1/12/2011 - Fuel riot
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/2-dead-4-injured-chile-gas-price-hike-protests-turn-deadly
Protests over gas price increases of 17 percent are intensifying in far southern Chile. Already, two women protesters have been killed and a baby was among those injured when a truck smashed into a barricade and knocked them into a bonfire. About 21 people have been arrested. Police say the trucker fled the scene in Punta Arenas early Wednesday. He had been driving without lights on. The protests are the first major political challenge to face Chilean President Sebastian Pinera this year. He made a campaign promise that gas prices wouldn't rise, but the state-owned petroleum company has had trouble maintaining supplies. Chile imports 93 percent of its gas." | ||||
 |
1/11/2011 Surging Food Prices Are Sparking Riots All Around The World
Rising food inflation sparked violence across the Middle East and South Asia over the weekend, as demonstrators protested the high cost of staple commodities like sugar, rice and milk.
The outbursts ignited fears that the world is due for a repeat of the 2008 food protests that rocked countries as far apart as Haiti, Senegal and Bangladesh. Food prices are now at an all time high, and are trending higher, indicating that this may be only the beginning of the food riot problem. | |||
|
1/8/2011
Street protesters decry food price hikes and widespread unemployment in Tunisia.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/food-riots-worldwide-2011-1#street-protesters-decry-food-price-hikes-and-widespread-unemployment-in-tunisia-4#ixzz1Aseo5AkE | |||
|
1/10/2011 High food prices spark protests in India
High food prices spark protests in India, where food inflation was 18.32 percent last month.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/food-riots-worldwide-2011-1#high-food-prices-spark-protests-in-india-where-food-inflation-was-1832-percent-last-month-6#ixzz1AsewxrEA | |||
|
1/9/2011 An Indian political party sells discounted onions after price hikes for the South Asian staple spark national outrage.
An Indian political party sells discounted onions after price hikes for the South Asian staple spark national outrage.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/food-riots-worldwide-2011-1#an-indian-political-party-sells-discounted-onions-after-price-hikes-for-the-south-asian-staple-spark-national-outrage-7#ixzz1AsfKbK4z | |||
|
1/6/2011 Poor Bengalis clamor for subsidized rice
Poor Bengalis clamor for subsidized rice, the Bangladeshi government's solution to rising food inflation.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/food-riots-worldwide-2011-1#poor-bengalis-clamor-for-subsidized-rice-the-bangladeshi-governments-solution-to-rising-food-inflation-8#ixzz1AsfZ5leF | |||
|
1/10/2011
Stock Market crash riot
| |||
|
11/2010
Liupanshui, Guizhou - Chinese students riot over school lunch increase
| |||
|
1/12/2011 Tunisia Stocks Tumble After Government Deploys Army to End Riots Over Jobs
Tunisia’s benchmark stock index fell to the lowest level in almost nine months after Al Arabiya reported the government deployed the army in western suburbs of the North African country’s capital to end riots.
The Tunindex declined 3.4 percent to 4,726.75 at the 2:10 p.m. close in the capital Tunis, the lowest level since April 19. That brought the gauge’s three-day loss to 9.4 percent, the most since Bloomberg started tracking the index in 1999. Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie, also known as Biat, slumped the most since October 2008 and beverage maker Societe Frigorifique et Brasserie de Tunis SA fell 4.5 percent. “The selling seems to be coming more from local investors,” Julien Veron, frontier markets analyst at Investec Asset Management Ltd., said by telephone from Cape Town. “Tunisia is a story that we like, and a little shakeup of three days is not going to change our views overnight.” Investec has $1.5 billion in African assets under management, of which about 2 percent is allocated to Tunisia, Veron said. Protests against the government’s inability to curb unemployment have killed at least 21 people in the past week, according to Communications Minister Samir Labidia. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali pledged Jan. 10 to create 300,000 jobs in two years and cut taxes on companies that employ young people. The government needs to do more to employ the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 university graduates that enter the job market every year, Veron said. Tunisia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi today announced the replacement of the country’s interior minister and said his government will form committees to investigate the riots and corruption claims. Biat retreated 4.7 percent to 70.5 Tunisian dinars and Societe Frigorifique declined to 11.31 dinars, the lowest level in more than a year. Bloomberg | |||
|
1/13/2011 Morocco: Protests against price rises and unemployment
Protests against price rises and unemployment moved from Tunisia to Morocco, where the streets of Rabat, yesterday, saw clashes between young protesters and police forces, which tried to prevent them from organizing a demonstration outside the Moroccan parliament, in protest against unemployment and high prices and the cost of living in Morocco
| |||
|
1/13/2011 Yemen, petroleum shortage
In Yemen, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired Minister of Oil and Chief Executive, the Yemen Petroleum Company Omar Arhabi, yesterday, due to a lack in the supply of petroleum products, not available in the market, which led to bottlenecks in front of gas stations and the creation of indignation among the citizens.
| |||
 |
1/14/2011 Jordanians march against inflation
Protesters said a $169m plan to create jobs and reduce the prices of commodities and was not enough [Reuters]
The protesters are calling on the government headed by Samir Rifai, the prime minister, to step down. Demonstrators, including trade unionists and leftist party members, carried national flags and chanted anti-government slogans in downtown Amman. They called Rifai a "coward" and demanded his resignation. "Prices, particularly gasoline and food, are getting out of hand,'' Buthaina Iftial, a 24-year-old civil servant, said. "We're becoming poorer every day,'' she said, holding a poster with a piece of Arabic flatbread attached. Police and plainclothes officers formed rings around the demonstrators to contain the protests. There were no reports of arrests or violence. 'Starvation and fury' "Jordan is not only for the rich. Bread is a red line. Beware of our starvation and fury," read one of the banners carried after mid-day prayers, amid a heavy police presence, according to the AFP news agency. "Down with Rifai's government. Unify yourselves because the government wants to eat your flesh. Raise fuel prices to fill your pocket with millions," the protesters chanted as they marched in Amman. Similar demonstrations took place in the cities of Maan, Karak, Salt and Irbid, as well as other parts of the country. "We are protesting the policies of the goernment, high prices and repeated taxation that made the Jordanian people revolt," Tawfiq al-Batoush, a former head of Karak municipality, told the Reuters news agency at a protest outside Karak's Al Omari mosque. | |||
|
1/23/2011 Bangladesh wage protest
One dead, 100 hurt in Bangladesh wage protest
DHAKA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A man was killed and nearly 100 others were wounded when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters demanding higher wages in Bangladesh on Sunday, police said.
The disturbances occurred at Siddhirganj, 16 km (10 miles) east of the capital Dhaka, when workers at a pharmaceutical company demanding higher wages blockaded a major highway and vandalised vehicles.
"We had to fire rubber bullets and tear gas as workers turned violent," a police officer told Reuters from the scene, adding that the situation had been brought under control.
The body of the victim bore multiple injuries inflicted during the hour-long clash, he said without giving details.
Workers demanding higher wages often stage violent protests in Bangladesh, where rising food prices have been a trigger for labour unrest. (Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Alex Richardson)
| |||
|
23/1/2011 Yemeni Students demand president resignation
Students, activists stage rival demonstrations at Yemeni university
CNN) -- Hundreds of students and activists staged rival demonstrations Saturday at Sanaa University in Yemen's capital, the editor of the Yemen Post said.
The larger of the two groups demanded that Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, step down, while the other group called for him to stay.
[...]
People are also upset at fuel shortages that have caused long lines as gas stations throughout the impoverished nation.
| |||
|
1/23/2011 Tunisian uprising gets second wind with more protests
Tunisian uprising gets second wind with more protests
Hundreds of rural Tunisians on Sunday have reinforced on-going protests led by industrial workers and professionals in the capital Tunis, adding more pressure to quit on the remnants of the regime of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Braving overnight curfew, the protesters from the town of Menzel Bouzaiane, which witnessed the first fatality in December of the uprising due to police firing, have now converged for a sit-in around the Interior Ministry. Thousands of urban protestors organised by the trade unions are expected to join them later on Sunday, imparting to the Tunisian uprising, its second wind. The agitators are then expected to demonstrate outside the Prime Minster's office
| |||
|
1/22/2011 Algerian police forces break down demonstration
Algerian police forces break down demonstration
Algiers, 22 January - In Algiers police forces succeeded in breaking down a banned demonstration protesting against unemployment and rising cost of living. Several people were injured and numerous arrested, among them the head of the parliamentary group of the Rally for Culture and Democracy, Othman Amazouz. Demonstrations are forbidden in Algeria on the grounds of an emergency law issued in 1992.
| |||
|
1/21/2011 Protestors direct anger at Rifai, Safadi in Dhiban, Zarqa
Protestors direct anger at Rifai, Safadi in Dhiban, Zarqa
AMMONNEWS - Hundreds of protestors on Friday marched in Dhiban district in Madaba governorate in protest of expensive living conditions and price hikes.
Demonstrators stressed that government policies are augmenting poverty and widening the poor segment of Jordanian society. Slogans targeted Prime Minister Samir Rifai and government spokesperson Ayman Safadi, with protestors charging that Safadi is a provocative minister of a government that creates crises rather than resolve them. Protestors referred to the government as a "cancerous cell that must be removed sooner than later." | |||
|
1/20/2011 Pro-Turabi supporters stage demonstrations in Khartoum
Pro-Turabi supporters stage demonstrations in Khartoum
January 19, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Several hundred members from the Popular Congress Party (PCP) staged a demonstration in the Sudanese capital on Wednesday night to protest the arrest of their leader in another sign of growing political tensions in the North as the South prepares to break away.
Supporters of Sudanese Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi march in Khartoum on January 19, 2011 (AFP)
On Tuesday, the Islamist opposition figure Hassan Al-Turabi Turabi was arrested at his home by heavily armed security officers. More than half a dozen senior officials from the PCP were also taken into custody.
Initially the Sudanese authorities justified the move by saying that they found new information retrieved from Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) members captured in West Darfur last week that links the PCP to the rebel movement.
But on Tuesday the Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie said that Turabi was detained after discovering a plot to carry out a sabotage attempt and assassinations but gave no details.
Opposition figures held a public meeting on Wednesday at the PCP headquarters in Khartoum in which they called for the release of Turabi and pledged to topple the government by any means necessary.
| |||
|
1/23/2011 Yemeni Activist Jailed as Tunisia-Inspired Protests Demand Saleh's Ouster
Yemeni Activist Jailed as Tunisia-Inspired Protests Demand Saleh's Ouster
A Yemeni opposition activist leading protests inspired by anti-government rallies in Tunisia was arrested by authorities as she and her supporters called for Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
Police arrested at least 15 people as hundreds of protesters gathered at Sana’a University demanding the release of Tawakul Karaman, head of the Yemeni non-profit organizationWomen Journalists Without Chains. “President, pack your luggage, we have decided to overthrow your throne,” demonstrators chanted.
| |||
 |
1/24/2011 - McDonald's Raises Prices
McDonald's affordable food drew even more customers in its fourth quarter, but the burger chain said it may raise prices this year as its own food tab rises.
Full Article | |||
|
1/25/2011 In Lebanon, violence breaks out as new prime minister is named
In Lebanon, violence breaks out as new prime minister is named
The appointment of Hezbollah-backed candidate Najib Mikati as Lebanon's new prime minister touches off unrest in Tripoli and Beirut, with mobs attacking journalists and setting fires. | |||
|
1/25/2011 Police dispersed a demonstration in Tunisia
Police dispersed a demonstration in Tunisia
Tunisian police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators gathered on Monday at the office of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, in the capital of Tunisia, within the movement continued to demand the departure of all the symbols of the former regime.
Sources said that police fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse demonstrators in the main street of Bourguiba where the demonstrators started throwing stones at the Office of Ghannouchi. Despite the curfews, imposed a few days ago, continued demonstrations and protests to topple the government rescue, reaching marches from different governorates of Tunisia to latch sail in front of the Government Palace in the capital. | |||
|
1/25/2011 Walking march demonstrations mushroom in Cairo
Walking march demonstrations mushroom in Cairo
Dozens of small walking marches have begun around various areas of Cairo to mark the "Day of Anger," an online call inspired by a revolt that toppled Tunisia's president.
In downtown Cairo, a walking march of around 3000 protesters has circulated in Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum and the Nile Corniche.
An activist told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the idea behind the walking march is to attract passersby and make it more difficult for security forces to cordon off demonstrators.
“Ordinary people are joining the protest when we call on them,” he said.
In Nahya, Boulak al-Dakrour, nearly 2000 protesters marched to the Arab League St. in the upper class district of Mohandessin to join another march from Al-Battal Ahmed Abdel Aziz. Eyewitness said around 5000 protesters are now gathering in Mohandessin. Eyewitnesses said some of the protesters are chanting “Oh Mubarak… Saudia Arabia is waiting you,” in reference to Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali who fled to the oil-rich kingdom following the Tunisian revolution.
In the Christian-dominated Shubra neighborhood, more than 1000 protesters chanted anti-government slogans. An Al-Masry Al-Youm reporter said the police attempted to cordon off the protesters, but the protestors managed to break the cordon.
In Masr al-Qadimya, dozens of protesters gathered around metro stations carrying banners reading “No to dictatorship” and “We demand a minimum wage.”
| |||
|
1/25/2011 - Protests / Riot Police in Alexandria
Demonstrators confront riot police in Alexandria Egypt, Tuesday Jan. 25, 2011. Thousands of protesters marched in Alexandria Tuesday in what was dubbed a 'Day of Rage' against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and lack of political freedoms under his rule.
| |||
|
1/25/2011 - More Protests
Protests also broke out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the Nile Delta cities of Mansura and Tanta, and in the southern cities of Aswan and Assiut, witnesses said.
