In This Edition

 

APEC leaders gather in the Russian city of Vladivostok to discuss using collective action to ensure stable growth in the region.

Russia says it no specific business interest in Syria and rejects calls for sanctions against President Bashar Assad's regime.

Greeks brace for more austerity as international debt inspectors arrive.

And rescuers reach remote quake hit communities in Yunnan where 80 were killed and hundreds injufed.

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

APEC Summit Highlights Regional Development

Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, member economies have gathered in Vladivostok, Russia to discuss regional development amid the slow recovery of the world economy.

As one of the most influential economic bodies in the region, China has pledged to ensure steady and robust growth to help stabilize the world economy.

Wei Tong has more.

The summit, on the theme of "Integrate to Grow, Innovate to Prosper", is expected to focus on trade and investment liberalization, regional economic integration, food security, supply chains and cooperation to foster innovative growth.

Chinese president Hu Jintao has drawn attention to a downward pressure on the Chinese economy under the global economic slowdown. He said China would strive to boost domestic demand and rebalance the economy to tackle these challenges.

"China will continue to stick to proactive fiscal policies and steady currency policies, keep up the continuity and stability of our macro-economics policies, strengthen pertinence, flexibility, and far-sightedness of our macro tuning. What is more, China will endeavor to create a transparent legal environment, a fair market and stable business operation environment to facilitate foreign direct investment. China will strengthen economic links with trading partners and deepen cooperation with emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region."

Hu Jintao also announced that China would host the APEC Summit and related meetings in 2014.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has echoed Hu Jintao's suggestion, stressing the urgency of further trade to speed up the global economic recovery.

"What the world needs today to overcome this crisis is more trade, not less. Therefore we extended our commitment until 2014. It would be very important for APEC economies to send a strong message in favor of trade at this summit. Secondly, it is important to support the process of strengthening financial regulation and supervision as well as financial stability. Well allocated credit is a very powerful instrument for development. These are the lessons that Latin American and Asian countries have painfully learned during our crisis."

US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton has denounced trade protectionism and advocated free trade by urging the private sector to push governments to make reforms and drive the economy.

"The United States is making a major investment in the Asia-Pacific, and we are doing everything we can to promote that open, free, transparent, and fair economic system. The private sector needs to stand up for the system that will allow you to thrive over the long run. That means pushing governments to support high-standard trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to drop harmful protectionist policies. It means playing by the rules, respecting workers and opening doors to qualified women."

Meanwhile, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for developing an economic early warning system in the region to avoid bearing the brunt of any future crisis.

And according to Zhang Lijun, Chairman of China APEC Development Council, Russia wants to grasp the opportunity to host the APEC to deepen its strategic partnerships with significant member countries, improve domestic investment environment to attract more investors and establish free trade zones in the Asia-Pacific region.

The APEC region, composed of 21 Pacific member economies, accounts for about 40 percent of the world's population, around 57 percent of world's GDP and 48 percent of global trade.

For CRI, I am Wei Tong.

 

Lavrov says Russia has no business interests in Syria and rejects sanctions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday that Moscow has "no specific business interest" in Syria and again rejected calls for sanctions against President Bashar Assad's regime.

Lavrov made the remarks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Vladivostok.

He emphasized that continuing Russian arms sales to Syria don't violate any international agreements.

"The scale of our trade and economic cooperation, as well as military and technological cooperation, is much less compared with the trade and economic interests of our Western - including, first of all, the European - partners, and not only in Syria, but also in Libya."

The Foreign Minister added that it would be more productive for all sides to seek talks.

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"We don't support sanctions in Syria because sanctions won't give anything. Among the necessary steps to be made in Syria is getting all the external players who have influence on all the Syrian sides, or one of the Syrian sides, to use this influence for good and really make all the Syrians sit around the table for talks."

Russia has repeatedly used veto powers in the UN Security Council to reject actions that could have led to sanctions against the Assad regime.

 

Germany to Increase Pressure on al-Assad's Regime

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country, which is going to head the UN Security Council will increase pressure on Syrian government.

Westerwelle made the remarks in the Jordanian capital Amman saying that Bashar al-Assad's era should be over.

"It is necessary that we isolate the regime of Assad. We will use the next weeks, while Germany has the presidency in the Security Council in New York to work on this isolation and to increase the pressure to this regime of Bashar al-Assad, we think that he went too far. We think his time is over."

Westerwelle added that signs show that the Syrian regime was becoming weaker.

"I do not want to speculate about any kinds of military interventions, because we think a political solution is possible. We see the first signals of erosion in the regime of Assad and I think therefore it is necessary that we do our international work."

Earlier in the day, Westerwelle visited Syrian refugees at Zaatari camp in Jordan, which hosts more than 27,000 Syrian refugees who have been forced to leave their country because of the ongoing conflict there.

More than 23,000 people have been killed since violence broke out in Syria 17 months ago. About 200,000 Syrians have fled to neighboring Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.

 

Greeks brace for more austerity as debt inspectors arrive

With international debt inspectors due to begin their latest assessment of Greece's finances this weekend, ordinary Greeks have been protesting against a new round of austerity measures designed to save the country from defaulting.

