapped before being removed by army

Few details had previously emerged on Mursi's whereabouts since army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew him and announced plans for elections.

Lawyer Mohamed Damati read on television what he said was a letter from the Islamist leader, who is still being detained, to the Egyptian people.

For the first time, Mursi indicated that he was held against his will as early as July 2, a day before the army announced his removal following mass protests against his rule.

"The kind Egyptian people should know that I have been kidnapped forcibly and against my will since July 2 and until July 5 in a Republican Guard house until I and my aide were moved again forcibly to a naval base belonging to the armed forces for four full months," Mursi was quoted as saying.

The Republican Guard is an elite military unit which protects the presidential palace and other government sites.

Mursi and other Islamists appeared in court on November 4 on charges of inciting violence in connection with the death of about a dozen protesters at the presidential palace in December. Most were members of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The letter marked the first time outside the courtroom that authorities allowed Mursi, who accuses the army of staging a coup, to tell his side of the story.

"Egypt will not recover until everything that happened due to this coup goes away...and the holding to account those who spilled blood everywhere on the nation's land," Mursi said.

"I salute the Egyptian people who rose up against this coup, which will fall by the power of the Egyptian people in their jihad for the sake of their rights and freedoms."

Security forces have mounted a crackdown against the Brotherhood, which won every election held since a popular uprisng toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested, including the group's leaders. A court has banned the organisation.

Mursi said that while in detention, he had only met with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, an EU delegation and four prosecutors whose questions he refused to answer.

Damati said Mursi still refused to recognise the court which is trying him at a police academy .

If convicted, Mursi could face a life sentence or the death penalty.

Ukraine to suspend Russian gas imports until year's end

Ukraine can get by without buying Russian gas before the end of the year, Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky said on Wednesday.

"We reckon that up to the end of the year we can do without buying Russian gas. In the first ten days of November, we got by without any gas imports," he told reporters before a cabinet meeting.

The decision by the Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftogaz last Friday to suspend imports sparked fears of a possible new dispute that might affect supplies of Russian gas also to Europe.

Naftogaz' June 2014 dollar bond yield rose more than one percentage point on Wednesday, to a record high above 20 percent.

Stavytsky's words confirmed reports that the former Soviet republic, which has protested repeatedly to Russia over the high price it pays for natural gas deliveries, feels it has enough gas in storage to meet the needs of domestic consumers for the time being.

He made no comment about onward deliveries across Ukraine to Europe, but government officials say they do not see any reason for a disruption in supplies.

Pricing disputes between Russia and Ukraine sparked disruption of onward supplies of gas to Europe in the winters of 2006 and 2009.

Ukraine pays around $400 per 1,000 cubic metres of Russian gas - one of the highest prices in Europe and a burden which weighs heavily on its debt-strapped economy. It has been steadily reducing its Russian gas intake.

The ex-Soviet republic, which plans to import 27.3 billion cubic metres of gas this year for its own needs, including 26 bcm from Russia, had about 19 bcm of gas in underground storage vaults as of the end of October.

Source: Reuters

Former BOE member "Germany is causing problems in the Global Economy and ripping off Europe"

Former Bank of England (BOE) member and current President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics Adam Posen said Germany's economic policy is causing problems in the global economy and in effect ripping off Europe.

In statements on CNBC, Posen said Germany is not rewarding its workforce for its productivity and subsidising its exports by a weak euro.

"First, it doesn't pay its workers anything in commensurate with the productivity that they have, thereby cheating its own workforce. Second, it never invests anything in the public sector or in the private sector. Third, those two combined means it's competing as a low wage economy," he said.

"Fourth, it rips off Europe and the rest of the world in that it gets a subsidy to its exports from a weaker euro, than the Deutschmark would be, because of the weakness of other countries. And fifth, it tries to grab market share when there's lots of unemployment in the world thereby exporting deflation."