At least 20,000 demonstrated in Alexandria, Egypt's second city. Thousands gathered in Mansura, waving Egyptian flags and demanding more rights for Egyptians. | |||
|
1/25/2011 - Price Controls
ussia has just announced it would proceed with price caps on a variety of foodstuffs, from buckwheat, to potatoes, assorted fruits and vegetables and all other commodities it deems "socially important" accoding to Russian newspaper gazeta.ru. And so the big margin crunch goes up several orders of magnitude, as companies, desperate to pass through surging input costs, but prohibited from raising selling prices, are forced to eliminate any and all overhead, most certainly including such trivialities as labor, in order to stay in business. More importantly, experts now predict that full year inflation in Russia will hit double digits. Just in the first 17 days of January, inflation hit 1.4%, or 9% annualized (according to gazeta... our calculation indicates a notably higher number but readers get the idea).
Full Article | |||
|
1/2011 - Price Controls
Price controls on many staple food items ordered by Ethiopia's government early this month have reduced grocery bills for many low-income families. But now shopkeepers are upset and some basic items are disappearing from store shelves. Economists are concerned about the long-term effect of the government's price-fixing strategy.
Full Article | |||
|
1/26/2011 Riot police fire tear gas at Tunis protest
Riot police fire tear gas at Tunis protest: AFP
Riot police on Wednesday fired tear gas at an anti-government rally in the main ministerial quarter in Tunis, after some of the protesters tried to force a police barrier, an AFP reporter said.
Hundreds of protesters had spent a third night camped out in front of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's office to pressure the government to resign because of the presence of old regime figures in the new cabinet line-up.
| |||
|
1/26/2011 11 items on price control list for CNY
11 items on price control list for CNY
LABIS- Eleven items have been placed on the price control list for the coming Chinese New Year celebrations for 12 days, beginning Jan 30.
Among the items are live chicken, standard chicken (slaughtered with head, feet, liver, and gizzard), super chicken (slaughtered without head, feet, liver and gizzard).
Also included are graded eggs, imported round cabbages from Indonesia and China (not including from Beijing) bawal putih (white pomfret), udang putih besar (large prawns), pork (belly) and pork (lean and fat). He said this year, for the first time, traders need not apply for licences to sell these controlled items. "We decided to do away with the licences due to complaints about red tape," he told to pressmen after visiting Pasar Labis here yesterday. "However, the ministry would like to remind traders to price the items according to the ceiling price set by the ministry. "We also like to remind the traders to display a pink price card on ceiling items to make it easier for the consumers," he said, adding that those who did not comply with the ministry would face action. Article | |||
|
1/22/2011 Sri Lanka Essentials under price control
Sri Lanka: Essentials under price control
The Government will control the prices of essential commodities while allowing the private sector to conduct their business activities without hindrance, Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said yesterday.
The Minister said so at yesterday’s Cabinet press briefing at the Government Information Department.
Minister Yapa said that the prices were regulated so as to ensure reasonable prices. In line with the price regulatory mechanism, Security Forces personnel are engaging in selling vegetables. As a result of this exercise, it has been reported that vegetable prices are coming down gradually.
Even though, this fruitful effort of Security Forces personnel is criticized by narrow-minded politicians.
In addition, several Ministries and institutions such as the Trade and Marketing Ministry, Economic Development Ministry, Agrarian Services Ministry, Mahaweli Authority and so on have come together to ensuring reasonable prices.
Answering to a journalist, the Minister added that the Government approved a provision of relief for victims of the recent natural disaster. On the directives of the President, immediate relief measures were taken by the Government to provide cooked meals, dry rations, drinking water, medicines and other requirements.
According to available statistics nearly 280,000 families consisting of 1,061,000 people were affected due to the flood and earthslips.
“Without considering the income level, the Government provides all flood victims with relief and assistance,” Minister Yapa noted.
Accordingly, irrespective of the income level, the temporary shelter where flood victims are housed ie the welfare centre or in the place of a relative or a friend, all victims are treated to the maximum.
In addition, the Cabinet has decided to appoint an Officials Committee consisting of representatives of the relevant 10 ministries to look into ways of providing further relief to the flood victims.
| |||
|
1/2011 S.Korea to feeze power, gas prices to curb inflation: report
S.Korea to feeze power, gas prices to curb inflation: report
South Korea will freeze electricity, gas and other public service fees in the first half in a bid to prevent growing inflationary pressure from hurting the nation's economic recovery, the government said Thursday.
It will also call for colleges to freeze tuition, while seeking to expand supply of produce and beef up monitoring of key daily items as part of its sweeping anti-inflation measures, according to a report jointly compiled by nine government ministries. The measures come as the government has been ramping up its battle against inflation amid worries that price instability could hurt the livelihood of low-income people and eventually put a damper on the nation's economic rebound. "Price stability should come first before other objectives such as sustained economic growth and recovery of economic sentiment felt by ordinary people. But things remain tougher than any other year," the report said. "We expect inflationary pressure will build up especially during the first quarter when there are many price hike factors such as college tuition and other products." To preemptively ease inflation expectations, the government said that it will "in principle" freeze public service prices, including electricity, gas and mailing, during the first half. The plan will be applied to a total of 11 public services subject to the government's price control. The government will also freeze public college tuition this year and advise private schools to follow suit or restrain themselves from raising them by more than 3 per cent from the previous year. In order to stabilize soaring food prices, the government said that it will frontload its produce stockpile into the market, while pushing to cut tariffs imposed on sugar, corn, wheat and others in a way to drive down daily products. The move is aimed at mitigating price hikes of food and other produce, whose harvests were seriously affected by an unusual cold spell. Last year, South Korea's consumer prices grew 2.9 per cent, which is deemed relatively low compared with those of other major countries. However, fresh food prices spiked 21.3 per cent from the previous year, squeezing the livelihood of low-income people already hit hard by the global economic downturn. "Price conditions for this year will be tougher than our earlier forecast asprices of agricultural products, including vegetables, remain high at a time when supply-side pressure is also mounting," the report said. The government vowed to focus all of its policy capacity on stabilizingprices during the first half by using every possible measures, emphasizing its strong will to tackle inflation in a preemptive way. "There is a high level of uncertainties such as international raw materialprices, the real estate market here, the debt crisis in Europe and risks stemming from North Korea," Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun told a joint press conference with other key policymakers held to announce the anti-inflation measures. "We are required to take a preemptive action as inflationary pressure is mounting and outlooks will likely be bleaker this year than our earlier forecast." | |||
|
1/4/2011 - Price increases
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela will raise regulated prices gradually on items such as milk, rice and corn flour in a bid to avoid an inflationary spike caused by the devaluation of its currency, said central bank board member Armando Leon.
Full Article | |||
 |
1/26/2011 - Strike by grain dock workers
"
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Argentine workers at some of the country's biggest grains export ports started an indefinite pay strike on Wednesday, threatening shipments in one of the world's biggest food suppliers." Full text here | |||
|
1/26/2011 - Price controls for property
 "China on Wednesday unveiled fresh measures to curb property prices, including requiring unruly local governments to set price controls, but made no mention of a widely expected property tax.City governments must set property price control targets in line with local income levels for 2011 and need to make the targets public in the first quarter, according to a state media report citing a cabinet statement." Full article text NYT article | |||
|
1/18/2011 BJP supporters protest petrol prices and high inflation in New Delhi
 
BJP supporters protest petrol prices and high inflation in New Delhi
NEW DELHI: About 500 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers on Tuesday held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi to protest the recent hike in petrol prices. Police had to use water cannons to disperse the crowd.
"The protest began around 11 am and is still on. Around 500 people have gathered at the site, including leaders like Vijender Gupta," a police officer said.
The protesters came on bullock carts, cycles and cycle rickshaws.
Good pictures | |||
|
1/23/2011 Pakistan: Protest against price hike, gas loadshedding
A large number of female activists of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N), along with with their children, staged a protest demonstration against high inflation and loadshedding of gas & electricity on Benazir Bhutto Road in front of the Rawalpindi Press Club here on Saturday.
They carried banners and placards and chanted slogans against President Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP government. The protesters urged the government to reduce the inflation rate, control prices of items of daily use and provide all basic facilities to the masses. They said women and children are facing lots of difficulties because of the loadshedding of electricity and gas. The concerned authorities should take notice of these problems, they added. Talking to ‘The News,’ PML-N Women’s Wing President (Punjab) Najma Hameed said that women and children are facing many problems because of non-availability of gas and electricity. It has become very difficult for women to prepare food and protect their children from freezing cold weather. She said that these women have come out of their homes with their children, as they are frustrated and facing lots of problems. The concerned authorities should solve these issues on urgent basis. She said that the unprecedented inflation has badly damaged the monthly budget of low-paid employees and it has become impossible for them to meet their expenses. She said that people are going to bed hungry because of the high prices of kitchen items, including sugar, ‘atta’, ghee, milk and pulses. Seema Gillani, another PML-N leader, said that women are facing many problems because of the unprecedented inflation. It has become impossible for low-paid employees to arrange for two-time meal for their family members. She said that non-availability of basic facilities, including gas and electricity, is a big issue. “The government should make policies to control price hike and shortage of gas and electricity,” she added. | |||
|
1/12/2011 Libya axes custom, tax duties on food: report
Libya axes custom, tax duties on food: report
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya has abolished taxes and custom duties on locally-produced and imported food products in response to a global surge in food prices, Oea online newspaper reported.
The decision by the Libyan government covers products such as wheat by-products, rice, vegetable oil, sugar and infant formula, Oea said.
Government officials in Tripoli declined to comment.
The decision follows violent clashes in neighbouring Algeria and Tunisia in recent days over grievances that included rising living costs.
Surging global food prices have already set warning lights flashing on inflation. Food prices hit a record high last month, according to the United Nations food agency, surpassing levels in 2008 that sparked riots in countries such as Egypt and Haiti.
| |||
|
1/17/2011 Syria, Jordan hike subsidies
Syria, Jordan hike subsidies
Syrian authorities sharply raised a key subsidy on Sunday in a reversal of policy after Tunisia's president was driven from power by unrest over soaring prices, unemployment and state repression.
The Syrian government, which has been controlled by the Baath party since it took power in 1963, announced it had increased the heating oil allowance for public workers by 72 per cent to the equivalent of $33 a month.
The government had hitherto been slashing subsidies as it lifts bans on private enterprise to try and repair decades of economic stagnation.
In neighbouring Jordan, the state announced a $225-million package of cuts in the prices of several fuels and staple products, including sugar and rice.
Syrian Finance Minister Mohammad al-Hussein said the increase in the heating oil allowance would cost the state $326 million a year, benefiting two million public workers and retirees out of a population of 20 million.
"This liquidity will have a positive impact on economic activity," Hussein told Syria's official news agency.
The International Monetary Fund expects Syrian inflation to remain steady at five per cent this year, with economic growth rising slightly to 5.5 per cent.
| |||
|
17/1/2011 Syria, Jordan hike subsidies
Syria, Jordan hike subsidies
Syrian authorities sharply raised a key subsidy on Sunday in a reversal of policy after Tunisia's president was driven from power by unrest over soaring prices, unemployment and state repression.
The Syrian government, which has been controlled by the Baath party since it took power in 1963, announced it had increased the heating oil allowance for public workers by 72 per cent to the equivalent of $33 a month.
The government had hitherto been slashing subsidies as it lifts bans on private enterprise to try and repair decades of economic stagnation.
In neighbouring Jordan, the state announced a $225-million package of cuts in the prices of several fuels and staple products, including sugar and rice.
Syrian Finance Minister Mohammad al-Hussein said the increase in the heating oil allowance would cost the state $326 million a year, benefiting two million public workers and retirees out of a population of 20 million.
"This liquidity will have a positive impact on economic activity," Hussein told Syria's official news agency.
The International Monetary Fund expects Syrian inflation to remain steady at five per cent this year, with economic growth rising slightly to 5.5 per cent.
| |||
|
1/13/2011 Students protest in Sudan's north over price rises
Students protest in Sudan's north over price rises
| |||
|
1/17/2011 Omanis protest high cost of living, corruption
Omanis protest high cost of living, corruption
Muscat: Some 200 Omanis protested on Monday against high prices and corruption, a rare phenomenon in the Gulf country that seems to have been touched off by the revolt in Tunisia.
"Rising prices have destroyed the dreams of ordinary citizens," read one banner carried by the crowd gathered outside the housing ministry, where police manned a security cordon but did not intervene.
The protesters, who appeared after they received emails and messages on their mobile telephones calling for the demonstration, chanted slogans against corruption and the high cost of living.
"No to corruption. No to corruption," shouted the protesters who called for "higher wages" and "fixed prices" for basic food items, the cost of which have swelled since the global financial downturn.
The demonstration came after a popular revolt in Tunisia, sparked by the self-immolation of 26-year-old Tunisian graduate Mohammad Bouazizi in protest at police preventing him from selling fruit and vegetables to make a living.
The case of Bouazizi, who later died of his wounds, unleashed a wave of protests in Tunisia that eventually toppled the 23-year presidency of Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali.