Thousands of policemen, firefighters and coast guard officers marched through Athens on Thursday.

A banner reading "Troika" was hung up in reference to austerity inspectors from the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank, that are pushing for cuts.

Yannis Artopoios is a representative of the Fire Service Officers Association.

"They're dealing with the Greeks, and they don't care about the consequences that come from the decisions they're bringing upon the Greek people. They care only about some financial indices, but they don't see the lives of the people who are being driven to poverty."

However, economists stress that the importance of Greece's compliance with Troika's requirements.

Independent economist Vangelis Agapitos called the upcoming package tough but said Greece had no option.

"Greece is at the end of the road where implementations actually have to take place and produce results and promises have to stop."

The Troika's visit also offers the potential for the Greek government to negotiate a reduction of interest rates and extension of payment periods for its people, which failed to provide solace to pensioners as their access to medication may be cut off.

This is because private doctors and pharmacists refused to accept credit from Greece's largest state-run healthcare provider, EOPYY, as the government had not paid them for months.

The Head of a Pensioner Union, Dimos Koumbouris, explains.

"We can't even have our medications. And pensioners don't have money to pay for it because every month they have money withheld for medical care. Our lives are in danger. The lives of our families are in danger."

The protest came amid deepening social gloom in Greece as official figures showed its unemployment rate had surged to 24.4 percent in June.

 

Portugal Plans Further Austerity on Family Budgets

Portugal has planned to add more austerity to family budgets as the country struggles to cut its debt amid a recession.

Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho announced the plan which indicates an increase in workers' social security contributions to 18 percent of their monthly salary from 11 percent.

"The government decided to increase the social security contribution demanded from private sector workers to 18 percent, which will allow us in return, decrease the contribution demanded from companies also to 18 percent. We therefore bring down substantially labour costs, changing investment and job creation incentives."

Passos-Coelho illustrates the measure aims to put private sector workers on an equal footing to civil servants and it will add further austerity to the country under its 78-billion-euro EU/IMF bailout.

The European Central Bank earlier agreed to launch a new and potentially unlimited bond-buying program to lower struggling euro zone countries' borrowing costs and draw a line under the debt crisis.

However, Passos-Coelho warned that, despite the new plan, Portugal will stick to its tough austerity drive and structural reforms.

"The most recent developments in the European Central Bank's policy make our adjustment process easier and bring us closer to return to financing ourselves in normal market conditions. But it is a serious mistake to assume these will substitute efforts to reform the economy and consolidate our public accounts."

Portugal is expected to see an economic contraction of 3.3 percent this year. Treasury figures indicate tax receipts will be 2 billion euro lower than forecast, while a record jobless rate of 15.7 percent is draining state funds.

 

Obama continued campaign trail to Florida

U.S. President Barack Obama continued on the campaign trail on Saturday visiting the battleground state of Florida.

A day after Obama faced an attack from Republican rival Mitt Romney over disappointing new jobs numbers, he emphasized their differences at a campaign event in St. Petersburg.

"Now our friends at their Convention, they were more than happy to tell you everything they think is wrong with America but they didn't say much how they were going to make it right. They want your vote but they don't want you to know their plan. And that's because all they've got to offer is the same prescriptions they've had for 30 years."

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Obama getting a small bounce from his convention, taking a narrow lead of 46 percent to Romney's 44 percent among likely voters.

Obama is spending the weekend on a bus tour of Florida, while Romney heads to Virginia for campaign events.

 

Suicide bombing near NATO headquarters in Kabul kills six civilians

A suicide bomber detonated explosives near the heavily barricaded NATO headquarters in Kabul on Saturday, killing six civilians.

The bomber, who was riding an explosives-laden motorcycle, blew himself up near the entrance of Camp Eggers, referring to a sprawling base that is home to 2,500 coalition personnel who train Afghan security forces.

Mohammad Dawood Amin is the Deputy Police Chief.

"Unfortunately, a suicide attack happened in front of the Italian embassy. This attack was carried out by the enemies of our country which resulted in civilian casualties only."

A witness, Ahmad Smir, said that children were also among the dead.

"I was here when the blast occurred. I saw some wounded children on the ground. The wounded were transferred to an emergency hospital for treatment, and I heard that three of the injured children have died."

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bombing happened as ceremonies were underway in Kabul to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the death of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the hero of the 1980s war against Soviet occupiers.

Massoud was later killed by al Qaeda militants.

 

Over 50 Tunisian Migrants Survive Capsize on Italian Coast

Fifty-six people including a pregnant woman were saved by the Italian coastguard after a boat carrying Tunisian migrants sank off Southern Italy's Lampedusa Island.

Lampedusa's mayor, Giusi Nicolini, confirmed that some have survived but that others are still missing

"As of now, only one body has been found at sea, and, obviously, we hope there are not going to be any more, but, from what survivors have said, it looks like there are many people missing."

There were about 100 migrants on the boat when it ran into difficulties around 12 nautical miles off Lampedusa.