The harsh criticism occurs as the European Commission considers whether to investigate Germany over its excessive current account surplus and for not boosting domestic demand, which are negatively affecting the rest of the region.

Source: LiveCharts

Bank of England more upbeat on economy but in no hurry to raise rates

Britain's unemployment rate will fall much faster than previously expected due to a strengthening economic recovery, the Bank of England said on Wednesday, but it stressed that it was in no hurry to raise interest rates.

Governor Mark Carney committed in August to keep interest rates at a record low 0.5 percent until unemployment fell to 7 percent - something the BoE predicted at the time could take three years.

But in a new set of brighter economic forecasts, the central bank said unemployment could hit 7 percent in the last three months of 2014, around two years earlier than it expected in August.

"For the first time in a long time you don't have to be an optimist to see the glass is half full. The recovery has finally taken hold," Carney told a news conference after the bank published its quarterly inflation report.

However, the central bank stressed that its Monetary Policy Committee was not about to raise interest rates any time soon, as headwinds remained, particularly from the euro zone.

"The MPC's intention (is) to maintain the exceptionally stimulative stance of monetary policy until there has been a substantial reduction in the degree of economic slack," it said.

Carney reiterated that a fall in unemployment would not be an automatic trigger for an increase in interest rates.

Sterling jumped and British government bond prices fell to their lowest level in four weeks as investors adjusted to the Bank's new, shorter timeframe for when unemployment might fall to its threshold for considering an interest rate hike.

But if interest rates rise as the market expects, growth will be weaker and unemployment will prove slower to fall, the BoE predicted, saying that in this case its mean forecast was for unemployment to stay above 7 percent until the end of 2016.

Data published earlier on Wednesday showed Britain's unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent in the three months to September, edging close to the Bank's threshold.

Source: Reuters

Wall Street sees social-impact bonds as way to do good and do well

Wall Street banks are eyeing a nascent market that improves their public image at a low risk and still offers them a reasonable return on capital.

The market is in so-called social-impact bonds, also known as pay-for-performance contracts, through which private capital can be funnelled into philanthropic projects usually funded by governments and charities. The investors will receive a return based on whether a project saves public money by addressing the social ill it targets.

Goldman Sachs has launched two such bonds in the past 16 months - one for $9.6 million aimed at reducing recidivism among teenagers at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail, and the other for almost $5 million, intended to help children from low-income families in Utah prepare for kindergarten. This month, Goldman also said it is raising a fund to allow its clients to make investments that have "measurable social impact," including social-impact bonds.

Now Bank of America Corp  is set to launch a social-impact-bond investing program, three sources familiar with the situation said. Details of the program are not known.

Other banks, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co , Deutsche Bank  and Morgan Stanley , are keeping a close eye on these projects before getting involved, bank executives said. In some cases banks see the bonds, which were first launched in Peterborough, UK, as a product to sell to their wealth management clients, said George Overholser, chief executive officer of Third Sector Capital Partners, a nonprofit investment bank helping to structure various pay-for-performance deals.

Source: Reuters

Francis Bacon paintings of Lucian Freud sell for record US$142.4m

Francis Bacon's three-panelled painting Three Studies of Lucian Freud has become the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction, soaring to US$142.4m at Christie's.

The 1969 triptych, never before offered at auction, had carried a pre-sale estimate of about $85m. In the end it easily eclipsed the $119.9m price of Edvard Munch's The Scream, achieved in May 2012 year at Sotheby's. The previous record for a Bacon work of art was $86.3m set in 2008.

The monumental painting depicts the Dublin-born painter's friend and fellow artist Lucian Freud on a chair, with a view from each side and one face-on. Christie's called it "a true masterpiece that marks Bacon and Freud's relationship" and their "creative and emotional kinship".

With bidding starting at a whopping $80m, it sold after a protracted bidding war both in the packed New York salesroom and via telephone. Christie's did not disclose the identity of the successful buyer.

Source:  theguardian