Demonstrations are rare in the Sultanate of Oman, as in most other Gulf states, where street protests are strictly prohibited and where trade unions and political parties are banned.
| |||
|
15/12/2010 London streets in flames again as 25,000 go on rampage in new student fees riot
London streets in flames again as 25,000 go on rampage in new student fees riot
Around 10,000 students and protesters flooded London for a new demonstration just a fortnight after anarchists unleashed mayhem at the Tory Party headquarters. More than 25,000 students in total are believed to have taken part in protests across the country today. Scotland Yard, determined not to be caught on the hop a second time, ensured hundreds of officers were on duty and quickly reinforced numbers as flashpoints developed. | |||
|
1/26/2011 Iranian Workers Stage Protests Over Nonpayment Of Wages
Workers in Tehran are continuing to stage protests against nonpayment of salaries that, in any case, do not keep pace with inflation, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.
The most recent such protest, reported by the ILNA agency, was in Tehran on January 24. Employees of the Pars Metal Company gathered in front of the Iranian parliament. They staged a similar gathering last summer in front of the presidential office after having not been paid for five months. Workers say not only are they not paid on time, the money they do get does not go far enough. The minimum wage for workers in Iran is pegged at 303,000 tomans (around $290) a month. Aziz Amoli, a member of the board of the Confederation of Iranian Employers, recently said wages might be increased by 15 percent in the new year that begins in March. Amoli said the Supreme Labor Union will determine wages based on inflation as calculated by Iran's central bank. The inflation rate so far has held below 10 percent. Ali, a worker in Tehran who has been employed for 20 years, told Radio Farda that workers have no job security in Iran. He said it’s difficult for unmarried workers to make ends meet, let alone those who are married with families. Various labor unions, including the Tehran and Suburban Bus Drivers' Union, have criticized the low wages. They argue that given the poverty line in Iran, the monthly salary should be at least 1 million tomans (around $960). Sweden-based economist Ahmad Alavi told Radio Farda that the poverty line will rise over the next year following the abolition of subsidies. He also said the inflation rate announced by state officials should not be used to determine wages. | |||
|
11/3/2010 Students face tuition fees rising to £9,000
Universities in England will be able to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year from 2012, as the government transfers much of the cost of courses from the state to students.
Fees will rise to £6,000, with an upper tier of £9,000 if universities ensure access for poorer students. Universities Minister David Willetts said this was a "progressive" reform. Labour's Gareth Thomas said the fee hike represented a "tragedy for a whole generation of young people". But Mr Willetts said the fees package would "put universities' finance on a sustainable footing with extra freedoms and less bureaucracy". He argued this would bring "greater choice for students with a stronger focus on high quality teaching". The National Union of Students dubbed the plan, which will mean almost a threefold increase, "an outrage". The announcement sparked an occupation of an administration building by students at Goldsmiths, University of London. Students unfurled banners and called for other universities to join the protest. Much of the proposed fee rise, up from the current £3,290 per year, will replace funding cut from universities in last month's Spending Review. This will mean that many courses, particularly in arts and humanities, will almost entirely depend on income from students' fees. | |||
|
1/26/2011 Starbucks Adjusts Prices Amid Rising Costs
Starbucks Corp. said its strongest-ever holiday period helped push earnings up by 44% in its fiscal first quarter, despite continued concerns about rising coffee prices.
Partly because of those cost pressures, the Seattle coffee giant Wednesday predicted earnings of 32 cents to 33 cents a share for the current quarter, below a 35-cent expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. However, the company reaffirmed its earnings guidance for all of fiscal 2011.
Starbucks doesn't plan an across-the-board price increase, but will continue to adjust prices market-by-market as it has been for months, said Troy Alstead, the company's chief financial officer. In some cases, Starbucks has raised prices of more complicated beverages while lowering or maintaining the price of basic coffee drinks.
"So far customers have responded well to that," Mr. Alstead said in an interview. "We're being careful and systematic in our pricing work."
In an interview, Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said high coffee prices aren't the result of supply problems, but financial speculation.
"In my history of following this for 30 years, coffee has never stayed very long at these kind of levels without some kind of catastrophic event like weather and we don't have that," he said, adding it's "financial speculation that's driving coffee costs up. Over the long run I feel confident that this is not a sustainable level for coffee to be at."
For the quarter ended Jan. 2, Starbucks' U.S. same-store sales were up 8%, and international same-store sales grew 5%. The company reported a profit of $346.6 million, or 45 cents a share, up from $241.5 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier. Net revenue increased 8.4% to $2.95 billion.
Mr. Schultz said strong holiday sales of Christmas blend coffee and Via instant coffee contributed to growth in the quarter, as well as strong sales of Starbucks cards that people purchased as gifts. He said demand for Christmas blend Via was so strong that stores ran out of it two weeks before Christmas, "a mistake we won't make again."
A continuing turnaround in the company's international business also boosted results. "We're beginning to hit our stride across the board internationally," Mr. Schultz said.
The company has applied to overseas markets the same kind of cost-cutting and operational efficiencies that it has applied to its U.S. stores. The company is accelerating its growth in China and recently announced plans to enter India.
| |||
|
1/26/2011 China Industry Ministry: Chinese Companies' Operating Costs To Keep Rising
BEIJING (Dow Jones)--China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Thursday that Chinese companies' operating costs will keep rising, as energy and raw material prices, labor costs and other prices continue to increase in 2011.
The ministry also said companies will face higher input inflation this year, and the pressure for yuan appreciation will increase further.
China's gross domestic product grew 9.8% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, faster than the third quarter's 9.6% increase, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The country's consumer price index rose 4.6% in December, down from November's 5.1% rise, which was a more than two-year high.
| |||
|
1/26/2011 China CPCIF suggests regulating rubber prices to rescue tire industry
China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) has called for regulatory measures taken by related authoritative departments on natural rubber prices in a bid to ease tire industry's cost pressure including selling of reserve rubber, and cut or cancellation of import tax.
Since the fourth quarter of last year, domestic natural rubber prices have been rising persistently and have already topped 40,000 yuan/tonne. With soaring rubber prices, the downstream tire industry has incurred losses on the whole. Decreasing self-sufficiency of natural rubber is a key reason to trigger price rise. In 2005, the self-sufficiency rate dived under the internationally recognized security line of 30 percent, and continued to remain at low levels in the following years, 25 percent in 2007, 22 percent in 2009 and likely 20 percent in 2010. CPCIF held that cost pressure, demand expansion and adverse weather are three factors to prop up prices of natural rubber. As natural rubber prices are rising crazily, tire industry will suffer losses and the downstream automobile and machinery industries are expected to be affected given the 20 percent of import tax rate on prices and 2,000 yuan/tonne on volume, many tire enterprises said. In the short term, rubber prices can only be stabilized by selling state stockpiles and removing import tariff, an unnamed industry noted. (Edited by Liu Xiaoyun, liuxy08@xinhua.org) For full details on China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ADS (SNP) SNP. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ADS (SNP) has Short Term PowerRatings at TradingMarkets. Details on China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ADS (SNP) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link. | |||
|
1/27/2011 Madagascar Government to Import Rice, Sugar Directly to Cut Retail Price
Madagascar’s government will import rice and sugar directly and fix prices to help curb rising costs and reduce illegal hoarding of those products, the Cabinet said.
The imports, which will be sold to certain wholesalers and retailers, will be free of taxes and duties, the Antananarivo- based Cabinet said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Government-imported sugar will be sold to the public at 2,000 ariary ($1) per kilogram (2.2 pounds), compared with a current market price of about 3,200 ariary. The price for white rice was fixed at 1,180 ariary a kilogram on Jan. 7.
“The Minister of Economy and Industry has declared that a stock-checking exercise will be carried out immediately for companies producing sugar nationally to put a stop to the illegal practice of retention of stocks,” it said.
Madagascar is trying to boost its economy after President Andry Rajoelina’s seizure of power in 2009 left the Indian Ocean island nation in international isolation, without the foreign aid that made up two-thirds of its budget. Madagascar is the world’s biggest vanilla grower and one of the biggest producers of sapphires.
The rice will be imported at $464 per metric ton in line with an agreement with international suppliers, Cabinet said, without saying how much rice or sugar will be shipped and who it’s buying it from. Rough rice for March delivery rose as much as 0.6 percent to $15.29 per 100 pounds today.
| |||
|
1/21/2011 - Protests / Riots
Public Unrest Boils Over in Albania
The Albanian opposition is set to hold another mass rally on Friday, even though three people were killed during an anti-government demonstration last week, allegedly by armed forces of the Ministry of Interior. On Jan. 21, over 20,000 people demonstrated in capital Tirana against the conservative government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha (opposition estimates go as high as 200,000). Three people were shot dead after hundreds of demonstrators attempted to escalate the police barricade protecting the prime minister’s office. Full article here | |||
|
1/27/2011 - Stock market crash
12:31 PM Eastern Standard Time, 01/27/2011 (MidnightTrader) -- Egypt stocks tumbled the most in more than two years and bonds fell as protests against the country's government continued Thursday.
The benchmark EGX30 Index plunged 11%, the most since October 2008, to 5,646.50 in Cairo. The index is down 16% over the past two days. | |||
|
1/27/2011 - More protests
AP - Tens of thousands of Yemenis demanded the president step down in nationwide protests Thursday, taking inspiration from the popular revolt in Tunisia and vowing to continue until their U.S.-backed government falls.
Full article text | |||
|
1/27/2011 - Protests, etc are still going on in Greece
How could we have forgotten Greece?
#484 Solidarity gatherings with the hunger strikers in Athens, Chania, Thessaloniki, Volos, Mytilene, Kozani, Iraklio, Xanthi. To the streets! For solidarity, for dignity. Thursday, January 27, 2011 10pm GMT+2 Negotiations are taking place the last two hours. The hunger strikers set several conditions in order to leave the Law School but the government does not seem ready as yet to agree with all of them so the huger-strikers and several hundred of supporters incl. some university teachers, students, human rights groups and activists are ready to defend the academic freedom by the police. Cops have surrounded the School and do not allow to people to approach. http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/ More here as well, its basically daily and all over. http://eupolitics.einnews.com/news/greece-riots | |||
|
1/27/2011 - Protests in Hungary
A Hungarian man covers his mouth with a mask during a demonstration against the government's new media law in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011. Journalist organizations and the European Union have already expressed concern at the new disputed media law, highlighting that it imposes extensive fines against journalists and publishers if they refuse to disclose their sources or publish information deemed inappropriate by the government. Sign on the mask reads in Hungarian: "We want press freedom!" (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
Protestors call on Hungarian govt to repeal media law, ask premier to return to dissident past
BUDAPEST, Hungary - Several thousand people have protested Hungary's new media law and urged Prime Minister Viktor Orban to repeal or amend it. The law greatly expands the state's power to monitor and penalize private news outlets. There are concerns it will be used against media critical of Orban's centre-right government, and the law has come under international criticism. Full Article Here | |||
|
1/28/2011 - Egypt riots turn violent
Buildings on fire, bullets fired.
| |||
 |
1/27/2011 - Internet Cut Off
| |||
|
1/28/2011 - Internet cut off
| |||
 |
1/28/2011 - Flights to Egypt suspended
| |||
|
1/28/2011 Dramatic video as thousands clash with Egypt riot police in Cairo
| |||
|
1/28/2011 Jordanians Demonstrate Peacefully Against Prices, Unemployment
AMMAN (Dow Jones)--Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets after Friday prayers in Amman and other major Jordanian cities decrying rising prices and high unemployment and calling for a change in government.
The peaceful protests in downtown Amman--which were called by the powerful Islamist opposition, left wing trade unions activists and other opposition parties--were the third such demonstration in the last three weeks and were inspired in part by growing popular protest in other parts of the Arab world.
Police forces looked on while more than 3,500 demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans.
The crowd, waving colorful banners, called for Jordan's Prime Minister Samir Rafai to step down. "Jordan...Jordan is free, the government should flee," they shouted. "In the name of God the government should change."
The demonstrators praised Egyptians for their current wave of protests and called for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. "Ben Ali tells Mubarak the plane is ready," they shouted. "Mubarak ...Mubarak ...Saudi Arabia is waiting," in a reference to former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's recent ouster and departure for Saudi Arabia.
They also called for the Jordanian government to stop peace talks with Israel and to close the Israeli embassy in Amman. "No...no for a Zionist [Israeli] embassy on Arab land," they shouted.
Protesters waved banners that called on the government to curb unemployment, poverty and corruption.
Police said around 2,000 people staged protests in other Jordanian cities.
Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group, has been calling for political and economic reform, including a change in the constitution so that the prime minister and other government officials are elected rather than appointed.
Jordan's current constitution, adopted in 1952, gives the king the exclusive authority to appoint and dismiss the prime minister.
"We're calling for holding general elections to choose a new parliament," said Hamza Mansour, secretary general of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. "We also call for regime change because the current government and other governments chosen in the same way wouldn't meet our interests and cannot be trusted."
In an attempt to counter popular discontent, the Jordanian government announced earlier this month that it will pump hundreds of millions of Jordanian dinars into the economy to control soaring prices and raise salaries and pensions of civil servants and the military. It has also reduced taxes on fuel and some basic foodstuffs items.
However, the Islamists and others insist the new measures are insufficient to quell poverty in a country which spends as much as $2 billion a year on energy imports. "We call for a comprehensive lifting of taxes on fuel and basic foodstuffs," Mansour said.
Analysts say that the cost of living in Amman is among the highest in the Arab world.