The search for the missing is still underway.

Nicolini added that the disaster meant they should learn how to avoid such incidents in the future.

"When people not manage to land here alive, it is a great failure for us and a great pain. We hope these deaths will not be in vain and that they can help us understand that we cannot continue shutting our eyes to these tragedies, the tragedies of these people forced into the hands of criminals and letting them to die when they are just looking for a better future."

Last year, tens of thousands of refugees and would-be migrants arrived in Lampedusa from North Africa.

Italy has borne the brunt of seaborne migration to southern Europe for several years.

 

Riot in Kenya killed 12

Armed raiders killed 12 villagers and set fire to houses in Kenya's coastal region, police and the Red Cross said on Friday.

The attackers targeted a village in the Tana Delta inhabited by Pokomo farmers late on Thursday.

Jillo Dabacha, who lives in the Tana River locality, said the attackers appeared well organised.

"They were over 300, or perhaps 400 strong. All of them were heavily armed with guns not arrows or machettes. They just attacked our village and started shooting indiscriminately. They exchanged fire with a few police reservists who are stationed here, over-powered them and surrounded the entire village."

Settled Pokomo farmers and semi-nomadic Orma pastoralists have clashed intermittently for years over access to grazing, farmland and water.

The bad blood re-ignited late last month after the Pokomo accused the pastoralists of grazing cattle on their land.

100 armed Pokomo tribesmen killed more than 50 people in an attack on an Orma settlement some three weeks ago.

 

Rescuers reach remote quake hit communities in Yunnan

At least 80 people died and more than 800 injured as rescuers tried on Saturday to reach remote communities after back-to-back earthquakes rocked southwestern China's Yunnan province.

The shallow 5.6 magnitude quakes struck near the province's Yiliang county, damaging 430,000 houses and displacing over 200,000 residents.

56-year old Zhou Weiping is a resident of the township of Guohui in Yiliang county.

"I was extremely scared when it started to shake. After it shook the first, second and third times, it was moving and I was extremely scared. And then it was a gentle flutter. When we encountered the earthquake, we panicked and quickly ran out."

The quakes also cut off electricity and triggered landslides that blocked roads, hampering rescue efforts. Adding to rescuers' difficulties was rain which was expected for the next three days.

Rescuers said late on Friday they had reached 90 percent of the quake-hit areas.

Authorities have provided tens of thousands of tents, blankets and warm clothing to Yunnan, and makeshift centers have been set up to address the victims' medical needs.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who visited the disaster zone on Friday, called for intensified rescue and relief efforts in the stricken areas, and stressed the need to minimize casualties.

Direct economic losses have reached 3.5 billion yuan, or more than 550 million US dollars.

 

China Daily: Commit APEC to Recovery

Leaders from countries in the Asia-Pacific region gathered in Vladivostok, Russia for the annual APEC meeting on the theme of "Integrate to Grow, Innovate to Prosper". They are expected to discuss trade and investment liberalization, regional economic integrity and inspiring confidence in development so as to achieve economic prosperity in the region.

An editorial in the China Daily newspaper hails the positive role the APEC meeting plays as a good opportunity to build trust, deepen integration and pursue a commitment to ushering in a promising future in the Asia-Pacific.

The article says the APEC group shows huge diversity among its 21 members and striking differences in their development stages. Unlike the rest of the world, the Asia-Pacific has generally withstood the global recession and achieved tremendous economic growth.

The editorial suggests APEC members bear in mind the diversity of their alliance and make sure they take all of their various differences and concerns into consideration.

The editorial cites Chinese president Hu Jintao as saying China will continue to support initiatives that contribute to regional integration and prosperity.

To be more detailed, a broader consensus on improving food security and the international system of trade is expected to be reached by participating member nations. APEC group is also opposed to protectionism and firmly believes that trade negotiations should take the interests of developing economies into consideration.

 

 

Xinhua :EU needs to think big, like APEC

As trade ministers in the Asia-Pacific region agreed Thursday to slash tariffs on 54 green products including solar batteries, the European Commission began an anti-dumping investigation into imports of solar panels and key components from China, claiming the products were being exported for less than cost and squeezing competitors out of business.

A commentary in Xinhua says the APEC move opens up new chances for shared opportunities, economically and ecologically, and that the EU's probe wields a "big stick" in its flimsy economic recovery and troubles the green agenda.

The commentary notes that the presence of China's solar industry is owed to the hard work and low pay of Chinese workers, as well as Chinese engineers' independent research on solar technology.

It also notes that instead of benefiting from the protective measures, EU's equipment makers will taste the bitterness of dwindling orders from China, and its solar power station operators will run at higher costs. In the end, it is the ordinary consumers that will pay the bills.

The commentary adds that, in fact, the general climate of China-EU trade relations is fine, as the two remain each other's largest trading partners with bilateral trade topping over 500 billion U.S. dollars last year.

The Xinhua commentary says that China and the EU should cherish the long-standing trade ties, and mature trade relations should be built on mutual understanding and trust, not on narrow considerations for the interests of a handful of groups.