King Abdullah II met Thursday with the country's lawmakers and urged them to speed up reforms and boost public confidence in state institutions, on the eve of new nationwide rallies to demand economic and political change.
"Parliament plays a key role in correcting errors: speed up the country's comprehensive political and socio-economic reform and strengthen the people's trust in public institutions," a palace statement quoted the king as saying.
The king said Jordanians were "talking about corruption and other problems, some of which are true and others are not."
"But all issues must be addressed openly and frank answers must be provided for citizens through continuous dialogue with the government and legislature," he said, adding that "there is nothing to be afraid of."
Inflation has soared last month to as high as 6% from an average of 3% in 2009 due to higher energy prices. The unemployment rate is about 14% in the country of six million people, according to government figures.
| |||
|
1/17/2011 Kuwaiti ruler grants $4 bn, free food to citizens
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah will give food and money to Kuwait's 1.155 mln citizens
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah on Monday ordered the distribution of $4 billion and free food for 14 months to citizens as the oil-rich emirate prepares to mark national occasions.
Each of the 1.12 million native citizens will get 1,000 dinars ($3,572) in cash as well as free essential food items until March 31, 2012, the KUNA news agency cited state minister for cabinet affairs Rudhan al-Rudhan as saying. The Gulf state, whose financial assets top $300 billion, will next month mark the 50th anniversary of independence, 20th anniversary of liberation from Iraqi occupation and the fifth anniversary of the emir's ascendance to power. The announcement was made following an overnight meeting of the cabinet. The 2.4 million foreign residents of Kuwait are excluded from the grant and the free food. Inflation in Kuwait soared to 5.9 percent in November, the highest in 20 months on the back of high food prices which rose by 12.3 percent. The fifth largest OPEC producer has posted budget surpluses in each of the past 11 fiscal years, totalling more than $140 billion, and is also headed for another healthy surplus this year thanks to rising oil price. The government has made similar but smaller grants in the past. The Gulf Arab state provides a cradle-to-grave welfare system to its citizens who receive most public services and petrol at heavily subsidised prices and pay no income tax. Some 80 percent of Kuwait's 360,000-strong national workforce are employed in government jobs, where the average monthly wage is more than $3,500. | |||
|
1/28/2011 Police destroy protest camp at Tunisian PM's office
Tunisian riot police use their shields for cover during clashes after they stormed a protest camp outside the prime minister's office in Tunis January 28, 2011. Photo by: Reuters
* Riot police scatter protesters encamped near PM's office
* Ghannouchi stays on as prime minister * Ministers from former ruling party purged (Recasts, adds details, analyst comment) By Lin Noueihed and Tom Perry TUNIS, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Tunisian riot police broke up a protest camp in the capital on Friday, hoping to end days of demonstrations against a government that has undergone a major overhaul to meet some of the crowds' demands. The assault on the round-the-clock sit-in came a day after Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi replaced 12 cabinet ministers in an attempt to placate protesters demanding a purge of all members of the former ruling party. The reshuffle won the backing of Tunisia's powerful labour union, which had organised protests and strikes around the country, but failed to satisfy several hundred young men who had travelled from the grim cities of the interior to make their voice heard in the capital. Tawfik Ayachi, a journalist and political commentator, said protesters no longer had "absolute popular support" and the move signalled the government's intention to put a halt to protests. He said the changes in the interim government had met the demands of most of the people: "The consensus around it will grow." At least one anti-government protest called in Tunis failed to materialise. Police and soldiers tore down tents and removed bedding outside government offices on the fifth day of the sit-in and chased protesters through the streets after scattering them with teargas. Witnesses said several people had been beaten but hospitals had no word on injuries. The encampment had cut off access to the city's casbah, or old city, snarling traffic, causing havoc for shopkeepers and contributing to what Ayachi said was growing friction between the protesters and residents of the capital. The weeks of demonstrations across Tunisia that toppled President Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali electrified Arabs across the Middle East. Ben Ali fled the country on Jan. 14 after 23 years of police rule and an interim government including three opposition politicians and three unionists was set up to lead the country to its first democratic elections. Since then, Tunisians have been divided between those who demanded the government be purged of all symbols of the old regime and those who felt life should return to normal. Thursday's new lineup, which removed all the old guard except Ghannouchi, prime minister for years under Ben Ali, helped swing public opinion away from hard-line protesters. "I feel this is an improvement. Lots of doors that were closed have been opened. The ones making the noise have a brother or someone who died so they are upset," said Raed Chawishi, 24, outside the prime minister's office. AN INSPIRATION Tunisia's uprising has electrified Arabs across the Middle East and North Africa, where many countries share the complaints of poor living standards and authoritarian rule. Inspired by Tunisia's example, tens of thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Tunisians protested outside the Egyptian embassy in Tunis, calling for the overthrow of Mubarak and other Arab leaders. "Hosni Mubarak must fall," some protesters chanted. One protester held up a placard reading: "We made it, U can make it too." Protests have also spread to Yemen, where thousands took to the streets to demand a change of government. Seeing how fast their protests ended 23 years of oppressive rule, Tunisians have used public gatherings to make all sorts of demands. Doctors gathered outside the health ministry on Friday and employees from all walks of life have demonstrated to demand better living conditions. About 200 people marched through central Tunis after Friday prayers to demand religious freedom, the first significant protest by Islamists since the overthrow of Ben Ali, who ran a strictly secular state. Some carried placards reading: "We want freedom for the hijab, the niqab and the beard." Under Ben Ali's rule, women who covered their hair by wearing the hijab, in the Muslim tradition, were denied jobs or education. Men with long beards were stopped by police. "We demand the revision of the terrorism law ... and say no to the war on the niqab," one woman told Reuters TV, her face entirely covered by a black veil, or niqab. Islamists played no visible part in the "Jasmine Revolution" that toppled Ben Ali, but when the Ennahda, the country's largest Islamist movement, was allowed to contest elections in 1989, it came second to the ruling party. In Brussels, diplomats said European Union foreign ministers were expected to agree on Monday to freeze Ben Ali's assets and offer Tunisia better trade terms. (Additional reporting by Tarek Amara and Zohra Bensemra; writing by Giles Elgood; editing by Tim Pearce) | |||
|
1/29/2011 Drug prices get interim 20% reduction
Basic pharmaceutical products which were brought under price control will see an interim reduction of 20% effective from Monday.
Commerce Commission chairman, Dr Mahendra Reddy told FBC News that the new prices determined by the Commission was supposed to be in place from last Friday. However – he says it has been delayed as the Government Pharmacy has failed to deliver all the products to the pharmacies around the country. Dr Reddy says the 20% interim reduction will be applied to price controlled medications while the Government Pharmacy is waiting for the stock to arrive into the country. “We have written to pharmacies – that effective this Monday – all the items in the price control list - we will bring down the mark-up from 30% to 20% - in the interim. Second thing – all items outside the list – the current price they have will prevail. They cannot change the price until the commission will approve it. That comes into effect from Monday. Prices should come down for items on the list.” Dr Reddy says once the government pharmacy will supply the pharmaceutical products to all the pharmacies around the country than the 30% price reduction will come into effect. | |||
|
1/28/2011 Morocco takes measures against Tunisian contagion
Rabat - While the unrest in Tunisia has been spreading to other Arab countries, nearby Morocco has remained remarkably calm.
Four cases of people setting themselves ablaze have been reported recently, but they were believed to have been motivated by non-political reasons such mental health, economic or family problems, according to local media.
Morocco does not lack problems, which could spark political trouble. Rural poverty unleashed an exodus into city slums where massive unemployment and lack of perspective has increased the popularity of Islamic fundamentalists.
The country has a long tradition of 'bread riots,' and groups such as university graduates - nearly 30 per cent of whom are unemployed - also stage demonstrations that sometimes turn violent.
There is resentment against the country's privileged elite, which includes people such as King Mohammed VI's influential friend Fouad Ali el-Himma.
If Himma's Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) - a rising force on the country's political scene - continues to 'interfere' with other parties, that could lead to Tunisian-style unrest, the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) warned.
Moroccans do not, however, question the legitimacy of the king, criticism of whom can land journalists in prison.
'There has never been a demonstration against the king, who is seen as guaranteeing stability,' according to observers in Rabat.
Mohammed VI's position is reinforced by the fact that he is the official leader of Moroccan Muslims, a factor which has slowed the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
Prime Minister Abbas el-Fassi's government, however, is aware that Morocco is not immune to contagion from Tunisia, and is taking preventative measures against it.
Police dealing with demonstrators have been advised to avoid violence. The authorities have also announced new subsidies for basic products such as sugar, oil, wheat, gas and petrol.
The government - which already spent more than 2 billion dollars on subsidies in 2010 - wants to keep prices down, even at the cost of endangering budget stability, observers said.
Government spokesman Khalid Naciri denied that the subsidies were linked to the events in Tunisia. Morocco 'does not act in function of events in other countries,' he said.
| |||
|
1/29/2011 Yemeni Protests Turn Violent
A government supporter waves a traditional dagger during confrontations with anti-government protesters in the capital Sanaa. Yemen's ruling party has called for dialogue with the opposition in a bid to end anti-government protests.
From WSJ
SAN'A, Yemen—A small, antigovernment protest turned violent in the Yemeni capital Saturday, with demonstrators—emboldened by Friday's massive protests in Egypt—clashing with security forces. At least nine protesters were set upon by police when security forces blocked up to a hundred demonstrators as they attempted to march to the Egyptian embassy in San'a, in a show of solidarity with protesters in Egypt, according to eyewitnesses. It was the first instance of violence during a recent bout of protests in Yemen, which started earlier in January in the wake of anti-government demonstrations in Tunisia that eventually ended the long rule of that North African country's autocratic ruler. Eyewitnesses also said prominent human-rights activist Abdul Hadi al-Azazi was arrested in the march on Saturday. The extent of injuries sustained by protesters wasn't immediately clear. Government representatives weren't immediately available to comment. Elsewhere in San'a, streets were calm on Saturday. Soldiers peacefully patrolled the campus of the University of San'a, often the scene of antigovernment demonstrations. Vehicles with water cannons were stationed at the main gates. The march was relatively small compared with other recent demonstrations in the capital. On Thursday, approximately 100,000 people took part in antigovernment marches. Those demonstrations passed off peacefully. Yemeni protesters have been inspired by the recent ouster of Tunisia's autocratic president and the mass protests in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak's rule. Those demonstrations culminated Friday in fierce clashes and the deployment of the army on the streets of Egypt's major cities. Clashes continued across Egypt on Saturday. The government of longtime Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has scrambled to contain the popular discontent. But, just like in Tunisia and Egypt, protesters in Yemen continued to demand on Saturday that their strongman leader step down. "We will not stop protesting, even if we are harassed or attacked. We are demanding that President Saleh step down from rule, or his fate will be the same of the Tunisian president, and soon of the Egyptian president," said Salah Mohammed Al-Maktari, a protester who said he was attacked by security forces. Saturday's protest involved members of the Yemeni parliament, journalists and activists seeking political reform. They gathered early in the morning at the headquarters of the local journalists' syndicate before attempting to march on the Egyptian embassy. "We will stand next to our Egyptian brothers. Your problem is our problem as well," the protesters chanted. They urged Mr. Saleh to step down, shouting: "Leave while there is still a chance." Yemen has a vibrant political culture, but since the reunification of the northern and southern parts of the country—after a brutal civil war in the 1980s—Mr. Saleh has sidelined opposition groups and placed his relatives and close allies in key military and political posts. He has often cited security issues as a reason to stall political reform. His government is battling a separatist movement in the south, a rebel group in the north and well-trained al-Qaeda cells that are active in many of Yemen's provinces. But, unlike Egypt's opposition, which has been hobbled in its reform movement by internal squabbles, Yemen's political groups have a history of showing a united front against the leader. For much of the last two years, they have participated in so-called "National Dialogue" talks with Mr. Saleh's party in attempts to forge a power-sharing agreement. Mr. Saleh called off those talks in the late autumn, his aides and opposition officials say, in part due to the opposition's refusal to compromise over their demands. In a bid to ease tensions, Mr. Saleh on Friday called on the opposition parties to reopen the dialogue with the government. | |||
|
1/29/2011 - Protests
| |||
|
1/28/2011 Indonesia suspends rice, soybean duties to combat inflation
 Chart - CPI inflation Indonesia 2010 (yearly)
From inflation.eu
* Measure aims to help fight high inflation
* Indonesia imported bumper rice volume, seeks sugar * Sugar import duties remain unchanged (Updates throughout) By Michael Taylor JAKARTA, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Indonesia will suspend import duties on rice, soybeans and wheat as part of government efforts to fight inflation and the president warned about the global risks posed by scarce resources, as countries grapple with escalating food costs. Rising food prices across many parts of the world have been partly responsible for a number of protests in the last week and world leaders warned on Thursday they risked stoking more unrest and even war. Indonesia surprised markets this week by buying nearly 5 times as much rice as expected, lifting regional prices, and the measure to remove rice duty until its own harvest in March could signal it may be looking to stockpile more of the staple. Fresh demand from Indonesia and Bangladesh for rice is sending a worrying sign the region's main staple may join a price surge for other grains, worsening Asia's spiralling food inflation. Elsewhere, countries like Algeria are rushing to buy grains, a move seen heading off unrest over food prices as protests swept north Africa. Food price protests were seen as a major factor in the ousting of Indonesia's long-term autocratic ruler Suharto in 1998, and investor worries over inflation at a 20-month high in December led to a sell-off in Indonesian markets this month. Full article | |||
|
1/29/2011 Saltney Ferry man heads new fuel protest at Stanlow oil refinery
Fuel protest at the Stanlow Oil Refinery
MORE than 150 motorists took part in a protest outside Stanlow oil refinery last night, angry at rising fuel prices.
Cars, vans and trucks joined a slow-moving convoy along the A5117, arriving at the fuel plant at around 9pm where they staged a drive-past.
Around 50 people then got out of their vehicles, waving banners bearing slogans such as “Fuel duty is highway robbery” and “Wake up Cameron”.
The man behind the demonstration, Kevin Bowker, 40, of Saltney Ferry, said the Government needed to act on fuel prices.
He launched the protest via the social networking website Facebook just 10 days ago along with Stephen Johnstone.
Mr Bowker, a dad-of-four, who referees full time in the Welsh National League, said he hoped this would “kick start the nation”.
He said: “This is something that has been stewing for some time.
“This campaign has grown through word of mouth, talking to friends and it went from there. It recently cost me £85 to fill up my Vauxhall Vectra. Fuel prices are ridiculous.
“We launched the Facebook campaign about 10 days ago and we have been amazed at the levels of support we have gained.
“We have had 8,000 messages of support.
“The Government were talking about not putting the 1p extra on in April, but that is not nearly enough.
“Fuel price increases affect everything, from bread to the presents you buy your children because it is brought on the roads.
| |||
|
1/29/2011 Thousands in Algeria protest march: organisers
AFP/File – Riot police face demonstrators outside the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy party's headquarters …
ALGIERS — More than 10,000 protesters marched against authorities in Algeria's northeastern city of Bejaia on Saturday, organisers said, in the country's latest rally inspired by neighbouring Tunisia.
Demonstrators marched peacefully in the city in Algeria's Berber-speaking Kabylie region, shouting Tunisia-inspired slogans such as: "For a radical change of the regime!," a lawmaker with the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), Mohamed Ikhervane, told AFP.
"The protest gathered more than 10,000 people," said RCD leader Said Sadi, whose group organised the rally.
Police were out in force around the city but protesters dispersed calmly, Ikhervane said.
Separately, pro-democracy group the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) said it plans a new march in Algiers on February 12.
The group's leader, Mustapha Bouchachi, said the protest had been postponed from the original date of February 9 to enable workers and students to take part.
The LADDH forms part of a group calling itself the National Coordination for Change and Democracy, which was set up in the wake of riots in early January that left five dead and more than 800 injured.
The group demands the end of the government and its 19-year state of emergency.
Mounting grievances over spiralling costs and unemployment triggered the riots earlier this month, encouraged by public protests in Tunisia that forced its president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee.
Algiers responded swiftly by reducing the prices of oil, sugar and other basic necessities which had risen sharply, and assuring that subsidies on essential goods like flour would continue.
Unrest still simmers, however, and within the past two weeks eight people set themselves on fire in Algeria, although some cases were deemed to be linked to mental health issues.
| |||
|
1/31/2011 Morocco fuel subsidies to hit record $5 bln
* Says $100/bbl oil will drive up subsidy costs
* Expects final decision on new refinery by end 2011 * Plans to step up oil exploration efforts (Adds quotes, detail) By Emma Farge LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Morocco will have to pay a record $5 billion in fuel subsidies if oil prices remain near $100 a barrel, a senior energy ministry official said on Monday, which would increase the burden on state finances, The amount would surpass its previous record of $3 billion paid in 2010, when Brent crude prices were an average of around $85 a barrel. "At near $100 per barrel, if it remains at this level for 2011, we forecast this will cost around $5 billion in subsidies," Said Laoufir told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an energy conference in London. Weeks of unrest in nearby Tunisia, sparked partly by high food and fuel prices, have inspired street protests in other Arab countries such as Algeria and Egypt. Morocco's public finances swung into the red in January-September 2010 due mainly to rising subsidy costs for food and fuels but stayed broadly on track to meet the finance ministry's fiscal targets. Morocco -- the only north African country without oil production -- imports around 95 percent of its energy needs. Most imports come in the form of oil products, since Morocco has only one working refinery at the Atlantic port Mohammedia. Laoufir also said Morocco is in discussions with investors about building a 200,000 barrel per day Jorf Lasfar refinery and that a final decision would be taken by year-end. The plant would come on stream in 2016 if an agreement is reached, he added. In a separate television interview with Reuters Insider, energy and mines minister Amina Benkhadra said that Morocco plans to step up efforts to produce its own oil. "Our aim is to increase the level of investment in drilling. We hope to push companies to be more proactive ... Morocco is underexplored," she said, adding that government investment accounts for only 10 percent of the total spend. Morocco's three main crude oil suppliers are Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran, said Laoufir. | |||
|
1/30/2011 Sudan police clash with protesters
Sudan President Omer Al-Bashir
Heavily armed police patrol Khartoum's main streets beat and arrested students in central Khartoum [Reuters]
Sudanese police have beaten and arrested students as protests broke out throughout Khartoum demanding the government resign, inspired by a popular uprising in neighbouring Egypt.
Hundreds of armed riot police on Sunday broke up groups of young Sudanese demonstrating in central Khartoum and surrounded the entrances of four universities in the capital, firing teargas and beating students at three of them. Police beat students with batons as they chanted anti-government slogans such as "we are ready to die for Sudan" and "revolution, revolution until victory". There were further protests in North Kordofan capital el-Obeid in Sudan's west, where around 500 protesters engulfed the market before police used tear gas to disperse them, three witnesses said. "They were shouting against the government and demanding change," said witness Ahmed who declined to give his full name. Sudan has a close affinity with Egypt - the two countries were united under British colonial rule. The unprecedented scenes there inspired calls for similar action in Sudan, where protests without permission, which is rarely given, are illegal. Before Tunisia's popular revolt, Sudan was the last Arab country to overthrow a leader with popular protests, ousting Jaafar Nimeiri in 1985. Galvanised by social networks Groups have emerged on social networking sites calling themselves "Youth for Change" and "The Spark", since the uprisings in nearby Tunisia and close ally Egypt this month.
"The people of Sudan will not remain silent any more," itsFacebook page said. "It is about time we demand our rights and take what's ours in a peaceful demonstration that will not involve any acts of sabotage." The pro-democracy group Girifna ("We're fed up") said nine members were detained the night before the protest and opposition party officials listed almost 40 names of protesters arrested on Sunday. Five were injured, they added. Opposition leader Mubarak al-Fadil told Reuters two of his sons were arrested on their way to the central protest. Editor-in-chief of the al-Wan daily paper Hussein Khogali said his daughter had been detained by security forces since 0500 GMT accused of organising the Facebook-led protest. Pro-government newspapers carried front page warnings against protests which they said would cause chaos and turmoil. The Sudan Vision daily's editorial blamed the opposition. "Our message to those opposition dinosaurs is to unite their ideas and objectives for the benefit of the citizens if they are really looking for the welfare of the Sudanese people," it read. Prices, frustration rising Sudan is in deep economic crisis which analysts blame on government overspending and misguided policies. A bloated import bill caused foreign currency shortages and forced an effective devaluation of the Sudanese pound last year, sparking soaring inflation. Early this month the government cut subsidies on petroleum products and key commodity sugar, triggering smaller protests throughout the north. Sunday's protests coincided with the first official announcement of results for a referendum on the oil-producing south's secession from the north showing an overwhelming vote for independence, which many in the north oppose Police spokesman Ahmed al-Tuhami told Reuters the police did not have figures for any injured or arrested. "We did not use more violence than necessary - we did not want anyone to spoil this day with the referendum results." | |||
|
2/1/2011 Jordan's King Dismisses Government Amid Protests
Jordan's Royal Palace says the king has sacked his government. Above, Jordanian protesters in Amman on Jan. 29
AMMAN, Jordan—Jordan's King Abdullah II dismissed his government and named a new prime minister tasked with introducing "true political reforms," following weeks of street protests calling for economic and political change.
The Jordanian monarch bowed to popular pressure to dismiss the government of Samir Rifai, which has been blamed by protesters for recent sharp rises in food and fuel prices and stalled political overhauls.
Regional Upheaval
See how the succession of uprisings in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Algeria and other countries of the region have progressed.
The move follows several large protests in the country, inspired by demonstrations that have forced out Tunisia's autocratic leader and threaten the 29-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
The appointment of the new prime minister, Maruf Bakhit, received a lukewarm response from Jordan's opposition Islamic Action Front. "We want new reform and not a change of faces," said the party's secretary general, Hamza Mansour. Mr. Bakhit served as Jordan's premier from 2005-2007.
The Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, has been calling for a change in the constitution to allow the prime minister and other government officials to be elected, rather than appointed.
Jordan's constitution, adopted in 1952, gives the king the exclusive authority to appoint and dismiss the prime minister.
Despite recent government concessions, including higher fuel subsidies and increased salaries for civil servants, protests have continued in Amman and other major cities.
When he ascended to the throne in 1999, King Abdullah vowed to press ahead with political reforms initiated by his late father, King Hussein. Those reforms paved the way for the first parliamentary election in 1989 after a 22-year gap, the revival of a multiparty system and the suspension of martial law in effect since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
But little has been done since. Although laws were enacted to ensure greater press freedom, journalists are still prosecuted for expressing their opinion or for comments considered slanderous of the king and the royal family.
It wasn't immediately clear when Mr. Bakhit will name his cabinet. He is considered a moderate, who served as Jordan's ambassador to Israel earlier this decade.
| |||
 |
2/1/2011 Interactive Global Inflation Heat Map
| |||
|
2/1/2011 Colombian Truckers Set To Begin Strike Wednesday At Midnight
By Dan Molinski Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Colombia truckers are gearing up for a nationwide strike to protest free-market reforms to the industry, but organizers say they're willing to call it off if a meeting Tuesday with Transport Ministry officials is successful.
Some 180,000 truckers are ready to pull over their big rigs and park at midnight Wednesday to begin the work stoppage, said Pedro Aguilar, head of the Association of Colombian Truckers, or ACC by its Spanish acronym. The truckers are unhappy with the government's announcement last month that it was eliminating a years-long policy of setting minimum freight rates that truckers must earn.
"The strike is confirmed. It starts at midnight tomorrow [Wednesday] night," Aguilar said.
Coffee exporters are among the sectors that would be hurt the most by a strike, as they rely almost exclusively on the trucking industry to haul their beans to shipping ports such as Buenaventura on the Pacific coast.
Jorge Humberto Botero, a former Colombia trade minister and now the head of the National Coffee Exporters Association, or Asoexport, said he remains confident the truckers will cancel plans to initiate the strike.
"But if the truckers don't call it off, the strike would be very serious for us. It would be very damaging" for the coffee export sector, Botero said in an interview Tuesday.
The trucking association's Aguilar said truckers that transport crude oil and other oil products are also "willing to participate" in the strike, but said their involvement in the strike is not yet confirmed.
Truckers are becoming increasingly important to Colombia's booming oil-export sector as the country's pipeline have become overloaded due to rising production levels.
Analysts say many oil producers in Colombia have special contracts with truckers that force them to work even if the trucking industry as a whole goes on strike. Officials at Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.T), one of Colombia's biggest oil producers, were not available for comment.
Looming Strike A Challenge For Santos' Government
Asoexport's Botero said the threat of a truckers' strike is the first major "political, confrontational challenge" the six-month-old administration of President Juan Manuel Santos has had to face.
"It's going to be very interesting to see if the administration remains firm in its position on eliminating cargo rates," he said.
Botero says he agrees with the government that getting rid of a floor on freight rates is long overdue, calling the government intervention in truck pricing "absurd" and antiquated.
Nonetheless, the Colombian trucking industry is a powerful group, and representatives say rising fuel and toll costs, as well as an uptick in inflation, leave truckers with no choice but to strike if government regulation on cargo rates is abandoned.
The plan to get rid of the cargo rates comes after the country suffered through six months of the heaviest rains it has seen in three decades, which washed away highways, roads and bridges.
The damaged roadways have led to a sharp increase in trucking rates, rendering the minimum cargo rates useless for the time being. Observers say that's why the government decided now was the best time to do away with the rates.
| |||
|
2/1/2011 Algeria seeks lower food prices
[Reuters/Louafi Larbi] Algerians complain about soaring food prices.
Authorities in Algeria are instituting price controls in an effort to calm popular anger about the rising cost of living.
By Walid Ramzi for Magharebia in Algiers – 01/02/11
"The first stage would be to issue an executive decree that would put a ceiling on oil prices at 600 dinars for 5 litres, and 90 dinars per kilogram of sugar," Trade Minister Mustapha Benbada said. In a statement released on Wednesday (January 26th), the minister added that his department was in the process of developing a legal framework to control the rising cost of basic commodities. The proposed measures would enable the government to dictate the prices of some consumer goods. The move comes as authorities try to head off more protests over the rising cost of living. In early January, four days of widespread unrest swept Algeria as citizens protested the country's economic and political situation. The protests eventually subsidised after the cabinet agreed to reduce tariffs on sugar and other products. The proposed new regulatory powers include the authority to determine profit margins for traders as well as compensation for merchants in case their costs exceed the set price for goods. Benbada said that this procedure fell within the application of the laws on competition and trade practices that were issued in 2008, pointing to the possibility that authorities could institute price ceilings in case of a "political decision". Prices of sugar and oil rose 23% in January, as compared to last December, according to the commerce ministry. The government held some local producers responsible for the rise, labelling it "non-natural and artificial". "The government decided to expand the system of price controls to include agricultural products as well as potatoes, through the identification of surplus products and facing the potential scarcity of products and managing it before it turns into a crisis," Agriculture Minister Rachid Benaissa said during an El Moujahid forum on Wednesday. Benaissa added, "The state will intervene whenever there is market instability through the storage and control and taking procedures in advance to maintain the incomes of farmers and price stability." Algerian authorities need to "alleviate social tension" by taking urgent action to establish a ceiling on prices for products consumed by a large number of people, according to Abdoudjerra Soltani, head of the Movement of the Islamic Society for Peace. Labour Party Secretary-General Louiza Hanoune concurred, saying it was unreasonable for consumer prices to rise whenever there was an increase in salaries. Hanoune called on the government in early January to take further action to protect consumers and promote local products. Authorities need to organise and determine a profit margin "for all materials with large consumption", according to Saleh Souileh, head of the General Union of Algerian Traders. Algeria should "create competitiveness in the distribution of basic materials and to prevent the monopoly of the market by the lobbies", an International Monetary Fund report said. The January 26th report said a sudden escalation in prices could lead to protests. The new government measures "are intended to absorb the anger that exploded after the high prices of some consumer goods", economic expert Salim Abderahmane said, adding that the government "wants to buy social tranquillity and at great costs rather than focusing on promoting the local production and the recovery of agriculture to reduce the volume of imports". He added that the solutions adopted by the government were "circumstantial and cannot be permanent solutions", saying that "the economic and social policies implemented by the Algerian authorities in recent years have proven their failure, which requires radical change, or at least reviewing a large part of them to liberate initiatives, and focusing on the development of jobs and reviving the productive sectors". | |||
|
2/2/2011 PPP wants to revive magistrates Price control is main target
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Government is close to revive the old system of executive magistrates, telling the provinces and the relevant federal agencies that it wants the revival of magistracy to check prices, ensure increased supplies and achieve price stability through targeted subsidies.
A decision in principle to this effect has been taken at the highest level in the Ministry of Finance that met last week to finalize a draft of proposals, a copy of which is available with The News. The draft for actionable proposals put on top of priority list the creation of a mechanism that is combined with monitoring and enforcement framework for price and supply of essential commodities. It resolves that selected items be focused for price stability including wheat, sugar, rice, meat, milk, edible oil, urea, pulses, vegetables and minor crops. A Fair Price Index incorporating the data collected from Utility Stores Corporation and Sunday and Juma bazaars will be developed by the Federal Bureau of Statistics. Outreach to tehsil level, improved quality and frequency up to twice a week of Sunday and Juma bazaars will be ensured by all provincial governments. The strategy will, however, be adopted depending on local realities and situation. Proposals for revival of executive magistracy are being prepared and will be sent to IPC Division for consideration. A national price monitoring committee (NPMC) headed by Secretary Finance Division will be set up comprising ministers of industries and production, food and agriculture and the following officials of the provinces to meet on monthly basis or earlier if required: Secretary, department of industries, government of Punjab; Secretary, department of industries, government of Balochistan; Secretary, department of food, government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Secretary, supply and price bureau, government of Sindh; Chief secretaries of the provinces may attend quarterly meetings of the NPMC. It was recommended that the NPMC may be mandated to assess the demand-supply of key commodities and to take/ propose corrective measures as necessary. The NPMC will submit its decisions to the ECC. The Federal Government may consider importing 0.2-0.3 million tons of sugar this year to meet the potential shortage as per MINFAL figures to be presented in the ECC in coordination with the Ministry of Industries And Commerce. Ministry of Ports and Shipping will ensure that export of wheat be given priority at ports. The gas supplies to fertilizer companies may be increased alongside import of urea through Saudi Development Fund. There is a need to discuss innovative ways to target price subsidy in the forthcoming meeting on the subject. Article | |||
|
2/2/2011 Yemeni President Won't Run Again
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced he will freeze constitutional changes that would allow him to be president for life
SANAA, Yemen—President Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed he won't run for re-election when his term ends in 2013 and denied he had any plans to pass on the presidency to his son.
Opposition leaders said the president's concessions were insufficient and urged their supporters to take part in renewed mass protests planned for Thursday. Ahead of that rally, ruling-party officials started pitching their own tents in Liberation Square, where the protests are planned.View Full Image Getty Images Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced he will freeze constitutional changes that would allow him to be president for life. Dozens of heavily armed men were among those who came to support the president in the square, all holding banners and pictures of Mr. Saleh. Throughout the capital, thousands of security forces were deployed on the streets Wednesday. Yemen has been swept up by unusually large street demonstrations in recent days, following protests in Tunisia that ended the rule of former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Late Tuesday, longstanding Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak bowed to the demands of protesters there and said he won't seek re-election this Fall. Unlike in both those places, Yemen's opposition is relatively robust and united. But it has struggled to gain critical following on the street. The government and the opposition had broken off negotiations over proposed political reform, and until recent days Mr. Saleh showed little willingness to make concessions. Regional Upheaval View Interactive A succession of rallies and demonstrations, in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria have been inspired directly by the popular outpouring of anger that toppled Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. See how these uprising progressed. As protest swelled across the region in the wake of the Tunisia revolt, however, he suggested he wasn't grooming his son for succession. Wednesday's announcement went much further. Mr. Saleh told an emergency session of parliament that he will cancel plans for a controversial amendment to the constitution that had picked up steam recently. The measure would have allowed him to remain as president for life. He also definitively ruled out running again for president after his current term. "I make this compromise today for the sake of the country," Mr. Saleh told parliamentarians. "Yemen's interests come before personal interests." Egyptian opposition leaders said immediately after Mr. Mubarak's late-night speech Tuesday that they would continue to call for his immediate departure from office. Mr. Saleh's promise to step down—but only when his current term ends in two years—could be even less convincing. For years, he has sat atop a shaky central government that has tried—with mixed success—to assert power over rugged, far-flung provinces, where local and tribal loyalties are often much stronger than any fealty to San'a. While the size and ferocity of the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt took the region by surprise, diplomats and analysts have long worried about Mr. Saleh's hold on power. Still, Western and Arab governments have ratcheted up aid to the impoverished country as one of several front lines against Islamist extremism. Yemen's al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for a series of increasingly bold attacks far from home. The group said it trained the young Nigerian man who attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger flight on Christmas Day 2009, and it orchestrated a thwarted attempt to ship explosives to the U.S. aboard cargo planes late last year. Mr. Saleh has been a strong, public ally of Washington in its battle against al Qaeda ever since the group attacked the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden. Amid the recent attempted attacks against U.S. soil, Washington has ratcheted up military and intelligence assistance.
But American officials have also worried that other domestic threats have preoccupied Mr. Saleh at the expense of his fight against al Qaeda. A violent tribal rebellion in the north flared much of last year, tying up Yemeni troops. Meanwhile, a secessionist movement in southern Yemen has been a long-running political headache for San'a. He has also had to curry favor with dozens of tribal sheikhs, whose power outside of the capital rivals his own.
| |||
|
2/2/2011 Air France Increased Fuel Surcharge Feb 1 Due To Rising Costs
PARIS (Dow Jones)--French airline Air France (AF.FR) said Wednesday it has increased the fuel surcharge on its air fares to offset the rise in its aviation fuel costs.
A spokeswoman for the French flag carrier said the increases went into effect on Feb. 1. Some other major international airlines have indicated recently that they are raising their fuel surcharges in a bid to offset the decline in profit margins. The Air France official said the company is introducing a EUR2 surcharge per flight on short-range trips. The surcharge on medium-haul flights is being raised by EUR2 to EUR28 per flight, and while long-range flights will go up EUR10 per leg to either EUR96 or, if the flight lasts for more than seven hours, to EUR106. Airlines worldwide are struggling to deal with the sharply rising cost of fuel. The International Air Transport Association predicts that global airlines would report an aggregate profit of $9.1 billion in 2011, down 40% from 2010. On Wednesday, however, IATA Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani pointed out that this forecast was based on the assumption of an oil price at $84 a barrel. In recent days, due to the jitters over the political situation in Egypt and the Middle East in general, the price of a barrel of crude has risen above $100. "Fuel accounts for 27% of [airlines'] operating costs and a sustained rise in the price of oil could spoil the party," Bisignani said. "For every dollar increase in the average price of a barrel of oil over the year, airlines face the difficult task of recovering an additional $1.6 billion in costs," said the IATA official. | |||
|
2/2/2011 Clearing agents strike
THE clearing Agents Association will go on a strike on Thursday, hold demonstrations and set up hunger strike camps in Lahore and Islamabad against the increase of charges by Railways.
Pakistan Railways has increased the charges of six services, including port surchage, damage charges, crane handling, weigh bridge and gate entry fee. This time the charges have been increased up to 20 % whereas these were increased up to 50 to 400 % a couple of months back. It is noteworthy that no charges have been increased at other dry ports located in Lahore, including NLC, and Prame Nager. It demanded to withdraw the decision to increase the charges immediately in order to save 5000 families involved with the Lahore Dry Port. Chairman of Association Amjad Chaudhry, President Sajid Aziz and Vice President Agha Iftikhar have accused that these steps have mala fide intention and taken to promote other dry ports located in Lahore including NLC, a project of the Army and Prame Nager being run by an ex-General Manager of Railways on behalf of Karachi based firm. They stated that this decision of increase was aimed to destroy a national asset for which a mafia had become active. They further stated that this increase would create inflation and prices all of commodities, coming from Karachi and other destination, being consumed by the people of Punjab besides it would hurt the traders as well as business community of the Punjab province. | |||
|
2/2/2011 Armenia: Egypt Events Energizing Opposition in Yerevan
Inspired by recent developments in North Africa, Armenia’s largest opposition coalition is preparing for “large-scale rallies” in Yerevan’s Freedom Square starting on February 18.
The government’s public response to the announcement by Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (ANC) has been muted. But official actions suggest that authorities are taking the potential for an “Egypt Effect” in Armenia seriously. Soon after the ANC revealed its protest plans, Yerevan city officials countered that Freedom Square would be off limits because it would be the scene of “sporting and cultural events” from February 15-March 15. ANC leaders say that if they can’t secure permission to rally in Freedom Square via PR efforts and official application procedures, they will simply protest without a city permit. Freedom Square has long been the preferred site for opposition rallies, and it was the scene of the 2008 post-presidential election crackdown, during which at least 10 people were killed. The date selected for the rally -- the eve of the anniversary of the 2008 presidential election, a vote that the ANC claims was stolen from Ter-Petrosian – is designed to reinforce the opposition message. Ter-Petrosian, a skilled orator and former president, has repeatedly pledged to restart the ANC’s rallies in Freedom Square and has routinely had to contend with supposed city “scheduling conflicts.” When the ANC has staged protests at other venues in recent years, they have failed to attract large numbers. This time, timing may be on the ANC’s side, some analysts believe. Aside from heated discussions among Armenians about the changes underway in Egypt and Tunisia, economic discontent is brewing in Armenia. An ANC demonstration, if it takes place, would come on the heels of angry protests by Yerevan street traders, whose activities were recently banned. High prices – consumer prices in 2010 increased by 8.8 percent compared with the previous year, according to the National Statistical Service – and near-double-digit inflation (9.4 percent in 2010) are fueling a growing sense of discontent. “Revolutions act like contagions,” said Manvel Sarkisian, a political analyst at the Armenian Center for National and International Studies. “In any event, the incidents in Tunisia and Egypt have already affected Armenia’s domestic life; the opposition has whipped up its excitement, and the authorities are responding accordingly.” For now, the reactions of both sides are “predictable,” Sarkisian said. For the opposition to succeed in promoting substantive political changes, he added, Ter-Petrosian and others have to move beyond simply talking about holding protest rallies. “They must set goals and achieve them,” Sarkisian said. The leader of the opposition Heritage Party’s parliamentary faction, Stepan Safarian, agreed; while the complaints of protesters in Egypt and Tunisia may resonate in Armenia amid the simmering discontent about runaway prices and dwindling jobs, staging a rally, by itself, is not much of a political goal. “We need to clarify the issues,” said Safarian. “Occupying Freedom Square cannot be a goal when we face the problem of restoring the rights of the people and many other important issues.” Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesperson for President Serzh Sargsyan’s Republican Party of Armenia, downplayed the chances that the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings will prompt a large number of Armenians to take to the streets. “There is some discontent in Armenia, but there are no grounds for a social revolt,” Sharmazanov. “Armenian authorities are determined to carry out reforms to alleviate the consequences of the [economic] crisis.” One Yerevan pensioner, 63-year-old Janik Avagian, scoffed at such rhetoric, and indicated a readiness to protest. Social and economic conditions, Avagian asserted, were worsening by the day. “Everything gets more expensive, the public utilities, the food, life, and the authorities only give promises,” Avagian said. In contrast to Avagian, one Yerevan taxi driver said that while events in Egypt had captivated the attention of Armenians, he personally remained reluctant to throw his support behind Ter-Petrosian. The driver, who declined to give his name, voiced disappointment over the outcome of the protest movement in 2008, and expressed the belief that Ter-Petrosian was merely trying to position himself for another presidential run in 2013. “After hundreds of thousands of people attended his rallies, and the notorious events [of 2008], Levon Ter-Petrosian dropped out of sight, and now he shows up again,” said the driver. “Why should I believe him?” | |||
|
2/3/2011 Serbian police on work-to-rule for better pay
Belgrade - A quarter of Serbia's police force - around 13,000 employees - went on a work-to-rule Thursday as the country continues to struggle with a deep economic downturn that has seen inflation eat away at workers' wages.
The police will only do the legal minimum required of their jobs, union leader Velimir Barbulov said. 'We will not do field work, except in cases of major disturbances and for rescue efforts,' he said. The strikers are demanding a 40-per-cent wage hike and say they will not end their protest until their demands are met. The independent police union decided to launch the work-to-rule stoppage despite opposition from other police organizations. The police action is the second potentially crippling strike to hit Serbia in recent days. Elementary and high-school teachers launched a work stoppage last week, but their strike has hardly gotten off the ground. Serbia has been hit hard by recession and has imposed austerity measures, including a freeze of civil servant wages, in return for a loan from the International Monetary Fund. The local currency, the dinar, has lost around half of its value over the past three years, with inflation steadily in double digits. The average monthly wage now equals about 400 dollars. | |||
|
2/3/2011 UK protestors plan blockade of Petroplus refinery
* Over 160 people confirmed they will attend, 256 may
* Previous demonstration passed without incident- police
By Jessica Donati
LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - A group of UK motorists -- angry with rising petrol prices and communicating on social networking Web site Facebook -- plan to blockade European refiner Petroplus's Coryton refinery on Feb. 5.
The demonstration, organised on Facebook, aims to block the road to the refinery near London to disrupt fuel distribution.
"By protesting on the road, distribution can be stopped dead," protest organisers said on the Facebook event page.
The protestors in the group, named "Stop The Rip Off", say refiners did not pass a reported 2 pence drop in average wholesale petrol prices in January to consumers and want pump prices to return to 1 pound ($1.62) a litre.
Reuters data shows that Brent crude prices rose 6.6 percent in January, while wholesale gasoline barge prices in northwest Europe gained 5 percent.
UK diesel prices at the pump were the highest in Europe for most of last year at 1.18 pounds a litre, according to data from the UK Petroleum Industry Association, and could rise more now that Brent crude prices have climbed over $100 a barrel.
Rising fuel prices have stoked inflation and could increase pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
Over 160 people have confirmed they will attend the Coryton blockade, while another 256 have said they may participate, according to the event Web page on Thursday.
The 172,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery is located on the UK's east coast and distributes oil products to southern England and London via road, rail, water and pipeline.
FURTHER PROTESTS
Donna Damian Butler, organiser and administrator for the group, said that more demonstrations at other UK refineries would take place in the coming months.
The protest group currently has over 6,700 members.
"The protest is an Essex police matter," said Georgina Clark, a spokeswoman for the Coryton refinery, declining to comment on whether any disruption to refinery operations were expected.
A previous demonstration organised by the group in January passed without incident, according to the local police service.
"If the road was blocked, it would have been only very briefly due to the small number of people there," said Chris Lane, a spokesman for Essex police.
A separate protest is planned at Exxon Mobil's 326,000 bpd Fawley refinery, but there is no plan to block the road, said organiser Karen Aksoy-Weeks.
"We are expecting over 100 people to demonstrate peacefully, hopefully more," said Aksoy-Weeks
| |||
|
2/3/2011 LG to Raise Home-Appliance Prices
LG Electronics Inc. told retailers on Thursday it will increase wholesale prices of its home appliances in the U.S. by between 8% and 10% in April.
The planned price increase matches moves announced earlier by rivals Whirlpool Corp. and Electrolux AB.
In a letter to dealers, Seoul, South Korea-based LG cited rising costs of raw materials as well as the costs of complying with energy-efficiency standards and regulations. Prices have been rising sharply for steel, copper, plastics and other materials used in making appliances such as washers, refrigerators and ovens.
"This challenging trend of rising commodity costs is expected to continue into 2011," LG said in the letter, a copy of which the company provided to The Wall Street Journal.
A representative of another big Korean maker of appliances, Samsung Electronics Co., said that company was "looking at ways to offset [higher costs] through cost-containment plans and price adjustments."
Whirlpool officials said earlier this week that discounting on appliances in the U.S. in the final two months of 2010 was more aggressive than expected. Jeff Fettig, chief executive officer of Whirlpool, said in a conference call with analysts that the sort of discounting that prevailed late last year was "not sustainable."
| |||
|
2/3/2011 Cameroon to control imports of food in measure aimed at managing prices
 Cameroon’s government established an agency to control imports of basic goods, especially food items, in a bid to manage prices, President Paul Biya said.
The Mission for the Regulation of Supplies and Basic Necessities “is charged with buying and stocking goods” at approved prices, Biya said in a statement handed to reporters in Yaounde, the capital, today. The agency will set up warehouses across the country, he said.
“The president’s decision does not forbid other enterprises from importing,” said Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana in an interview today. Cameroon was among the African nations hit by high global food prices in 2008. During that time, it cut customs duties on fish, wheat, salt and sugar, Atangana said.
| |||
|
2/2/2011 Protests against price rise in Visakhapatnam
Political parties including Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have called for a state-wide protest against inflation in Visakhapatnam.
They took the protest to the streets with effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh outside the Collectorate office here. "At the time of drought, we had controlled (price of) all the commodities. Now in UPA-II government, nobody is controlling (prices), there is no administration and the politicisation is going on. Because of these commodities the common people are not living as a normal person," said Bhandaru Satyanaranamurthy, president of TDP, Visakhapatnam. Satyanaranamurthy further demanded immediate steps to curtail the spiralling prices. The protesters also accused the UPA government for their inability to check corruption. The protests are expected to go on till a week and the parties are expected to conclude with a demonstration in New Delhi on February 9. Food makes up about 14 percent of the wholesale price index, while fuel contributes to about 15 percent. Vegetable prices were up 3.84 percent week-on-week and have risen around 71 percent year-on-year. Onions were up nearly two percent on the week and 71 percent on an annual basis. (ANI) | |||
|
2/3/2011 JDS, Left to protest against price hike on February eight
Bangalore, Feb 3 (PTI) Opposition JDS along with Leftparties would stage a dharna on February eight to protestagainst price rise and ''flawed'' policies of the Centre, aheadof the national level protest on the issue.
Buzz up! Talking to reporters here, JDS supremo Deve Gowda blamed''flawed'' policies of the UPA government and hoarding by vestedinterest for the rise in prices of essential commodities. He also demanded that the state government take actionagainst illegal hoarding which had resulted in the situation. Nagaraj, General Secretary of CPM, said that the Februaryeight protest would culminate in New Delhi where a protestagainst price was scheduled be held on February nine. He alleged that futures and forward trading had resultedin price rise and the food grain availability in the countryhad slipped compared to the US and China. The parties demanded a universal food distribution systemand immediate disbursal of rice and wheat stored in variousgodowns and encouraging food production. It also demanded reduction in tax structure on petroleumproducts to ease the inflation situation. A demonstration would also be held against price riseon February 23 by trade unions, he said. On the demand for a JPC probe on the 2Gs pectrum scam,Nagaraj said that a decision on it would be taken on Februarynine. Gowda said though the JDS favoured a JPC, it would notattempt to stall the proceedings of the Parliament. | |||
|
2/7/2011 - Stock market crashes 10%
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/bangladesh-stocks-plunge-more-10-third-time-2011
| |||
|
2/8/2011 Suez Canal workers go on strike
Suez Canal Company workers from the cities of Suez, Port Said, and Ismailia began an open-ended sit in today. Disruptions to shipping movements, as well as disasterous econmic losses, are expected if the strike continues. Over 6000 protesters have agreed that they will not go home today once their shift is over and will continue their in front of the company's headquarters until their demands are met. They are protesting against poor wages and deteriorating health and working conditions.
Link | |||
|
2/11/2011 Bolivian President Evo Morales flees food price protest
Mr Morales is facing rising discontent over food shortages
Bolivian President Evo Morales has abandoned a public event in the face of an angry protests over food shortages and price rises.
Mr Morales was due to address a parade to commemorate a colonial-era uprising in the mining city of Oruro.
But he and his team left the city to avoid a violent demonstration by miners throwing dynamite.
There have also been protests in other Bolivian cities over the shortage of sugar and other basic foodstuffs.
Mr Morales cut short his visit and returned to La Paz after protesters set off explosions close to where he was preparing to give a speech in Oruro, the capital of his home province in western Bolivia.
"The government took the decision not to respond to shameful provocations of this kind," presidential spokesman Ivan Canelas said.
Wave of protest
Setting off dynamite is a common feature of trade union protests in Bolivia, where the explosive is widely available to miners, but injuries are rare.
In the eastern city of Santa Cruz - an opposition stronghold - protesters blocked the road to the airport to demand the government scrap an agency set up to promote food production.
The protesters say the agency - known as Emapa - is inefficient and discourages private commerce.
Smaller protests were also staged in La Paz and the central city of Cochabamba, although marches were called off because of bad weather.
President Morales is facing a wave of protest over rising food and transport costs and a shortage of sugar.
The left-wing leader's popularity has fallen sharply since the beginning of the year, when he abandoned plans to cut fuel subsidies in the face of popular protests.
Some of the protests have been led by social movements that supported Mr Morales as he rose from being a radical peasant leader to win election as Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2005.
| |||
|
2/9/2011 9 Political parties protest against inflation
| |||
|
2/10/2011 NPCC may recommend price control on sugar at meeting Friday
MANILA, Philippines – The National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) may recommend to President Aquino to put sugar under price control as there is no abating seen on the continuing rise of the commodity despite claims by producers that there was no supply problem of this basic commodity.
Trade and Industry undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya said this would be tackled when the NPCC, which is chaired by the DTI, meets Friday to assess the price and supply situation of basic commodities.
“The NPCC can recommend to the President to impose if not SRP then a price control because when there is no calamity there is no automatic implementation of price control,” Maglaya said.
The President can impose price control on certain commodities when there is apparent abuse and apparent shortage than can increase prices.
Maglaya, however, said this would depend on the data that the Sugar Regulatory Authority must submit at Friday’s meeting. In December last year, the SRA said that prices of sugar was supposed to start coming down because it was the start of the milling season.
“We are already into the full milling season and prices of sugar have remained high,” Maglaya said.
The average retail price of sugar is at P65 per kilo or a low of P62 and a high of P74 a kilo.
Maglaya further said that the milling season will be over by May and yet there is no let up in the rise in prices of sugar.
Sugar is a critical basic commodity because it affects a wide sector of industries, especially in the food and beverage sectors, Maglaya said.
“We have received lots of complaints already from the end-users of sugar,” Maglaya said.
Meantime, other basic commodities have already posted increases including all milk brands of between 3.5 percent to as high as 10 percent for full cream milk.
Among the processed meats only Argentina has adjusted prices by 3 to 5 percent while Lucky Me was the only noodle brand that raised prices by less than five percent.
Datu Puti, a vinegar brand, also imposed a model price hike.
| |||
|
2/12/2011 Yemen Protesters Clash with Security Forces
Yemeni anti-government demonstrators chant slogans during a demonstration celebrating the resignation of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and demanding the ouster of their own president, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb 12, 2011
Tareq Fadhli, a former jihadist leader, shouts slogans during a protest in the southern Yemeni city of Abyan on February 11
Yemen's government security forces clashed with anti-government protesters Saturday, after groups of mostly young men, celebrating the resignation of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, tried to march on the Egyptian Embassy.
Thousands of young Yemenis took to the streets of the capital Sana'a overnight and into the day Saturday to express enthusiasm over the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Eyewitnesses say that rallies took place spontaneously in parts of Sana'a, with demonstrators trying to rally in front of the Egyptian Embassy. The Yemen Post newspaper editor-in-chief Hakim Almasmari says that government security forces skirmished with the crowds. A number of demonstrators were reportedly injured in the clashes. Almasmari adds that several people were also arrested: "There were protests last night, massive protests, and today there were small protests, but not as big as the ones last night," said Almasmari. "Last night we estimate [there were] around 50,000 protesters. Today it was much smaller, not more than 5,000. Six people were arrested, four from the opposition and one or two from the pro-government protesters. So, those who were found causing chaos were arrested from both sides." Almasmari says that several opposition leaders are trying to "take advantage of the crisis in Egypt to further their own political fortunes." Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed to present a series of reforms to parliament, last week. Almasmari says he thinks the climate is ripe for an Egyptian-style protest movement in the coming weeks if reforms are not implemented. Princeton University Yemen scholar Gregory Johnsen agrees with Almasmari that there is a possibility that public protests, similar to those in Egypt, could spread to Yemen: "President Saleh's regime is at the moment entering I think a very critical time period," said Johnsen. "So I think the next three months really from now until Unification Day on May 22 are going to be incredibly important for President Saleh if he wants to remain in power and not go the way of [President Zine El Abidine] Ben Ali in Tunisia and President [Hosni] Mubarak in Egypt." He points out that some of the protests within the last 24 hours took place "outside the umbrella of the opposition JMP movement" indicating that public discontent could be spreading. Johnsen says that Western states, including the U.S., are worried that al-Qaida could take advantage of a security vacuum if President Saleh were to be toppled. He adds Al-Qaida would then be in a "better position to launch attacks" against either U.S. or European targets. | |||
|
2/12/2011 Algeria's police crack down on protesters
| |||
|
2/12/2011 Algeria shuts down internet and Facebook as protest mounts
Algerian protesters chant slogans during a demonstration in Algiers Photo: EPA
Internet providers were shut down and Facebook accounts deleted across Algeria on Saturday as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were arrested in violent street demonstrations.
By Nabila Ramdani 7:25PM GMT 12 Feb 2011
Plastic bullets and tear gas were used to try and disperse large crowds in major cities and towns, with 30,000 riot police taking to the streets in Algiers alone.
There were also reports of journalists being targeted by state-sponsored thugs to stop reports of the disturbances being broadcast to the outside world.
But it was the government attack on the internet which was of particular significance to those calling for an end to President Abdelaziz Boutifleka's repressive regime.
Protesters mobilising through the internet were largely credited with bringing about revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.
"The government doesn't want us forming crowds through the internet," said Rachid Salem, of Co-ordination for Democratic Change in Algeria.
| |||
|
2/12/2011 First reported death in the Morocco from self-immolation
The fifth incident of self-immolation in Morocco in a month
A 26-year-old man died in central Morocco after setting himself on fire in despair at his situation since being dismissed from the army, a local rights official said Saturday.
"He poured five liters of petrol over himself and set himself alight in the weekly market at Benguerir" on Thursday, Mohammed Hanofi of the Moroccan Human Rights Association told AFP. "He died in hospital."
It was the first reported death in the country from self-immolation, which has also occurred in neighboring Algeria and triggered the revolution in Tunisia that overthrow the government of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The daily Akhbar al-Yaoum named the man as Mourad Raho, 26, while a local website, Rhamna.org, said he was depressed because he had little income since being sacked from the army in July 2010. There was no official information from the authorities on the incident, the fifth in Morocco in a month, albeit the first fatality. According to the authorities, one victim had psychological problems while another was in a dispute over a legacy. Demands for political reforms are mounting in Morocco, which shares the same ingredients -- unemployment, a large young population and stark economic inequalities -- that have triggered unrest elsewhere in the Arab world. In Algeria a 36-year-old unemployed man and father of six died on Friday after setting himself on fire on January 17 in regional council offices in the east of the country. His death brought to four the number of Algerians who have died from self-immolation since January while more than a dozen Algerians have set themselves alight. Last December's self-immolation by a desperate young street vendor in Tunisia triggered the nation-wide revolt and inspired a similar uprising in Egypt which on Friday ended in the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak. | |||
|
2/10/2100 Israel heading for general strike over price hikes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz (L) attend a press conference in Tel Aviv on February 10 in which Netanyahu said he would meet a number of Israel's national federation of trades unions' demands, among them to raise the monthly minimum wage to 4,300 shekels (860 euros, $1,165) from 3,850 shekels.
Israel's national federation of trades unions on Saturday called off plans for a general strike in protest at rising prices after the prime minister announced a series of alleviating measures. On Thursday, the Histadrut federation said it would give advance notice of a nationwide general over rapidly rising prices of essential goods and services.
"The coordinating committee has decided to register next week an advance notice of a strike which will take place two weeks later," a spokesman for the Histadrut federation told AFP. Under Israeli law, notice of a labour dispute must be given two weeks before a strike can be implemented. But on Saturday, the Histadrut put off a meeting on Sunday that was to have issued advance notice of the industrial action, media reports said. The federation instead called for a meeting with the government, aiming to clarify promises made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a televised news conference late on Thursday, the premier pledged to meet a number of the federation's demands, among them to raise the monthlyminimum wage to 4,300 shekels (860 euros, $1,165) from 3,850 shekels. He also promised to reverse the latest rise in the price of petrol, cut fares on public transport by 10 percent, and to reduce water tariffs for thrifty users. "(Households) that use the most water per person choose to do so," Netanyahu said. "A family chooses to water the garden, have a pool ... Those people will pay more, while those who use water more frugally will be able to pay less." He did not address union demands to lower the costs of bread and housing. Over the past year, the price of bread in Israel has risen by 10 percent, petrol has jumped 13 percent and water has soared by a massive 134 percent, with the population also under pressure from a rise in indirect taxes. Finance Minster Yuval Steinitz has said the government's measures to combatrising prices would be financed by cutting the budgets of several ministries and deferring debt relief that was to have come into effect this year. | |||
 |
2/11/2011 Egypt Erupts in Jubilation as Mubarak Steps Down
Demonstrators in Cairo rejoiced Friday upon hearing that President Hosni Mubarak had been toppled after 18 days of protests against his government.
MultimediaTimeline: Mubarak’s PresidencyCAIRO — An 18-day-old revolt led by the young people of Egyptousted President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, shattering three decades of political stasis here and overturning the established order of the Arab world.
| |||
|
1/14/2011 Tunisia Leader Flees and Prime Minister Claims Power
Demonstrators climbed the walls of the Interior Ministry in Tunis on Friday. The capital remained under a curfew Friday night.
MultimediaChaos in Tunisia as President FleesFull NYTimes ArticleTUNIS — Tunisia’s president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, fled his country on Friday night, capitulating after a month of mounting protests calling for an end to his 23 years of authoritarian rule. The official Saudi Arabian news agency said he arrived in the country early Saturday.
| |||
|
2/12/2011 Mexico freeze, Sysco declares force majeure, raises grocery prices
Freezing temperatures hit some of Mexico's produce areas, and as a result, crops such as tomatoes (shown here in Michoacan) beans, peppers and avocados will be in short supply and carry a high price tag in US and Canadian grocery stores.
Full ZeroHedge article Mexico loses 80-100% of crops to freeze
Food inflation driven by freezing weather in Florida during December and in Mexico during February, is hitting the US supermarkets in the coming day’s. Sysco sent out an alert that announced an “Act of God”, to address their contracted supply issues.
The cold of the Superbowl weekend in Texas, has had a more lasting impact than on just the game plans for lots of travelers. The deep cold sank into the produce fields of northern Mexico, destroying fresh produce crops. This is the biggest page 16 story, about to hit a headline, that you have seen in a while. Your restaurants will be low on fresh produces for weeks. They will have to raise prices significantly or cut the produce out of the menu.
| |||
|
2/5/2011 Bahrain’s King Hamad increases food subsidies amid Egypt turmoil
King Hamad has ordered a hike in food subsidies in order to offset the rising costs of food worldwide
King Hamad of Bahrain has ordered a hike in food subsidies in the Gulf state, the latest move in Middle Eastern capitals to ease the burden on their populations. Food price inflation has been the spark for mass protests in both Tunisia and Egypt, leading to the downfall of both countries’ presidents. The state-run Bahrain News Agency said that King Hamad had raised subsidies on meats, flour and poultry in the country, as well as boosting allocations for social welfare. The agency reported that the move was made in order to offset the rising costs of food worldwide. Bahrain is just the latest country to take action against spiraling food price inflation. Algeria, Libya and Jordan have either relaxed food taxes or duties on food imports or cut prices of staple food. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait recently introduced a generous stipend and free food for its citizens until March 2012 to ease the pain of higher costs. Protests are planned in Bahrain on 14 February, the ninth anniversary of King Hamad’s declaration of the country as a constitutional monarchy. | |||
|
2/14/2011 Fuel prices back to Sh98 a litre in Nairobi
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 14 - Fuel pump prices have gone up by Sh2.40 to Sh98.08 in Nairobi after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) adjusted the maximum prices in line with price control regulations.
The maximum pump price for diesel has now been capped at Sh91.71 up from the retail price of Sh88.71 that was being charged in the last one month. "Motorists in Mombasa will in the next one month beginning Tuesday buy super petrol at Sh94.93, which will be the lowest amount while those residing in Mandera will pay the highest rate at Sh109.62," a statement from ERC indicated. The regulator said the increase reflects a 9.5 percent rise in the average cost of imported super petrol from $862.73 per metric tonne in December 2010 to $944.62 per metric ton in January 2011. The 'Free On Board' price for Murban crude oil lifted in January this year was posted at $95.55 per barrel, an increase of four percent from $91.85 per barrel in December last year. The commission said that while international crude prices have been on an upward trend since July last year, the political instability being experienced in North Africa had continued to exert pressures on them as well. "When the impacts of the above changes are incorporated in the formula for calculating the maximum retail pump prices the overall effect is an increase of between Sh0.94 and Sh3.00 per litre, for the products under review, from the prices published last month," said Director General Eng Kaburu Mwirichia. Although the rate is approximately Sh2 less than the Sh100 per litre that had been projected, fuel prices will most likely hit this mark next month if the international oil prices continue to rise. This state of affairs has in turn raised concern from consumers who argue that the price controls are not working in their favour. In a statement, the Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK) said consumers have not enjoyed the cushionary reserves that they had been made to believe would help keep the erratic fuel pricing under check. "We have learnt, with concern, of the continued monthly increment of fuel prices even after the Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi and the Energy Regulatory Commission publicly pledged a reasonable price capping and one that did not necessarily amount to price controls. That the Sh100 per litre mark is about to be hit is no good news at all," said the Federation's Communications Officer Bernard Muinde. The current development, they said confirmed the failure of the National Oil Corporation of Kenya to stabilise prices even after it was offered a 30 per cent monthly oil supplies quota by the government. "Clearly, the development confirms the earlier market fears and concerns on the very low capacity of Nock to perform the task expected of it. The fact that Nock controls a paltry four percent of the market confirms that proper procedures were not followed in affording the very high quota to Nock," Mr Muinde further charged. The federation now wants the Prime Minister Raila Odinga to intervene by immediately revoking the legal notice through which the Ministry of Energy 'irregularly' and 'uncompetitively' allocated Nock a 30 per cent petroleum procurement quota. They also want him to set up a joint ministerial standing committee to address the perennial challenge of unpredictable fuel pricing. "We want him to enhance serious and real competition within Kenya's fuel industry by creating a more enabling environment for the indigenous oil marketers and attracting more foreign direct investments within the sector," the federation added. At the same time, they have appealed to the Matatu Owners Association and its Welfare counterpart to be reasonable in reflecting any upward adjustment in commuter fares following the increment. Read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Fuel-prices-back-to-Sh98-a-litre-in-Nairobi-11684.html#ixzz1Dz40kS00 Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives | |||
|
2/18 Thousands protest in Bolivia over food prices
A teacher marches to protest rising food prices
LA PAZ — A national protest over rising food prices in Bolivia paralyzed several cities and sectors of the economy Friday in South America's poorest country.
It was the second national protest in less than two months, led by labor unions, in the latest sign that socialist President Evo Morales faces growing unrest.
Schools closed, hospitals handled only emergencies, and public transportation was greatly reduced. Streets in the central city of Cochabamba were blocked by barricades and thousands of people marched in the capital city La Paz.
Demonstrations also took place in Santa Cruz, Oruro, Potosi, Sucre, in response to calls for action by the powerful Bolivian labor federation (COB).
Protesters called for Morales to increase salaries, and reverse the rising prices of food and services.
"He said that he would govern with the people -- put it into practice!" said Pedro Montes, the COB's secretary general.
Led by unions under a chilly rain, the La Paz rally was punctuated by the blast of dynamite sticks set off by some protesters.
There were no immediate reports of anyone being hurt, and the demonstration dispersed peacefully after several hours.
The protests, however, showed renewed anger over the inability of many Bolivians to keep up with the price rises, especially for sugar.
Last month, violent protests broke out in the nation even after the government backed off an attempt to halt hefty fuel subsidies, which ease the cost of food transport and cooking.
Prices remain high and continue to rise, following a global trend that is worrying the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and other observers.
The UN agency has warned that riots such as those in Egypt could worsen as a result.
One woman taking part in Friday's protest, who gave her first name as Leonor, echoed a broad sentiment that Morales was not aware of just how dire the situation was.
"Sure, he doesn't have any family, that's why it doesn't matter to him at all," she said.
A factory worker exhorting the crowd through a microphone, Lucio Marquez, said "we are demanding a pay raise" to keep up with the inflation rate.
| |||
|
2/19 Libya and Yemen Try to Suppress Protests
Related
In Libya, where days of demonstrations have challenged the 41-year rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, new protests continued to flare even as the government continued a violent crackdown against the opposition. Libya also moved to shut off Internet access, mirroring a tactic used by Egyptian authorities to thwart an upheaval that eventually led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
Antigovernment marches in the impoverished nation of Yemen took a violent turn as pro-government supporters dressed in civilian clothes opened fire on a group opposing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, wounding at least four people. And hundreds of police in Algeria’s capital used clubs to overwhelm a small group of antigovernment demonstrators, according to news reports.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said that the death toll in Libya after three days of government crackdowns against protesters had risen to 84, and news reports said that bodies were continuing to flow into the country’s hospitals and morgues.
Libyan authorities appeared to cut off Internet service overnight, further obscuring the view into one of the region’s most isolated nations.
The Internet monitoring firm Renesys said that Libya appeared to block almost all Internet access at 1:18 a.m. Saturday, blocking a crucial path used by demonstrators to communicate with one another, as well as opposition figures, journalists and rights groups outside the country.
| |||
Donald Trump Army of Deplorables Coronavirus Lock Down National Guard Iran Russia Syria Israel North Korea Stop Progressive Socialist DNC Communists
Main Stream Media Uses Negro as Scapegoat
President Trump Unites All Americans Through Education Hard Work Honest Dealings and Prosperity United We Stand Against Progressive Socialists DNC Democrats Negro Race Baiting Using Negroes For Political Power is Over and the Main Stream Media is Imploding FAKE News is Over in America
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Obama World
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment